Elena of Avalor S2 E15

## Plot

This episode has a new intro, which is a little weird. Sure, other shows like Sofia the First and The Lion Guard get new intros too, but this show didn't get one for its first special, and as we'll see later on, it might be the end of a major story arc, not the beginning of one. Regardless, I like it. Anyways, Elena, her family, and her friends are sailing to the summer palace in Nueva Vista. Elena is practicing with her scepter, and shows the others a new power Zuzo taught her in one of the shorts. When she says vanish, the scepter glows white, and it turns things invisible. She tries to make herself invisible, but her head, neck, and shoulders are still there. She's only made objects fully invisible with it. She reminisces about going fishing every summer with her cousin Cristóbal. Gabe mentions the time Esteban said he was her only cousin, and Naomi says he exaggerates. They addressed and made a joke out of their own plot hole. Not bad. They see two sirenas and a giant seahorse near them. Suddenly, Scarlett and Daniel take out crossbows, and start shooting arrows at them. Naomi says that sirenas are dangerous. They put sailors under a trance with their song to make them crash their ships. Elena says they're not singing though, and Mateo can't remember the last time sirenas caused a shipwreck. Elena orders the Turners to stop firing, and destroys Daniel's crossbow with blaze. The female sirena, Marisa, saw her, and stops her brother Marzel from retaliating. Elena tells the Turners that she isn't going to attack someone who hasn't attacked her first. Marzel is angry, because sirenas haven't sunk a ship since before he and his sister were born, but humans still come after them. Marisa says it's because no one has told them that they've changed. She wants to tell Elena, and then have her spread the word to the rest of the humans. Shuriki, Fiero, Cruz, and Vestia have also arrived at Nueva Vista. Shuriki has mastered the Scepter of Night. Elena reunites with her paternal cousin Duke Cristóbal, who has kept watch over the city. They're having a festival tomorrow to celebrate Elena for defeating Shuriki. Elena tells him that she's still alive, and more powerful than ever. He points out that she is too, and she has her family by her side. He gives her a necklace. Is that just gonna be a running gag throughout these specials, like RWBY and the beautiful paintings? The highlight of the festival will be a masquerade parade. The whole city will dress up as they sail through the canal. Esteban tells Cristóbal about running into sirenas. Naomi says they were about to attack their ship, but Elena says they don't know that. She doesn't remember them ever being a problem when she visited, but Cristóbal says that's because her parents protected her from the truth. Her father never told her what happened to his brother, her uncle and Cristóbal's father. He was on a ship heading home, when it was sunk by sirenas. If Cristóbal had his way, he'd lock them all up in a tower. Marisa is the princess of the sirenas, and Marzel is the prince. Their father and mother are King Pescoro and Queen Camila. General Daria told them that they were spotted near a human ship. Marisa wants to talk to Elena alone, and tell her that the sirenas have changed. Her father tells her that her heart is always in the right place, but the humans despise them, and with good reason. He forbids her or any other sirena in Coronado to approach the humans. Marisa asks her mother for help, since she knows more than anyone how much they have in common with humans, but she says it's impossible to make amends, and that she knows them too well. Marisa decides to talk to Elena anyways, and Marzel follows her. Victor and Carla meet up with Shuriki and Fiero. Migs, Luna, and Skylar are flying to Nueva Vista to surprise Elena. They see Shuriki and dive towards her, but she uses a new scepter power to blind them, giving her time to escape. They tell the others that she's here. Gabe and Naomi will search with them while Elena and Mateo scout the parade route, and Cristóbal promises to double security for the festival. While doing that though, Elena is put under a trance by Marisa, who brings her to a mural of sirenas in a quiet side canal to talk in private. She gets on land, and her tail transforms into a pair of legs. Only she and her brother can do that, because they're actually half-human. Their mother was a human who fell into the ocean from one of the sirena attacks, because the sirenas thought that they were just defending their home. Their father felt guilty, and used magic kelp called milagras, Spanish for miracles, to save her by transforming her into a sirena. And we get our second onscreen kiss thanks to them. After Camila became queen, she asked for the fighting to stop, and Pescoro agreed. They never sank a ship again. Marisa wants Elena to tell the other humans that the sirenas are good now. She's not sure, because a lot of people lost their lives in those shipwrecks, including her uncle. Marisa wishes she could undo the past, but all she can do is give Elena her word that those days are over. Elena believes her, but they also have to convince Cristóbal. He agrees to listen, but it was all a trick, and his guards trap them in nets. Elena frees Marisa, who frees Marzel, and they escape. Cristóbal tells Elena that what the sirenas told her was a lie. He's dealt with them his whole life, and she just met them. He already lost his father, and he doesn't want to lose her too. Marzel thinks everything Elena told them was a lie to lure them into a trap, but Marisa says she looked as surprised as they were. The next day, everyone gets on the boats. Elena is supposed to ride the last boat alone as the guest of honor, but Gabe, Mateo, and Naomi go with her. Marisa sees her on the boat. They see people in Shuriki masks, which is unnerving. Gabe, Naomi, and Mateo leave on the jaquins to go after Victor and Carla, who were spotted on a bridge. Cristóbal fires confetti from cannons, and the men rowing Elena's boat go into a side canal, which leads straight to Fiero and Shuriki. She and Elena clash with their blaze and darkfire abilities, which Elena appears to be winning, so Fiero helps out. Elena tries making herself vanish, but Shuriki can still see the necklace Cristóbal gave her, and uses chaos on her, which confuses her. Then she uses darkfire again to send her into the water. Her scepter is left in the wreckage, and she loses her necklace. Marisa finds her on the ocean floor, unconscious and barely alive. She takes her to the milagras. She's hoping that if she just wraps her chest, she'll be able to breathe, but won't turn into a sirena, and it works. Marzel asks her what she's doing there. She explains that she was attacked by the sorceress who is trying to take over her kingdom, and has to go back. Marisa offers the sirenas' help, because this is their chance to finally show the humans that they've changed. Gabe, Naomi, and Mateo have lost Victor and Carla. They see that Elena is gone, and search all the side canals for her. Pescoro and Camila tell Marisa that when she was a toddler, they took her to see the shore. She jumped on a rock, and they discovered her ability to gain legs on land. Two sailors spotted them, and thought she was a human girl under a trance. They tried to "save" her, but her parents took her back underwater. It had been years since they had stopped sinking ships. Pescoro realized that humans would always despise them, and he decreed that sirenas would never approach them again. Marisa says she understands, but those men didn't know who or what she was, and the humans don't know that they're good now. However, Pescoro still says that they and humans are too different, and Camila tells Marisa to escort Elena back to her world. The two princesses still want to make amends though. Marzel follows them. Shuriki, Fiero, Victor, and Carla ambush the rest of the royal family, and have them locked in a tower. Cristóbal finds Elena's scepter, and she talks to him. He reveals that he betrayed his family for gold from Shuriki, and throws the scepter into the water. Marisa tries to save her, but the guards capture her too. Marzel takes the scepter, and leaves to get help. Naomi and Luna spot Elena and Marisa, and they tell them that Cristóbal is working for Shuriki. They're thrown into a cell with the others, and tell them that Cristóbal is on Shuriki's side. Naomi and Luna tell the others what happened. It's up to them to save the royal family. Gabe has a pretty good idea about where they're being held prisoner. Cristóbal tells Shuriki that her attempt to kill Elena failed, and she's being held in the tower. Gabe, Mateo, Naomi, and the jaquins break everyone out and bring them back to their ship. Shuriki and Fiero go after them on Cruz and Vestia, and Cristóbal heads out in his own ship with Victor and Carla. Elena tells Esteban to get Isabel and their grandparents below deck. He points out that she doesn't have her scepter. Mateo freezes Vestia, which causes her, Fiero, Cruz, and Shuriki to land on Cristóbal's boat. Elena picks up a crossbow, but all of their enemies have magic, and they cause a sail to fall. Luckily, Mateo saves Gabe and Naomi with his magic. Scarlett is hurt though. Elena leaves on Skylar, because Shuriki is after her. Suddenly, the sirenas attack Cristóbal's boat. Marisa joins them, and they crash the boat into the palace wall. Marzel gives Elena her scepter back. She and Shuriki fight in the sky, while the others decide to barricade themselves in the palace. Before they can though, they're attacked by Gabe, Mateo, Luna, and Migs. Luna picks up the duke. Gabe disarms Victor, and Migs disarms Carla. Mateo battles Fiero, and it's even more impressive than their first duel. He levitates his feet to allow himself to walk sideways on a wall, and kicks Fiero hard enough to disarm him. However, the shot he dodged hits Migs instead, allowing Victor and Carla to get their tamboritas and escape. Fiero gets his tamborita back when Gabe calls out to Mateo. He takes Gabe's sword, lodges it into a wall, and takes him hostage. Mateo drops his tamborita in surrender. Naomi *finally* joins the battle and lassos Fiero's wrist. Gabe elbows him and throws Mateo's tamborita back to him, and he turns Fiero to stone again. That was awesome! Migs informs them that Victor and Carla escaped, but Luna tells them that the duke didn't. Shuriki casts chaos on Skylar, causing him to crash. Elena casts blaze, and the shot hits Cruz's wing. Shuriki jumps off and casts darkfire. It hits the jewel of the Scepter of Light, which goes flying out of Elena's hand. Cruz decides to leave. Elena picks up her scepter. It seems like Shuriki's spell caused it to malfunction. Shuriki says that when she's through with her, she's going to finish off the rest of her family. Elena tries casting vanish on herself, but it doesn't work. She tries again, and it works, but Shuriki's demolish barely misses her. She casts blaze, and all that's left is the Scepter of Night's jewel, which Cruz takes. Elena tries to cast blaze on him, but she's too tired. Skylar tells her that it doesn't matter, because she got Shuriki. It's finally over, and she and Skylar cuddle as the sun sets. Victor and Carla are hiding in the duke's crashed ship. Cruz tells them that the orb is all that's left of Shuriki, but Victor says that's more than enough, and Cruz will fly them out of here as soon as they unfreeze his sister. Elena tells the others that Shuriki is gone for good this time, and Cristóbal is locked up. Elena declares the sirenas their friends. Pescoro tells Marisa that she was right. However, Naomi and Esteban don't look happy. I expect that from Esteban, but Naomi? I think someone's jealous. Especially since the special ends as Elena and Marisa hug.

## Review

I liked this special, but I wish it could've been longer. The main story arc seems to have been resolved almost anticlimactically, but it's not quite over yet, since Victor, Carla, Cruz, and Vestia are still out there. I like the twist they had on the whole humans vs. mermaids conflict. It doesn't feel like a retread of what we've seen in other stories, including The Floating Palace. For starters, the sirenas have pointy ears and colorful designs. Marisa also admits that the sirenas have done terrible things in the past, and outright says they used to be evil. They still haven't resolved things with humans because of no communication at all, instead of a miscommunication, and people like Duke Cristóbal don't help. There might even be sirenas who wish they could go back to sinking ships. Marisa is peaceful and idealistic, and I love her voice actress, Gina Rodriguez. Who knew she could sing? She played the title character on *Jane the Virgin*. All of the actors they got for the sirenas are great. Prince Royce as Prince Marzel, Edward James Olmos as King Pescoro, Rosario Dawson as General Daria, and Rita Moreno, arguably one of the most famous Latin American actresses ever, as Queen Camila. Also, she was on the *One Day at a Time* reboot. The animation is amazing. You can actually see that Marisa's face is wet after she breaks the surface of the water, as well as a few water droplets. The lighting and facial expressions are breathtaking. And now I'm going to take an inordinate amount of time to talk about my favorite character after Elena, Mateo. We see how far he's come in terms of his magic abilities, and how far he and Gabe have come in terms of their friendship and individual character development. In the first episode, Mateo could barely blast a few Noblins back with his Fenci spell. In episode 4, he had to concentrate to levitate himself and some presents. In episode 5, his force field spell caused the dome to collapse with him and his friends inside, nearly crushing them, but he also levitated and put down Gabe effortlessly, and was able to blast Fiero through a door with the proper motivation, i.e., to prevent Elena from being turned to stone. Gabe also didn’t believe in him until he saved the day in the end. In episode 20, he hadn't memorized a vanishing spell yet, and couldn't freeze a water spirit without Olivia's help. In this episode, he’s able to levitate Esteban and Isabel at the same time, cast a Fenci spell powerful enough to make Fiero and Vestia spin out of control for a while and blast four people off their feet, cast an ice spell to freeze Vestia solid while she's in mid-air, cast a Jiboku spell to protect Gabe and Naomi from a falling sail, which ended up encompassing a good chunk of the royal galleon; deflected one of Fiero’s spells back at him while jumping off of Luna, levitated just his feet to walk sideways on a wall, kicked Fiero hard enough to knock him back and disarm him, only hesitated for a second when he had to choose between Gabe or blasting Fiero, and Gabe trusted him enough to tell him to blast Fiero anyways, and once Gabe was safe, he turned Fiero to stone again. This is the same guy who could barely give Elena a lift with Gabe’s help. Although in their defense, she was wearing heels. He also collapsed after holding Naomi bridal carry style after saving her from Victor, and could barely do two pushups. Instead of trying to physically grab Victor again, and realistically he would’ve gotten a concussion for his troubles last time, since Victor is a malvago now, Gabe disarms him with his sword. Also, I found a new ship I like: Elena and Marisa. Their interactions are so sweet, and they care about each other pretty much instantly. I dare anyone to deny the subtext! I think that if Shuriki is truly gone for good, then Victor and Carla will be the Big Bads for the rest of season 2. It would certainly be an unexpected twist. Or Shuriki could be imprisoned in the orb, just like Elena was imprisoned in the amulet. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.