Written by Daniel – We have finally arrived at The Queen of Hearts Birthday Tea Party. Or at least Courtney Jester has! Our heroes; Raven, Apple, Liz, Madeline, Briar, and Kitty have gotten lost due to the White Rabbits shoddy sense of direction. The longer it takes them, the more time Courtney has to track down the Cheshire Cat and the storybook of legends, because if she gets hold of that, she’ll write Liz out, and write herself into Wonderland royalty.
It’s the final episode of series 3 of Ever After High, and as I reflect on the series, I can’t help but think that it would have hugely benefited from being released as a film (in much the same way that series two was simply an extended episode). Unlike series one which was composed of distinctly different stories (with a running motif of the Story Book of Legends), this four part series has been a continuous story, each episode following on directly form the last – it could have been marketed as ’24’ for fairy tale princesses. Had I watched this episode as part of a Ever After High marathon, I think it would have been fun and satisfying. Having watched the episode a fortnight after the last one, it just wasn’t very satisfying and seemed to pack too much into such a short space of time, which may have been redeemed had it been spread out over two episodes. I think it is the result of this fast pace which actually made me feel for our villain Courtney Jester.
In my post on ‘Jester’s Wild‘, I pointed out the distinct comparisons between Courtney Jester and DC’s Harley Quinn, much like Harley Quinn audiences tend to have a complex relationship with her. We know she is the bad guy, we know her actions go too far, but there’s a great part of ourselves that would like to be more like her, which results in us sympathising with her cause. The events of this episode made me sympathise with Courtney Jester. Whilst Courtney is an unlikable character as she seeks power at the expense of others, her goal and her methods are understandable. Courtney Jester wants a taste of success, something which she has been denied of because she has been born in the wrong status. Courtney Jester thus represents the frustrations and anxieties of our modern existence, capturing feelings and desires of rebellion against the wealthy oppressors of the world. In previous episodes we have been encouraged to feel sympathy for the Queen of Hearts as we hear of the assassination plot against her. However, now that we’ve finally met her, I can’t help but feel that she probably deserves it. We see the Queen of Hearts ordering all her servants about, as all of Wonderland attend to the Queen’s party with gifts which get thrown into a huge warehouse, gifts which are distinctly unloved or appreciated, merely collected (and amassed). The fact that the Queen of Hearts not only remains on her throne, but doesn’t even get a scolding just seems to go against the episode. The easy comment would be that the episode is simply a symptom of neo-liberal society. But this time I can’t let it lie.
Something which I hinted towards in some of my earlier posts was the fact that this series only exists as a method of selling toys. In the same way that Bratz, Bionical, or DC Superhero Girls are TV/DVD Films which are toy-tie ins to sell more toys. What’s so interesting about Ever After High is that the series is much better than I ever would have expected it to be. It seems to have a lot more going on, than just selling toys, it’s by people who are actually interested in telling stories. We have the class war of series one and two, and so far this series has been a wonderful exploration and embrace of the queer in the bisexual wonders of Wonderland. This final episode of series three seems to forget what it’s been attempting to set up. The episodes biggest flaw is returning to its series one class war. Well, the returning to these themes are not in themselves necessarily a problem but contradicting them is.
With Courtney Jester’s powers granted to her by Raven Queen, she invades the Queen of Hearts tea party by posing as Liz and slowly works her way into the Queens present store room. Courtney posing as Liz, gives us some entertaining moments, and we see her character in full swing (at last). She convinces the Queen to play an opposite game with here, the rules dictate that everything ‘Liz’ says means the opposite, this covers Courtney’s back for when Liz finally arrives to warn her mother of Courtney’s plot as the Queen simply won’t believe her, and take it as all part of ‘their’ game. When, Liz does finally arrive we get some great scenes, which I wouldn’t have expected of the series, as Liz tries to warn her mother and tell her that she loves her, the Queen just laughs announcing that she hates her. This is a scene which could easily be played for laughs, but the show chooses not to, instead Liz’s horrified reactions lend the scenes a certain sense of terror, which I don’t think we’ve seen before in the show. Returning to Courtney, it’s fun watching Courtney get one over the royalty, and the aristocracy. It’s only until she poses as Liz when she’s let into the party, as Courtney is initially turned away by the guards when she arrives as herself. She is seen of low status, and the guards and other guests see it as only natural to turn her away and mock her. The whole point of this show has been to challenge societies expectations, suggesting that we have control over identities and shouldn’t be expected to live up to our heritage. Most notably through the dynamics of Apple and Raven, however it seems those born into wealth have a freedom of choice, where those born in working class communities lack choice. This is a fact, yet it should not be a narrative that is encouraged, Courtney Jester here, much like Raven, is just trying her best to better herself, to challenge and change the ruling systems.
With Courtney’s powers it seems that our group of heroes don’t stand a chance. Raven attempts to counter attack Courtney with her own magic, but having not signed the Storybook of Legends, she just doesn’t have the same powers as her mother. The only possibility they have in being able to confront Courtney and her powers is if they can get hold of the book and have Raven sign her name. Not wanting Courtney to kill Liz’s mother, and overthrow the monarchy, Raven with the help of Kitty takes hold of the Storybook of Legends and signs away her name. This results in the series second scene which appears to be played for terror, Raven signs her name, and is granted the powers of her mother. Her eyes widen, and her hands glow with purple flames, as she bombards Courtney with magic. Raven’s new powers terrify her friends and nearly kill Courtney. Raven appears to not only have been granted her mother’s powers, but it seems as if Raven has signed away her self control, her choice, as she appears to have adopted her mothers evil path. Apple and her friends call to her, pleading with her to be aware of who she is, and that the book does not define her. Raven is forced through an identity battle between herself and the expectations of her elders. Of course, the Raven we know and love pulls through, sparing Courtney’s life (who sneaks away, before she can be caught by the Queens guards). For a show that’s been all about challenging the status quo, challenging expectations of authority, this plot just doesn’t work. After all, as Courtney Jester is about to sign her name into the Storybook of Legends, and take Liz’s destiny, she remarks “out with the old and in with the new”- until the book is knocked form her hands, maintaining the status quo. I feel that Raven and her friends should be working with Courtney (perhaps not necessarily to kill, but) to over throw the queen and her (mad) rule. Of course a counter argument to this would be that Courtney is wrong on all levels in trying to steal someone’s destiny, to take over someone’s life. However it seems counter productive of the show to take this position in the first place, as so far the show has been entirely about making your own destiny, and ‘birth-rights’ are toxic and dangerous.
In Raven’s plot line, as Apple implores her to listen to her heart, and that she must, “choose who you want to be, isn’t that what you always tell me”. It tells us that Courtney was misguided to think that she could use the Storybook, yet Raven just did… Surely Apple should tell her to believe in herself, in the neo-liberal cartoon that I though this was and she summons her powers to defeat the misguided clown. Or, perhaps this could have been the revolutionary show I want it to be, as the girls use their collective bisexual magic to defeat the evils of Courtney’s plans. Instead what we have, is just a bit of a mess. The finale of series three suddenly forgets what the show is about in favour of a Harry Potter battle sequence. It’s just a shame, but I suppose it was only a matter of time before I released my frustrations with the show.
As per tradition, the girls close with a party. In which we have, what is quite a nice ending… At the party, Raven, Apple, and Briar collectively decide that the Storybook should no longer haunt the students of Ever After High. In a scene which is lacking in any real sense, Raven explodes the book, releasing the pages of the book into the air. All the students appear to absorb their pages, giving them full control over their futures – it’s a scene tagged onto the end of series 3, which should have happened at the end of series 1 or 2. Of course it’s a good moment, I’ve been advocating it since episode one, but it was such a let down. Undermined by the messiness of the rest of the episode, in all its contradictions and misguided loyalties.
To end on a positive. It’s also worth saying as a final point that come the end of the episode, at our heroes party in comes the Red Knight and the White Knight, still battling it out since the end of the last episode. The White Knight reveals herself to be Darling Charming (sister of Dexter and Daring), I can’t say it was a surprise, there were a number of give a ways, but then again, I’m certainly not the show’s target audience. The reveal is a lot of fun regardless, as she kicks the Red Knight in the balls, reveals herself as Darling, and refuses to explain why and what she’s been up to. This refusal of an explanation is what really carries the scene, and makes her a wonderful character. She’s also a main character who’s both masculine and feminine. As she stands in her huge armour she appears a typical masculine knight, her voice through her helmet even resembles a gruff man. Yet as she takes off her armour, we see a white sparkly dress and a girl who is ready to dance the knight away. This interchangeability of masculine and feminine is what I want to see more of from the show, she’s an interesting character who seems to support the ideas of queer magic expressed in Card Tricks and Jester’s Wild, disrupting the heterosexual gender binary, evaluating gender identifiers as malleable and subject to change and transformation. In addition to this we have the narrators, scolding the young Brooke Page for having interfered during the series, how the narrator should tell the story, and remain detached from the action itself. Seeing Brooke appear onscreen before the credits role is a nice touch, segmenting her as having broken free from her parents expectations. What is more, it supports the notion of never sitting back and watching things happen, Brooke is not passive, she actively seeks out change and to help those in need.
Series 3, has been enjoyable in all its bisexual magic, but this final episode seemed to undermine the series, in returning to themes of series one and two, it just became confused and messy.
Next it is series four: ‘Dragon Games’ let’s hope it’s a little more well thought through.
FNORD 
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