Quick Synopsis: At her first princess sleepover, Sofia struggles to blend her friends from the village with her new friends from Royal Prep.
Recap: Sofia is about to host her first slumber party after moving to the castle, and Amber is very excited to help the party be a success. She shows Sofia the observatory, which has been converted into a large bedroom, with beds and closets for the guests. She goes through what activities she has in mind. Amber then explains that the guests you have at your party are an important mark of social status (I'm not sure how much higher on the tree you can be than a princess, but these gradations are important to Amber, as we see throughout the show). She invited Princess Hildegard from Freezenburg and Princess Clio of Corinthia, two of the most popular princesses at Royal Prep (and, not coincidentally, Amber's best friends). Amber is disappointed to learn that Sofia invited Ruby and Jade from the village (and, somewhat unbelievably, acts as though she has never heard of them before; Amber at least saw the pair in Once Upon a Princess).
King Roland and Queen Miranda decide that Cedric should put on a magic show. Cedric acquiesces, but complains at how demeaning it is for him to be forced to do parlor tricks for children (at this point in the show, Roland is still convinced that Cedric isn't really capable of doing any serious magic, something shown over and over in the first season). He then decides to take advantage of the opportunity to once again steal Sofia's necklace. He will enchant some puppets who will trick Sofia into turning the amulet over to them. Then Cedric will take over the kingdom. (Virtually all of the schemes by Cedric, and others, throughout the early episodes revolve around Sofia willingly giving the amulet to them. It suggests that the amulet can't be forcibly removed. This, of course, isn't the case as shown by The Curse of Princess Ivy, but I am convinced that early episode writers thought it was. Otherwise, Cedric's schemes are just ridiculous. Once he has the amulet in his hands, everyone will know he took it, whether he was invisible when he grabbed it, puppets took it for him, or he tricked Sofia into letting him examine it. So I don't know why he is always avoiding just directly taking it from the princess.)
The guests arrive and we are introduced to Hildegard (and her mink) and her sidekick Clio, who show up in a proper, formal manner. Meanwhile Ruby and Jade pull up in cart and are so excited they can barely contain themselves. Hildegard is surprised to see them, and her (and Amber's) reservations seem confirmed when Ruby and Jade bombard the princesses with questions (although, it should be said that their admiration for Hildegard, Amber, and Clio is pretty obvious).
Amber's concerns only grow when everyone changes into their nightgowns. Ruby and Jade put pine cones in their hair and begin to dance around in a silly way while Ruby sort of raps (this episode tends to make everyone act in an over-the-top manner; I think the interaction between Ruby, Jade, Hildegard, Clio, and Amber is actually a lot more realistic in later episodes, but you can make the argument that later they simply are all more respectful of each other's preferences). When Sofia begins to join in, Amber and the princesses pull her aside and sing a song about how it is critical that everyone fit in. (The song is yet another solid one from the early episodes, although it isn't quite as funny as Princess Things.)
Sofia decides to help Ruby and Jade fit in by giving them princess makeovers, which her friends love. They are given new nightgowns and hairstyles. Ruby and Jade might look like princesses now, but they are still extremely exuberant, and don't fit in during a game of pin the tail on the unicorn and painting fans.
It's now time for Cedric's magic show (and his plan to steal the Amulet of Avalor). However, Cedric can hardly begin before Ruby and Jade interrupt him and spoil his plot to have his puppets take Sofia's amulet. In the commotion, Ruby and Jade spill chocolate from a fountain all over themselves and on Amber's dress, which makes the princess hysterical. Even Clio is uncomfortable with Amber's reaction (this is an important character-establishing moment for her). While they are getting cleaned up, Sofia reprimands her friends and they promise to try harder.
However, being a restrained princess isn't to Ruby and Jade's liking and after watching the other princesses dance elegantly, they decide they aren't having fun. After a short fight with Sofia, they decide to go home so they don't embarrass her any more. (This argument also helps to establish Jade's kind of rash personality and Ruby's more conciliatory one.) Sofia feels terrible.
When Miranda comes to ask why Ruby and Jade are leaving, Sofia explains what happened. Miranda then says that the only one who isn't being a princess is Sofia, who was rude to her friends. (I guess extreme snobbishness is forgivable in Amber and Hildegard, but a little snobbishness is totally unacceptable in Sofia.) Sofia rushes after Ruby and Jade and convinces them to stay by saying she wants to have a slumber party like they used to in the village. Her friends agree and they start to have fun in Sofia's room.
Meanwhile, Amber and Hildegard are lying in their beds in the observatory politely discussing how much better it is now that it is quiet. After a moment's pause, Clio remarks that things were more fun with Ruby and Jade around. Hildegard and Amber exchange looks and the three decide they are bored. They go to Sofia's room and after some hesitation ask to join the new slumber party. Sofia agrees and everyone is shown having fun as the episode comes to a close.
Biggest Is Best: Amber is once again the sort-of antagonist in this episode, but a closer look shows this isn't Once Upon a Princess all over again. Just like in Just One of the Princes, Amber is motivated by helping Sofia become the best princess she can be and fitting in with the crowd at Royal Prep. Amber says she invites Hildegard and Clio because they are the most popular princesses at school and will help Sofia build standing. She also tries to coach Sofia into throwing the party she thinks will most impress Hildegard and Clio (this isn't the last time that Amber will stress the importance of making sure those two are having fun and will come away saying nice things; even Prince Zandar is very concerned about making sure Hildegard has fun at any event she attends). So while Amber seems like she is motivated only by being elitist, there are other factors at play. Amber turns out to be wrong about what everyone will find the most fun, but that's just because she has yet to learn that Sofia has a preternatural talent for sensing what others will approve of and enjoy (in Just One of the Princes, Sofia correctly feels that a princess can be a success at Derby and the crowds that watch her are incredibly supportive). It isn't unreasonable for Amber to assume that her greater experience at being a princess means her judgment is superior to Sofia's, it just turns out (once again) that she's wrong.
Don't Play Ball in the Castle: James is only in the episode briefly. Ruby and Jade again swoon over him (much like in Once Upon a Princess), which is how they knock over the chocolate fountain. James also tells Sofia that Amber's sleepovers are usually very boring and that Ruby and Jade should be allowed to have fun. This isn't the last time James will try to balance out Amber's influence on Sofia. As usual, he isn't very successful until after Amber goes too far (or things start to fall apart).
No One Thinks It Turns Out Very Well: Cedric makes his first appearance since the pilot movie and gets to reinforce both his desire to take Sofia's amulet and his resentment at the duties Roland thinks he is most suited for. I've already criticized Cedric's plan, so let's focus on how Roland treats him. At this point in the show, Roland is convinced Cedric is incompetent at being a sorcerer (and we've yet to learn why Cedric sometimes struggles), so he assigns him only the most mundane tasks. Here, he wants Cedric to perform a stage magic show (something that wouldn't even take magical talent; the king even suggests Cedric learn to do card tricks, something we see him practicing as late as season 2). Cedric thinks this is beneath him, and gets very resentful. Cedric is mostly played for comedy when he puts on his puppet show, but this episode does a good job showing some of the reasons that Cedric continues to plot to take over the kingdom while not being quite as evil as those plans might suggest. By the way, the disdainful way Cedric talks to the children is always hilarious (later, it becomes funnier when the children, especially Amber, start pushing back).
Jiggly Wiggly Pudding: Sofia is hosting her first slumber party and trying to blend her new and old friends together, so who in the family is most interested and invested in the party's success? Baileywick of course. However, King Roland and Queen Miranda do press Cedric to put on a magic show, and Miranda later becomes concerned enough when Jade and Ruby want to leave to put aside whatever it was she was doing and talk to Sofia about the importance of not being rude to her friends. (What bothers me about this is that Miranda blames Sofia without giving her the piece of advice that would avert problems in lots of later episodes: Stop reflexively listening to Amber!)
Man of the Castle: Baileywick is only in the episode to facilitate the slumber party and its activities. He does a great job arranging makeovers for Ruby and Jade on the fly and he is, as always, the hardest working person in the castle. Baileywick does a lot more to help Sofia have a great party than either King Roland or Queen Miranda (although Miranda gets to swoop in at the end to give the supposedly key advice to Sofia).
I'll Do Whatever Hildy is Does: This is our formal introduction to Princess Hildegard and Princess Clio, two very important characters from Royal Prep. And everything that defines them is on display here. Hildegard is even more of a snob than Amber, and everyone goes out of their way to please her (seemingly to make sure she doesn't say nasty things about them or pout too much). Clio is Hildegard's best friend and seems most comfortable emulating Hildy as much as possible (this comes to a head in a later episode). Clio is certainly nicer than Hildy (and Amber, actually) and warms to Ruby and Jade faster than her friends. Of the two, Hildegard is the more interesting character. She's a sort of Amber-on-steroids, and the show uses her to make Amber's positions seem unsympathetic while still letting the audience like Amber. I like Hildegard for some of the same reasons I like Amber. She isn't quite as funny (the show doesn't do nearly as much physical humor with her as they do with Sofia's sister), but some of her snarkier, cutting remarks are very well done. On an unrelated note, the animation and dialogue make it seem as though Hildegard is older than Amber and Clio (and all the others). I think this turns out to not be the case, but it's kind of hard to believe that she is only nine years old given how she looks and is portrayed. If it had turned out she was as old as Hugo's brother, I wouldn't have been surprised.
Review: This isn't a bad episode by any means, but it was the first episode of the show that I didn't really enjoy that much. It's super predictable, and everything plays out almost exactly as you would expect. It might have been more realistic if the two slumber parties hadn't reintegrated at the end, so the princesses can have have their more formal, subdued party, while the village friends get to have the fun they used to before Sofia left for the castle. As it is, later episodes kind of undo the premise that Hildegard and Amber like more raucous fun (this comes up during the giant play date later in the season). The episode does gain some depth as the season goes on and you see Ruby, Jade, Amber, and Hildegard interact more together. Everyone is a lot more respectful and open minded about each others' kind of fun and Sofia is a lot better at smoothing over any potential differences. That's very clever development, even if it might be unintended.
Over all this is is a three out of five star entry in the series.
***
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