Tear Jerker / Cinderella II: Dreams Come True

• Aim to Please:
  • Cinderella spends an entire day with Prudence in order to learn how to be a "proper" princess but it all ends up in disaster. With Cinderella humiliated. And with a stiff upper lip, she goes to her room and cries from the stress of trying to please everyone.
• Tall Tail:
  • Jaq’s wish to become human so he can better help Cinderella slowly backfires on him because he Didn't Think This Through:
    • Not only does Cinderella not realize who he is, she's so busy that he never gets a chance to tell her it's him.
    • His day gets even worse when he accidentally scares the living daylights out of his mouse friends by poking his face through one of their holes when he hears them talking about him, causing them to flee.
      Jaq: Wait! It’s… me.
      • When the Fairy Godmother appears right after this and asks if he's all right, he awkwardly springs up and turns away from her, brushing himself off and claiming that everything’s great… only to stop abruptly when she reveals she knows what happened by saying “I think you gave your friends a bit of a fright”. Realizing there's no point in lying to her anymore, he turns around and admits the truth, clearly heartbroken over his closest friends not recognizing him in his human form:
      Jaq: (quietly, voice breaking) … They ran away from me. Even Mary.
    • And it all comes to a head when Jaq accidentally causes an elephant to start rampaging through the very festival he was trying to help Cinderella with. When he sees what he’s done, he cries that It's All My Fault and falls to his knees in despair, wishing that the Fairy Godmother was there.
• An Uncommon Romance has quite a few.
  • In general, the entire segment enforces the harsh reality of Tremaine's controlling nature over her biological daughters. On the surface, Anastasia and Drizella seem just as vain and selfish as their mother, but Anastasia in particular is shown to have incredibly low self-esteem and a genuine soft side when away from her mother's influence. The sisters may not have been as openly abused as Cinderella was, but they were just as unhappy with Tremaine as their mother.
  • Cinderella's first attempt to arrange a Meet Cute between Anastasia and the Baker results in a startled horse kicking Anastasia right into the Baker's shop, covering her with eggs and other messy ingredients. She runs off humiliated and teary-eyed while the other villagers laugh at her. In any other circumstance, Anastasia being put through such an embarrassing ordeal would be incredibly satisfying, but here you just want to give the poor girl a hug.
  • While also heartwarming, there's an underlying sense of tragedy to Anastasia and Cinderella's interactions in this segment. Cinderella holds no resentment for the mistreatment that Anastasia helped put her through all those years and genuinely tries to help her, but one can't help but imagine how much closer they could have been growing up if it weren't for Tremaine's influence over them.
  • After her confidence boost from Cinderella, Anastasia goes to meet the Baker, only to see him seemingly give a heart shaped garland to another woman (this woman was actually a platonic friend, and the Baker was only asking her if she thought Anastasia would like the garland). Anastasia bursts into tears and runs away, dropping her own garland she was going to give to him. The Baker is confused and upset by her leaving, as is the little girl that Anastasia had previously given one of her flowers to.
  • Though Anastasia stands up to her mother and is implied to be growing out from her control, Drizella remains with Tremaine in the ending. She silently watches Anastasia's resistance, almost touched at the whole affair, until Lady Tremaine snaps at her and demands that she leave. Drizella gives one last sad look at her sister, before quietly acquiescing to her mother's demands and leaving her, with Tremaine all but disowning Anastasia as they leave her with the Baker.