Stella: I should never have let them go to Tides alone.
Amore: They're not alone, Stella. They have each other.
Stella's got a bit of ego, but it's out of genuine concern here. I still find it amusing that Stella feels the girls are "alone" because she isn't there with them, though. Stella also says she's worried about what Countess Cassandra is doing to her father. Amore continues to try to comfort Stella. Piff too, with her baby babble. Stella says they're the best pixies in the whole world, but we can't get too mushy, since Griselda knocks on the door, wanting to see the girls again. Stella changes the pixies and Kiko back into the girls, and Griselda asks how they're feeling, Stella says they're still not quite right, and Griselda leaves, sounding suspicious.
On Tides, Bloom says the spell making Layla blind is too strong for them to break. Layla worries that she'll be blind for the rest of her life, but the other girls say they'll find a way to break the spell. And let's face it: this is Winx Club. This show ain't about to let any of the good guys permanently disabled like this. Layla'll be back to normal. Just have to see when.... Musa spots something in the water. It's a mermaid, but not a monster. The mermaid says she's come to talk to Princess Layla. Layla recognizes the voice as Tressa's. And Tressa, it ain't 1985 anymore. Time to pluck those eyebrows! Tressa asks what happened to Layla's eyes. Layla says that Baltor put a spell on her eyes, making her blind. Tressa says that Baltor attacked and destroyed their castle, turned most of her family and friends into monsters, and her mother--Queen Ligea--was captured and imprisoned, and now Tressa's worried Layla can't help. Layla says she can help, anyway. The other Winx girls are going to help as well. Tressa says she didn't survive the fight against Baltor because she ran off, while her friends were all fighting Baltor to save the Queen. Um... you did survive. There's a difference between cowardice and running from a losing battle. It was obvious you guys weren't going to win against Baltor, so it's smart that one of you got away so you could report the situation later on. Otherwise, no one could've told the Winx girls where to find Queen Ligea if Tressa were turned into a mermonster too, right? Bloom doesn't blame Tressa, and just wants her to lead them to the City of Mermaids. Layla performs a spell on the girls to allow them to breathe underwater, and cue the transformation sequence! Which came outta' nowhere. Usually there's more of a tipoff for when the girls are about to transform. And the girls all go under the Sea of Andros, with Tressa leading.
Back at Alfea, Stella is in her room, with the pixies, and gets another knock at the door. It's Nova, who says her mother just called with seriously messed-up news from Solaria, about Stella, that last night, major changes were made to the royal registry. And flashback! Or actually, since neither Stella nor Nova actually witnessed the events... that's not really a flashback is it? Well, it's stuff that happened last night, anyway.
Countess Cassandra sits in the middle, biggest throne. Chimera sits to one side, on a smaller throne. King Radius slumps in his throne on the other side, which is even smaller. Cassandra thanks her guests for visiting, and tells them to bow and curtsy before Chimera, the new Princess of the Sun and Moon, on the way out.
Chimera: I'm a princess! A real princess!
Chimera's just squeeing over that. Makes you feel a little bad for her. She's got some self-esteem problems. Cassandra tells Radius that he won't regret this, that Chimera will make for a far better princess than ungrateful Stella. The chamberlain comes to Radius, telling him that Stella is the Princess of Solaria by birth, and it would be against the law to deny her that. Cassandra doesn't care, and wants him gone. The chamberlain tries to get through to Radius, who responds and understands, but Cassandra immediately spells him again, getting him to say that yes, it's his wish for Chimera to take Stella's place. Cassandra threatens the chamberlain with the dungeon, and possibly a more severe punishment if he bothers them again. Cassandra says that soon the kingdom will be theirs and theirs alone.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #1
Back on Tides, the girls are swimming through the Sea of Andros, and Tressa takes the Winx girls to the trench where Baltor took her mother. Mermonsters show up, and Bloom tells Tressa to take Layla to a safe place.
And at Alfea again, Stella complains in her room, saying she'll send Chimera to the moon and have her burned by the sun. Lockette says that Stella can't leave the campus, though, because what if Griselda found out. Stella says Griselda won't find out, that she'll just use the substitution spell again. Digit says they're one pixie short, that she'd also have to find a replacement for herself, and that she probably doesn't want to risk using Kiko again. Stella decides to use Piff, figuring she'll just keep sleeping. Tune says she's too little for that, but Stella changes her anyway, stating how she looks adorable. Seeing as she looks just like Stella herself, and all. Stella and the others leave the room to get Amore, but Piff wakes up, and crawls out the room. Looking just like Stella, of course. Something kinda' amusing about seeing "Stella" crawling and cooing like that.
Back in the Sea of Andros, the Winx girls dodge the mermonsters attacks. Bloom wonders if her fire attacks will work in the water. And it does! The girls swim away, but they're gaining up on Tressa and Layla. Tecna shoots a blast at them, which encases them in a green goo.
Back at Alfea, Stella and the pixies-in-disguise are searching outside for Piff.
Digit: I just hope Piff doesn't try to fly. With all your body weight, that could be dangerous.
Ha! I wish we could've seen Stella's reaction to that one! It's obvious that Digit didn't mean anything by it, but just didn't think of how Stella would probably take that the wrong way, instead of Digit's "logical" way. They continue to search, but Stella tells them to quiet down, that it's supposed to be a stealth operation.
Digit: Right. Shout quietly.
Oh Digit, poor Digit. This just ain't your night. Griselda finds the girls, asking if they're looking for someone. Piff, as Stella, is with Griselda. Stella and the other pixies realize they're busted, and the pixies change back to their pixie selves.
Back in the Sea of Andros, Tressa says she can't believe she's the heir to the Mermaid throne and allowed this to happen. Bloom asks what scares her. Tressa says that everything has scared her since she was little. The Winx girls see coral up ahead, yada yada yada, and they never heard from him again. Um... I mean, it's just a bunch of boring science stuff. Not just Tecna, but Flora's discussing it, too. Guess she's a closet science geek. But egad, the coral is attacking the girls! Like we didn't see that coming. Bloom shoots a blast, and there's surprisingly little action otherwise. The girls just swim, and the coral just does its little "ooh, I'm gonna' getcha'!" dance, without really posing any threat. On the ground of the trench, Tressa finds Queen Ligea's crown, which means she's in the kraken's lair. Flora asks what a kraken is. Guess Flora is the one person who hasn't seen "Pirates of the Caribbean. It's a giant squid beast. Tressa warns that they approach carefully. Musa isn't worried, saying they've fought monsters before. Flora asks if the kraken is big or gross or terrifying. It's all three. The girls run away, except for Tressa, who swims. The kraken grabs Layla, though, and quickly takes off into its lair with her.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #2
Layla's still be taken by the kraken, and the Winx girls are swimming after her to save her. Tressa spots her mother in a cell as they pass. Bloom tells Tressa to stay with Queen Ligea, as they rescue Layla, and they'll meet at the surface. Ligea is proud of Tressa, but Tressa says her mother should be proud of the Winx girls instead, that she doesn't know how to be brave. Ligea encourages Tressa, though, to start being brave now. Tressa breaks the bars from Ligea's cage, she's proud of Tressa, and they hug. Tressa says that with Ligea back on the throne, maybe now they can beat Baltor, this time with Tressa's help, and Ligea puts her crown back on. Tressa says she needs to take care of something, and she'll meet Mommy outside.
Meanwhile, the Winx girls are still chasing after the kraken. The girls talk tough, but Flora asks how to take down a kraken. Bloom suggests they spread out and surround it. But Tressa gets there and lops off a few arms, freeing Layla. Bloom tells Tressa it's one of the bravest things she's ever seen, and asks Tressa to take Layla to the surface. Tressa takes Layla to Queen Ligea. Layla is glad Ligea is safe. Ligea asks what happened to Layla's eyes. Tressa says Baltor cast a spell on her that took away her sight. Ligea says that the coral gem in her sceptre has magical healing powers, and she can use it to restore Layla's vision, but they have to hurry to the surface, as it's almost dusk, and the last ray of twilight must be gathered in the sceptre for its magic to work.
Still, the Winx girls realizing they're being chased by the kraken again. They shoot blasts that don't do much. Tecna tells everyone to blast at the ceiling at once, which causes the whole ceiling to collapse.
Flora: You did figure out how to prevent the whole cave from collapsing, didn't you?
Tecna: Well actually, no, I didn't get that far in the plan.
First Digit, and now Tecna, getting embarrassed! Poor fallible Tecna. They all make it out of the cave, but unbeknownst to them, so does the kraken, who takes a strike against Ligea, who faints, and drops her sceptre.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #3
The kraken slams Ligea again. Or actually, they're just repeating the same slap from before. Tressa swims to her Mom, hold her. Ligea tells Tressa that she's brave. Layla says the healing magic in the sceptre might be able to save Ligea. Bloom creates a magical whirlpool that gets everyone to the surface quickly. Tressa says Layla should use the sceptre to restore her sight, since Ligea promised that to Layla. But Layla says that there isn't enough sunlight to both restore her vision and to save Ligea, and asks the sceptre to heal Ligea. She thanks Layla, telling her that she made a great sacrifice. Yup. Guess Layla will have to wait for tomorrow evening to restore her sight now. Layla then floats in the air, and changes to a new form: her Enchantix! The Winx girls tell her how amazing and beautiful it is, but Layla just gives a callous "so what." Bloom asks what's wrong. Layla complains that she still can't see. Um... duh. I mean, Layla, what did you think? That this was just some cartoon cliche, magically earning your Enchantix would in itself restore your sight? Please.
It seems Stella's Dad is the ruler of Solaria, and that Stella's Mom lost any political power she might've had with her break-up with King Radius. Seems logical, anyway. But where is Stella's Mom? Even if Mommy lost her footing, you'd think she might be concerned for her daughter, getting basically disowned by Dad. Does Mom even know? Seems like she would've heard, and tried to get in touch with Stella, or something. I'd imagine she's pretty furious with Radius about now, really.
Where does Zing spend most of her time, anyway? It would've been wiser to use Zing instead of Piff for the replacement spell. But then, where the heck is Zing most of the time, anyway?
Oddly enough, things worked out for the best--both for Queen Ligea and Tressa herself--because Tressa wasn't brave! Ligea wouldn't have been rescued, and Tressa would just be another mermonster. I mean, seriously, it was kinda' a losing battle against Baltor that they simply couldn't win. Tressa had nothing to gain and everything to lose by fighting, really.
Queen Ligea looks a little like Lucy, but quite honestly, she really has a certain beauty and elegance to her. She looks beautiful, really.
4 out of 10 on the old scale.
