A magic hourglass sends Rapunzel and Pascal ten years into the past, where they must work with teenage Eugene and Lance to get back home.
Tropes in this episode:
- Armor-Piercing Response: Rapunzel insists that friends don't give up on each other, but Eugene points out that Cassandra left her, which Rapunzel can't respond to.Rapunzel: Listen, Eugene. Friends don’t leave friends behind, okay? I need you to understand that!Eugene: Rapunzel, she was the one who left you.Rapunzel: ...
- Beyond Redemption: Eugene believes that the Cassandra Rapunzel knew is gone. She made her choice to betray Rapunzel. Thanks to Rapunzel meddling with time, he's more optimistic in the altered timeline at the end of the episode.
- Call-Back: Rapunzel comments that she is used to getting a lot done by 7:15, a throwback to "When Will My Life Begin" from the movie.
- Close-Enough Timeline: Thanks to Rapunzel's meddling in the past, present Eugene is less cynical about their chances of reforming Cassandra, even though otherwise the timeline seems to have played out largely the same.
- Contrived Coincidence: Pascal knocks over a random book, only for it to open right on the information about the hour glass.
- Disguised in Drag: The "Mannequin Shenanigan" is an effective trick to evade the guards, which basically means that young Lance and Eugene dress up and pose as the mannequins in a female-fashion shop.
- Everybody Has Standards: Played with. Rapunzel has no delusions that teenage "Flynn" isn't as honorable as the man he is today. But she is outraged that he would abandon Lance, his own best friend.
- Free-Range Children: In the past, Varian as a young child is seen wandering around Corona with no apparent supervision.
- Full-Name Ultimatum: Rapzunel does this with teenage Eugene when admonishing him for abandoning Lance.
- Hairstyle Inertia: Unlike Eugene, who wears a ponytail as a teenager, the young Varian is shown having the exact same hairstyle as in the present, complete with his blue streak, implying it's somehow natural.
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Just Here for Godzilla: Fans of YouTuber, Voice impressionist and Disney fan Brian Hull are in for a treat as this episode is his Disney debut as Teenage!Sideburns, who is one of the two Stabbington Brothers, as well as some uncredited minor voices. - Lame Rhyme Dodge: Rapunzel tries this with Teenage Eugene, when he asks how she (or from his perspective, one of the Stabbingtons) knows his real name. Not that he buys it.Rapunzel: I didn't say "Eugene", I said "you're mean".Teenage Eugene: That's so not true, Sideburns.
- Mental Time Travel: The hourglass sends the minds of anyone caught in its smoke into the past, hijacking the bodies of whoever happens to be standing in that location. Rapunzel and Pascal take over the Stabbington brothers because they were waiting outside while Eugene and Lance were stealing fabergé eggs.
- No Honor Among Thieves: Teenage!Eugene, while not yet going so far as to intentionally backstab someone, still operates under the rule "Every man for himself". Played for drama when that man becomes Lance. Though Eugene wasn't above cheating on Lance by keeping one Fabergé egg he didn't tell him about for himself, or using a doubleheaded coin to get an advantage.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Mild-mannered and kind Rapunzel is furious that Teenage!Eugene would leave Teenage!Lance behind so readily. It makes Eugene go back to rescue him. It possibly has an even more powerful impact on him, because from his perspective one of the Stabbingtons, of all people, is taking a Sudden Principled Stand.
- Shout-Out:
- Young Varian having Dull Eyes of Unhappiness bears a striking resemblance to Goob.
- Time travelers who are shown as they appear to others in mirrors and other reflective surfaces is like Sam Beckett in Quantum Leap.
- Time Travel Episode: Rapunzel and Pascal are sent back ten years.
- You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Teenage!Lance usually refers to Eugene as Flynn. When the latter abandons him, however, he desperately calls him Eugene.
