Here we are again! After our review of the previous episode, it’s time to analyze Fate: The Winx Saga 1×02 “No Strangers Here.” It’s a much better episode than the previous one, slower but also more dynamic, cementing the stories we see in the previous episode.
Here we go!
A new day dawns in Alfea and finds our Winx preparing for their first class. Terra, for her part, tries not to be seen dressing and undressing. She tries not to let anyone see her body because she is ashamed of it, of herself. She knows that all of her friends have slim, wiry bodies, narrow hips … and what does she have? Quite the opposite. So she’s embarrassed and she doesn’t want anyone to see her.
I feel identified with her again. It’s … difficult when everyone around you seems to have the perfect body and you’re the only one out of tune. It makes you … ashamed and afraid to take off even just one shirt because that means that you will be exposed and everyone will see you. They will really see you. With clothes, you can hide or disguise your imperfect body but if you don’t have the clothes to cover yourself, to take refuge, to protect you … everything is in sight.
And that is very hard, especially when you know that the people around you have the ability to be very cruel, especially to you. You just … don’t want to face it. So you prefer to change alone, where no one but you can see you.
And that insult from Stella … Terra knows perfectly well that Stella is insulting her but she prefers to put on a smile and take it with humor. It’s the only way she knows to take it. She may get angry or cry … but what good would she do? Nothing. Stella would remain the same and crying would not solve anything. Also, now that she’s starting to feel accepted by a group of friends … she doesn’t want to spoil it either. So she decides to leave those moments behind and focus on the good.
It’s … humiliating to say the least. After not feeling accepted for years, when you start to feel it … you don’t want to stop doing it, at any cost, even if it means letting yourself get ridiculed like this from time to time. In fact, accepting these little taunts seems like a fair price to pay.
This story is so well told … and we need to see it so much … really, I think a lot of people don’t know how necessary it is to give a voice to this story. Because it happens, it’s real and horrible but it is there. And many of us have lived it. It was time to see ourselves reflected in a show.
First class arrives for fairies and specialists and a lot happens. All the Winx manage to channel their magic … except Bloom. She tries but fails miserably. And she doesn’t know what the problem is. She is powerful and she has made things much more difficult with her magic than setting fire to a pot. But that exercise requires control and that is precisely her problem: she doesn’t know how to control her magic and has yet to learn to do so. She feels ashamed and like a failure in front of everyone. So she wants to stop.
So Farah goes to talk to her, calm her down, mentor her …tells her that just needs a little more time. But control, magic … everything depends on emotions and Bloom has a lot of weight behind her. Among other things, she just found out that she’s an exchanged. And she can’t stand being quiet anymore, having Farah there in front of her, so she confronts her. Is it true that she is? How? Where are her parents?
But Farah doesn’t have the answers Bloom so desperately needs. She has no idea of the details or who her parents might be. She only took it upon herself to keep her safe and accept her into Alfea so that she could learn about her powers and her identity. But nothing more … at least, that she wants to share. Because we don’t think that’s all Farah knows. The problem here is that Bloom has lived between secrets, half-truths and lies her entire life. And she’s done with it.
As for the specialist, Riven is closely following Dane’s first training … and he’s not doing very well. Riven advises him to focus on getting better and stop flirting and messaging with Terra. I don’t quite understand why this bothers him so much and why he meddles, but ok. Also, we keep playing the game of is Dane bisexual or gay? And, as I mentioned, it would not seem bad to me if they specified this because a game like this … is not enough.
Later, this strange alliance is highlighted again when Dane and Terra are together in the greenhouse, preparing the salve. They’re good together, comfortable, they’re having a good time … and Riven gets in the middle, laughing at Dane, so Dane ditches Terra and walks out of there. This is the first time I really don’t like Dane. You don’t abandon someone you care about because some idiot is bothering you. What you do is stop the idiot.
And, hey, I can understand. Dane’s a teenager and at that age, looks, trying to be cool, is important. It seems the most important thing in the world. And Riven brings out the worst in Dane … but what he does here, just leaving Terra because of a comment from Riven … Dane doesn’t deserve Terra.
While this is happening, Riven is with Bellatrix and calls Dane pathetic but, in reality, the only one pathetic is him. And I have to say I like Bellatrix here because she calls Riven for what he is: a bully. Just a bully.
As for Bellatrix, she keeps playing to get closer to Farah and get into her office … and she does. Twice. We will talk a little later about her little adventure with Riven but, in the end, she manages to get what she wanted and almost reaches her goal but she discovers that Farah is tremendously smart and has a trap precisely for situations like this. So everything slips through her fingers.
Although we discover something new … Callum is helping Bellatrix and both are under the orders of someone mysterious who pulls the strings. But who? And what is Farah hiding in her office that needs so much protection? What does Bellatrix really want? Questions, questions … that we’re looking forward to answering.
But before all this, Bellatrix manages to sneak into Farah’s office thanks to Riven, who she asked for help. And I have to say that the dialogue between them is very good, especially the phrase that Bellatrix says “you are going to help me because you are a guy and I’m hot.” YAAAS, QUEEN! Speak the truths to their faces. Really, men are often this basic … and Bellatrix is right.
Riven helps her and that forms a dangerous and toxic alliance between them. They are not good for each other. Bellatrix brings out the worst side of Riven, enhances the side that he wants to show everyone and Riven for Bellatrix is only a means to an end. He doesn’t know her. Nobody does it. However, this alliance still lasts a little longer …
On the other hand, Stella must recover the ring anyway. So she goes in search of Sky, the only one that she feels she can count on, because he knows what her mother is capable of. And that is precisely why Sky gets carried away by her and tells her that she can count on him. He knows that Stella’s mother is cruel and, either way, he cares about her, so he doesn’t want her to suffer. Also, he feels a bit indebted to Stella because he knows that he is the only person who can understand the seriousness of the loss of the ring and, if he doesn’t help her, who will do it?
Stella thanks him for this gesture, she really thanks him for the fact that he is there for her and hugs him. It is a sincere hug. She feels that Sky is the only anchor she has. He’s the only thing she can hold onto so as not to get lost and she knows that she can always count on him.
At that moment, Silva arrives and seeing them … he doesn’t hesitate to tell Sky what he thinks: Stella is something comfortable for him. And I think he’s absolutely right. Sky always gets carried away by Stella because he feels that he owes her but, also, because she is something known, comfortable. With her, he knows what there is, he knows what he feels, he knows what their relationship is like. But with Bloom … everything would be unknown, more intense, more complicated, more serious, more … true. And he’s afraid to take that leap of faith.
Later, while they eat, Stella and Sky approach the other Winx to communicate their plan. And there’s … something that attracts Sky to Bloom. Sky’s first instinct is to always look for Bloom. It is unavoidable. That connection, that little flirtation between them that they don’t realize … is palpable to everyone, including Stella. She’s quick to mark her territory clearly, something that Sky lets her do, again wrapped up in that kind of duty and comfort that invades him with Stella.
And Stella knows that Sky and Bloom feel something about each other. But Sky is the only thing keeping her sane, the only thing she can consider hers … and she’s not going to let Bloom take it away from her. She cannot allow it.
This little exchange is obvious to everyone and Sky feels the need to explain to Bloom. At first, he misinterprets everything because he thinks that she is another person more absorbed by Stella’s dominant personality but nothing could be further from the truth. Bloom makes it clear that she has her own opinions and that she is going to get the ring back because it is what she must do.
Then the explanations begin … which Bloom doesn’t want to hear. Yes, there is something between them, they both feel that little pinch when they see each other but they just met and, if he wants to be with Stella and not break up with her to explore what they could have together … there is nothing more to talk about.
Sky is left wanting to kiss her, she is so … her when she talks like that and looks at him like that … and she drives him crazy. But she stops it because this whole thing … it’s too complicated and she has too much on her plate right now. So what they could have had … is over before it begins.
Despite all this, Stella needs Bloom to channel her magic to get the ring. So when she sees her practice unsuccessfully, she helps her … in the only way she knows how. If the good feelings don’t work, she makes Bloom try the bad ones. And so, she achieves her goal. It is not the best method, but it works. It works for Stella. It’s the only way she knows … but Aisha disagrees.
As soon as she finds out about Stella’s little class, she confronts Bloom and Stella about it. Trying to stop them. Speaking truth to both of them. And she is right. That is not the method for learning. It may be fast, but it’s not good. And I like that Aisha doesn’t hide even one of her opinions and says them loud and clear. Friendship consists of that, too.
In the end, the Winx join forces to confront the burned man and retrieve Stella’s ring. But almost nothing turns out as expected. Silva is mortally wounded and Terra and Musa must stay to stabilize him and take him back to Alfea, Bloom feels the burned more than ever and separates from the rest. As if that were not enough, Stella, due to her erratic way of summoning her magic and the little control that her bad feelings entail, runs out of magic. They end up getting the ring but they just barely get it because not even Bloom’s magic manages to kill him, Aisha saves the day.
When they come back, Stella needs comfort, a hug … to feel that everything is going to be fine and she is not broken. So she goes to see Sky. His first instinct is to ask about Bloom but he feels … dirty and wrong just thinking of doing it, having Stella destroyed in front of him so he changes the meaning of his question. She takes it out on him, because of what has happened to her magic and Sky tries to comfort her as best he can.
Later, that comfort reaches her room. Sky meets Bloom, they both hold gazes for a moment, a look full of sadness, defiance, decision, as if to say, what are you going to do? Stella calls out to him from the door and Sky finally decides to go with her as he looks at Bloom with infinite sorrow in his eyes.
But honestly, this is Sky’s decision. He can’t look at Bloom like that and leave with Stella at the same time. We understand that Sky’s feeling guilty and that he must be there for Stella because nobody else is but … being so dependent on a person is not okay, it is toxic and he should end this, since Stella is not ready to do it.
In happier things, Musa meets Sam, a boy who she has been attracted to since the first time she felt him. She has fun with him, he is tender, kind, funny, he has a good heart … he seems perfect for her. Only he is Terra’s brother and that is a world of trouble. What will happen?
A question that this episode leaves us is if the burned one is a lone wolf or not. Farah and everyone hope that it is, but deep down they know that it is not so … are they right?
And, of course, the end. Bloom suddenly rolls her eyes and we don’t know why or what is wrong with her. So they leave us until the next episode … and we die of anxiety!
This episode greatly improves the pilot. It is calmer, but also the plots that were raised in the previous episode are more concrete and focused. Some secrets are discovered and we advance a little more in all kinds of plots and alliances.
Tomorrow we will return with the review of episode 3 which is where things get ON FIRE.
Agree? Desagree? Don’t hesitate to share it with us in the comments below!
Fate: The Winx Saga is available to stream on Netflix.
