"Painter's Block" is the eighteenth episode of Tangled: The Series. It premiered on November 25, 2017.
Plot[]
In a flashback from previously, an evil spirit frees itself after the Demanitus Device prevented the blizzard.
Rapunzel wakes up and finds the servants bringing in art. King Frederic just finished building the Gallery of the Seven Kingdoms. To finish it, he asks Rapunzel to paint a mural. Meanwhile, all of Corona is contributing to art, the evil spirit hides in Feldspar's painting.
Rapunzel gets ready to paint the mural. She tries to think of something to make. Suddenly, her traumas of her day as queen come back to her and prevent her from painting. She finds herself unable to make a decision. Cassandra deduces it's "Painter's Block" (which is a reference to "Writer's Block"). Rapunzel observes the citizens do their art. A mysterious old woman named Mrs. Sugarby approaches to help Rapunzel, by inviting her to her art class. The Captain assigns Cassandra on a mission; Feldspar has gone missing and she must find him. It turns out, Mrs. Sugarby has him hypnotized and makes him paint a dead tree at Janus Point.
Rapunzel meets Mrs. Sugarby at class and she assigns the students to paint today's subject, which the tree Feldspar was painting. Rapunzel tries to paint it, but her traumas come back to her. Mrs. Sugarby asks her problem. Rapunzel explains her Painter's Block and while she wants to paint, she just can't make a decision. Mrs. Sugarby understands and says when painters put their own ideas into their, it leads to them overthinking it, so she advises her to paint the tree exactly because everything has their own beauty. Rapunzel does that. Cassandra is called down by Old Lady Crowley since Friedborg didn't show up. Cassandra sees the painting of Mrs. Sugarby's tree before leaving. Rapunzel shows Eugene her painting, but he figures it could use more of Rapunzel's details. Rapunzel coldly denies it. Mrs. Sugarby offers Lance help to make more valuable art, which catches Xavier's eye.
Rapunzel returns to art class, painting the same tree. Rapunzel thought it didn't seem so exciting, so she tries to add something different. Mrs. Sugarby stops her and begins the hypnosis on her. Rapunzel says she can't decide, so Mrs. Sugarby tells her making difficult choices is a part of life. Cassandra talks to the Pub Thugs about the missing people. They reveal that Ulf, the mime, is gone too. Cassandra notices the same tree painting and becomes more suspicious. Eugene meets Rapunzel at the docks for a date, which she's unusually late tonight. To his shock, she's wearing shoes. Eugene realizes that her day as queen has shaken her confidence that she's not being herself and she can't make decisions, not just to paint, but ever. Eugene assures her that she made some big calls that day and it was hard for her, but making difficult choices is a part of life. Rapunzel finally losses her cool and lashes out at him. She had to refuse to help Varian, let Pascal risk his life, and rely on a fairytale over her friends to stop the blizzard. The entire kingdom rested on all of Rapunzel's decisions, which she just doesn't want to experience anymore. Eugene and Cassandra discuss Rapunzel‘s behavior and they realize her painting is the same as all the others classmates in Mrs. Sugarby's art class. They go to her art tent and find Xavier tied up. Having most knowledge of legends, he explains that when they used the Demanitus Device to stop the blizzard, it had released a servant of Zhan Tiri, who plots to free the demon from its imprisonment. Mrs. Sugarby was that servant.
The ceremony to release Zhan Tiri was at Janus Point. Rapunzel, Feldspar, Lance, Friedborg, and Ulf were brainwashed and were painting the tree that would complete the deed. The portal opens. Eugene and Cassandra ride over there and confront them. Mrs. Sugarby reveals her true form as Sugracha the Eternal. She restrains Eugene and Cass. Rapunzel tries to resist her hypnosis, but Sugracha tells her to finish the painting and she'll spare them. To ease her conscience, she says she'll no longer need to make difficult choices ever again. Rapunzel snaps out of it after remembering that difficult choices are part of life. Rapunzel destroys her painting which ruins the ceremony and closes the portal before Zhan Tiri gets out. Fidella kicks Sugracha into the portal at the last second.
With Rapunzel back to herself, she develops an idea for the mural. In case her Painter's Block comes back, she has all the other painters join her.
Cast[]
- Mandy Moore as Rapunzel
- Zachary Levi as Flynn Rider, Feldspar
- Eden Espinosa as Cassandra
- James Monroe Iglehart as Lance Strongbow
- Clancy Brown as King Frederic
- M. C. Gainey as The Captain of the Guards
- Jeff Ross as Hook Foot
- Steve Blum as Attila
- Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Xavier
- Pat Carroll as Old Lady Crowley
- Ellen Greene as Mrs. Sugarby
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Moral: Making our own choices is a part of life.
- The title is a play on the idiom "Writer's Block".
- In the final scene of the episode, Lance has drawn a lamp on the mural that resembles Genie's Lamp, alluding to his voice actor James Monroe Iglehart's role in the Aladdin musical.
- This is Rapunzel's second time wearing shoes, following Tangled: Before Ever After (not including the disguise in Rapunzel's Enemy).
- Mrs. Sugarby says "Life is full of tough choices", a quote also said by Ursula.
- Ironically, Ursula is voiced by Pat Caroll who also voices Old Lady Crowley in this series.
- This episode marks the return of "the smolder" from Eugene who used it back in the movie.
- Nobody seemed too concerned with Pascal being close to Friedborg despite previously establishing that she is allergic to him.
- Mrs Sugarby is mentioned twice in future episodes: once in season 2 and once again in season 3.
International Premieres[]
