Review: Tangled the Series “Queen for a Day”

Rapunzel makes decisions with potentially deadly consequences when she becomes Queen for a day.

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Rapunzel is officially the queen of Corona! Okay, so it’s only for a couple of days while the real king and queen are traveling for their anniversary, but still – it’s a big deal for Rapunzel. Does she have what it takes to assume the responsibilities of a ruler? Her first day is spent meeting with the townspeople of Corona to address their problems – word has spread about the Princess being in charge and the citizens are anxious to see her. However, Rapunzel’s advice doesn’t work out as well as she hoped.

While the Princess is busy dealing with the demanding realities of royal life, Varian and the people of Old Corona are experiencing issues of their own. Those strange rocks are spreading rapidly, destroying everything in their path. Within a few months, they will reach the palace, Varian predicts. But that’s a concern for a later date because the young alchemist has a more pressing matter: the rocks have trapped his father, encasing Quirin when Varian accidentally spills some sort of potion on them. Certain that Rapunzel can save him, Varian hurries to the palace. Unfortunately, Rapunzel and the palace staff have a new problem. There’s a snowstorm brewing unlike anything is seen before. (Well, almost anything. It turns out that an ancient sorcerer once cursed the land and sent a powerful blizzard to destroy it. The kingdom was saved due to a magician/scientist who created a machine that could reverse the direction of the wind. Could this curse have reared it’s ugly head again, with Corona at its weakest?)

Forced to choose her kingdom over her friend, Rapunzel turns Varian away so that she can focus on the crisis at hand. But something doesn’t feel right to her. Evacuating the citizens is what her father would do, but Rapunzel is her own person. Thanks to the guidance of the local blacksmith (who is also the keeper of the legends?) Raps and Cassandra find the fabled weather machine and stop the blizzard in time to save the city. Eugene and the Snuggly Duckling gang return from the mountains, having rescued the King and Queen from their crashed carriage. It’s a happy ending…or is it? Rapunzel reflects that it was perhaps the worst day of her entire life. And Varian’s anger and distress over his father’s fate seems to be pointing him down a dark path.

Our Take:

In its mid-season finale, Tangled the Series doubles down on the drama. I think I lost track of the number of close calls in this hour-long special event. Many of those close calls were caused by choices Rapunzel was forced to make – choices that come with being in charge. This episode did a fantastic job illuminating how Rapunzel feels about becoming queen one day. While she definitely isn’t ready yet, maybe she will be one day. Queen For A Day also gifted us with TWO new Alan Menken songs! Both were very good, although I preferred the first one. Thanks to the double-length of this episode, the crew was able to include some quieter moments, like when Quirin is reflecting back on his family in their earlier days. These types of scenes really add to the realism and tone of the show, giving it a very cinematic quality.

The few quibbles I have are fairly minor ones. It felt like the show was setting us up to be in suspense about the King and Queen’s fate when it cut away after showing their carriage plummeting from the cliff. While I knew the show wouldn’t do anything as unexpected as killing them off, I was expecting a drawn-out rescue scene ending in the reveal that they survived. But after leaving their fates unknown for almost half the episode, we get a random ‘check-in’ with them, which deflates the suspense and seems to serve only as a reminder of their plotline.

Though Varian’s song was amazing, Jeremy Jordan’s performance took me out of the show. Though he pitches his voice higher and squeakier for Varian’s dialogue, his singing voice was much deeper and sounded off coming from his character.

Finally, Pascal’s survival of his sacrificial scene, while entirely unsurprising, was a bit stale. How often have we seen a character sacrifice themselves, only to be shown returning from certain doom after their friends have spent a few moments in tears? While I’m certainly glad he’s still with us, I wonder if there was a better way to have handled the scene. (Especially after the King and Queen’s miraculous escape from death.)

It’s a good thing this is only the mid-season finale because we’ve still got plenty of questions to be answered. Is Varian starting down a dark path? What’s the deal with those rocks and how is his father connected to them? And why does Lance keep borrowing the King’s clothing?