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Recap / Tangled: The Series S2E10 "Happiness Is..."

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Rapunzel and friends are still stranded on the island. They find a lost idol whose magic sows discord amongst them. It shows everyone an illusion of that which would make them most happy, and everybody soon becomes ensnared in the illusion and obsessed with the idol.


This episode provides examples of:

  • Apple of Discord: Rapunzel finds the idol of Verschaftsbezeigungengien, which seemingly enables her to talk with a hallucination of King Frederic in Corona. Eugene, Cass, Max, Lance and Hook Foot and Rapunzel then start fighting over the idol. Later on, Rapunzel's friends, after unsuccessful attempts to get the idol for themselves, ultimately become concerned when Rapunzel seems to become obsessed with the idol.
  • An Aesop: True happiness comes from the heart.
  • Artifact of Attraction: Everyone is influenced by the idol's showing them happiness, which results in each of the friends wanting the idol for themselves and them eventually fighting over it.
  • Artifact of Doom: The idol. The Lorbs clarify that it was just meant to cure sadness and went too far, but it seems to be at least partially alive and malevolent, using an illusion of Varian poisoning the King to trick Rapunzel and later begging for its "life" when Rapunzel tries to destroy it.
  • Bait-and-Switch: Rapunzel is shocked when her friends start fighting each other for the idol, and manages to snap them out of it with a good What the Hell, Hero? about their actions, before taking it off to be destroyed even if it pains her. Once they're out of sight however, she reveals this to be a ruse, gleefully mocking them for having fallen for it.
  • Eye Color Change: When the idol shows someone their heart's desire, their eyes (and the reflective catchlights on them) turn green (even though Rapunzel's eyes were already green to begin with). When it induces rage and paranoia, their eyes turn red.
  • Fantastic Drug: Rapunzel and her friend's reaction to the idol is an obvious allegory for addiction. They resort to dishonesty, stealing and outright fighting in desperation to another fix of happy mirages.
  • Foreshadowing: The idol gives Rapunzel a bad vision of Varian threatening her father.
  • Go Back to the Source: Rapunzel sees that the Lorbs' idol of Verschaftsbezeigungengien is threatening to tear the friendships between everybody she's travelling with apart, by creating happy experiences in an attempt to banish sadness. She eventually realises the "happiness" is fake and addictive, and decides to be the one to destroy the idol. She takes it to the top of the temple mountain where it came from, and smashes it.
  • Mundane Solution: The Lorbs' way of handling such a dangerous and unpredictable idol? Oven mitts. Would have worked too if not for the idol tricking Rapunzel.
  • No-Sell: See Only Sane Man. Pascal is the only one who is not influenced by the idol’s power. It’s very implied that it happened because he never touched the idol.
  • Only Sane Man: Pascal has the sense to tell the Lorbs about the idol when he notices what it's doing to the others, especially Rapunzel. He is the only one not easily influenced by the idol.
  • Reflective Eyes: The idol is reflected into Rapunzel’s eyes as she is experiencing her first vision of her parents as well as the bad vision of Varian threatening Frederic.
  • Your Heart's Desire: The purpose of the idol is to give illusions to whoever holds it of their most desired experience. Rapunzel's is her parents and loved ones back in Corona, Eugene's is the royal yacht ready to take them off the island, Cass' is sparring with her father, Maximus' is throwing crooks into the slammer, Lance's is getting royal treatment, and Hookfoot's is being with Seraphina.

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