Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney. Kim Possible is one of my favorite animated series of all time and I think it is the greatest show to ever air on Disney Channel. I know that may sound hyperbolic but I stand by that statement and at the beginning of the month, it was announced that Disney Channel is working on a live action KP movie. I'm of two minds on this. My first reaction was this...
Please be good, please be good.
My next thought was that Disney Channel movies haven't exactly been great lately. Looking at you, Descendants and on top of that, live-action movies based on animated series have a spotty track record at best. And sticking with live action TV movies based on animated series, we can turn to Disney Channel's competition and look at what happened when Cartoon Network decided to make a live action movie based on one of their animated series.
Yeah.... up until Omniverse, I was a Ben 10 fan but even I have to admit that both live action Ben 10 movies weren't that great. Something about the show's charm was just lost in translation to live action and I'll admit that is a small fear that I have for the KP movie, especially when you consider that KP had quite the rogues gallery.
I imagine that they'll probably use Drakken and Shego for the movie and I just think, it's going to be hard to get Drakken's personality right in live action. I'm not saying that it can't be done. But it just seems like it might be a little hard.
This being a live-action reboot brings up another fear that I have. That it'll be an origin story and look, I could get the desire to do that but nobody really cares about Kim's origin. It was covered in the second of A Sitch in Time and it is just meant as a joke.
Kim Possible wanted to supplement her allowance, so she decided to start up her own babysitting business and set up her own website, "KimPossible.com", under the slogan "I can do anything", and soon after her site went live, Kim was accidentally contacted by Mr. McHenry who was in trouble, and was trying to contact a different group of heroes named "Team Impossible." Due to a typing error, he contacted "KimPossible.com" instead of "Impossible.com" after the rescue, Kim's fame as a hero grew until she was being contacted for help by people all over the world, even including governments and royalty.
Have a throwaway reference to that sure but treat it like how Spider-Man: Homecoming handled Peter. Just like how Peter had been Spidey for a while, I think it would be more interesting if we open the movie with Kim and Ron already on a mission and this is something that they'd been doing for a while.
According to the Variety article that I linked to does say that the series creators, Mark McCorkle and Robert Schooley are writing the script. So, that great KP humor will hopefully be kept intact. And the directors are Adam B. Stein and ach Lipovsky and from what I can tell, they got their start on the HBO show, On The Lot. Stein has worked on the Disney XD show, Mech-X4. Which admittedly, I've only seen bits of but it's a giant mech show with similar humor to KP.
A couple of years ago I did a blog asking Should Kim Possible be Rebooted? And I posited that KP didn't need a reboot at the time but now, that we are getting a live action KP movie, I am cautiously optimistic but this is a series that means so much to me. And this isn't the first time that that there had been talks of a live action KP movie as there had been talks about doing this back, when the show was still airing. And now to see this come to fruition is just exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time. I don't get caught up in reboots like this a lot of the time but as I've stated throughout this blog, Kim Possible is a show that has always meant a lot to me. Having said that, can I just ask one small thing? Can Christy Carlson Romano and Will Friedle have a cameo, please? Friedle has worked with Disney Channel in recent years reprising his role of Eric Matthews on Girl Meets World, so maybe some could call him, beep him. (Sorry, not sorry)
That's all I'm asking. Let me know what you think in the comments. Peace!
Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney. First off for those (4) of you wondering about my Tangled: The Series event, I've decided to make it a weekly segment as there is a lot that I want to say about that show and the month is almost over. I also wanted to talk about other Disney things. Such as Disney really loves Freaky Friday. Just recently around the premiere of the DCOM, Zombies, a trailer for a new Disney Channel Original Movie was released.
What is it with Freaky Friday? I mean, we've talked about this before when I looked at one of the adaptations for our April Fool's Blog Swap Event. When I reviewed the 1995 Wonderful World of Disney adaption,
And that makes this the second TV adaption of Freaky Friday and the 4th film adaption. Because as we have discussed, there is the 1976 original, the Wonderful World of Disney adaption, and the 2003 remake.
I guess part of it boils down to that body swap stories are so easy to do nowadays that so many shows have tackled them and done their own variations on them. Still, that begs the question of what makes this 2018 adaption different? The fact that it's an adaption of an adaption might be one thing. You see a musical adaption combining element of the 76 original and 03 remake opened at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia and was later transferred to the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California.
The fact that it's a musical adaptation is one thing that'll set this take apart from the first three but that still begs the question of why has Disney returned to this particular story so many times? I'm not positive on this but if I am to hedge a bet on this and say that A. it's a simple story about a mother and daughter trying to understand one another and B. it's a story that can be set in any era and the story will remain the same. I think it's more so the latter and I could be way off base with this but that is what I really think. Let me know what you think in the comments. Peace!
Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney, and today, we continue our look at Tangled: The Series. We are closing in on the last three episodes of the season here starting with The Quest for Varian. I do apologize for this event taking longer than planned but with that out of the way, let's get started with this episode.
The Plot
We open on another of Rapunzel's dreams, which starts out happily as she is decorating the castle with her father but it soon turns into a nightmare about the black rocks, her hair and Varian. The last part is the biggest part of this episode and we then see Rapunzel dangling in mid air.
After waking up like this, Rapunzel informs her friends that she thinks that these dreams are trying to tell her something and that they need to act upon what these dreams are telling her. So, Rapunzel goes to speak to her father about the rocks and Frederic explains or rather lies to his daughter about the rocks in Old Corona telling the princess that the rocks in Old Corona had been removed. And he tells his daughter that she should focus on her upcoming birthday party. This is something that we will discuss more in the season finale but this show presents us with three interesting and shall we tenneous father/child relationships including Rapunzel and Frederic, Varian and Quirin. And finally to a lesser extent, Cassandra and her father. We will delve more into this with the next review but considering the ways that Rapunzel's father tests her trust, it's not hard to see why she has an easy time believing him.
Rapunzel takes a walk to her statue with Eugene and Cass as she sees a lantern like one that she saw in her dream and coincidentally, it is the same design as the ones that Frederic & Ariana used in the hopes of finding Rapunzel in the events of the movie.
Now obviously, the design is a bit more simplistic compared to that of the lantern in the movie but I attribute that more to the differing animation designs between the movie and the television series. I am curious, if these lanterns are easy to come by in Corona considering their iconography within the Tangled franchise. And you also consider that the sun in Tangled is very symbolic for the kingdom of Corona.
When you consider the Sun in Corona, it is very representative of how so many nations look to a symbol as something as pride. Sure, not everyone may have that same emotional attachment and that is fine as people are allowed to look at these symbols, however, they please. And this brings up the idea that it wouldn't be too surprising if people in Corona sell merchandise with their kingdom's symbol on it as we see that all the time. Just a random thought I had, when seeing the lantern in this episode.
Attached to the lantern is a note and key from Varian saying that he may have discovered the secret of the Black Rocks and the note also tells Rapunzel to find a bronze graphtyc in his lab. And that she also needs to be on alert of people that are out to get her. Rapunzel and friends head to Old Corona and learn that Frederic hadn't exactly been truthful about the Black Rocks. And that Old Corona seems to have become a ghost town as they make their way to Varian's lab and here, Rapunzel discovers what happened to Quirin and Rapunzel has a very understandable heartbreaking moment.
But they don't have much time to dwell on this as someone has come to attack and get the graphtyc from Rapunzel and the crew. They do find the graphtyc inside one of Varian's books and after this is when the attack happens and they are able to fight off this mysterious figure but they soon learn, the reason that this man was able to keep up with them so well is that there was a whole group of these men.
Rapunzel realizes that they need to go somewhere, where these men cannot find her and that is when she decides that they need to head to the tower. So, she doesn't explain this to Cass and Eugene but they get there. And by night as they have settled into the tower, Rapunzel is still trying to figure out the mystery of the graphtyc but Rapunzel remembers that Varian's note came with a key and uses it to open the graphtyc and discovers a scroll inside the graphtyc. It's around this time that Eugene notices the men from Old Corona have followed them to the tower and Rapunzel decides to let down her hair as if her hair touches the rock, they grow in numbers and causes a giant shock wave blasting the men off the tower. This forces the crew to run back up to the tower and jump off as the rocks started following her up the tower. And after they jump from the top of the tower, we get one of the most shocking moments of the show.
The tower is collapsed and destroyed by the Black Rocks. I've talked about the moral quandary of Rapunzel's Tower a couple of times before on this blog and for both Rapunzel and the audience is a very traumatic moment considering once again, we are dealing with another iconic piece of iconography from Tangled and to destroy it shows that Tangled: The Series is willing to take risks that the audience may not have expected. Another big thing that stands out with this moment is Rapunzel's reaction.
We see Rapunzel cry for the loss of her childhood home. She actually refers to the Tower as her childhood home in this series and that is such an interesting thing to say considering that it was her prison for so long but Rapunzel remembers the Tower as the place where she grew up and made good memories similar to what we saw in "Pascal's Story". Rapunzel, Eugene, and Cass later discover the men that had been following them were the Captain and the Royal Guards. And understandably, Rapunzel and Cass are pissed. They had been ordered by the King to make sure that Rapunzel never put the scroll together. And we end the episode with Rapunzel intending to confront her father and getting some truthful answers from the man that lied to her.
All in all, this was a decent episode and perhaps one of my favorites of the season. You really start to feel things rev up as we head towards the finale.
Character
Rapunzel voiced by Mandy Moore
While Cass and Eugene were good supporting characters to Rapunzel in this episode, there isn't a whole lot to say about them in this episode as this episode is heavily focused on Rapunzel and the wringer that she is put through and it is painful to watch. And even infuriating, when you find out that part of the reason that Rapunzel had all of this emotional stress put on her was because of the misdeeds of her father. Rapunzel wants support and love from her father and he gives her the latter but perhaps doesn't understand how to properly go about the former. He may think what he is doing is right but as Rapunzel will call out in the next episode, he is just one step away from treating Rapunzel, how Gothel treated her.
My Final Thoughts
All in all, this was a fantastic episode and I adore that it is not afraid to be heartbreaking and put the characters and by extension through the emotional wringer showing that Tangled: The Series is so much more than just a spinoff of a Disney movie. With episodes like this and "Queen for a Day", they show that Tangled: The Series is willing to stand on it's own while respecting it's source material. Peace!
Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and today, we continue our look at Tangled: The Series. This next episode that we are about to look at is perhaps one of the darker episodes in the series that we've seen but not without merit as this episode is a direct follow-up to Queen for a Day as we see Rapunzel grapple with the choices that she had to make in that follow-up. Something of interest to note here is that this is the only episode in the series to start with a Previously On and in many ways, this episode feels like an epilogue to that episode. With that outta the way, let's begin
The Plot
There's a quote from Ursula that sums up this episode so much so that it is said by the villain of this episode.
Life's full of tough choices, isn't it?
And this episode's major theme is just that as Rapunzel is still reeling from the consequences of the choices that she made in "Queen for a Day". Now, before we get into the review, TV Tropes mentions about this episode that I somewhat disagree with.
I will agree that this is a bit of a breather episode but it is one of the darkest episodes of the series. The episode starts as King Frederic has asked his daughter to paint a mural for the new art gallery that'll be opening up in Corona. Rapunzel is elated at this idea but finds that she cannot get any ideas and Cass suggests that she is experiencing painter's block. So, Rapunzel heads out to the village to try and get some inspiration but nothing is coming to mind but she then comes across, an art teacher that is new to Corona, Mrs. Sugarby and as this is where we get our first hint that is something just amiss about Mrs. Sugarby. Sugarby's class is interesting as it includes other citizens of Corona such as Lance Strongbow, Feldspar, Freidborg, and one of the pub thugs. I can't remember which, I apologize for that. And this is where we notice one of the more interesting things about this episode as Sugarby has her class paint this rather generic looking tree that she needs to use to free her master. And as the episode goes on, one by one, the students start to disappear until Rapunzel is the only one in the class. And we get a repeating of the line that I opened the plot section with. And this is what happens, when one of her students hears those lines.
There is also a bit of a subplot with Cass trying to find the missing members of the art class and all it pertains to the painting of the tree.
A little later in the episode, Cass and Eugene take this information to Xavier and they find out that there is a problem afoot that comes straight from the machine that was used to stop the snowstorm in the previous episode.
Though, I want to rewind a bit to one of the biggest moments in this episode and it was a point, where both I and the characters felt not deflated but perhaps heartbroken.
That's right, Rapunzel is wearing shoes. Now, as of all the sites that I have been using for sources correctly pointed out, this is not the first time that Rapunzel has worn shoes as she is seen in shoes in the pilot movie and in the previous episode. And she is even wearing shoes on various Disney Princess merchandise.
This may seem minor but I look at Rapunzel wearing shoes as her cutting off ties as Rapunzel not wearing shoes was part of her free spirit nature and this small act shows her conforming to norms of society and that's not who Rapunzel is. Granted, the real reason Rapunzel is barefoot is because Mandy Moore did her voice-over work for the movie barefoot.
The character of Rapunzel is constantly barefoot, something she shares in common with her voice actress Mandy Moore, who loves to perform barefoot.
Sure, it's a minor thing but I do like and the IMDb trivia page does bring up something else interesting up about barefoot characters.
Bare feet are also symbolic of innocence.
And this most certainly applies to Rapunzel and this comes back to what Rapunzel is going through. I won't say that she lost her innocence but it does show her questioning everything that she has done up to this point and this brings to the moment, where Rapunzel releases her feelings that she had been keeping bottled up as Eugene uses that oft-repeated line from this episode.
"Part of life"?! Really?! Is me turning my back on Varian when he's desperately begging for my help part of life?! Is deciding if Pascal should risk his life a tough call?! Tell you what, Eugene. The day you have to choose whether to put the entire fate of a kingdom in the hands of a fairytale is the day we can chat about difficult choices!
Now, TV Tropes list this as "The Reasons You Suck" speech and that is a fair enough way to address this argument but that is a bit of a shallow way to address this as while yes, this is directed towards Eugene, I look at this more as "Reasons I Failed" speech with Rapunzel projecting her insecurities onto Eugene. It is perhaps one of the more heartbreaking moments of the show but also one of the more realistic moments in the show as so many of us have had, where frustrations have boiled up in us for so long that we get to a point, where it just comes out and we lash out at someone that is trying to be there for us and that is exactly what Eugene was being. Granted, it makes the most sense that it would be Eugene here as there is no way that Cass would put up with this.
Now, I'm sure that there are other characters that have gone through a moment like this but for someone like Rapunzel, it is rather shocking.
We later see that Sugarby has hypnotized all of the art students and brought them to the location of Janus Point to continue to paint the tree as that'll release her master and this is when we learn that Sugarby was just a vessel that this evil spirit took on as she is truly Sugracha the Eternel and was there to free her master, Zhan Tiri but Cass and Eugene after solving this mystery come to the aid of everyone there and Eugene is able to snap Rapunzel out of the trance that the students had been placed under and with this, Rapunzel destroys the painting and that is what is takes to defeat this villainous woman.
It was a hard fought battle but in the end, our heroes pull out and win and we end the episode by seeing that Rapunzel has decided to paint a mural with the citizens of Corona for the gallery.
Characters Main Character
There are really only two characters that we need to look at.
Rapunzel voiced by Mandy Moore
This is a great episode for Rapunzel as you see her still reeling from everything that happened in "Queen for a Day" and realizing that difficult choices are a part of life and that she'll be making more of those in the future and that is good as Rapunzel needs that confidence for what's to come.
Villain
Mrs. Sugarby voiced by Ellen Greene
For a one-off villain, Sugarby is fascinating as you really see her get in Rapunzel's head and make her question every choice that Rapunzel is making up until the end. And it's interesting as Sugarby is just reinforcing the doubt that Rapunzel was feeling from the previous episode and bringing it to the forefront. And that made everything worse for the princess as she was start to let that doubt and fear weigh her down.
My Final Thoughts
As a followup to "Queen for a Day", this is a great episode and I like how it shows dealing with doubt and fear as they show it in a very real manner that anyone watching can relate to.
Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and today, we continue our look at Tangled: The Series. And today, we have reached the episode that changes everything the course of the show as we hit the halfway point of season one with the episode, "Queen for a Day". I recall around the time of this episode Disney Channel was hyping up this as a one-hour episode but there is so much more to this episode than that. While this phrase may be overused in these days, I feel that applying the phrase "Everything changes is rather is appro for this episode as that is very much the case here. As we've discussed before with Tangled: The Series, it can be divided into two halves. The first couple that we have looked at being the slice-of-life setup episodes that introduced us to the newer characters and the world of Corona at large keeping the mystery in the background. This episode sees the overarching mystery come forward and becomes the start of a rather emotional roller coaster ride for the characters and the audience.
Before we get too far into the episode, there is something that I wish to bring up as it somewhat applies here. About a week or so ago, there was this article making the rounds on Twitter titled Adults who Like Disney Need to Grow Up from the Metro UK. In the interest of fairness, I will link to the article but there are a few major things that I wish to address. The fist being the train of thought that Disney films are for kids. I can understand this notion, if you only have a base of knowledge of Disney but I don't think that that is the case. This line of thought reminds me of one of my favorite Walt Disney quotes.
It's been said that we make films that children are not embarassed to take their parents to.
Now, we may be looking at a show from Disney's TV animation department but I think that they have been experiencing a Renaissance akin to what the feature film department experienced in the '90s and it's show like Tangled that show that as this is a show that as we have discussed before is promoted towards a young audience but it's writing shows that this is a show that can be enjoyed by anyone of any age. And that is usually true of Disney's movies. And personally, I think this show is very grown up.
Now, the next thing that I wish to address is a bit understandable how someone could view this but again I take umbrage with this train of thought.
And ever noticed how everything ends perfectly fine and dandy, no matter the problem?
If one is to look at just the ending of the movies, that could almost be considered a fair criticism. I say almost as well, it is well known that a lot of Disney's movies are fairy tale movies and those are known for their happy endings. One doesn't go into a Disney movie expecting a pretty big downer. But if we looked past the happy ending aspect of Disney movies, it can be well established that this is just one moment in the characters' lives and that may face more trials and tribulations later on in life. And things such as Tangled: The Series show that characters will face many more trials and tribulations.
All in all, I'm not shocked by this line of thought as it is also something that I have heard directed towards the MLP fandom and it is just as aggravating there as it is here. I apologize for bringing this up as this perhaps could have been it's own blog but I do think that something such as "Queen for a Day" disprove the rather absurd notion that adults who like Disney need to grow up.
With that outta the way, let's get into the meat of the plot and there is quite to unpack here.
The Plot We open in Old Corona and we get another look at Quirin, Varian's dad as a dark cloud comes blowing in.The villagers express their concern of the black rocks to Quirin and he promises to go to the king to express their concerns. Varian asks to to tag along as he has been experimenting on the rocks, even after Quirin has told him not to.
Back at the palace, we witness Rapunzel sitting in as her parents take in problems from the citizens of Corona. Rapunzel is happy to do this as she will need to be able to do this as her parents are heading out for their anniversary. Quirin enters the throne room to speak to the king and to the dismay of Varian, his father lies to the king.
Quirin lied to the king saying that they were so prosperous with their crops that they needed more land to accommodate them. Even though there were no crop reports from Old Corona, King Frederic granted Quirin's request.
This causes the start of a rift between Varian and his father. Which helps to start the path that Varian will head down. Rapunzel sees Varian is upset and asks what is wrong and Varian explains what is happening with the rocks. And Rapunzel makes a promise to help Varian figure out what is happening. In the courtyard, we see Rapunzel and her friends send her parents off. Frederic offers to stay behind but Rapunzel has got this. And Frederic gives Rapunzel a key piece of advice. "Listen to the voice in your heart".
We hit our first song number of the special and we soon learn that Rapunzel doesn't quite got this. And this is where we start to see Rapunzel start to go through a bit of self-doubt that will carry on throughout the rest of the season and will even be the major theme in the next episode. Back in Old Corona, we see Quirin continue his lies as he tells the villagers that the king has agreed to help them. This ties into something that we touched upon briefly in the review of "What The Hair?!" in that within Old Corona, Quirin is viewed as a leader. And Quirin is giving the people in his village, a sense of false hope. And to an extent, that is understandable but ti also reminds me of a phrase that I am not sure where it originated but does kinda apply in the situation.
Hope is not a plan!
I haven't always been the biggest fan of this quote as I fall more in line with this line of thinking from Once Upon a Time.
If there’s one thing I’ve gleamed from you hero types it’s that there’s always hope.
Having said that, I think there is a middle ground within these two trains of thought as you need both hope to launch towards solving something that is in your way but you also need to work towards it on your own. And I think that is what this show is trying to display as Varian does have hope but he is actually attempting to take initiative whereas Quirin is giving the people that look him as a leader, a sense of false hope. The show is good at showing both sides of this coin as while we do see this sequence mostly from Varian's point of view, we also get a good sense of why Quirin is lying to the villagers as if he had told them the truth, they would have been disparaged. This ties into my belief that this show realizes that there is no black and white in a lot of situations and is doing it's best to show that.
Returning to the palace, we see that Rapunzel out on the balcony expressing doubt over her day as queen to Eugene but Eugene explains that Rapunzel can do anything as she was able to leave the tower. Right as they are having this conservation, snowfall begins to come down from the sky and Rapunzel realizes that she had never been outside in the snow and decides to declare it a snow day in Corona. And this is right around the time that things start to go from good to bad.
As we catch back up with Rapunzel's parents and we see that they are starting to experience some issues as a giant icicle falls and scares Max (who was carrying their carriage) and causes him to go backwards and break free from the carriage, which causes the carriage to fall leaving the king and queen trapped on a cliff in the carriage.
We then cut back to Varian and Quirin as we see Quirin go through Varian's room and we focus on a rather interesting symbol that had been seen prior in the pilot movie. And we get a great quiet moment as Quirin looks at a picture of him, his wife and Varian as a baby. Showing that Varian does love his son but he just doesn't know how to show that as Quirin is not the type to express his emotions as he is a rather stoic figure that from the little that we saw of Quirin up until this episode helps to establish this. And while Quirin doesn't feature much as a character save for this episode, he is one of the most important figures to the show and especially to the character arc that Varian. We covered this, when looked at how and why Varian ended up on the path of villainy. Speaking of, we have come to that moment and I know that I haven't been using a lot of images but it is rather key here to show what happens. We see Varian in the basement that he uses as a lab experimenting on the rocks as he pours a liquid onto the rocks as Quirin comes to surprise Varian but soon, father and son get into an argument about the nature of the rocks and well, this is where Quirin starts to get trapped in the new crystal formation.
Just then, he noticed the growing crystals and pushed Varian away, getting himself trapped in the process. Varian came close to help him but Quirin told him to stay back. Varian then ran out to get help.
We've already talked about this and we will bring this up again but the song, "Let Me Make You Proud" is a great number that really helps highlight what Varian is going through as he desires to make his father proud of him. Back at the palace, Rapunzel asks if it always snows this much and we get some history about Corona from the local blacksmith, Xavier.
He told the princess, Eugene, and their friends of a legend about a creature that made a winter storm so big it destroyed everything in its path. Then Lord Demanitus used magic and science to create a subterranean machine that is powerful enough to change the course of the wind back to the creature.
Right around this time, a strong wind comes in and things start to get worse as Max returns without her parents and Rapunzel is worried but Rapunzel is informed by her adviser, Nigel that she cannot leave her subjects. And this is when Eugene along with the thugs decide that since the king and queen gave them a second chance, they need to return the favor. We cut back to Old Corona and see that Quirin's condition is worsening as he tries to write a letter explaining things to Varian. It is around this time that Varian reaches the palace to get help from Rapunzel but Rapunzel can't go to help Varian and he is carried away as the royal guards think that Varian was attacking the princess. And he is dragged out by the guards yelling that she promised but Rapunzel can't help one person, when all of Corona is in danger. I am not a Star Trek fan but Rapunzel's situation brings to mind a saying from Mr. Spock that has entered the lexicon of pop culture.
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few
This is where Rapunzel finds herself in a very perilous situation as while she did promise Varian that she would help him but in this situation but she can't turn her attention to only one person as all of her subjects need help. We cut back to the mountains where the king and queen are trapped and Arianna assures Frederic that Rapunzel will make a great queen one day and this is right around the time that Eugene and the thugs reach the king and queen and save them. And we get a fake out of the king almost dying but Eugene will not let that happen.
This is right around the time that Rapunzel makes the decision that they need to evacuate the island and Rapunzel is still unsure if she made the right decision but Cass informs her that she made the only decision. It is around this time that Rapunzel decides that she needs to find the device from Xavier's story.
Xavier was reluctant to help as he doubted the existence of the device but saw how important it was to Rapunzel and realized that they needed to find it. And after finding it, it does seem as though they are able to get it working but a stone falls and stops the gear and this is when Rapunzel lowers Pascal on her hair to remove it but it's not long enough to reach. So, with a tear running down his face, Pascal unties himself from Rapunzel's hair and falls down to remove the gear.
Yes, in this moment, Pascal is willing to sacrifice himself to save the kingdom and for a brief moment, it seems as though Pascal is really dead and considering what we saw in the last episode that we reviewed, I wouldn't have put it past the show to do something like this.
This is easily one of the best tragic moments in the entire series but of course, Pascal lives. After everything that our heroes have been put through, they are all reunited and while it seems that for a moment, everything is fine, the downward spiral has only started as Rapunzel's confidence has been shaken and she is at a point, where she doesn't want to be queen. And in the final scene, we get the fullest moment of Varian starting his path towards villainy.
Characters
We've got quite a few characters to get through here, so let's get this outta the way.
Main Characters
Rapunzel voiced by Mandy Moore
This is the first episode that really tests Rapunzel as she realizes that while she may think that she had this in the beginning, there is more to being a queen, than she thought and she as of this episode isn't sure if she has the wherewithal for such a demanding role. Yes, she may have saved the day but as Rapunzel acknowledges, this was just one day and there'll be more days like this in the future and as of the end of this episode, she is questioning her future.
Varian voiced by Jeremy Jordan
Varian's arc in this episode is fascinating to me as the show had set him up as a good person that was willing to do whatever was needed to help Rapunzel but after being dragged away, he felt betrayed and now he will exact revenge on those who he thinks that wronged him. This brings to mind another quote from Once Upon a Time. Perhaps, the most famous quote from that show.
Evil isn't born, it's made.
For those that do not watch Once, this quote implies that no one is born evil (obvious I know) but rather the situations and circumstances that people face in life will make him choose which path, they'll go down.
Obvious metaphor is obvious but it does seem applicable here as while, we will be faced with hard decisions in life, it is up to us as to how we react to them and in Varian's case, he chose the path of evil. To quote a later episode.
I'm the bad guy, that's fine
Varian acknowledges that he chose the path of evil and this episode is where we see Varian take his first steps on the path of evil.
Supporting Characters
Eugene voiced b Zachary Levi
Eugene has a bit of a minor subplot about figuring out, what it really means to be king and that is just more than taking advantage of things at the palace as he puts his best foot forward to go save the king and queen and in earn, he more than earns the respect of the king.
Cassandra voiced by Eden Espinoza
More than anything, Cassandra showed that she was a great anchor of moral support for Rapunzel in dire times such as what this episode put her through. Cass may not always know how to show emotions but she will always be a rock that her friends can come to.
Quirin voiced by Jonathan Banks
This is the symbol that I mentioned during the plot section that showed up in the pilot movie and it'll show up again. There is quite the mystery surrounding it. We will come back to that in the future but for now, let's focus on Quirin. Up until this episode, we really didn't know much Quirin as we had only seen him in the first episode of the series, so this episode had an uphill battle in getting us to care about about Quirin and more importantly, the character between Quirin and Varian. And I think the show did that rather well as we do get to see that Quirin is a stoic man that doesn't wear his emotions on his sleeve, he does care for his son very much. He just has a hard time showing it. Father and child relationships are something that are very prevalent to the show's first season.
King Frederic and Queen Arianna voiced by Clancy Brown & Julie Bowen
This episode is really the first time that we get insight into the relationship between Frederic and Arianna. We have seen them interact with one another in little moments here and there and Frederic is developed more as a character over time. Sadly, the same is not true for Arianna as she really only gets one episode that highlights her and it's the second weakest episode of the first season. But here, you are able to understand the love that these two share and will always be there for one another.
Xavier voiced by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Man, I really hope that Xavier gets more to do in the second season as he just so fascinating a character as he is the keeper of Corona's history and the way that he is able to weave the stories of the history into the events that our characters are facing is enriching as he makes the audience care about the history and understand how that history can influence the decisions that the characters make.
This song is decent, not my favorite number from the show but the structure of this song is more or less symbolic of the show's path during the first season. As the first half seems upbeat and happy but the second half is where stress starts to come in and Rapunzel starting to experiencing the emotional roller coaster that is the latter half of the show's first season.
We have already discussed this song at great length but I could talk about this song for days on end as this is one of the best Disney songs that I've ever had the pleasure of listening to. This song perfectly captures what Varian is going through in this moment as more than anything, he just wants his father to be proud of him and that is something that most children can relate to.
This reprise is a huge punch to the gut as we start to lose everything that made Varian such a good person as his decisions are starting to strip him of his good nature and he is letting his emotions dictate his decisions. Which yes is also true of Rapunzel but as we will discuss, the paths that Rapunzel and Varian go down are two sides of the same coin.
My Final Thoughts
This episode shows why I love this show so much. Tangled: The Series was able to take characters from an already great movie and make them even better than they were at the end of the movie by testing them and putting them through situations that may not always guarantee a happy ending. This brings us back to the article that I brought up in the introduction about Adults who like Disney need to Grow Up. Things like this episode prove that Disney can be very grown up and that while they may get happy endings at the end of their story in the movie, the characters may still have hardships that the will have to face after they get their respective happy endings. There isn't too much else that I can say about this episode that I haven't already said throughout this review. This is an episode that you just need to watch. Peace!
