Let the Good Times Troll

"Let The Good Times Troll" is the third episode of Sofia the First.

Plot
Sofia, James and Amber are flying kites when Sofia trips and loses hers. She is about to go down and retrieve, it when Amber tells her that the area down below is where the castle trolls live, and that they're green and creepy. But Sofia still goes there anyway, though she is scared off when she sees a troll peering out through the rocks and leaves her torn kite behind, which is taken by the troll.

Sofia brings up the trolls at dinner, which prompts King Roland to mention the story of King Gideon and the trolls, and James tells it to them. Back when their great-grandfather Gideon was king, one night he heard a loud thumping outside the castle, and discovered a bunch of trolls banging their clubs on the ground. The frightened king summoned his guards to chase the trolls away, and since then no one has ever seen them outside their cave, since King Gideon later made a rule saying that the trolls had to stay in the cave.

The next morning, Sofia's repaired kite is somehow returned to her, and she assumes the troll she saw yesterday fixed it and has now given it back, so she decides to go thank him. While Sofia is looking around in the cave for the troll, he pulls her off the bridge she was crossing, since it is unsafe. He then introduces himself as Gnarly, and brings her to the grotto where the trolls live, where there is a giant wall of crystals that look like a starry night sky, since the trolls love looking at stars. Sofia asks why they stay in the cave looking at these fake stars instead of going out to see real stars, and Gnarly tells her the story James told last night, though from the trolls' point of view. Their great-grandtrolls had gone out to look at the stars and were so happy they started banging their clubs on the ground, before they were chased away by the king's guards and not allowed outside their cave ever again. Sofia also learns that when the trolls bang their clubs on the ground they are making their own kind of music, and had not been attacking, as King Gideon thought.

Sofia tells James about her meeting with the trolls and that what happened between them and King Gideon was a misunderstanding. She agrees to give him the club she received if he helps her show everyone there is no reason to be afraid of the trolls. The two of them notice a troupe of acrobats going into the castle, who will be performing for their family that night after dinner, which gives Sofia the idea that the trolls should perform for the king and queen. Sofia tells Gnarly that she and James can sneak the trolls in while everyone else is having dessert, and they will hide until the acrobats are finished. Although Gnarly is unsure at first, he ends up deciding to go along with the plan.

After dinner, Sofia and James claim they are full and don't want dessert, and then run off, making Amber suspicious. The two of them sneak the trolls in, but are forced to hide them behind a tapestry when Baileywick and the acrobats suddenly come around the corner. The trolls are successfully brought into the throne room and hidden behind the curtains, where they will wait until Sofia announces there is "one more surprise" that night. Amber asks James what he and Sofia are up to but he brushes her off.

Once the acrobats are finished, Sofia makes the announcement about some "very special musicians" that will be performing and James pulls back the curtains to reveal the trolls making their music. An angry Roland orders his guards to capture them despite Sofia's pleading that they leave them alone, but the trolls escape. Roland angrily askes Sofia "How did trolls get into the castle!?" and a visablly hurt Sofia states "I brought them." Roland tells his daughter they will talk about this later, Roland asks his wife to take the children to their bedrooms until the castle is safe. Baileywick tells the king he will have guards placed outside the trolls' cave by tomorrow as Sofia walks slowly away hurt and horrified by her father's actions. When Miranda confronts her daughter in her room about what happened Sofia tells her that she ws only trying to help everyone get along and that everyone's wrong about the trolls. Sofia, with her animal friends tagging along, decides to go apologize to Gnarly and say good bye since this is now her only chance to do so. In her haste to get to the cave, Sofia fails to notice that Roland sees her heading for the cave and goes after her.

Roland catches up to Sofia as she is once again crossing the bridge and the two of them fall through it. He asks why Sofia broke the castle rule regarding the trolls, and she says that she did that because everyone's wrong about them and that the "troll attack" was a huge misunderstanding that occured because King Gideon jumped to conculsions without even trying to get the facts first just like he did. Gnarly and the other trolls arrive to pull them up to safety. Roland apologizes for how the trolls have been treated, and later goes on to issue a proclamation that the trolls are free to come to the castle and look at the stars whenever they want.

Trivia

 * The title is based on "Let the Good Times Roll".
 * "Let the Good Times Roll" is also the name of a jump blues song by Louis Jordan.
 * This episode also makes references to two songs by Qulinez, "Troll" and "Noise".
 * This is the first time Roland shows that he is very protective of Sofia.
 * This is the first time Sofia is seen wearing a robe.

Songs

 * Make Some Noise

Cast

 * Ariel Winter as Sofia
 * Sara Ramirez as Queen Miranda
 * Wayne Brady as Clover
 * Tim Gunn as Baileywick
 * Darcy Rose Byrnes as Princess Amber
 * Zach Callison as Prince James
 * Travis Willingham as King Roland II
 * Ashley Eckstein as Mia
 * Meghan Strange as Robin
 * Zoe Robb as Teeni
 * Carlos Alazraqui as Gnarly