Elena of Avalor S3 E1

## Plot

Elena, Isabel, Luisa, Francisco, and Naomi are having a small party with Quique, Amara, and Cristina to celebrate Isabel completing her engineering college course with honors. Gabe comes in, and tells Elena that "he" has agreed to talk, but only to her. Isabel sees them leaving and asks what's going on, but Elena tells her that it's nothing for her to worry about. She questions Victor in the dungeon, but he just says that he won't tell her anything. She offers to cut his jail time if he tells her where Ash and Carla are. He refuses to betray his family, but she points out that they left him behind. It bothers him, but he doesn't let her see it. What he does accidentally let her and Gabe see is his look of shock after Elena mentions their cabin in Cordoba, after he claimed that they didn't have a home. He didn't know Gabe and the guards had found it, so Ash and Carla don't know either. If they think it's safe, they might go back there. Elena and Gabe decide to set up an ambush at the cabin with Naomi and Mateo. But, if the cabin is in Cordoba, couldn't they get help from their kingdom's royal guards, even if they're not that effective? Or Gabe could lead a squad of his best guards, like he did at the end of season 2. Still, it's nice to see that he's now well aware that Elena can take care of herself and doesn't need protecting. He gets Naomi from the party, which Isabel sees. She grabs her go-pack and follows them to Mateo's room, where she eavesdrops on their conversation. Maybe it's just because I hadn't seen these characters in a new episode since June 2019 four months previously, and I hadn't seen Isabel specifically since the Navidad episode from almost a full year before, but Isabel's expressions in particular seem more… lively, I guess? Or realistic? Or maybe the animation in general has improved. Anyways, she learns that they plan to leave that night to track down Ash and Carla. Mateo points out that Elena still doesn't have her scepter back, but she says she doesn't need it. She and Gabe have swords, Mateo has his tamborita, and Naomi is an expert with her lasso. Isabel accidentally makes some noise, which Gabe hears. He opens the door, and all her stuff spills out of her bag. They're always going off on adventures without her. She wants to join the team. Elena refuses, saying that it's way too dangerous. Isabel says she knows how to handle herself though, since she's been to college, and her inventions might help them catch Ash and Carla. Elena tells her that she'd just get in the way, and she leaves in a huff. Naturally, she sneaks along anyways, and Gabe and Mateo somehow fail to notice her in the luggage cart of the carriage. She falls asleep. Elena and Naomi will go in through the back of the cabin while Gabe and Mateo go through the front. Isabel wakes up and sees that they're going without her. When she gets out, she makes a lot of noise, which might've alerted Ash and Carla, so Elena tells them to go. No one is there though. Elena scolds Isabel, but she isn't paying attention to her. She finds a trail of blue rocks that lead to the cabin. Ash and Carla must've dragged them in at some point. If they can figure out what the blue rocks are and where they came from, then they can figure out where Ash and Carla might've gone. Isabel says the rocks are pumice, lava rocks. This kind of blue pumice only exists at Xotep, a volcano in central Avalor with blue lava. Ash and Carla head there to get new tamboritas. They meet Ash's mentor, a malvago who can shapeshift into a vulture, named Zopilote. He's voiced by a man, but his humanoid appearance reminds me of the old hag disguise from *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs*. Since Ash is back, it means she must've failed. She promises that it won't happen again, and says they need new tamboritas. He only has one spare though, which he gives to Carla, who just wants to rescue her dad already, something Ash isn't too eager to do. Zopilote tells her that he's going to give her something even better than a tamborita. Elena wants to take Isabel home, but the others recognize that she could help them, and they should head to Xotep right away if they want to catch Ash and Carla. Isabel even has a map to it. Elena agrees to let her stay, but only if she stays in the coach once they get there. Zopilote gives Ash a puzzle map to Takaína, the source of all Maruvian magic, where they used a crystal forge to make their magical jewels, scepters, and amulets. Even he wasn't able to solve it though. He leaves, and I have to admit, I thought he'd be a bigger part of the episode than just giving the antagonists their latest MacGuffin. Ash sings a villain song about her backstory. When she was a little girl, Zopilote came to her village and stole everything. She learned that the most wicked always wins, tracked him down, and trained under him for ten years. Her song actually reminds me of Steppin' Up, Elena's fencing training montage song, from way back in season 1. Also, *wow*, can Grey Griffin sing! Anyways, Ash tells Carla that they're going to Takaína first instead of rescuing Victor, and power is all that matters in this world. She starts trying to solve the puzzle while Carla practices her dark magic. Elena and the others get to Xotep, and hear Carla banging her tamborita from a cave. Isabel wants to help them, but Elena reminds her to stay in the coach. She gives her a new invention to help her, but she accidentally leaves it behind. They manage to take Ash and Carla by surprise, and Ash takes Zopilote's tamborita when Carla asks her for help. Elena, Mateo, Gabe, and Naomi are forced to take cover. Isabel sees that Elena forgot her bolas, and heads to the cave. Ash destroys Gabe and Naomi's cover. In the chaos, she dropped the puzzle, which is getting knocked all over the place. Isabel is able to lasso Carla's feet, making her drop her tamborita. Elena is surprised that she's there. Carla is bigger than Isabel is though, so she's able to drag her forward, causing her to accidentally trip Mateo, whose spell accidentally sends Elena flying over a ledge on the other side of the volcano. Before Mateo can save her, Ash casts a spell at him, which he blocks with his tamborita, damaging it. Carla gets her tamborita back, Ash gets the puzzle back, and they leave. Before Naomi and Gabe can go after them, they have to save Elena. Mateo can't levitate her because his tamborita is too badly damaged. Naomi tries throwing her lasso to her, but she's too far away. Isabel realizes that they can get the lasso to her by using a lever. They build one out of rocks with Gabe, Naomi, and Mateo as weight. They're able to get a rock that they tied the lasso to into a small crevice, creating a tightrope for Elena. However, the rock comes loose, and when they try to pull her up, the rope starts fraying, and going faster just makes it worse. Isabel gives the rope from her bolas to Gabe to save her. Elena thanks them, but they tell her that it was all Isabel's idea. She admits that she's the one who put her in danger in the first place though, and Elena was right, she can't do what they do after all. Elena agrees, she can't… But they can't do what she does either. She can be on the team.