Elena of Avalor S1 E2

## Plot

Everyone in the castle is busy preparing for their first royal visit since Shuriki was overthrown and Elena was made crown princess. They want to make a really good impression for King Toshi, the king of Satu, a Japanese inspired kingdom. He's voiced by George Takei of *Star Trek* fame. They want to negotiate a trade agreement with him. Everyone is focused on the royal visit except for Isabel. She's working on her latest invention, the Presto Changer. It allows someone to change clothes quickly. She's going to be entering it in the invention fair that day. Despite being busy and having a grand council meeting, Elena still helps her little sister test it out. There are still some kinks to work out, but Isabel is worried about something else going wrong. If that happens, Elena promises to be by her little sister's side to help fix it. At the grand council meeting, everyone is preparing to do things their way to show King Toshi their culture. However, Esteban insists that in order to impress King Toshi, they have to show him that they understand his ways. He claims that he knows what to do because he's been to Satu before. So they plan to serve Satu food, play Satu music, and dress in Satu clothes for his visit tomorrow. Elena has trouble eating with chopsticks, but Naomi picks it up easily. Apparently, you need an *overwhelming* majority of the grand council to vote on one side to do anything. I'm just saying, so far there have been no 3/5ths majority votes; they've all been 4/5ths. It's just a minor detail that bugs me, that's all. Anyways, Esteban reveals that King Toshi left a day early, so he's coming today. This means that Elena might not have enough time to help Isabel at the invention fair. Everyone knows that she wants to help her sister, but her royal duties come first. Elena decides she'll just go down to the fair, help Isa set up, and be back before King Toshi arrives. Francisco worries that she may not have enough time to do it, but Esteban assures her that Toshi isn't expected until this afternoon. Naomi runs home to tell her dad that she's meeting a king later. Esteban reveals to his assistant Higgins that he didn't tell anyone when King Toshi was coming because he wanted Elena to be ill-prepared for his visit. He's actually arriving in, if I had to guess, less than an hour. Now Elena won't be at the castle at all. Esteban believes that she doesn't have what it takes to be queen. He wants to be the one to negotiate the trade agreement by showing King Toshi how well he knows his ways. In his own words, he wants to be the real power behind the throne. Elena cheers Isa up and promises that she'll always have time for her. Isa gives her a necklace made out of spare parts to thank her. However, Elena sees King Toshi heading up to the palace. In her haste to help Isa set up and get back in time, she accidentally breaks the invention. Isabel can fix it, but she left the specific tool she needs back at the palace. Elena uses that as an excuse to leave and meet with King Toshi. She won't get back in time in a carriage, so Skylar flies her there. She greets King Toshi, who introduces himself and his advisor, Shoji. Toshi gives her a fan as a royal gift. Esteban sees her hiding Isa's tool, a red twist hook, up her sleeve, and puts her on the spot by claiming that it's a royal gift to King Toshi. Elena is forced to play along and give it to him. She tries to get out of the situation to get back to Isabel by saying that her grandparents can give him a tour of the castle. However, as the crown princess, she has to lead the tour. She's able to get the twist hook back under the pretense of carrying it for King Toshi though. Meanwhile, Isabel has been trying to fix her invention without it, but nothing's working. Gabe gives it some percussive maintenance to get it moving again. As in, he punches it. I love how he actually hurts his hand by doing so though, because it's still made of wood, not soft stuffing. When they test it out though, it still goes horribly wrong, so there must be something else that's broken. Isabel wonders what could be taking Elena so long. She's giving a very fast tour of the castle. She suggests that Toshi stay in the sitting room and take a nap, since he must be tired from his journey. He politely declines, saying that he's not tired at all, and Esteban smugly tells Elena that people don't take siestas in Satu. He takes over, saying that he's planned a feast and concert, both Satu themed. Elena sees Naomi arrive and gets an idea. They switch clothes so Naomi can pretend to be her and Elena can go back to the fair. To make sure no one will see Naomi's face, they pull the hood over her head and cover her face with that fan. Esteban expects Elena to once again fail at using chopsticks, but since it's really Naomi at the feast, she does it correctly. Everyone else is impressed, and in Esteban's case, in disbelief, but Luisa is suspicious. Elena finally gets back to the fair and gives the twist hook to Isabel. She already fixed that part though. The cogs are out of alignment, and she has to move 51 bolts to get them back. After confirming that she doesn't need Elena's help, Isabel is annoyed when she leaves again under the pretense of getting drinks for herself and Gabe. Naomi and Elena switch clothes again, and are caught by Luisa. After they explain things to her, she offers to cover for them, but they can't switch places anymore. Elena heads back to the fair (after *another* change of clothes), and sees that Isabel is still having trouble with her invention. She's frustrated that it's not working and mad at Elena for ditching her twice. She notices that her older sister is wearing different shoes than before, and deduces that she's been going back to the palace. Really? *That's* what tipped you off? What about the different clothes? Or the lack of drinks? I doubt that Elena could've kept up the scheme for much longer anyways, since Skylar was getting tired from flying back and forth. Elena admits it to Isabel, and tries to apologize, saying that as much as she wants to be there for her little sister, she has to be there for King Toshi, and their kingdom, since this trade agreement would benefit everyone. Isabel asks her to leave, saying that she can fix the machine herself, and assumes this means that she's less important to her sister than a random king. Elena sees Esteban's concert, and watches him perform a traditional Satu dance. However, he screws it up and makes a racket. Despite this, and Francisco offering to tell him to stop, King Toshi watches it anyways, saying that he promised Esteban that he would, and it's important in Satu to keep your promises, no matter what. Elena, realizing what she needs to do, says that King Toshi is right, and keeping promises is important in Avalor too. She apologizes for leaving, but she has to help her sister at the fair and put her family first. Isabel is ready to give up, but Elena arrives to encourage her. She tells her that no royal duty, no matter how important, will ever come before her. Working together, they're able to fix the machine. The cogs keep coming loose because the chain broke, and there's no way to fix it. They need a replacement. Elena gets creative and suggests her necklace. They use it, and Isabel presents her invention to the judge. The rest of the family, as well as King Toshi and his advisor, show up at the fair. Toshi explains that family comes first in Satu as well. This is why he always travels with his advisor and brother, Shoji, voiced by James Sie. He's not upset that Elena left, and explains that he came to Avalor to experience their culture. He agrees to be their ally and trade partner. Back at the palace, they have a do over visit. Isabel uses her Presto Changer to change Toshi and Shoji into Avaloran clothes, and they eat tamales and listen to Francisco's music. Isabel thanks Elena for being there for her today, and they hug. Aw!

## Review

I really liked this episode. The texture on things like hair is amazing, and you can tell it's been improved on since Sofia the First started airing. I love that show too, but the hair just looks like blobs that barely move sometimes. Here, Elena has a long side ponytail with actual texture. I also love how respectful everyone is to other cultures. Toshi compliments the architecture of the palace, and it is very beautiful, especially at night. The whole reason he came was to experience another culture. Trust me, that's something we should all do. You'd feel more enriched for doing so. For example, did you know that American Indian/Native American/Aboriginal American powwows are open to everyone, not just other American Indians/Native Americans/Aboriginal Americans? Everyone on the grand council was open to doing things the Satu way. True, it's also because they wanted to impress King Toshi, but Elena liked the clothes and Naomi liked the food. Something tells me that the only reason Luisa was upset was because she had already made tamales for the event, only to be told that they wouldn't be eating them. Speaking of Luisa, she gets major points from me for being surprisingly smart and detective like during this episode. She caught on to the switch right away, whereas no one else had a clue. That is one smart grandmother! Also, subtle feminism by showing Isabel, a preteen girl, can be an inventor and a handy woman, and she doesn't need to be a stereotypical tomboy or less feminine to do it, since she has lovely long hair with a bow and wears a blue dress.