Elena of Avalor S2 E13

## Plot

The episode starts with Armando rushing through Castillo Park. He brought Elena and Naomi snacks, an order for more flowers, and Elena's welcome speech. She forgot it, and said she wanted to practice. They also need confetti for the opening ceremony. Armando doesn't rest until Elena does. She tells him that he's become a great chief of the castle. Esteban walks by, and snidely reminds them that it took two years. Everyone is preparing for the first All Kingdoms Fair since Elena became crown princess. Merchants, artists, and musicians will be coming from all over the Ever Realm. The annual Magister of Trade election is a week away, but Doña Paloma is already planning her victory party. No one ever runs against her, and a man named Martin says it's because everyone is scared of her. She's been Magister of Trade for 12 years. She claims that each year, Avalor gets richer, but Martin says they don't get as rich as her. Elena asks for a dozen buckets of confetti, but Doña Paloma tells her that all the confetti is for her victory party. Armando knows someone at the paper mill, and says he'll give them all the confetti they need. When he opens an RSVP, he says the girls will have to do the fair without him. His older brother, Santos Gutierrez, is coming to the fair to sell cheese from his dairy farm. Armando says he's better than him at everything. Santos always told him that he destroyed everything he touched. Elena decides to show him how far he's come by putting him in charge of the fair. A week later, Santos and his mother Rosario arrive. Armando screws up in front of Santos, who keeps making fun of him. Doña Paloma doesn't remember Julio and Carmen, even though she helped them with their Navidad float last year. Julio asks her what her plans are to spruce up the Via Mercado, but she doesn't listen to any of his ideas. He decides to run for Magister of Trade. There aren't any customers at Santos and Rosario's booth. Armando suggests offering free samples, but Santos disagrees, and makes him angry. He accidentally wrecks the booth. Elena says that Armando couldn't blossom until he got out of his brother's shadow, because he always hogged the spotlight, and thinks he's always right. She and Naomi need to keep Armando and Santos away from each other. They take the cow, Bonita, and Santos leaves to look for her. Doña Paloma finds out about Julio running for Magister of Trade. Santos and Bonita return to the booth. He blames Armando for the lack of customers. Rosario thinks he does the best he can. Elena tells Santos that Armando isn't the bumbling brother he once knew. If he didn't put him down so much, he wouldn't get rattled. Santos gives many examples of him screwing up as a kid, and says he's a disaster waiting to happen. Armando overhears, and accidentally drops a match on a bale of hay, starting a fire. He quickly puts it out, but it freaks out a donkey, who kicks open the fenced enclosure, and scares all the other animals. They stampede through the fair and into the inn. Rosario decides to take Armando home, and he agrees. Santos leaves too. Elena tries to stop them, but without Armando, everyone turns to her for help. At sunset, she shows up at the farm. She tells him that when Santos wasn't watching him, he helped drive out Shuriki, stopped Victor and Carla, and created the schedule the whole castle runs on. He only screwed up because Santos was putting him down, and he got upset. He decides to go back. He finally stands up to Santos, and their mom tells him that he's become a great man. At the park, Armando decides that everyone who was staying at the inn can camp there for the night. The next day, Julio wins the Magister of Trade position in a landslide. He gets lots of requests at once. He and Esteban see how upset Doña Paloma is at the outcome. He decides to hire her as his assistant. After he leaves though, she voices that when he fails, she'll take over again. Esteban reveals to her that he suggested that Julio run, and then that he make her his assistant, all so he could humiliate her. Someone just dealt a major, arguably disproportionate, blow to his… sitcom arch-nemesis? Frenemy? Love interest? Thanks to Armando's free sample idea, there's finally a crowd at Santos and Rosario's booth. Everyone loved his sleepover idea too. Rosario points out to Santos that Armando's idea worked, and they almost sold out. He thanks his little brother, and apologizes for putting him down all the time.

## Review

This was an okay episode. I'm not gonna lie, I didn't expect a focus episode on Armando, of all characters. What about a Luisa or Francisco focus episode? I didn't expect Doña Paloma's or Julio's sudden change in career, and I look forward to this change in the status quo. Unlike Hortensia, I hope Julio succeeds. I loved Esteban's cameos throughout the episode, mostly because they were funny. Christian Lanz's delivery was hilarious.