Recap / Elena Of Avalor S 3 E 28 Coronation Day

Viva la reina.^note Long live the queen.

On the day of Elena's coronation, Team Ash releases legendary spirit misfits, the Four Shades of Awesome, forcing Elena to journey to the Spirit World and back to save her kingdom, family, and friends, and face the ultimate test of her courage and character before becoming queen.

Tropes:

• Actor Allusion:
  • Subtle, but Grand Macaw thinks it's totally embarrassing that Troyo was forcibly transformed into a snurtle. Forcibly transformed into animals...?
  • Antonia and Ixlan dance together at the end. Both are played by Brooklyn Nine-Nine actresses.
  • This is not the first time Aimee Carrero's character gains a gold and white motif upon accepting back her estranged loved one after the latter performed a Heel–Face Turn followed by a Heroic Sacrifice.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • Rather bizarrely, the Royal Painter from "Dia de las Madres" is apparently still the Royal Painter and hasn't aged a day. Generation Xerox?
  • Elena's main dress magically turns white with gold accents because the emotion of her forgiving Esteban is so strong. We don't see if the magic is strong enough that it has permanently changed her dress's color or if it just held out longer than usual.
• Absurdly High-Stakes Game: Grand Macaw holds a game of olaball between Elena, her parents, and Bobo, versus Ash, Zopilote, Orizaba, and Troyo, over which leader gets to return to the living world, which Elena claims is "no pressure". The thing is, the prize turns out to be staying with the Grand Macaw to party, which is good in his eyes, while the penalty for losing is returning to the living world.
• And the Adventure Continues:
  Zuzo: Hey Queen, I'd say Day 1 went pretty well! But are you ready for Day 2?
  Elena: I am. (laughs)
• Armor-Piercing Response: While it isn’t what truly helps Esteban realize that he is, indeed, a villain, it definitely causes a major crack in his motivations.
  Esteban: I have been ignored my whole life. But if I were king, I would finally have the power I deserve! Everyone would finally have to listen!
  Luisa: Yes, they will listen. But after all you've done, they will never respect you, or love you. You will forever be the villain who stole the crown!
  Esteban: No, but I am... I am not... a villain.
• Asshole Victim: Ash is trapped in the Spirit World after having won against Elena in a game of olaball, and she is going to presumably deal with the Four Shades of Awesome when they learned of what had happened to her. No one is going to miss her when they learn of her fate, not even Victor and Carla.
• Back for the Finale: Outside of Elena's main family and friends, we have Armando, Higgins, Zuzo, Victor and Carla, Ixlan, Doña Paloma, Martin, Carmen and Julio, Rafa, Marlena, Antonia, Naomi's parents, Gabe's parents, Rico Villalobos, Felicia, Professor Mendoza, Professor Ochoa, Tomiko, Armando's family, the Agama brothers, Yolanda and Ines, Cristina and her dad, Quique, Amara, Olivia, Charoca and Charica, the Noblins, and so on are present.
  • All the royals introduced in the series bar Marisa and Marzel's parents (for obvious reasons, since they are sirenas who, unlike Marisa and Marzel, can't form legs) also attend Elena's coronation.
  • Skylar, Migs, Luna, Dulce, Vestia, Cruz, and other jaquins help Team Avalor fight Ash.
  • Quita Moz and the Sunbirds, King Verago, Zephyr, Tornado, Nico, Ciela, Avion, and the rest of the jaquins help Team Avalor against the Shades.
  • Elena, Ash, and Flo are rescued from the spirit vines by Bobo and the Zanies.
  • Besides Bobo, Elena recruits her parents for the olaball game.
  • Zopilote, Orizaba, and Troyo, who were all Killed Offscreen, are recruited into Ash's olaball team.
  • Migs and Dulce's cubs carry Elena's robe at her coronation.
  • Shuriki, Sanza, and Alacazar make cameo appearances as members of the audience at the olaball game. Shuriki and Sanza can be seen in the same shot.
  • Cacahuate can be seen watching the olaball game next to the Zanies.
  • Cinderella and Belle are seen at Elena's coronation, like in the first episode.
  • And lastly... Sofia, Amber, James, Roland, and Miranda arrive at Elena's coronation after everything has settled down.
• Bait-and-Switch: When Armando announces Elena is to pick her dance partner for the coronation dance, she walks past Gabe and Mateo to Naomi, whom she asks... to be her chancellor. She then talks to Gabe, Mateo, and Isa before picking her abuelo to dance with her.
• Benched Hero: Sofia and her family don't show up until the actual coronation at the end so to keep the focus on the cast of Elena of Avalor, since otherwise Sofia would steal the limelight.
• Big "NO!":
  • Gabe lets one out when he sees that Mateo (while under Vuli's spell) is about to strike Isabel.
  • Elena also lets one out when Mateo and Gabe are turned into stone murals by Cahu.
• Big "WHAT?!": Ash lets one out when the Grand Macaw tells her she's the one who'll be partying with him in the Spirit World forever as a reward for winning at the ultimate olaball game.
• Bilingual Bonus: Queen Lucia tells Elena, "Te queremos mija" (We love you, sweetheart).
• A Birthday, Not a Break: Elena becomes queen when she reaches the age of twenty. Coronation Day is her twentieth birthday... and Team Ash picks now to attack.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Grand Macaw can send people back to the living world, but he doesn't want to regardless of whether they’re good or evil because he doesn't see why they would want to leave his party.
• Book Ends:
  • One shot mirrors the ending shot of the show's opening sequence. Most notably, Esteban has returned to his spot after being absent for the Season 3 variant, and Zuzo and Flo are added to the lineup.
  • The show starts with Elena's Accession Day in "First Day of Rule" and ends with Elena's Coronation Day here. Similarly, "First Day of Rule" also ends with a similar ending shot to the show's intro, with Elena at the throne, surrounded by her familia.
    • After being given her crown, Elena nominates her friends and familia, and teases them by seemingly not acknowledging them.
  • Bonus: The final image has Elena messing up her crown and awkwardly corrects it before the screen smashes to black.
• Character Development:
  • Isa's arc in Season 3 was becoming more leader-like, culminating in her leading Team Avalor against the Shades when Elena is absent.
  • Naomi seeking out her purpose concludes with Elena selecting her to be her chancellor.
  • Esteban and Doña Paloma becoming more humble and coming to respect Naomi leads to them approving of her becoming Elena's Chancellor.
  • And Elena herself learns to learn from her past mistakes and to give second chances.
• Chekhov's Gun: Isa uses the lightning rod from "Shooting Stars" to electrocute Hetz with his own lightning.
• Chekhov's Gunman: The Shadows of Night, dark spirits that were sealed away by the Jewel of Maru from its titular episode, make an appearance here having renamed themselves the Four Shades of Awesome, serving as the show's final villains.
• Color Motif: Elena's dress turns white with gold accents to represent her forgiveness of Esteban. White, for the colors of the rainbow are white when combined, and gold, a color associated with Esteban.
• Combined Energy Attack: Elena and Esteban use their magic together to use the latter's staff to teleport themselves and Cahu to the Spirit World, as doing it by themselves would be too weak to work.
• Continuity Cavalcade:
  • The Shades of Awesome are the Shadows of Night that indirectly caused the disappearance of the Maruvians, as told by Amalay in "The Jewel of Maru".
  • An olaball match is played in the Spirit World, in which Elena and Ash are among the participants.
  • Everyone regroups at Rafa's house, like in the climax of Elena and the Secret of Avalor.
  • The Shades were sealed near Nueva Vista.
  • Carla calls Mateo's name correctly this time, which is not left unnoticed.
  • "Fit to Be Queen" and "My Guiding Light" are ones to the first episode's "Ready to Rule".
  • "Fit to Be Queen" has Francisco reference "Ready to Rule" and Elena reference "My Time".
  • "My Guiding Light" can also be seen as a reference to the "Bright Light of the Ball" reprise at the end of "My Fair Naomi", as both songs have the singer (Elena/Naomi) describe her friends and family as their "guiding/bright lights".
  • Armando and Marlena are still a couple and do a musical puppet show at the beginning.
  • The previous episode having Esteban be King of Avalor and wielding the Scepter of Light in a hypothetical scenario becomes a literal possibility here.
  • Team Avalor recruiting Victor, Carla, and Ixlan, as well as teaching the guards magic, pays off as they manage to Curb-Stomp Battle Team Ash.
  • Naomi uses her Bag of Holding she got from "Giant Steps" to catch Chatana.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Team Ash is swiftly taken out by Team Avalor within the first fifteen or so minutes.
• Dance Party Ending: The finale ends with Elena and her familia singing and dancing to "My Guiding Light".
• Darker and Edgier: Doesn’t get much darker than Troyo and Zopilote mentioning they got killed and eaten. Yikes.
• Death Equals Redemption: Esteban sacrifices himself to save Elena from getting petrified by Cahu by putting himself in the way of the spell. Through giving up his life to save Elena, she forgives him and her emotion magic revives him.
• Disk-One Final Boss:
  • Chatana, Tziloco, and Pili are defeated early on to make room for the Shades.
  • Ash gets trapped in the Spirit World about halfway through, leaving the final villains to be Esteban and the Shades.
• Disappointed in You: While Ash is taken away to bask in her "prize" by the Grand Macaw, Zopilote comments for Orizaba that his student is his greatest disappointment.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Elena asking Naomi to... be her chancellor is set up in a way that seemed like she just proposed to her.
  Elena: Naomi, there's something I need to know from you right now. [holds her hands] ...Will you be my chancellor?
  Naomi: Me?! But... I'm just a girl from the port.
  Elena: With the best instincts in the kingdom!
  Naomi: (blushes, then looks at Esteban and Dona Paloma, who both nod in approval) Yes, of course I will.
• Finale Credits: The end credits show fireworks going off at the palace over the night sky showing one last look of Avalor City as the story comes to a close...for now.
• Foreshadowing: The fact that Doña Paloma runs to check on her emporium and says “I’m a businesswoman, not a general!” is a clear indication she isn’t going be chancellor, at least not anytime soon for that matter. By the time Elena is crowned, Paloma encourages Naomi to take the appointment, showing she’s very much accepted the fact.
• Forgiveness: Elena finally forgives Esteban when he takes Cahu's spell for her, and also because of words her parents gave her about making mistakes.
• Gold and White Are Divine: Upon forgiving Esteban, Elena's dress turns white with gold accents.
• Godzilla Threshold: The situation with the Shades gets bad enough that not only have many jaquins from Vallestrella been called upon for backup, but also all four sunbirds and King Verago.
• The Good Chancellor: Elena offers Naomi this role at the end of the episode. She accepts.
• Grand Finale: The conclusion to Elena of Avalor, and the EverRealm Shared Universe as a whole, at least for the foreseeable future.
• Heel–Face Turn: Esteban realizes that the things he's been doing won't mean anyone will respect or love him, and he takes a shot from Cahu meant to turn Elena to stone to cement what he's learned. Elena and his family forgive him for this.
• Heel Realization: Esteban’s parts in the song “Never Too Late” have him come to see that he hurt everyone he cared about, and they’re all frozen in time, all because he wanted to be heard, and all because he was a coward.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Esteban finally makes the right decision and teleports himself in front of Elena from Cahu. But, Elena’s forgiveness saves him.
• History Repeats:
  • Cahu notes that Esteban keeps making the same mistakes over and over again.
  • Esteban, on a balcony, sees an evil witch about to kill Elena, not unlike Elena witnessing the death of her parents and being helpless to do anything, and ultimately, the whole problem was caused by Esteban. Except, Esteban does the right thing and stops it from happening again.
• Homage: Esteban's Disney Death is one to the Beast's Disney Death in Beauty and the Beast. That scene was a part of episode director Elliot M. Bour's first animation job, so he wanted to pay tribute to it.
• I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder: Doña Paloma says she's "a businesswoman, not a general" to justify her decision to defend her emporium instead of the castle.
• Immediate Sequel: "To Queen or Not To Queen" ends the morning of Coronation Day, leading to the events of the Grand Finale to happen a few hours later.
• Inspired by…:
  • The Grand Macaw is based on Vucub-Caquix, a bird demon (whose name possibly means "seven-Macaw") in the Popol Vuh that was defeated by the story's Mayan hero twins.
  • Likewise, the Shades of Awesome seem to be based on the four demons also in the Popol Vuh, mainly in that there's four of them each and both parties are evil.
• Internal Reveal: Subverted. Elena’s parents knew of Esteban’s treachery long before Elena did even as she brings it up, and that’s how they knew something was clearly bothering their daughter.
• Killed Offscreen: Both Zopilote and Troyo were eventually eaten by a tigerhawk, and Orizaba ended up dying after losing her wings.
• Laser-Guided Karma: For trying to destroy Avalor by freeing the Shades, Ash ends up switching places with them, being a living being stuck in the Spirit World.
• Last Episode, New Character: The Four Shades of Awesome and Grand Macaw.
• Lonely at the Top: Before being petrified by Cahu, Luisa's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Esteban is that even if he becomes king, no one will love and respect him. The following song highlights this, with Esteban in an empty throne room set up for a coronation party while Elena is in the front yard of a modest cottage, surrounded by her friends and family.
• Love Redeems: No matter how much Elena won’t forgive him, and even if she disowns him and wants to exile him, it would not stop Esteban from caring about her, and it was enough for him to give his life for her. This is what causes Elena to finally forgive Esteban.
• Midfight Weapon Exchange: Esteban gets a hold of the Scepter of Light when Elena is incapacitated, and it glows in his grasp, signifying that he has enough magic and goodness to use it. He casts a Blaze spell on Cahu to destroy her hourglass.
• Mirror Character: Despite being in opposite sides, Elena and Esteban share a similar path in this episode. Both committed mistakes that ultimately cost the kingdom and finding a second chance to make things right, all the while learning that neither of them found satisfaction in revenge.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Elena has this reaction during a talk with the spirits of her parents, realizing that Ash's plans could have been stopped and the Four Shades would never have been released had she not been fixated on capturing Esteban at the expense of everything else.
  • After seeing his abuelos get fossilized into stone, Esteban finally realizes that his anger and desire for power drove away and cost him his familia, who always believed in him for no good reason. It's what finally leads Esteban to do one truly unselfish thing and teleport himself in front of Elena as Cahu is about to petrify her.
• My Greatest Second Chance: The song “Never Too Late” is about second chances and how it’s never too late to learn from your mistakes and make better decisions. On Elena’s end, the tone is hopeful, but cynical on Esteban’s end, believing he will never get a second chance. Of course, Esteban finds himself in the same scenario; the first time around, a villain struck his aunt and uncle down and he did nothing about it. Here, a villain is about to strike Elena like before, and he decides to sacrifice himself for her.
• Never Say "Die": When Elena meets her parents in the Spirit World, her mother tries to ask if she's dead but Elena interrupts her with a "No" before she says "dead".
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Esteban's Heel–Face Turn wouldn't be possible if Cahu hadn't tried to petrify Elena in front of him. In fact, her callously petrifying nearly everyone, including his abuelo and abuela just gave him a reason to change his ways.
• Obliviously Evil: When Luisa's "The Reason You Suck" Speech has her declaring him as the villain who betrayed his family to get the throne, Esteban tries to defend himself saying that he is not a villain showing that he doesn't see the evil in his actions.
• Parting-Words Regret: Elena’s confrontation with Esteban has her telling him not to pretend to care about her anymore. The next time she sees him, she watches him die right in front of her. Elena regrets saying that, and tells Esteban she forgives him, which brings him back.
• Puppet King: When Esteban changes his mind about becoming king after his grandparents are petrified, Cahu threateningly tells him that not just anyone can be king and that he'll only be "king" with the help of the Shades. If he doesn't like it, then they can find someone else to be their king...
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Luisa calls Esteban out on his actions, pointing out that even if he does become king, no one would love or respect him, because everyone will know he seized the throne through a coup against his own family.
• The Reveal:
  • Quita Moz's vision of Isa on the throne was of Isa taking charge of defending Avalor while Elena is trapped in the Spirit World.
  • Shuriki attacked Avalor because Raul defended the kingdom's allies from her. Esteban warned him of this, but he didn't listen, leading to Esteban making a deal with her himself.
  • Elena’s big test? It wasn’t Ash or the Shades. It was Esteban the whole time, and it was about whether Elena can learn how to forgive.
• Revenge Before Reason: Elena is made aware of this, as her obsession with making Esteban pay for his betrayal essentially gave Ash, the much bigger threat to Avalor, free reign to do whatever she wanted, up to and including releasing the Four Shades of Awesome on Avalor. Had Elena not been so fixated on Esteban, Ash's plans could have been stopped before they reached this point.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Oh yes! The obvious Elena and Isabel aside, there's Marisa who pummels Chatana and knocks off her diadem, Rebecca and Chloe who disclose the Shades' locations, and Valentina and Alonso who actually face off against Vuli and Yolo, the former in particular putting her tamborita to good use.
• Rule of Symbolism: Since Elena's scepter only works in the hands of good, the fact that Esteban can use Elena's scepter means he is a good guy now.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Doña Paloma abandons the castle and its other defenders upon learning her emporium is in danger.
• Shipless Faster-Than-Light Travel: Mateo uses a spell that can allow the jaquins to perform a hyperspace-like jump to the other side of Avalor, where Team Ash is.
• Ship Tease:
  • Valentina and Alonso's interactions as Those Two Guys, and they dance together at the end.
  • Elena being told to pick someone to dance with to kick off the coronation ball. First, she goes to Naomi... only to offer her the position of chancellor, then she goes to Gabe... to promote him to general, and then to Mateo, to title him Avalor's Master Wizard. As she's about to move on, Mateo is about to ask her about that dance and he makes a pouty face when she picks her abuelo.
  • Mateo and Carla bump into each other while dancing and exchange sheepish smiles.
  • Gabe and Naomi dance together, and so do Ixlan and Antonia, and Isabel and James.
  • Julio and Doña Paloma dance together and seem to share a quick kiss behind her fan.
• Shout-Out: Migs makes one to Flash Gordon ("Jaquins, dive!").
• Smash to Black: How the finale ends.
• So Proud of You: The amigos' parents congratulate their children after Elena promotes them.
• Subtext: The final dance is between Sofia and Elena, symbolizing how Elena's story wouldn't be possible without Sofia and that this is the end of the stories from the EverRealm, for now at least.
• Taken for Granite: Cahu can turn people into stone murals.
• Taking the Bullet:
  • Alonso jumps in front of Yolo's spell for Valentina, and gets turned into a donkey. It wasn’t that bad, though, because Alonso can do a lot more fighting as a donkey.
  • Cahu freezes Elena in place and is about to cast her petrification spell on her, but Esteban teleports in front of her and takes the hit instead. He gets better courtesy of Elena's magic reviving him when she finally forgives him.
• Tempting Fate: At the beginning, Elena remembers that she's supposed to face off against some great darkness before she can become queen and asks Zuzo about it, who tells her to forget it and focus on celebrating her coronation. As it happens, that great darkness seems to be Team Ash and the Shades of Awesome, or so Elena thought.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Considering Mateo is usually the butt of all jokes and doesn't get as much respect, Carla finally gets his name right considering she never did that before.
• Vengeance Feels Empty:
  • Esteban admits that he thought that having power and winning against those who wouldn't listen to him would make him feel better but he doesn't feel any happier than before.
  • Elena's case is no better than his. Seeking revenge against him and him alone has resulted in her to making bad decisions such as going after him instead of Ash who used the moment as a distraction for her to release the Four Shades of Awesome, dooming Avalor in the process. Also when Esteban took Cahu's magic bullet and turned to stone in her stead, she is only left with sorrow.
• Villainous Breakdown: Ash, after realizing winning means she's forced to party with the fat, buffoonish Grand Macaw for eternity, is left protesting and screaming.
• Villain Song: The Shades of Awesome get one.
• Wham Episode: We finally learn the whole story behind Shuriki's invasion of Avalor. King Raul stopped Shuriki from invading his allies but didn't consider that she'd invade Avalor. Esteban tried to warn Raul, but he didn't listen, which is why he and Victor sided with Shuriki.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Elena and Esteban take Cahu and teleport to the Spirit World, but it's not clear what exactly happened that will prevent Cahu from regaining power and returning.
• World-Healing Wave: The magic produced from Elena forgiving Esteban produces a wave that reverses the Shades' spells on the Avalorans.
• Written by the Winners: At the start of the special, Marlena sings Elena's story from the time she lost her parents up until the present, but the narrative treats Elena and her allies far more favorably; the account completely demonizes Esteban and ignores the fact that Esteban helped take back the kingdom 41 years after his first betrayal, a fact that Francisco brings up later on. Additionally, the story completely ignores Victor's role in helping Shuriki (which Elena clearly saw in the scepter vision), along with his and Carla's other crimes, and portrays them as the victims. Of course, this was likely due to Elena's personal opinions and perception.
• You Are Too Late: Elena thinks she returned from the Spirit World too late.