Vigor the Visionary

This is one of the better episodes of season two, but it still manages to have some major flaws. Flaws, that not everyone can get past, and for good reason. So let's dig in. 

Summary:  Rapunzel and Eugene are on a romantic date together until they come across a fortune-teller, Madame Canardist who presents them her pet monkey, Vigor the Visionary who can make psychic predictions. While Eugene refuses to believe fortune-tellers to be real, he and Rapunzel soon find themselves helping Madame Canardist when Vigor is stolen. Eugene discovers the thieves to be Angry and Red, who revealed they "borrowed" Vigor as Angry believes he can help her find her long lost family. Eugene and Rapunzel agree to help, despite Eugene's concerns and doubts. Vigor begins to lead the group and soon Angry is apparently reunited with her family who also welcome Red. However, Eugene and Rapunzel learn the couple are not Angry's real family and are actually two thieves in hiding.

Why Hello There, Offensive Stereotype 

Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way first. 

Madame Canardist and Vigor were a dropped concept from the original film. You can even see art work of them in the end credits of the movie. The series’ crew thought it would be clever to put them into the show and make them plot important. 

The problem? 

Madame Canardist is a caricature of the Roma people, based off of centuries long stereotypes that are harmful to said people even to this day. 

Now if you live in the US you may not be aware of the discrimination that the Roma face. They live mostly in Europe and Central/South America. That’s not to say that don’t live in the US too, just that they aren’t a significant minority here. As such, many people, including the crew, are just simply ignorant of the situation. I, myself didn’t even know that the word ‘gypsy’ was considered a slur until very recently and only because I’ve managed to talk to people from around the world through the internet. 

I am not Romani, and can’t and won’t speak for those that are, but many people were upset with this character’s inclusion in the show and subsequent portrayal. As they have every right to be. The crew probably didn’t mean to be hurtful, but nevertheless perpetuating negative stereotypes can have real world consequences and effects. 

I’ll talk more about that impact and the crew’s response when we see the character again later in the season. However, this mistake alone is enough to turn people right off of the episode and I can’t blame them for it. 

This is Only One of Three Episodes That Ties Back Into Season One 

The reason why I say this is one of the better episodes of the season is because it manages to pick back up a plot thread from season one while also laying down groundwork for future plot points. In short, it’s one of the few episodes in season two that isn’t filler. 

However, that’s also the problem. Season two feels so disconnected from everything; both from the previous season and from the following season. You really can skip most of the episodes in it and not miss anything. That’s bad writing. 

We needed more call backs to season one. More follow ups on Corona and the other established characters in order to make all of that world building in the first season not feel like a waste. We also needed more returns of the season two characters and locations in order for all the worldbuilding here not to feel like a waste either. 

So Did Raps and Eugene Not Think to Vet These Strangers at All Before Leaving Two Children With Them? 

So yeah these two people are fakes and the real thieves, but even if on the off chance that they were Angry’s real parents, why would you just leave these two girls with them? Birth parents doesn’t mean ‘good parents’. You don’t know why Angry was orphaned to begin with. Shouldn’t you be asking like questions and sticking around for a day or so to make sure everything will be alright before you leave? 

Maybe?... no? Well ok then... Sure is lucky that Angry and Red know self defense because you two are morons. 

Also really convenient that one of the thieves so happened to be the same race as Angry, when we haven’t seen that many asian people in the show besides her and Adria. You literally just took one look at another north asian woman and automatically assumed she was related to the other north asian kid. Okay. 

Also this is what, the fourth time we’ve shown a WOC character as untrustworthy and sneaky? 

Once again, I’m not accusing the crew of being intentionally racist, but they certainly didn’t think things all the way through and it shows. 

Why Are We Letting Two Children Go Off Into the Woods Alone With No Home to Return Too? 

I gave it a sort of pass in Big Brothers of Corona, because its implied that they ran away and would have done so no matter what Eugene and Lance did, and were long gone before either could stop them, but here there’s no excuse. 

They take off and Eugene and Raps just don't even bother to look for them. They just shrug their shoulders and leave and act like this is 100% okay. Yes, lets ignore the two orphans that are clearly still nearby and were looking for a home just now to go back to our date. Neglect is a central theme of the show. All of our main characters suffered from childhood neglect in some way shape or form, along with three major villains (two which are the mains), and it's always portrayed as having negatively affected them. Even here, Angry suffers from feeling abandoned by her birth parents. 

Yet here we have two of those main characters, both of whom have been through what Angry and Red have been through, now perpetuating that abuse and neglecting two children. And to make matters worse, this isn’t the first time Rapunzel has been shown neglecting a child. It was kind of the main conflict of season one. 

Why on earth would either of these two characters think this is okay, and more importantly why would the writers think so. Because this only undermines all of their previously brought up points and their later reasonings of certain characters. 

Eugene and Rapunzel are responsible for Angry and Red in this instance. Even if they couldn’t have brought them along, than they needed to make sure that arrangements were made elsewhere to keep them safe. Send Hookfoot , Shorty, or Lance back to Corona with them, put them in an orphanage in a town nearby, or yes, even bring them along on the trip, because clearly they’re allowed to do dangerous shit anyways according to season 3. Even have them actually run away during the middle of the night and have the mains not able to find them again and need to move on cause of a ticking clock. Just something to show that our protagonists aren’t a couple of dicks. 

Conclusion 

Like I said, it’s at least not filler, and there’s some good scenes here and there, but there’s a major failing in the central themes and presentation of ideas that the episode was going for that let it down.