Elena of Avalor S2 E6

## Plot

For the first time ever in the series, and far from the last, we have a recap of the previous episode to remind us of the ongoing main plot. Come to think of it, how come Sofia the First never had recaps, even when things became more serialized? Elena is helping Isabel load a model monfuego into the carriage. It's for a school presentation that she's doing. Elena offers to help her with her speech, but she says that she already memorized it, by practicing for two hours in the mirror the previous night. When the episode originally aired, I was having trouble memorizing a monologue I had to perform. So instead of practicing, I watched the new episode. The timing and humor of this is not lost on me. Anyways, during her presentation, the class is dying of boredom. Quique, Amara, and Cristina decide to help Isabel by making the model monfuego erupt. Señorita Marisol tells Isabel that she and her team should be proud, which she isn't exactly thrilled to hear. However, Cristina says that this was really Isabel's project. Señorita Marisol is so impressed that she wants Isabel to represent their school at the Avalor science fair. It's normally for older kids, but Marisol thinks that Isa is ready. Professor Ochoa from the science academy is going to be the judge. She's Isabel's idol and favorite scientist. Isa only has two days to get ready, but she says that that's plenty of time. She wants to come up with a new idea, since Professor Ochoa has probably seen a thousand model monfuegos. She wants to come up with something unique. Amara reminds her that it's also her turn to watch the pet guinea pigs this weekend. Oh, guinea pigs, like lab rats… now I get it! Nice science reference. Anyways, they have to exercise heavily, be washed, and have their fur brushed. This gives Isabel a new idea, and she leaves to work on it. Señorita Marisol says that she forgot something else, but she doesn't hear her. Cristina, Quique, and Amara offer to bring it to her, but Marisol says that she's forgetting her team, as in them. Is that foreshadowing for their episode in season 3? In the marketplace, Carla meets with Victor in disguise again. He tells her to go to the palace library and look for a map of the castle. There might be a backdoor into the treasury. He tells her that there has to be a weak link. Cue a Gilligan cut to Mateo, which I personally didn't appreciate. He's helping Elena with the scepter again. He throws a coconut into the air, which she destroys with the blaze power. Her accuracy is great. Now they're going to work on speed. She has ten seconds to hit ten coconuts. However, Isabel calling out to her causes her to accidentally destroy the fountain again. Mateo even suggests that they not practice by it anymore! Isabel excitedly tells Elena what happened at school. Amara, Quique, and Cristina visit her. They tell her that Señorita Marisol sent them to help her work on the project. Isabel isn't exactly receptive to the idea though, and comes up with some excuses about why they can't help her, all of which Elena refutes. They're given a huge room in the western tower to work on the project. Carla hasn't found anything helpful in the library. She sees Mateo and gets an idea. She claims that she lost the key to her trunk, and asks him if he knows an unlocking spell. The way she interacts with him seems almost flirty. The serious business Eleteo/Matena shipper in me is mad, but the reasonable part of my brain is laughing like crazy. Isabel says that her new invention will solve a big problem in schools everywhere: Taking care of the class pet. She shows them the blueprint for the ExerGroomer. It will lead the guinea pigs up a ramp and through a bathing and brushing process for them to reach the food. Amara says that she can adjust the combs for their fur. Cristina says that the ramps look too steep. Quique says that he can make the gears spin faster. Isabel says that she's already done the calculations though. She and Quique fight over the blueprint, and accidentally rip it. They're just trying to help her make the project better. She says that she knows and apologizes. She's nervous about the science fair. She wants to get it right, and they want to help her get it right. She says that they can help by finding a very important tool that's gone missing: The Twistinator. My brain is already having flashbacks to *Phineas and Ferb*. They leave to go look for it. Isabel talks to Peaches and Paco. She reveals that she lied to them and made up the tool to get them to leave. She thinks that her way is the right way. I think someone needs to go back and re-watch The Gecko's Tale. The others ask the handyman Octavio where the Twistinator is. He says that he's never heard of it, but if they do have it, it'd be in the This and That Tower. It's where they keep all of the stuff they don't need anymore. Wow, who knew that the palace was full of hoarders? Mateo finds the unlocking spell, and reads it out loud to Carla. She immediately leaves to go try it on the treasury door. She's able to get the guard to leave his post by asking him to bring a stretcher, claiming that she hurt her ankle. However, the spell doesn't work. Isabel finishes the ExerGroomer. Carla finds Mateo, and says that his spell didn't work. He tells her that it's because she needs a tamborita to cast it. She tries to take his, but he says that only a trained wizard should use it. He shows her the statue of Fiero, and says that he used to be a dangerous malvago. He also tells her that there's a reversal potion for the stone spell. But I thought that potion only worked before the next sunrise? Then again, maybe Mateo is talking about a different potion, or he was wrong about the next sunrise thing, since he only skimmed the Codex. Still, why would he keep something around that could restore an evil wizard? The answer is plot convenience. She's able to get him to agree to unlock the treasury for her. Quique thinks that he found the Twistinator. It's a really intricate hammer, a la Mjölnir. When Amara grabs the handle, it glows blue and starts hammering the ground. Isabel tests out the ExerGroomer. Everything goes wrong though. She has to stop the gears. The others get back and hand her the hammer. She grabs it, and it breaks the invention. I mean, I guess that's one very unconventional way to stop it. She asks what that thing is. They tells her that it's the Twistinator. She angrily reveals that there's no such thing as a Twistinator, and that she sent them on a wild goose chase just to get rid of them. She thought that they were getting in her way. They leave, and even consider no longer being friends with her. Elena sees them leaving and asks what's going on. They tell her to ask Isabel. She does, and Isabel says that she'll figure it out herself. She didn't ask for a team. Elena understands, because she didn't want a team at first either, i.e., the grand council, but now she can't imagine what she'd do without them. She tells Isabel that her friends can help her fix her problems, but only if she's willing to let them. They sing a cute song, during which they help Octavio fix the fountain. Isabel stops her friends from leaving and apologizes. She shouldn't have treated them like that, and was so worried about the project that she didn't give them the chance to help. She asks them to come back, and says that they mean more to her than any science project. They agree to help her again. Before Mateo can unlock the treasury doors for Carla, a guard tells him that Elena needs him for something, and he leaves. Cristina was right, the ramps were too steep. Amara uses brushes instead of combs so they won't get stuck in the guinea pigs' fur. Quique found some useful stuff in the This and That Tower that they could use to fix the ExerGroomer. They don't have enough time to put it all together again though. Mateo can help with that. Elena asked him to figure out what the hammer really was. It's a NicoQuixo. It's a magical hammer that the Maruvians invented that can do the hammering for you. They use it to fix the ExerGroomer in time. At the fair, Isabel presents her invention to Professor Ochoa. Carla reports back to Victor and Shuriki at the old house. Based on a throwaway comment, I think it's been a week since the previous episode. She tells them what she learned about Fiero. He could get them into the treasury. She can steal the reversal potion from Mateo's workshop. Professor Ochoa announces that the ExerGroomer has won the science fair. She's so impressed by Isabel's work that she invites her to take her class at the science academy. It's a college course. One class, after school, once a week. She wants to go, but only if the others can come too. However, they're not interested in going to college yet. Huh. That's an unexpected change for Isabel in the status quo. It'll be interesting to see where that goes. Elena says that when it comes to her little sister, anything is possible. Aw! As much as I like Isabel's friends, I wish we could've seen her interact one on one with her own family or Elena's friends more throughout the show. I think they all see her as their honorary sibling with the way they treat her as the series goes on. I also think that Mateo in particular acts like a brother with her, even if the two don't interact one on one very much. That's actually really intriguing, since Mateo is all about magic and Isabel is all about science, but the two clearly aren't opposed to any crossover between the two disciplines. Now I can't stop imagining the two of them teaming up with Olivia and Tomiko to make awesome Magitek inventions. Unfortunately, this never happens in the actual show, although Isabel does end up working with her friends and Olivia once to defeat a bad guy, and there's always fanfiction or fan art.