Winx Club: 3x10: Alfea Under Siege
Mar. 5th, 2008 09:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiderbraidsHey. Still alive and kicking.
Previously on Winx Club: Our good ol' redhead jumped to conclusions about Sky, and it took Sky's jacket ripping in a fight to expose Val's mark for her to discover the truth (and I chewed her out on that). After Stella broke the spell on Sky (or so it would appear), Diaspro swore revenge, and Stella was worried about leaving Brandon behind, but those aren't the only pressing issues: As they were heading back in Bloom's fairyboots caught against the protective barrier around Alfea, weakening it and landing the Winx in hot water in the process. This obviously can't be good, especially since the schools have been preparing for a Valtor attack. Also, some students' parents have voiced their concerns that Bloom is a potential security hazard to Alfea, especially considering the secret spells it has stashed away, and that little stunt appears to have just proven their point.
Okay, before we head into the eppy, I'll note that Layla got her Enchantix 4 weeks ago, and Stella got hers 2 weeks ago. So, at this rate, we're due another Enchantix this week. They've already played the death card once with Stella, so surely they're not playing it again this week, right? Well, read on.
We begin at Alfea, where (surprise!) we actually get to see a class, with WizGiz telling the girls that the best way to protect against a soundwave spell is to transform into an earless passerole (sp?). The girls clap, while Stella looks concerned. Something's definitely weighing down on her mind. At the end of the class...
Random student: "See you later professor..."
WizGiz's head is still earless passerole: "What?"
HEH. Musa is in the hallway to meet Stella.
Musa: "How are you doing?"
Stella: "Mega stressed. We still haven't heard anything from Brandon, you know? It's upsetting. We left him on Eraklyon having to fight all those guards." We're shown a flashback to Brandon being cornered at the balcony.
Layla: "Don't worry Stella. I'm sure Sky will take good care of him."
Musa: "Hey, Flora, can you whip up some herbal remedy? Something that'll cheer us up and chill us out?"
Flora: "Leave it to me!"
Dorm. Flora is making some tea. Kiko is being sneaky again, with a donut.
Tecna: "You have nothing to feel guilty about, you two. You did everything you could. You broke the spell that was on Sky..."
Bloom: "Listen: we don't know that Tecna. There's no way we can be sure it worked. "
Layla: "Well, we can't go back there until we know that everything is settled."
Meanwhile, Kiko dips his donut into the tea and eats it, and then sucks the tea through a straw, before falling over.
Musa: "Yeah, and after our last visit, we're bound to be on the 'Do not admit' list with the Eraklyon royal guard."
Tecna: "Well... If I'm able to get any news, you'll be the first to know."
Flora: "Listen, I'm absolutely sure that everything will be just fine. And now, bottoms up Bloom."
Bloom takes her cup, and it turns out that's the cup Kiko just drank from. HEH!!
Okay, time out. I understand their concern about Brandon and Sky, but what about the other pressing issues from last episode, like the weakening of the barrier? the girls' impending punishment? Layla's arranged marriage? etc.? Surely there should be some acknowledgment and/or concern about those issues...
Val talks over some establishing shots of his oceanic hideout, evil mermaids and all: "Andros. A planet of water with many seas, one great ocean. So wide, deep, wet and horribly boring. I know I've been saying this for a while but now I mean it. We're going to get out of here. We deserve something better than this dump. Don't you agree?"
As usual, he's with the witches.
Stormy: "We could set up shop in Lord Darkar's hideout..."
Darcy: "And live underground like a mole? No thanks."
Val: "We need a big place, something classy."
Icy: "What about an ancient castle, full of history and dark powerful spells?... Something like the Cloud Tower castle."
Val considers this and makes an image of the castle appear. He finds it very interesting... and then somehow, the image of the castle electrocutes him, so he notes: "It's defended by a spell that protects it from dark magic. Ironic, don't you think?" Amen, Val, Amen.
Stormy: "It'd like going back home for us."
Darcy: "Yeah. Except that you can bet that Miss Griffin won't be putting out the welcome mat." HEH.
Val: "Good ol' Miss Griffin, Cloud Tower's famous headmistress... I have an old score to settle with her. Ah, yes, it's a long story I must tell you one day. Maybe in front of a few burning logs in Cloud Tower's fireplace."
Val opens a portal: "Now as I cross this portal I get one step closer to becoming the most powerful sorceror in the magical universe!" And the Trix follow.
Forest. We see a stag being chased by three wolves, and, oh, look, they're heading towards Cloud Tower. We see the stag running on the pathway that leads to Cloud Tower. We see that the wolves have a certain color scheme: purple, grey, and dark gold. Student witches (long time no see!) see the fawn getting cornered, and one random student decides to go get him.
Random student calls the stag over. Other students come in to pet him.
Student: "Don't be afraid, everything's alright now."
Stag: "Oh, I'm not afraid..." And that voice is very familiar, because the stag turns into Val. "But maybe it's time for you to be!"
Val casts a spell on the students, and we see that they're now under his spell, as he explains: "The protection spell has its own rules, and the first rule is 'Never open a door to your enemy.' Once you invite him in, the magic is forever broken." Val notes how good-naturedness has just brought doom to CT, as we see the color-schemed wolves turn back into the Trix, and adds, "Next time you see a fawn... be a wolf." Wow. The protection at Cloud Tower sucks big time, especially considering that it can be broken so easily via someone trying to be nice... Is it any wonder why CT students are mean? (That doesn't take away from the cleverness of Val's little scheme, though...)
Griffin. She looks outside her room door, and next thing you know Val's sitting at her table.
Val: "Nice to see you again my friend, do you remember me?"
Griffin: "How dare you call me your friend!"
Grif prepares a spell, but Val just throws her against the wall: "Don't try to use your magic against me Griffin. It's useless." Blah blah Val became stronger in the Omega Dimension.
Grif: "This is MY school Valtor! Get out of here!"
Val knocks her out with a spell: "Sorry Griffin, but I give the orders around Cloud Tower now."
The Trix make their grand entrance into what I think is the cafeteria. We see those two teachers we last saw teaching the Winx the basics of dark magic. Green haired teacher: "What are you doing here?? This isn't your school anymore!" Icy: "Well, I beg to differ. It IS our school." She steps aside to reveal Val, and he goes all Borg on us: "Griffin is my prisoner. Resistance is futile. Join me." Time for Val to assimilate everyone.
Some other room. Grif is in the room, and Val has just returned to exposit: "Cloud Tower and its secrets, all that was yours, now belongs to me, and the taste of victory is sweet." Grif: "You will pay for this Valtor, and you three traitors will get your just desserts!" Stormy: "Yeah, right, whatever. Your yapping is exhausting." HEH.
Val: "They're traitors just like YOU were, Griffin."
Grif: "That is a LIE."
Val: "Oh really?"
And cue flashback to when Grif looked more like Darcy, when her hair was a lighter shade of purple and she wore specs. Oh, look, it's time for some backstory! So we're watching Grif and Val taking orders from the three ancient witches, and well, generally being a team. Val looked no different then than he does now, BTW...
Val: "Weren't we fighting side by side, under the command of the three ancestors, the mothers of all witches? Together, we studied the dark arts, so we could rule with fear. We were going to conquer all the realms of the magical universe."
And at this point in the flashback, we see Grif separating from Val and starting to look scared and getting chased by a hydra. Val: "That is, until you escaped to join our worst enemy: The Company of Light. And at whose hands did I suffer the most bitter defeat?"
We see young Grif arrive at Alfea's open area and looking surprised, before the flashback reverts to the present, as Grif tries to justify her flip: "I only followed my conscience. I was trying to make up for PAST MISTAKES." Val: "You were a traitor and for that you will be locked away for eternity. You were the first to fall, now I'm going after the others. And I won't stop, until the entire Company of Light has been wiped out forever." Val magically creates "jail bars" in front of the room, such that when Grif grabs them they knock her back against the wall.
Alfea. Dark clouds are rolling in, and on this show, that's always been a bad sign. FG: "That's odd, WizGiz didn't forecast a storm (Me: "Heh"), and those clouds have a dark look to them. I'd better activate the protective shield." You mean, the shield that a certain pair of fairyboots weakened? This could get ugly...
We see Bloom and Lockette, and then other random students worriedly looking at the oncoming storm. Griz: "Don't worry girls. The magic barrier doesn't just stop dark spells, it keeps the rain out too." And with that, up goes the barrier.
Clouds roll in, and we see lots of lightning striking the barrier. FG notes that this is no ordinary storm. It's raining student witches (Martha Wash: "Hallelujah!")
Flora: "Why are they attacking us? I thought we were all friends now." Well, Flora, we'd believe that more if we actually saw some fairy-witch cooperation...
Wiz and Palladium are talking with FG, who's expositing that the lightning is bewitched, and it's Val who did this. We see the lightning create several gaping holes in the barrier, yet with nary a mention of the barrier being weakened through last week's tampering, or for that matter, the disciplinary consequences the girls are supposed to be getting for this. It's one thing to respect the viewers' intelligence by not repeatedly hammering plot points, but a little reminder right here would have been nice...
FG tells the others to round up the girls: "They'll need our help, and we'll need theirs." And then FG gets hit with lightning. Ouch. FG again calls the order to round up the fairies, as we see the barrier disintegrate.
Alfea open area. Lightning. Girls freaking out. And heeere's Valtor!
Val: "We meet again, Faragonda. But this time you are without your warrior sorcerors from the Company of Light."
FG: "You've bewitched the girls from Cloud Tower!"
Val: "I have always been known to be persuasive (Me: "HEH"), and with their help, I'm going to take the magic treasures of Alfea, your powerful formulas, your secret spells, and use them to become what I once was: the greatest sorceror!"
Fight! Fight! Fight! Bloom notes the fight, prompting Stella to quip: "Well it's about time someone took that guy out!" Val says, "This may hurt a little Faragonda!" as he takes the fight away from Alfea and into the forest between the schools.
It appears that we jump straight to FG standing in the rain in a big-@$$ crater. With Val's mark appearing on top. A mound of dirt rises in the air. FG jumps off, but some smoke grabs her and takes her down into the ground.
Val: "You're getting old Faragonda. You would never have let anyone defeat you so easily."
But almost immediately, we see FG rising up from the ground covered in some green force field. "I may be old, but I can stil defend myself!"
FG shoots an attack, and Val gets applied directly to several tree trunks before getting back up and pointing out: "Griffin has fallen, and you're going down too!" FG: "If you hurt her, I swear to you that..."
Val is not even interested in hearing the rest of the sentence, because he shoots another attack at her. Direct hit!
Back at Alfea, we see wave upon wave of student witch rain down. We see regular fairies shooting their spells, and Bloom's getting the others to transform. Insert regular transformations for Flo, Musa, Tec and Bloom, followed by the first ever group Enchantix transform, with of course Stella and Layla (watch for Stella's hair flying up when she invokes her transformation).
We hear the Charmix music (well, they need to find some use for it if they're not using the Charmix anymore), as we see a certain familiar red-haired fairy mixing it up with the other familiar backgrounders. Hey, Mirta, I thought you were coming to Stella's party... And since when did you become a fairy, anyway? But seriously folks, we never get an answer to this question.
Hey, I swore I just saw the hat fairy flying with Mirta like five seconds ago, and now she's running around on the ground in her casuals as Bloom puts up her magic shield. Next up is Musa projecting a sound wave at some witches. Flora is next with her Glitter Dust, which creates vines that tie up the witches flying right above it. Tecna shoots a Fire Beam at a few witches. Then we see a few backgrounders shooting down one wave of student witches, and then here comes another wave, and the backgrounders have that "Oh, crud!" look on their faces. No matter, here come the Enchanti. They converge to perform a mega-powerful attack that sends a whole bunch of them on to the ground.
The Enchanti notice FG's battle in the forest. Layla starts to head off, and she explains she won't let FG face Val alone, but Stella points out, "We're needed here. Miss Faragonda is more than able to take care of herself."
And then there's some really big explosion, knocking over the trees, and the Enchanti. Layla: "What do you think happened?" Here come the Trix. Icy: "He finished her off, just like we're going to do to you!"
The Griz is commanding background fairies: "Don't scatter. Stay close together, and remember who you are: You are fairies, and fairies don't fear witches." Griz tells some of the fairies to follow Palladium, who's having them spread out around the school perimeter to create a new magical barrier. (I see Luna and Ortensia in Pally's group.) The Griz tells the remainder: "We'll keep the witches away. Use all the magic you can muster. We must keep them from reaching the Hall of Enchantments. Our spells must be protected at all costs, even that of our lives." Foreshadowing, much?
We see the Trix descending amongst the student witches. Palladium is on one of the school's turrets. Palladium casts an enchantment: "Magic flow, go spread and glow. Send darkness back, repel attack. Evil detect, and fairies protect." As mentioned earlier, Ortensia and Luna are amongst the group, and someone else could probably name some of the others if I showed them their pictures.
Palladium calls for the fairies to energise, and it appears that Palladium is collating their powers before sending them up to create the new barrier. Icy: "Another barrier... So unoriginal." The Trix dust-cloud-teleport into the rapidly shrinking hole.
Back to the open area, and we're looking at Luna's backside, even though she's supposed to be with the barrier fairies. Speaking of which, we then cut to the barrier fairies who are getting back up, when Pally tells them: "Everybody hold their positions. We're not finished yet. We must keep strengthening the barrier if we want to keep the witches at bay." One of the random fairies shoots a spell to keep the barrier up, as we see Mirta, and she sees Lucy coming down. Mirta has that HUH...? look on her face.
The Trix dust cloud enters the main building. Icy and Darcy exposit that the barrier attack will keep "those lame-o fairies" (Icy's words, not mine) busy while they go steal Alfea's secret goodies. Back outside, the new barrier is holding up, and Pally is telling the fairies they're doing a good job.
The other fairies are in the main building, where Bloom's splitting them into two groups for patrol, while Layla says the Enchanti will be going outside to help with the new barrier.
Okay, so here we go, as the fairies split up. It appears that one group is composed entirely of backgrounders. As the hat fairy and some others fly up stairs, someone we haven't seen since her introduction several weeks back finally makes her reappearance. It's Princess Galatea, and now it becomes quite clear who's getting her Enchantix this week.
Galatea's also sporting her fairy outfit. It's mainly a white toga-ish outfit, with a blue headband with a question mark shaped hook on it, and treble clef wings. Those wings don't look very good for flying with I might add. Treble clefs make good Charmix pins, but not wings.
Anyways, she sees a Trix spell, and flies right over to the witches. Uh, yeah.
PG: "How did you get in here?!?"
Darcy knows an easy catch when she sees one: "Catching a fairy is so easy, we should do it more often."
PG: "I, Galatea, princess of Melody, order you to surrender." I should note that her voice in this dub has quite a bit of an Irish brogue in it.
Stormy: "Oh, a royal highness! I'm so excited! Should we curtsey?"
PG extends her left arm to cast a spell: "You may remain standing. My Sound Sphere will be knockin' you down."
With that, PG casts a big sphere that encloses the Trix.
Icy: "That's enough, miss majesty!"
Icy freezes the Sound Sphere, and Stormy shatters it, freeing Darcy to teleport behind PG: "You're not going anywhere unless we say so, royal loser!" PG: "Egad..." Icy: "If you don't want to become an ice princess, you'll lead us to the Hall of Enchantments right now!"
Classroom. The Winx enter. Everything's quiet, but Flo notes someone's on the other side, apparently PG's group. Bloom senses something strange, and it's drawn as a flow of energy (like Darcy sense) and so does Musa, although she's sensing soundwaves. "It's almost as if someone's calling."
Back to the Trix, who are having PG lead them up a staircase to Alfea's secret goodies. Darcy: "All the ancient secrets of Alfea will soon be ours, unless our little princess is leading us the wrong way. That'd be a royal mistake." HEE.
So the Trix have reached the hall, and Icy pushes PG aside. We get an answer to where those waves Musa sensed came from, as we see PG send a wave from her brain. Apparently, there's something about Melodians that gives them good brains, after all, Musa is the straight A student.
Back to the Winx. They're flying around, and our straight A student is at the head of the pack (no pun intended!), conveniently allowing her to pick up PG's waves clearly: "She's emitting ultra low frequency mental waves, as an emergency means of communication, just like we use on Melody." Like I said, Melodians got good brains. "She's in danger. The Trix have captured her, and they're in the school."
Hey, wait a minute... aren't her headphones missing? I wonder if the animators stopped caring to draw her Winx form right, because something's going to happen to her in a few minutes. Wouldn't be the only thing production stopped caring about in S3...
The Trix are busy perusing Alfea's secret stash. Stormy comments, "You can feel the pulse of the power." Stormy takes a scroll. Suddenly, a lot of books fall on top of the Trix. PG decides to make a break for it, and Icy yells "Stop fairy! Freeze!" Icy's spell stops PG in her tracks, and with a separate spell, Icy then ices up her wings and shatters them. Well, that's something new.
Stormy preps a spell right above the wingless and despondent PG: "We told you not to mess with us!" But then two sound spells knock Stormy back, followed by Icy, because here comes Musa. Oh, and her friends, too.
Icy: "And I was starting to worry that I wouldn't get a chance to knock you around today. Sorry for the frigid greeting." She starts shooting her usual icicles. Bloom puts up a shield and sends the icicles flying right back at her. Icy dodges the icicles, which end up in a bookshelf, and then Stormy sends books flying around in a tornado and at the Winx. Darcy: "If you like to read a lot of books, then here... Check these out!" Flora uses a Glitterize spell to neutralize the tornado, stopping the books from flying around.
Musa is carrying the wingless PG, while reminding the princess about herself, making a point that she's also from Melody (foreshadowing!), and promising to protect PG.
Back with the battle, and Icy and Stormy decide to put an end to this with the witch equivalent of a convergence spell. Tecna puts up a Power Shield to block the spell.
Now, Bloom and Flo's turn. Flo: "How about you hit them and I catch them?" Flo puts her hand on the wall above the shelf, causing vines to grow all across it. Bloom uses her Dragon Fire to send them into the vines. It's a decent attack, but then Darcy, at the opposite shelf, says, "Alright then! If we can't have those secret books and scrolls, neither can you!" Darcy sets the hall a-blazin', as certain viewers are thinking, "Hey, I thought it was Icy who had the new fire power? (And why's she still not using it against Bloom, anyway?)"
Darcy teleports over to her "sisters" while they're hacking off Flo's vines, before then teleporting out. Flora decides to smother the flames with some leaves. Riiight. She finds it useless because there's dark magic in the fire, so Bloom tries some reverse dragon power. Er? Bloom says that the witches' fire is too strong for them to put out, so they decide to evacuate. Hey, just a suggestion but, maybe you could trying summoning your Charmix? Yeah, didn't think so.
Musa is already in a safer corner as the other girls are evacuating. As the others come out, Musa sees PG running back in to save the secret spell codes. PG: "I don't want my wings to have been lost in vain." She's frantically picking up books to save them from the fire. After all, the Griz did say that the spells do need to be protected at all costs... even that of their lives. Yeah.
PG collapses and drops the books, and Musa decides to run back in against Bloom's call, and carries PG the same way she did last time. Now, if you're thinking something along the lines of Musa choking on the dark magic smoke and ruining her future career (estranged father notwithstanding) by sacrificing her voice... well, let's see if you're on the same wavelength as the writers, shall we?
Okay, woodwork is falling left and right as Musa carries her royal buddy back. Musa starts coughing and loses grip of PG. Musa: "I can't go on..." PG: "Leave me here. Run." Musa: "No. NEVER!" We see a magic light emitting from Musa, and we hear her say "Uh, what's happening?"
It's Enchantix Musa time, that's what's happening. We see pink gloves materialize on her arms, which she then cross. We see a five-line staff flying around. Then we see Musa grabbing a rope (I'm assuming that's supposed to be the staff), and we see her Enchantix 'do: two flower-like hair ties on her pigtails, and a small golden crown. We see her body lit up with Enchantix magic, before then going all silhouette on us as Musa winds the rope all around herself. We see her new outfit materialize: a magenta top and a red and magenta skirt, with two yellow loose ends fluttering from the skirt. We see Musa's head and LOOONG hair again, and then we see Musa's new bright pink and yellow wings materialize, and then Musa herself materializing between the wings. She then twirls around once more, before assuming her endpose over a background of floating musical notation. A nice sequence, if you ask me.
PG: "That's wonderful Musa, you've earned your Enchantix powers. You're a true fairy."
Musa: "Enchantix huh? Well, in that case, I can stop the fire."
We see two maraca-like things beating against each other (from a ditched design for her outfit, I guess?) as she summons her fairy dust like Stella did last week. We see the Chinese lantern jewel hanging from her neck release its bottle. Like with Stella, the 4K version omits this, thus resulting in a VERY jumpy cut. Really, it's obvious that something's missing, and I think 4K should have cut the maracas part as well. Anyways, we see the dust come out in waves around Musa, putting the fire out. Musa then flutters her wings to release some more dust on to PG's back, adding that a dark spell took Galatea's wings, but the dust will restore them. And it does, in the same treble-clef style that she originally had to boot. Nifty, no?
Of course, the fact that she's expositing all this can only mean one thing: Musa didn't sacrifice her voice, and I imagine that this would throw some sort of Enchantix "office pool" into disarray, because anyone trying to guess how each girl would get their Enchantix probably expected to see different sacrifices for everyone, and it seems that's not the route they're going. (And there are other events coming down the road that would make anyone organizing such a pool finally throw their arms up in frustration and say, "I give up.")
Anyways, a re-winged PG goes to hug Enchantix Musa, as the others look on. It's cute, but since PG's fulfilled her purpose, there's hardly any use in keeping her. Maybe to communicate Musa's thoughts with the Winx or something if Musa were silenced, but... yeah.
Back outside, the student witches are leaving. The Enchanti celebrate (Layla: "Let's go tell everybody the good news!") while we see Mirta quite dismayed at seeing Lucy among the student witches. We see the Griz, Wiz, and Pally, plus a couple of background fairies celebrating, as the clouds close up.
Hall of Enchantments. Musa: "Now I'm in the Enchantix Club!" The other Enchanti are now here, and Layla gives us the Caption Obvious treatment, in the process also saying that Musa sacrificed herself (unimaginative, much?) to save PG. Stella: "Those wings really suit you. They give you a hip and happening look." I totally agree, Stella.
Meanwhile, librarian Barbatea is talking with the non-Enchanti.
Barbatea: "You brave girls. You saved all the books in the library. You saved my whole world. We can fix a little damage here and there, what matters most is that nothing is lost. Thank you so much." I guess she's completely missing the fact that Musa did most of the book saving with that fairy dust of hers?
The Griz doesn't impress easily, especially when the Winx are involved, but she's making an exception: "I too would like to thank you. Without your help, the Trix would have taken possesion of all our spells. Don't let it go to your heads, but I'm proud of you."
Bloom: "We didn't do anything more than the other fairies. If we won today, it's because we all worked together." (Writers, if you're trying to push the "Fairies work together and witches don't" angle on us, let me ask you, when was the last time the Trix weren't working together?)
Griz: "And yet despite our success, we can't rest easy and let our guard down, because our headmistress is still missing."
Bloom: "Well then I guess we know what our next mission is: Find Faragonda, wherever she may be."
And... scene.
Critique for the episode:
1. The Winx finally cross paths with the Trix again. Comparing this battle to their last one, this one was better, with a reasonable display of powers being thrown around. But since Icy had shown fire powers before, I thought she should be torching the shelves instead of Darcy. I guess the writers thought that Darcy had so little to do this week, they had to let her do something...
2. The fairy of music gets her Enchantix, but her sacrifice isn't her voice or her hearing? There's a dub Chatta quote that I think echoes some viewers' sentiments on this. After an okay start with Layla and Stella, the writers are starting to get lazy with the sacrifices, such that they're reusing them. Not all recycling is good y'know... I'll wait to see if Musa says anything really lame in the next two episodes, though.
3. That's not to take anything away from Musa's nice new outfit. Still, her original outfit had headphones on it, and her Charmix was a treble clef pin and a CD player, and there's a clear musical theme in those outfits. But here, I think they're going for an "Asian princess" look more than "musical fairy" look with her Enchantix. Again, not taking anything away from it, because Winx sure makes pretty eye candy.
4. Princess Galatea makes a nice return, with her fairy outfit and a few nifty powers, especially those "mental waves". As I said in the summary, though, she's already fulfilled her main purpose, and the writers haven't given her a new reason to still be involved, so... yeah. No real reason to keep her.
5. Also, we finally get to see Mirta, with a nice surprise: Fairy wings. This "subplot" deserved to be played up more than it actually was, especially now that Mirta and Lucy apparently aren't on the same wavelength anymore.
6. Except for that brief mention of the situation on Eraklyon the beginning, they swept much of the previous episode's developments under the rug. I was expecting at least some mention of last week's tampering of the barrier when it went down under the lightning, or that the Winx were going to be punished for it. I'm all for respecting the viewers' intelligence, but give the on-and-off viewers a chance to understand things, will ya?
7. Val's flashback: Ooh, backstory! Oh, and a nice looking young Grif, too. :-) But this gets me thinking: If Grif has worked with FG before, why then do CT and Alfea have such a rivalry that it was supposed to be a big deal that they were working together late in S1?
Previously on Winx Club: Our good ol' redhead jumped to conclusions about Sky, and it took Sky's jacket ripping in a fight to expose Val's mark for her to discover the truth (and I chewed her out on that). After Stella broke the spell on Sky (or so it would appear), Diaspro swore revenge, and Stella was worried about leaving Brandon behind, but those aren't the only pressing issues: As they were heading back in Bloom's fairyboots caught against the protective barrier around Alfea, weakening it and landing the Winx in hot water in the process. This obviously can't be good, especially since the schools have been preparing for a Valtor attack. Also, some students' parents have voiced their concerns that Bloom is a potential security hazard to Alfea, especially considering the secret spells it has stashed away, and that little stunt appears to have just proven their point.
Okay, before we head into the eppy, I'll note that Layla got her Enchantix 4 weeks ago, and Stella got hers 2 weeks ago. So, at this rate, we're due another Enchantix this week. They've already played the death card once with Stella, so surely they're not playing it again this week, right? Well, read on.
We begin at Alfea, where (surprise!) we actually get to see a class, with WizGiz telling the girls that the best way to protect against a soundwave spell is to transform into an earless passerole (sp?). The girls clap, while Stella looks concerned. Something's definitely weighing down on her mind. At the end of the class...
Random student: "See you later professor..."
WizGiz's head is still earless passerole: "What?"
HEH. Musa is in the hallway to meet Stella.
Musa: "How are you doing?"
Stella: "Mega stressed. We still haven't heard anything from Brandon, you know? It's upsetting. We left him on Eraklyon having to fight all those guards." We're shown a flashback to Brandon being cornered at the balcony.
Layla: "Don't worry Stella. I'm sure Sky will take good care of him."
Musa: "Hey, Flora, can you whip up some herbal remedy? Something that'll cheer us up and chill us out?"
Flora: "Leave it to me!"
Dorm. Flora is making some tea. Kiko is being sneaky again, with a donut.
Tecna: "You have nothing to feel guilty about, you two. You did everything you could. You broke the spell that was on Sky..."
Bloom: "Listen: we don't know that Tecna. There's no way we can be sure it worked. "
Layla: "Well, we can't go back there until we know that everything is settled."
Meanwhile, Kiko dips his donut into the tea and eats it, and then sucks the tea through a straw, before falling over.
Musa: "Yeah, and after our last visit, we're bound to be on the 'Do not admit' list with the Eraklyon royal guard."
Tecna: "Well... If I'm able to get any news, you'll be the first to know."
Flora: "Listen, I'm absolutely sure that everything will be just fine. And now, bottoms up Bloom."
Bloom takes her cup, and it turns out that's the cup Kiko just drank from. HEH!!
Okay, time out. I understand their concern about Brandon and Sky, but what about the other pressing issues from last episode, like the weakening of the barrier? the girls' impending punishment? Layla's arranged marriage? etc.? Surely there should be some acknowledgment and/or concern about those issues...
Val talks over some establishing shots of his oceanic hideout, evil mermaids and all: "Andros. A planet of water with many seas, one great ocean. So wide, deep, wet and horribly boring. I know I've been saying this for a while but now I mean it. We're going to get out of here. We deserve something better than this dump. Don't you agree?"
As usual, he's with the witches.
Stormy: "We could set up shop in Lord Darkar's hideout..."
Darcy: "And live underground like a mole? No thanks."
Val: "We need a big place, something classy."
Icy: "What about an ancient castle, full of history and dark powerful spells?... Something like the Cloud Tower castle."
Val considers this and makes an image of the castle appear. He finds it very interesting... and then somehow, the image of the castle electrocutes him, so he notes: "It's defended by a spell that protects it from dark magic. Ironic, don't you think?" Amen, Val, Amen.
Stormy: "It'd like going back home for us."
Darcy: "Yeah. Except that you can bet that Miss Griffin won't be putting out the welcome mat." HEH.
Val: "Good ol' Miss Griffin, Cloud Tower's famous headmistress... I have an old score to settle with her. Ah, yes, it's a long story I must tell you one day. Maybe in front of a few burning logs in Cloud Tower's fireplace."
Val opens a portal: "Now as I cross this portal I get one step closer to becoming the most powerful sorceror in the magical universe!" And the Trix follow.
Forest. We see a stag being chased by three wolves, and, oh, look, they're heading towards Cloud Tower. We see the stag running on the pathway that leads to Cloud Tower. We see that the wolves have a certain color scheme: purple, grey, and dark gold. Student witches (long time no see!) see the fawn getting cornered, and one random student decides to go get him.
Random student calls the stag over. Other students come in to pet him.
Student: "Don't be afraid, everything's alright now."
Stag: "Oh, I'm not afraid..." And that voice is very familiar, because the stag turns into Val. "But maybe it's time for you to be!"
Val casts a spell on the students, and we see that they're now under his spell, as he explains: "The protection spell has its own rules, and the first rule is 'Never open a door to your enemy.' Once you invite him in, the magic is forever broken." Val notes how good-naturedness has just brought doom to CT, as we see the color-schemed wolves turn back into the Trix, and adds, "Next time you see a fawn... be a wolf." Wow. The protection at Cloud Tower sucks big time, especially considering that it can be broken so easily via someone trying to be nice... Is it any wonder why CT students are mean? (That doesn't take away from the cleverness of Val's little scheme, though...)
Griffin. She looks outside her room door, and next thing you know Val's sitting at her table.
Val: "Nice to see you again my friend, do you remember me?"
Griffin: "How dare you call me your friend!"
Grif prepares a spell, but Val just throws her against the wall: "Don't try to use your magic against me Griffin. It's useless." Blah blah Val became stronger in the Omega Dimension.
Grif: "This is MY school Valtor! Get out of here!"
Val knocks her out with a spell: "Sorry Griffin, but I give the orders around Cloud Tower now."
The Trix make their grand entrance into what I think is the cafeteria. We see those two teachers we last saw teaching the Winx the basics of dark magic. Green haired teacher: "What are you doing here?? This isn't your school anymore!" Icy: "Well, I beg to differ. It IS our school." She steps aside to reveal Val, and he goes all Borg on us: "Griffin is my prisoner. Resistance is futile. Join me." Time for Val to assimilate everyone.
Some other room. Grif is in the room, and Val has just returned to exposit: "Cloud Tower and its secrets, all that was yours, now belongs to me, and the taste of victory is sweet." Grif: "You will pay for this Valtor, and you three traitors will get your just desserts!" Stormy: "Yeah, right, whatever. Your yapping is exhausting." HEH.
Val: "They're traitors just like YOU were, Griffin."
Grif: "That is a LIE."
Val: "Oh really?"
And cue flashback to when Grif looked more like Darcy, when her hair was a lighter shade of purple and she wore specs. Oh, look, it's time for some backstory! So we're watching Grif and Val taking orders from the three ancient witches, and well, generally being a team. Val looked no different then than he does now, BTW...
Val: "Weren't we fighting side by side, under the command of the three ancestors, the mothers of all witches? Together, we studied the dark arts, so we could rule with fear. We were going to conquer all the realms of the magical universe."
And at this point in the flashback, we see Grif separating from Val and starting to look scared and getting chased by a hydra. Val: "That is, until you escaped to join our worst enemy: The Company of Light. And at whose hands did I suffer the most bitter defeat?"
We see young Grif arrive at Alfea's open area and looking surprised, before the flashback reverts to the present, as Grif tries to justify her flip: "I only followed my conscience. I was trying to make up for PAST MISTAKES." Val: "You were a traitor and for that you will be locked away for eternity. You were the first to fall, now I'm going after the others. And I won't stop, until the entire Company of Light has been wiped out forever." Val magically creates "jail bars" in front of the room, such that when Grif grabs them they knock her back against the wall.
Alfea. Dark clouds are rolling in, and on this show, that's always been a bad sign. FG: "That's odd, WizGiz didn't forecast a storm (Me: "Heh"), and those clouds have a dark look to them. I'd better activate the protective shield." You mean, the shield that a certain pair of fairyboots weakened? This could get ugly...
We see Bloom and Lockette, and then other random students worriedly looking at the oncoming storm. Griz: "Don't worry girls. The magic barrier doesn't just stop dark spells, it keeps the rain out too." And with that, up goes the barrier.
Clouds roll in, and we see lots of lightning striking the barrier. FG notes that this is no ordinary storm. It's raining student witches (Martha Wash: "Hallelujah!")
Flora: "Why are they attacking us? I thought we were all friends now." Well, Flora, we'd believe that more if we actually saw some fairy-witch cooperation...
Wiz and Palladium are talking with FG, who's expositing that the lightning is bewitched, and it's Val who did this. We see the lightning create several gaping holes in the barrier, yet with nary a mention of the barrier being weakened through last week's tampering, or for that matter, the disciplinary consequences the girls are supposed to be getting for this. It's one thing to respect the viewers' intelligence by not repeatedly hammering plot points, but a little reminder right here would have been nice...
FG tells the others to round up the girls: "They'll need our help, and we'll need theirs." And then FG gets hit with lightning. Ouch. FG again calls the order to round up the fairies, as we see the barrier disintegrate.
Alfea open area. Lightning. Girls freaking out. And heeere's Valtor!
Val: "We meet again, Faragonda. But this time you are without your warrior sorcerors from the Company of Light."
FG: "You've bewitched the girls from Cloud Tower!"
Val: "I have always been known to be persuasive (Me: "HEH"), and with their help, I'm going to take the magic treasures of Alfea, your powerful formulas, your secret spells, and use them to become what I once was: the greatest sorceror!"
Fight! Fight! Fight! Bloom notes the fight, prompting Stella to quip: "Well it's about time someone took that guy out!" Val says, "This may hurt a little Faragonda!" as he takes the fight away from Alfea and into the forest between the schools.
It appears that we jump straight to FG standing in the rain in a big-@$$ crater. With Val's mark appearing on top. A mound of dirt rises in the air. FG jumps off, but some smoke grabs her and takes her down into the ground.
Val: "You're getting old Faragonda. You would never have let anyone defeat you so easily."
But almost immediately, we see FG rising up from the ground covered in some green force field. "I may be old, but I can stil defend myself!"
FG shoots an attack, and Val gets applied directly to several tree trunks before getting back up and pointing out: "Griffin has fallen, and you're going down too!" FG: "If you hurt her, I swear to you that..."
Val is not even interested in hearing the rest of the sentence, because he shoots another attack at her. Direct hit!
Back at Alfea, we see wave upon wave of student witch rain down. We see regular fairies shooting their spells, and Bloom's getting the others to transform. Insert regular transformations for Flo, Musa, Tec and Bloom, followed by the first ever group Enchantix transform, with of course Stella and Layla (watch for Stella's hair flying up when she invokes her transformation).
We hear the Charmix music (well, they need to find some use for it if they're not using the Charmix anymore), as we see a certain familiar red-haired fairy mixing it up with the other familiar backgrounders. Hey, Mirta, I thought you were coming to Stella's party... And since when did you become a fairy, anyway? But seriously folks, we never get an answer to this question.
Hey, I swore I just saw the hat fairy flying with Mirta like five seconds ago, and now she's running around on the ground in her casuals as Bloom puts up her magic shield. Next up is Musa projecting a sound wave at some witches. Flora is next with her Glitter Dust, which creates vines that tie up the witches flying right above it. Tecna shoots a Fire Beam at a few witches. Then we see a few backgrounders shooting down one wave of student witches, and then here comes another wave, and the backgrounders have that "Oh, crud!" look on their faces. No matter, here come the Enchanti. They converge to perform a mega-powerful attack that sends a whole bunch of them on to the ground.
The Enchanti notice FG's battle in the forest. Layla starts to head off, and she explains she won't let FG face Val alone, but Stella points out, "We're needed here. Miss Faragonda is more than able to take care of herself."
And then there's some really big explosion, knocking over the trees, and the Enchanti. Layla: "What do you think happened?" Here come the Trix. Icy: "He finished her off, just like we're going to do to you!"
The Griz is commanding background fairies: "Don't scatter. Stay close together, and remember who you are: You are fairies, and fairies don't fear witches." Griz tells some of the fairies to follow Palladium, who's having them spread out around the school perimeter to create a new magical barrier. (I see Luna and Ortensia in Pally's group.) The Griz tells the remainder: "We'll keep the witches away. Use all the magic you can muster. We must keep them from reaching the Hall of Enchantments. Our spells must be protected at all costs, even that of our lives." Foreshadowing, much?
We see the Trix descending amongst the student witches. Palladium is on one of the school's turrets. Palladium casts an enchantment: "Magic flow, go spread and glow. Send darkness back, repel attack. Evil detect, and fairies protect." As mentioned earlier, Ortensia and Luna are amongst the group, and someone else could probably name some of the others if I showed them their pictures.
Palladium calls for the fairies to energise, and it appears that Palladium is collating their powers before sending them up to create the new barrier. Icy: "Another barrier... So unoriginal." The Trix dust-cloud-teleport into the rapidly shrinking hole.
Back to the open area, and we're looking at Luna's backside, even though she's supposed to be with the barrier fairies. Speaking of which, we then cut to the barrier fairies who are getting back up, when Pally tells them: "Everybody hold their positions. We're not finished yet. We must keep strengthening the barrier if we want to keep the witches at bay." One of the random fairies shoots a spell to keep the barrier up, as we see Mirta, and she sees Lucy coming down. Mirta has that HUH...? look on her face.
The Trix dust cloud enters the main building. Icy and Darcy exposit that the barrier attack will keep "those lame-o fairies" (Icy's words, not mine) busy while they go steal Alfea's secret goodies. Back outside, the new barrier is holding up, and Pally is telling the fairies they're doing a good job.
The other fairies are in the main building, where Bloom's splitting them into two groups for patrol, while Layla says the Enchanti will be going outside to help with the new barrier.
Okay, so here we go, as the fairies split up. It appears that one group is composed entirely of backgrounders. As the hat fairy and some others fly up stairs, someone we haven't seen since her introduction several weeks back finally makes her reappearance. It's Princess Galatea, and now it becomes quite clear who's getting her Enchantix this week.
Galatea's also sporting her fairy outfit. It's mainly a white toga-ish outfit, with a blue headband with a question mark shaped hook on it, and treble clef wings. Those wings don't look very good for flying with I might add. Treble clefs make good Charmix pins, but not wings.
Anyways, she sees a Trix spell, and flies right over to the witches. Uh, yeah.
PG: "How did you get in here?!?"
Darcy knows an easy catch when she sees one: "Catching a fairy is so easy, we should do it more often."
PG: "I, Galatea, princess of Melody, order you to surrender." I should note that her voice in this dub has quite a bit of an Irish brogue in it.
Stormy: "Oh, a royal highness! I'm so excited! Should we curtsey?"
PG extends her left arm to cast a spell: "You may remain standing. My Sound Sphere will be knockin' you down."
With that, PG casts a big sphere that encloses the Trix.
Icy: "That's enough, miss majesty!"
Icy freezes the Sound Sphere, and Stormy shatters it, freeing Darcy to teleport behind PG: "You're not going anywhere unless we say so, royal loser!" PG: "Egad..." Icy: "If you don't want to become an ice princess, you'll lead us to the Hall of Enchantments right now!"
Classroom. The Winx enter. Everything's quiet, but Flo notes someone's on the other side, apparently PG's group. Bloom senses something strange, and it's drawn as a flow of energy (like Darcy sense) and so does Musa, although she's sensing soundwaves. "It's almost as if someone's calling."
Back to the Trix, who are having PG lead them up a staircase to Alfea's secret goodies. Darcy: "All the ancient secrets of Alfea will soon be ours, unless our little princess is leading us the wrong way. That'd be a royal mistake." HEE.
So the Trix have reached the hall, and Icy pushes PG aside. We get an answer to where those waves Musa sensed came from, as we see PG send a wave from her brain. Apparently, there's something about Melodians that gives them good brains, after all, Musa is the straight A student.
Back to the Winx. They're flying around, and our straight A student is at the head of the pack (no pun intended!), conveniently allowing her to pick up PG's waves clearly: "She's emitting ultra low frequency mental waves, as an emergency means of communication, just like we use on Melody." Like I said, Melodians got good brains. "She's in danger. The Trix have captured her, and they're in the school."
Hey, wait a minute... aren't her headphones missing? I wonder if the animators stopped caring to draw her Winx form right, because something's going to happen to her in a few minutes. Wouldn't be the only thing production stopped caring about in S3...
The Trix are busy perusing Alfea's secret stash. Stormy comments, "You can feel the pulse of the power." Stormy takes a scroll. Suddenly, a lot of books fall on top of the Trix. PG decides to make a break for it, and Icy yells "Stop fairy! Freeze!" Icy's spell stops PG in her tracks, and with a separate spell, Icy then ices up her wings and shatters them. Well, that's something new.
Stormy preps a spell right above the wingless and despondent PG: "We told you not to mess with us!" But then two sound spells knock Stormy back, followed by Icy, because here comes Musa. Oh, and her friends, too.
Icy: "And I was starting to worry that I wouldn't get a chance to knock you around today. Sorry for the frigid greeting." She starts shooting her usual icicles. Bloom puts up a shield and sends the icicles flying right back at her. Icy dodges the icicles, which end up in a bookshelf, and then Stormy sends books flying around in a tornado and at the Winx. Darcy: "If you like to read a lot of books, then here... Check these out!" Flora uses a Glitterize spell to neutralize the tornado, stopping the books from flying around.
Musa is carrying the wingless PG, while reminding the princess about herself, making a point that she's also from Melody (foreshadowing!), and promising to protect PG.
Back with the battle, and Icy and Stormy decide to put an end to this with the witch equivalent of a convergence spell. Tecna puts up a Power Shield to block the spell.
Now, Bloom and Flo's turn. Flo: "How about you hit them and I catch them?" Flo puts her hand on the wall above the shelf, causing vines to grow all across it. Bloom uses her Dragon Fire to send them into the vines. It's a decent attack, but then Darcy, at the opposite shelf, says, "Alright then! If we can't have those secret books and scrolls, neither can you!" Darcy sets the hall a-blazin', as certain viewers are thinking, "Hey, I thought it was Icy who had the new fire power? (And why's she still not using it against Bloom, anyway?)"
Darcy teleports over to her "sisters" while they're hacking off Flo's vines, before then teleporting out. Flora decides to smother the flames with some leaves. Riiight. She finds it useless because there's dark magic in the fire, so Bloom tries some reverse dragon power. Er? Bloom says that the witches' fire is too strong for them to put out, so they decide to evacuate. Hey, just a suggestion but, maybe you could trying summoning your Charmix? Yeah, didn't think so.
Musa is already in a safer corner as the other girls are evacuating. As the others come out, Musa sees PG running back in to save the secret spell codes. PG: "I don't want my wings to have been lost in vain." She's frantically picking up books to save them from the fire. After all, the Griz did say that the spells do need to be protected at all costs... even that of their lives. Yeah.
PG collapses and drops the books, and Musa decides to run back in against Bloom's call, and carries PG the same way she did last time. Now, if you're thinking something along the lines of Musa choking on the dark magic smoke and ruining her future career (estranged father notwithstanding) by sacrificing her voice... well, let's see if you're on the same wavelength as the writers, shall we?
Okay, woodwork is falling left and right as Musa carries her royal buddy back. Musa starts coughing and loses grip of PG. Musa: "I can't go on..." PG: "Leave me here. Run." Musa: "No. NEVER!" We see a magic light emitting from Musa, and we hear her say "Uh, what's happening?"
It's Enchantix Musa time, that's what's happening. We see pink gloves materialize on her arms, which she then cross. We see a five-line staff flying around. Then we see Musa grabbing a rope (I'm assuming that's supposed to be the staff), and we see her Enchantix 'do: two flower-like hair ties on her pigtails, and a small golden crown. We see her body lit up with Enchantix magic, before then going all silhouette on us as Musa winds the rope all around herself. We see her new outfit materialize: a magenta top and a red and magenta skirt, with two yellow loose ends fluttering from the skirt. We see Musa's head and LOOONG hair again, and then we see Musa's new bright pink and yellow wings materialize, and then Musa herself materializing between the wings. She then twirls around once more, before assuming her endpose over a background of floating musical notation. A nice sequence, if you ask me.
PG: "That's wonderful Musa, you've earned your Enchantix powers. You're a true fairy."
Musa: "Enchantix huh? Well, in that case, I can stop the fire."
We see two maraca-like things beating against each other (from a ditched design for her outfit, I guess?) as she summons her fairy dust like Stella did last week. We see the Chinese lantern jewel hanging from her neck release its bottle. Like with Stella, the 4K version omits this, thus resulting in a VERY jumpy cut. Really, it's obvious that something's missing, and I think 4K should have cut the maracas part as well. Anyways, we see the dust come out in waves around Musa, putting the fire out. Musa then flutters her wings to release some more dust on to PG's back, adding that a dark spell took Galatea's wings, but the dust will restore them. And it does, in the same treble-clef style that she originally had to boot. Nifty, no?
Of course, the fact that she's expositing all this can only mean one thing: Musa didn't sacrifice her voice, and I imagine that this would throw some sort of Enchantix "office pool" into disarray, because anyone trying to guess how each girl would get their Enchantix probably expected to see different sacrifices for everyone, and it seems that's not the route they're going. (And there are other events coming down the road that would make anyone organizing such a pool finally throw their arms up in frustration and say, "I give up.")
Anyways, a re-winged PG goes to hug Enchantix Musa, as the others look on. It's cute, but since PG's fulfilled her purpose, there's hardly any use in keeping her. Maybe to communicate Musa's thoughts with the Winx or something if Musa were silenced, but... yeah.
Back outside, the student witches are leaving. The Enchanti celebrate (Layla: "Let's go tell everybody the good news!") while we see Mirta quite dismayed at seeing Lucy among the student witches. We see the Griz, Wiz, and Pally, plus a couple of background fairies celebrating, as the clouds close up.
Hall of Enchantments. Musa: "Now I'm in the Enchantix Club!" The other Enchanti are now here, and Layla gives us the Caption Obvious treatment, in the process also saying that Musa sacrificed herself (unimaginative, much?) to save PG. Stella: "Those wings really suit you. They give you a hip and happening look." I totally agree, Stella.
Meanwhile, librarian Barbatea is talking with the non-Enchanti.
Barbatea: "You brave girls. You saved all the books in the library. You saved my whole world. We can fix a little damage here and there, what matters most is that nothing is lost. Thank you so much." I guess she's completely missing the fact that Musa did most of the book saving with that fairy dust of hers?
The Griz doesn't impress easily, especially when the Winx are involved, but she's making an exception: "I too would like to thank you. Without your help, the Trix would have taken possesion of all our spells. Don't let it go to your heads, but I'm proud of you."
Bloom: "We didn't do anything more than the other fairies. If we won today, it's because we all worked together." (Writers, if you're trying to push the "Fairies work together and witches don't" angle on us, let me ask you, when was the last time the Trix weren't working together?)
Griz: "And yet despite our success, we can't rest easy and let our guard down, because our headmistress is still missing."
Bloom: "Well then I guess we know what our next mission is: Find Faragonda, wherever she may be."
And... scene.
Critique for the episode:
1. The Winx finally cross paths with the Trix again. Comparing this battle to their last one, this one was better, with a reasonable display of powers being thrown around. But since Icy had shown fire powers before, I thought she should be torching the shelves instead of Darcy. I guess the writers thought that Darcy had so little to do this week, they had to let her do something...
2. The fairy of music gets her Enchantix, but her sacrifice isn't her voice or her hearing? There's a dub Chatta quote that I think echoes some viewers' sentiments on this. After an okay start with Layla and Stella, the writers are starting to get lazy with the sacrifices, such that they're reusing them. Not all recycling is good y'know... I'll wait to see if Musa says anything really lame in the next two episodes, though.
3. That's not to take anything away from Musa's nice new outfit. Still, her original outfit had headphones on it, and her Charmix was a treble clef pin and a CD player, and there's a clear musical theme in those outfits. But here, I think they're going for an "Asian princess" look more than "musical fairy" look with her Enchantix. Again, not taking anything away from it, because Winx sure makes pretty eye candy.
4. Princess Galatea makes a nice return, with her fairy outfit and a few nifty powers, especially those "mental waves". As I said in the summary, though, she's already fulfilled her main purpose, and the writers haven't given her a new reason to still be involved, so... yeah. No real reason to keep her.
5. Also, we finally get to see Mirta, with a nice surprise: Fairy wings. This "subplot" deserved to be played up more than it actually was, especially now that Mirta and Lucy apparently aren't on the same wavelength anymore.
6. Except for that brief mention of the situation on Eraklyon the beginning, they swept much of the previous episode's developments under the rug. I was expecting at least some mention of last week's tampering of the barrier when it went down under the lightning, or that the Winx were going to be punished for it. I'm all for respecting the viewers' intelligence, but give the on-and-off viewers a chance to understand things, will ya?
7. Val's flashback: Ooh, backstory! Oh, and a nice looking young Grif, too. :-) But this gets me thinking: If Grif has worked with FG before, why then do CT and Alfea have such a rivalry that it was supposed to be a big deal that they were working together late in S1?
