Tangled: The Series S3 E1-2

We start the long awaited season 3 premiere with a minute and a half recap of almost everything important that's happened so far, excluding only the stuff that happened with Varian at the end of season 1. A recap makes sense to me, considering the fact that the cliffhanger that was the season 2 finale of the series aired on April 14, 2019, and the first episode of season 3 aired on October 7th of the same year, almost exactly six months later. What is up lately with Disney's animated TV shows that don't premiere on their streaming service just going on hiatus for months, then coming back and bombing off episodes, possibly going on another hiatus for months, and then bombing off the remainder of the episodes until the show ends? And so far they only have three seasons instead of four like Sofia the First did. This has happened with The Lion Guard, Elena of Avalor, and now it's happening with *Tangled*, which will end a little less than three years after the pilot aired. I get that it's been almost a decade since the movie came out, but still. What about the *Big Hero 6* series, which is also based on a previously existing property? Its third season only had 19 episodes, like the final season of *The Lion Guard*, and that's only if you count every 11 minute segment as its own individual episode. If you don't, it only adds up to ten. I ended up not even watching the final season. Sure, I had complaints about the first two seasons, but this wasn't how I would fix them. Yes, I think Disney took their sweet time giving us any information on *DuckTales*' third and final season as well. It's like they're trying to get their animated stuff off the air as quickly as possible so they can put it on their new streaming service. Amphibia's first season was done airing in a little over a month! The crew had to produce *ten* episodes at the same time! I already knew that overworking, burnout, lack of proper advertisement, and the law of diminishing returns were problems in the entertainment industry, particularly video games and children's cartoons, but holy shit! The same thing happened to *The Owl House*, because of course it did. I no longer have a Disney+ subscription, so I can't support them that way. Luckily, DisneyNOW still exists, and my household caved and decided to get cable again, so I was able to watch the *DuckTales* series finale. And then in May 2021, the company metaphorically shat on the hard work that the crews of *Amphibia* and *The Owl House* did by pushing back the season 2 finale of *Amphibia* at the last minute, not announcing a new release date (it ended up airing a month later), thereby ensuring that it would be leaked, and by only giving the crew of *The Owl House* **THREE** special 44 minute long episodes for their final season. They're probably also going to treat *The Ghost and Molly McGee* the same way, and possibly every single one of their non-exclusive, not on the streaming service right away animated shows from now on, which reminds me of Cartoon Network levels of decay, before animated shows like *Adventure Time*, *Steven Universe*, and possibly even Ninjago saved their asses. At least with *Gravity Falls*, Alex Hirsch chose to end it at two seasons so it wouldn't undergo seasonal rot. Hell, I think he almost ended it after just one season, despite the massive cliffhanger, because he was just **that** anxious about it. A lot of people think that Disney cancelled *The Owl House* because some of its main characters are LGBTQIA+, and this company in particular has been so far behind the curve in terms of that kind of representation that it probably doesn't even know that said curve exists. You see, companies that distribute TV shows make money overseas by basically selling the episodes to a local studio that will dub it in their language and air it in their country. The problem is, a lot of those countries are super homophobic, so they don't air the episodes or purchase the distribution rights for shows like *Steven Universe* and *The Owl House*, or at least episodes with the most obvious LGBTQIA+ subtext or interactions. Even if they do, they'll heavily censor them. The American companies put their bottom line above all else, because of course they do, capitalism is awful and they only pretend to care about LGBTQIA+ people one month of the year. Okay, the rant is finally over. Eventually, Dana Terrace, the creator of *The Owl House*, posted that she thinks it was because some idiot guy up top (my words, not hers) just decided one day that TOH didn't fit the specific Disney brand due to the audience skewing older than they wanted. The good news is that I have Disney+, but the subscription will expire in 2024 because the company upped their prices. Or, you know, my household could just move to a lower, and therefore cheaper, tier. We already have to watch ads when we use Max and Hulu.

## Plot

Anyways, we actually start the episode with finally learning what Cass saw after she went through that door in the House of Yesterday's Tomorrows. At least we get to see her cool knight-esque outfit one more time. Yes, I'm still upset that it was destroyed. I wonder if there's cosplay of it? I'm seeing lots of season 1, 3, and series finale outfits, but no armor with a cape. The voice that was calling for Cass belonged to a creepy ghost girl, and I'm going to refer to her as that because I like it better than calling her Enchanted Girl like the credits do. She claims that she's a friend and takes Cass to a cottage that feels familiar to her. This is because she used to live there with her biological mother when she was four. It turns out that, once again, the fan theorists were right, because Cassandra's biological mother was… Gothel! Wow. I did not see that coming. Another thing I didn't see coming? Cass betraying Rapunzel completely of her own free will. Anyways, Gothel didn't love Cass and simply used her as a tiny maid. She left one night to get some of Rapunzel's hair. All Cass wanted was her love and affection, but she never got it. That night, Gothel came back to the cottage, but hid behind a large boulder because the guards were chasing her. They searched the cottage, but only found Cass, who saw her mother in the distance… as she used a sword to cut the rope bridge to the cottage and abandoned her in favor of the key to eternal youth and beauty. The captain of the guards told her that she'd be safe with him, but she cried and wanted her mother. Cass was devastated by the truth, and realized that she'd always felt out shined by Rapunzel. The ghost girl told her that she'd always feel that way, unless she took the moonstone for herself. It's revealed that Cass is telling Rapunzel and Eugene this in the present. Rapunzel tries to reason with Cass by reminding her that they're friends. In fact, they're basically sisters. However, Cass is angry that she's been cast aside her whole life for Rapunzel. And then Lance, Adira, and Max come in at the worst possible moment. Cass tells Rapunzel to stay back, and accidentally blasts her away with the black rocks. Luckily, her hair protects her. Adira tries to fight Cass and tells her to release the moonstone, but Cass also blasts her back, and takes her sword. Dang it Cass, she just got it back! Will people please stop stealing the cool sword? As she runs away, she also throws Eugene into a large black rock. Rapunzel goes after her to try and convince her not to cross another line, and she almost succeeds at getting through to her, until she uses the word wait. After that, Cass walks away from her. She creates a bridge of black rocks to get across the gorge, and then cuts them with the sword, forcing Rapunzel to turn back. A little while later, Max bandages Eugene's injury, and Rapunzel is acting surprisingly chipper, and changes the topic when Eugene tries to talk about what Cass did. They need to figure out a way to get out of here. Luckily, the mime friend of theirs shows up in a hot air balloon. They learn that there's trouble in Corona. Invaders from a foreign land have taken over. The people are scared, so the mime followed the black rocks to find Rapunzel and the gang. Adira and Edmund decide to stay… although Edmund visits Corona in the next episode, so it doesn't really matter. Once they leave though, Cass and Owl show up. Yeah, they do that at the end of a lot of the episodes, and they don't make anywhere near as much progress because Cass is walking back, while also struggling to master the moonstone's powers. Anyways, the others make it back, but Corona is basically a ghost town. They run into Feldspar the cobbler, who tells them that everyone in Corona is being forced to mine some kind of green mineral, and that King Frederic is the one who gave the order. They head to the castle to find out what's going on. At first, Rapunzel is glad to see her parents… but they have no idea who she is. Saporians have taken over the kingdom… with help from Varian, who was cellmates with Andrew, a one shot villain from season 1. I love Varian's new outfit, and his goatee, even if it's revealed to be fake later on. One of the Saporians, Clementine, erased the king and queen's memories with a Saporian Wand of Oblivium. Varian is creating a gas that will erase the memories of everyone in Corona. He and the Saporians fight Rapunzel and the gang. Andrew throws an experimental version of Varian's new chemical at them, which is extremely explosive. It blows up part of the wall and throws them out. It's clear from Varian's facial expressions that he feels bad. Not being totally stupid, they check to see if they're dead, and when they're not, they chase after them, and Eugene convinces Rapunzel to retreat for now. They hide, and Xavier takes them to a secret hideout. The captain of the guards sent out many search parties for Rapunzel, and has yet to return. The people now live in fear and spend their days mining more of Varian's mineral. They could rise up and throw the Saporians out, but Frederic and Arianna are still technically in charge, and to act against them would still be considered treason. Now that Rapunzel is back though, they bow down to her. Varian still hasn't perfected his memory wiping gas, but the Saporians are far more interested in its explosive potential. Meanwhile, while forging a new frying pan, Rapunzel has now moved onto anger when it comes to Cass. Eugene tells her that there's a difference between setting her feelings aside and burying them so deep that they change who you are. He also tells her that she's not alone in this, but she wonders if it'd be better if she was. Xavier wants to discuss their strategy, and Rapunzel claims that she'll be there in a second, but instead she leaves to handle this on her own. Pascal catches her, and she lets him come along. Eugene decides to go after her. While sneaking through the castle, she hides in Cass's room, and finally cries over everything that happened, but that leads to her getting caught and thrown in the dungeon. She finally explains to Varian that she never meant to break her promise to him. She says that his plan won't make things better. No one in Corona did anything to him. However, he says that it's about what he did to them. He kidnapped their queen, threatened their princess, and helped the Saporians take over their kingdom. He doesn't think they'll forgive him, so it's better to make them forget. Rapunzel tells him that he'll never know unless he tries. However, the Saporians tell him that they've decided to use his formula to destroy the kingdom instead. Varian betrays them, so they lock him in the cell with Rapunzel. They're launching an airship in twenty minutes. Varian finally realizes that if his dad was free and could see everything he's done, he'd be ashamed instead of proud. Self-awareness and reflection! Finally! Rapunzel tells him that standing up to the Saporians was pretty brave. She knows what it's like now to have someone you trust let you down. After that, it can be hard to ever trust someone again. Eugene and Lance break them out. Rapunzel asks them to trust Varian. They'll need his help to stop the Saporians. He, Rapunzel, and Pascal will get on the airship to try and neutralize the gas while Lance, Eugene, Max, and Fidella go after the king and queen, who are going to be sent over a cliff. Andrew is thrown off the airship during the fight, but his life is inadvertently saved thanks to Varian's skill with alchemy and his clumsiness. However, this allows him to cut one of the ropes with the balloon holding the airship up, and the lives of his comrades are only saved thanks to more of Varian's alchemy. If the airship crashes, it will destroy all of Corona. They can heat the minerals for the balloon to rise, but they have to get it high enough so that when it explodes, it doesn't destroy the city. Varian thinks he has to sacrifice himself, but Rapunzel throws him off, since she'll be protected by her hair. Meanwhile, the others save Frederic and Arianna. The airship explodes, and Rapunzel and Pascal are okay. There's still one more promise she has to keep though. She uses the Reverse and/or Hurt Incantation/song again to finally free Quirin. It works, but she won't snap out of it. Varian tries to throw water on her, but it immediately evaporates. When he touches her shoulders, his gloves are destroyed, but he's alright, unlike Cass. I personally think that this is because he used thicker gloves, and he didn't touch Rapunzel's bare skin like Cass did. He refuses to give up on her, and she's able to stop. Quirin is okay, but the note is destroyed. He tells Varian that all it said was that he's proud of him, and that he always has been. Aw! Seriously though, a note that long should've at least mentioned his late wife or his secret past as least once! Not that it's so secret to the audience anymore, but you know what I mean. Until Frederic and Arianna's memories return, Rapunzel is in charge of the kingdom, and she and Eugene get new outfits. Everyone celebrates, and the episode ends as Rapunzel finally opens up to Eugene about Cass.

## Review

I did like this episode, but the final celebratory song felt… unearned. It's still a great song and it's performed well, but it just feels like there's a giant elephant named Cass in the kingdom. Sure, Rapunzel does talk to Eugene about her feelings regarding Cass's betrayal in the final scene, but we only hear the very beginning of it before the episode ends. All of the filler episodes after this feel… kind of forced, unlike in season 1, where they didn't know about the rocks growing until episode 8, and they didn't do something monumentally stupid due to the story forcing them to, like not even trying to check up on Varian, until episode 17 or 18. Which could have easily been fixed by just showing us that he's been in hiding since the end of episode 16. That wouldn't explain why all of the other Old Corona villagers didn't say anything to anyone, but whatever. Because of all the filler episodes, the pacing is *so slow*. Rapunzel and Eugene occasionally *talk* about saving Cass from herself, but they never *do* anything about it. Sure, Rapunzel has to stay in Corona to fix things after the Saporian coup and rule until her parents get their memories back, but after they do, she, Eugene, and their friends and allies still don't do anything about Cass, like look for her. Sure, they wouldn't even know where to start searching, but Cass's dad was able to find her by himself. A good protagonist is supposed to be active and drive the plot forward just as much as the antagonists do with their actions and decisions. Rapunzel and her friends only do this in season 2, when they're actively heading to the Dark Kingdom and collecting the pieces of the scroll, and even then, there are filler episodes where they're stuck in one place, like Vardaros or Lorb island for one reason or another, and sometimes it feels like they're only collecting the scroll pieces because Adira told them to. Also, I miss Adira already, and she wasn't even in season 2 as much as I wanted or expected her to be. In seasons 1 and 3, it's the antagonists who drive the plot forward while Rapunzel and the others just *react* to it. For the love of God, stop **talking** about doing something and actually **do it**! We get it, you're upset and possibly even traumatized by their betrayals, and all of you definitely need therapy, but in Varian's case, you could've at least had a chance of stopping it if you had bothered to go check on him, or at least sent someone else to do it, or if anyone else who lived in Old Corona had an ounce of common sense and told anyone except Frederic, "We had to abandon our village because of these mysterious black rocks; also, no one has seen our leader or his son in awhile." No one has any agency whatsoever, even Cass, who, spoilers, has to be instructed by the ghost girl, the only "person" with a clear goal and agenda. Compare this to most of season 3 of *Elena of Avalor*, where still celebrating Carnaval and everyone going about their normal routine after everything that happened is understandable and actually feels earned. For one thing, they seriously needed a break after being dealt such a huge and devastating revelation. They also have more than one dangerous criminal with special abilities on the loose, and most people don't think that the person who lied to and betrayed them *can* actually be redeemed. The guards actively search for the villains, we just don't see them do it onscreen very often. Plus, eventually no one knows where to look for them, due to their leader using magic to hide their location after awhile, which means that the good guys have to wait for the royal wizard to find a spell to get past said cloaking spell, which he doesn't find until the series finale. And even then, they do prepare for what's coming in the meantime. Mateo becomes a master wizard, Gabe and a few of his guards learn magic, Elena frees Victor and Carla, who are redeemed and decide to stay in Avalor to learn good magic to fight for her; as well as the new character they freed, Ixlan; and Isabel learns how to be a leader/ruler. They don't just sit around waiting for the plot to drive them forward like Rapunzel does. A good protagonist is *proactive*, not *reactive*. Unless you're dealing with superheroes. Their whole gig revolves around saving people and stopping criminals and supervillains, but only once innocent people actually need saving and the bad guys actually commit crimes, because that's just how their world and the law works. All of that being said, Cass was ***stupid***. Sure, trust this random, obviously evil and creepy ghost child and everything she says without question, in this house that your best friend and the person you promised to protect has gone missing in, a house that *you know* is trying to either kill you or stop you from leaving based on the previous two episodes, where you and Lance were turned into toddlers and replaced by evil mirror versions of yourself! Whatever happened to being rightfully suspicious of Tromus? Are you really that mad at the others for not listening to you about it? Why would you be mad at Rapunzel for something your mother did when you were a toddler and she was an infant? Even before that, Gothel was so obviously terrible to you and never loved you, and to think anything else is to deny reality. Why does it matter? Why are you even doing this? Your mother is dead, and unlike Eugene, she's never coming back. Seriously, what is Cass's motivation? What does she even want? Revenge? Power? Why? In the first two seasons, it seemed like she wanted glory, praise, and recognition from others. However, people don't normally consider villains to be heroes and celebrate or serve them unless they're forced to, like with Shuriki or Magica De Spell. In the series finale, Rapunzel actually points out to Cass that Zhan Tiri has filled her head with so much anger and hate that she doesn't even know what she wants anymore, but she denies this and never admits it. And then there's all that talk about destiny, but like in RWBY and *Power Rangers Time Force*, I personally think that we each make our own destinies, and, for the most part, we have control over them. Plus, Cass really only talks about it once briefly to Lance during the season 2 finale, right before her face turn, and then it feels like that's basically all she talks about for the first half of season 3, and she tells the ghost girl that's why she stole the moonstone, and then she just believes the ghost girl when she tells her that her new destiny is to kill Rapunzel and wield the sundrop and moonstone together. Why though? Would that make you happy? No, it wouldn't, but because the writers made you only have one brain cell and no heart this season, you never realize that you're obviously being manipulated and lied to. The smartest thing you did was imprison Zhan Tiri in the series finale, but even then, she freed herself after you left. Why not kill her, especially since you've already almost killed the heroes and their allies, who used to be your friends and family, a shit ton of times, and you end up killing Zhan Tiri later after your second turn, which, while sweet, also felt forced because it happened way too quickly to be believable. It felt like Cass's arc throughout the show was learning to be more assertive and actually chase down what she wants instead of waiting for an opportunity to be handed to her, but then she took it way too far in the other direction for season 3, and the end of the series finale finally shows her striking a balance between the two. You can't be so ambitious that you ignore and push away everyone and everything else around you, but you also can't be a doormat or just wait for an opportunity. You have to be willing to chase it down, but before you do, make sure it's what you really want first. Look, for the most part, the writing for this show and its characters is really good, but they botched the pacing and main plot of season 3. I still think it's good, but it's probably my least favorite season out of all of them. If Cass really wants to see what obliviously naive looks like, she should try looking in the fucking mirror. It felt like they just decided to make her a villain because they wanted another twist and surprise villain similar to Varian. You see, I, and many other people, love characters like Zuko, Esteban, Varian, and arguably even Razer from *Green Lantern The Animated Series* and Ryuga from Beyblade. However, I'm personally not a huge fan of Cass, at least in season 3. I think that the biggest reason why, at least for me, has to do with redemption vs. atonement. Redemption is something that happens *to* a character, whereas atonement is something they actively do. Varian is redeemed in the season 3 premiere, and once he is, he spends the rest of the series helping the other heroes, in order to atone for his previous villainous actions. And even when he was a villain, there were times when he showed regret and remorse, and he did what he did for a good reason, to free his dad. Cass only showed remorse very briefly in a few episodes, she's doing all of this for selfish reasons and for herself, and because she's only redeemed towards the end of the finale, the most she does to atone is help Rapunzel defeat Zhan Tiri, and unlike Esteban, she doesn't even stay in the kingdom or even say that the reason she's leaving is to try and atone or make up for what she's done. Nope, it's just to find her own destiny, which isn't with Rapunzel in Corona, on account of… reasons that exist, I guess? It's also the complete antithesis to the season 2 finale song about being united and sticking together by each other's side. Sure, it's a more realistic lesson that as you grow and learn, the paths you take may lead you away from the people you love (think *Turning Red*), but that doesn't mean you can never talk to or see each other again, even if you don't have access to 21st century technology to keep in touch. Letters exist, visits are always an option, magical solutions, etc. Also, Zuko, Razer, and Ryuga started as villains in their shows before becoming heroes, whereas with Varian and Cass, it's the other way around, which could make us actually *lose* sympathy for them over time instead of increasing it by learning their sad backstories, their struggles, etc. You could even include Esteban in the "started as a villain" camp if you count his offscreen treachery from when he was a teenager. And yes, I realize that all of those characters are young boys and men with a need to prove themselves to others, family drama/trauma, anger issues, tragic backstories, etc., whereas Cass is basically the only woman in this camp. I have no idea why that is. When it comes to female villains, it seems they start as villains and either stay that way (Aspheera, Kalshara, the Trix), or end up reformed and forgiven super easily by the end (Harumi, Nebula, Aisha), and not so much the other way around like with Cass, where they start good and turn evil down the line. Maybe it's because the "fairer sex" is seen as more innocent and trustworthy by mainstream society, even though people in general are way more complex than that? It's technically backed up by data too; there are far less female prisoners in the U.S. than male ones. I don't think it's because women are less likely to commit crimes though, but that for some reason, maybe multiple ones, men are more likely to commit crimes or resort to violence to try and solve a problem they have. Or maybe the real world justice system also goes easy on women too; I don't know. I feel like Cass should've reformed in either episode 16 or 18, and then the writers should have let Zhan Tiri be the only villain for at least one full episode, to build her up as a threat so terrible that even Demanitus himself could only imprison her, although that may have been intentional mercy because the two used to be friends long ago. That way, Cass has time to be redeemed and try to apologize and atone for real, and then *maybe* by the end she'll have earned everyone's trust back, or at least their forgiveness, and they'll let her leave Corona, preferably with her dad so he can keep an eye on her and make sure she stays on the straight and narrow. Also, she apparently has a lot of traits in common with bad fanfiction sequel original characters, like being unknowingly related to someone important from the original work, doing terrible things that they show little to no regret over but they're still redeemed and forgiven super easily with hardly any work required, etc. I guess it just really grinds my gears when smart, badass action girls or women don't act like that in certain episodes of shows, although that usually turns them into a damsel in distress for one episode, not an antagonist for a whole season, like Aelita constantly being captured in both the real world and Lyoko during most of the show, even after she grows out of her self-sacrifice mindset and gets offensive powers on Lyoko (because the main antagonist always needs her alive for different reasons), or Aisha/Layla in a late season 2 episode of Winx Club, although she got herself out of that situation and earned her Charmix. And while she did briefly turn into an antagonist in season 4, it was only for a little over one full episode, her motivation was understandable, and she was still a sympathetic character who really only wanted to kill the other antagonists of the season, which she ended up doing, just not by herself. It actually would've been interesting if she had been an antagonist or anti-hero or anti-villain for longer and did more. Or if it took her longer to win back everyone's trust and friendship after what she did, especially Musa, who was best friends with her and had trust issues with Riven in the earlier seasons, and Riven himself, whose mother left him when he was little, and he was Nabu's close friend and told Aisha/Layla that he wouldn't want her to do this. Back to Cass though, maybe she felt like she never had the *luxury* of choice, like everything was decided for her against her wishes. She clearly never wanted to be a handmaiden, even after she became friends with Rapunzel. Who knows? Maybe she never wanted to live in Corona either. All I truly know about her and her desires is that she's good at fighting and she likes it, and she wanted to prove herself, only to be stopped by Rapunzel at least three separate times. In season 1, it was the Challenge of the Brave. In season 2, it was about how best to stop Hector and kill the Great Tree, and in a flashback in season 3, it was giving up a chance to be a warrior woman in a kingdom full of them in order to help Rapunzel and make sure she was okay, during a time when Rapunzel just wanted to be friends with Cass. Except Cass did that last one willingly. But who did Cass want to prove herself to? Her dad? Rapunzel? Her other nonexistent friends? Frederic and Arianna? Everyone in Corona? Everyone in all seven kingdoms? The whole world? Herself? Did she subconsciously want to prove that she was good enough to be Gothel's daughter, because honey, you are so much better than her and you deserved better. Which you got. When you were four. Rapunzel had to go through something similar for eighteen years of her life. Those two are so similar to each other. And I bet a younger Arianna was too, just without any of the trauma or abuse. Before she met her husband, she had no idea what she wanted or what she was "supposed to do" in this world. Whatever you want, within reason, and as long as it doesn't harm anyone else. Something tells me that Cass overlooked most of that. Arianna went out and found her own way. I wonder if Rapunzel gave Cass her own journal? She could write in it instead of paint it like her best friend and sister did. Also, wow, way to not care about your adoptive father at all Cass. At the end of the day, she's still a selfish bitch in this season, but only because the writers didn't think anything through. Then again, they might've been forced into this situation, since they were apparently supposed to have *36 episodes* this season, which is over double what they ended up getting. Apparently it was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Granted, that many episodes could've easily just made the initial slow pacing and jarring tonal shifts worse, but I'm honestly not sure that's even possible at this point. I don't have any proof of this though; it's all second or third hand information, so take the 36 episodes bit with a grain of salt. Dear Disney, I will never stop asking for a ***Varian and the Seven Kingdoms*** spinoff. Sincerely, a big fan who would buy tons of officially licensed merchandise if I wasn't broke because of the capitalism that has made the people at the top obscenely wealthy. So, thanks to TVTropes and YouTube comment sections, I found out that Cass was actually supposed to be the Big Bad originally, who knew that she was Gothel's daughter the whole time and playing the long game against Rapunzel, but this was changed after she was developed more and supposedly became more likeable, and her friendships with everyone became more genuine. Key word: Supposedly. I personally think that they screwed up her development. Meanwhile, Varian was added late into development when the crew realized that they needed a reason for Rapunzel to leave Corona, and yet his arc was handled far better in my opinion. Cass's arc is like how Asami Sato was originally supposed to be an evil spy in *The Legend of Korra* before her character was changed, but I personally think that they pulled it off so much better in that show. A lot of people online seem to blame the adults, like Frederic and Quirin, for not being honest with everyone and not having an actual plan to deal with the black rocks, and then no one really calling them out on it, ever, except maybe their own kids and their friends. I even heard one person say it was because Frederic was Chris Sonnenburg's self-insert character. Regardless of whether or not that's true, not all self-insert characters are automatically awful. I know because I've written some, but they have flaws, and they get called out by their friends when they mess up. One last thing, and then this review will finally be over, I promise. I don't know if this is a plot hole or not, but if Frederic and Arianna's memories were erased with a Wand of Oblivium, then couldn't the gang just make the same potion that Cass did in season 2 to restore their memories immediately, instead of waiting? I guess Cass was the only one who knew what the ingredients were, and there were a lot of them. Still, didn't she get them all in, like, a day? Plus, even if they don't know what the ingredients are, then couldn't they just ask the Saporians, maybe in exchange for a shorter sentence? With everyone in Corona helping, I'm sure it wouldn't take them long. And with that, this summary and review is **finally** over!