Gabe snubs Mateo and recruits a flashier wizard, the Great Bronzino, to teach his guards magic, but learns that there are no shortcuts to success.
- Actor Allusion: Bronzino's appearance is based on the Genie's appearance in the Broadway adaptation of Aladdin, another one of James Monroe Iglehart's roles.
- Arc Welding: Many wands, staffs, and other conductors of magic (with exceptions such as malvago tamboritas) are powered by power crystals, which all originate from the Mystic Isles seen on Sofia the First. We learn that normal tamboritas contain a magic crystal inside of their drum, which comes from the chispas plant.
- Boring, but Practical: The guards would rather skip the basics and perform impressive spells but all the "boring" stuff Mateo taught them helped undo the damages they caused by taking short cuts.
- Call-Back:
- Mateo says that his spare tamboritas got destroyed when the Kupi-Kupi went loose in the palace back in "Movin' On Up".
- Naomi makes sure to accompany Elena and Paloma due to her knowledge of map-reading and Maruvian, now that she knows better from "The Last Laugh" and "Giant Steps".
- Character Development: While this has been something of a seesaw for her, after screwing things up with the chispas plant, Doña Paloma swallows her pride, apologizes, and agrees to do everything Naomi says to fix things. She even offers very timely aid in lifting Elena's arm so she can use the scepter with her off-hand.
- Continuity Nod:
- Bronzino is from Hectoria, the same kingdom as King Hector.
- Elena's arm is still broken from the events of "Giant Steps".
- Foreshadowing: Between several comments Elena makes during the journey, the fact she's the one who knows what to do and saves the day throughout, her lack of a role now on the Grand Council, and the way she's specifically demonstrating the needed qualities Elena lists (and the Doña lacks), things seem to be set up for Naomi to become the new Chancellor.
- It's a Long Story: When Elena notices the palace is now made of gingerbread, Mateo gives this as a response. But, Elena being the Crown Princess will want to know how it happened, and since Gabe was in charge during it all, he has to explain what happened for the sake of his reputation.
- Military Mage: Gabe thinks they need to have the guards learn magic since so many of their enemies use it. Elena doesn't think it's a bad idea, telling Gabe only the best soldiers should be given this training.
- Power Crystal: Non-malvago tamboritas are made from the chispas plant, which has magical crystal leaves.
- Psychological Projection: When Doña tells Elena why she can be a better chancellor than Esteban and knows Elena deserves to surrounded by good people, she even mentions she will never lead Elena astray, essentially claiming that's what Esteban did. But, Doña herself led a lot of Avalorians astray by making a toxic environment in "Navidad", and Esteban being a traitor is just convenient enough for her to project her undesirable flaws onto him.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Upon being asked to restore the palace back to normal, Bronzino doesn't know how to do it so he goes away.
- Shout-Out: The lions that Bronzino summons look similar to Mufasa.
