Winx Club 3x11: A Trap for Fairies
Mar. 19th, 2008 03:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiderbraidsPreviously on Winx Club, Val and co. finally got sick of Andros, so they moved on up to Cloud Tower. Val took over the students and imprisoned Grif before heading over with his minions to Alfea, and they easily got in because someone had tampered and weakened the barrier. The Winx weren't about to take the attack lying down, though, and they fought off the Trix and defended Alfea's stash of spells. Along the way, Val blabbed about his issues against Grif and the Company of Light, we saw Mirta with fairy wings, Musa earned her "hip and happening" Enchantix... oh yeah, and Faragonda went missing. Time to go look for her...
We open at Alfea, and we see there's a patch of smouldering forest. We head to Mirta's room, and she's looking at a photo of herself with Lucy. You see, last week, fairy-winged Mirta saw Lucy among the student witches attacking Alfea, and now she's wondering about what made Lucy attack Alfea. She looks outside the window...
...where the Winx girls are leaving Alfea for the smouldering forest, and the Griz is saying, "Good luck girls!" (We're still waiting for that disciplinary action you promised the girls a few weeks ago, Griz...) Bloom exposits that FG and Val were headed in the direction she's pointing. We finally get a name for the forest:
Flo: "So they flew towards the center of Gloomy Wood Forest? That's a pretty big place!"
Tec: "In a case like this, a random search has a very low rate of success."
Musa: "We've got to start somewhere. Let's go, come on."
But then Bloom notices that their bonded pixies are missing, and no one seems to know where they went. Layla: "I told them we're doing some detective work, and they all just disa..."
And here are the bonded pixies now, dressed mostly in detective garb, with Tune in a proper (of course) policewoman's outfit. WHEE! Chatta (taking out a magnifying glass): "Let's follow the clues to Faragonda."
CT, and we head into Griffin's room. Stormy: "Can you believe what those loser fairies managed to pull yesterday?"
Darcy: "Don't worry, we'll soon get a chance to pay them back."
Val: "Those Winx girls are bound to show up here soon."
Stormy: "And when they do, we'll be there waiting for them."
Icy: "Let us deal with them. They'll end up wishing they had handed Alfea to us on a plate."
However, Val isn't too pleased about yesterday's performance, and says that it wasn't the fairies who foiled his plan, but the Trix. Icy argues "There was absolutely nothing we could do about it." Val: "That's okay, I shouldn't have expected anything from a bunch of amateurs." Stormy: "HEY!" Val's thinking of having just one person with real ability to share all his powers with. Darcy and Icy seem enthusiastic about this proposition. Now normally that would make for an awesome plotline, but the writing this season isn't exactly the best at executing good ideas...
Val is watching Grif throughher HIS crystal ball: "Anyway do you think you're capable of keeping an eye on Griffin for me???"
Icy: "Yes, of course, we've got it covered."
Val grins, and scene.
Forest. The Enchanti have now transformed and are flying around, and Musa points out a large smouldering clearing in the middle of the woods, where Fairy Bloom is with Lockette. "Whoa, it must have been quite a battle. Lockette, can you detect Faragonda's presence?" Lockette: "Ohhh, I'm sorry, I don't feel so good." Digit: "Valtor's spells have left a residue of dark magic, scrambling Lockette's receptors." Random thought: If the concept of "tomboy" exists in the all-female pixiedom, I'd wager that Digit would totally fit the bill, because when I'm looking at her, I have to repeat mentioning to myself that Digit is a girl.
Anyhow, Flo tells Bloom not to push Lockette. She thinks that the forest should be able to help them, and has the girls follow her. After a few seconds of waiting for the woods to be ready, she has the girls stay back as Flo invokes Nature's Symphony. Flora becomes enveloped in wind, and it looks pretty awesome.
Musa: "That sound, it's like.... music."
Flora: "It's the voice of nature."
Anyways, Flora finishes her listening, and Flora seems pretty sad. Bloom asks what just happened. We see Flora weeping.
Flora: "These trees witnessed the battle between Valtor and Faragonda."
Bloom: "No way."
Stella: "It can't be."
Flora then smiles: "Miss Faragonda is alive!"
Musa: "So what happened to her?"
Flora: "The trees couldn't bring themselves to watch. They were too scared."
Bloom: "The trees were scared of Valtor???"
Musa: "Is that even possible???"
Flora points: "When it was all over, Valtor flew off in that direction."
Bloom: "But that way is..."
Musa: "Cloud Tower."
Dun dun daaah.
CT. Mirta comes out. She sees a few familiar silhouettes ("Oh no, it's the Trix!") and ducks for cover. Whoops, it's just the fairies. Musa: "I have never been so insulted in all my life!" Heh, sort of. Mirta is relieved to see it's the fairies. Flora goes in to hug her, and asks what she's doing at CT, and Mirta is worried about Lucy and the other witches, and wants to find out what happened to them. Enchantix Stella says they can help, but Bloom adds, "But stay close to us, because if Valtor's around it'll be more dangerous than ever." Hello, foreshadowing.
Meanwhile, the pixies have been left behind in the forest. Tune thinks it's time to widen the search. Chatta thinks that distancing themselves from the battleground will give Lockette a chance to use her powers. Digit: "Good idea, but let's keep an eye out for clues along the way."
And now, a clue searching montage. We see the pixies walking. We see detective Lockette looking dismayed. We see policewoman Tune take notes on a log. We see Piff looking around the ground with a magnifying glass, and then crawling after a caterpillar. We see Digit shaking a test tube, and then Amore walking around with a magnifying glass. We see Chatta looking around with a magnifying glass as well: "Fascinating."
And then the funniest thing happens: they run into each other, and somehow, they end up walking straight up into the air. HEH!
They fall to the ground. Okay, montage over. We hear Lockette screaming in fear, and with good reason: There are wildcats out to get the pixies.
Back at CT, where the girls, now no longer transformed, are walking down the halls. Bloom: "Strange. Cloud Tower seems deserted. Where did everybody go?" Bloom opens a door and walks into the dorm. The girls follow, and they see a bunch of witches lying down in their beds. Tecna takes out a gadget, and it flies over one of the witches and scans her before returning to Tecna.
Tecna: "They're alive I think."
Bloom: "You think??"
Tecna: "They're under a powerful spell which has put them in some kind of suspended animation."
Flora: "But why?"
Tecna: "You know. To regenerate all their magic powers, so they can fight again."
Mirta: "It's terrible."
Musa finds even more behind another door, and Mirta is dismayed that Lucy's not here. We hear a "magical" noise, and so do the girls. They run out of the dorm, and see all the dorm doors disappearing, a la their brief exchange stay last season. Bloom calls for everyone to stay close together (foreshadowing!)...
...as we cut back the pixies. We find out from Digit that these wildcats are Wild Felanors, and they find pixies very tasty. Tune: "Perhaps a hasty retreat is in order." Chatta: "No, stay still. They'll pounce if we move an inch." Amore has an idea, though. She begins to cast a spell, and her movement sets off the Felanors. She throws a Love Explosion spell at them...
...and we see the Felanors gently lying on the ground. Amore is being licked one of them: "Now all they have in their hearts is love." Lockette: "Really? Oh, so very cute." The pixies giggle.
Okay, back to CT, and now the girls have found themselves surrounded by a couple witches and two monsters. Apparently, these monsters are the witch teachers. Tecna: "Looks like Valtor has made a clean sweep around here. Even [the witch teachers] Ediltrude and Zaratustra are under his control now." Stella: "Well then. Let's not waste any time." Stella jumps up into the air, and insert transformations. So, there are 7 transformation-capable girls here, 3 Winx transformations, and 3 Enchantix transformations. I'll give you one guess to as who doesn't have any kind of transformation, and remains grounded while the rest go airborne. Bleh.
The lights go out. E-Stella casts her own light into the area: "Here's a decorating tip! Soft light cuts down on ugly shadows and enhances the look of any type of complexion, honey!" Un-transformed Mirta gives her the thumbs up. Stella: "Plus, it prevents them from hiding in dark corners."
One of the monsters takes a shot at Stella. Layla sees this and quickly blocks the shot with a Plasma Magic Ball. Musa says that their battle skills are too high for one-on-one, so Layla decides, yes, to hit them with a convergence spell.
Of course, the monsters decide to copy off the fairies, and both combine their shots to create a bigger blast. Musa and Layla's convergence, Lower Chord Belt (I think that's what they're saying), literally sends them into a spin, and deflects it right back at the two witches. Musa: "Strike!" We see E-Musa and E-Layla giggling, but the wrong Enchantix fairy is standing in the group behind them.
Meanwhile, Val is watching the battle going on. Icy: "Listen! WE should be the ones who get to finish off the Winx!" Val goes all Mean Boss on them over his earlier order to watch Grif. Darcy: "But it's a waste of our dark talents to have us on guard duty for Miss Griffin." I can think of something else that isn't doing your talents justice, Darcy... Icy points at the ball: "That's where the action is!" We see Mirta in the ball, and Stormy whines about Mirta being here as well. Hey, it could be worse, you could be seeing FAIRY Mirta here. Anyways, Darcy explains Mirta for Val's benefit, and calls her a weakling for moving to Alfea. Val: "Well ladies, perhaps the weakling can be turned into their weak link. Tell me all about this Mirta."
Back at the battle, and this time everyone's being drawn in their proper outfit. The monsters make another advance, and Musa puts up her second convergence spell, this time with Stella. It's a Sunburst Sleep, and it sends the witches to sleep. Stella: "Six against two, is that unfair?" The monsters retreat: "Fools, you won't be glowing for long." Meanwhile, the witches have been tied up, and the girls decide to resume the search, as the hall appears to have returned to normal.
And now is the time for Val to exploit their weak link. Val secretly adds a door to the hall, and Mirta has separated from the fairies, as she approaches the door, which opens on its own, and Mirta sees Lucy. The girls only notice that Mirta's went off when Flo asks her for directions. They spot her entering Lucy's room. Tecna summons those nifty goggles of hers, and says "No! It's a trap!" It indeed turns out to be a trap, and Mirta gets zapped, and Val is towering right over her. That's what happens when you don't stick together, you see?
Val: "You would think that these fairies enjoyed falling into my traps."
The girls run at Val. Val shoots a spell at the girls, and they appear to successfully shield it. E-Stella: "Is that the best you can do, Valtor? Light Wave!" Val knocks Stella's spell down with just two fingers, and tells the fairies that they were just hit with a negation spell, so that their convergence spells will no longer work. Musa: "We'll see about that!" However, the Enchanti find out the hard way that he's right: They hold their hands in a ring to cast a convergence spell, and they get a big recoil instead. After Bloom's brief check on Stella, Stella decides it's time for plan B: basically just running at Val. Val decides to show what he's got and casts a Magic Meltdown. The girls jump out the way, and Val's spell leaves a hole in the floor, which he then goes through to the lower floor. "Well, those foolish girls never did have a chance."
The smoke clears on the lower floor, and those foolish girls are still here. The Enchanti are airborne while the regular Winx are on the floor. Val finds it remarkable. Musa: "Thought you'd finished us off, didn't you???" Val shoots and the Enchanti dodge the shot. Layla hurls some Morphix and Val jumps out of the way. Stella shoots sunlight and scores a direct hit: "Bullseye!"
Okay, Val is quite riled up now, so he's shooting a whole lot of attacks. The Enchanti dodge them, and then Layla sends a beam towards Val, but Val stops it with his powers: "Well done Winx, but you're forgetting that Cloud Tower is under my control." And to prove his point, he has some HUGE hands grow out of the wall to grab the Enchanti. Heh heh.
Back with the pixies now, and they're still with the Felanors. Policewoman Tune: "Boy, these oversized kittens sure demand a lot of attention." Chatta: "We can't stay here all day. We've got to get going." Amore: "But Felanors are very fickle. They might get angry if we stop petting them."
We see Piff and Lockette at the Felanors' heads, and Lockette looks worried.
Amore: "Uh, what do you think?"
Chatta: "I think Piff's a genius."
Chatta moves Piff from one Felanor's head to the next, and then Piff flies over to the other one. She's the pixie of sweet sleep, you see, so it sends the Felanors to sleep. Chatta: "Now we should be far enough from Valtor's magic. Are you ready Lockette?" Chatta and Lockette take off their coats, and Lockette takes out her magic key thing. Lockette points out the way, and the pixies leave the Felanors.
Back at CT, where the Winx and Enchanti are all sapped out on the lower floor. The witch teacher monsters come in with a couple of regular witches. One of them speaks with a European accent: "Derr is a disturrrbance in the dungeons. Grrriffin is trying to escape." Val: "I thought I'd told the Trix to guard her." Other monster: "You want us to find them?" Val: "No no, I'll deal with with Griffin. The Winx are no longer a threat anyway. YOU finish them off."
The monsters and the witches head over to the Trix, and Val goes off. Bloom: "Come on girls..." A weak Musa tries firing a Sound Wave at the witches, and it hardly does anything. Flora realizes that the Winx can't fight them. Musa slumps down, and a monster knocks her over. Layla goes over to see if Musa's okay, and she gets a recoil the moment their gloves touch: "Ouch! What was that?"
Tec: "It must be from Valtor's spell."
Bloom: "So he didn't really block convergence, only our ability to touch one another."
Stella: "Well then, let's try it from a distance. It'll be more complicated..."
Musa: "...but at least we stand a chance."
The monster closes in, and the girls get airborne. Layla has the Enchanti position themselves, and E-Layla casts her spell: "Enchantix Convergence! Rainbow Connection!" The rainbow energy flows between the Enchanti before flowing down to the monsters and the witches, and it sends them scurrying. Nifty.
The girls return to the ground, but they hardly even get a chance to breathe as a big hand pops out of the ground, so the girls get on the run again. They're running, and the hand burrows under the floor to block their path, so they turn and start flying. The hand comes out and blocks their airspace. Stella says "We can't keep this up!" No kidding.
Well whattaya know, Mirta's back. (But STILL not transformed. Bleh.) Mirta points to a mirror before jumping into it. The girls follow and escape the big hand.
On the other side of the mirror, Mirta exposits that they're in the tunnels under the tower: "They're not connected to it, so we should be safe." Flora: "Maybe, but we still don't know what happened to Faragonda."
Then they see a bright light emanating from one of the rooms, and the Winx decide to take a peek. Val has just increased the power of his lock-up spell on Grif, and he goes off. Okay, so the girls head over to her cell. Mirta is dismayed at seeing Grif locked up. Bloom asks Grif about what happened and Grif explains.
Bloom: "Don't you worry, we'll get you out of here."
Grif: "Don't be foolish, because even if you could open the cell, it would tip off Valtor as to where you are."
Mirta: "Miss Griffin, we can't leave you here. Plus you can help us find Miss Faragonda."
Grif: "What, Faragonda is missing???"
Bloom: "She lost this MAJOR battle against Valtor, but we think she got away."
Grif: "I'm glad to hear that another member of the Company of Light is still standing."
Bloom: "Miss Griffin, so it's true. You WERE a member of the Company of Light."
Grif: "Never mind that. You must hurry and search out the great vault monsters that roam about these tunnels."
Bloom: "I don't understand."
Grif: "As guardians of Cloud Tower, they hear everything within these walls. They may have heard what happened to Faragonda."
Back to the pixies, and they're flying around the forest, with Lockette and her magic key leading the way. Chatta asks Lockette how close FG is, and Lockette isn't really sure. They fly around for a bit, and Lockette eventually winds up in an oak tree. As Amore stops Piff from sleep-flying into the tree, Lockette emerges again and asks what just happened. Digit: "Your magic key thinks Faragonda's in this oak tree." Lockette: "Whoops, I must have messed up. I dunno... there's something strange here." Digit: "I'd better analyze it." Lockette warns that it could be one of Val's traps. Digit: "I wonder what this is... AAH!"
Quick cut back to CT action, where Mirta is pointing the way to the exit. A horse headed guy with four arms shows up. Stella: "And who's that, the doorman?" Musa notes it's one of the vault guardians, and Tecna points out another one who looks like a spider. Flo mentions Grif's little tip about them helping out... and then the spider guardian attacks. Bloom puts up a Flame Shield, along with Tecna putting up an Energy Barrier. Musa: "How are we supposed to reason with all these monstrosities???" Tecna says they can't, as she points to the horse guy's head... Bloom: "It's the mark of Valtor!" Musa points out that the other's got one too, as we see the spider guardian attack again, this time with horse guy joining in with fire breath, and Tec putting up her shield again.
Bloom is dismayed: "Now what??? They're supposed to help us out, but we can't remove the mark."
HUH. I think I saw Stella remove Val's mark a few weeks ago with fairy dust, and I think you were there to see that too, Bloom. So you were saying...?
E-Layla: "It's not quite true. There is a way. Fairy dust might help break Valtor's spell." Hey, thanks for the reminder, Layla!
She flies up, and we get to see E-Layla use her fairy dust bottle. It's in a shape which I think would seem more suited for a fairy of nature than of water. Anyways, Layla draws what I take to be a stylized water drop, before blowing the dust on to the monsters. Whattaya know, the mark does go. Mirta tells the guardians about Grif sending them.
Horsey also has a very thick accent: "You freed us from Valtor. We owe you a debt."
Spider: "Anything you want."
Bloom goes to ask the guardians about FG, and the picture wipes back to the oak tree as the guardians V/O (and I'd like to say, their voices are most unpleasant) that Val's spell trapped "the old one" in the forest and sealed in her in a "knotty, mighty" oak tree. And at the same time, we see FG's visage in the oak tree. Huzzah. Tune: "Willians and sprites!" (Er?)
Night time in the forest. The girls say goodbye to Mirta, and Mirta tells them to be careful. Flora: "Don't worry about us! Just make sure Griselda knows what's happening!" Bloom says the pixies are waiting.
We see some creepy guy in a creepy hoodie. Hello, creepy hoodie guy!
The Winx approach FG in the tree. The music is mournful, and Bloom and Musa are looking on in disbelief.
Flo: "Hold on..." She touches the tree, before sadly confirming: "It is her."
Stella: "Transcombined with a tree? WizGiz will have her out in no time."
Flo: "It's not so simple. This oak tree grew from an acorn around Faragonda."
Bloom: "It grew around her?"
Flo: "Yes, and her life force is mixed in with the trees."
Layla: "So we can't hurt it without hurting her."
Tec has brought out her palmtop, and Digit is also using her dataglove.
Tec: "There's no spell against that in our databases."
Flo: "It's ancient hibernation magic... very rare."
Bloom: "We've got to do something, after everything she's done for us."
Musa: "Yeah, I mean what's so special about hibernation magic?"
Flo: "It has unknown secret qualities."
And now, the girls get touchy-feely (in one case, rather literally) with FG in the tree.
Musa: "Miss Faragonda, I don't know if you can hear me, but don't worry. We WILL save you."
Flo touches the tree again: "That's right! You've taught us everything about magic. We'll break the spell, you'll see."
Bloom: "If I made it this far as a fairy, it's all thanks to you. I'll stop at nothing to set you free."
Tec: "We're all with Bloom."
Layla: "Miss Faragonda, you've helped all of us. Now we're going to return the favor."
Nice. Back at CT, Icy is watching "little Bloom and her pathetic fairy friends" (her words, not mine) through Grif's ball.
Stormy: "I'll make them pay, and I'll do it myself."
Darcy: "Icy and Stormy will never guess what I'm planning to do."
Icy: "And then Valtor..."
Cut to split screen with Val and the Trix: "... will be all mine."
So I guess what Grif once said about team members betraying one another is true. And... scene.
Critique for the episode:
1. So, we see Val thinking of sharing his power with someone. I'll say one thing: That plot point took too freaking long, and the payoff totally wasn't worth the wait... kind of like how this season played out in the US, actually.
2. Last week, we saw Mirta with fairy powers, and the writing this week doesn't give any real reason for Mirta not to transform and use her powers again, but she doesn't transform anyway. Kinda expected it, but still... For that matter, the writing doesn't even MENTION Mirta's new ability to transform. Besides, Diaspro got a fairy form, PLUS a transformation sequence in S1, so why not Mirta? Even a simple "My fairy powers don't work here" would have sufficed...
3. We saw more of the pixies this week than the rest of the season so far in general. That clue searching montage on theirs showed exactly the kind of fun we get from them.
4. Convergence. So apparently, the Enchanti can put together their new powers for convergence just like that without any lessons. At least with Charmix, there was some effort to show them learning how to converge Charmix powers... (Of course, there's a whole lot we don't get to see, so...)
We open at Alfea, and we see there's a patch of smouldering forest. We head to Mirta's room, and she's looking at a photo of herself with Lucy. You see, last week, fairy-winged Mirta saw Lucy among the student witches attacking Alfea, and now she's wondering about what made Lucy attack Alfea. She looks outside the window...
...where the Winx girls are leaving Alfea for the smouldering forest, and the Griz is saying, "Good luck girls!" (We're still waiting for that disciplinary action you promised the girls a few weeks ago, Griz...) Bloom exposits that FG and Val were headed in the direction she's pointing. We finally get a name for the forest:
Flo: "So they flew towards the center of Gloomy Wood Forest? That's a pretty big place!"
Tec: "In a case like this, a random search has a very low rate of success."
Musa: "We've got to start somewhere. Let's go, come on."
But then Bloom notices that their bonded pixies are missing, and no one seems to know where they went. Layla: "I told them we're doing some detective work, and they all just disa..."
And here are the bonded pixies now, dressed mostly in detective garb, with Tune in a proper (of course) policewoman's outfit. WHEE! Chatta (taking out a magnifying glass): "Let's follow the clues to Faragonda."
CT, and we head into Griffin's room. Stormy: "Can you believe what those loser fairies managed to pull yesterday?"
Darcy: "Don't worry, we'll soon get a chance to pay them back."
Val: "Those Winx girls are bound to show up here soon."
Stormy: "And when they do, we'll be there waiting for them."
Icy: "Let us deal with them. They'll end up wishing they had handed Alfea to us on a plate."
However, Val isn't too pleased about yesterday's performance, and says that it wasn't the fairies who foiled his plan, but the Trix. Icy argues "There was absolutely nothing we could do about it." Val: "That's okay, I shouldn't have expected anything from a bunch of amateurs." Stormy: "HEY!" Val's thinking of having just one person with real ability to share all his powers with. Darcy and Icy seem enthusiastic about this proposition. Now normally that would make for an awesome plotline, but the writing this season isn't exactly the best at executing good ideas...
Val is watching Grif through
Icy: "Yes, of course, we've got it covered."
Val grins, and scene.
Forest. The Enchanti have now transformed and are flying around, and Musa points out a large smouldering clearing in the middle of the woods, where Fairy Bloom is with Lockette. "Whoa, it must have been quite a battle. Lockette, can you detect Faragonda's presence?" Lockette: "Ohhh, I'm sorry, I don't feel so good." Digit: "Valtor's spells have left a residue of dark magic, scrambling Lockette's receptors." Random thought: If the concept of "tomboy" exists in the all-female pixiedom, I'd wager that Digit would totally fit the bill, because when I'm looking at her, I have to repeat mentioning to myself that Digit is a girl.
Anyhow, Flo tells Bloom not to push Lockette. She thinks that the forest should be able to help them, and has the girls follow her. After a few seconds of waiting for the woods to be ready, she has the girls stay back as Flo invokes Nature's Symphony. Flora becomes enveloped in wind, and it looks pretty awesome.
Musa: "That sound, it's like.... music."
Flora: "It's the voice of nature."
Anyways, Flora finishes her listening, and Flora seems pretty sad. Bloom asks what just happened. We see Flora weeping.
Flora: "These trees witnessed the battle between Valtor and Faragonda."
Bloom: "No way."
Stella: "It can't be."
Flora then smiles: "Miss Faragonda is alive!"
Musa: "So what happened to her?"
Flora: "The trees couldn't bring themselves to watch. They were too scared."
Bloom: "The trees were scared of Valtor???"
Musa: "Is that even possible???"
Flora points: "When it was all over, Valtor flew off in that direction."
Bloom: "But that way is..."
Musa: "Cloud Tower."
Dun dun daaah.
CT. Mirta comes out. She sees a few familiar silhouettes ("Oh no, it's the Trix!") and ducks for cover. Whoops, it's just the fairies. Musa: "I have never been so insulted in all my life!" Heh, sort of. Mirta is relieved to see it's the fairies. Flora goes in to hug her, and asks what she's doing at CT, and Mirta is worried about Lucy and the other witches, and wants to find out what happened to them. Enchantix Stella says they can help, but Bloom adds, "But stay close to us, because if Valtor's around it'll be more dangerous than ever." Hello, foreshadowing.
Meanwhile, the pixies have been left behind in the forest. Tune thinks it's time to widen the search. Chatta thinks that distancing themselves from the battleground will give Lockette a chance to use her powers. Digit: "Good idea, but let's keep an eye out for clues along the way."
And now, a clue searching montage. We see the pixies walking. We see detective Lockette looking dismayed. We see policewoman Tune take notes on a log. We see Piff looking around the ground with a magnifying glass, and then crawling after a caterpillar. We see Digit shaking a test tube, and then Amore walking around with a magnifying glass. We see Chatta looking around with a magnifying glass as well: "Fascinating."
And then the funniest thing happens: they run into each other, and somehow, they end up walking straight up into the air. HEH!
They fall to the ground. Okay, montage over. We hear Lockette screaming in fear, and with good reason: There are wildcats out to get the pixies.
Back at CT, where the girls, now no longer transformed, are walking down the halls. Bloom: "Strange. Cloud Tower seems deserted. Where did everybody go?" Bloom opens a door and walks into the dorm. The girls follow, and they see a bunch of witches lying down in their beds. Tecna takes out a gadget, and it flies over one of the witches and scans her before returning to Tecna.
Tecna: "They're alive I think."
Bloom: "You think??"
Tecna: "They're under a powerful spell which has put them in some kind of suspended animation."
Flora: "But why?"
Tecna: "You know. To regenerate all their magic powers, so they can fight again."
Mirta: "It's terrible."
Musa finds even more behind another door, and Mirta is dismayed that Lucy's not here. We hear a "magical" noise, and so do the girls. They run out of the dorm, and see all the dorm doors disappearing, a la their brief exchange stay last season. Bloom calls for everyone to stay close together (foreshadowing!)...
...as we cut back the pixies. We find out from Digit that these wildcats are Wild Felanors, and they find pixies very tasty. Tune: "Perhaps a hasty retreat is in order." Chatta: "No, stay still. They'll pounce if we move an inch." Amore has an idea, though. She begins to cast a spell, and her movement sets off the Felanors. She throws a Love Explosion spell at them...
...and we see the Felanors gently lying on the ground. Amore is being licked one of them: "Now all they have in their hearts is love." Lockette: "Really? Oh, so very cute." The pixies giggle.
Okay, back to CT, and now the girls have found themselves surrounded by a couple witches and two monsters. Apparently, these monsters are the witch teachers. Tecna: "Looks like Valtor has made a clean sweep around here. Even [the witch teachers] Ediltrude and Zaratustra are under his control now." Stella: "Well then. Let's not waste any time." Stella jumps up into the air, and insert transformations. So, there are 7 transformation-capable girls here, 3 Winx transformations, and 3 Enchantix transformations. I'll give you one guess to as who doesn't have any kind of transformation, and remains grounded while the rest go airborne. Bleh.
The lights go out. E-Stella casts her own light into the area: "Here's a decorating tip! Soft light cuts down on ugly shadows and enhances the look of any type of complexion, honey!" Un-transformed Mirta gives her the thumbs up. Stella: "Plus, it prevents them from hiding in dark corners."
One of the monsters takes a shot at Stella. Layla sees this and quickly blocks the shot with a Plasma Magic Ball. Musa says that their battle skills are too high for one-on-one, so Layla decides, yes, to hit them with a convergence spell.
Of course, the monsters decide to copy off the fairies, and both combine their shots to create a bigger blast. Musa and Layla's convergence, Lower Chord Belt (I think that's what they're saying), literally sends them into a spin, and deflects it right back at the two witches. Musa: "Strike!" We see E-Musa and E-Layla giggling, but the wrong Enchantix fairy is standing in the group behind them.
Meanwhile, Val is watching the battle going on. Icy: "Listen! WE should be the ones who get to finish off the Winx!" Val goes all Mean Boss on them over his earlier order to watch Grif. Darcy: "But it's a waste of our dark talents to have us on guard duty for Miss Griffin." I can think of something else that isn't doing your talents justice, Darcy... Icy points at the ball: "That's where the action is!" We see Mirta in the ball, and Stormy whines about Mirta being here as well. Hey, it could be worse, you could be seeing FAIRY Mirta here. Anyways, Darcy explains Mirta for Val's benefit, and calls her a weakling for moving to Alfea. Val: "Well ladies, perhaps the weakling can be turned into their weak link. Tell me all about this Mirta."
Back at the battle, and this time everyone's being drawn in their proper outfit. The monsters make another advance, and Musa puts up her second convergence spell, this time with Stella. It's a Sunburst Sleep, and it sends the witches to sleep. Stella: "Six against two, is that unfair?" The monsters retreat: "Fools, you won't be glowing for long." Meanwhile, the witches have been tied up, and the girls decide to resume the search, as the hall appears to have returned to normal.
And now is the time for Val to exploit their weak link. Val secretly adds a door to the hall, and Mirta has separated from the fairies, as she approaches the door, which opens on its own, and Mirta sees Lucy. The girls only notice that Mirta's went off when Flo asks her for directions. They spot her entering Lucy's room. Tecna summons those nifty goggles of hers, and says "No! It's a trap!" It indeed turns out to be a trap, and Mirta gets zapped, and Val is towering right over her. That's what happens when you don't stick together, you see?
Val: "You would think that these fairies enjoyed falling into my traps."
The girls run at Val. Val shoots a spell at the girls, and they appear to successfully shield it. E-Stella: "Is that the best you can do, Valtor? Light Wave!" Val knocks Stella's spell down with just two fingers, and tells the fairies that they were just hit with a negation spell, so that their convergence spells will no longer work. Musa: "We'll see about that!" However, the Enchanti find out the hard way that he's right: They hold their hands in a ring to cast a convergence spell, and they get a big recoil instead. After Bloom's brief check on Stella, Stella decides it's time for plan B: basically just running at Val. Val decides to show what he's got and casts a Magic Meltdown. The girls jump out the way, and Val's spell leaves a hole in the floor, which he then goes through to the lower floor. "Well, those foolish girls never did have a chance."
The smoke clears on the lower floor, and those foolish girls are still here. The Enchanti are airborne while the regular Winx are on the floor. Val finds it remarkable. Musa: "Thought you'd finished us off, didn't you???" Val shoots and the Enchanti dodge the shot. Layla hurls some Morphix and Val jumps out of the way. Stella shoots sunlight and scores a direct hit: "Bullseye!"
Okay, Val is quite riled up now, so he's shooting a whole lot of attacks. The Enchanti dodge them, and then Layla sends a beam towards Val, but Val stops it with his powers: "Well done Winx, but you're forgetting that Cloud Tower is under my control." And to prove his point, he has some HUGE hands grow out of the wall to grab the Enchanti. Heh heh.
Back with the pixies now, and they're still with the Felanors. Policewoman Tune: "Boy, these oversized kittens sure demand a lot of attention." Chatta: "We can't stay here all day. We've got to get going." Amore: "But Felanors are very fickle. They might get angry if we stop petting them."
We see Piff and Lockette at the Felanors' heads, and Lockette looks worried.
Amore: "Uh, what do you think?"
Chatta: "I think Piff's a genius."
Chatta moves Piff from one Felanor's head to the next, and then Piff flies over to the other one. She's the pixie of sweet sleep, you see, so it sends the Felanors to sleep. Chatta: "Now we should be far enough from Valtor's magic. Are you ready Lockette?" Chatta and Lockette take off their coats, and Lockette takes out her magic key thing. Lockette points out the way, and the pixies leave the Felanors.
Back at CT, where the Winx and Enchanti are all sapped out on the lower floor. The witch teacher monsters come in with a couple of regular witches. One of them speaks with a European accent: "Derr is a disturrrbance in the dungeons. Grrriffin is trying to escape." Val: "I thought I'd told the Trix to guard her." Other monster: "You want us to find them?" Val: "No no, I'll deal with with Griffin. The Winx are no longer a threat anyway. YOU finish them off."
The monsters and the witches head over to the Trix, and Val goes off. Bloom: "Come on girls..." A weak Musa tries firing a Sound Wave at the witches, and it hardly does anything. Flora realizes that the Winx can't fight them. Musa slumps down, and a monster knocks her over. Layla goes over to see if Musa's okay, and she gets a recoil the moment their gloves touch: "Ouch! What was that?"
Tec: "It must be from Valtor's spell."
Bloom: "So he didn't really block convergence, only our ability to touch one another."
Stella: "Well then, let's try it from a distance. It'll be more complicated..."
Musa: "...but at least we stand a chance."
The monster closes in, and the girls get airborne. Layla has the Enchanti position themselves, and E-Layla casts her spell: "Enchantix Convergence! Rainbow Connection!" The rainbow energy flows between the Enchanti before flowing down to the monsters and the witches, and it sends them scurrying. Nifty.
The girls return to the ground, but they hardly even get a chance to breathe as a big hand pops out of the ground, so the girls get on the run again. They're running, and the hand burrows under the floor to block their path, so they turn and start flying. The hand comes out and blocks their airspace. Stella says "We can't keep this up!" No kidding.
Well whattaya know, Mirta's back. (But STILL not transformed. Bleh.) Mirta points to a mirror before jumping into it. The girls follow and escape the big hand.
On the other side of the mirror, Mirta exposits that they're in the tunnels under the tower: "They're not connected to it, so we should be safe." Flora: "Maybe, but we still don't know what happened to Faragonda."
Then they see a bright light emanating from one of the rooms, and the Winx decide to take a peek. Val has just increased the power of his lock-up spell on Grif, and he goes off. Okay, so the girls head over to her cell. Mirta is dismayed at seeing Grif locked up. Bloom asks Grif about what happened and Grif explains.
Bloom: "Don't you worry, we'll get you out of here."
Grif: "Don't be foolish, because even if you could open the cell, it would tip off Valtor as to where you are."
Mirta: "Miss Griffin, we can't leave you here. Plus you can help us find Miss Faragonda."
Grif: "What, Faragonda is missing???"
Bloom: "She lost this MAJOR battle against Valtor, but we think she got away."
Grif: "I'm glad to hear that another member of the Company of Light is still standing."
Bloom: "Miss Griffin, so it's true. You WERE a member of the Company of Light."
Grif: "Never mind that. You must hurry and search out the great vault monsters that roam about these tunnels."
Bloom: "I don't understand."
Grif: "As guardians of Cloud Tower, they hear everything within these walls. They may have heard what happened to Faragonda."
Back to the pixies, and they're flying around the forest, with Lockette and her magic key leading the way. Chatta asks Lockette how close FG is, and Lockette isn't really sure. They fly around for a bit, and Lockette eventually winds up in an oak tree. As Amore stops Piff from sleep-flying into the tree, Lockette emerges again and asks what just happened. Digit: "Your magic key thinks Faragonda's in this oak tree." Lockette: "Whoops, I must have messed up. I dunno... there's something strange here." Digit: "I'd better analyze it." Lockette warns that it could be one of Val's traps. Digit: "I wonder what this is... AAH!"
Quick cut back to CT action, where Mirta is pointing the way to the exit. A horse headed guy with four arms shows up. Stella: "And who's that, the doorman?" Musa notes it's one of the vault guardians, and Tecna points out another one who looks like a spider. Flo mentions Grif's little tip about them helping out... and then the spider guardian attacks. Bloom puts up a Flame Shield, along with Tecna putting up an Energy Barrier. Musa: "How are we supposed to reason with all these monstrosities???" Tecna says they can't, as she points to the horse guy's head... Bloom: "It's the mark of Valtor!" Musa points out that the other's got one too, as we see the spider guardian attack again, this time with horse guy joining in with fire breath, and Tec putting up her shield again.
Bloom is dismayed: "Now what??? They're supposed to help us out, but we can't remove the mark."
HUH. I think I saw Stella remove Val's mark a few weeks ago with fairy dust, and I think you were there to see that too, Bloom. So you were saying...?
E-Layla: "It's not quite true. There is a way. Fairy dust might help break Valtor's spell." Hey, thanks for the reminder, Layla!
She flies up, and we get to see E-Layla use her fairy dust bottle. It's in a shape which I think would seem more suited for a fairy of nature than of water. Anyways, Layla draws what I take to be a stylized water drop, before blowing the dust on to the monsters. Whattaya know, the mark does go. Mirta tells the guardians about Grif sending them.
Horsey also has a very thick accent: "You freed us from Valtor. We owe you a debt."
Spider: "Anything you want."
Bloom goes to ask the guardians about FG, and the picture wipes back to the oak tree as the guardians V/O (and I'd like to say, their voices are most unpleasant) that Val's spell trapped "the old one" in the forest and sealed in her in a "knotty, mighty" oak tree. And at the same time, we see FG's visage in the oak tree. Huzzah. Tune: "Willians and sprites!" (Er?)
Night time in the forest. The girls say goodbye to Mirta, and Mirta tells them to be careful. Flora: "Don't worry about us! Just make sure Griselda knows what's happening!" Bloom says the pixies are waiting.
We see some creepy guy in a creepy hoodie. Hello, creepy hoodie guy!
The Winx approach FG in the tree. The music is mournful, and Bloom and Musa are looking on in disbelief.
Flo: "Hold on..." She touches the tree, before sadly confirming: "It is her."
Stella: "Transcombined with a tree? WizGiz will have her out in no time."
Flo: "It's not so simple. This oak tree grew from an acorn around Faragonda."
Bloom: "It grew around her?"
Flo: "Yes, and her life force is mixed in with the trees."
Layla: "So we can't hurt it without hurting her."
Tec has brought out her palmtop, and Digit is also using her dataglove.
Tec: "There's no spell against that in our databases."
Flo: "It's ancient hibernation magic... very rare."
Bloom: "We've got to do something, after everything she's done for us."
Musa: "Yeah, I mean what's so special about hibernation magic?"
Flo: "It has unknown secret qualities."
And now, the girls get touchy-feely (in one case, rather literally) with FG in the tree.
Musa: "Miss Faragonda, I don't know if you can hear me, but don't worry. We WILL save you."
Flo touches the tree again: "That's right! You've taught us everything about magic. We'll break the spell, you'll see."
Bloom: "If I made it this far as a fairy, it's all thanks to you. I'll stop at nothing to set you free."
Tec: "We're all with Bloom."
Layla: "Miss Faragonda, you've helped all of us. Now we're going to return the favor."
Nice. Back at CT, Icy is watching "little Bloom and her pathetic fairy friends" (her words, not mine) through Grif's ball.
Stormy: "I'll make them pay, and I'll do it myself."
Darcy: "Icy and Stormy will never guess what I'm planning to do."
Icy: "And then Valtor..."
Cut to split screen with Val and the Trix: "... will be all mine."
So I guess what Grif once said about team members betraying one another is true. And... scene.
Critique for the episode:
1. So, we see Val thinking of sharing his power with someone. I'll say one thing: That plot point took too freaking long, and the payoff totally wasn't worth the wait... kind of like how this season played out in the US, actually.
2. Last week, we saw Mirta with fairy powers, and the writing this week doesn't give any real reason for Mirta not to transform and use her powers again, but she doesn't transform anyway. Kinda expected it, but still... For that matter, the writing doesn't even MENTION Mirta's new ability to transform. Besides, Diaspro got a fairy form, PLUS a transformation sequence in S1, so why not Mirta? Even a simple "My fairy powers don't work here" would have sufficed...
3. We saw more of the pixies this week than the rest of the season so far in general. That clue searching montage on theirs showed exactly the kind of fun we get from them.
4. Convergence. So apparently, the Enchanti can put together their new powers for convergence just like that without any lessons. At least with Charmix, there was some effort to show them learning how to converge Charmix powers... (Of course, there's a whole lot we don't get to see, so...)
