Tecna: Spontaneity is overrated; advanced planning is a sign of respect.
Stella: And pretending to have a busy social calendar is a sign of self-respect.
Stella goes on about a walk being a cheap date anyway, and it limits one's choice of dating footwear. Like any guy really cares what shoes his date is wearing. Bloom wants to go walking with Brandon anyway.
Outside Red Fountain, at night, Bloom and Brandon are going for their walk. Brandon talks about how he didn't like school as much last year, saying there're better people around this year--then quickly talks about how Red Fountain serves glazed doughnuts for breakfast this year.
Brandon: The glazed ones are the best.
Dorky, yes, but he's trying to be sweet here, folks. Bloom says she likes Alfea, but she's worried about her midterm the next day, and Brandon's throwing a stick for the dog to fetch. Bloom says it's a difficult midterm, the magical reality exam. Brandon mentions about a girl who supposedly disappeared in the chamber. Stupidly. Not the smartest thing to tell a girl who, for all Brandon knows, would believe that. Fortunately, Bloom does not believe it. Brandon says Bloom will do well. We see Riven hiding in a tree, who's been listening in on the whole conversation.
Riven: Puppy Dog to Stiletto.
Riven telepathically speaks with Darcy. Obviously a power Darcy gave to Riven. Riven informs Darcy of what it seems Darcy already suspected: that Bloom's taking the magical reality exam the next day.
The next day, Professor Palladium is all giddy over the midterm the fairies are about to take. He talks about all the magic that goes into the chamber, and the virtual reality it creates, and how you really do feel what is virtually occurring in the chamber. Stella asks Tecna to help her study.
Professor Palladium explains that the chamber will select a random dead planet, place the student on the planet, and have them survive extremely desolate conditions. He continues that they can bring a few potion ingredients, but nothing else, aside from their own magical powers.
At Cloud Tower, Icy, Stormy, and Darcy are preparing for their plan to steal Bloom's dragon fire, getting their crystals ready. The crystals form 3 dolls in the sisters' images. Knut starts talking to three brooms, thinking they're the sisters. Icy slaps him and tells him to put on his glasses. Then she starts to gloat about the plan to take Bloom's dragon fire.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #1
It is nighttime, and Darcy has teleported herself into Alfea, or specifically, the room with the chamber controls. Darcy puts a spell on the controls so the witches can use their magic while Bloom's taking her exam. Odd... didn't Bloom tell Brandon that she was taking the test tomorrow yesterday? Which means she's actually taking it in two days, and not tomorrow. The witches got a lucky break: otherwise, they'd have been a day late to do this.
The next day, Bloom is in her room, with Bloom practicing a protection spell, and Kiko sneaks into Bloom's supply bag.
Bloom: Say this once; say this twice. Cast this spell and all will be well. Hmm... am I supposed to say the whole thing twice, or just the second part? Spells are so confusing.
A little later, the girls are in the control room with Professor Palladium, with Miss Faragonda watching through a window/mirror thing. The girls all get nervous, especially when Professor Palladium mentions the possibility of getting hurt. No one wants to take the test first, so Palladium just decides to go alphabetically, meaning Bloom is first. Apparently Amaryl dropped out of Palladium's class. Stella asks if anyone's "not survived" in the chamber, and Professor Palladium gives an unassuring "Not that I've heard." He explains that the chamber picks the planet for the student. Bloom grabs her supply bag and enters the chamber, with her friends giving her advice. And Tecna giving advice only she would ever give.
Musa: Stay cool!
Flora: Be careful.
Stella: Make us look good!
Tecna: Be logical.
Stella: Tecna, what kind of advice is that?!
Tecna: The only logical kind.
Bloom enters the chamber, which becomes a virtual version of the planet Sparx, as Miss Faragonda notes. Bloom decides she needs a food source, so she digs through her bag, finding Kiko, who she's not all too happy to see, but goes on with her planting a food source anyway. The Trix sisters appear behind Bloom, as Darcy performs a sound wave sort of spell to attack Bloom, which she dodges, and immediately transforms to her fairy form.
Bloom blasts a large fireball at Darcy to knock her down... but we see that the witches are not really in the chamber. The witches are using the spell they had put on the chamber to use dolls in their likenesses to attack Bloom, in a sort of voodoo style. Mattel, take note of the Stormy and Darcy dolls. Please make those.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #2
Stormy: This is so much fun: we should play with dolls more often!
The sisters decide it's time to make Bloom release her dragon fire. Icy creates hail and rain, and while Stormy's distracting Bloom, Icy freezes her legs in place. Supposedly, Darcy intended to use a spell to test Bloom both physically and emotionally, except she never used it. So we never find out what she had planned. Darn. Stormy taunts her more, as Icy points out that Kiko's about to fall into the lava. He falls in before Bloom can get to him, so Bloom tries to cast the protection spell, but it doesn't seem to work. And we get some great lines, showing just how evil those sisters can be when they want to be:
Icy: It's all your fault.
Stormy: You did let it happen.
Darcy: That's right.
Icy: It's a shame: bunny was so cute.
Bloom is all ready to explode, when the witches capture Bloom's dragon fire, and get their virtual selves out the chamber. It's a shame their dolls melted. Those were neato. Outside the chamber, Bloom's friends are worried about her, and Professor Palladium is frantically pressing buttons.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #3
Bloom is lying down on the ground, pretty faint, when Kiko walks up to her. As well as a bunch of other Kiko-lookalikes. Except they're all virtual bunnies... but Bloom does find her own Kiko, snoring away.
Professor Palladium, unable to find another way to stop the exam, uses an extreme emergency spell to shut down the chamber. The girls and Palladium meet Bloom inside the chamber, now shut down. The test has to be postponed for everyone else, though... not that they seem to mind.
Stella: She aced the test and got it postponed! Give it up for Bloom!
The other girls, and other random students toss Bloom up in the air in celebration.
Back at Cloud Tower, the Trix sisters attempt to use the dragon fire, and talk about how they'll rule... except for reasons unexplained, the dragon fire disappears. Wha? It just... disappears?! Talk about a cop-out ending!
The fight with the witches in the magical realtiy is... not much of a fight. It's over before it begins, and it never really begins to begin with. It's just kinda' there, without any sort of interesting fight. A shame, really.
And of course, an irritating error with the days. Bloom tells Brandon she's taking the exam tomorrow. Darcy waits until tomorrow night before putting the spell on the magical reality chamber. And Bloom does not take the exam until the day after tomorrow. Darcy was a bit late putting the spell on the chamber: if Bloom actually had taken the exam "tomorrow" as she had originally told Brandon, the spell would not have worked, as Bloom would have then already taken the exam. Blargh, this is giving me a headache!
Brandon's sweet, I guess, if not a bit dull, and dorky. But he likes glazed doughnuts. It's hard to dislike someone who likes glazed doughnuts.
5 out of 10 on the old scale.
