Wow episode 5
5 Stylist Wanted
So, a Stella episode.
The girls are sitting around brooding. Musa says it's “too dangerous.” Turns out Bloom wants to go to the other dimension, which they've figured out is the World of Dreams, to talk to Annabel and get more information on what they're doing. But there's barely enough magic dust to send one person, and if Bloom gets in trouble she'll be stuck.
But Bloom is keen, so she goes. Actually she goes to sleep-apparently the dust can send people there in normal dreams not just through the portal.
Bloom appears as a hologram and meets a distraught Annabel. She hasn't seen the crocodile man but... yikes, flashback shows that before she even met the Winx the talent thief was hiding in her closet stalking her while she wrote music. Creeeeepy! He jumps out the window when caught, dropping the watch.
So I bet the dude turns into the crocodile man. Which makes me wonder if Captain Hook will be making an appearance. Really this is an odd set of plot elements: Winx, spies, reality TV, and Peter Pan.
No time to ponder, here come the specters! Annabel runs for it. Bloom wakes up in the real world, but now they're out of magic dust.
They need to head for Annabel's apartment, but of course now the show is starting! The other girls put on cheery faces in time but Bloom looks just so nope. She announces that today they are going nowhere and Stella spins that to say it'll be a surprise where they go looking for talent.
Off the air Ace grumbles that Bloom is getting insubordinate and he's losing patience with her. And he yells at his maids. Ok, he totally has a point here, the Winx have been doing nothing but screw with him for the last few episodes.
In the pink RV Tecna grumbles at Bloom for almost blowing their cover and the girls again lament the cameras following them. Then Tecna sees on her radar that the crocodile man has returned to earth to look for a new talent. Dreamix magic kicks in and reveals it's a girl in Paris. She has a very witchy face. If this were normal Winx she'd be a witch.
Anyway, they have to find her. Stella says they can use their Dreamix power, and officially names the transformation! She says Bloom named their club so she gets to name the transformation. I do like how the name didn't just appear, the way it usually does.
Off to Paris! The pink RV just drives there. Where the heck is Gardenia that you can drive to new York and Paris from?
Anyway they turn up at a prestigious fashion school and Stella goes all starry-eyed. Then Bloom goes all starry-eyed at a girl with a natural talent for modeling. Bloom's starry-eyedness is supposed to be magical, but it totally looks like she's getting a crush on this girl, Nadine.
Anyway, Stella approaches their Dreamix target, a designer named Sophie, tries to recruit her for the show, and tries to help with her design. Sophie is not charmed by this. But Ace loves Sophie, the Winx simply must hunt her down and get her on the show! Bloom is unenthusiastic.
And Sophie is uninterested in all this and thinks Stella has no sense of style. Stella does a little speech about how she knows what it's like to have everybody watching you and expecting a lot. This is a really good Stella moment but of course Sophie reacts about like anyone would to a bunch of random teenage girls and cameras that won't leave her alone. Stella says if she can prove she has style will Sophie be on the show? Sophie promises nothing. Good for her. But Ace announces the couture challenge, Stella versus Sophie! Cliff thinks the challenge is great but all Margot sees is a squabble between amateurs. I wonder what their talents are, that fit them to be judges.
Styling montage! Stella uses her magic sewing machine a lot. I bet that's sold as a toy in Italy. Everyone appears in silly clothes. At the end, Stella's design has Musa in a cool red and black getup with a beret and Sophie has Flora in a gorgeous Middle Eastern inspired look. The two designers admire each other and Sophie seems to be thawing out.
Stella hopes Sophie can lighten up and make the dress of her dreams rather than going by all the rules of style, which is sweet. Together they make a little black & white outfit. Ace announces that Sophie will take her collection to fashion week tomorrow, with the Winx modeling. The girls are worried that going out in public that way will put Sophie at risk from the talent thief, but Ace will hear no arguments! Not that the girls TELL him about the talent thief, Bloom just says maybe it's not a good idea and Ace shuts her down.
The crocodile man stalks through the sewers of Paris. He's been lurking in previous scenes, I didn't mention it but he was.
Fashion Week is apparently held on a rooftop with a catwalk in the middle of a swimming pool. There's hardly anybody there compared to the crowd I assume turns up at a real fashion week. Confession: My entire knowledge of fashion comes from my friends liking Project Runway, which has convinced me that there are no rules of fashion and any claimed rules have been made up on the spot, lots of gay guys like designing clothes for women but if there's a legion of lesbians doing menswear they don't get to be on TV, supermodels are very tall, and Michael Kors is a jerk. I'm not sure that's what the show wanted me to take away, but that's what I got.
Inside the tent Sophie is fitting her designs on the Winx. It's a red-white-black color scheme which looks pretty good. Tecna's tracker says the crocodile man is around, but the models won't be anywhere near the designer during the show. Only Stella will be with Sophie.
Fashion! Catwalk! People clapping! Water fountains!
The crocodile man is clearly about to burst out of the pool....
I'm wrong. It bursts into the dressing room, swats Stella aside, and takes Sophie.
Rooftop chase! Shortly they realize there are no cameras up here so they can safely transform.
The monster puts Sophie down and a battle commences on the roofs. Stella finishes the monster off with a light burst that knocks the monster off the roof. It pulls out the pocket watch and uses it to open a portal back to the land of dreams.
I do believe Stella is stronger than Bloom in this show.
Sophie wakes up but her eyes are in shadow and she looks more witchlike than before. The girls explain that someone tried to kidnap her. Bloom notices something isn't quite right, but there's nothing they can do but take Sophie back to the show. She takes her bows and the show votes her a “wow” and says she'll be in the finals. Yay!
Only... Bloom has a vision of Sophie in the world of dreams. This is an impostor!