Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney. Man, it's been a while since I've done an episode review. Can't even recall, what it was but I think it was Jake Long and it's been even longer since I've reviewed an episode of The Little Mermaid. Today's episode features a theme, that I've gone over in the past, characters becoming younger as it is quite a common trope in television. Sometimes, it can work out really well, example So Weird or be really bad, such as Nursery Crimes from Kim Possible. What did I think of Red, it was actually quite good and it was also quite fun to see a role reversal with Ariel acting in a parental role. And this episode actually pulled that off better in 22 minutes then the entirety of The Little Mermaid II. With that out of the way, let's begin.
Episode Title
Red
Not too much say about the episode, other then it's referring to Triton's nickname ( I think it's a nickname) as a young child. So, with that out of the way, let's move onto the rest of the review.
The Plot
The plot is simple enough as it starts out with Ariel and her friends at a party and she turns the music up. Not sure, how that exactly works underwater but ah well. Triton comes down and check on the party and Triton and Ariel share a dance. It's a rather touching moment but at the same time, Triton is starting to feel his age as seen here.
Ariel feels bad for her father and wants to help him feel youthful. This is where Triton's new assistant and one off character, Glowfish comes in. Glowfish supposedly supposed to be looking over the treasure but he actually wants it for himself and we find out that he is working for an evil Sorceress that was trapped by Triton, that wants his trident and honestly, she really didn't do much in terms of the episode. She gives Glowfish a spell that will make Triton feel more youthful. And this is where the transformation comes into play.
And this is where the big lesson comes into play as with Triton as a young boy aka Red, he is quite a mischievous little tyke. Always getting into trouble explaining where Ariel got that from. And from there, wee see Ariel deal with the responsibility of taking care of a young child and how frustrated she gets. It was actually quite funny and I love how Sebastian acted as a character commenting on how the roles have been reversed and how Ariel is starting to act like a parent as she has to in order to protect Red. And later on in the episode, Glowfish takes them to see the Sorceress, who lies that she can reverse the spell but we find out that it was temporary and it was stopped and then Triton locked the Sorceress back in the cave, where she had been kept, when he first locked her away. Overall, this was a pretty enjoyable episode and it handled the idea of a character becoming younger quite well and it was used as a way to teach a lesson to Ariel and the audience. And in that regard, it worked out. Now, there was a song in this episode but it really had no overall effect on the story, so I decided to skip it. In that regard, let's move on.
Characters
Now, I'll be breaking this down into Main, & Villain.
Main Characters
Ariel
It was rather fun to see Ariel in the role of mother to a young child that was her father. I was surprised that she didn't pull her out as Red seemed to drive her up the wall and seemed to always be in panic mode around the young boy. It was quite a treat to watch Ariel in a parental role as she got to see how hard it was to be a mother, so to speak.
Red (aka Young Triton)
Young Triton or Red as he called throughout the episode was a rascal as he he was always getting into mischief and trouble and almost got caught by humans. As seen here and Ariel had to save him.
The best way to describe to Red, is to say that he is a little kid that gets into a lot of trouble and that's pretty much it.
Sebastian
Sebastian, was minor at best in this episode but I really liked how he served as a character commenting on the role reversal as that was rather humorous.
Villains
Glowfish
I did like Glowfish as he was a character that it was so obvious that he was evil, that all he was missing was a neon sign. I think the big thing that sold me on him as a villain was his voice, he was the highlight of the villains.
The Sorceress
The Sorceress was such a disappointing villain. She didn't do anything, I get that she was trapped in a cave and she was limited to just being a head but she wasn't intimidating either. Honestly, you could've cut her out of this episode and told the same story.
My Final Thoughts
All in all, this was an okay episode that handled this trope quite well and it was used to teach a lesson that is one, we how learn at some points in our life. Now I didn't care for The Sorceress as she was a lame villain but that is the only issue, I have with this episode.
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