Frank15's Winx Reviews: 1x07-1x09
May. 9th, 2026 07:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiderbraidsIn which Frank15 calls Riven "the best of the boys" (!) and asserts that while "It's impossible not to like Mirta" (agreed), "It's impossible to like Timmy" (!!) as the Trix start realizing what the deal is with Bloom... also, prepare to see more of Frank15 complaining about Timmy in later reviews :-\
Grounded
...or There Once Was a Girl with a Bucket
First of all, before anything else, thank you, Lori, for your great descriptions on the Winx girls' dresses for this episode, which is in the "Other Stuff" section at the bottom of the episode analysis. Now, onto the episode itself!
At Alfea, the five Winx girls are in Miss Griselda's office. Griselda explains the dangers of sneaking into Cloud Tower, and mentions that the loss of their powers is only the beginning of their punishment, that they are also not allowed to leave the Alfea campus for the next couple of days. Stella jokes about being "forced" to veg out all weekend isn't much of a punishment. Bloom laughs. Tecna does not find Stella's comment amusing. Griselda goes on to tell the girls that there will be no "vegging out," that they must clean the school from basement to belfry. It is not clear whether or not Griselda was planning on having the girls clean the school from the beginning, or she decided to add to the punishment after Stella's comment. Also, it is funny to hear Griselda trying to use the girls' slang... always sounds so awkward. Also, yay for Griselda using the word "belfry." One of those words that just isn't used as much as it needs to be. Griselda whips up some brooms and buckets for the girls to clean with. You know, at the very least, Griselda could've given the girls some mops, too. Tecna is confused by these newfangled gadgets that Griselda has conjured up. We love Tecna!
Tecna: What a curious-looking remnant of primitive technology. Perhaps there's an online manual in my--
Griselda: You won't need a manual, Miss Tecna.
Tecna: Oh, no manual?
Musa: Don't worry, Tecna, it's not that complicated.
Flora: Yeah, the only manual we'll be using is manual labor.
Tecna: Exactly, if we had a manual for the labor, we'd be more efficient at--
Everyone starts laughing at Tecna.
Tecna: What's so funny? I was not joking.
The simplest of things so confuse Tecna. Apparently Tecna's never done any manual labor in her home world. And she's so genuinely puzzled why everyone else is laughing. Poor girl. And we didn't even get to her infamous bucket scene yet! Griselda starts yelling at the girls for laughing, and orders them to get to work.
In one of Alfea's lecture halls, Bloom and Musa are busy cleaning the bleachers, and Musa asks for "H to the E to the L to the P" from Stella, who's just sitting by, watching. Bloom and Musa blame Stella for getting them into this mess, for her comment about vegging out. Though Griselda may have been planning this punishment, anyway. Musa and Stella get into a yelling match. Stella feels, as a princess, she shouldn't have to work, forgetting that Musa is also a princess. For whatever reason, Stella feels she's an important princess, and Musa isn't. What, because Musa doesn't act as much like a stereotypical princess? Sure. While they're arguing, Bloom prepares a bucket filled with water, carries it over while Stella's distracted with Musa, and throws the water onto Stella! Stella just sits there, arms stretched out, completely motionless from shock, as Musa laughs. Bloom proceeds to splash some water onto Musa.
And for one of the most memorable scenes in the series, this gem of a scene: Tecna Vs. the Bucket. On a staircase, Flora and Tecna have a broom and bucket. Tecna picks up a bucket, carefully inspecting it, trying to figure out what is done with it.
Tecna: Thanks, but I know I can figure out the secret of these strange objects by myself.
Flora: That's called a bucket.
It seems so silly that Flora has to tell Tecna what the object is as if Tecna were a baby. Tecna's just so proud of herself when she figures out what a bucket is used for. Trouble is, she figures it's used as a sort of helmet for the head, and wears it as such. Buckethead Tecna is so cute! Tecna figures, with its long handle, that the broom must be used to reach high places, and waves it at a picture high above the stairs. The picture comes crashing down, nearly bonking Tecna on the head on its way down. Of course, she was wearing her "helmet" at the time, so she'd have been protected....
Tecna: Good thing I figured out how to use the bucket.
Flora: ...yeah, let's go find Bloom.
Flora's so sweet, so patient with Tecna. Flora and Tecna enter the room with the other three girls, all of them looking exhausted and soaked. They ask if the girls are OK. Stella says that Bloom taught them an Earth sport called "water fight," and that she won. Musa insists that she won. Flora and Tecna, though, are more worried that Griselda will see the mess. Griselda, of course, enters the room at that very moment, telling the girls that Charmed Life, some famous band with the fairies, and tries to get the girls hyped about a concert with them tomorrow night. Then brings them down, telling them they can't go since they have so much work to do, and maybe if they're lucky, one of their classmates will bring them back a T-shirt. There were nicer ways Griselda could've told the girls they couldn't go to this concert. Griselda's methods are just so mean-spirited. She must've had an unhappy childhood, or something.
Over at Cloud Tower, the witches are all having dinner. Eggs and crescent rolls look more like breakfast to me, but then the timing in the episode would be all screwed up. Guess they're just having breakfast food for dinner. Several background witches can be seen, but in particular, we get our first look at the only two student witches, besides the Trix sisters, who anyone gives a lick about--Mirta, the cute button-nosed red-haired witch, and Lucy, the somewhat ugly green-haired witch. They're not named yet, though. Stormy and Darcy complain about letting the Winx girls sneak into their room in last week's episode. Which is partly their own faults for being unusually careless last week. Icy comforts them, telling them that since Stella's ring did not have the dragon's power they were looking for, that they'll go back to Alfea to look for it, then destroy their entire school. Mirta, from a table far from the Trix sisters' own table, pipes up, asking why they hate Alfea so much, and that, in some ways, Alfea's "kinda' rockin'." So sweet, yet so naive. Stormy mocks her, and all the witches, minus Lucy, start laughing like they've never laughed before. Mirta looks completely embarrassed, and starts crying. Stormy starts mocking Mirta more. Darcy throws a glue blob at her face, to help her "save face." Or more importantly, suffocate her for a minute. Lucy, worried, rushes to Mirta, saying that she needs help, that she can't breathe. Darcy calls her stupid for not realizing it only lasts for a minute. The witches are all in absolute hysterics at this point. It's a wonder they're able to breathe. Miss Griffin walks in with an announcement to her students:
Griffin: Attention, witches! The precious princess of Alfea have booked Magix Stadium tomorrow night for some wretched music concert, so our "Money for Monsters" fundraiser has to move to the elementary school auditorium, so plan accordingly
Griffin: ...worthless do-gooding pixies!
Such great delivery on Griffin's part: she states the announcement very matter-of-factly, then, walking away, mutters that last part to herself. Icy says with Alfea empty, it'll be the perfect time to go there.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #1
The next day at Alfea, all the students and faculty, minus the Winx girls, are boarding hoverbuses for the concert. Apparently, the faculty isn't just there to watch over the girls, either: at least one seems to be "in" with what's cool:
Palladium: I don't want to miss the opening act!
Inside the hallways of Alfea, the Winx girls are standing about. Musa says the band isn't good anyway, but it would still beat cleaning duty. So Stella loves the group, but Musa hates them. Guess Charmed Life isn't hip hop. Stella says they could call up the boys.
Flora: Right. I'm sure they'd just flip at the prospect of helping us clean.
Bloom likes Stella's idea, though, and decides they could lie to the boys to get cleaning help from them, claiming to need their heroics and bravery. Tecna thinks Griselda would disapprove, but Bloom mentions that Griselda never said they couldn't have the boys over. Can't argue with Bloom's logic. Musa, Bloom, and Stella cheer over the idea; Tecna and Flora aren't as wild about it.
Outside, now night, the four Specialists arrive on their hovercrafts. Stella is outside to greet them, as Prince Sky asks exactly what kind of heroics and bravery the girls need.
Inside, Musa explains to them the complexities of using a broom as if it were a mop. It seems to work, anyway. But Musa, these guys aren't Tecna: I don't think they need the explanation. "Here's the Girl, and This is the Beat" is playing on a boombox in the room. Bloom throws the guys their brooms. Flora turns the volume up on the boombox. Everyone, minus Riven, dances to the music. Kiko accidentally throws a stick at Lady, Prince Sky's dog, and then acts all innocent.
Musa: You've heard of hip hop? Well this is hip mop.
Riven: Lame.
Gotta' agree with Riven there. The girls are all in new dresses, having finished all the cleaning. The outfits are for this episode only. Descriptions for these dresses are provided by Lori, and are in the "Other Stuff" section at the bottom of this summary. Musa throws four CDs all so precisely into four boomboxes. They're all dancing, with Bloom dancing with Stella. Stella pushes Bloom to dance with Brandon.
Outside, the Trix sisters materialize, but hear noise coming from inside the building. The sisters look through a balcony into a window. Inside, Tecna worries about dancing, telling Timmy she doesn't know any dance steps. Timmy tells Tecna she shouldn't dance. Real good way to win a girl's heart, Romeo. Riven rightly makes fun of Timmy. Musa dances into the area, and everyone, save for Riven, cheer Musa on, on how great a dancer she is. Riven walks out to the balcony for air, as the witches go back to the ground, so as not to be seen.
On the ground, Icy isn't going to let the fairies and Specialists stop them from looking for the dragon fire. Stormy is upset that the fairies are dancing, as if their dancing was to say that they felt superior to the witches. Um, Stormy? You're a bit paranoid--they have no idea you're even there. Icy tells her sisters to prepare their Wisperian crystals. The crystals form a triangle, which goes through a wall. The witches cast a spell to go through the wall themselves. The three form a circle, as Icy chants a spell to bring forth a minotaur.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #2
The Specialists are telling the girls about a recent battle they were involved with. Stella asks Brandon if he wants their last sandwich. He declines, but says he's thirsty. As Stella pours into a glass what looks like orange juice, there's a small tremor. They look outside, and see something large being thrown from a second-story window, shattering into pieces as it hits the ground. For the life in me, I cannot tell what the object was, exactly. Riven whistles for the guys' hovercrafts, to get to the area where the damage occurred.
Timmy: This damage was caused by some kind of creature!
Tecna: Hmm... a very big creature.
Riven: Really? Tell us something we don't know!
Tecna: It's three meters tall and weighs close to a ton. Its fur is gristly, not soft, it walks upright, has horns in addition to multiple clawed limbs, and it leaves off a foul, musky odor.
Stella: **laughing** She told you!
Sky tells the rest of the guys to get their weapons ready. The Winx girls insist they're going to. Riven tells them to just go hide somewhere, that they'd just get in the way.
The Trix sisters are following their crystals in search of the dragon fire, which are actually chasing the girls. Stella has a very awkward-looking way of running. The Trix sisters stop, as Icy senses someone here. It turns out to be Icy's stalker baby duck. Icy screams at it, blowing it away, and uses her ice coffin on it.
The Specialists are carefully looking for the monster. Timmy provides light, and Brandon notices all the damage around.
Elsewhere, the Winx girls are sneaking about. Flora's worried about how quiet it is. Bloom thinks maybe the creature went away, but Flora senses the creature's presence. Musa bumps into the minotaur. The minotaur turns around, spraying snot onto Stella. Stella prepares to fight the creature, complaining, until Flora reminds her that they don't have their powers. The five girls run away, with the minotaur chasing after them. Right as the girls leave, the Trix sisters enter through the floor, and Icy notes that the dragon fire keeps moving.
As the girls are running away, Flora trips. Musa passes right by her, but Stella pauses for a moment to help Musa back up. Really kind of Stella to do that, putting herself in danger to help Flora. One of our first signs of Stella not putting herself at the center of the universe. The girls continue running, as the minotaur creates a small tremor that pauses the girls temporarily. The minotaur lunges toward Tecna, but, using her amazing Spiderman skills, seems to wall jump above it. The minotaur crashes into the wall, getting his horns stuck. Stella sprays the monster with perfume, hoping to make it smell better. The minotaur frees itself, and the girls go off running away again. Musa runs slower than the other girls, for whatever reason, and wall jumps to the ceiling. For not having any magical powers, these girls sure have amazing acrobatic skills.
The Specialists arrive at the scene of the action. Riven's happy that there's finally a party now. Riven's definition of "fun" still makes more sense than Tecna's. Brandon congratulates Musa's acrobatic skills. Riven tries fighting the minotaur by himself. He yells at Brandon, Timmy, and Sky, who want to help, that he can handle the minotaur by himself. The minotaur knocks Riven through a window to another room. The Trix sisters find Riven unconscious, and Darcy notices a dark energy coming from him.
Darcy: Can we take him home, Icy?
Aww... puppy love. How cute, however superficial Darcy's little crush may be--which is very. Stormy is irritated that Darcy gets crushes on a lot of guys. So I guess Riven isn't her first pet project. Icy says Riven may be of use to them later.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #3
The Winx girls wonder how they can defeat the minotaur, as Stella brings forth the brooms and buckets, telling the girls she has an idea. The girls make a lot of noise with the objects to draw the minotaur's attention. The minotaur lunges toward them, as the Winx girls run away. Bloom and Musa squirt suntan lotion, or some unknown liquid, onto the floor, and the minotaur slips, crashing into the duck, walking around aimlessly, and they both fly through a window. Stella's plan worked! Kindness and ingenuity! Nice to see her trying to make up for last week's debacle. The girls head for the unconscious minotaur, and wonder where it came from. The duck pops out from beneath the minotaur, crying for its mommy. Bloom remembers that the duck is stalking Icy, and Tecna figures that the Trix sisters must be about.
The group of nine heads for Miss Faragonda's office, thinking the Trix sisters will go there to use Faragonda's all-seeing crystal ball to find the Solaria ring. Which, oddly enough, the Trix sisters have given up on. Though the Winx girls don't know that yet, I guess. Everyone hides as they hear the Trix sisters about to enter Faragonda's office. Icy says the dragon fire must be in the room, as the Wisperian crystals are acting wildly, but isn't sure where exactly it is hidden. She says they're going to trash the room looking for it, but Bloom says she will not allow the Trio to do that. Miss Faragonda enters her office at that moment, and Bloom tries to hide in Miss Faragonda's desk as if she were an ostrich. Faragonda sees her, of course. Bloom claims she was just looking for something. Cute Bloom moment.
Outside, the Winx girls give their goodbyes to the Specialists, preparing to head back for Red Fountain. Sky gives Stella a kiss. Great expression on Stella's face: she was so not expecting that. Timmy is a geek flirting with Tecna. Faragonda asks Griselda to remind her to write a letter to Red Fountain to tell them about how the boys came to help the girls when they called them about their minotaur problem. Ah, naive Faragonda. Wasn't quite that innocent. Faragonda also scolds the Trix sister, telling them that she is sending a letter of complaint to Miss Griffin, hoping that she disciplines them properly, and that she will return their powers after Miss Griffin gives the word. The Trix sisters refuse to acknowledge Faragonda's existance. To such an extent that Icy is even ignoring the duck that's kissing her cheek. Gotta' hand it to them for their strong will. Griselda yells at the girls to go to Faragonda's office first thing in the morning.
The next morning, in Faragonda's office, she is telling the girls how brave and resourceful they were, but tells them next time, to clean up after they party, so as not to make another mess after cleaning up, telling the girls that's how she used to do it. She believes the Winx girls have learned their lessons, and returns their powers. Later, when she's alone in her office, Faragonda wonders about the dragon fire power, thinking it was just a myth. But she realizes the Trix sisters believe it to be real. She realizes it is definitely not in Stella's ring of Solaria. If the Trix sisters were right, she wonders how the dragon fire got here, and who has it.
Other Stuff
First, the outfits. The five Winx girls were wearing special outfits for this episode. Here's a nice description from Lori on their outfits:
Bloom: White t-shirt with blue sleeves, blue miniskirt, blue legwarmers, white sneakers.
Stella: Long white camisole-type top that would make a better dress, green belt (worn over the top), dark orange pants with lace cuffs, sandals.
Flora: Lime green and teal tank top with flower details on one side, teal pants, lime green gauzy sash thing around waist, sandals.
Musa: Dark blue tube top, long blue fingerless gloves, short blue skirt with an M on it, socks and blue sneakers.
Tecna: Lime green and purple athletic-style top, short purple skirt, green socks, purple sneakers.
And my own personal opinions on the outfits: Flora's style is absolutely adorable! It's a bit flowery, a bit exotic-looking, and quite beautiful, overall. Musa's outfit is a good second place, with certainly a less flowery and exotic look, but with a more "hip hop" look that, while hip hop itself is annoying, Musa looks great in her outfit. Tecna comes it at #3, with a nice outfit, and appropriate for Tecna, is overall less "exciting." Bloom is fourth, with a cute outfit, but just "plainer" than everyone else's. And Stella's is fifth. Sometimes I wonder about the poor girl's sense of fashion, or moreso, why she sometimes seems to have none. Blargh!
As for the episode itself, it was very good. It has the infamous bucket incident. It has Mirta's debut. It has a few nice Stella moments. Flora's adorable, if not also underused. Riven's a cool guy, being grumpy all the time. And of course, Darcy's little puppy love. Gotta' love that.
9 out of 10 on the old scale.
The Day of the Rose
...or Why We Like Riven
Bloom is asleep in her bed at Alfea, having a dream. She is in the midst of a blue void, as a voice calls out her name. The voice asks if Bloom remembers her. Bloom recognizes it as the voice that helped her escape Cloud Tower, but does not know who she is. The voice appears as a large, glowing woman, wearing a Mardi Gras mask. The voice says Bloom will find her when Bloom finds herself. The voice tells Bloom to look within. Bloom will find the voice when she finds herself, that it is her destiny, and to prepare for her journey. Bloom has no idea what the voice is talking about, and for Bloom to prepare.
Bloom wakes up, and Flora is at her bedside, staring curiously. Flora mentions that Bloom was talking in her sleep: "Look within." "What's my destiny?" Flora says she's all packed. Bloom asks where Flora is going. Flora says she's going home since it's the Day of the Rose. Bloom asks about classes, but Tecna, packing in the main room, tells Bloom that there are no classes, that it's a holiday where everyone celebrates their parents. Bloom says she didn't realize it was a special day, and as such, had no plans for going home, but Stella says Bloom could stick around with her. You would think the holiday would've eventually just come up naturally in conversation. And for the Flora and Tecna fans out there, you won't see either of them again after this point. Pity that Tecna only had a single line.
Bloom, Stella, and Musa are eating breakfast in the conspicuously empty cafeteria. Stella says she finds it depressing being in an empty room by herself. Professor Wizgiz passes by, mentioning that he's going to see his mother. Stella asks why Bloom's staying at Alfea. Bloom says she didn't know it was a holiday, and wasn't able to read the magic-cal. Some sort of magical calendar, I guess. Bloom asks Stella and Musa why they stayed. Stella talks about her parents getting a divorce, living in separate palaces. She starts getting depressed, then cheers herself back up saying "these things happen." Poor Stella. She so doesn't feel "these things happen." Seems she just doesn't want to depress Musa or Bloom. Stella asks Musa why she's staying. Musa tells them that she lost her mother as a kid, and the day's always been bittersweet for her, and that her Dad is on a realm-wide hip hop tour. Stella apologizes for asking, but Musa says it's OK, that she's just never been good at talking about it. Stella gives Musa a sweet little hug. Bloom says they can still spend the day together, as their own little family. Stella gets a text message from Prince Sky, who wants to meet Stella at the festival in the city, and invite her to the dance later that night. Musa wishes to remain at Alfea, though. The three girls hug.
At Cloud Tower, the Trix sisters are in Miss Griffin's office, with Miss Griffin yelling at them. She shows them the letter from Miss Faragonda telling her about the sisters' sneaking into Alfea. She's especially upset that a group of freshmen pixies caught them, telling the sisters that they've embarrassed Cloud Tower. She demands that the sisters redeem themselves, to break hearts, bones, whatever it takes to crush the pixies by the day's end.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #1
Musa sits in one of Alfea's towers. Musa takes out a hologram thingy that makes a projection of her mother. She tell her about how she used to tell Musa about this tower being her favorite place, where Musa's Mom and Dad first kissed. She talks about how well she's doing in school, about having a crush on Riven, and that she'll spend the whole day with her. Musa is adorable here. It seems there is an actual connection too, not just some illusion spell-thingy, but that her mother's presence is actually there in some way. This is the last we hear of Musa in this episode, but look at it this way: she's uttered not a single slang word the whole episode!
Sky and Brandon walk about, saying how nice the festival is. Riven complains about how lame it is. They meet up with Stella and Bloom, and give the girls flowers, which float down from a ship in the sky. Sky mentions the annual Race for the Rose, which Sky and Brandon are going to be a part of, and mention how intense it will be. Riven says it'll be intense only for them, and that he's such a shoe-in to win, they should just put his name on the trophy right now. He refers to himself as the Rivenator. Heh. Riven teases Sky about how last year he fell off his bike in the first lap. Sky raises his fist, but Stella stops him, and worries about the race being dangerous. Brandon says the race is completely safe, as they wear state-of-the-art padding. One person crashes right at that moment, but is all right. The Trix sisters are watching all this from a nearby alley.
Another great scene here, folks, so tag along. Walking along, Sky mentions that Stella will be rooting for him, and Bloom will be rooting for Brandon, but that Riven has no one to support him. Riven thinks it's a stupid idea, that he needs no one cheering for him, but if he wanted, he could have any pixie at Alfea. Musa, yeah, and maybe Tecna if he made her aware of his existence toward her, but really, he's a bit full of himself, yes? Riven says that Bloom's been giving him the eye, and Bloom looks totally freaked out by his comment. She storms up to him, telling Riven she doesn't like him. Riven shrugs it off as if she were just talking crazy. Bloom goes on a tirade about how awful Riven is, and doesn't understand how Musa could even have a crush on him. Um, Bloom? Musa might not appreciate you revealing her crush to Riven like that. Stella's nervous watching Bloom carrying on, as Brandon and Sky look to each other, worried about Riven's reaction. After she finishes, she looks away with a pouty look on her face. Riven gently takes her chin up to him.
Riven: You are really cute when you're angry, you know that? I dig girls who play hard-to-get.
Brandon himself looks like he's about to kill Riven. Bloom is again shocked at Riven's audacity, and uses her magic to bring a pot of flowers over Riven, dumping the water out of the pot onto his head. Possibly saving Riven's life in the process, as Brandon's laughing now.
Bloom: Still think I'm cute when I'm angry?
As upset as Riven was before, he's now completely furious, and storms off. Bloom tries to apologize, and Sky tries taking up for Bloom, but Riven will hear nothing of it. Stella thinks this serves Riven right.
By himself, Riven walks through Magix. He tells himself how disgusting love is, and how he doesn't want it. Not only is he lying to his friends, but to himself too, apparently. In a nearby alley, the Trix sisters are watching.
Darcy: This guy's got a major attitude problem. I like him.
Stormy: Are you falling in love, Darcy?
Darcy: That is a four-letter word!
Icy intends to turn Riven against the Earth girl. Even moreso, I guess. Icy calls for Knut, who changes Knut to look like Timmy, against Knut's wishes.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #2
Stella and Bloom are walking through Magix, as Bloom gets distracted by a dancer who looks sorta' like the person from Bloom's dream. Timmy--actually Knut in disguise--snaps Bloom out of her trance. "Timmy," speaking in broken English, tells Bloom that he was just talking to the other guys, and they've disappeared. He says he had heard about the fight between herself and "Stiven." Bloom asks who he's talking about, and Timmy quickly corrects himself, that he meant Riven, and says he has just the thing to mend fences between Riven and herself. Timmy pulls what looks like a glasses case out of his pocket, and struggles trying to get the thing to work. It turns into what looks like a pair of headphones, though it's covering his face. He eventually gets it to turn into a helmet, and explains to Bloom that the helmet is the latest, best model. Bloom says that he bought it, that he should get to give it to Riven, but Timmy insists that it'll be a good way for them to make up.
Timmy: It's a way for you two to make up. Tell him you wanted him to crash. Uh, I mean drive well and you hope he likes it.
Bloom: Thanks, Timmy, this was very thoughtful of you.
Timmy: Uh, I've gotta' run, gotta' get to the, uh, science thing at the, uh, place. Bye!
You know, what's incredible here is Bloom's complete gullibility. Timmy is acting stupid. Moreso than usual even. And Bloom never suspects a thing, even with the two biggest clues coming out that something's wrong--telling Bloom to tell Riven she wants him to crash, and his actually calling some science thing a "science thing." Yet does Bloom suspect anything? Oh, no! Sheesh! Also, I'd wondered at first why the Trix sisters needed Riven to wear this special helmet, instead of just casting a spell on his own helmet. I'm guessing the Trix sisters having Bloom give him a "special" helmet is to make her more suspicious than if they'd just put the same spell on his normal helmet.
Back in the alley with the Trix sisters, Icy scolds "Timmy" for his practically spoiling the Trio's plans. He apologizes, and Icy changes him back to his Knut form.
Stormy: Aww, I thought we were going to get to punish him.
The sisters and Knut teleport to a nearby rooftop, to watch the action from below. Icy explains that she'll cast a spell on the helmet Bloom will give to Riven while he's racing, causing him to think that Bloom sabotaged his helmet, and that Darcy will save him, and Riven will think they're on his side. The girls have this fun little teasing session on the roof:
Icy: He'll be so grateful, he'll join our side.
Darcy: I sure hope so.
Stormy: You are so crushing on him.
Darcy: No I am not.
Stormy: Yeah, sure, you just think he'd be useful to us.
Darcy: He'd be more useful than Knut, that's for sure.
Icy: I think Darcy would like to make him her pet project, emphasis on the pet!
The racers, Specialists included, take their hoverbikes to the start line. Bloom rushes up to the guys, telling them to wait up. Stella asks where she's been, hoping she spotted some amazing sale. Bloom says nothing Stella would've liked. Bloom finds Riven, gives him the helmet, apologizes, and wishes him luck. Riven looks almost sorry for how he was acting earlier, though only for a quick moment before he turns away. The Trix sisters are watching from above. Darcy gives a soft "hmm." Bloom tells Brandon to be careful.
Off on the sidelines, Bloom tells Stella that Timmy thought of a way for Riven and her to patch things up. Stella is confused, though, telling Bloom that Timmy had gone home for the Day of the Rose, and that he isn't even in the same galaxy. Bloom's confused, wondering who she was talking to, but then she looks up, and sees the Trix sisters on the roof of a tall building. Seems like Icy is staring straight at Bloom, too. Bloom pushes her way through the crowd, showing Stella the witches up on the roof. She is unable to get to Riven before the starting light turns green, though.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #3
The racers are off! Bloom rushes off, and Stella follows a bit before backing off. Bloom transforms to her winx form, and flies after Riven. The song "Mean Girls" plays as Darcy, face hidden behind helmet, enters the race on her hoverbike from an alley. The computer generated animation during the race, by the way, is fine for the most part, but Darcy's computer-generated hair is just so totally wrong! Darcy fires purple waves at the other races, which disorient them. Bloom continues flying after Riven.
Announcer: Whoa, someone call security! We have an overenthusiastic fan on the track!
As Bloom gets closer to Riven, he thanks Bloom for the helmet, which he says makes him feel like one with the bike. Stormy complains that Bloom will mess everything up, but Icy says it'll make Bloom seem even more suspicious. Just as Bloom almost reaches Riven, Icy puts a spell on the helmet that blinds Riven, and prevents him from taking his helmet off, and Riven loses complete control of his bike, crashes, and goes flying in the air. Bloom tries to hurry to save Riven, but Darcy, on her hoverbike, gets to Riven first, and catches him. Darcy gently places him on the ground. Brandon asks what Bloom did to him, and she tells him it was the witches.
Darcy removes Riven's helmet and puts a spell to have Riven fall in love when he opens his eyes. He does, and sees Darcy, having just taken off her own helmet, with particularly flowing hair, and looking very sweet and innocent. Riven calls her beautiful. Which she is, of course. She introduces herself to him. Bloom tries to attack Darcy, saying she and her sisters caused the accident, but Darcy claims to have saved Riven, as Brandon holds her back. Riven calls Bloom a liar, saying that Bloom did something to deactivate his helmet to let Brandon win. Brandon tries to get Riven to hear Bloom out, but Riven will hear nothing of it, and thinks she is just making lame excuses when she mentions the Timmy illusion. Brandon tries to defend Bloom, making Riven angry that everyone is taking Bloom's side. Darcy's smirking evilly on the sideline, though no one notices. Riven walks away, and Darcy, ever-so-sweety, says she'll go with him. Bloom and Brandon worry about the Trio being after them all.
Other Stuff
Good episode, if not great. Certainly a lot of Riven for the Riven lovers out there. He's easily the best of the boys, anyway. Aside from Bloom, though, the other Winx girls were barely there. Even Stella, despite being "in the action" the entire time, was entirely forgettable after the scene with her, Musa, and Bloom in the cafeteria.
But we did get some excellent sisterly bickering with our favorite witches! That's always a plus! Darcy may not love Riven, but she's definitely got a bit of infatuation.
7 out of 10 on the old scale.
Spelled
...or Stella's Pissy Mood
It starts as a stormy night at Alfea, and Bloom is asleep, having a dream. The glowing presence is in Bloom's dream, asking for Bloom to find her, asking Bloom to begin an unknown journey.
Flora and Stella are watching Bloom sleeping. Flora notes that Bloom's winx is activating in her sleep, to which Stella seems unaware that was possible, but she does like Bloom's changing clothes in her sleep--Stella wishes she could change clothes in her sleep, too. Flora comments that it's more than just changing clothes; it is a sign that her powers are evolving. Stella seems surprised.
The next morning, the Winx girls are walking outside Alfea, and Bloom's talking about her dream, mentioning that the glowing presence had the same voice that led Bloom out of the fire in "Secret Guardian." Already, we see Stella getting a bit pissy about the Bloom talk:
Stella: Boring, new topic!
Bloom starts describing the glowing presence, while Tecna uses a psychic beetle to try to read Bloom's subconscious; Stella gives a "whatever"-type sigh. Tecna prattles on a bit on how sophisticated the psychic beetle is, but whatever, it works! Tecna's psychic beetle producers a perfect rendering of the glowing figure. Bloom finally recognizes her as a nymph on the facade of Town Hall.
Stella's pretty upset, though. Stella's tired of all the Bloom talk, all the attention Bloom's getting. Stella's thinking along the lines of why should she care about Bloom's little problem. Bloom gets angry that Stella's throwing her "little princess tantrum," and storms off to the library. As Bloom walks off, Stella seems honestly dumbfounded as to why Bloom's storming off, and why the other girls are upset with Stella.
At the library, Bloom's surprised to see the card catalogue as just a raised platform, but she quickly learns how to use it: just say a keyword. She finds out that the glowing figure's name is Daphne, but soon, several library books are attacking Bloom. Bloom tries to stop the books, but Miss Faragonda is the one who soon puts a stop to the books' flying around. She tells Bloom to go, and not mention this incident to anyone, but orders the library be closed when she spots a book on the last witch coven as one of the books that were attacking Bloom.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #1
In Tecna's and Musa's room we see Stella, Flora, Tecna, and Musa about. Stella starts up again, telling Flora a fashion sense would look cute on her, and calling it constructive criticism. Musa asks her to cool it, and Stella starts going on about how Musa got dissed by Riven, and in passing, insults Tecna's clothes. Of course, Tecna's outfit is cuter than Stella's anyway. Stella goes on about how Riven likes Darcy and not her, to which Musa, about to break down, storms out. And again, Stella is left dumbfounded as to why everyone's upset with her.
Outside, Bloom's wondering about Daphne, as Musa passes by. Bloom tries to tell her about what just happened to her, taking her a few seconds to realize that Musa's a bit down. Stella runs out the school, crashing into Bloom, and is very apologetic to Bloom for crashing into her, and to Musa for whatever she said to her, which she cannot remember. Stella's realized she's had a mood spell cast upon her. Bloom asks if she was giving the seniors fashion advice, to which Stella replies "How did you know?" I guess we know what happened here....
Somewhere in Magix, Musa is dropped off, walking down a street, where she finds some witches at a nearby cafe. She peeks inside, and finds Darcy and Riven together. It looks like they're drinking beer. I'm somewhat surprised this was not edited out. Darcy is laying on the compliments really thick, and doing a hypnosis thing on Riven. It seems she does not have a real crush, but that she is simply using him here. I thought it might have been both earlier, but it does not seem so this episode.
Outside the cafe, Icy and Stormy confront Musa. Musa tries to run off, but Icy and Stormy threaten Musa, specifically, wanting to know what Musa's doing at their cafe, and just generally bullying her. Musa puts a wart spell on Icy that does indeed work. Stormy comments on how disgusting it looks, but it's not long before Icy performs a spell to remove it herself. Icy intends to teach Musa a lesson in pain.
A random witch alerts all the other witches in the cafe of the beating that's about to take place, to come join in on the fun. Mirta and Lucy are two of those witches inside. Cute little Mirta still does not like the whole idea of "picking on the fairies," though Lucy seems to like the idea of hanging with the senior witches, and join in on beating up the fairy. Mirta just sighs. It's impossible not to like Mirta.
Back at Alfea, the girls have called the girls for a ride to Magix, to get Musa. And we have this fun little exchange:
Stella: Flora, do you own anything more 21st century?
Flora: Huh?
Stella: Nevermind. Listen, when the boys get here, play it cool, like we only called them because we needed a ride.
Flora: That is exactly why we called them.
When the boys get there, Stella gets hearts in her eyes seeing Prince Sky. Tecna reminds her that the boys are there so they can get to Musa, but Tecna surely seems interested in Timmy when he says hi. It's impossible to like Timmy. Prince Sky notes that the witches hang out in Magix every Wednesday. From the girls' reactions, and since we know they're after Musa at the moment, I think we can safely assume it's Wednesday. The boys and girls all get into the guys' ship.
All the freshmen fairies are after Musa, shooting some fairly weak attacks while she's running away. Musa runs into Riven, asking for his help, but he refuses, saying he's with Darcy. Musa calls him a two-faced player. Odd, since Riven has never shown any interest whatsoever in Musa. After the freshmen witches trap Musa in a corner, the senior witches float in for the kill.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #2
The guys crash through the dead end ahead of Musa, so she isn't so trapped anymore. Brandon notices Riven with the witches, and they proceed to fight. The freshmen witch go to attack the fairies, but Prince Sky blocks them off with a firewall sort of thing from the edge of his sword. Icy gets mad, and it starts to snow. A couple of freshmen witches complain about it being cold. The little scene seems to make them appear less evil. Hard to believe they were picking on Musa earlier.
The fairies transform. Almost immediately, Stormy knocks Tecna out with lightning. Icy shoots ice crystals toward Stella, and after she ducks behind a car, Icy blows up the car. Darcy starts shooting some sort of wave at Musa, who successfully dodges, but Darcy teleports right beside her to give her a blast that sends her down. Darcy replicates herself, completely surrounding Musa.
Darcy: Now me, myself, and I, and the rest of us will finish you off.
Prince Sky knocks Darcy out for a moment, but one of the freshmen witches blasts him a bit. Stormy shoots lightning at Bloom, but she dodges, not realizing Flora was right behind her, seemingly knocking her out, except an odd, cute little "I'm good" from Flora after Bloom asks how she is. Bloom and Stormy have a bit of a tussle. Timmy's coming to Tecna's aid, but Icy's intent on freezing them in place. Icy has some one-liners, but really isn't as good at it as Darcy is. Musa is carrying slightly hurt Stella a bit.
Darcy: This is a fun game: it's called crash test fairy.
The game is essentially Darcy surrounding Musa with cars. Icy tries to freeze Tecna and Timmy for good, but Stella blocks it. She isn't able to block the next blast, though. And Darcy is about to crash all the cars into Musa. Bloom tries to rescue Musa, but Stormy blocks her, and Bloom gets mad. Really, really mad. Literally burning up. Stormy commands Icy to check her crystal, and Icy realizes that Bloom has the dragon fire.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #3
Bloom semi-literally blows up, unleashing a huge ball of energy that blows the witches out. The freshmen witches all run off. Icy and Stormy retreat. Darcy's out cold, but Riven carries her off. Bloom appears, completely worn out, and collapses.
The guys and girls, minus Riven, are all on the ship. Brandon gives Bloom a drink to make her feel better. Stella starts acting pissy again. Brandon and Tecna are commenting on Bloom's powers getting stronger, and Musa's being a general good-spirit cheerleader. Stella goes on about being a princess, and how that means she should be treated better than Tecna, a non-princess, or Bloom, an earth girl. Flora casts an opposite spell, and Stella starts acting sweet, and everyone laughs.
In Miss Faragonda's office, the librarian comes in, and asks to reopen the library. Miss Faragonda agrees to it, but insists the librarian move the books about the last witch coven to the highest security section of the restricted vault.
At Cloud Tower, Stormy's complaining about almost breaking a nail, and Darcy worries about losing their status as the top three in the school. Icy tells her not to worry, since they know that Bloom holds the dragon fire. Stormy gets anxious at the prospect of ruling everything.
Other Stuff
An excellent episode, just so much greatness, all packed in a short time. Stella's acting as a vicious self-parody was amusing. Musa's run into Icy and Stormy outside the cafe was neat. And a nice, exhilarating fight between the witches and fairies... that was a fun battle!
Mirta popped up again, in the cafe. She's still cute, and she's still sweet. And she so doesn't seem to fit in with the other witches.
So, how did the mood spell affect Stella, exactly? Did it simply cause her to splurt out random mean things, or did it cause her to simply lose restraint, and let loose on things she was feeling deep down? I'm not sure it matters all that much, anyway: however she feels, Stella does honestly care for her friends, and would dearly try to avoid hurting them, even if she might feel she's superior. That's just what Stella's used for feeling for years, though: that will not change overnight.
Musa may put up a tough front, but she surely seems sensitive to having her feelings hurt, moreso than Flora, Bloom, or Tecna.
10 out of 10 on the old scale, and very deservedly so!
Grounded
...or There Once Was a Girl with a Bucket
First of all, before anything else, thank you, Lori, for your great descriptions on the Winx girls' dresses for this episode, which is in the "Other Stuff" section at the bottom of the episode analysis. Now, onto the episode itself!
At Alfea, the five Winx girls are in Miss Griselda's office. Griselda explains the dangers of sneaking into Cloud Tower, and mentions that the loss of their powers is only the beginning of their punishment, that they are also not allowed to leave the Alfea campus for the next couple of days. Stella jokes about being "forced" to veg out all weekend isn't much of a punishment. Bloom laughs. Tecna does not find Stella's comment amusing. Griselda goes on to tell the girls that there will be no "vegging out," that they must clean the school from basement to belfry. It is not clear whether or not Griselda was planning on having the girls clean the school from the beginning, or she decided to add to the punishment after Stella's comment. Also, it is funny to hear Griselda trying to use the girls' slang... always sounds so awkward. Also, yay for Griselda using the word "belfry." One of those words that just isn't used as much as it needs to be. Griselda whips up some brooms and buckets for the girls to clean with. You know, at the very least, Griselda could've given the girls some mops, too. Tecna is confused by these newfangled gadgets that Griselda has conjured up. We love Tecna!
Tecna: What a curious-looking remnant of primitive technology. Perhaps there's an online manual in my--
Griselda: You won't need a manual, Miss Tecna.
Tecna: Oh, no manual?
Musa: Don't worry, Tecna, it's not that complicated.
Flora: Yeah, the only manual we'll be using is manual labor.
Tecna: Exactly, if we had a manual for the labor, we'd be more efficient at--
Everyone starts laughing at Tecna.
Tecna: What's so funny? I was not joking.
The simplest of things so confuse Tecna. Apparently Tecna's never done any manual labor in her home world. And she's so genuinely puzzled why everyone else is laughing. Poor girl. And we didn't even get to her infamous bucket scene yet! Griselda starts yelling at the girls for laughing, and orders them to get to work.
In one of Alfea's lecture halls, Bloom and Musa are busy cleaning the bleachers, and Musa asks for "H to the E to the L to the P" from Stella, who's just sitting by, watching. Bloom and Musa blame Stella for getting them into this mess, for her comment about vegging out. Though Griselda may have been planning this punishment, anyway. Musa and Stella get into a yelling match. Stella feels, as a princess, she shouldn't have to work, forgetting that Musa is also a princess. For whatever reason, Stella feels she's an important princess, and Musa isn't. What, because Musa doesn't act as much like a stereotypical princess? Sure. While they're arguing, Bloom prepares a bucket filled with water, carries it over while Stella's distracted with Musa, and throws the water onto Stella! Stella just sits there, arms stretched out, completely motionless from shock, as Musa laughs. Bloom proceeds to splash some water onto Musa.
And for one of the most memorable scenes in the series, this gem of a scene: Tecna Vs. the Bucket. On a staircase, Flora and Tecna have a broom and bucket. Tecna picks up a bucket, carefully inspecting it, trying to figure out what is done with it.
Tecna: Thanks, but I know I can figure out the secret of these strange objects by myself.
Flora: That's called a bucket.
It seems so silly that Flora has to tell Tecna what the object is as if Tecna were a baby. Tecna's just so proud of herself when she figures out what a bucket is used for. Trouble is, she figures it's used as a sort of helmet for the head, and wears it as such. Buckethead Tecna is so cute! Tecna figures, with its long handle, that the broom must be used to reach high places, and waves it at a picture high above the stairs. The picture comes crashing down, nearly bonking Tecna on the head on its way down. Of course, she was wearing her "helmet" at the time, so she'd have been protected....
Tecna: Good thing I figured out how to use the bucket.
Flora: ...yeah, let's go find Bloom.
Flora's so sweet, so patient with Tecna. Flora and Tecna enter the room with the other three girls, all of them looking exhausted and soaked. They ask if the girls are OK. Stella says that Bloom taught them an Earth sport called "water fight," and that she won. Musa insists that she won. Flora and Tecna, though, are more worried that Griselda will see the mess. Griselda, of course, enters the room at that very moment, telling the girls that Charmed Life, some famous band with the fairies, and tries to get the girls hyped about a concert with them tomorrow night. Then brings them down, telling them they can't go since they have so much work to do, and maybe if they're lucky, one of their classmates will bring them back a T-shirt. There were nicer ways Griselda could've told the girls they couldn't go to this concert. Griselda's methods are just so mean-spirited. She must've had an unhappy childhood, or something.
Over at Cloud Tower, the witches are all having dinner. Eggs and crescent rolls look more like breakfast to me, but then the timing in the episode would be all screwed up. Guess they're just having breakfast food for dinner. Several background witches can be seen, but in particular, we get our first look at the only two student witches, besides the Trix sisters, who anyone gives a lick about--Mirta, the cute button-nosed red-haired witch, and Lucy, the somewhat ugly green-haired witch. They're not named yet, though. Stormy and Darcy complain about letting the Winx girls sneak into their room in last week's episode. Which is partly their own faults for being unusually careless last week. Icy comforts them, telling them that since Stella's ring did not have the dragon's power they were looking for, that they'll go back to Alfea to look for it, then destroy their entire school. Mirta, from a table far from the Trix sisters' own table, pipes up, asking why they hate Alfea so much, and that, in some ways, Alfea's "kinda' rockin'." So sweet, yet so naive. Stormy mocks her, and all the witches, minus Lucy, start laughing like they've never laughed before. Mirta looks completely embarrassed, and starts crying. Stormy starts mocking Mirta more. Darcy throws a glue blob at her face, to help her "save face." Or more importantly, suffocate her for a minute. Lucy, worried, rushes to Mirta, saying that she needs help, that she can't breathe. Darcy calls her stupid for not realizing it only lasts for a minute. The witches are all in absolute hysterics at this point. It's a wonder they're able to breathe. Miss Griffin walks in with an announcement to her students:
Griffin: Attention, witches! The precious princess of Alfea have booked Magix Stadium tomorrow night for some wretched music concert, so our "Money for Monsters" fundraiser has to move to the elementary school auditorium, so plan accordingly
Griffin: ...worthless do-gooding pixies!
Such great delivery on Griffin's part: she states the announcement very matter-of-factly, then, walking away, mutters that last part to herself. Icy says with Alfea empty, it'll be the perfect time to go there.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #1
The next day at Alfea, all the students and faculty, minus the Winx girls, are boarding hoverbuses for the concert. Apparently, the faculty isn't just there to watch over the girls, either: at least one seems to be "in" with what's cool:
Palladium: I don't want to miss the opening act!
Inside the hallways of Alfea, the Winx girls are standing about. Musa says the band isn't good anyway, but it would still beat cleaning duty. So Stella loves the group, but Musa hates them. Guess Charmed Life isn't hip hop. Stella says they could call up the boys.
Flora: Right. I'm sure they'd just flip at the prospect of helping us clean.
Bloom likes Stella's idea, though, and decides they could lie to the boys to get cleaning help from them, claiming to need their heroics and bravery. Tecna thinks Griselda would disapprove, but Bloom mentions that Griselda never said they couldn't have the boys over. Can't argue with Bloom's logic. Musa, Bloom, and Stella cheer over the idea; Tecna and Flora aren't as wild about it.
Outside, now night, the four Specialists arrive on their hovercrafts. Stella is outside to greet them, as Prince Sky asks exactly what kind of heroics and bravery the girls need.
Inside, Musa explains to them the complexities of using a broom as if it were a mop. It seems to work, anyway. But Musa, these guys aren't Tecna: I don't think they need the explanation. "Here's the Girl, and This is the Beat" is playing on a boombox in the room. Bloom throws the guys their brooms. Flora turns the volume up on the boombox. Everyone, minus Riven, dances to the music. Kiko accidentally throws a stick at Lady, Prince Sky's dog, and then acts all innocent.
Musa: You've heard of hip hop? Well this is hip mop.
Riven: Lame.
Gotta' agree with Riven there. The girls are all in new dresses, having finished all the cleaning. The outfits are for this episode only. Descriptions for these dresses are provided by Lori, and are in the "Other Stuff" section at the bottom of this summary. Musa throws four CDs all so precisely into four boomboxes. They're all dancing, with Bloom dancing with Stella. Stella pushes Bloom to dance with Brandon.
Outside, the Trix sisters materialize, but hear noise coming from inside the building. The sisters look through a balcony into a window. Inside, Tecna worries about dancing, telling Timmy she doesn't know any dance steps. Timmy tells Tecna she shouldn't dance. Real good way to win a girl's heart, Romeo. Riven rightly makes fun of Timmy. Musa dances into the area, and everyone, save for Riven, cheer Musa on, on how great a dancer she is. Riven walks out to the balcony for air, as the witches go back to the ground, so as not to be seen.
On the ground, Icy isn't going to let the fairies and Specialists stop them from looking for the dragon fire. Stormy is upset that the fairies are dancing, as if their dancing was to say that they felt superior to the witches. Um, Stormy? You're a bit paranoid--they have no idea you're even there. Icy tells her sisters to prepare their Wisperian crystals. The crystals form a triangle, which goes through a wall. The witches cast a spell to go through the wall themselves. The three form a circle, as Icy chants a spell to bring forth a minotaur.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #2
The Specialists are telling the girls about a recent battle they were involved with. Stella asks Brandon if he wants their last sandwich. He declines, but says he's thirsty. As Stella pours into a glass what looks like orange juice, there's a small tremor. They look outside, and see something large being thrown from a second-story window, shattering into pieces as it hits the ground. For the life in me, I cannot tell what the object was, exactly. Riven whistles for the guys' hovercrafts, to get to the area where the damage occurred.
Timmy: This damage was caused by some kind of creature!
Tecna: Hmm... a very big creature.
Riven: Really? Tell us something we don't know!
Tecna: It's three meters tall and weighs close to a ton. Its fur is gristly, not soft, it walks upright, has horns in addition to multiple clawed limbs, and it leaves off a foul, musky odor.
Stella: **laughing** She told you!
Sky tells the rest of the guys to get their weapons ready. The Winx girls insist they're going to. Riven tells them to just go hide somewhere, that they'd just get in the way.
The Trix sisters are following their crystals in search of the dragon fire, which are actually chasing the girls. Stella has a very awkward-looking way of running. The Trix sisters stop, as Icy senses someone here. It turns out to be Icy's stalker baby duck. Icy screams at it, blowing it away, and uses her ice coffin on it.
The Specialists are carefully looking for the monster. Timmy provides light, and Brandon notices all the damage around.
Elsewhere, the Winx girls are sneaking about. Flora's worried about how quiet it is. Bloom thinks maybe the creature went away, but Flora senses the creature's presence. Musa bumps into the minotaur. The minotaur turns around, spraying snot onto Stella. Stella prepares to fight the creature, complaining, until Flora reminds her that they don't have their powers. The five girls run away, with the minotaur chasing after them. Right as the girls leave, the Trix sisters enter through the floor, and Icy notes that the dragon fire keeps moving.
As the girls are running away, Flora trips. Musa passes right by her, but Stella pauses for a moment to help Musa back up. Really kind of Stella to do that, putting herself in danger to help Flora. One of our first signs of Stella not putting herself at the center of the universe. The girls continue running, as the minotaur creates a small tremor that pauses the girls temporarily. The minotaur lunges toward Tecna, but, using her amazing Spiderman skills, seems to wall jump above it. The minotaur crashes into the wall, getting his horns stuck. Stella sprays the monster with perfume, hoping to make it smell better. The minotaur frees itself, and the girls go off running away again. Musa runs slower than the other girls, for whatever reason, and wall jumps to the ceiling. For not having any magical powers, these girls sure have amazing acrobatic skills.
The Specialists arrive at the scene of the action. Riven's happy that there's finally a party now. Riven's definition of "fun" still makes more sense than Tecna's. Brandon congratulates Musa's acrobatic skills. Riven tries fighting the minotaur by himself. He yells at Brandon, Timmy, and Sky, who want to help, that he can handle the minotaur by himself. The minotaur knocks Riven through a window to another room. The Trix sisters find Riven unconscious, and Darcy notices a dark energy coming from him.
Darcy: Can we take him home, Icy?
Aww... puppy love. How cute, however superficial Darcy's little crush may be--which is very. Stormy is irritated that Darcy gets crushes on a lot of guys. So I guess Riven isn't her first pet project. Icy says Riven may be of use to them later.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #3
The Winx girls wonder how they can defeat the minotaur, as Stella brings forth the brooms and buckets, telling the girls she has an idea. The girls make a lot of noise with the objects to draw the minotaur's attention. The minotaur lunges toward them, as the Winx girls run away. Bloom and Musa squirt suntan lotion, or some unknown liquid, onto the floor, and the minotaur slips, crashing into the duck, walking around aimlessly, and they both fly through a window. Stella's plan worked! Kindness and ingenuity! Nice to see her trying to make up for last week's debacle. The girls head for the unconscious minotaur, and wonder where it came from. The duck pops out from beneath the minotaur, crying for its mommy. Bloom remembers that the duck is stalking Icy, and Tecna figures that the Trix sisters must be about.
The group of nine heads for Miss Faragonda's office, thinking the Trix sisters will go there to use Faragonda's all-seeing crystal ball to find the Solaria ring. Which, oddly enough, the Trix sisters have given up on. Though the Winx girls don't know that yet, I guess. Everyone hides as they hear the Trix sisters about to enter Faragonda's office. Icy says the dragon fire must be in the room, as the Wisperian crystals are acting wildly, but isn't sure where exactly it is hidden. She says they're going to trash the room looking for it, but Bloom says she will not allow the Trio to do that. Miss Faragonda enters her office at that moment, and Bloom tries to hide in Miss Faragonda's desk as if she were an ostrich. Faragonda sees her, of course. Bloom claims she was just looking for something. Cute Bloom moment.
Outside, the Winx girls give their goodbyes to the Specialists, preparing to head back for Red Fountain. Sky gives Stella a kiss. Great expression on Stella's face: she was so not expecting that. Timmy is a geek flirting with Tecna. Faragonda asks Griselda to remind her to write a letter to Red Fountain to tell them about how the boys came to help the girls when they called them about their minotaur problem. Ah, naive Faragonda. Wasn't quite that innocent. Faragonda also scolds the Trix sister, telling them that she is sending a letter of complaint to Miss Griffin, hoping that she disciplines them properly, and that she will return their powers after Miss Griffin gives the word. The Trix sisters refuse to acknowledge Faragonda's existance. To such an extent that Icy is even ignoring the duck that's kissing her cheek. Gotta' hand it to them for their strong will. Griselda yells at the girls to go to Faragonda's office first thing in the morning.
The next morning, in Faragonda's office, she is telling the girls how brave and resourceful they were, but tells them next time, to clean up after they party, so as not to make another mess after cleaning up, telling the girls that's how she used to do it. She believes the Winx girls have learned their lessons, and returns their powers. Later, when she's alone in her office, Faragonda wonders about the dragon fire power, thinking it was just a myth. But she realizes the Trix sisters believe it to be real. She realizes it is definitely not in Stella's ring of Solaria. If the Trix sisters were right, she wonders how the dragon fire got here, and who has it.
Other Stuff
First, the outfits. The five Winx girls were wearing special outfits for this episode. Here's a nice description from Lori on their outfits:
Bloom: White t-shirt with blue sleeves, blue miniskirt, blue legwarmers, white sneakers.
Stella: Long white camisole-type top that would make a better dress, green belt (worn over the top), dark orange pants with lace cuffs, sandals.
Flora: Lime green and teal tank top with flower details on one side, teal pants, lime green gauzy sash thing around waist, sandals.
Musa: Dark blue tube top, long blue fingerless gloves, short blue skirt with an M on it, socks and blue sneakers.
Tecna: Lime green and purple athletic-style top, short purple skirt, green socks, purple sneakers.
And my own personal opinions on the outfits: Flora's style is absolutely adorable! It's a bit flowery, a bit exotic-looking, and quite beautiful, overall. Musa's outfit is a good second place, with certainly a less flowery and exotic look, but with a more "hip hop" look that, while hip hop itself is annoying, Musa looks great in her outfit. Tecna comes it at #3, with a nice outfit, and appropriate for Tecna, is overall less "exciting." Bloom is fourth, with a cute outfit, but just "plainer" than everyone else's. And Stella's is fifth. Sometimes I wonder about the poor girl's sense of fashion, or moreso, why she sometimes seems to have none. Blargh!
As for the episode itself, it was very good. It has the infamous bucket incident. It has Mirta's debut. It has a few nice Stella moments. Flora's adorable, if not also underused. Riven's a cool guy, being grumpy all the time. And of course, Darcy's little puppy love. Gotta' love that.
9 out of 10 on the old scale.
The Day of the Rose
...or Why We Like Riven
Bloom is asleep in her bed at Alfea, having a dream. She is in the midst of a blue void, as a voice calls out her name. The voice asks if Bloom remembers her. Bloom recognizes it as the voice that helped her escape Cloud Tower, but does not know who she is. The voice appears as a large, glowing woman, wearing a Mardi Gras mask. The voice says Bloom will find her when Bloom finds herself. The voice tells Bloom to look within. Bloom will find the voice when she finds herself, that it is her destiny, and to prepare for her journey. Bloom has no idea what the voice is talking about, and for Bloom to prepare.
Bloom wakes up, and Flora is at her bedside, staring curiously. Flora mentions that Bloom was talking in her sleep: "Look within." "What's my destiny?" Flora says she's all packed. Bloom asks where Flora is going. Flora says she's going home since it's the Day of the Rose. Bloom asks about classes, but Tecna, packing in the main room, tells Bloom that there are no classes, that it's a holiday where everyone celebrates their parents. Bloom says she didn't realize it was a special day, and as such, had no plans for going home, but Stella says Bloom could stick around with her. You would think the holiday would've eventually just come up naturally in conversation. And for the Flora and Tecna fans out there, you won't see either of them again after this point. Pity that Tecna only had a single line.
Bloom, Stella, and Musa are eating breakfast in the conspicuously empty cafeteria. Stella says she finds it depressing being in an empty room by herself. Professor Wizgiz passes by, mentioning that he's going to see his mother. Stella asks why Bloom's staying at Alfea. Bloom says she didn't know it was a holiday, and wasn't able to read the magic-cal. Some sort of magical calendar, I guess. Bloom asks Stella and Musa why they stayed. Stella talks about her parents getting a divorce, living in separate palaces. She starts getting depressed, then cheers herself back up saying "these things happen." Poor Stella. She so doesn't feel "these things happen." Seems she just doesn't want to depress Musa or Bloom. Stella asks Musa why she's staying. Musa tells them that she lost her mother as a kid, and the day's always been bittersweet for her, and that her Dad is on a realm-wide hip hop tour. Stella apologizes for asking, but Musa says it's OK, that she's just never been good at talking about it. Stella gives Musa a sweet little hug. Bloom says they can still spend the day together, as their own little family. Stella gets a text message from Prince Sky, who wants to meet Stella at the festival in the city, and invite her to the dance later that night. Musa wishes to remain at Alfea, though. The three girls hug.
At Cloud Tower, the Trix sisters are in Miss Griffin's office, with Miss Griffin yelling at them. She shows them the letter from Miss Faragonda telling her about the sisters' sneaking into Alfea. She's especially upset that a group of freshmen pixies caught them, telling the sisters that they've embarrassed Cloud Tower. She demands that the sisters redeem themselves, to break hearts, bones, whatever it takes to crush the pixies by the day's end.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #1
Musa sits in one of Alfea's towers. Musa takes out a hologram thingy that makes a projection of her mother. She tell her about how she used to tell Musa about this tower being her favorite place, where Musa's Mom and Dad first kissed. She talks about how well she's doing in school, about having a crush on Riven, and that she'll spend the whole day with her. Musa is adorable here. It seems there is an actual connection too, not just some illusion spell-thingy, but that her mother's presence is actually there in some way. This is the last we hear of Musa in this episode, but look at it this way: she's uttered not a single slang word the whole episode!
Sky and Brandon walk about, saying how nice the festival is. Riven complains about how lame it is. They meet up with Stella and Bloom, and give the girls flowers, which float down from a ship in the sky. Sky mentions the annual Race for the Rose, which Sky and Brandon are going to be a part of, and mention how intense it will be. Riven says it'll be intense only for them, and that he's such a shoe-in to win, they should just put his name on the trophy right now. He refers to himself as the Rivenator. Heh. Riven teases Sky about how last year he fell off his bike in the first lap. Sky raises his fist, but Stella stops him, and worries about the race being dangerous. Brandon says the race is completely safe, as they wear state-of-the-art padding. One person crashes right at that moment, but is all right. The Trix sisters are watching all this from a nearby alley.
Another great scene here, folks, so tag along. Walking along, Sky mentions that Stella will be rooting for him, and Bloom will be rooting for Brandon, but that Riven has no one to support him. Riven thinks it's a stupid idea, that he needs no one cheering for him, but if he wanted, he could have any pixie at Alfea. Musa, yeah, and maybe Tecna if he made her aware of his existence toward her, but really, he's a bit full of himself, yes? Riven says that Bloom's been giving him the eye, and Bloom looks totally freaked out by his comment. She storms up to him, telling Riven she doesn't like him. Riven shrugs it off as if she were just talking crazy. Bloom goes on a tirade about how awful Riven is, and doesn't understand how Musa could even have a crush on him. Um, Bloom? Musa might not appreciate you revealing her crush to Riven like that. Stella's nervous watching Bloom carrying on, as Brandon and Sky look to each other, worried about Riven's reaction. After she finishes, she looks away with a pouty look on her face. Riven gently takes her chin up to him.
Riven: You are really cute when you're angry, you know that? I dig girls who play hard-to-get.
Brandon himself looks like he's about to kill Riven. Bloom is again shocked at Riven's audacity, and uses her magic to bring a pot of flowers over Riven, dumping the water out of the pot onto his head. Possibly saving Riven's life in the process, as Brandon's laughing now.
Bloom: Still think I'm cute when I'm angry?
As upset as Riven was before, he's now completely furious, and storms off. Bloom tries to apologize, and Sky tries taking up for Bloom, but Riven will hear nothing of it. Stella thinks this serves Riven right.
By himself, Riven walks through Magix. He tells himself how disgusting love is, and how he doesn't want it. Not only is he lying to his friends, but to himself too, apparently. In a nearby alley, the Trix sisters are watching.
Darcy: This guy's got a major attitude problem. I like him.
Stormy: Are you falling in love, Darcy?
Darcy: That is a four-letter word!
Icy intends to turn Riven against the Earth girl. Even moreso, I guess. Icy calls for Knut, who changes Knut to look like Timmy, against Knut's wishes.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #2
Stella and Bloom are walking through Magix, as Bloom gets distracted by a dancer who looks sorta' like the person from Bloom's dream. Timmy--actually Knut in disguise--snaps Bloom out of her trance. "Timmy," speaking in broken English, tells Bloom that he was just talking to the other guys, and they've disappeared. He says he had heard about the fight between herself and "Stiven." Bloom asks who he's talking about, and Timmy quickly corrects himself, that he meant Riven, and says he has just the thing to mend fences between Riven and herself. Timmy pulls what looks like a glasses case out of his pocket, and struggles trying to get the thing to work. It turns into what looks like a pair of headphones, though it's covering his face. He eventually gets it to turn into a helmet, and explains to Bloom that the helmet is the latest, best model. Bloom says that he bought it, that he should get to give it to Riven, but Timmy insists that it'll be a good way for them to make up.
Timmy: It's a way for you two to make up. Tell him you wanted him to crash. Uh, I mean drive well and you hope he likes it.
Bloom: Thanks, Timmy, this was very thoughtful of you.
Timmy: Uh, I've gotta' run, gotta' get to the, uh, science thing at the, uh, place. Bye!
You know, what's incredible here is Bloom's complete gullibility. Timmy is acting stupid. Moreso than usual even. And Bloom never suspects a thing, even with the two biggest clues coming out that something's wrong--telling Bloom to tell Riven she wants him to crash, and his actually calling some science thing a "science thing." Yet does Bloom suspect anything? Oh, no! Sheesh! Also, I'd wondered at first why the Trix sisters needed Riven to wear this special helmet, instead of just casting a spell on his own helmet. I'm guessing the Trix sisters having Bloom give him a "special" helmet is to make her more suspicious than if they'd just put the same spell on his normal helmet.
Back in the alley with the Trix sisters, Icy scolds "Timmy" for his practically spoiling the Trio's plans. He apologizes, and Icy changes him back to his Knut form.
Stormy: Aww, I thought we were going to get to punish him.
The sisters and Knut teleport to a nearby rooftop, to watch the action from below. Icy explains that she'll cast a spell on the helmet Bloom will give to Riven while he's racing, causing him to think that Bloom sabotaged his helmet, and that Darcy will save him, and Riven will think they're on his side. The girls have this fun little teasing session on the roof:
Icy: He'll be so grateful, he'll join our side.
Darcy: I sure hope so.
Stormy: You are so crushing on him.
Darcy: No I am not.
Stormy: Yeah, sure, you just think he'd be useful to us.
Darcy: He'd be more useful than Knut, that's for sure.
Icy: I think Darcy would like to make him her pet project, emphasis on the pet!
The racers, Specialists included, take their hoverbikes to the start line. Bloom rushes up to the guys, telling them to wait up. Stella asks where she's been, hoping she spotted some amazing sale. Bloom says nothing Stella would've liked. Bloom finds Riven, gives him the helmet, apologizes, and wishes him luck. Riven looks almost sorry for how he was acting earlier, though only for a quick moment before he turns away. The Trix sisters are watching from above. Darcy gives a soft "hmm." Bloom tells Brandon to be careful.
Off on the sidelines, Bloom tells Stella that Timmy thought of a way for Riven and her to patch things up. Stella is confused, though, telling Bloom that Timmy had gone home for the Day of the Rose, and that he isn't even in the same galaxy. Bloom's confused, wondering who she was talking to, but then she looks up, and sees the Trix sisters on the roof of a tall building. Seems like Icy is staring straight at Bloom, too. Bloom pushes her way through the crowd, showing Stella the witches up on the roof. She is unable to get to Riven before the starting light turns green, though.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #3
The racers are off! Bloom rushes off, and Stella follows a bit before backing off. Bloom transforms to her winx form, and flies after Riven. The song "Mean Girls" plays as Darcy, face hidden behind helmet, enters the race on her hoverbike from an alley. The computer generated animation during the race, by the way, is fine for the most part, but Darcy's computer-generated hair is just so totally wrong! Darcy fires purple waves at the other races, which disorient them. Bloom continues flying after Riven.
Announcer: Whoa, someone call security! We have an overenthusiastic fan on the track!
As Bloom gets closer to Riven, he thanks Bloom for the helmet, which he says makes him feel like one with the bike. Stormy complains that Bloom will mess everything up, but Icy says it'll make Bloom seem even more suspicious. Just as Bloom almost reaches Riven, Icy puts a spell on the helmet that blinds Riven, and prevents him from taking his helmet off, and Riven loses complete control of his bike, crashes, and goes flying in the air. Bloom tries to hurry to save Riven, but Darcy, on her hoverbike, gets to Riven first, and catches him. Darcy gently places him on the ground. Brandon asks what Bloom did to him, and she tells him it was the witches.
Darcy removes Riven's helmet and puts a spell to have Riven fall in love when he opens his eyes. He does, and sees Darcy, having just taken off her own helmet, with particularly flowing hair, and looking very sweet and innocent. Riven calls her beautiful. Which she is, of course. She introduces herself to him. Bloom tries to attack Darcy, saying she and her sisters caused the accident, but Darcy claims to have saved Riven, as Brandon holds her back. Riven calls Bloom a liar, saying that Bloom did something to deactivate his helmet to let Brandon win. Brandon tries to get Riven to hear Bloom out, but Riven will hear nothing of it, and thinks she is just making lame excuses when she mentions the Timmy illusion. Brandon tries to defend Bloom, making Riven angry that everyone is taking Bloom's side. Darcy's smirking evilly on the sideline, though no one notices. Riven walks away, and Darcy, ever-so-sweety, says she'll go with him. Bloom and Brandon worry about the Trio being after them all.
Other Stuff
Good episode, if not great. Certainly a lot of Riven for the Riven lovers out there. He's easily the best of the boys, anyway. Aside from Bloom, though, the other Winx girls were barely there. Even Stella, despite being "in the action" the entire time, was entirely forgettable after the scene with her, Musa, and Bloom in the cafeteria.
But we did get some excellent sisterly bickering with our favorite witches! That's always a plus! Darcy may not love Riven, but she's definitely got a bit of infatuation.
7 out of 10 on the old scale.
Spelled
...or Stella's Pissy Mood
It starts as a stormy night at Alfea, and Bloom is asleep, having a dream. The glowing presence is in Bloom's dream, asking for Bloom to find her, asking Bloom to begin an unknown journey.
Flora and Stella are watching Bloom sleeping. Flora notes that Bloom's winx is activating in her sleep, to which Stella seems unaware that was possible, but she does like Bloom's changing clothes in her sleep--Stella wishes she could change clothes in her sleep, too. Flora comments that it's more than just changing clothes; it is a sign that her powers are evolving. Stella seems surprised.
The next morning, the Winx girls are walking outside Alfea, and Bloom's talking about her dream, mentioning that the glowing presence had the same voice that led Bloom out of the fire in "Secret Guardian." Already, we see Stella getting a bit pissy about the Bloom talk:
Stella: Boring, new topic!
Bloom starts describing the glowing presence, while Tecna uses a psychic beetle to try to read Bloom's subconscious; Stella gives a "whatever"-type sigh. Tecna prattles on a bit on how sophisticated the psychic beetle is, but whatever, it works! Tecna's psychic beetle producers a perfect rendering of the glowing figure. Bloom finally recognizes her as a nymph on the facade of Town Hall.
Stella's pretty upset, though. Stella's tired of all the Bloom talk, all the attention Bloom's getting. Stella's thinking along the lines of why should she care about Bloom's little problem. Bloom gets angry that Stella's throwing her "little princess tantrum," and storms off to the library. As Bloom walks off, Stella seems honestly dumbfounded as to why Bloom's storming off, and why the other girls are upset with Stella.
At the library, Bloom's surprised to see the card catalogue as just a raised platform, but she quickly learns how to use it: just say a keyword. She finds out that the glowing figure's name is Daphne, but soon, several library books are attacking Bloom. Bloom tries to stop the books, but Miss Faragonda is the one who soon puts a stop to the books' flying around. She tells Bloom to go, and not mention this incident to anyone, but orders the library be closed when she spots a book on the last witch coven as one of the books that were attacking Bloom.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #1
In Tecna's and Musa's room we see Stella, Flora, Tecna, and Musa about. Stella starts up again, telling Flora a fashion sense would look cute on her, and calling it constructive criticism. Musa asks her to cool it, and Stella starts going on about how Musa got dissed by Riven, and in passing, insults Tecna's clothes. Of course, Tecna's outfit is cuter than Stella's anyway. Stella goes on about how Riven likes Darcy and not her, to which Musa, about to break down, storms out. And again, Stella is left dumbfounded as to why everyone's upset with her.
Outside, Bloom's wondering about Daphne, as Musa passes by. Bloom tries to tell her about what just happened to her, taking her a few seconds to realize that Musa's a bit down. Stella runs out the school, crashing into Bloom, and is very apologetic to Bloom for crashing into her, and to Musa for whatever she said to her, which she cannot remember. Stella's realized she's had a mood spell cast upon her. Bloom asks if she was giving the seniors fashion advice, to which Stella replies "How did you know?" I guess we know what happened here....
Somewhere in Magix, Musa is dropped off, walking down a street, where she finds some witches at a nearby cafe. She peeks inside, and finds Darcy and Riven together. It looks like they're drinking beer. I'm somewhat surprised this was not edited out. Darcy is laying on the compliments really thick, and doing a hypnosis thing on Riven. It seems she does not have a real crush, but that she is simply using him here. I thought it might have been both earlier, but it does not seem so this episode.
Outside the cafe, Icy and Stormy confront Musa. Musa tries to run off, but Icy and Stormy threaten Musa, specifically, wanting to know what Musa's doing at their cafe, and just generally bullying her. Musa puts a wart spell on Icy that does indeed work. Stormy comments on how disgusting it looks, but it's not long before Icy performs a spell to remove it herself. Icy intends to teach Musa a lesson in pain.
A random witch alerts all the other witches in the cafe of the beating that's about to take place, to come join in on the fun. Mirta and Lucy are two of those witches inside. Cute little Mirta still does not like the whole idea of "picking on the fairies," though Lucy seems to like the idea of hanging with the senior witches, and join in on beating up the fairy. Mirta just sighs. It's impossible not to like Mirta.
Back at Alfea, the girls have called the girls for a ride to Magix, to get Musa. And we have this fun little exchange:
Stella: Flora, do you own anything more 21st century?
Flora: Huh?
Stella: Nevermind. Listen, when the boys get here, play it cool, like we only called them because we needed a ride.
Flora: That is exactly why we called them.
When the boys get there, Stella gets hearts in her eyes seeing Prince Sky. Tecna reminds her that the boys are there so they can get to Musa, but Tecna surely seems interested in Timmy when he says hi. It's impossible to like Timmy. Prince Sky notes that the witches hang out in Magix every Wednesday. From the girls' reactions, and since we know they're after Musa at the moment, I think we can safely assume it's Wednesday. The boys and girls all get into the guys' ship.
All the freshmen fairies are after Musa, shooting some fairly weak attacks while she's running away. Musa runs into Riven, asking for his help, but he refuses, saying he's with Darcy. Musa calls him a two-faced player. Odd, since Riven has never shown any interest whatsoever in Musa. After the freshmen witches trap Musa in a corner, the senior witches float in for the kill.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #2
The guys crash through the dead end ahead of Musa, so she isn't so trapped anymore. Brandon notices Riven with the witches, and they proceed to fight. The freshmen witch go to attack the fairies, but Prince Sky blocks them off with a firewall sort of thing from the edge of his sword. Icy gets mad, and it starts to snow. A couple of freshmen witches complain about it being cold. The little scene seems to make them appear less evil. Hard to believe they were picking on Musa earlier.
The fairies transform. Almost immediately, Stormy knocks Tecna out with lightning. Icy shoots ice crystals toward Stella, and after she ducks behind a car, Icy blows up the car. Darcy starts shooting some sort of wave at Musa, who successfully dodges, but Darcy teleports right beside her to give her a blast that sends her down. Darcy replicates herself, completely surrounding Musa.
Darcy: Now me, myself, and I, and the rest of us will finish you off.
Prince Sky knocks Darcy out for a moment, but one of the freshmen witches blasts him a bit. Stormy shoots lightning at Bloom, but she dodges, not realizing Flora was right behind her, seemingly knocking her out, except an odd, cute little "I'm good" from Flora after Bloom asks how she is. Bloom and Stormy have a bit of a tussle. Timmy's coming to Tecna's aid, but Icy's intent on freezing them in place. Icy has some one-liners, but really isn't as good at it as Darcy is. Musa is carrying slightly hurt Stella a bit.
Darcy: This is a fun game: it's called crash test fairy.
The game is essentially Darcy surrounding Musa with cars. Icy tries to freeze Tecna and Timmy for good, but Stella blocks it. She isn't able to block the next blast, though. And Darcy is about to crash all the cars into Musa. Bloom tries to rescue Musa, but Stormy blocks her, and Bloom gets mad. Really, really mad. Literally burning up. Stormy commands Icy to check her crystal, and Icy realizes that Bloom has the dragon fire.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #3
Bloom semi-literally blows up, unleashing a huge ball of energy that blows the witches out. The freshmen witches all run off. Icy and Stormy retreat. Darcy's out cold, but Riven carries her off. Bloom appears, completely worn out, and collapses.
The guys and girls, minus Riven, are all on the ship. Brandon gives Bloom a drink to make her feel better. Stella starts acting pissy again. Brandon and Tecna are commenting on Bloom's powers getting stronger, and Musa's being a general good-spirit cheerleader. Stella goes on about being a princess, and how that means she should be treated better than Tecna, a non-princess, or Bloom, an earth girl. Flora casts an opposite spell, and Stella starts acting sweet, and everyone laughs.
In Miss Faragonda's office, the librarian comes in, and asks to reopen the library. Miss Faragonda agrees to it, but insists the librarian move the books about the last witch coven to the highest security section of the restricted vault.
At Cloud Tower, Stormy's complaining about almost breaking a nail, and Darcy worries about losing their status as the top three in the school. Icy tells her not to worry, since they know that Bloom holds the dragon fire. Stormy gets anxious at the prospect of ruling everything.
Other Stuff
An excellent episode, just so much greatness, all packed in a short time. Stella's acting as a vicious self-parody was amusing. Musa's run into Icy and Stormy outside the cafe was neat. And a nice, exhilarating fight between the witches and fairies... that was a fun battle!
Mirta popped up again, in the cafe. She's still cute, and she's still sweet. And she so doesn't seem to fit in with the other witches.
So, how did the mood spell affect Stella, exactly? Did it simply cause her to splurt out random mean things, or did it cause her to simply lose restraint, and let loose on things she was feeling deep down? I'm not sure it matters all that much, anyway: however she feels, Stella does honestly care for her friends, and would dearly try to avoid hurting them, even if she might feel she's superior. That's just what Stella's used for feeling for years, though: that will not change overnight.
Musa may put up a tough front, but she surely seems sensitive to having her feelings hurt, moreso than Flora, Bloom, or Tecna.
10 out of 10 on the old scale, and very deservedly so!
