The Book of Rannells: Sofia the First: Season 4, Episode 8 – “The Mystic Isles: The Mare of the Mist” (2017)

A second episode with Skye the unicorn totally confirms my belief that he’s at least semi-inspired by Reepicheep – very fun and very cute.  This episode is enjoyable enough, even if the message is kind of eye-rollingly telegraphed.

Sofia’s first encounter with the Mystic Isles ended up with her becoming a Protector-in-Training, sworn to defend her home realm from whatever magical threats might seek to harm it, and it looks like her training for this role is probably an on-and-off plot over the course of the season.  Here, her Protector mentor comes along with a magical MacGuffin for her to collect as a vital part of her training.  More importantly, Sofia is informed that she needs a winged “Protector steed” to get her from magical realm to magical realm, and she’s got two flying equestrians vying for the job:  her old Pegasus pal Minimus and her newer unicorn acquaintance Skye.  Sofia struggles to choose between them, and as the two constantly bicker and try to prove their own worthiness, they threaten to disrupt the mission.

I appreciate that there’s at least a little thought put into the mentor, Chrysta’s, rigid insistence that Sofia has to pick one and only one Protector steed, but it’s still perfectly obvious that a children’s story isn’t going to end with the heroine picking one friend over the other.  That said, the squabbling between the two is amusing (I suspected, correctly, that Minimus was voiced by Eric Stonestreet, which is fitting since his Modern Family costar Ariel Winter voices Sofia) and the episode takes time to show that both have their own strengths and weaknesses.  From Andrew Rannells’s other episodes of the show, this seems pretty par for the course.  Definitely kiddish, but charming and non-annoying enough, with its heart in the right place.

Like I said, Skye gives off even more Reepicheep vibes in this one (possibly with just a dash of Puss in Boots,) probably due in part to the fact that his flying skills have improved and now more closely resemble his boasts about his abilities.  This episode ups the chivalric-knight speech tendencies, peppering Skye’s lines with words be “prithee” and “thither and yon,” which is fun.  It’s a nice contrast to Minimus’s more down-to-earth personality, and it makes an amusing juxtaposition with Skye’s more immature qualities; I like how he keeps harping on the fact that he’s a unicorn as proof of why he’s the obvious choice for a Protector steed, and Rannells’s chastened-but-petty delivery of, “I blame myself… and also him,” got a genuine laugh out of me.

Another song, which is again pleasant but mostly forgettable – it’s a duet between Minimus and Skye, each trying to one-up the other and convince Sofia to pick them.  It’s a bit more melodic and smartly written than the song from “The Mystic Isles,” but it also doesn’t give Rannells much opportunity to show off his voice, so it winds up kind of in the middle for me.