Not In the Mood

So at long last we’ve finally reached the last of the filler episodes for season one. Yes, I know the mood potion comes into play later and that Varian makes a cameo at the end, but the actual plot of the episode itself doesn’t add anything to the overall narrative and the elements that do come back are ones that could have been better introduced or written out altogether. Ergo making this another weak entry into the series. 

Summary: Thanks to Max and Pascal's intervention, Rapunzel, Eugene and Cassandra inadvertently drink a potion that reverses their personalities. They turn to Xavier for his help in reversing their personalities to normal. Unfortunately, the elixir reverses everyone's character, making a mess of the royal visit.

So Why Should I Care About The Mains Fighting With Each Other... Again?

This episode wants to act like this sudden bickering is abnormal and a breakdown in their relationships but really, it’s the same plot we’ve had for nearly every episode the entire season. When has Eugene and Cassandra ever gotten alone? What plot hasn’t focused on Raps and Cass not seeing eye to eye? Like, this is nothing new and not a good inciting action for the plot to happen. If anything this episode only confirms to me that these people shouldn’t be wasting their time associating with each other, as I haven’t seen them actually being real friends and enjoying each other’s company before this. 

Xavier, Why Do You Have a Random Magic Potion Just Sitting Around Your Workplace?

Once again we get no explanation as to how or why Xavier knows what he knows. He just so happens to have this mood potion ready to go and no one questions it. Given how this is a very dubiously unethical plan and his previous connections with two main bad guys, Zhan Tiri and the Saporians; I legit thought he’d be revealed as a villain later. But nope. He just there to get the plot going and nothing else. What a waste. 

Oh Look, Cass is Getting What She Wants Yet Again. 

Cass gets another guard assignment, running security detail for the upcoming banquet. It doesn’t go well because of the mood potion, but the very fact that she was entrusted with the job in the first place undermines her arcs in seasons two and three. 

Poor Worldbuilding 

Throughout the show we hear about these seven kingdoms. However, we never get any insight into what these seven kingdoms are. An alliance? A trade deal? Just the seven kingdoms that so happen to be the most powerful in this world?Regional stand-ins for the seven continents of the globe and not actual countries? A fantasy version of the Prussian Empire before the unification of Germany? Who knows. For we only focus on two of these ‘kingdoms’ in two episodes; Beginnings in season three and this episode.    

‘Pittsford’ is the only kingdom to have an episode dedicated to it and all it amounts to is a nonsensical Napoleon Complex joke. Given the World War I inspired German uniform that the character above is wearing, the show can’t even keep its parodies and references straight. Like, that’s it. The joke is that everyone from this kingdom is short, grumpy, and wears that ridiculous helmet.  

We never see this kingdom nor ever visit any of the other kingdoms. We get no insight into their cultures or way of life, despite Rapunzel’s desire for travel. And we also receive very little understanding of how these kingdoms relate back to Corona even when focusing on a possible war between them. 

Unlike the mishmash of time periods I talked about earlier, this is a straight up failure in execution and not me merely being picky. It’s once again a lack of set up and resolve. The show builds something up only to never follow through with it. 

Hypocrisy in Who’s to Blame Leading to Lessons Unlearned 

Umm.. no, Cass is right. This is Max and Pascal’s fault. But mostly it’s Xavier’s fault for creating the potion in the first place and deciding it was a-okay to drug people with it without their consent. 

But of course the writing lets them off the hook in order to make its point about the characters needing to grow. A lesson that the show will promptly forget come next episode, making it’s point, well pointless. 

However the worst outcome here is the narrative letting Xavier get away without consequence while treating Varian as a villain for doing the exact same thing later on. The writers have double standards for how they treat the characters and use biased points of view to try and manipulate the audience into siding with the characters they want you to side with, rather than just presenting a conflict honestly and trusting the viewers to come to their own understandings.

Inconstancy is Left Unexplained

This is a joke, sure, but Griffin from Pittsford is also shown to be unaffected and characters conveniently fall in and out of the spell as the story needs it. There’s no explanation as for why the established rules of the potion are suddenly ignored. 

Look, you don't always have explain where magic comes from or how it does what it does, but you do need an internal set of rules to act as parameters for your magic. That way when a rule changes or a person breaks a rule, it means something to the narrative and helps to drive tension. There’s no set rules for Tangled’s magic system. Things change on a dime for no given reason. Ergo the story winds up being confused in places and tension is diluted. 

The Resolution is Weak

Griffin here just changes his mind about needing a peace treaty with Corona off screen with no explanation. He just does it so that the episode can end and reward the main character; so that Rapunzel won't have to face any consequences for her behavior. The universe just bends unnaturally to her will.

Her confrontation with Frederic earlier is an extension of this problem. 

He snaps out of the spell just because Raps confronted him, despite the episode showing us earlier that that’s not how the potion works. Furthermore, her entire confrontation is supposed to be buildup to her becoming more assertive, but the narrative presents it like a ‘love saves the day’ deal; meaning she’s rewarded for the wrong reason.  Last off she does not learn this lesson and it’ll be another three episodes before it sinks in. Even more than that if you watch the season in its intended order. 

Oh Yeah, We’re Still Showing Things Out of Order and The Full Awfulness of How Rapunzel Treats Varian is Just Glossed Over

So Pascal’s Story and Big Brother’s of Corona was suppose to come before this episode. The Wrath of Ruthless Ruth, Max's Enemy, and The Way of the Willow are meant to come after. This means that Rapunzel is still ignoring her duty, has been ignoring it, and will keep on ignoring it for several more weeks/months.   

Varian’s Cameo Doesn’t Add Anything Here 

Despite trying to tie into the main plot, Varian’s part in this episode is skippable. There’s no reason why he couldn’t have just made the truth serum from scratch. We didn’t need yet another run around just to establish the mood potion first. It’s slightly more forgivable than say, Monty, Willow, or Axel being introduced for next to no reason, but it’s still a mishandling of the time and resources given to the show. 

Conclusion

I honestly found this episode kind of cringe. It has a lot of tropes that I personally dislike and reads like a bad 60s sitcom. It more well constructed then say Max’s Enemy, and it has more to do with the plot then Way of the Willow, but it still suffers from filler fatigue.