So we have another important character development episode for both Cass and Eugene, and it does admittedly fair better than the last episode. However, that doesn’t mean that it is without flaws.
Summary: Cassandra and Eugene have been arguing a lot. In an attempt to force them to stop bickering, Rapunzel tricks both into a dungeon cell from which they must settle their differences to escape by solving a series of quizzes. Rapunzel's plan doesn't go well when the Stabbington Brothers take advantage of Cassandra and Eugene's failure in order to break jail and take the two prisoners.
Rapunzel Is a Jerk
So what we have here is a grown woman who spent 18 years locked in a room against her will, who inexplicably thinks it’ll be “fun” to lock her two best friends in a room against their will just so she can get what she wants.
That is all kinds of fucked up.
To make matters worse the room she chooses is a rancid jail cell surrounded by dangerous criminals and doesn't think to let anyone else know that they’re down there. And the only person who calls her out on this is her pet lizard. Who can not actually talk and therefore can’t tell her how shit she is being.
In fact the people that she wrongs just shrugs their shoulders and acts like it’s just “oh Raps is just being silly again, that eccentric lovable doof” and blames each other for the situation rather then her. Eugene even tells her she doesn’t have to apologize at the end, when she acknowledges that hey maybe she shouldn’t have done that.
Here’s the thing. I honestly wouldn’t mind this if it was kept to season one only and if she grew past this behavior, but it’s not and she doesn’t. Three seasons in and she is still pulling manipulative crap like this and no one is standing up to her save for villains who, inexplicably go on to blame her for shit she had no control over rather then her actual actions.
Yes characters do need to be flawed, and yes those flaws need to cause conflict, but they also have to be acknowledged as flaws, have consequences stemming from them, and have the characters grow from those two things combined.
I Do Like This Scene, But...
Eugene and Cassandra have a heart to heart over being orphans while trapped in the cell. It’s one of the very few real instances of lasting character development in the series and goes on to help improve their relationship. It’s also one of the rare instances of real foreshadowing regarding both Cassandra’s and Eugene's parentage.
Which winds up being the dumbest reveal in the whole show.
When I first saw this scene I legit thought they were going to go with a long lost siblings arc with Cass and Eugene. They did not. But I’ll argue till I’m blue in the face, that, despite how cliche it is, it still would have been a thousand times better than what we got in the show.
Still No Real Character Interaction With Cass and Her Dad Though
Six episodes in and this is only the second time Cass and her father have shared the screen together. Now it does tell the audience just how much Cap loves his little girl, but that should be a given. We still have no real insight into what they’re dynamic actually is, ergo this scene isn’t as powerful as it could have been.
More Evidence that Frederic is the Worst
So all through out this episode Eugene is worried about facing Frederic's wrath over a broken vase. This is played for laughs, even though he legit has the power to have people killed and apparently has done so over little offenses like this before. Rapunzel even admits here that he recently had a poor tailor locked in a stockade for accidentally tearing a robe. No one seems to be bothered by this nor points out how this is wrong and an abuse of power.
Remind me again why the creator thinks we should be sympathetic to the obvious dictator?
Conclusion
So that was Cassandra v. Eugene. As I said one of the better episodes of the first season but you can start to see the cracks in the walls showing through. Over time it’ll be made even clear that the show’s head producers/writers have very skewed ideas on moral responsibility.
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