4K!dsTV Talkback: Winx Club

[Freedom Fighter]

4K!dsTV Talkback: Winx Club "The Mermaid Queen"

Come join the club...​

The wait is over! Winx Club Season 3 hits the U.S. with new surprises, new powers, and new villains awaiting our heroines! Better get up early or set your tape... this season, the fairies are up first! And we're kicking things off with a touch of royalty...

Today's Premiere: #158 "The Mermaid Queen"
Airs: Saturday, Nov. 18 at 8 am
Summary: None available.
Flashback to Last Week's Premiere: "Mission to Tides" Talkback​

The ratings are finally at a respectable level for an 8 am show. Keep it up, folks... maybe we can get them even higher!

 

[Darcy]

Despite seeing our first Enchantix, I felt this was the worst episode of the season. The sequences at Alfea were mildly amusing at best. Cassandra’s acting more stereotypical than ever. Layla’s a whiny baby and her sacrifice was completely predictable. The best moments were Tecna’s and Tressa’s. I love how Tec grabbed the spear from the mermonster and came up with a flawed plan. And Tressa started out weak, but ended strong. Great scene with her chopping the kraken’s tentacles off.

But Layla. By the gods, she sucks. If they don’t fix her soon, I swear she’s going to forever be my least favorite. Even below AniMusa. It was nice how she got her Enchantix, but she’s not using her head otherwise. If the queen’s scepter requires twilight to heal, simply wait until the next twilight and get healed. Now the writers obviously won’t let it happen that easily, but still. She doesn’t know that. She’s being totally illogical by not thinking she can just wait another day. Also, if the mermaid queen has a healing object, how many other healing objects do you think there are in the magical realms, Layla? TONS. You will get healed somehow. Now shut up and play with your new pretty hair. Ugh. Seriously, writers, way to take a strong character and turn her into a bratty child. I expected to see a lot more strength and determination out of her. Instead, I just want to smack her around. I do have to give the writers credit for not taking the easy way out and having the Enchantix transformation heal her, but still. I want the old Layla back! I don’t care for self pity. Is that obvious? I still think she deserved what she got in being blinded, but we don't deserve to put up with this horrible self pitying crap.

And I guess we’ll see how many more new episodes we get. They’re taking a poll at winx.tv on which favorite episodes to run in December. Maybe we’ll get one more ep before we go back into repeats!

 

[Viper]

Here are my thoughts on "The Mermaid Queen":

1. Once again, Stella & the pixies did a good job fooling Griselda while the others were still away. I thought Piff diguised as Stella herself was very amusing. Too bad they finally got caught.

2. I couldn't help feeling sorry for poor Tressa about having to run off scared while her mom, the queen, got captured.

3. Hmmm. Seems things are no better in Solaria, now that Cassandra & Chimera have completely taken over the place.

4. Anyone else sense the "Jaws" theme when the mermaid minions were after them?

5. I loved how Tressa finally got the courage to first free her mom and then release Layla from that sea monster! Way to go, Tressa!

6. I found it kinda strange how Bloom's fire power worked so well underwater.

7. Wow! I loved seeing Layla's Enchantix form when she healed the mermaid queen. Too bad it didn't also restore her eyesight.

I thought this was a great ep! I give it 4 stars!

 

[1 of 3]

Does the flow of the third seasons' episodes feel sorta choppy to anyone else? For example, Tressa finding her courage could've easily been strechted over two edisodes to allow more development. I'm not blaming the 4Kids editors for this, just saying season 3 so far has been a bit clumsy.

I wondered why Layla couldn't just wait till next twilight too. Couldn't they have thown in one line about it only working once or on that particular day.

Now what really wouldn't been cute is if when the pixies disguised themselves, they had their respective fairy voices. Imagine Flora's soft-spoken VA talking all fast like Chatta or Musa's punky va talking all proper.

 

[Darcy]

Too bad it didn't also restore her eyesight.

That's a little too deus ex machina for my liking. I'm proud of the writers for resisting taking the trite easy way out.

 

[sag_2002]

(NOTE: I did not get to see this episode, as I overslept as usual. These are going by what I've seen on the various Winx discussion sites)

So, yeah, applause to the writers for not taking the deus ex machina route and having Layla's Enchantix repair her sight. But, points taken off for having her remain Miss Mopeypants (as Darcy so eloquently described her attitude in LJ). She's still #1 on my favorite fairies list, but if this attitude continues, she'll end up losing a lot of her fans very quickly.

I'll have a full review of this ep when I get a chance to watch it.

 

[The_Magick_Hat]

I love my clunky old VCR. Still records with the best of them. I slept through most of the episode, but I'll give it a proper watch later. In the meantime, I'll just comment on what I saw.

Stella finally getting busted by Griselda. I figured that wouldn't take long, as Griselda isn't stupid. She was bound to figure something out. So I have to wonder where this will go. Stella will likely have to confess where the other Winx girls went, but will she elaborate on her own issues?

Layla's sight not being cured by her Enchantrix was a pleasant surprise. This does, however, lead me to wonder what it will take. As for Darcy's comments on Layla's behavior, I only partially agree. True, Layla was much cooler last season while still showing a softer side, but it looks like getting blinded knocked her down a few pegs lower than I thought. I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing, as it hasn't become too overbearing yet for me anyway. This could turn into a chance for more development for Layla, if the writers play their cards right. I have to wonder how Layla's parents will react once they find out their daughter has gone blind. They're pretty protective of her, it seems.

I missed most of the fight with the Kraken, but I do recall a red-haired mermaid hacking away with a rather large sword. I had the volume off so I didn't catch any dialogue, though. More on this later.

 

[SapphirePrima]

This epp was waaaay better than last weeks. I was disappointed in Layla when she didn't care she got her Entrantrix because she couldn't see still.

 

[Freedom Fighter]

Stella's still playing the 'pixies as friends' deal, huh? Still hilarious... but the plan was doomed to failure when she decided to have baby Piff pose as her. Meanwhile, it seems King Radius is under the control of Cassandra, and Chimera's taken Stella's place as next in line to take the throne! That's sure to send Stella off the deep end...

The rest of the gang is helping restore peace to the Mermaid Kingdom, where their own princess, Tressa, seems to have a lack of fighting courage. As in zip, zero, nada. Bloom and the girls (mostly Bloom) help her get over her fears as they help rescue the Queen. All while dealing with a nasty Krakken, who just won't go down. For having just saved the Queen, the girls do a horrible job protecting her, letting her bring up the rear... and she gets whacked in the process.

Good for Layla getting her Enchantix; but for her instantly panicking and not thinking the Queen's sceptor could heal her when the sun rises come morning. Yeah...

"The Mermaid Queen": 6.5/10.