The Book of Rannells: Sofia the First: Season 4, Episode 26 – “Forever Royal” (2018)

This supersized episode is actually the series finale of Sofia the First.  As such, Andrew Rannells’s character Skye is just one of many who gets one last appearance in this episode, and I’ve never seen most of the others before.  But even if it’s crowded, it’s easy enough to follow, and I imagine it was a pretty good send-off for kids who enjoyed the show (premise spoilers.)

About to graduate from “Royal Prep Academy,” Sofia’s big day is interrupted by her Mystic Isles friends who need her for some major Protector duties.  Suffice to say, an ancient, evil sorceress named Vor is unleashed from a long imprisonment, and she just so happens to decide to begin her dominion over all realms with Sofia’s kingdom.  Sofia is called on to fight a greater evil than she ever has before, and while she has lots of friends and family ready to fight by her side, the ultimate showdown is just between her and Vor.

Like I said, this episode features all sorts of characters, many of which I haven’t encountered in my scant experience with the show.  In addition to the Mystic Isles crowd, there are Sofia’s friends (some of whom have magical abilities/resources, some without,) the rest of Sofia’s family, and members of the royal staff.  It’s no doubt more enjoyable for fans of the show who know who all these people are, but everything is signposted well enough that I didn’t have any trouble keeping track of the basics of who people were.  I also – here, at the end of all things – got a little background on Sofia’s origins, growing up as a peasant whose dressmaker mother wound up marrying the widowed king, which I’d gleaned from the show’s theme song but was still nice to see alluded to on the actual show itself.  In the portions of the episode devoted to the graduation, there are references to how Sofia’s experiences with her blended family brought growth and change for her, as while as how her friends at school helped her adjust to her new life.

The action/adventure stuff is put together well enough.  Vor is both a nigh-unbeatable threat right up until the moment she’s beaten (but plenty of adult genre shows have the exact same problem) and depicted in such a way that the final just-Vor-and-Sofia confrontation feels kind of manufactured, but the final key to victory is brought in pretty organically and features some important personal moments for Sofia.  If I was a kid who’d been watching this show all along, I’m sure I would’ve been satisfied with how it turned out.

Another episode with very little Rannells, although I knew going in that Skye probably wouldn’t be a very big feature; there are just too many characters to include/say goodbye to to focus on this recurring unicorn from another realm.  As such, we just get a handful of lines and – once again! – no singing, which, in an extra-long episode with multiple songs, feels unfair.

So, that’s it for Sofia the First.  Wrapping things up…

Recommend?

In General – For kids, sure.  For adults, not so much.

Andrew Rannells – Maybe, at least “The Mystic Isles” and possibly “The Mare of the Mist.”  Those two feature Skye the most and Rannells is admittedly a fair amount of adorable fun as this semi-competent unicorn knight errant. 

Warnings

Scary moments for kids.

The Book of Rannells: Sofia the First: Season 4, Episode 16 – “The Mystic Isles: A Very Mystic Wassailia” (2017)

The titular Mystic Isles holiday here isn’t called Christmas, but as the name “Wassailia” suggests, it’s very much the Mystic Isles version of Christmas, and so, the episode brings with it all the hallmarks of a Christmas special, from holiday traditions to the overall theme of love and family (whatever form that takes.)

The beloved Mystic Isles holiday of Wassailia has arrived.  The other Protectors are ready to call it a day and get home to celebrate, but Sofia’s mentor Chrysta volunteers to take on a few last-minute Protector duties.  Sofia decides to help, so they can finish earlier and both get back to their families, and together, they travel across the Mystic Isles, sorting out various troubles.  But as the day stretches on, Sofia can’t understand why Chrysta isn’t more eager to get home to her family.

Another one where the ultimate resolution is pretty obvious, but a kids’ show can’t really be faulted for that.  Sofia learning a little more about her mentor is handled nicely, and some of the slight Mystic Isles twists on yuletide traditions (like the magic-sleigh-riding “Elfalfa” who delivers gifts or living tree decorations) are amusing.  While nothing happens here that you wouldn’t expect for a Christmas special, it’s pleasant enough.  Also, the Protector voiced by Ming-na Wen makes an appearance here, which is cool.

What the episode doesn’t have is a whole lot of Skye.  This is something that can happen with recurring characters – a guest star is probably going to be used to good effect, but when a character recurs, they’ll have the occasional episode where their appearance is more strictly functional.  And that’s what we get with Skye here.  As Sofia’s Protector Steed in the Mystic Isles, he joins Sofia and Chrysta in their tasks, so he’s onscreen a lot, but he doesn’t do too much beyond fly Sofia from place to place.

Andrew Rannells gets in the occasional good line (Skye can’t resist showing off just a bit when the light from his horn is needed to guide someone’s sleigh tonight,) but on the whole, Skye is more present than involved.  He doesn’t even get in on the episode’s song, which feels like a waste of Rannells; whose idea was that?

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.