Take A Look at Disney

4/28/14

Mom's The Word (Sofia The First Episode Review)









Hello  & welcome back to  A Look at Disney.  Today,  we are finally  doing another Sofia episode review as we take a look at  the Mother's  Day  episode, Mom's The Word.



Episode Title


Mom's The Word

The episode title appears  to be a play on the old saying, Mum's The Word.




The Plot


It's  Mother's  Day and  in the castle,  Sofia is about to take a flower to her mother and plans  to spend the day with her but James  and Amber  have already given her a boutique of  roses in the shape of a unicorn.  Sofia  is disheartened at this  and doesn't  like that she  has to share her mother now.  You know, in a way  I can understand where Sofia was coming from because from my POV,  I felt  like  James and Amber were  unknowingly upstaging their little sister.






Sofia's  mom, then  informs her little girl that  James and Amber are coming with them as a part of  their annual  Mother's Day picnic.  This disappoints Sofia as she was just hoping for it to be the two of them. Sofia  decides to make the best of it and packs  a picnic basket  but Amber has already  had the kitchen staff pack a basket twice the size  of  Sofia's  and  asks their mom to sit next to her.  










Again,  the episode is giving me more reason to side with Sofia  and not see her jealously as being in the wrong.  From where I stand,  she has every reason to feel the way, she does because she feels  like  Amber and James are stealing time away from her and her mom.  Just then, a witch comes by and  hexes their coach and turns the wheel into a watermelon.









Sofia  goes to find the witch,  while the rest of the family investigate the damage.  And as she does,   the witch  messes with her outfit. And just  then,  Lucinda The Little  Witch, from the season one episode,   The Little Witch  shows  up  and undoes the hex,  as  she introduces her mother, who doesn't  know  that Lucinda  is a good witch now.   First off,  yay.  One  of my favorite  characters  is back  and  they are continuing  her development. 









And  Lucinda  lets her friend  know the truth about her mother doesn't know the truth of her being a good witch and just wants to spend Mother's Day with her making her happy.  Sofia can understand her feelings as she wishes  she could have the old times, back where it was just her and her mom and we get our song of the episode as we get a flashback montage showing Sofia  and her mom's time before the moved into the palace.













Hearing this,  Lucinda  gets an idea to help  Sofia have some alone time with her mom by casting a good spell.  








Meanwhile,  the coach is soon mended and now Sofia  is in a rush to get  to the docks to row to the island for the Mother's day picnic.  When, they get there,  Sofia  rushes her and her mom to get into the boat and just then, Lucinda  makes two seahorses appear causing the boat to go off without James, Amber, or Baileywick.  Yeah,  forgot to mention that Baileywick was there too.










Lucinda's  mother is impressed by  her daughter's hex but Lucinda  admits that it was a good spell and   goes on a tirade about  how it's family tradition to be wicked.  Lucinda reluctantly agrees.  Just as she makes the two seahorses disappear.  Meanwhile,  back at the docks,   Amber, James, and Baileywick  decide to borrow a fisherman's  boat  to find  their mom and Sofia  but Amber does not want to get in the boat because it smells like fish and  doesn't like any of the color choices for the life jackets.  Oh, Amber never change.










Sofia  and her mom  continue to row back and Lucinda's mom  makes  a rapid sending the mother and daughter down the rapids.Lucinda tries to undo her mother's hex  but it's  too powerful for her as she's just a little witch.  At first, Sofia and her mom are terrified by this wild ride but they come to enjoy it.  Hmm,  I think  I could  send this as an idea for a Sofia ride at Disney World.  














Or maybe a touring attraction.  It'd  be better than the touring show  or the show, they have at parks.





Sorry,  I think the latter is really creepy.  If  I had a proper recording  set-up, I'd riff it.  Weirdly  enough,  while  watching this scene,  my mind went to Nobody Else But You from A Goofy Movie.


 

Sofia  and mom  make it to calmer waters while  Lucinda's  mom  continues to hex the family such as turning the fishing boat into a lillypad and  Baileywick into  a frog.











 Here,  we also  get a callback to  another season 1 episode,  The Amulet and The Anthem,  in which Sofia was cursed with a croak and  we learn that Amber is scared of frogs and this episode remembered that as she moved backwards as Baileywick  jumped onto her.   Nice  work  on the continuity,  guys.  James,  Amber and Baileywick  soon  come across the rapids themselves. 










Sofia  and her mom  make it to the island   and Sofia wants to have the picnic without her siblings  but her mom reminds that she has to wait because she's  now  James and Amber's mother too.  Sofia's  mom  now understands that she's  having a hard time accepting this.  And  reminds  her daughter that she is now their mother too and things can't always be the way, they were.   Look,  I agree with her but c'mon,   that  unicorn  rose  boutique from the start of the episode  rubbed me the wrong  way because  I still feel  like James and Amber were upstaging Sofia  and  they really didn't learn anything in this episode. I understand that they've  always had these privileges and want to shower  their mother but  to me, it feels like  they didn't  realize that Sofia 's life before was simple and  is having a hard time, accepting that her mother may now get extravagant gifts  for  holidays  such as Mother's Day.  I'm sorry  but   I just can't let this go.   And  this would've been an easy fix,  just have a scene with  their dad, telling them  that their  going overboard  may rub Sofia  the wrong way and  try to to tone it down.  Look,  I'm not saying  Sofia had the right mindset but  I can't fault Sofia for feeling the way, she did.      Then again,  I may be bias as she is my favorite character on the show.  But  I doubt  my favoritism  towards Sofia  is coloring my view on this.  Anyways,  James, Amber  and Baileywick  catch up to Sofia and their mom at  the island.  









As  the queen embraces  her two other kids in a hug.  Flying  in the sky,  Lucinda's  mom  notices that  Lucinda  isn't having any fun and she thinks it's because she's not causing good enough hexes. So, she decides to make the island float in the air.  Again, this would be an awesome idea for a Sofia ride.  Come one, a flaoting island ride or this.














Who's  with me?   I mean,  back when Rescue Rangers was popular, there  was Gadget roller coaster.












Sorry,  but  I can't  let this idea go.  It  would  just  be  so much fun.  






Lucinda  is finally fed  up with her mother casting all of these curses and confesses to her mom, that she doesn't  want to be a wicked witch anymore and wants to be a good witch.  And meanwhile,  Sofia  confesses  to her family  that  Lucinda the little witch  is her friend and that she asked Lucinda  to do the first hex but that was the only one.










Sofia , realizes as she admits her mistake that she was being jealous and not being a good stepsister.  I'm sorry but I still think James and Amber should've learned something.   Just the,  Lucinda  shows  up and everyone  but Sofia is cautious but Lucinda wants to undo her mother's hex but it's  just too powerful for her.


 







Just then,  Lucinda's  mom shows up and undoes her hex.   Because she realized that her daughter wasn't having  any fun because she didn't want to do hexes and  casts a good spell to make her daughter happy but she just hopes, it's a phase.   And the two then embrace in a hug and are invited by Sofia  to join in their Mother's Day picnic, which they partake in after  Lucinda's  mom  turns Baileywick back into a human. 





The episode then ends with a reprise of the song that Sofia sang at the beginning of the episode but this time with James and Amber's  voices joining in.   Other than  my  complaint with  James and Amber,  I really liked this episode.



Characters


Main Characters

Sofia  voiced by Ariel  Winter









I really  liked Sofia  in this episode and they presented  her jealously in a realistic manner, that seems like something  a child would actually go through in a step-family and in many ways, this mirrors  Amber's  feelings in the pilot movie over how she felt  jealous about  how Amber had to share her father with Sofia, now  but  whereas with Amber,  it was a bit more malicious and mean-spirited,  Sofia's jealously never felt that way in this episode. This is the second episode in the series that  has dealt with Sofia feeling jealous over something.  The last time was Four's  A Crowd but  I think this was more believable and better executed.. 



Queen  Miranda  voiced by  Sara  Ramierz










This episode showed what a good mother,  Miranda  can to be all three of her children and just like a good mother, cares for them, equally and will always be there fro them.



Lucinda  voiced by  Merit Leighton 










I was happy to see Lucinda back as she's one of my favorite characters from the show and it was awesome to see that they continued her development from her first appearance as she was trying to be a good witch  and  apologized for all of the hexes that her mother  cast, even though they weren't her fault.  Aw, so sweet.




Supporting  Characters


James  &  Amber voiced by  Zach Callison &  Darcy  Rose Byrnes 









James  and Amber were fine  in the episode but  I still, wish that the episode would've taken time to address that their actions caused their little sis to feel jealous and that they   she didn't  have the same upbringing,  they did and  giving their mom,  big  gifts may be a little much.  Not saying that they can't  but they could've included Sofia  in the unicorn  boutique as they are all  Miranda's  kids.  



Baileywick  voiced by Tim Gunn


 







Baileywick honestly didn't have much to do after he was turned into a frog and they used the common frog jokes such as him eating flies and finding it disgusting. 



Music


Me and My Mom


And  I've found one  of new favorite Sofia  songs.  Not  since I Belong, have we had  a song that tied so well into the episode.  It's  so sweet  and makes Sofia's plight so  understandable and my heart breaks for her because  I just feel so bad for her.  Yeah,  it's not right for  Sofia to be jealous but  I can't blame her, when she saw something like this.









Again,  simple solution would've been to include Sofia  in that present.  Yeah,  I know there would've been no episode otherwise  but the episode still could've address that James and Amber also messed up by going big.  To paraphrase,  Amber,  Bigger Isn't Always Better.


Villain


Marla  voiced by Tracy  Ullman 










Yeah, Marla  redeems herself by the end of the episode but she's still the villain  as she hexes the family throughout the entire episode and  is enjoying seeing them suffer much to the chagrin of her daughter.   She does eventually give in and  accepts that her daughter doesn't want to be wicked anymore and there is a sweet moment, where Lucinda gives her mom, this cute present.











My  Final Thoughts


Other then,  my minor complaint with James and Amber, this was a very cute episode and one that  I wouldn't mind returning to, for future viewings.   Now,  I've got a  Sofia ride idea to submit to Disney.  See ya, later. 

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