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spiderbraids) wrote2026-05-12 08:19 pm
spiderbraids) wrote2026-05-12 08:19 pm
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Frank15's Winx Reviews: 1x10-1x12
In which Frank15 questions really bad plotting choices in the exam episode (also, wrong title Frank15 ;-)), and makes a rare indirect acknowledgement of a 4Kids alteration while reviewing the since-verboten Miss Magix (though not the ones you and I might have hoped)
Magical Reality Chamber
...or Pediophobia
Outside Alfea, Bloom dazingly flips a coin into a well. Stella presses what Bloom wished for, and Bloom doesn't want to say. Stella knows Bloom is thinking of Brandon, though. Stella's not so stupid; she can read others like a book. Bloom admits that Brandon wanted to go on a walk with Bloom, playing dumb, though Musa knows it's a date. Stella says Bloom can't go, since he asked less than 72 hours in advance. Flora thinks being spontaneous is sweet, but logical Tecna agrees with Stella.
Tecna: Spontaneity is overrated; advanced planning is a sign of respect.
Stella: And pretending to have a busy social calendar is a sign of self-respect.
Stella goes on about a walk being a cheap date anyway, and it limits one's choice of dating footwear. Like any guy really cares what shoes his date is wearing. Bloom wants to go walking with Brandon anyway.
Outside Red Fountain, at night, Bloom and Brandon are going for their walk. Brandon talks about how he didn't like school as much last year, saying there're better people around this year--then quickly talks about how Red Fountain serves glazed doughnuts for breakfast this year.
Brandon: The glazed ones are the best.
Dorky, yes, but he's trying to be sweet here, folks. Bloom says she likes Alfea, but she's worried about her midterm the next day, and Brandon's throwing a stick for the dog to fetch. Bloom says it's a difficult midterm, the magical reality exam. Brandon mentions about a girl who supposedly disappeared in the chamber. Stupidly. Not the smartest thing to tell a girl who, for all Brandon knows, would believe that. Fortunately, Bloom does not believe it. Brandon says Bloom will do well. We see Riven hiding in a tree, who's been listening in on the whole conversation.
Riven: Puppy Dog to Stiletto.
Riven telepathically speaks with Darcy. Obviously a power Darcy gave to Riven. Riven informs Darcy of what it seems Darcy already suspected: that Bloom's taking the magical reality exam the next day.
The next day, Professor Palladium is all giddy over the midterm the fairies are about to take. He talks about all the magic that goes into the chamber, and the virtual reality it creates, and how you really do feel what is virtually occurring in the chamber. Stella asks Tecna to help her study.
Professor Palladium explains that the chamber will select a random dead planet, place the student on the planet, and have them survive extremely desolate conditions. He continues that they can bring a few potion ingredients, but nothing else, aside from their own magical powers.
At Cloud Tower, Icy, Stormy, and Darcy are preparing for their plan to steal Bloom's dragon fire, getting their crystals ready. The crystals form 3 dolls in the sisters' images. Knut starts talking to three brooms, thinking they're the sisters. Icy slaps him and tells him to put on his glasses. Then she starts to gloat about the plan to take Bloom's dragon fire.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #1
It is nighttime, and Darcy has teleported herself into Alfea, or specifically, the room with the chamber controls. Darcy puts a spell on the controls so the witches can use their magic while Bloom's taking her exam. Odd... didn't Bloom tell Brandon that she was taking the test tomorrow yesterday? Which means she's actually taking it in two days, and not tomorrow. The witches got a lucky break: otherwise, they'd have been a day late to do this.
The next day, Bloom is in her room, with Bloom practicing a protection spell, and Kiko sneaks into Bloom's supply bag.
Bloom: Say this once; say this twice. Cast this spell and all will be well. Hmm... am I supposed to say the whole thing twice, or just the second part? Spells are so confusing.
A little later, the girls are in the control room with Professor Palladium, with Miss Faragonda watching through a window/mirror thing. The girls all get nervous, especially when Professor Palladium mentions the possibility of getting hurt. No one wants to take the test first, so Palladium just decides to go alphabetically, meaning Bloom is first. Apparently Amaryl dropped out of Palladium's class. Stella asks if anyone's "not survived" in the chamber, and Professor Palladium gives an unassuring "Not that I've heard." He explains that the chamber picks the planet for the student. Bloom grabs her supply bag and enters the chamber, with her friends giving her advice. And Tecna giving advice only she would ever give.
Musa: Stay cool!
Flora: Be careful.
Stella: Make us look good!
Tecna: Be logical.
Stella: Tecna, what kind of advice is that?!
Tecna: The only logical kind.
Bloom enters the chamber, which becomes a virtual version of the planet Sparx, as Miss Faragonda notes. Bloom decides she needs a food source, so she digs through her bag, finding Kiko, who she's not all too happy to see, but goes on with her planting a food source anyway. The Trix sisters appear behind Bloom, as Darcy performs a sound wave sort of spell to attack Bloom, which she dodges, and immediately transforms to her fairy form.
Bloom blasts a large fireball at Darcy to knock her down... but we see that the witches are not really in the chamber. The witches are using the spell they had put on the chamber to use dolls in their likenesses to attack Bloom, in a sort of voodoo style. Mattel, take note of the Stormy and Darcy dolls. Please make those.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #2
Stormy: This is so much fun: we should play with dolls more often!
The sisters decide it's time to make Bloom release her dragon fire. Icy creates hail and rain, and while Stormy's distracting Bloom, Icy freezes her legs in place. Supposedly, Darcy intended to use a spell to test Bloom both physically and emotionally, except she never used it. So we never find out what she had planned. Darn. Stormy taunts her more, as Icy points out that Kiko's about to fall into the lava. He falls in before Bloom can get to him, so Bloom tries to cast the protection spell, but it doesn't seem to work. And we get some great lines, showing just how evil those sisters can be when they want to be:
Icy: It's all your fault.
Stormy: You did let it happen.
Darcy: That's right.
Icy: It's a shame: bunny was so cute.
Bloom is all ready to explode, when the witches capture Bloom's dragon fire, and get their virtual selves out the chamber. It's a shame their dolls melted. Those were neato. Outside the chamber, Bloom's friends are worried about her, and Professor Palladium is frantically pressing buttons.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #3
Bloom is lying down on the ground, pretty faint, when Kiko walks up to her. As well as a bunch of other Kiko-lookalikes. Except they're all virtual bunnies... but Bloom does find her own Kiko, snoring away.
Professor Palladium, unable to find another way to stop the exam, uses an extreme emergency spell to shut down the chamber. The girls and Palladium meet Bloom inside the chamber, now shut down. The test has to be postponed for everyone else, though... not that they seem to mind.
Stella: She aced the test and got it postponed! Give it up for Bloom!
The other girls, and other random students toss Bloom up in the air in celebration.
Back at Cloud Tower, the Trix sisters attempt to use the dragon fire, and talk about how they'll rule... except for reasons unexplained, the dragon fire disappears. Wha? It just... disappears?! Talk about a cop-out ending!
Other Stuff
OK... what was with that ending? The witches have captured the dragon fire, and then... they don't. OK, how about a bit of explanation as to what just happened? How did the dragon fire just "disappear" like that? Did they ever have it? It was not particularly well thought out.
The fight with the witches in the magical realtiy is... not much of a fight. It's over before it begins, and it never really begins to begin with. It's just kinda' there, without any sort of interesting fight. A shame, really.
And of course, an irritating error with the days. Bloom tells Brandon she's taking the exam tomorrow. Darcy waits until tomorrow night before putting the spell on the magical reality chamber. And Bloom does not take the exam until the day after tomorrow. Darcy was a bit late putting the spell on the chamber: if Bloom actually had taken the exam "tomorrow" as she had originally told Brandon, the spell would not have worked, as Bloom would have then already taken the exam. Blargh, this is giving me a headache!
Brandon's sweet, I guess, if not a bit dull, and dorky. But he likes glazed doughnuts. It's hard to dislike someone who likes glazed doughnuts.
5 out of 10 on the old scale.
Junior League
...or The Voice of Nature II
The episode starts at Alfea, in the girls' room, with Stella yelling at Flora to take her "hippy dippy" research and go to save another planet, and Flora telling her she's not being nice. It sounds like Stella has that mood spell cast on her again. Except this time, she's got a legitimate gripe. Bloom tries to mediate, while Stella's complaining that her flower power has gone too far.
Stella: Like homeopathy can work against dark magic. It'd be like "Don't you dare mess with us, or we'll hit you with a daisy and go all herbal on you."
Bloom tries to calm Stella down, without success; Stella's upset that not only have Flora's experiments invaded Bloom's part of Flora's bedroom, but that Flora's "fashion victim" plants have invaded in Stella's room. She complains that the plants are shrinking her clothes and using her makeup, that they're self-absorbed mirror addicts. They've even shrunken Stella's favorite dress. All her one-of-a-kind clothing, shrunken. But worst of all: the plants are mixing stripes with florals.
Flora decides to ask Tecna for a spell to unshrink the clothing. Musa's in the room, but Tecna's away. As Flora looks around, she finds an angry Tecna being strangled by a plant in the closet. Tecna also complains that the plant ate her notebook, asking for a way to get it back, though Flora says it's gone for good, and cowers before Tecna. A bit of an overreaction, really, though Flora's cute doing this. Tecna is upset that her homework is gone. Stella complains about the plant problem, to which Flora decides to go to Blackmud Swamp until she's finished with her experiment.
Bloom worries about Flora's leaving, and gets upset with Stella and Tecna for not telling her to stay. And Bloom goes self-righteous on us here. For reasons unknown, Bloom seems to think Flora's all perfect here, and everything is Stella's and Tecna's faults, that they had no right to complain about Flora's out-of-control experiments. First off, Tecna hardly did anything wrong to begin with. Second, they both had legitimate gripes. And does Bloom care? No... she's pretty blind to Flora's own mistakes here.
Flora's set up camp in Blackmud swamp, with her vials and potions and all, and meets with the other Winx girls, who have come to help her out. Even at the expense of getting her shoes muddy, Stella's come to help out Flora. Bloom teases her. Which, coming right after the earlier argument, irritates me muchly. Flora's in search of a cheerful gladiolus, of which there is only one left in the world, that the Blackmud Junior League has, a group that does volunteer work around the swamp. She mentions this one's members are undines, little water nymphs.
Stella asks why the Junior League would give Flora the last cheerful gladiolus. Stella's got more smarts than she's sometimes given credit for. Flora says she's created a cloning potion to clone the flower. Stella wants to stay at the camp, worried that something bad is out there. Then the screen cuts to a mean-looking tree. Looks like Stella's got good intuition, too.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #1
Stella freaks out a bit after stepping in another mud puddle. Musa teases her about not being able to handle the outdoors. Stella says how she's handled much harsher environments, and then falls straight into a mud puddle. Stella complains that a princess shouldn't be subjected to such slimy conditions. She goes on to call the undines "stupid nymphs," which I found amusing. Flora tries to hush Stella, though as Stella continues to rattle on, Flora puts her hand over Stella's mouth to shut her up. Flora's found the undines.
The undines are pretty tiny mermaid-looking creatures. Bloom mentions them being cute. One of the undines pops out of the water to mention a Literacy for Butterflies benefit, and lead the girls to the undine leader.
Stella: The thing is, that's not why we're here, your... should I call her "your littleness" or "your highness"?
Flora states that she needs to borrow their cheerful gladiolus. The undine queen has a request from the girls: a giant water creature has attacked the undines whenever they've tried going to Zilith Island, the only place around where the undines' food grows, and the undines are almost out of food. She mentions that one of their own has tried to go there to find food, and has not returned. The girls agree to help out, and transform into their fairy outfits.
As the girls are searching around the water, Stella considers that maybe the monster is only big to the undines since they are so small, that maybe for them, the monster will not be so big. Yet another great observation on Stella's behalf, only this time, it's wrong. The monster shows up, and turns out to be pretty huge. The girls stick together for safety, though they wind up getting separated when the monster pops up from beneath them. The monster eats Musa, then goes underwater.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #2
The girls cast a spell to put bubbles around their bodies, and Tecna does a spell to give the bubbles their own light, so they can see where they're going inside their bubbles while underwater. The girls spot the monster, seemingly peeking its head out a cave.
Flora: There's the monster. It's asleep.
Bloom: Or maybe it's just pretending.
Um... OK. Flora's line there was stupid enough, as the monster was obviously not sleeping. But then Bloom's line tops it: the monster does not seem to have the intelligence to "pretend" to be asleep, much less the foresight to "pretend" to be asleep for seemingly no reason. Not to mention, the monster is obviously not sleeping, and is not trying to cover the fact up.
Bloom hurries inside the monster's mouth when it opens, then performs an extrictation spell to get Musa and herself out the creature's mouth. Musa, faint, wakes up wearily.
Musa: Yo, what's up? Oh yeah, the monster!
I found that to be a particularly cute line. It's a shame Musa doesn't get them more often. The monster gets angry, and the girls all hurry out of the water, onto the island, which appears foggy. Bloom notes that there don't seem to be any of the Zilith leaves around. Tecna decides a systematic search is in order. Of course our Tecna couldn't just simply say "Let's look for it." That'd be too simple.
Stella yawns. Bloom asks what kind of trees are around them, and Flora says she's not sure, except that they're not what they're looking for. Flora yawns too. Stella says the trees smell nice, like perfume. Everyone but Tecna is growing very tired. Stella notices there are no birds, which Tecna agrees is weird. Tecna analyzes the air composition, and discovers there is narcoleps spray around them, and she immediately puts up her face shield. She tells everyone not to breathe. Kind of an unrealistic request, Tecna. Not everyone can hold their breath indefinitely. Stella, Flora, and Musa are fast asleep, and Bloom's about to konk out. Tecna tries fruitlessly to wake the girls up. Tecna sounds surprisingly emotional here, seeming geuinely fully concerned about her friends. Not that she isn't at other times, but she doesn't usually wear those emotions on her sleeve like here.
Bloom: (groggily) Look at that ugly tree. That must be where the narcoleps spray is coming from.
Tecna: Stay awake, Bloom!
Bloom: Look at the sleeping birdies. And look at the little nymph. She's taking a nap. What a good idea.
Tecna performs a spell to bring oxygen around here, and Bloom wakes up. With Bloom's help, they perform spells to bring oxygen to more of the island island, and to rid the area of the narcoleps spray. The other three girls wake up.
Musa: Good morning. I could so go for some pancakes.
When Stella wakes up, she spots a ladybug crawling up her arm, which she decides it a zitbug.
Stella: AIGH! It's a zitbug! Help! This thing's gonna' give me blemishes!
Stella completely freaks out, while Musa tells her it's a ladybug, though Stella still insists it to be a zitbug. Tecna explains that it can't be a zitbug while Stella runs past in the background, screaming. Words alone do not do the scene justice. Stella's freakout here is absolutely hilarious!
Bloom tells the girls that she and Tecna need more help to bring oxygen to the entire island, and the girls do such. The undine girl wakes up. The girls hear the monster coming, and the nymph says the entire island is the monster, that it is actually a giant turtle. She continues that the turtle is not really evil, but is under the ugly tree's spell, a Wendigo Willow. Tecna asks how scary a tree can be, and it growls.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #3
Bloom tries to flame the tree, but it turns out to be fireproof. Flora puts a spell on the tree to burn at its roots, as Bloom tries with another fireball, this time burning the tree, as Flora casts a spell that completely gets rid of the tree. The birds come back to the island.
The undine queen mentions the Wendigo Willow has been sucking swamps dry for centuries, and is very thankful that the girls got rid of the evil tree. Stella declares the swamp to be cool. The undine queen says the Junior League will have to leave the swamp, since they only have one Zilith leaf left, and will soon be out of food. Flora whips out her cloning potion to create several more Zilith leaves, and the undines can stay. The girls congratulate Flora, as Bloom rudely tells Stella and Tecna to apologize to Flora for earlier this morning. They apologize, and Flora apologizes as well for her experiments getting so out of control. Again, why must Bloom be so self-righteous here? What business is it of Bloom's to tell them to apologize? And why does she still seem to believe Flora was faultless? At least Flora seemed to realize she hadn't been perfect, and apologizes anyway. For that matter, it seemed likely that Stella and Tecna would've apologized anyway, without needing Bloom to irritatingly remind them. Grr.
The grateful undine queen gives Flora the cheerful gladiolus. Flora says she'll clone it, but says she might need to put it in Stella's room, since it has the most sunlight. The way Flora says this, it's obvious she was trying to get a reaction out of Stella, so I'm not sure how serious Flora was with the request. Stella shrieks at first, but then agrees to it. Either way, I'm sure Flora and Stella can work something out here.
Other Stuff
No witches here. Not even a glimpse. It was still a very good episode without them, and I'm not sure how the heck they could've fit in the episode, anyway, but we can do without them for one episode, right?
Tecna lovers should enjoy this episode: while the episode isn't particularly focused on Tecna, she's featured quite prominently still, and even saves the girls from a sleep-filled doom.
Apparently half-android Tecna wasn't affected by the narcoleps spray... or at least not as viciously. She did pull her face shield down after she realized the spray was in the air, so I guess it would have eventually affected her, but obviously not as quickly as with the other girls.
9 out of 10 on the old scale.
Miss Magix
...or Lucy, I'm Homely
In the Alfea auditorium, Professor Palladium happily expresses his glee that the magical reality chamber is working again. Random students talk about how nervous they are. Palladium states that Stella is the first name on the list to take the test. I guess he's abandoned the alphabetical order selection. Bloom tells him that Stella wasn't feeling well, and so didn't come to class. Palladium warns that her grades are low, so she really needs to pass the test. He then says that Flora is up next to take the test.
Flora enters the magical reality chamber. Professor Palladium tells Flora that the chamber will randomly select a dead planet for Flora. Flora says that she doesn't believe there is a such thing as a dead planet, that they are actually just planets in need; planets that need love. Palladium tells her to save it for philosophy class. A little PC today, Flora? She was well-intentioned, but it was still slightly annoying.
Bloom goes to the nurse's office to check up on Stella. The nurse says Stella was never there. Bloom goes back to her room, angrily, to yell at Flora, Musa, and Tecna about Stella not really being sick. Bloom guesses that Stella didn't want to take the exam. Flora mentions how easy it was, but Tecna says that Stella should be afraid since the test requires "real" skills. Did something happen between Tecna and Stella? Tecna sounds pissed with her.
Bloom intends to stay in Stella's room to help her study, however long it may take. Bloom asks why Stella lied to them about being sick, while Stella just goes on about needing to look beautiful, seemingly not listening to what Bloom's going on about. Stella apologizes for the lie, but says she had something more important to do: get ready for the Miss Magix beauty pageant.
Bloom: There's no way that a beauty pageant is more important than school.
Stella: I knew you'd say that: that's why I couldn't tell you.
Bloom still doesn't get it. Stella talks about how she was the first runner up in last year's Miss Magix pageant, that she'll have to win this year.
Tecna: It's illogical. Why would you want to be a part of something where all that matters is how you look?
Stella: It's not just about looks. It's about grace. And personality! And talent! Bloom, I really need your help with this! This is important to me; it's what I'm best at.
Bloom agrees to help Stella prepare for the pageant, which is tonight, but Tecna makes Stella agree to study hard after the Miss Magix pageant.
Over at Cloud Tower, Mirta and Lucy are in their room. Mirta asks Lucy why she would want to be Miss Magix. Aside from not getting the whole "beauty contest" thing, Mirta mentions that a witch could never win anyway. Lucy says she'll win with Icy's help, that Icy will make her the most beautiful girl in all of Magix. She goes on that she'll be best of friends with Icy, Stormy, and Darcy, and that she'll finally be popular. Mirta still doesn't get the big deal with wanting to be popular, or wanting to be friends with the Trix sisters. Lucy says Mirta's just jealous, and storms off. Mirta needs a hug. Lucy has a big old case of delusional here. So obvious to Mirta that the Trix sisters don't like Lucy, and yet Lucy's just so oblivious.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #1
The Winx girls arrive at the arena where the Miss Magix competition is being held. Flora doesn't really want to enter, but Stella's all gung-ho about it.
The Trix sisters walk down a hallway in the arena. This scene looks suspiciously similar to the hallway scene in Date with Disaster. I suspect it is the same scene with different dialogue, since the Italian version didn't have this scene in Date with Disaster.
Darcy: Icy, this is not the demonology convention.
Stormy and Darcy are upset with Icy for lying to them to get them to go to the Miss Magix pageant. Icy tells them they're there to help "Lucy the Loser" win the Miss Magix pageant. Stormy and Darcy don't understand how Lucy could win to begin with, much less why they'd help her. Icy wants to do it mostly to make sure Stella loses. Plus, Icy's gotten Lucy to agree to do the Trix's homework for the rest of the year. Icy wants Stormy's and Darcy's help to make Lucy beautiful enough to possibly beat Stella. And boy oh boy Lucy needs it. I feel guilty for saying she's unattractive, but Lucy really is fairly homely.
In Stella's dressing room, Stella's trying on dresses. Flora walks in with a botanical beauty booster. Musa, pretending to be the host, asks Stella what she'd do first if crowned Miss Magix, to which Stella gives a reply that has Stella written all over it:
Stella: Help underprivileged princesses everywhere!
It's a blonde answer, all right, but it shows Stella trying to be compassionate without being insincere. Could've always given the cliched "peace on earth." The girls are interrupted by a scream outside, where they find a big-afroed contestant with a Chipette's voice. Stella show a bit of compassion, telling the girl how awful it is--her situation, not her voice--but the girl hears it as her making fun of her voice, and just gets more upset. Bloom gives a "you shouldn't have said that" sigh to Stella. As high strung as the afroed girl was, it's an understandable mistake on her part, but it should've been obvious to Bloom that Stella's comment was really harmless. The girl runs past the Trix sisters, who make a mean comment about the girl sounding like a rooster. Mean, but true. Bloom spots the witches and wonders what they're doing at the pageant.
The host is on stage, explaining the competition for the audience. The main rule: no magic of any kind. That Miss Magix will be chosen for her natural beauty, that they inspire magic. The host mentions Miss Narcissia was last year's Miss Congeniality. Ironic, I should say. Lucy is disguised as Miss Popularus. She is beautiful. The Trix sisters did well in making her look nice.
Stella is suspicious of Miss Popularus, who wasn't on the list of contestants Stella had requested. Bloom asks Miss Popularus if she's having a nice time as she walks by, but Miss Popularus just gives a shrug and a "hmph!" Bloom questions what's up with Miss Popularus too, stating that people from there are supposed to be really nice. Since when are the popular girls ever the nice ones, anyway? Also, as a friend, Lori, noted, how would Bloom know what people from Popularus are like, anyway? I mean, Bloom is a relative newbie as a fairy, right? Wouldn't that be more of a Tecna observation?
The first contestant is Miss Narcissia, from a realm believed to be in the center of the universe. Love that pun! She performs music by gracefully jumping from box to box. When she lands on the matt in front of the stage, though, the witches put a spell on the matt to flip her accross the audience, at which the witches laugh at her suffering.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #2
Next to perform a special talent is Miss Aquaria, whose talent is to walk on solid ground. Icy covers her feet in ice, and she goes slipping off the stage and tripping over a short wall. Up next is Miss Flexia, a master juggler... at least until the Trix conk the bowling pins on her head.
Cue the "Mean Girls" song. The contestants in the montage include a sunglasses-wearing bird girl who winds up getting badly beat up somehow, a girl in a bunny costume being chased by dogs, a mermaid being dragged off the stage, a purple reptilian-looking girl who gets caught up in the rings she was tossing, and a bland cheerleader type who falls through a crack in the ground. Darcy has a huge smile at one point. I'm not sure whether to be happy or freaked out.
Up next is Miss Popularus, performing a hair ballet, and quite well, too. She is so happy doing this performance, and gives a cute little shy smile after she's finished. It's debatable whether or not the talent was Lucy's own, or if the witches "gave" her the talent. I suspect the former.
Up last is Stella, performing the dance of the great western moon of Solaria. Stella's cute here, just having a ball doing this dance! Icy drops the chandelier, which Stella dodges, as well as cracks the witches form in the ground. In a desperate attempt, Darcy forces Stella to speak her answer backwards when asked what the first thing she'd do if crowned Miss Magix. Except the host understands her answer perfectly.
All the contestants are back on stage, most of them looking worn out and beat up. Miss Aquaria isn't even the right color. The hosts opens the envelope, to find the winner is Miss Popularus, and Stella appears very displeased. Bloom suspects something's wrong, though, and casts a spell to reveal Miss Popularus' true self: the ugly Lucy. The crowd boos, Lucy is disqualified, and she runs off embarrassed. Icy still says Lucy will have to do their homework. The crown goes to the runner-up, which is Stella, as she tears up, thanking everyone.
A while afterwards, while the Winx girls are walking home, Stella thanks "the little people": her friends. She wants to celebrate with manicures and milkshakes. Bloom coughs to get attention, but this custom is lost on Stella, who worries Bloom is coming down with something. Bloom tells her that she can't celebrate, that she must study for her test tomorrow. Stella sighs.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #3
In the auditorium, Professor Palladium mentions that two students have failed the test already. Stella enters the chamber, very sleepy, and decides not only to survive, but to save the dead planet. She brought the perfect potion, but Stella's not sure how much to use, so she just pours the entire vial in the ground. She brings rain and sunshine to the area, and grass and trees start to grow. Too fast, in fact: Stella's practically suffocating, and Palladium turns off the chamber.
Professor Palladium compliments Stella on her strategy. What strategy? He says the chamber will decide whether she fails or passes, and it has decided that she passed. Exactly how badly do you need to perform the test to fail?! Stella decides to celebrate with manicures and milkshakes.
Other Stuff
Exactly how badly do you need to screw up to fail that exam, anyway? Stella pretty much completely screwed up, and still passed. I mean, granted, she seemed to try hard to pass, assuming the girls did stay up all night with Stella to help her pass... but apparently, an A for effort is enough for a pass. Who knew?
If Darcy actually cared a lick about it, I bet she could've become the first witch to win the Miss Magix competition. She's beautiful, she's smart, and she's great at pretending to be nice at times. Only problem is, of course, that she has absolutely zero interest in becoming Miss Magix.
Was the dancing talent Lucy's, or did the witches give her that talent? It may be debatable, but I tend to think it may have been Lucy's own talent shining through, showing that she didn't really need to befriend the Trix sisters. Just too bad she's so insecure.
I rather liked the ring-wielding purple reptilian girl. Others also quite liked Miss Aquaria and the bird lady.
It would've been fun to see that demonology convention.
7 out of 10 on the old scale.
Magical Reality Chamber
...or Pediophobia
Outside Alfea, Bloom dazingly flips a coin into a well. Stella presses what Bloom wished for, and Bloom doesn't want to say. Stella knows Bloom is thinking of Brandon, though. Stella's not so stupid; she can read others like a book. Bloom admits that Brandon wanted to go on a walk with Bloom, playing dumb, though Musa knows it's a date. Stella says Bloom can't go, since he asked less than 72 hours in advance. Flora thinks being spontaneous is sweet, but logical Tecna agrees with Stella.
Tecna: Spontaneity is overrated; advanced planning is a sign of respect.
Stella: And pretending to have a busy social calendar is a sign of self-respect.
Stella goes on about a walk being a cheap date anyway, and it limits one's choice of dating footwear. Like any guy really cares what shoes his date is wearing. Bloom wants to go walking with Brandon anyway.
Outside Red Fountain, at night, Bloom and Brandon are going for their walk. Brandon talks about how he didn't like school as much last year, saying there're better people around this year--then quickly talks about how Red Fountain serves glazed doughnuts for breakfast this year.
Brandon: The glazed ones are the best.
Dorky, yes, but he's trying to be sweet here, folks. Bloom says she likes Alfea, but she's worried about her midterm the next day, and Brandon's throwing a stick for the dog to fetch. Bloom says it's a difficult midterm, the magical reality exam. Brandon mentions about a girl who supposedly disappeared in the chamber. Stupidly. Not the smartest thing to tell a girl who, for all Brandon knows, would believe that. Fortunately, Bloom does not believe it. Brandon says Bloom will do well. We see Riven hiding in a tree, who's been listening in on the whole conversation.
Riven: Puppy Dog to Stiletto.
Riven telepathically speaks with Darcy. Obviously a power Darcy gave to Riven. Riven informs Darcy of what it seems Darcy already suspected: that Bloom's taking the magical reality exam the next day.
The next day, Professor Palladium is all giddy over the midterm the fairies are about to take. He talks about all the magic that goes into the chamber, and the virtual reality it creates, and how you really do feel what is virtually occurring in the chamber. Stella asks Tecna to help her study.
Professor Palladium explains that the chamber will select a random dead planet, place the student on the planet, and have them survive extremely desolate conditions. He continues that they can bring a few potion ingredients, but nothing else, aside from their own magical powers.
At Cloud Tower, Icy, Stormy, and Darcy are preparing for their plan to steal Bloom's dragon fire, getting their crystals ready. The crystals form 3 dolls in the sisters' images. Knut starts talking to three brooms, thinking they're the sisters. Icy slaps him and tells him to put on his glasses. Then she starts to gloat about the plan to take Bloom's dragon fire.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #1
It is nighttime, and Darcy has teleported herself into Alfea, or specifically, the room with the chamber controls. Darcy puts a spell on the controls so the witches can use their magic while Bloom's taking her exam. Odd... didn't Bloom tell Brandon that she was taking the test tomorrow yesterday? Which means she's actually taking it in two days, and not tomorrow. The witches got a lucky break: otherwise, they'd have been a day late to do this.
The next day, Bloom is in her room, with Bloom practicing a protection spell, and Kiko sneaks into Bloom's supply bag.
Bloom: Say this once; say this twice. Cast this spell and all will be well. Hmm... am I supposed to say the whole thing twice, or just the second part? Spells are so confusing.
A little later, the girls are in the control room with Professor Palladium, with Miss Faragonda watching through a window/mirror thing. The girls all get nervous, especially when Professor Palladium mentions the possibility of getting hurt. No one wants to take the test first, so Palladium just decides to go alphabetically, meaning Bloom is first. Apparently Amaryl dropped out of Palladium's class. Stella asks if anyone's "not survived" in the chamber, and Professor Palladium gives an unassuring "Not that I've heard." He explains that the chamber picks the planet for the student. Bloom grabs her supply bag and enters the chamber, with her friends giving her advice. And Tecna giving advice only she would ever give.
Musa: Stay cool!
Flora: Be careful.
Stella: Make us look good!
Tecna: Be logical.
Stella: Tecna, what kind of advice is that?!
Tecna: The only logical kind.
Bloom enters the chamber, which becomes a virtual version of the planet Sparx, as Miss Faragonda notes. Bloom decides she needs a food source, so she digs through her bag, finding Kiko, who she's not all too happy to see, but goes on with her planting a food source anyway. The Trix sisters appear behind Bloom, as Darcy performs a sound wave sort of spell to attack Bloom, which she dodges, and immediately transforms to her fairy form.
Bloom blasts a large fireball at Darcy to knock her down... but we see that the witches are not really in the chamber. The witches are using the spell they had put on the chamber to use dolls in their likenesses to attack Bloom, in a sort of voodoo style. Mattel, take note of the Stormy and Darcy dolls. Please make those.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #2
Stormy: This is so much fun: we should play with dolls more often!
The sisters decide it's time to make Bloom release her dragon fire. Icy creates hail and rain, and while Stormy's distracting Bloom, Icy freezes her legs in place. Supposedly, Darcy intended to use a spell to test Bloom both physically and emotionally, except she never used it. So we never find out what she had planned. Darn. Stormy taunts her more, as Icy points out that Kiko's about to fall into the lava. He falls in before Bloom can get to him, so Bloom tries to cast the protection spell, but it doesn't seem to work. And we get some great lines, showing just how evil those sisters can be when they want to be:
Icy: It's all your fault.
Stormy: You did let it happen.
Darcy: That's right.
Icy: It's a shame: bunny was so cute.
Bloom is all ready to explode, when the witches capture Bloom's dragon fire, and get their virtual selves out the chamber. It's a shame their dolls melted. Those were neato. Outside the chamber, Bloom's friends are worried about her, and Professor Palladium is frantically pressing buttons.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #3
Bloom is lying down on the ground, pretty faint, when Kiko walks up to her. As well as a bunch of other Kiko-lookalikes. Except they're all virtual bunnies... but Bloom does find her own Kiko, snoring away.
Professor Palladium, unable to find another way to stop the exam, uses an extreme emergency spell to shut down the chamber. The girls and Palladium meet Bloom inside the chamber, now shut down. The test has to be postponed for everyone else, though... not that they seem to mind.
Stella: She aced the test and got it postponed! Give it up for Bloom!
The other girls, and other random students toss Bloom up in the air in celebration.
Back at Cloud Tower, the Trix sisters attempt to use the dragon fire, and talk about how they'll rule... except for reasons unexplained, the dragon fire disappears. Wha? It just... disappears?! Talk about a cop-out ending!
Other Stuff
OK... what was with that ending? The witches have captured the dragon fire, and then... they don't. OK, how about a bit of explanation as to what just happened? How did the dragon fire just "disappear" like that? Did they ever have it? It was not particularly well thought out.
The fight with the witches in the magical realtiy is... not much of a fight. It's over before it begins, and it never really begins to begin with. It's just kinda' there, without any sort of interesting fight. A shame, really.
And of course, an irritating error with the days. Bloom tells Brandon she's taking the exam tomorrow. Darcy waits until tomorrow night before putting the spell on the magical reality chamber. And Bloom does not take the exam until the day after tomorrow. Darcy was a bit late putting the spell on the chamber: if Bloom actually had taken the exam "tomorrow" as she had originally told Brandon, the spell would not have worked, as Bloom would have then already taken the exam. Blargh, this is giving me a headache!
Brandon's sweet, I guess, if not a bit dull, and dorky. But he likes glazed doughnuts. It's hard to dislike someone who likes glazed doughnuts.
5 out of 10 on the old scale.
Junior League
...or The Voice of Nature II
The episode starts at Alfea, in the girls' room, with Stella yelling at Flora to take her "hippy dippy" research and go to save another planet, and Flora telling her she's not being nice. It sounds like Stella has that mood spell cast on her again. Except this time, she's got a legitimate gripe. Bloom tries to mediate, while Stella's complaining that her flower power has gone too far.
Stella: Like homeopathy can work against dark magic. It'd be like "Don't you dare mess with us, or we'll hit you with a daisy and go all herbal on you."
Bloom tries to calm Stella down, without success; Stella's upset that not only have Flora's experiments invaded Bloom's part of Flora's bedroom, but that Flora's "fashion victim" plants have invaded in Stella's room. She complains that the plants are shrinking her clothes and using her makeup, that they're self-absorbed mirror addicts. They've even shrunken Stella's favorite dress. All her one-of-a-kind clothing, shrunken. But worst of all: the plants are mixing stripes with florals.
Flora decides to ask Tecna for a spell to unshrink the clothing. Musa's in the room, but Tecna's away. As Flora looks around, she finds an angry Tecna being strangled by a plant in the closet. Tecna also complains that the plant ate her notebook, asking for a way to get it back, though Flora says it's gone for good, and cowers before Tecna. A bit of an overreaction, really, though Flora's cute doing this. Tecna is upset that her homework is gone. Stella complains about the plant problem, to which Flora decides to go to Blackmud Swamp until she's finished with her experiment.
Bloom worries about Flora's leaving, and gets upset with Stella and Tecna for not telling her to stay. And Bloom goes self-righteous on us here. For reasons unknown, Bloom seems to think Flora's all perfect here, and everything is Stella's and Tecna's faults, that they had no right to complain about Flora's out-of-control experiments. First off, Tecna hardly did anything wrong to begin with. Second, they both had legitimate gripes. And does Bloom care? No... she's pretty blind to Flora's own mistakes here.
Flora's set up camp in Blackmud swamp, with her vials and potions and all, and meets with the other Winx girls, who have come to help her out. Even at the expense of getting her shoes muddy, Stella's come to help out Flora. Bloom teases her. Which, coming right after the earlier argument, irritates me muchly. Flora's in search of a cheerful gladiolus, of which there is only one left in the world, that the Blackmud Junior League has, a group that does volunteer work around the swamp. She mentions this one's members are undines, little water nymphs.
Stella asks why the Junior League would give Flora the last cheerful gladiolus. Stella's got more smarts than she's sometimes given credit for. Flora says she's created a cloning potion to clone the flower. Stella wants to stay at the camp, worried that something bad is out there. Then the screen cuts to a mean-looking tree. Looks like Stella's got good intuition, too.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #1
Stella freaks out a bit after stepping in another mud puddle. Musa teases her about not being able to handle the outdoors. Stella says how she's handled much harsher environments, and then falls straight into a mud puddle. Stella complains that a princess shouldn't be subjected to such slimy conditions. She goes on to call the undines "stupid nymphs," which I found amusing. Flora tries to hush Stella, though as Stella continues to rattle on, Flora puts her hand over Stella's mouth to shut her up. Flora's found the undines.
The undines are pretty tiny mermaid-looking creatures. Bloom mentions them being cute. One of the undines pops out of the water to mention a Literacy for Butterflies benefit, and lead the girls to the undine leader.
Stella: The thing is, that's not why we're here, your... should I call her "your littleness" or "your highness"?
Flora states that she needs to borrow their cheerful gladiolus. The undine queen has a request from the girls: a giant water creature has attacked the undines whenever they've tried going to Zilith Island, the only place around where the undines' food grows, and the undines are almost out of food. She mentions that one of their own has tried to go there to find food, and has not returned. The girls agree to help out, and transform into their fairy outfits.
As the girls are searching around the water, Stella considers that maybe the monster is only big to the undines since they are so small, that maybe for them, the monster will not be so big. Yet another great observation on Stella's behalf, only this time, it's wrong. The monster shows up, and turns out to be pretty huge. The girls stick together for safety, though they wind up getting separated when the monster pops up from beneath them. The monster eats Musa, then goes underwater.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #2
The girls cast a spell to put bubbles around their bodies, and Tecna does a spell to give the bubbles their own light, so they can see where they're going inside their bubbles while underwater. The girls spot the monster, seemingly peeking its head out a cave.
Flora: There's the monster. It's asleep.
Bloom: Or maybe it's just pretending.
Um... OK. Flora's line there was stupid enough, as the monster was obviously not sleeping. But then Bloom's line tops it: the monster does not seem to have the intelligence to "pretend" to be asleep, much less the foresight to "pretend" to be asleep for seemingly no reason. Not to mention, the monster is obviously not sleeping, and is not trying to cover the fact up.
Bloom hurries inside the monster's mouth when it opens, then performs an extrictation spell to get Musa and herself out the creature's mouth. Musa, faint, wakes up wearily.
Musa: Yo, what's up? Oh yeah, the monster!
I found that to be a particularly cute line. It's a shame Musa doesn't get them more often. The monster gets angry, and the girls all hurry out of the water, onto the island, which appears foggy. Bloom notes that there don't seem to be any of the Zilith leaves around. Tecna decides a systematic search is in order. Of course our Tecna couldn't just simply say "Let's look for it." That'd be too simple.
Stella yawns. Bloom asks what kind of trees are around them, and Flora says she's not sure, except that they're not what they're looking for. Flora yawns too. Stella says the trees smell nice, like perfume. Everyone but Tecna is growing very tired. Stella notices there are no birds, which Tecna agrees is weird. Tecna analyzes the air composition, and discovers there is narcoleps spray around them, and she immediately puts up her face shield. She tells everyone not to breathe. Kind of an unrealistic request, Tecna. Not everyone can hold their breath indefinitely. Stella, Flora, and Musa are fast asleep, and Bloom's about to konk out. Tecna tries fruitlessly to wake the girls up. Tecna sounds surprisingly emotional here, seeming geuinely fully concerned about her friends. Not that she isn't at other times, but she doesn't usually wear those emotions on her sleeve like here.
Bloom: (groggily) Look at that ugly tree. That must be where the narcoleps spray is coming from.
Tecna: Stay awake, Bloom!
Bloom: Look at the sleeping birdies. And look at the little nymph. She's taking a nap. What a good idea.
Tecna performs a spell to bring oxygen around here, and Bloom wakes up. With Bloom's help, they perform spells to bring oxygen to more of the island island, and to rid the area of the narcoleps spray. The other three girls wake up.
Musa: Good morning. I could so go for some pancakes.
When Stella wakes up, she spots a ladybug crawling up her arm, which she decides it a zitbug.
Stella: AIGH! It's a zitbug! Help! This thing's gonna' give me blemishes!
Stella completely freaks out, while Musa tells her it's a ladybug, though Stella still insists it to be a zitbug. Tecna explains that it can't be a zitbug while Stella runs past in the background, screaming. Words alone do not do the scene justice. Stella's freakout here is absolutely hilarious!
Bloom tells the girls that she and Tecna need more help to bring oxygen to the entire island, and the girls do such. The undine girl wakes up. The girls hear the monster coming, and the nymph says the entire island is the monster, that it is actually a giant turtle. She continues that the turtle is not really evil, but is under the ugly tree's spell, a Wendigo Willow. Tecna asks how scary a tree can be, and it growls.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #3
Bloom tries to flame the tree, but it turns out to be fireproof. Flora puts a spell on the tree to burn at its roots, as Bloom tries with another fireball, this time burning the tree, as Flora casts a spell that completely gets rid of the tree. The birds come back to the island.
The undine queen mentions the Wendigo Willow has been sucking swamps dry for centuries, and is very thankful that the girls got rid of the evil tree. Stella declares the swamp to be cool. The undine queen says the Junior League will have to leave the swamp, since they only have one Zilith leaf left, and will soon be out of food. Flora whips out her cloning potion to create several more Zilith leaves, and the undines can stay. The girls congratulate Flora, as Bloom rudely tells Stella and Tecna to apologize to Flora for earlier this morning. They apologize, and Flora apologizes as well for her experiments getting so out of control. Again, why must Bloom be so self-righteous here? What business is it of Bloom's to tell them to apologize? And why does she still seem to believe Flora was faultless? At least Flora seemed to realize she hadn't been perfect, and apologizes anyway. For that matter, it seemed likely that Stella and Tecna would've apologized anyway, without needing Bloom to irritatingly remind them. Grr.
The grateful undine queen gives Flora the cheerful gladiolus. Flora says she'll clone it, but says she might need to put it in Stella's room, since it has the most sunlight. The way Flora says this, it's obvious she was trying to get a reaction out of Stella, so I'm not sure how serious Flora was with the request. Stella shrieks at first, but then agrees to it. Either way, I'm sure Flora and Stella can work something out here.
Other Stuff
No witches here. Not even a glimpse. It was still a very good episode without them, and I'm not sure how the heck they could've fit in the episode, anyway, but we can do without them for one episode, right?
Tecna lovers should enjoy this episode: while the episode isn't particularly focused on Tecna, she's featured quite prominently still, and even saves the girls from a sleep-filled doom.
Apparently half-android Tecna wasn't affected by the narcoleps spray... or at least not as viciously. She did pull her face shield down after she realized the spray was in the air, so I guess it would have eventually affected her, but obviously not as quickly as with the other girls.
9 out of 10 on the old scale.
Miss Magix
...or Lucy, I'm Homely
In the Alfea auditorium, Professor Palladium happily expresses his glee that the magical reality chamber is working again. Random students talk about how nervous they are. Palladium states that Stella is the first name on the list to take the test. I guess he's abandoned the alphabetical order selection. Bloom tells him that Stella wasn't feeling well, and so didn't come to class. Palladium warns that her grades are low, so she really needs to pass the test. He then says that Flora is up next to take the test.
Flora enters the magical reality chamber. Professor Palladium tells Flora that the chamber will randomly select a dead planet for Flora. Flora says that she doesn't believe there is a such thing as a dead planet, that they are actually just planets in need; planets that need love. Palladium tells her to save it for philosophy class. A little PC today, Flora? She was well-intentioned, but it was still slightly annoying.
Bloom goes to the nurse's office to check up on Stella. The nurse says Stella was never there. Bloom goes back to her room, angrily, to yell at Flora, Musa, and Tecna about Stella not really being sick. Bloom guesses that Stella didn't want to take the exam. Flora mentions how easy it was, but Tecna says that Stella should be afraid since the test requires "real" skills. Did something happen between Tecna and Stella? Tecna sounds pissed with her.
Bloom intends to stay in Stella's room to help her study, however long it may take. Bloom asks why Stella lied to them about being sick, while Stella just goes on about needing to look beautiful, seemingly not listening to what Bloom's going on about. Stella apologizes for the lie, but says she had something more important to do: get ready for the Miss Magix beauty pageant.
Bloom: There's no way that a beauty pageant is more important than school.
Stella: I knew you'd say that: that's why I couldn't tell you.
Bloom still doesn't get it. Stella talks about how she was the first runner up in last year's Miss Magix pageant, that she'll have to win this year.
Tecna: It's illogical. Why would you want to be a part of something where all that matters is how you look?
Stella: It's not just about looks. It's about grace. And personality! And talent! Bloom, I really need your help with this! This is important to me; it's what I'm best at.
Bloom agrees to help Stella prepare for the pageant, which is tonight, but Tecna makes Stella agree to study hard after the Miss Magix pageant.
Over at Cloud Tower, Mirta and Lucy are in their room. Mirta asks Lucy why she would want to be Miss Magix. Aside from not getting the whole "beauty contest" thing, Mirta mentions that a witch could never win anyway. Lucy says she'll win with Icy's help, that Icy will make her the most beautiful girl in all of Magix. She goes on that she'll be best of friends with Icy, Stormy, and Darcy, and that she'll finally be popular. Mirta still doesn't get the big deal with wanting to be popular, or wanting to be friends with the Trix sisters. Lucy says Mirta's just jealous, and storms off. Mirta needs a hug. Lucy has a big old case of delusional here. So obvious to Mirta that the Trix sisters don't like Lucy, and yet Lucy's just so oblivious.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #1
The Winx girls arrive at the arena where the Miss Magix competition is being held. Flora doesn't really want to enter, but Stella's all gung-ho about it.
The Trix sisters walk down a hallway in the arena. This scene looks suspiciously similar to the hallway scene in Date with Disaster. I suspect it is the same scene with different dialogue, since the Italian version didn't have this scene in Date with Disaster.
Darcy: Icy, this is not the demonology convention.
Stormy and Darcy are upset with Icy for lying to them to get them to go to the Miss Magix pageant. Icy tells them they're there to help "Lucy the Loser" win the Miss Magix pageant. Stormy and Darcy don't understand how Lucy could win to begin with, much less why they'd help her. Icy wants to do it mostly to make sure Stella loses. Plus, Icy's gotten Lucy to agree to do the Trix's homework for the rest of the year. Icy wants Stormy's and Darcy's help to make Lucy beautiful enough to possibly beat Stella. And boy oh boy Lucy needs it. I feel guilty for saying she's unattractive, but Lucy really is fairly homely.
In Stella's dressing room, Stella's trying on dresses. Flora walks in with a botanical beauty booster. Musa, pretending to be the host, asks Stella what she'd do first if crowned Miss Magix, to which Stella gives a reply that has Stella written all over it:
Stella: Help underprivileged princesses everywhere!
It's a blonde answer, all right, but it shows Stella trying to be compassionate without being insincere. Could've always given the cliched "peace on earth." The girls are interrupted by a scream outside, where they find a big-afroed contestant with a Chipette's voice. Stella show a bit of compassion, telling the girl how awful it is--her situation, not her voice--but the girl hears it as her making fun of her voice, and just gets more upset. Bloom gives a "you shouldn't have said that" sigh to Stella. As high strung as the afroed girl was, it's an understandable mistake on her part, but it should've been obvious to Bloom that Stella's comment was really harmless. The girl runs past the Trix sisters, who make a mean comment about the girl sounding like a rooster. Mean, but true. Bloom spots the witches and wonders what they're doing at the pageant.
The host is on stage, explaining the competition for the audience. The main rule: no magic of any kind. That Miss Magix will be chosen for her natural beauty, that they inspire magic. The host mentions Miss Narcissia was last year's Miss Congeniality. Ironic, I should say. Lucy is disguised as Miss Popularus. She is beautiful. The Trix sisters did well in making her look nice.
Stella is suspicious of Miss Popularus, who wasn't on the list of contestants Stella had requested. Bloom asks Miss Popularus if she's having a nice time as she walks by, but Miss Popularus just gives a shrug and a "hmph!" Bloom questions what's up with Miss Popularus too, stating that people from there are supposed to be really nice. Since when are the popular girls ever the nice ones, anyway? Also, as a friend, Lori, noted, how would Bloom know what people from Popularus are like, anyway? I mean, Bloom is a relative newbie as a fairy, right? Wouldn't that be more of a Tecna observation?
The first contestant is Miss Narcissia, from a realm believed to be in the center of the universe. Love that pun! She performs music by gracefully jumping from box to box. When she lands on the matt in front of the stage, though, the witches put a spell on the matt to flip her accross the audience, at which the witches laugh at her suffering.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #2
Next to perform a special talent is Miss Aquaria, whose talent is to walk on solid ground. Icy covers her feet in ice, and she goes slipping off the stage and tripping over a short wall. Up next is Miss Flexia, a master juggler... at least until the Trix conk the bowling pins on her head.
Cue the "Mean Girls" song. The contestants in the montage include a sunglasses-wearing bird girl who winds up getting badly beat up somehow, a girl in a bunny costume being chased by dogs, a mermaid being dragged off the stage, a purple reptilian-looking girl who gets caught up in the rings she was tossing, and a bland cheerleader type who falls through a crack in the ground. Darcy has a huge smile at one point. I'm not sure whether to be happy or freaked out.
Up next is Miss Popularus, performing a hair ballet, and quite well, too. She is so happy doing this performance, and gives a cute little shy smile after she's finished. It's debatable whether or not the talent was Lucy's own, or if the witches "gave" her the talent. I suspect the former.
Up last is Stella, performing the dance of the great western moon of Solaria. Stella's cute here, just having a ball doing this dance! Icy drops the chandelier, which Stella dodges, as well as cracks the witches form in the ground. In a desperate attempt, Darcy forces Stella to speak her answer backwards when asked what the first thing she'd do if crowned Miss Magix. Except the host understands her answer perfectly.
All the contestants are back on stage, most of them looking worn out and beat up. Miss Aquaria isn't even the right color. The hosts opens the envelope, to find the winner is Miss Popularus, and Stella appears very displeased. Bloom suspects something's wrong, though, and casts a spell to reveal Miss Popularus' true self: the ugly Lucy. The crowd boos, Lucy is disqualified, and she runs off embarrassed. Icy still says Lucy will have to do their homework. The crown goes to the runner-up, which is Stella, as she tears up, thanking everyone.
A while afterwards, while the Winx girls are walking home, Stella thanks "the little people": her friends. She wants to celebrate with manicures and milkshakes. Bloom coughs to get attention, but this custom is lost on Stella, who worries Bloom is coming down with something. Bloom tells her that she can't celebrate, that she must study for her test tomorrow. Stella sighs.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #3
In the auditorium, Professor Palladium mentions that two students have failed the test already. Stella enters the chamber, very sleepy, and decides not only to survive, but to save the dead planet. She brought the perfect potion, but Stella's not sure how much to use, so she just pours the entire vial in the ground. She brings rain and sunshine to the area, and grass and trees start to grow. Too fast, in fact: Stella's practically suffocating, and Palladium turns off the chamber.
Professor Palladium compliments Stella on her strategy. What strategy? He says the chamber will decide whether she fails or passes, and it has decided that she passed. Exactly how badly do you need to perform the test to fail?! Stella decides to celebrate with manicures and milkshakes.
Other Stuff
Exactly how badly do you need to screw up to fail that exam, anyway? Stella pretty much completely screwed up, and still passed. I mean, granted, she seemed to try hard to pass, assuming the girls did stay up all night with Stella to help her pass... but apparently, an A for effort is enough for a pass. Who knew?
If Darcy actually cared a lick about it, I bet she could've become the first witch to win the Miss Magix competition. She's beautiful, she's smart, and she's great at pretending to be nice at times. Only problem is, of course, that she has absolutely zero interest in becoming Miss Magix.
Was the dancing talent Lucy's, or did the witches give her that talent? It may be debatable, but I tend to think it may have been Lucy's own talent shining through, showing that she didn't really need to befriend the Trix sisters. Just too bad she's so insecure.
I rather liked the ring-wielding purple reptilian girl. Others also quite liked Miss Aquaria and the bird lady.
It would've been fun to see that demonology convention.
7 out of 10 on the old scale.