Rapunzel: Sorry, frying pans are great and all, but... it's time for an upgrade.
Cassandra: Rapunzel, what are you doing?
Rapunzel: Letting down my hair.
After having another nightmare about her hair, Rapunzel gets a message from Varian saying he may have solved the mystery of the rocks and needs her to find the bronze Graphtyc. Rapunzel and her friends journey to Old Corona, which is now overgrown by the Black Rocks. Unfortunately, she has to outrun a group of mooks who are after the Graphtyc.
Also, Rapunzel's birthday's coming, which makes this episode set almost exactly one year after the film.
This episode provides examples of:
- Audience Surrogate: Cassandra becomes one for those who have just gotten into the franchise, trying to familiarize herself as she sees the tower for the second time.
- Call-Back:
- Just like in the first episode, Rapunzel has another dream that turns into a nightmare about the black rocks and her hair. This time, it involves Varian and it's more foretelling.
- Both in her dream and in reality, Rapunzel sees a floating lantern just like the ones in the original movie, where they played an important part in the plot.
- When the trio, plus Maximus, get into Rapunzel's tower, Eugene gives an expose to Maximus, basically retelling everything that happened to him in Rapunzel's tower in the movie, a.o. how Rapunzel hid him in her closet, and how he died.
- The Cavalry: When Rapunzel and the others are surrounded by the Grey Helmets, Max appears to smack them all around with a frying pan.
- Chase Fight: Rapunzel, Eugene, and Cassandra are unable to engage the Grey Helmets for more than a few moments at a time without being completely overwhelmed, so most of the episode consists of the mooks chasing them from Old Corona through the forests.
- Continuity Nod: The mystery of the black rocks continues in this episode, with further evidence revealed.
- Destroy the Abusive Home: The episode ends with the tower being destroyed. While it was a Gilded Cage that she was held in by her kidnapper, she cannot help but cry at the destruction of the place that she called home for so long.
- Determinator: The Gray Helmets are very relentless, and they will do anything to get the MacGuffin. You cannot run from them, they're very tough to fight, hiding only delays the inevitable. They Will. Not. Stop. Ever.
- Did Not Think This Through: While the helmet mooks are scaling the tower, Rapunzel decides to let down her hair so it could touch a black stone and create a shockwave that would blow the mooks away. However, what she didn’t see coming was the black stones sprouting up the tower, trapping her and her friends, and destroying the tower completely.Rapunzel: Um, I did not expect the rocks to follow me all the way up here.Eugene: What did you expect them to do?
- Dreaming of Things to Come: The nightmare Rapunzel has is more prophetic, involving Varian and a messenger lantern, which is exactly what happens that Rapunzel has to follow.Rapunzel: This [dream] was... trying to tell me something.
- Elite Mooks: As it turns out, the goons that are chasing Rapunzel are some kind of secret legion of the Kingdom also led by the Captain of The Guard, and they're not the same run-of-the-mill Royal Guards we see in the series. Even Cassandra couldn't take one on. Maximus, however, is a different story...
- Faceless Goons: Rapunzel is constantly pursued by grey-helmeted mooks tasked with retrieving the Graphtyc containing the scroll. The helmets fall off during the final scene, revealing they are the Captain of the Guard and soldiers part of a secret group.
- Foreshadowing: In Rapunzel's nightmare, Varian appears enraged and screams that she promised she would help him. This hints at the alchemist's current, very negative, opinion of the princess.
- Frying Pan of Doom: Rapunzel and especially Maximus both smack some mooks unconscious with her trademark weapon the frying pan. Subverted when the mooks arrive at Rapunzel's tower, and she puts the frying pan away to fight them with her hair instead.
- Gallows Humor: While giving Maximus a tour of the tower, Eugene makes a few light-hearted comments about his death in the movie.Eugene: Aw, why the long face? Hehehe. It's okay, I came back to life!
- The Ghost: Despite the title, Varian only appears in a vision but he still doesn't appear in person and is not found by the end of the episode.
- Internal Reveal: Rapunzel finds out what happened to Varian's father in this episode, and sees the note that he wrote, but still doesn't read it.
- Lampshade Hanging: When Maximus the horse climbs up on Rapunzel's hair and she is strong enough to hold him, Eugene points out the ridiculousness of this:Eugene: Oh, so horses can climb now—that's a thing!
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Rapunzel rejects her trademark frying pan weapon, saying that she needs an upgrade to fight off the Grey Helmets scaling the tower.
- MacGuffin: Varian's Graphtyc contains a scroll with clues as to the origins of the black rocks, which has to be retrieved and brought to Varian, but it is being sought by a group of grey-helmeted mooks.
- The Men in Black: The Grey Helmets are doing whatever they can to keep all knowledge of the black rock's looming threat from becoming public knowledge, or at the very least making sure that Rapunzel did not know.
- Mood Whiplash: After Rapunzel learns the truth from her father and demands answers...it cuts to the cheerful, happy closing theme.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Rapunzel admits that it is a (literal) leap of faith, but her hair wrapping around into a ball to save everyone is something that hasn't happened before, possibly triggered by the proximity to the black rocks. Though technically, the hair formed around her and Eugene back in What The Hair when the lab was collapsing, but it happened without the black rocks around.
- Pre Ass Kicking Oneliner: Before kicking ass against the mooks (with her hair, for added awesomeness), Rapunzel speaks a line showing she means business:Rapunzel: These guys just ticked off the wrong princess.
- Scarily Competent Tracker: The Grey Helmets even find them at the hidden tower.
- Shout-Out: The two pink balls that create the goo that traps the Grey Helmet are very similar to the chemical bombs Honey Lemon uses in Big Hero 6.
- Suddenly Shouting: When a worried Eugene says this after Rapunzel has her nightmare, he shouts out the last part:Eugene: Hey, guys, sorry to interrupt the dream chat here, but is no-one else even a little bit concerned that Rapunzel woke up SUPSPENDED IN MID-AIR?!
- Trash the Set: The tower Rapunzel grew up in is destroyed by the end.
- Unexpectedly Dark Episode: After a pair of Breather Episodes, this one takes a rather horrifying turn toward the black rocks arc, culminating in Rapunzel's tower being destroyed.
- Wham Episode: The King knew about these black rocks, but he lied to Rapunzel and the kingdom about them being under control to avoid starting a panic. The truth is that he is trying to find a way to quickly and quietly get rid of them.
