Goodbye and Goodwill

This one of those filler episodes that, at first glance, seems to have a purpose, but then goes on to undermine itself and the greater story at every turn. 

Summary: In hopes of further uplifting the spirits of the citizens, Rapunzel decides to bring the Goodwill festival to Vardaros, but the citizens are not enthusiastic about the upcoming festivities until Cassandra presents daring and dangerous activities. Rapunzel and Cassandra attempt to work together, but they quickly begin to argue and disagree, resulting in them breaking off their partnership and planning their own separate events. However, Rapunzel notices everyone is more interested in Cassandra's ideas and attempts a reconciliation, but the competitiveness between them further escalates and Rapunzel prepares the final event, featuring both dangers and thrills. Eugene tries to help Rapunzel and Cassandra mend their friendship and handcuffs them together. Meanwhile, Lance and Hook Foot are in charge of finding a gopher for the final event, but bring back a dangerous Sneezeweasel instead

So Why Are We Still Here? 

No really, why are we still here? There’s no reason for this. Last episode we stuck around because there was a problem to solve, but here Rapunzel is just doing whatever crap she feels like doing instead of focusing on the problem. Which is a flaw in of itself because it undermines tension.

There’s nothing to push the action forward. There’s no threat nor danger to avoid or stop. The rocks are no longer a problem, there’s no villain left to challenge the heroes, and they aren’t on any timer. So why should we, the audience, care about this quest? 

Season two winds up being the most boring season because it’s 80% filler. You could cut out over half the episodes and you’d miss nothing of value. 

If the show writers wanted to do cutesy slice of life stuff that only focuses on the interpersonal relationships of the mains, then it shouldn’t have added an overarching plot with actual stakes. It also should have had a core well defined cast that interacted with each other instead of just focusing on a duo or trio all the time.  

The Very Existence of Vardaros Undermines Cass’s Arc

So Cass’s whole deal is that she wants to be a guard and, more importantly, wants praise and validation. Yet for some undetermined reason she can’t get that in Corona. Ignoring the fact that she very much does get that in Corona, (see season 1), you’re telling me that there was a whole city just waiting for a sheriff this whole time, one where Cass fits in perfectly and gets praise for being a tough guy, and is only a week away from Corona and her family, and yet I’m suppose to feel sorry for her for not getting off her butt and trying her hand elsewhere? 

She’s 23 years old. She’s more than capable of taking care of herself and, as shown during season three, she’s able to leave any time she wants. Yet the show tries to throw a pity party for a grown woman who only screws herself over by not actually trying. Yeah, no. If she had little to no opportunities or if there was something actually standing in her way, then fine, but that’s not what we get. 

When millennials like myself complain about not getting the jobs we trained for, it's because we live in a neoliberal dystopia that not only denies us opportunities and fails to pay us a living wage, but also places us in crippling debt just to get a chance to work these underpaid jobs. It’s not just us whining that we didn’t handed get what we want, it’s about survival. 

I’m not going to feel sorry for someone who doesn’t get her arse kissed as much as she wants when there are people who can’t even pay rent right now. In universe we still have a whole town that’s been displaced from their homes, children in jail, poor people being persecuted, and a city whose river has dried up and is trying to recover from an economic fall out. What Cass wants should not matter in light of these more urgent problems. 

I Understand What This Episode Is Trying to Do, But it Fails Because of Overexposure

So this is just a role reversal of Challenge of the Brave. It’s here to show the audience that Rapunzel isn’t perfect and that she can be just as petty and jealous as Cass herself. Unfortunately it undermines itself with three things. 

First, is because we’ve had this same argument before. Not just in Challenge of the Brave, but in practically every plot that focuses on theses two characters. We’ve spent more time showing why they shouldn’t friends rather than building them up to be good friends. I still have no idea why these two hang out together. Ergo, I’ve little reason to care if they’re fighting yet again for the millionth time regardless of who is or isn’t in the wrong here. 

Second, even when Rapunzel is wrong for once Cass still has to exacerbate the problem. Rapunzel came to Cass in this scene to apologize, only for Cass to pick a fight with her instead. Cassandra demands respect from everybody but can’t give even the most basic amount to anyone else, not even her best friend. So yes, Rapunzel is being a jealous jerk here, but I can’t root for Cassandra either. The point behind showing both sides are wrong conflicts is to make both sides relatable, not make the audience hate both of the characters. Why should I endear myself to two jackoffs who can’t show a modicum of basic human decency? 

Last, Rapunzel is only ever shown to be wrong when dealing with Cass. Raps is never called out in her mistrement of Caine, Varian, Eugene, Treavor, Dewyne, her own parents, ect. Yes, most of this is a season three problem specifically, but it shows the creators’ bias loud and clear. Their precious OC is the only character that they actually care about. She gets special treatment over everyone else, even the main character of the show. That’s bad fanfiction levels of writing that I don’t expect to see in a name brand show, but here we are. 

Even When Rapunzel is in the Wrong She is Still Validated Okay, so this is a call back to when Rapunzel threw Cass and Eugene into a jail cell during Cassandra vs Eugene. That was a very bad thing for her to do, but here is Eugene taking inspiration from that instead of actually acknowledging that what Rapunzel does is wrong. Also to further the bias on the show, the girls get onto Eugene several times for this, but of course Rapunzel never saw such push back when she did it. And to put the cherry on top of a shit sundae, this plan once again works. 

If you can’t figure out away for you’re characters to resolve their issues outside of locking them together in a room or forcibly shackling them together, then you don't have a good conflict and you’re characters don't have a good relationship dynamic. And this isn’t the first nor last time will have to deal with this crap. 

Nothing is LearnedWe’ve already heard this same apology before and we’ll see it done numerous times over. Rapunzel is still going to keep on being a control freak and Cass is going to keep on putting her own ‘glory’ over others well being. And they’re both going to keep on fighting over petty validation all the way up until the last episode of the whole series. 

If you can resolve your conflict in a three minute conversation but keep dragging it out anyways while adding unnecessary and forced stakes to keep up the tension, then you just don’t have a good plot. The writers needed to go back to square one and rethink the entire bases of their story pitch, cause as is, there’s just not enough here to carry a three season long story arc. Not one that keeps the mains likable anyways.   

No, You Won’t 

We spent three whole episodes building up this town and introducing new characters and not a single one of them comes back into play. That’s poor time management and it’s once again a lack of set up and resolve. 

Conclusion 

The whole Vardaros arc is a waste of time. Outside of Adria’s introduction, which is divorced from the town anyways, I’d tell people to skip it entirely. There’s no point to any of it.