Lego Friends Reunite

Hello whoever might be out there,

Today I watched Season 2 Episode 11 of Lego Friends - The Next Chapter. The reunion episode. Long awaited. I briefly outlined, and yes that was brief for me, my opinions on Lego Friends and their redesigns in my last post. TLDR; I love them. One thing I love in particular is the attention to detail across what is technically totally different shows. I love Girls on a Mission. Definitely one of my comfort shows. Something about the 2018 girls taking on challenges bigger than themselves and winning is charming to me. Almost like I am mourning this fictional life I should be living. I admire the girls and everything they do, and I think this reunion episode does the 2018 girls justice, but I am not sure if I can say the same for the 2023 gang.

The episode starts with Nova and Autumn sat in the diner discussing how it feels to be ditched by their friends - the biggest downside for having such a big friend group. Cue lazy excuse for not having all eight involved in the episode. We are left with Nova and Autumn, but Liann comes bursting in with Leo in tow, switching to the news radio station to hear about the return of famous astronaut, Olivia, to Heartlake City, right as famous pop star Andrea is moving into a mansion in her home city. Reunion time! Obviously Autumn gets all the info seeing as she is Mia's daughter and woah, they have an invite to stay at Andrea's mansion for the weekend! I know the plot seems a bit random, but you have to remember that it is a children's show after all. It is just me still watching it, invested in the development of all these characters.

So they all go to the mansion. Emma and Stephanie turn up too. Emma is just vaguely "an award winning artist" and Stephanie is City Mayor. It made me smile knowing they all got the success they wanted, and I liked how success doesn't always equal fame. Mia is happy with her daughter and her farm while Andrea is a multi-millionaire pop star. It shows how different they really were. They have this cute hugging moment and a gossip, but we are introduced to Andrea's daughter Imani, a "shy and quiet" girl. I don't think Imani is shy and quiet really, there isn't anything in the episode that would suggest that. However, she has just moved house, presumably rather far, to a city she has only heard about through her mother's stories. She has every right to be nervous and quiet. So the four of them are tasked with making her feel welcome.

It's a duel plot episode, which I like. Showing the chaos of the adventures that the original five had, while showing the slightly calmer and (somewhat) more realistic adventures of the new eight. The original five go on a crazy journey down a secret tunnel that was accidentally discovered in Andrea's new mansion after dropping their old time capsule. They go down this Indiana Jones style tunnel to try and escape, reliving some of their old memories. However, I did find slightly strange how unfit Olivia seems to be despite being a literal astronaut.

While this is all going on, Imani has decided that she needs to try and impress Nova, Liann, Leo, and Autumn; after Liann keeps bugging her for stories about what it is like to be so rich (subtle class divide mention, I like it. That combined with the conversation about pools is perfect.) But Imani doesn't have any, so she does dramatic retellings of stories her mother has told her, but changing a few very subtle details. Three of them are invested in these stories, but Autumn quickly catches on to what she is doing, putting the dots together as she has heard the stories from her own mother. Autumn looks around the room to see photos of her mother and her friends on their journeys when they were younger. This is all very well as a plot, but what made this stand out so much to me? Well, I have watched Girls on a Mission several times, and I could connect the stories Imani is telling to episodes of the show. It really does create an extremely strong and consistent universe that all the characters live in, something that was missing pre-2018. The small details all match up, and something that you would assume to be common sense to the show writers really does mean a lot to me. It is common, especially in children's shows, to lack coherent and consistent plot lines, so to have this one, from one of my favourite shows ever, really means a lot.

There is later a whole moral thing where Autumn confronts Imani for lying and Imani admits that she just wanted to feel cool and Autumn feels guilty for being so serious about something so... unserious. A clear example of Autumn not thinking things through and acting on impulse. But it's Lego Friends, so everything is okay in the end. They all compliment her storytelling capabilities, even though it all feels a bit backhanded.

The main criticism I have for this part of the plot, other than Imani's clear mischaracterisation, is the characterisation of the other characters. Or should I bluntly say, why Liann? Aliya is right there! She is the resident science nerd who wants to study hard and learn about all of these things, and yet she is nowhere to be seen. Instead, Liann is sent to fill that void, but she seems enthusiastic just for the sake of being enthusiastic, not because she actually cares that a famous astronaut is coming back to her hometown. Aliya would've made much more sense to fill that role, or even let Nova have it!

I would've expected Liann to be more interested in meeting Emma. She mentions "being able to touch an award winning artist" but that is all we get! Emma doesn't really play an active role in the episode either, I don't think the storywriters knew what to do with her other than make her a non-descript famous artist. Ironic considering the amount of artists and creative people all working on the show, yet not one of them could come up with something better.

Leo was also once again being a filler character. I can't remember a single thing he did or said in that episode. Give the boy some more love! He might as well have not been there.

Back to the original five though. They reach the other end of the secret tunnel, surprised that their time capsule survived the whole ordeal, making jokes about how it is like the adventures they used to go on. It really does fee like it marks the end of an era, but I can't help but wish there was... more. It felt a bit underwhelming, but I don't know if that is just the nostalgia talking. I do love these girls, and I know the brand needs to evolve but I don't know whether I am ready to evolve with them. I am trying though.

The real kicker for me is when they open the time capsule and take our their respective items. Mia put in the first horseshoe of her horse Bella, a real throwback. Sweet, cute, I don't really have any other thoughts. Very Mia. 

Stephanie has her first ever "First" medal, which I'm not sure how I feel about it really. She is a competitive girl, she strives to win at everything, she is City Mayor. What are we counting as her first win? Lack of explanation makes this one feel empty for me. 

Emma has a portrait she painted of the other four girls. She left out herself, and I felt an odd sense of pity for her. She is always drawing everyone else but she does have a tendency to forget herself sometimes; whether that is just to avoid the awkwardness of self-portraits, I don't know. Sweet, but bittersweet. It makes me think back to 2012 friends, where forgetting about Emma was a running gag. Emma deserves better, she always has.

Andrea had a signed poster of Jeremy Door. Their relationship is a weird one, especially considering they were colleagues at some point. If we are following the Girls on a Mission timeline, this was definitely buried after they sang together, as I will explain in a bit. I suppose singing with your famous singer before you became a multi-millionaire yourself would be something you would want to remember, it gives you a taste of what you want, leaving you hungry for more. Always be ambitious.

I'm going to skip past Olivia for now to talk about the final thing in the time capsule. A newspaper clipping of the five saving the seals. Sea life has had a surprisingly large impact on the friendship and adventures of the girls, and I like how it is inspiring those watching to do the same. I have a passion for ocean life myself, and I now can't help but wonder if that came in to play. One of the very first, original, 2012 episodes of Lego Friends is all about saving the sea creatures, and it is something they come back to again in Girls on a Mission, although whatever happened pre-2018 seems to be a total blur for the girls. Despite that being the most well known era of Lego Friends, it isn't the canon as such. A gesture to show how much good they have done for the world. A sign to the audience to be proactive and not let injustice slide by. A strong message for a show so seemingly innocent.

The reason why I left Olivia for last is because this less than a minute long scene is the whole reason why I wanted to write this post. Olivia pulls out the keyring she bought at the science museum with her Dad. This seems extremely minor for anyone who isn't a self-described hardcore Lego Friends fan like me, but this is absolutely huge. Olivia's parents are divorced. She has a strained relationship with her Dad, which is explored in Season 3 Episode 9 (hence why we can safely say this was after Andrea had sang with Jeremy Door, as that was Season 1 Episode 8.) After much tension, Olivia's Dad finally takes her to a science museum, listening to what she loves to do rather than what he thinks she loves. That must be when that keyring is obtained. This is crazy symbolically in comparison to what everyone else put into the time capsule. Stephanie put a medal and Olivia put a physical manifestation of her father's love after years of tension.

This is such an insanely minor detail to mention in an episode full of a fair few assumptions and generalisations. But I want the writers to know that that one small detail they probably thought was irrelevant, nearly made me cry. The combination of nostalgia and feeling... heard in an odd way. It makes the universe come to life that tiny bit more, especially referencing an episode which by itself is emotional enough. 

That's pretty much the end of the episode. They take a selfie of them all together and fully welcome Imani to Heartlake City. My mind keeps flicking back to that one scene. A simple spaceship keyring showing so much Olivia's love and passion for space and her father all in one swoop. It is so niche, and I think that is what makes it so incredible.

They really are best friends forever.

Yours faithfully,

MD