In the Mid-Season 2 finale, Elena visits the West Coast of Avalor, where she meets mysterious underwater creatures called
sirenas — and encounters the evil sorceress Shuriki once again!
Tropes in this episode include:
- Ambiguous Situation: Elena shoots a Blaze spell at Shuriki, which either killed her and left nothing behind or trapped her in the orb of the Scepter of Night. Afterwards, when Cruz retrieves the orb and brings it back to Victor and Carla, Victor sinisterly says that they still have use for the orb.
- An Aesop: Blood relation does not make a person your family. True family are those who will stand by you and look out for you no matter how low things get in your lives.
- The Atoner: Both Marisa and her father, but in different ways. Marisa wants to mend old wounds between the sirenas and the humans, while her father believes this to be impossible and that the best atonement would be staying out of the humans' lives forever.
- "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: Cristobal doesn't like the word "betrayed" but can't come up with a better one.
- Bittersweet Ending: While more sweet than bitter, it still qualifies. Shuriki and Fiero are defeated for good, Duke Cristobal is arrested, though Elena is still hurt by his betrayal and the sirenas make peace with the humans. But Victor and Carla have escaped, still have their powers, and it's implied that they, Cruz and Vestia will now be plotting Revenge against Elena and will attempt to take over Avalor themselves.
- Book Ends: Just as she did in their first encounter, Elena manages to save herself from being killed by Shuriki thanks to a magical artifact she wields. While the amulet saved her life last time by pulling her inside, the Scepter of Light saves her here by casting the vanish spell and disappearing just before the hit.
- Continuity Nod: Sofia the First previously established that mermaids (in the style of The Little Mermaid (1989)) do exist in the Ever Realm. These particular mermaids however, are sirens.
- Disney Death: Elena was almost killed by the Scepter of Night, but her life was spared thanks to the Scepter of Light's vanish spell happening at the right moment.
- False Reassurance: Cristobal says Elena will always have her familia at her side. Once he reveals his true colors, he turns her into their cellmate.
- Foreshadowing: Cristobal is as subtle as a jackhammer when he assures Elena that she'll always have her familia at her side. It turns out that after Shuriki overthrew the royal family, he was a collaborater, and he ends up betraying his family for Shuriki in the end.
- Freudian Excuse: Back when sirenas used to make ships sink, Cristobal's father died because of that and Cristobal, who was just a kid back then, refuses to consider the possibility that the sirenas have changed their ways. How valid this is an excuse, however, is thrown into question by Cristobal's later actions.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Princess Marisa and Prince Marzel. Their parents are a sirena and a human-turned-sirena. It's implied to be the reason they're the only sirenas who can turn their tails into legs.
- Hypocrite: Cristobal betrays his familia but, when Princess Elena orders him imprisoned in the same tower he imprisoned them, he appeals to the fact they're familia. Elena points out he doesn't know the meaning of that word.
- Hypocritical Humor:
- Upon seeing his sister's inability to properly use her legs, Marzel tries to asks what's so complicated with that but falls down while asking.
- A subtle example: upon Elena revealing to the rest of her family that Cristobal has betrayed them to Shuriki, Esteban takes the opportunity to yell "that SCOUNDREL!" While not nearly as bad as Cristobal given his circumstances and actually feeling remorse for it, Esteban is (presumably) still hiding that he betrayed his family to Shuriki in the past, and his over-the-top outraged reaction here seems like a hamfisted way to prevent suspicion that he was ever anything but loyal to his family.
- I Have No Son!: After all the bad things Cristobal has done to his family, Elena makes it clear that he's dead to her.
- Karma Houdini: Unlike Shuriki, Fiero and Cristobal, Victor, Carla and Cruz (and Vestia, despite briefly being turned into an ice statue by Mateo) escape the consequences of their actions in this episode.
- Karmic Death: Shuriki is killed by Elena after everything she's done to her, her family, and people.
- Killed Off for Real: Shuriki is destroyed for good by the Scepter of Light, along with the Scepter of Night (except for the orb).
- Mind-Control Eyes: Elena's eyes turn a sickly green as Marisa lures her to her with her siren song.
- Near-Villain Victory: Shuriki almost succeeds at killing Elena, but she is protected by her scepter last minute and in return, she kills her. If the scepter didn't work when it did, Shuriki would've won.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: You know things are bad when Esteban acts really childish.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Attempted by Shuriki, who says "Goodbye, Elena," before using the Scepter of Night to destroy her, but she is spared of her life by the Scepter of Light's "Vanish" magic last minute. Then it's played straight by Elena herself, who announces "Blaze!", channeling said spell to Shuriki, destroying her.
- Retcon: Back in "Island of Youth", Esteban said that he's Elena's favorite cousin because he's her only cousin. This episode reveals that Elena has another cousin on the other side of her family, that being Cristobal. This is handwaved away when someone asks about it, to which Elena explains that Esteban was just being overdramatic.
- Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: To drive home the point of how honorable Jaquins generally are, they are not easily persuaded with gold, as Luna shows.
- Sirens Are Mermaids: While regular mermaids do exist in the Ever Realm, there are also Sirenas—a race of mermaids who charm sailors and sink ships with their song.
- Taken for Granite: Fiero is turned back into stone by Mateo.
- Wham Episode: Apparently, Esteban wasn't the only one of Elena's cousins who betrayed her and teamed up with Shuriki. Turns out Cristobal betrayed the family by accepting Shuriki's offer for a supply of gold that lasted 41 years.
- Wham Line: When it looks like Shuriki destroyed Elena, she happens to get this remark:
Elena: Missed me.
- Wrecked Weapon: The Scepter of Night gets obliterated except for the orb, but the orb itself still has power that Victor decides to take for himself.
- You Killed My Father: Cristobal is bitter over the loss of his father, Elena's paternal uncle, and is the reason why he has a strong hatred of the Sirenas. Although his later actions indicate that it's not as sore a spot for him as he pretended it was earlier, and that it's his own power and privilege that matter most to him.
