Okay, some of you may know me from way back in the day when I ran the Winx Club community on Livejournal. Ah, Livejournal. I miss and yet do not miss those days. One of the things I used to do was write summaries for that week's new episode. Well, Winx is brand new once again! The new show is on Netflix as of not very long ago. Even though it is late, I'm pretty wide awake, so I thought I'd wind down by doing one of my episode summaries. I will do these for the entire 13-episode season. Way shorter than the seasons used to be! Winx is still one of my great loves, so this should be fun.
Ah, there's Kiko! Now a plushie on Bloom's desk.
We open in her bedroom with Bloom saying weird things started to happen on her 16th birthday. Mike comes in and makes a dismissive comment about Bloom writing in her diary, though he's looking at a book on fairies when he says it. All right, I already do not like new Mike. He brings her to the living room, where Vanessa wheels a new bike over. Bloom immediately goes on about how it must have cost too much, but Mike says "Nothing is too much for our little firefly." Okay, he kinda redeemed himself there. Grateful Bloom is a nice change from 4Kids Bloom, who was disappointed she didn't get a scooter like Mitzi. Group hug but Bloom almost lights Vanessa on fire. I'm amused because that actually happened in the live action show, which I'll be referring to as Fate if I mention it again.
Bloom bikes to a park (I think?) and immediately we see a monster fighting two fairies. A tree is thrown and Bloom ducks out of the way. This monster is way more threatening than Knut could ever be and he comes charging at Bloom. She braces for impact, but he's knocked away by Stella, who declares that monsters have no manners.
Next big change: it is not only Stella but also Flora who is there on Earth.
The monster rips Bloom's bike in half and she's not having it. She blasts him with a fireball, which Stella and Flora gape at. The monster charges again and the girls swoop in to grab Bloom and set her on a tree branch.
Stella's top looks awesome here.
Stella says Bloom is now safe and they're here for her. Flora says the monster is probably after Stella's ring. Stella explains that they're Alfea students and Bloom thinks they sound crazy, but the monster is now shaking the tree, so Stella opens a portal with her much smaller scepter and they fly Bloom out of there with Flora using some vines, as always, to hold the monster in place.
Bloom is all packed up and ready to leave for Magix, telling her parents she's been accepted at a "very special" boarding school. (More like Fate than the original.) Mike tries to give Bloom Kiko but she says she's sixteen and she doesn't need him. Vanessa says she will because she'll miss Bloom.
And now we're at Alfea. There is one epic difference with the school and that's that both fairies and witches go here now. Easily distinguished as before, because the witches still all look edgy. Bloom sees a bunch of magic going on in the courtyard. She asks what's with two of the witches and Flora explains "they've got their own fashion thing going on." Bloom, goths and alts have existed on Earth for decades now. Bloom says she thought Alfea was for fairies, but Stella says it's fairies and witches now. "I try not to think about it." Stella still sassy. Flora and Stella combine powers to grow a flower in a crack in the pavement, with Stella saying she's the fairy of the sun and moon and Flora adding that she's the fairy of nature.
Yay, time to meet the others! Everyone is still in the same dorm room, of course. Aisha introduces herself as the fairy of waves, followed quickly by Musa, obviously still the fairy of music. Slight issue here in that they both almost sound the same. I'm gonna miss Musa's old, kinda raspy voice. Tecna scans Bloom and says Bloom comes from Earth, then introduces herself as the fairy of technology. No English accent this time, but she still sounds like Tecna should. Robin, Faragonda's assistant, pops in and says Faragonda (FG) wants to see Bloom, Stella and Flora.
In the office, FG says they broke a bunch of rules. Stella says not to blame Flora because she told her they had FG's permission. Yeah, same old Stella! Stella overheard FG and Miss Griffin saying there was a potential new student on Earth and that it was important to bring her to Alfea. Ah, Stella still blew up the potions lab. Classic Stella. Griffin walks in and says she wanted them expelled, but instead they're getting detention and cleaning duty. Griffin got a serious glow up. Love that outfit!
Outside, Bloom spots Stella and Flora with cleaning supplies and runs toward them, knocking into Icy. Icy has a little vision where she sees Bloom's fire, then yells at her to watch where she's going. Darcy and Stormy arrive and Icy announces that Bloom is a fire fairy. Stormy scoffs and says "So much drama, Icy." Darcy agrees, pointing out that there are lots of fire fairies around. Stormy says that the freshmen can't stop setting a bush on fire and she and Darcy laugh until Icy yells at them, saying Bloom is going to be trouble and they need to get rid of her.
Okay, I'm already in love with Stormy. She's perfection. Darcy I love her look, though I'm still sad they took away her green hair. I remember arguing with people that thought her hair was brown with blonde streaks when it was clearly two shades of olive green. Now she really does just have normal hair colors. Boring. But I do like the shorter length. What I'm really going to miss is her voice. She had the best voice on the show. Now she sounds more like a fairy than a Trix. Sad.
Elsewhere, Flora is doing actual cleaning while Stella is giving a statue a manicure while reading. Bloom finds them and starts helping, Flora says she doesn't have to, but naturally Stella is all for it. Bloom spots the Trix watching them from above. Bloom says they creep her out and Flora says they're the Trix, giving their names and suggesting Bloom steer clear of them. Stella says Cloud Tower was destroyed sixteen years ago in a battle between light and dark. Stella clearly has an anti-witch bias, though Flora is more diplomatic, saying not all witches are bad and not all fairies are perfect.
Icy spots Griffin and says it's their chance to get Bloom kicked out of Alfea. Icy freezes the statue beside Bloom and Stormy blasts it, causing it to break and tumble toward Bloom. Flora saves her but here comes Griffin. Griffin says that was one of the last statues from Cloud Tower. She can't expel them, but she sends them to muck out the magical creatures stalls. Icy says one more push should do it.
In the barn, a red-haired guy in dark clothes asks what they're doing. Flora says "You're Damien!" and then explains that Griffin is making them clean the stalls. Bloom implores Damien and he agrees they can stay but they have to stay away from the creatures, because that's his responsibility. He walks away and Stella declares him rude. Bloom thinks she's met him before and she and Flora go "Hmm" while Stella makes a funny growl. Predictably, Bloom spots something cute out the window and disobeys Damien. Typical Bloom. She hugs a cute pink alpaca thingy and then says the giant metal collar it's wearing looks uncomfortable. She asks why it's so tight. Icy is nearby and says she was wondering the same thing. Icy apologizes for earlier and explains that witches have a rough time at Alfea because fairies don't trust them, but all they want is to fit in. Icy gives Bloom a device and says she thinks the green button loosens the collars. Bloom pushes it and the collars fall off. Damien comes running out. The once cute creatures are now ram-horned monsters. Damien says they're changelings and the collars kept them in their safe form. He and Bloom run into the enclosure, leaving the gates wide open. The changelings begin charging. Damien knocks Bloom out of the way, then saves Stella and Flora, too. He manages to collar one changeling, but the others run into the forest. He blames Bloom, as he should. Stella tries to defend her, but dude, Damien's right. She directly disobeyed in a magical realm and did something stupid. Flora says they need to help, but stop when a red ship lands nearby. Of course, we couldn't have a first episode without the boys. Stella and Brandon have some banter. Riven grumps that he wants to get going. Bloom shows Sky the controller Icy gave her and says this is her fault. Sky explains that they're Specialists and first responders. Sky orders Timmy to stay with the ship. Everyone else runs off.
In the woods, Sky blathers on about changelings and then says he's impressed that Bloom has been here three days and has already created a huge disaster. Bloom asks if she'll be in trouble and Sky says "Not if I can help it." Ah, already flirting, which is acknowledged by both Stella and Flora. Sky spots Damien about to engage two of the changelings and all of the boys fail utterly at getting the collars on.
First transformations! Stella and Flora are up. With their help, they quickly collar the two changelings. Then Damian wonders where the other two are. Flora asks where Bloom is and she has stupidly wandered off alone. Uggggggggghhhhhhh. She finds the monsters but also sees the transformed Trix opening a portal and sending the changelings to Gardenia. Bloom goes through the portal and lands in her high school gym. Stella and Flora follow. Bloom runs through the hall and crashes into Mitzi, who's still a bitch, though a far better-dressed one. The changelings end up cornering Bloom and Mitzi in a bathroom stall. Stella and Flora save them, but the changelings break through the wall and get outside. Stella fixes the bathroom before she and Bloom follow Flora after them. Bloom locks Mitzi in the stall, which is hilarious. Outside, Bloom says she overheard the Trix opening a portal to send them here and Stella says then they'll open one back to Alfea. The changelings just go right through, followed by the fairies.
Back on Alfea, Stella has opened the portal directly into the enclosure, where the boys all are. The boys restrain the changelings and Damien runs for one. Bloom picks up the other collar and follows. They both slap the collars on. Bloom lands on the ground and Sky offers her a hand up, but Stella pushes past, saying "That's okay, Sky. She's with us." Hmm. Interesting. Bloom says she's caused nothing but trouble since she got there and Flora hugs her, saying she'l get the hang of it soon and they'll help.
Watching magically, the Trix have seen everything. Darcy says Bloom pulled it off and Stormy says she can't stand her. Icy tells them to relax because they're just getting started.
END
Overall, a decent start.
I really liked Stella and Flora. Stella is true to her original self, while Flora is an improvement, at least on Season 1 Flora. I can't say exactly why but I definitely like Flora more here than I did in the original early season. I didn't really love Flora until Season 4.
I'm not a fan of Bloom. I'm not sure she's ever been my favorite in any original season. She's definitely in character with her utter recklessness, but that's exactly one of the main reasons I don't like her as much as the others. I like that she tries to fix her problems, but if she only listened, they wouldn't be problems in the first place. If I was in a completely new realm with magic, which we very much do not have on Earth, I wouldn't just go around thinking I could do whatever I wanted. I've always understood why Bloom does what she does, but that doesn't mean I like her for it.
I'm very disappointed we barely saw the others. They'd better be in the next episode.
Faragonda was decent but Griffin is a delight. I like her having power at Alfea now.
Stormy stands out as my favorite Trix for this episode, but I'll always be a Darcy girl, so I'm sure she'll win out overall. Though Stormy has always been a close second fave.
I like Damien better than the other boys. Sky is annoying. Riven and Timmy didn't get to do much. I liked Brandon the best of the Specialists. I'm interested to see if there's a reason why Stella kinda rushed Bloom and Sky apart at the end.
The plot was mostly okay, but why in the world did the changelings just go home that easily? That made no sense and wrapped things up too easily. I also question the change in the Trix. Icy was the one adamant about Bloom being trouble, but it was Darcy and Stormy more worked up at the end, while Icy was calm. She must have convinced them off camera that they had to get behind her on her anti-Bloom stance.
I'm looking forward to the next episode, but I want to savor these thirteen and doing these summaries is a fun way to do that, so I will not be moving quickly. No spoilers, please!
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