Elena of Avalor S1 E1

Okay, so because business executives are stupid, they decided to air the first ten episodes of the season before the prequel fully fleshed out the backstory of this show and its characters. Some new ones are introduced here, but they either needed to move the special up or push the show back. Then again, I had been looking forward to this show for almost a year and a half by that point. So we have a short prologue/preamble/prelude to get us up to speed at the beginning of the episode. I'm fine with it, since it does create a nice hook for the crossover in case you're not a fan of Sofia the First. The two shows are very similar though, and most of this series' fan base comes from that show, myself included. Anyways…

## Plot

On Elena's 15th birthday/quinces, her parents gave her a special, and for some of us, familiar gift/family heirloom: The Amulet of Avalor. One year later, an evil sorceress named Shuriki invaded Avalor, and killed her parents. The kingdom's royal wizard, Alacazar, could protect the rest of the family with a spell that put them in an enchanted painting. However, he needed time to cast it, so Elena decided to face Shuriki on her own. Shuriki tried to kill her, but the amulet saved her life… by imprisoning her inside of it. This turned the amulet from its original red color to the purple color seen on *Sofia the First*. Alacazar found the amulet, and his spirit animal Zuzo sent him on a journey to free Elena. It took 41 years (and a bit of help), but Elena was finally freed from the amulet. She rescued her grandparents and little sister Isabel from the painting, and with the help of the citizens of Avalor, defeated and overthrew Shuriki. Since she was the eldest child of the rightful king and queen, that meant that she would rule the kingdom. First of all, the music is amazing. The songs almost never fail to impress me. The animation is also excellent, though I always watch the show in HD, so that might have something to do with it. The sheer amount of detail to little things is excellent. And no offense to *Sofia the First*, but I think the hair is better here. Anyways, we meet Elena's modes of transportation/jaquin friends: Migs, Luna, and Skylar. Migs is the responsible one, Luna is the sassy female one, and Skylar is the fun loving mischievous one. According to supplementary materials, they're part jaguar and part macaw. Cool. Elena's coronation to be officially crowned queen is that night. While getting a present for her little sister Isabel, Elena sees Zuzo. However, people can't see spirit animals unless a wizard summons them. Elena mentions that she's felt a little different since she was freed from the amulet. Zuzo speculates that when she finally got out of the amulet after so long, she took some of its magic with her, making her magical. Elena gives Isabel a journal to design all of her inventions. Isabel is a smart, budding young inventor voiced by Jenna Ortega. There's also their maternal grandparents, Luisa and Francisco, voiced by Julia Vera and Emiliano Díez, and their maternal cousin Esteban, voiced by Christian Lanz. Their parents were Queen Lucia and King Raul. Elena's full name is Elena Castillo Flores. This means that one of her parent's last names was Castillo, and the other's was Flores. Also, castillo means castle and flores means flowers. We later find out that Luisa and Francisco's last name is Flores, and Lucia was one of their daughters. Basically, Luisa is optimistic, Francisco is wise, and Esteban is snooty. They tell Elena that she's not becoming queen that night, because Esteban found a rule in the kingdom's bylaws last night that said she's too young to become queen. She has to be at least 20 years old, and she's only 16. She points out that she was trapped and aware in the amulet for 41 years, but since she didn't age, that doesn't count. Instead, she'll become the kingdom's crown princess that night, and will rule with the help of a grand council until she comes of age. Basically, a grand council is a group of advisors that can help the ruler make the best decisions. Elena thinks that she's ready to rule now though, and decides to prove it to them by meeting with the leaders of the city to make sure they have what they need to rebuild their kingdom. Once they get to the port, Elena meets a new royal guard, Lt. Gabriel Núñez, voiced by Jorge Diaz. While she talks to the harbor master, Captain Daniel Turner, they're interrupted by his fifteen year old daughter, Naomi, voiced by Jillian Rose Reed. She tells Elena that three ships have gone missing that day. Elena wants to lead the search to find them, but Esteban reminds her that she wanted to meet with the leaders of the city, and they leave, but Elena promises to come back as soon as she's done. Isabel stays behind to sketch some boats, and Gabe is assigned to watch her. They notice purple dogs boarding a boat and sneak onboard to investigate. They're magical creatures, and they quickly notice, capture, and tie up the two. Remember, it's only Gabe's first day on the job. Then again, he's supposed to be the best fencer in the royal guard and won their fencing tournament last year, so it still doesn't make sense. And *even then*, Shuriki was still in power until recently, and I doubt someone like Gabe would willingly work for her. Oh well, slapstick's gotta slapstick. Naomi sees them leaving with the ship. She tells Elena, who decides to look for the ship with Naomi's help. They don't see them on the ocean because the ship just left. Naomi describes the thieves to Elena, who decides to get help from someone magical. She met Mateo during the special. He's Alacazar's grandson, and self-taught in magic. He's voiced by Joseph Haro. It turns out that he and Naomi go to school together. This is literally the only time any of the teenage characters mention going to school. They either graduate offscreen or drop out at some point given how busy and hectic their lives become after meeting Elena. I'm just saying, they constantly go on adventures or are in meetings at all times of the day, and they all technically have jobs. They discover that the creatures are Noblins, not to be confused with goblins. They can transform into dogs, turn objects into gold, and never like leaving home. They decide to search near their home, on the river. Zuzo tries to give Elena some advice, but she's in too much of a hurry to listen. Isabel leaves a trail for them with pages from her journal after they start turning down a side river. They find the missing ships and free Isabel and Gabe, but they don't have much of a plan beyond that. During the chaos, Zuzo gives Elena some advice. She realizes that she's not ready to rule, since she never stopped and thought about *why* the Noblins took the ships. She asks Jiku, the leader of the Noblins, why they're stealing the ships. He explains that they're just trying to get home. Shuriki captured them and locked them up in the city for years because they could turn objects into gold, making her rich. "[I]f you made infinite gold, it would devalue the price of all gold." -Huey Duck, the smart one, to his greedy and lazy brother Louie Duck, from the season 3 episode of *DuckTales (2017)*, "Let's Get Dangerous!" Gabe explains that Elena, who defeated Shuriki, is the reason that they're free. Elena lets them take the ships, as long as they get them back after. They all return to the palace for the ball. Elena appoints Luisa, Naomi, Esteban, and Francisco to her grand council. She officially becomes the crown princess. When she grabs the royal scepter, it starts to glow, which it's never done before. The episode ends with her sitting on the throne, with all of her family and friends by her side, and Skylar, Migs, and Luna flying around the throne room.

## Review

I'll admit it, while I was excited for this show when it was first announced, I was also worried. I thought it would just be *Dora the Explorer* with princesses on Disney. But it's actually really good! Great! Fantastic, even. Every episode keeps exceeding or subverting my expectations. It keeps me on my toes. I just love, love, *love* everything about this show, especially the magical lore. I'm so excited to learn about the powers of the scepter! It adds a level of mystery into the show. Of course, it's more unwieldy than an amulet that's worn all the time, so sadly Elena won't be bringing it with her everywhere, even if that would be really cool. I love Zuzo, despite his small role. Keith Ferguson is great in the role, and I love the design of all the spirit animals, but we'll get into that later. It was hilarious foreshadowing when I realized that Zuzo, as a future vision joke, told Elena to hurry downstairs or she'd be late to breakfast, but instead she took her time and talked to Isabel first. Then she and Isa literally raced to breakfast. And then Elena spent the day rushing around, when she should've slowed down, taken a deep breath to calm down, and thought about the situation logically and rationally.