The girls walk forth, right into a muddy puddle. Stella complains about the mud. Tecna notices bubbles that could indicate an unfriendly subterranean sludge slug, and is ready to perform a spell, but Bloom stops her, reminding her not to use her magic. Musa tells them that the bubbles are actually some sort of gas, and to get out of the area. Safely behind a large log, Bloom throws a small log at the bubble, popping it, and releasing medusal gas, which would have turned them all to stone. Tecna's embarrassed that her information was wrong. Poor Tecna... you can feel her pain.
Flora: That tree turned to stone.
Stella: Turned to stone? Talk about being statuesque!
Yes, that is an incredibly lame joke. Stella should be ashamed. The Winx girls, though, are all laughing their little heads off, like it was the funniest thing in the world--except for Tecna. Tecna appears completely dumbfounded as to what was funny, and why everyone is laughing. I love Tecna that much more for it, too.
Over at Cloud Tower, the Trix sisters enter their room, and Darcy complains that Knut sent a text message saying he'd be there. Darcy finds Knut in her closet, and is not happy about the ogre stinking up her clothes. Icy yells at Knut to wash up, as the baby duck from last week pops out of the closet as Knut squeezes out. Icy's feeling exhausted from the duck's presence, and flings it across the room. Icy starts yelling at Knut, asking what was so important that he couldn't just text message them about it. Knut says he was sneaking around Red Fountain, and that a team of specialists were preparing to take the troll--the one from the first episode--to the authorities. Icy complains that she doesn't care, but Stormy warns that if the authorities use an interrogation spell, the troll could spill the sisters' plans to the authorities. Score one for Stormy! Icy then decides that they must free the troll from the specialists, then get rid of the troll permanently.
Flying in a ship, the Specialists--Prince Sky, Brandon, Riven, and Timmy are bringing the troll to Magix. Timmy goes back to the troll in the back of the ship to check up on it, as Riven flies out in front. Soon, something shakes the ship, and causes it to crash near the group of five fairies.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #1
The five girls run up to the ship, and find the Specialists there. Musa makes lovey-dovey faces at Riven who just sneers. Complete with pinky in her mouth. Riven says that they didn't crash, but just made an emergency landing. Sure, Riven. Sky starts talking about the troll they were transporting, but Brandon tries covering the troll up, though Sky blurts out about the troll anyway when finding the troll escaped. Riven says the troll can't get very far, since it's in shackles, but Sky finds the shackles loose in the mud. The girls tell the guys that they're on a class assignment.
Riven: So then get back to your little exercise, girls, and leave this job to the Specialists.
Stella: When are the Specialists gonna' get here?
Riven starts to confront Stella, as Sky tries to break the two up, trying to calm Riven down, though not too successfully. Tecna worries that the troll might meet up with the other girls in their class. Bloom thinks they should go along with the guys anyway, though Stella doesn't like the idea. Flora doesn't either.
Flora: Yeah, he was rude. I say we get back to our assignment, and let Riven deal with it.
Stella: Flora's right, Bloom. If Riven wants to get eaten, I say bon appetit, right?
Flora: That's not quite what I said.
Tecna interrupts, asking the girls if they noticed the patterns of the burn marks on the ship, that they indicate that the ship was taken down from the outside. I'd wager they didn't notice, Tecna. Flora asks if it means someone shot down the ship, and Tecna affirms this. Flora decides they should investigate.
In a muddier section of the swamp, the girls notice that the troll's footprints get less and less deep, meaning a levitating spell must have been put on it from someone else, since trolls themselves cannot perform magic. Flora wonders how they can find the troll without the footprints.
Bloom: Maybe the voice of nature can give us a clue.
Flora: That's right, the voice of nature!
Tecna: What do you mean "voice"? I can't hear a thing.
Bloom seems to sense something--the voice of nature.
Tecna: Well? Did Mother Nature give you any advice?
Bloom says she knows the right way, and points to a creepy dark forest. Flora says she can feel it, too. The girls trudge forth.
Tecna: Yoo-hoo, nature, I'm listening.
In the swampy forest, the Specialists are being strangled from tree branches. Timmy says they should stay calm, but winds up screaming anyway.
A short distance away, the five fairies come across plants that Flora calls quietus carnivorus, plants that hate noise, so she warns the girls to be quiet. Stella decides to test Flora's theory by whistling loudly, which causes the plants to hang her upside down. Stella loses her hat, too. Of course, why Stella would do something so boneheaded in the first place, like making noise when Flora told her not to, is anyone's guess. Stella may not be the smartest person at Alfea, but she's usually got more common sense than this. Bloom eventually gets Stella to quiet down. The vines drop her hard on the ground, getting Stella's clothes quite dirty, as Stella grumbles to herself. The girls find the Specialists wrapped in the vines.
Riven: Stay away! These vines belong to incredibly dangerous, bloodthirsty, man-eating monster plants!
Musa: They only eat loudmouths, so you should pipe down.
Flora calms the plants down, telling them they can relax, and the plants release the Specialists. They decide to get away quickly. Brandon mentions how happy he is to see Bloom. Bloom says they should all look for the troll together, "safety in numbers and all." Riven doesn't like the idea, but the other Specialists are going with the girls, so Riven goes along, however reluctantly.
The team of nine get to a small lake. Tecna declares that they'll need to hop across little floating islands to get across the lake. Very much like a video game. The little islands are wobbly, though; Tecna figures the best way to deal with that is to hop from island to island very quickly. The others follow Tecna. Tecna's having a blast jumping from island to island, too... she seems to get the biggest kick out of it. Nice to see Tecna's fun side. "It's Gonna' Get a Little Bit Crazy" plays as they're all island-hopping. Riven falls into the water, near a whirlpool. Tecna reaches to get Riven out, and Timmy reaches to get Tecna out, being pulled into the water. Bloom and Brandon help pull Timmy out, and wind up helping them all get out. Poor Tecna, hanging on for dear life... looks so frightened.
A little farther on, they all hear the troll. Bloom hears Amaryl, one of her classmates, screaming. Sure enough, they find, behind a bush, the troll threatening Amaryl and two other classmates.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #2
Bloom realizes the troll is the same as the one who was working with Knut. Sky tells the girls to distract the troll; they don't particularly care for the idea, but go along anyway. Brandon and Timmy will pin the troll down, as he and Riven put the shackles on the troll. The girls walk out behind the troll, as Bloom calls for the troll's attention, hoping it remembers her. The troll indeed does remember Bloom and Stella, and goes for Bloom and the other girls. Brandon and Timmy do get the troll down to the ground, and Sky and Riven attempt to put the shackles on, but the troll knocks them away, and runs off. Amaryl goes up to the guys to complain about how worthless of a job they did with the troll, as her two friends laugh, and the three run off. Sky isn't appreciative of their comments. Bloom sits beside Sky to comfort him, telling him how brave he was. Sky just sees that he failed. A few feet away, Riven and Sky are fighting about who's fault it was that they didn't capture the troll, but ultimately all four Specialists agree that its all their faults together, and call a temporary truce.
Deep in the forest swamp, the Trix sisters are waiting for the troll. They are wearing a perfume to attract the troll. As they're waiting, the duck runs up to Icy, excitedly. Icy, frustrated, encases the duck in ice. The troll arrives, and the Trix sisters send the troll to limbo. Oddly enough, the troll does not seem to even care. The Trix sisters teleport back to Cloud Tower.
A short distance away, the group of nine are approaching the spot where the Trix sisters were. Bloom and Flora try explaining the voice of nature to Brandon, telling him that it isn't a sound, but something you feel inside. Sky can't feel anything. Tecna mentions she can't either, but they can trust Bloom and Flora. Bloom senses something real cold. Stella feels negative energy, too, as does Tecna. Except in Tecna's case, she quite literally feels negative energy. Emphasis on "negative." Tecna says singed charged ions in the air indicate dark magic. She may not get the whole nature thing, but when it comes to atoms, Tecna's your girl! Musa figures that if the troll worked for Knut, and Knut worked for the Trix sisters, then the Trix sisters were there. Bloom finds duck feathers on the ground, and remembered last week's spell, causing a baby duck to stalk Icy. I'm not sure how they knew which sister, specifically, was being stalked by the duck, though. They still don't know what the Trix sisters are up to, though.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #3
The Specialists' ship lands in the crystal clearing. Um... when did their ship get fixed, exactly? The guys let the girls out. Brandon says that they're not really allowed to leave the ship, so they can't walk them out. Professor Palladium walks up to the girls, telling them that since they're by far the last to arrive, they get zero points in punctuality. But that they get thirty points for generosity, thirty-five for initiative, forty for courage, and fifty for the ability to listen to the voice of nature, giving them the highest score in the class. Amaryl complains, seeing the whole thing as a race, but Palladium explains that the journey is sometimes more important than the destination.
At Red Fountain, the Specialists complain about having to clean the griffin stables. Sky makes a disgusting "guy" joke about the griffin. Good reason not to like him much.
In their room, Bloom tells the other four girls that since they're an awesome group, they should have an awesome name. Tecna likes the idea, saying that a name is good for quick reference. Especially nice when writing these summaries. Easier than saying "the five girls" over and over.
Stella: The right name would give us that certain something. We could be called something like the Wonder Five. Or the Stella Five. The Power Troop! Or the B.S.M.T.F.!
Musa: B.S.M.T.F.?
Stella: Check it: beauty, style, magic, taste, and flair. And those are also the first letters in each of our names!
Now if that isn't a reference to W.I.T.C.H., I don't know what is. I'm sure most of the similarities between the two shows are completely coincidental, but that has got to be a jab at W.I.T.C.H. The other girls, not liking Stella's ideas, think Bloom should come up with a name. Bloom made a little Winx Club logo--same font as the title for the show--shows it to the other girls, and says they'll be known as the Winx Club. Kiko shows a little scribble scratch paper--I guess it is his logo he drew. Tecna does not seem to particularly care for the name Bloom came up with. And considering "winx" is just a generic term at Alfea, it makes sense that Tecna would be unimpressed with the name. It would be like a normal high school clique calling themselves "The High School Students." Obviously not a very popular clique.
It's great to see Tecna out in nature, where she's obviously not used to being, and certainly does not understand the whole "voice of nature" thing. We also get to see her lighter side, finding the island-hopping to be fun. And her perfectionist side, feeling bad about being wrong about the sludge slug. And her normal sense of humor, by not laughing at Stella's truly awful joke.
Speaking of Stella, this isn't really her shining episode: there were definite parts where she could be downright irritating, particularly with the quietus carnivorus plants, where she started making noise for absolutely no apparent reason.
As for the boys... they're in the show a lot, though fortunately, there isn't really too much romance. A little between Bloom and Brandon--gag me--and a little bit of Musa showing feelings toward Riven, none being returned back to her--but that's it. Fortunately.
8 out of 10 on the old scale.
