Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and today, we continue our look at Tangled: The Series as we look at The Alchemist Returns. The second to last episode before the season finale and it has been quite the road to get there. And as we have brought up throughout this event, the latter half of Tangled: The Series is a bit of an emotional rollercoaster and that is very true towards the end here as we see the return of Varian and how he becomes the villain of the series and that is fully realized here in this episode.
The Plot
We open on Rapunzel storming in and confronting her father about all of the lies that he had been telling his daughter. And we get one of the most emotional scenes in which Frederic tries to weasel his way out of lying by saying that he was trying to protect his daughter but Rapunzel rightly calls him out on this and compares him to Gothel by saying that there was someone else that thought she wasn't ready for the real world and they were wrong too. I'll give you three guesses as to who, Rapunzel was referring to. And the first two don't count. Yep, Rapunzel compared her own father to Gothel.
In my review of the pilot movie, I called out the Disney Wiki for making this same exact comparison.
Okay, I gotta take umbrage with something that the Disney Wiki says about this. They say that King Frederic is acting like Mother Gothel and this is the same as before. Well, I can see that but….
Mother Gothel kept Rapunzel in the tower for selfish reasons and while Rapunzel may have thought that Gothel loved her, that was a lie
Yeah, I gotta retract on that as the show goes to great lengths to show that while Frederic is acting out of genuine love for Rapunzel, he & Gothel are two sides of the same coin. And even by acting on love as Frederic felt he was doing, he was pushing Rapunzel away. This is one of the biggest things that I appreciate about this show is its willingness to delve into how complicated and messy, parent and child relationships can be. And show that while a parent may be acting out of love, they are still in the wrong and they need to realize that. I feel like it's been some time since we've seen such a fascinating parent/child relationship in Disney animation. The last one that comes to mind is Triton and Ariel.
But even then, there are a couple of key differences between the father/daughter relation in The Little Mermaid and the father/daughter relationship in Tangled. The first and perhaps most obvious one is that Ariel has lived with her dad all her life whereas as Rapunzel and Frederic are still getting to know one another. They may be family and by this point, it has almost been a year since Rapunzel left the tower. This brings up the idea that they are family but they don't yet have a strong bond. Which is interesting, when you compare Rapunzel's relationship with her mom to this relationship. Arianna understands that her daughter needs space to grow. This brings us to a key similarity between Ariel and Rapunzel's fathers. They both lost someone important to them and that is what made them so harsh and strict. If one takes the non-prequel, Ariel's Beginning into consideration, it is shown that Triton became the man we saw at the start of the original Little Mermaid because of what humans did to his wife.
And Frederic became the way he is, because of Gothel taking his daughter. The key difference here though is that Frederic was able to get the one, he lost back. We will return to the idea of being able to save someone that you lost when we look at the season finale in the future. This is interesting to consider and it is not hard to compare Ariel and Rapunzel's families and how they are so similar and the different paths that they take.
Now, there is something else that I need to bring up here as it appears as though, Varian had seemingly forgiven Rapunzel for everything that occurred during "Queen for a Day" and the show tricked not only Rapunzel but also me as I thought that Varian had forgiven Rapunzel way too easily for how we last saw him at the end of "Queen for a Day". After the apology takes Rapunzel presents Varian with the scroll from the previous episode and Varian explains that the rocks are part of an ancient darkness that could be stopped by the Golden Flower, the one that saved Arianna and gave Rapunzel, her hair. Rapunzel believed that it was long gone as that is what her father had told her but Varian asks her if her father had been truthful with her. And Rapunzel thinks this over and decides to go with Varian's plan as he reveals that they are going to steal the flower.
Meanwhile, back at the palace, Eugene and Cass notice that more and more people can't stop telling the truth. And while this is going on, Rapunzel and Varian break in and I'll let the Disney Wiki explain.
Meanwhile, Rapunzel and Varian snuck in to take Herz Der Soone's journal in order to find their way around the underground tunnels to get past the security of the royal vault. Rapunzel looked at a portrait of her father and starts to feel guilty about the plan, knowing that they're acts of treason. Varian convinced her to continue, saying it's Corona's only hope.
I haven't touched on this journal much but if you are interested in learning more about it, I might cover it. Let me know in the comments. One of the biggest things that I take away from this excerpt is the fact that Rapunzel was feeling guilty about betraying her father. We've talked about this, in this review but one of the biggest things is that even after how this episode opened with Rapunzel rightfully angry at her father for what he did, she doesn't want to let him down and hurt him.
Getting back to the review at hand, Rapunzel and Varian use the tunnels underneath the castle as they make their way past dangerous traps. And things only get worse and after interrogating Stan for a while, Cass and Eugene deduce that the citizens were affected by a truth serum and after questioning Stan for quite some time more, we discover where the serum first appeared.
Yeah, as we have discussed throughout this review and this event. Varian has slipped into villainy and while we got a taste of it during the end of "Queen for a Day", we also got an end stinger with Varian during an otherwise filler episode that showed him obtaining the serum that he used this episode to set up what was going to happen in this one. During the episode, "Not in the Mood", the characters used a serum that changed their personalities and moods. And at the end of the episode, Rapunzel tossed the bottle of serum into the ocean and floated down towards Old Corona and at the end, Varian found it and we find out here
Eugene and Cass do eventually make it to the vault but they are stopped by the guards but after convincing them that they would rather face the wrath of the king or of Cass and that gets them. Varian and Rapunzel do find the flower but it has become a bit decrepit with age. And this is where the reveal that this episode has been building up to comes to fruition.
And there is a brief moment after Rapunzel tells Varian that they have disobeyed her father, that he may be turning around but when he hears the guards coming, he changes his mind and decides that he needs to be the bad guy. As the guards try to capture Varian, he eludes them in a haze of purple smoke. Later that day, Eugene goes to check on Rapunzel and she is at the lowest of lows. As she sums up that she doesn't even where her relationship with Varian stands.
Characters
Main Characters
Rapunzel voiced Mandy Moore
This episode highlights that that so many people around Rapunzel had been lying to her and when you take in her past with Gothel, it's made clear that is something that Rapunzel struggles with a lot. From her father lying to her to "protect" her to Varian lying to her to take advantage of both Rapunzel's good-natured and more-so, the guilt that Rapunzel has been feeling since the events of "Queen for a Day". And Rapunzel being a person that wears her emotions on her sleeves makes her susceptible to being taken advantage of. And considering how guilt-ridden she feels about what happened to Quirin, this is very understandable.
Varian voiced by Jeremy Jordan
There is something that I need to address regarding Varian. He has proven to be something of a divisive character amongst fans. With some fans going so far as to try and excuse his actions but you also have the other end of the spectrum with people calling him, an edgelord. Me, I fall somewhere in the middle as I don't see him as just an edgelord but I will not excuse his actions either. To put it simply, he's a sympathetic villain that reminds a bit of some of the villains from Batman: The Animated Series in that like that show, you got to know him before he went full-villain. Perhaps, the most obvious comparison that one could make between Varian and a BTAS villain would be Mr. Freeze as they share the most similar backstory of any characters that I've seen in some time.
Supporting Characters
Cassandra & Eugene voiced byEden Espinosa & Zachary Levi
Cass and Eugene didn't really have much to do in this episode. They were distracted by Varian's plan and that's what he wanted, he wanted them out of the way. So that, he could take advantage of Rapunzel without anyone getting in the way.
My Final Thoughts
Overall, I liked this episode and it did a good job of setting up everything to come and keeping the emotional rollercoaster going that had started during the back-half of the season. Speaking of the season finale, that'll be our next review. I know it has taken me a while to get to this review but that is because I had quite a bit that I wanted to say about this episode and I will apologize in advance but it might be a while before we get to that review.
Getting back to the review at hand, Rapunzel and Varian use the tunnels underneath the castle as they make their way past dangerous traps. And things only get worse and after interrogating Stan for a while, Cass and Eugene deduce that the citizens were affected by a truth serum and after questioning Stan for quite some time more, we discover where the serum first appeared.
Eugene suggests that Pete should just tell them if he notices anything out of the ordinary, to which Pete replies that he met a man in a bush, who give him purple cookies to eat. Cassandra realized that the cookies are laced with the truth serum. Eugene asks Pete about the man in the bush. Pete replies that the man's voice is squeaky and was asking about the sun drop flower when he was giving him the cookies. Eugene and Cassandra soon realized the man was Varian and ran to the royal vault to stop him
Yeah, as we have discussed throughout this review and this event. Varian has slipped into villainy and while we got a taste of it during the end of "Queen for a Day", we also got an end stinger with Varian during an otherwise filler episode that showed him obtaining the serum that he used this episode to set up what was going to happen in this one. During the episode, "Not in the Mood", the characters used a serum that changed their personalities and moods. And at the end of the episode, Rapunzel tossed the bottle of serum into the ocean and floated down towards Old Corona and at the end, Varian found it and we find out here
Eugene and Cass do eventually make it to the vault but they are stopped by the guards but after convincing them that they would rather face the wrath of the king or of Cass and that gets them. Varian and Rapunzel do find the flower but it has become a bit decrepit with age. And this is where the reveal that this episode has been building up to comes to fruition.
Rapunzel grabs Varian's bag to stop him but he pulls away, causing a bottle to fall out. Rapunzel recognizes it as the bottle that once contain Xavier's mood potion and tells Varian he shouldn't be messing with it. Varian explains that he replicated and modified the potion to create a truth serum and put them in the cookies he gave to everyone so that they'll tell him about the flower's whereabouts. Rapunzel is shocked by Varian's treachery. Varian angrily explains that he begged her and the kingdom for help but they all turned their backs on him.
And there is a brief moment after Rapunzel tells Varian that they have disobeyed her father, that he may be turning around but when he hears the guards coming, he changes his mind and decides that he needs to be the bad guy. As the guards try to capture Varian, he eludes them in a haze of purple smoke. Later that day, Eugene goes to check on Rapunzel and she is at the lowest of lows. As she sums up that she doesn't even where her relationship with Varian stands.
Characters
Main Characters
Rapunzel voiced Mandy Moore
This episode highlights that that so many people around Rapunzel had been lying to her and when you take in her past with Gothel, it's made clear that is something that Rapunzel struggles with a lot. From her father lying to her to "protect" her to Varian lying to her to take advantage of both Rapunzel's good-natured and more-so, the guilt that Rapunzel has been feeling since the events of "Queen for a Day". And Rapunzel being a person that wears her emotions on her sleeves makes her susceptible to being taken advantage of. And considering how guilt-ridden she feels about what happened to Quirin, this is very understandable.
Varian voiced by Jeremy Jordan
There is something that I need to address regarding Varian. He has proven to be something of a divisive character amongst fans. With some fans going so far as to try and excuse his actions but you also have the other end of the spectrum with people calling him, an edgelord. Me, I fall somewhere in the middle as I don't see him as just an edgelord but I will not excuse his actions either. To put it simply, he's a sympathetic villain that reminds a bit of some of the villains from Batman: The Animated Series in that like that show, you got to know him before he went full-villain. Perhaps, the most obvious comparison that one could make between Varian and a BTAS villain would be Mr. Freeze as they share the most similar backstory of any characters that I've seen in some time.
Supporting Characters
Cassandra & Eugene voiced byEden Espinosa & Zachary Levi
Cass and Eugene didn't really have much to do in this episode. They were distracted by Varian's plan and that's what he wanted, he wanted them out of the way. So that, he could take advantage of Rapunzel without anyone getting in the way.
My Final Thoughts
Overall, I liked this episode and it did a good job of setting up everything to come and keeping the emotional rollercoaster going that had started during the back-half of the season. Speaking of the season finale, that'll be our next review. I know it has taken me a while to get to this review but that is because I had quite a bit that I wanted to say about this episode and I will apologize in advance but it might be a while before we get to that review.
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