Fate: The Winx Saga is here! Finally the moment you have been waiting for so long is here. And we are sure that you have already watched the entire season but, since there is so much to comment on, here at Fangirlish we are going to review each episode. It is the turn of the first, “To the Waters and the Wild”.
Here we go!
In this episode we begin to discover Bloom’s past, which is closely related to her present, and even her future. We find out that she is a swapped fairy so, that means her entire life is a lie. Her parents are not her parents, her life is not really hers. She feels her identity, everything she has ever thought she was, is blurred until it is erased. She doesn’t know who she is. And she desperately needs to know. She needs to find out what happened.
At first, when Aisha says it so unsubtly, her first instinct is to deny it, but deep down, everything fits. It is as if the last piece of the puzzle, a piece that she did not know was missing, was simply found and fits perfectly. But it’s … hard to accept that your whole life doesn’t really belong to you. And Bloom will have to fight this to find herself.
As for Aisha … well, delicacy is not her forte, in any sense. It was not her intention to hurt Bloom but she must realize that saying things like this cannot bring anything good. However, I like the start of this of friendship between them and that moment between their powers in the forest. They are going to give us very good times together.
And there is one issue we need to talk about: Bloom and Sky. Something has been born between them. Like a little spark since they met. And, unconsciously, they are looking for each other without wanting to. In the end, they end up together, just talking … and we love them. That spark, that connection … is felt through the screen. But nothing is that easy. Because there is Stella. She and Sky are no longer together, but it is clear that she is not going to let him go so easily.
Stella is not blind … and she knows perfectly well that something is happening between Bloom and Sky and she can’t help it. That angers her. Sky is the only thing that she feels she has, the only thing that is hers … the only thing she can hold onto. Nobody knows her, nobody except Sky. And Bloom just came and … has seen the connection between them … Sky’s resistance to go back to Stella. And Stella knows it’s because of Bloom. So she doesn’t hesitate to use everything in her power to bring Bloom back to her world, to the place where she thinks she shouldn’t have left.
And she gives Bloom the ring that will take her there. But she didn’t want to hurt her. She didn’t want anything to happen to her … although everyone despises her for this. Of course, Stella didn’t play fair but she didn’t want to harm Bloom, and as soon as she knew that something had happened she regretted it … but it was too late. And she just couldn’t take it anymore. Everyone was looking at her as if she had done it on purpose, as if they hated her. And she … she’s just tired of projecting that image.
So she goes to see Sky. The only one she considers hers, the only one who will not look at her that way, the only one she can lean on when she feels as completely alone and desolate as she is at that moment. But she also knows that she must fight for him, so that he doesn’t slip through her fingers. She’s in a vulnerable moment and doesn’t hesitate to try to hold on to him … and for him to hold on to her. It’s toxic, it’s not okay but … it’s the only thing she has.
I have to admit that, at first, it seemed to me that Stella was the typical mean girl with no more purpose, but I realized that she was not like that. I saw her really vulnerable when she found out that Bloom was in danger and I saw her feel lonely and really fragile with Sky. So I realized that playing mean, attacking before they attacked her was a way of maintaining her facade so as not to be seen, not to appear weak, to appear strong and to push others away from her side … so that no one knows her. Here, Stella began to win my heart.
Bloom’s past is discovered in this first episode. We know how she discovered that she was different, how power came from her … and it wasn’t pretty. She feels guilty for what happened, because her mother has burn scars. Of course, she is not guilty of anything. Bloom didn’t get along with her parents but she never wanted to hurt them. That is what fear and guilt do for you.
By the way, speaking of the relationship between mother and daughter … I think they are both wrong. I understand Bloom’s mother but her daughter is the way she is and she doesn’t care about parties or anything like that. There is nothing wrong with it and she will find the right people and her own path, being herself. As for Bloom, that’s not the way to treat a mother.
In any case, all this accumulation of circumstances makes Bloom decide to lie to her parents about Alfea and what she is, who she is. But that never goes well … our parents are always there, we can count on them. Although what really happens here is that Bloom is afraid that they will blame her just as she blames herself and that they will not love her anymore. But her parents will love her no matter what, and Bloom must learn that lesson.
I really like seeing Bloom begin to discover her powers — it is one of the best scenes of the premiere. At the beginning of the episode, she just wants to learn how to control them. She fears them. She is afraid of herself … and what she is capable of. We see it very clearly in the forest scene.
She only used magic one day … and it shattered everything, even her mother. She does not want it to happen again but, in reality, she is at a point where she does not accept her fairy nature because she fears herself and accept that she is more than a human means that guilt that she feels for what happened would become too real.
However, we end the episode with Bloom beginning to accept who she is and what she is capable of … both good and bad. But everything is in her control, she now wonders if she will manage to control her own power so that she does not end up destroying everything.
We have guys beyond Sky! They’re Riven and Dane. In this episode Dane seems like a sweet, tender, kind and cute boy. Ahh, good times when I liked Dane! Here I liked the good heart he seemed to have and his budding friendship with Terra. I saw a spark between them. As for Riven, I’m not going to fool you, I couldn’t stand him. For me, he was the typical asshole that he didn’t hesitate to insult others before trying to fix his own shit. Then this changes but … in this episode, it’s like this.
And, with this, I have to talk about Terra. I hated Riven’s insult and loved her for defending herself against him and leaving him in the shit, right where he belongs. You already know that I identify a lot with Terra because I have been there, right there, on the side of mockery, insults, on the side of defending you without letting them see everything that those words had affected you. So I was really proud of Terra.
But, beyond that, it is no longer about a particular bully. It’s that she … is not integrated. Nobody accepts her, most of the time everyone tries to get ignore her or insult her, either veiled … or not so much. She’s like … she doesn’t exactly bother anyone that she’s there but nobody cares that she’s there either.
And yes, she feels insecure. She knows that her body is not thin like that of her friends, it is not normative and that means many problems for her. And I like that they show this. Emotional instability, insecurity, the difficult adaptation that this entails, especially in adolescence.
I have observed that, on those rare occasions that we see characters with a non-normative body in movies or shows, there are two stereotypes: the funny and happy person, the eternal friend … or the strong and confident person who slips everything that they say to her.
And, make no mistake, we are all strong and I love that there are such characters but getting there … is not easy and I’m glad that they finally show the process. What happens to Terra is precisely that process. And we must not be blind to it, we must show it, in order to educate ourselves and understand, in order to change it.
She tries to be sweet, she tries to put on a smile even when she knows she’s being insulted, she tries not to show hurt, she tries to fit in … but sometimes it’s just too much, when she feels like everyone is treating her, at best cases, condescendingly, and she doesn’t understand why, her temper comes out.
That’s why I really like that Musa gave Terra her explanation. It’s not that she tries to ignore her like everyone else, it’s that by her power all of her emotions are too real and overwhelming for her and sometimes she just needs to isolate herself. She, at least, has an excuse and half apologizes for ignored Terra but … what will happen to everyone else? We will see it throughout the season …
And, as we said in our advanced review, they play a lot with whether Dane is gay or bisexual, if she likes Riven … and that is not bad at all if they had specified. Because I can tell you that they don’t. It’s like a want and I can’t … I want to put diversity but … not quite. And we need to demand that this not be so. We need more diversity and everyone should be reflected in a show or in a movie. They can do better. Hopefully they will in season 2.
And … we got to Bellatrix. I know you really wanted to know what was happening with her and … well, you see that she is much more than it seems at first glance. At first, she looks like a mean girl eager to be noticed by Farah, but later we see how she becomes the enemy in the shadows who unleashes a burned-out … while trying to get close to her with dark purposes and plays a game with Riven at a time.
Bellatrix is multitasking! Personally, that moment with Riven I think is a turning point for both of them, although neither of them realize it at the time. And yes, she is an enemy hiding in plain sight but the real question is … why? She is willing to destroy Alfea but she is just a teenager, what can she have against Farah that is so horrible that she deserves to destroy the entire fairy world?
That’s the real question … and we’ll still have to wait a bit to find out but at that point you get it all. Because, in this episode, Bellatrix just seems like one more villain … but she’s not.
Here, ends the review of episode 1 and I have to say that it is the episode that I liked the least of the entire season. It’s a lot of information in a short time and it can be overwhelming … the next improvement a lot. Stay tuned for our review tomorrow!
Agree? Desagree? Don’t hesitate to share it with us in the comments below!
Fate: The Winx Saga is available to stream on Netflix.
