Review: Elena of Avalor “The Scepter of Light”

Step into the light.

Spoilers Below

A rare solar eclipse is happening in Avalor. As Elena gets ready for the festival, she finds out that she not only has magical powers but her scepter helps her focus them. Whenever Elena picks up the scepter, it glows. (Which it never did for her father.) She accidentally trips over a footstool and mutters the word “Blazes.” A light shoots out of the scepter, burning the stool. Elena gets some advice from Zuzo, making her decide to leave her scepter at home.

Isabel has invented a telescope that will shine the eclipse on a wall, allowing the citizens of Avalor to enjoy it without hurting their eyes. Elena steps up to give her speech about the eclipse and the machine when Armando shows up with the scepter.

When the eclipse has reached its peak, a moth fairy named Orizaba appears. She is determined to find the Jewel of the Night to keep the sun hidden for all of eternity. Mateo and Elena chase her to one of the temples to stop her. After a small magical standoff, Elena is left feeling drained while Orizaba obtains the jewel. The moth fairy places the jewel inside the sunstone, creating eternal night.

Meanwhile, Mateo has researched the abilities of the scepter. It turns out that the more the scepter is used, the more it hurts the user. Despite the danger, Mateo, Zuzo, and Elena decide that Elena should use the scepter to defeat Orizaba. Once again, Elena has a magical battle with the moth fairy. Elena wins but she ends up sleeping for two days straight in order to recover.

A majority of this episode was really good. I thought that Orizaba was a great villain. However, there were some moments where Elena was really stupid. Mateo would say something like “When the scepter is used, it drains the user” and Elena would ask what that means. They could have easily come up with a better way for Elena and Mateo to explain the dangers of the scepter without having to make Elena look like she doesn’t understand words. At least that is a tiny complaint. I suppose I can overlook a few stupid moments in exchange for good conflict. Too bad we won’t see Orizaba again.