In Alfea's quad, Timmy walks in, looking for Tecna. He doesn't find her immediately, and goes up to Francis and some other girl, interrupting their conversation.
Francis: So I'm IM'ing that guy I met in Magix last weekend, and get this--
Timmy: Excuse me, girls, you don't know where Tecna is, do you?
Francis: Yeah. Hi. Right in the middle of a conversation here. Oh, but maybe your lack of social skills is why Tecna dumped you.
Timmy: Lack of social skills? I said "excuse me," didn't I?
Heh. And we learn a bit more about Francis. Namely, that while she can be very sweet, she's also got a sharp set of claws just itchin' to come on out! Timmy's pretty clueless, though. He needed that from Francis, even if it just went over his head. Timmy finds Tecna and Flora not far away, though, and hurries up to her, telling her that he's doing some IT work for Faragonda. Dorkily excited about that, too. Tecna gives a "hmph" and walks off with Flora.
Inside Alfea, Tecna complains to Flora how everyone treats her like a machine just beause she comes from a digital realm. Flora, worried that Tecna's referring to her for some reason, needs assurance that Tecna isn't talking about her. Tecna says she is not talking about Flora. Flora flirtatiously says she must mean just Timmy then. Considering how Flora's supposed to be the nice, mature one, you'd think she would notice that now is not the time to tease Tecna about her relationship with Timmy. Guess not, though. Tecna, thanks partially to Flora's ill-timed comment, throws a little hissyfit, yelling about Timmy making up his "IT work for Faragonda" excuse to come to Alfea, wanting him to just come to Alfea just to see her and come up with some dorky lovey line, and yelling that she does have a heart. Because yeah, from what we've seen before, I kinda' wonder if Timmy remembers that Tecna's a girl, and not just some math-talking machine. Come on, Timmy: it's not even like Tecna's being subtle about it anymore. You know what Tecna wants, so give it to her, already! Flora looks like she realized she should've kept her mouth shut while Tecna rambles on, at least.
Bloom and Avalon are headed back to Alfea. Avalon tells Bloom that the Codex is hidden behind an invisible door at Alfea, and that only a few trusted people would be able to enter, with the help of a powerful spell. Even though Bloom entered that room earlier this season without any special spell. Bloom worries that the Codex may not be safe, anyway. Avalon insists that they must go through with Bloom's magical regression today. Lockette says that Bloom promised to help Musa study. Isn't Musa supposedly the smartest one, anyway? Why would Musa need help studying?
Bloom: Do you think magical regression will make my powers even stronger than they were before?
Avalon: In ways you can't imagine.
Dum dum DUM! At least he's honest! In Professor Avalon's office, Bloom is seated, and Avalon tells Bloom that he wants her to concentrate on her birth parents. Before he starts, though, he opens the door, where Musa, Flora, and Stella were apparently leaning against the door. They all fall through, with Musa amusingly flailing her arms. Hilariously cartoonish! They all give fake cheesy "innocent" smiles, as Avalon tells them they can wait outside, but must remain quiet. Avalon asks if Bloom is ready. Bloom goes "mmm-hmm," both sounding and looking like she's enjoying a great dinner. In her magical regression journey, Bloom sees her Earth parents Michael and Vanessa. This is the first we've seen of Michael this whole season if I'm not mistaken. Bloom is happy, until a dark fog starts surrounding her, taking her elsewhere. But a little later, she sees her birth parents Oritel and Miriam, as well as the Great Dragon. It roars at her, though, surprising her. A scary, hoarse voice starts chanting, and more dark fog starts surrounding Bloom. Avalon--let's not kid around, it's obviously Avalon here--then goes to tell all darkness to descend upon Bloom, and to block out all the light around her. Bloom is terrified, but shortly after, Avalon brings Bloom out of it. Avalon asks how it went. Bloom starts by saying she saw her Earth parents, then her birth parents, and then, before getting to the bad parts, goes on to say how inspiring and cool it was. Sure, Bloom. You were terrified. It was not "cool." Bloom wants to try out her powers again, but Avalon tells her she should wait a little, to make sure nothing bad had happened to Bloom. And why would he assume something bad did happen? Unless he knows more than he's letting on. Which I'm sure he does.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #1
Back in the girls' room, Bloom is on her bed, with Musa, Flora, and Stella asking about Bloom's magical regression. Bloom says she does not want to talk about it.
Stella: You know, if one of us went on an astral-regressional whatever, we'd be telling you everything!
Sure... Musa says she's laid down the final track of her new song, and wants to play it for Stella and Flora. Stella and Flora, unbelievably excited, run after Musa to her room. I know Musa was just sensing that Bloom wanted to be left alone, but Stella and Flora just fell for that way too easily. What are they, five? Lockette can tell something happened. Bloom tells her that she's been feeling something bad since the magical regression. Lockette says she doesn't trust Avalon, that the pathway to his heart is blocked. Bloom says he probably just has baggage and doesn't want nosy pixies snooping around in there. Lockette says she wasn't snooping, but Bloom, seemingly getting annoyed with Lockette, decides to hurry and transform now, and changes to her winx form. Bloom says she's feeling better already.
Meanwhile, Timmy goes up to the girls' room, hoping Bloom can give him some advice. In her room, though, Lockette senses something is wrong, with a dark fog around Bloom. When she opens her eyes, they're yellow, with vertical cat-like pupils. Bloom says she'll give Timmy some advice, and tells Timmy that when it comes to girls, he doesn't know which way is up: Bloom turns Timmy upside-down, floating. Timmy asks if he can have his shoes back on the ground again. Bloom puts his shoes on his hands. Lockette asks Bloom to put Timmy down. Bloom asks if she means like Tecna did. Bloom decides to have Timmy find Tecna, and floats him around the school, following, as he crashes into the door, and Lockette follows, pleading with Bloom to stop. Layla and Musa run into Timmy and Bloom. Bloom says Timmy's upset that Tecna's treating him like dirt, and Bloom dumps him head-first in a nearby potted plant. Lockette tells them that there's something wrong with Bloom. Musa tells Layla and/or Lockette to watch Bloom, as she goes to find Professor Avalon.
A little later, Avalon is at Bloom's side, who is back to normal for now. Avalon says it may be the rare magical fogmistonson's virus, which she may have contacted when she was in the UnderRealm. Avalon says he'll research a spell. Timmy says he's going back to Red Fountain, and hopes Bloom gets better for everyone's sake. Namely his own. Avalon says they should keep Bloom calm. Stella, naturally, figures a makeover is the perfect way to do so. In their room, and we get a scene of different outfits on happy Bloom.
Stella: You look like a florist.
Bloom: My Mom's a florist.
A little later, they find the perfect outfit for Bloom, which includes a cute pair of glasses. Bloom should wear these glasses more often!
Stella: Now that we've made Bloom look fabulous, let's move on to the really important stuff: who's ready to work on me?
Right then, though, Bloom starts bugging out, and transforms back to her winx form. Not even a transformation sequence this time! She's back to Evil Bloom again, and says she's tired of their little dress-up games. Bloom pushes the other girls out of her way. Lockette says this is exactly what happened last time. Lockette tells the other girls' to go get help as she follows Bloom.
In Shadowhaunt, Lord Darkar is watching. He tells his little Bloom puppet to go.
Bloom: Go away, Lockette. I'm not in the mood to hear you squeak and wimper right now.
Lockette: Why don't we go back to your room with your friends instead of going where ever it is that you're going?
Bloom: You're the pixie of pathways and portals. Shouldn't you know where I'm going?
Yeah, Lockette can be annoying sometimes. She seems to whine more than the other pixies, and I guess Bloom's picked up on that the whole time. Bloom is back at the invisible door, entering Concorda's little room, that we saw back in "Back to School." Bloom announces that she's here to steal the piece of the Codex in the room.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #2
In Concorda's secret chamber, Bloom says she's getting a strong feeling. The seahorse pixie animal flies up to Bloom, but she yells at it to scram. The seahorse pixie scuttles over to Concorda for protection. Concorda calls it Hyppocampus. Concorda notices Bloom, and asks how she's doing this semester. Bloom gives a quick answer, and starts throwing books around, looking for the Codex. Concorda asks sternly what she thinks she is doing. Bloom says she's stealing Alfea's piece of the Codex. Concorda asks again. Bloom asks if Concorda will tell her where the Codex is, or if she'll have to tear apart Concorda's whole library. Concorda asks why Bloom would think the Codex is there, and also shouts that no one tears apart her library. Bloom says she isn't easily scared by little pixies. Concorda shrinks Bloom to about her size. Concorda asks Lockette to go get some help. Mini-Evil-Bloom starts shooting blats at all the books, turning them to ash. So shrinking Bloom didn't really help much, it seems. Bloom's powers seem to be as powerful as if she were full-sized. Concorda uses some magic to put out the fires burning the books. Bloom shoots a flame at Concorda, trapping her inside a small purple flame cylinder. Hyppocampus goes up to trapped Concorda, and she tells him not to trade the Codex for her. Hyppocampus flies up to a book, grabbing the Codex out with his tail, and flies away from Bloom. Bloom starts blasting at him and missing, then flies directly after him. Hyppocampus drops it when Bloom grabs him, and soon everyone, including Concorda, who's free at this point, and some sort of raccoon pixie animal, go after it. Hyppocampus picks it back up, then flies into a book, with floating letters, and a weird twirly lowercase l spinning around. Bloom shoots Hyppocampus, and grabs the Codex.
The other five Winx girls enter the secret room; Tecna is surprised the room exists, as it was not on any campus directory. Bloom goes back to normal size effortlessly. Musa notes that Bloom has the Codex. I suspect she was largely just playing along with Concorda, since it didn't seem to affect her powers. Tecna analyzes that the fogmistonson's virus seems to have completely taken over, and that Bloom is not even drawing her powers from her own winx, but something darker. Concorda says she's never heard of such a virus. Tecna's going to feel embarrassed when she learns there's no such virus, I guess. I can see her and Concorda getting into a heated argument about it! Layla is about to blast Bloom, but Musa stops her, telling her to give Flora a try to reason with Bloom. Why Musa or Flora would think that would work, I haven't a clue.
Flora: Hey, Bloom, we're your best friends!
Bloom: You know what, Flora? Take your touchy-feely good-vibrations let's-all-hug-it-out goody-goody-goodiness and save it for someone who might actually care to listen to your pathetic nonsense!
All right, admit it: you've all been waiting for someone to tell Flora off like that! I believe Flora means well, but that doesn't mean everything can be solved by the power of friendship. Least not in this cartoon. Lockette cries as Bloom says all of that. Lockette begs Flora not to listen to Bloom, that it's not really Bloom talking. Methinks it's likely that it's something Bloom's kept inside her, and just doesn't care whether or not Flora knows how she feels about it at the moment. Nice Bloom usually likes to keep peace, after all.
In Shadowhaunt, Lord Darkar tells his runebat Kerbog that it's time.
Back with the battle in Concorda's little library, Bloom teases the other Winx girls that they're not fighting because they're afraid she's too powerful. Which may be the case, but the other girls are trying, anyway. Lockette goes up to Bloom, and apparently gives her a kiss. Evil Bloom tells Lockette to get away, but soon starts apologizing for all she's been doing... all before going "psych!," and blasting through the roof so Kerbog can enter. I hate when people go "psych," but then, I guess Bloom is trying to get the other Winx girls to hate her right now. In which case, that's always a good way to go about that! Also, it's interesting to note that Bloom was able to fake her normal eyes, even while in evil form. Bloom outfit changes to a much darker blue, almost black, and her wings become sicker looking.
COMMERCIAL BREAK #3
Bloom scolds Lockette for trying to get in her way, even though she's supposed to be her bonded pixie. Flora uses a vine wrap-like on Bloom, but Bloom destroys it. Musa users her powers to knock some books onto Bloom, which pretty much does nothing except upset Concorda. Layla tries to blast Bloom unsuccessfully. Stella uses a sunwave supernova, which seems to do little but annoy Bloom, as if the sunwave supernova were just a little hotter than Bloom found comfortable. Bloom surrounds herself with her own fire, reminding Stella that she can fight fire with fire. Is that the first time the show has acknowledged that Stella's and Bloom's powers are somewhat similar?
Stella: Wait, what happened, where's Bloom? I didn't accidentally vaporize her, did I?
Stella really does care about Bloom. We knew that already, of course. Bloom is unharmed, though, and hands the Codex off to Kerbog to bring to Lord Darkar. Avalon enters the room conveniently after the Codex is already gone, sees Bloom, and immediately knows just the spell to cast to bring Bloom back to normal. The other Winx girls and Avalon catch Bloom as she is falling. And thank you Lori, as I may have missed it before, but Avalon is, indeed, holding Bloom's breast. He could probably get fired for that, but then, since he's seemingly working for Lord Darkar, I guess he's not too worried about that. Bloom asks what happened. Avalon says that he thought it was fogmistonson's virus, but he now suspects Icy had put a spell on Bloom. Liar. Icy's innocent this time: Icy never put any such spell on Bloom. Isn't Icy accused of enough stuff that she actually has done? Course, Avalon knows that Bloom trusts him too much, and considering Bloom's reaction to Diaspro last season, it makes sense that Bloom would be willing to blame anything and everything on Icy. Avalon says he used a powerful curse-removal spell to cure Bloom. Bloom asks what she'd done, as she can't remember. Avalon says that she took the Codex at Alfea and sent it to Lord Darkar. Bloom gets upset that the Codex is gone and it's her fault, then faints for a few seconds. A few seconds later, she says she remembers Lockette sticking by her the whole time, and thanks Lockette for it.
In Shadowhaunt, Lord Darkar gloats about having three pieces of the Codex, and that once he gets the fourth, the universe will be his. Even though no one's around to hear him. Ah well, he's a super villain! Since when do they need an audience to gloat!
We've seen Francis' sweet side before, and now, we get to see her snarkier side. Nice to see she isn't all Flora, all the time. Timmy was being rude, anyway. And he's Timmy. Isn't that enough reason to pick on him? Still, she can't be too bad if Piff likes her, right?
Speaking of the Tecna and Timmy relationship, Tecna really should find someone better for her than Timmy. Timmy just won't stop pretending Tecna's a computer, and Tecna doesn't want to be just a computer. Maybe Riven? I still don't know how Riven and Musa are able to stay together....
And I guess Bloom is the most powerful Winx girl after all. It just took her turning evil before she remembered how strong she was. Seriously, everyone could've used her ultra dragonfire strength in the last episode.
8 out of 10 on the old scale.
