WoW episode 1
World of Winx
1 The Talent Thief
The opening song is underwhelming.
Our story opens outside the Frutti Music Bar where Bloom, Aisha and Musa are running around in their spy gear talking about sectors being clear and such spy-ish talk. Meanwhile in their headquarters (the pink RV, but we don't see that yet) Tecna is running ops while Stella and Flora hang around. They have one of those tablet-tables, and it's really cool. Tecna shows us pictures of the kidnapped “talents” who are all teenagers. The one they're looking for now is a rocker last seen playing at the Frutti Music Bar.
Stella's theory is alien abduction.
Flora, who's holding a teacup as she often is in Wow, says it has to be the work of the talent thief!
The girls talk backstory: the talent thief kidnaps talents, the girls have been looking for him for months but they don't even know what he looks like. Or if he's a he, but they don't say that.
Flora offers herbal tea, which apparently tastes terrible, and they backstory some more: they're supposed to be passing as normal girls so no magic, and that a strange powder has been found at the sites of all the disappearances.
Clearly it's fairy dust, what else would it be? The Winx don't seem to think of this-- maybe they don't yet realize the talent thief is a magical being, or maybe the dust doesn't show up as magical when Tecna analyzes it. Anyway, no time to wonder, there's movement in sector one!
It's a mysterious boy in a yellow hoodie! Tecna runs a comparison and this guy was indeed at the rocker's show. I'm not sure that's enough evidence, but the girls sure think so! Bloom, Musa and Aisha follow him on a chase through the rainy city , leaping from rooftops and using their magnetic gloves to bound over a wall. Bloom says they don't know if the guy is human or not, so they do have an inkling the talent thief may be magical.
The girls corner the guy in an alley-- but he isn't there. Tecna's thermal scan says he's right in front of them, but he's nowhere in sight. There's some byplay with a stray cat and Aisha having no faith in Tec's gadgets and then-- out of time! We have five minutes to get home! The pink RV careens around a corner to pick up the girls and they rush home. To... their pajamas?
Once they leave, the guy in the hoodie reappears in the alley. Looks like he can become invisible! Probably not a native earthling, I'd say!
Cut to the opening of Wow, the show within a show. We meet Ace, the presenter whose coat I want, and learn the story for the show. The Winx are talent scouts who are followed by floating drone cameras as they search for kids with special talents who then compete to be in the finals. Kind of a cool concept. The girls live in “the loft” which they did in season 4, only then it was the loft above Love & Pet , but Love & Pet is nowhere to be seen in WoW. I'm gonna headcanon that it was so successful it moved to bigger quarters.
Then we get introduced to our heroines as they talk about each other reality-show style. Bloom is an artist, Musa the 'supportive' musician, Aisha the athlete, Tecna the logical technology genius and Flora the shy chef. Stella's specialty is of course fashion, and she has a “portable sewing machine” that looks like a glittery star.
Bloom actually was an artist back in season 1, and it's cool that she draws again. Flora's love of cooking is new, but she was interested in potions back in the early seasons, and her herbal teas are made with plants so I can go with it.
The girls get ready to go talent-hunting on camera then head out in the pink RV. As they get ready Stella says something about dressing to catch the talent thief and the other girls glower at her.
Once they're on the move Bloom does the scene from the trailer: reality show, no magic, blah blah. They really look weird underlit by the tablet table. So Ace doesn't know about the talent thief, and the girls have to avoid doing magic in front of cameras while being followed by flying cameras! I foresee much humor involved in dodging the cameras.
Stella's bored voice when she talks about saving kids makes me laugh.
The show has a stage in a park, where apparently talents can come to perform to get on the show. A girl is dancing with her dog, but the Winx are unimpressed. Then there's a very strange act with guys dressed as horses and animals, I'm not even sure what they're performing. A rap maybe? Are they furries? They kinda look like furries except their faces show. Stella and Musa think they're adorable, Tecna doesn't see it.
After being up all night running around being spies the Winx are tired and not enthused about this oddball talent show. Then Musa hears beautiful singing. The girls follow it to a cafe where a dark-haired waitress is singing to herself as she serves drinks.
This girl is perfect, which means she's also perfect for the talent thief! Who could be watching even now! And he is. From a car.
The girls meet the singer, Annabel, and try to get her to be on their show. Annabel wants to, but her co-worker Louise needs her at work making cupcakes. The Winx volunteer to do Annabel's job while she and Musa train at singing.
To show that they're being bakers, a panel on the pink RV flips to show a cupcake and coffee. I am 100% certain the toy will do this too.
Montage! The girls can't bake. Stella uses magic. Cupcakes make people happy. Annabel writes music. Louise is grumpy.
Back at the show, we meet the judges. Margo is a lady with awesome black hair with a white streak and a little purse-dog yorkie. She's clearly the mean judge. Cliff is... stoned. Very stoned. He's dressed like a surfer and he is sooooo stoned. He likes everything.
The performance is held at the Frutti Music Bar, or on the stage out back I guess. The girls talk about Annabel and then cut to “Bloom, who's with the owner of the club.”
Well knock me over with a feather, it's Roxy! Back in her waitress outfit and looking super cute in this art style. So she owns the Frutti Music Bar now, which hosts the WoW shows.
Cut to Musa and Stella helping Annabel get ready. Well, Stella's makeover doesn't look much fun but in the end Annabel looks good. Annabel does look good, she's got a seafoam green dress and black leather jacket over it, and treble clef earrings.
While she sings the girls look through the crowd for the talent thief. There is much talk about how Annabel's dream is about to come true if she gets good votes. When the song ends the voting comes in: Annabel is a wow not an out. Yay! As the crowd cheers magic rises around the Winx and we see scenes from the Dreamix sequence. This is their sense of magic showing the magic of the dream coming true.
In the dressing room Annabel is recovering, alone, when someone cute the power to the stage! A shadow rises up behind Annabel and she drops one of her earrings in shock. The girls realize this could be the talent thief and rush to her dressing room-which is empty! Too late! There is however a Mysterious Figure running around, so we must give chase! The Frutti Music Bar has reeeeally big airducts.
The chase leads onto the stage where Stella magicks a spotlight to blind the figure. It's Louise, from the cake shop! She tumbles off the stage toward the ocean below, but Aisha summons a ball of water to lift her back up safely. On the stage again Louise admits she cut the power because she couldn't stand Annabel's success. Louise also dreamed of being on WoW, but she failed the audition.
But Annabel is still missing! The girls run off to look for her while Ace stalls for the cameras. Whenever he's in front of a camera he acts all enthusiastic but in between he mutters dire threats. This is played for laughs and it's pretty funny. The Winx search through the audience, but no Annabel.
Meanwhile Annabel wakes up in a dark and mysterious forest, with s threatening shadow looming over her!
And, end!
Thoughts:
The voices: honestly, after watching every incarnation of Winx my brain is so scrambled on voices I can't tell whose is whose! But none of the voices really get on my nerves.
The art: is gorgeous. Just amazing.
The reality show: doesn't make much sense either as a show or as a cover for hunting the talent thief but I can suspend my disbelief.
Roxy: didn't vanish!
The spy stuff: may become a bigger thing in future episodes, but at the moment it feels very tacked on. There's no real reason the girls would have to put on black catsuits and talk in spy lingo to hunt for the talent thief, other than that it's cool. Which it is. I wonder if WoW started out VERY different, if someone at Rainbow had an idea for an AU with no magic and the girls as spies, but then someone else pointed out that without a fairy form there couldn't be any fairy dolls and the idea skewed fr4om there into the WoW we have now.