Elena of Avalor S3 E14

## Plot

There have been a lot of recaps in the other episodes, but the interesting thing about this one is that it has a reanimated scene from Elena and the Secret of Avalor explaining who Alacazar is. Elena is trying to use Farsight to find Ash and Esteban, but it doesn't show her anything. They must've hidden themselves with a powerful cloaking spell. Mateo doesn't have a spell to undo it, and he's gone through all his books. What they really need is a master wizard, like Alacazar. Similar to his friend Naomi, Mateo never even got a chance to meet his grandfather. Elena realizes that he could, and reminds him that Alacazar technically isn't dead, because he turned himself into that magical book, which is back in Enchancia. She can have the book sent here, and then Mateo could finally meet his abuelo, and he could help them find Ash and Esteban. Speaking of which, Esteban has mastered his teleportation powers. Zopilote returns to their cave and tells him and Ash that the entrance to Takaína has been sealed shut with some kind of enchanted crystal. Esteban says it must be from Elena's scepter. Now Ash thinks she'll never obtain the power she has. Esteban jokingly says she could if she had Elena's scepter, so they decide to set up a trap and steal it from her, even though he's reluctant to do so. And Esteban can't just teleport them inside Takaína because…? In Mateo's room, he opens the box containing the magic book. It's so old that it's starting to fall apart. When he talks to it, Alacazar's spirit comes out. Elena thanks him for everything he did for her and her family. He meets Mateo and learns that he has a grandson, but when they try to hug each other, Mateo goes through him. He sees his tamborita and learns that he's the royal wizard now. Elena tells him that Esteban betrayed her family and teamed up with a malvago, and they're trying to find them, but they've cast a cloaking spell. Alacazar says there are many books with master level spells that can override it in his secret library. Oh, I see what you did there! Don't think just because the characters say it in Spanish that I don't know what it means. He tells Mateo to press a stone on a column, revealing a secret staircase leading to the secret library. He wants to train Mateo to be a master wizard. However, the book starts disintegrating. The spell he cast to transform himself into a book wasn't powerful enough to last forever. The book has been slowly disintegrating for years, but the trip to Avalor has sped it up. Once it's gone, Alacazar will pass on to the Spirit World. There's a potion that could release him from the book and make him human again. However, they need a petal from the Dahlia Salida flower, which is so rare that Mateo doesn't even know what it is. It grows deep in the wilds of Avalor, and can only be seen once someone casts a magic spell to reveal it. Elena says they can take the jaquins, but the journey will take them into the dense jungle, so they'll have to go on foot. Alacazar and Mateo keep stopping so Alacazar can teach Mateo all sorts of magic though. He teaches him how to turn his tamborita to increase the power of a spell, how to change one kind of bird into another, and how to flip someone upside down. It's revealed that Esteban also has a power like Farsight with his staff. He recognizes Alacazar, and says he looks like a spirit. It turns out that he and Zopilote are old enemies. Meanwhile, the group finally reaches the Dahlia Salida bush. The book starts disintegrating again, and Alacazar starts fading away. He tells Mateo to shake the bag with the ingredients while he says a spell in a certain rhythm. He eventually does it correctly and pours it on the book right as it disintegrates completely, and Alacazar disappears. Mateo thinks they were too late, but then his grandfather appears in corporeal form, and they hug each other. While on the way back, they see fire stones. They're only found in Paraíso though, and Alacazar wonders why they didn't notice them on the way up. As Mateo heads over to pick them up and take them back to the palace, Alacazar sees Zopilote in vulture form and warns Mateo that it's an ambush. The rocks were an illusion, and Ash blasts him and Flo back. Flo attacks Ash and takes her tamborita. Esteban appears and teleports Elena's scepter to his hand. Mateo tries to get it back, and Esteban fights him for it, so Zopilote takes it. Alacazar blasts him and Elena catches her scepter, but Esteban just teleports it back into his hand. Elena gets angry and levitates him, making him drop it. However, that makes Flo finally drop Ash's tamborita. Before she can blast Elena though, Esteban stops her. Before Elena can seal them off, Zopilote blasts her into Mateo and Alacazar. Before he can kill Mateo, Alacazar jumps in front of him and takes the hit instead. Elena tries to blast Zopilote, but he dodges her shot, and Esteban takes her scepter again. Unlike Ash and Zopilote, he doesn't want to kill them. Mateo levitates them all away. Alacazar tells him that he's not making it back to the palace. It's his time to go to the Spirit World. Mateo can become a great master wizard on his own. His grandfather will always be in his memories, and in his heart. He disappears, and Mateo cries. Elena hugs him and tells him that she's sorry. They see a light in the sky. Ash is trying to use her scepter. They have to stop them, but Mateo doesn't think he can do it and stays behind. Elena tells Esteban, Ash, and Zopilote that the scepter only channels good magic. Mateo appears and levitates it back to her. He flips Ash and Zopilote upside down, making them drop their tamboritas. Zopilote transforms into a vulture, so Mateo changes him into a different kind of bird, and he's chased away by a hawk. Elena tries to blast Esteban and Ash, but they teleport away. Back at their cave, Ash blames Esteban and Elena for what happened to Zopilote. This made more sense in the original animatic version, where it sounds like Elena turned him into a crystal statue. She was aiming for Esteban, but Zopilote saved him, which seems out of character for a villain like him. Esteban still doesn't want to hurt his family. Ash points out that unlike him, Elena wasn't holding back. She won't stop until they're captured, or worse. They have to get her back for what she's done to Zopilote, Carla, and Esteban himself. Ash says there are others who would be willing to assist them. They have to gather them and join forces. They can defeat Elena together, and Esteban agrees. In the secret library, Elena gives Mateo a master wizard robe and a sunbird tamborita. He knows Alacazar is proud of him. Speaking of which, I'm dedicating this review to my grandpa. Tomorrow is Thursday, October 31st, 2019. I'll be doing my annual rewatch of A Day to Remember, one of my favorite Elena of Avalor episodes. And then on Saturday, RWBY Volume 7 *finally* premieres. I can't wait! Is it weird that I'm actually kind of glad, or at least surprised, that this episode *didn't* have a content warning for Alacazar's death, like they did for an episode of The Lion Guard, *Amphibia*, and *The Owl House*? I know that content warnings are very important for some people, whether they're veterans, parents of young children so they can make informed decisions about what their kids should watch, or someone else who needs them for whatever reason. I just think it's weird that there wasn't one this time. Maybe it's because of the impossible way the character died, via magic; instead of something realistic or graphic like old age or a stabbing? You know what else is weird? Unless it's a good/heroic character, people never seem to realistically react to death or implied death on this show. For example, quite a few villains die or suffer some other horrible fate over the course of the series, and you could argue that they all deserve it, but the heroes are never traumatized or even really react at all to the whole "I just killed someone" or "I indirectly caused their death" thing. I would say that's the most unrealistic thing about this series. And it's not unique to this show either. The same thing happens with Bunga, the comic relief main character, arguably being responsible for the villain Ushari's death in the season 3 premiere of The Lion Guard (and Ono's impaired vision, which he doesn't seem to realize is kind of his fault, and he never feels guilty about it). It's also the same thing with Makini's loud blabbermouth tendencies being indirectly responsible for the conflicts in seasons 2 and 3, meaning that she's also indirectly responsible for a lot of the bad things that happen in those seasons too, but she never realizes it or feels guilty about it either. It's like I have some sort of instinctual sixth sense for angst potential. Yes, I'm basically saying that I have a nose for angst or trauma, like an emotion bloodhound. At least here though, the main characters know that ghosts and the Spirit World exists, so no one is ever truly gone.