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one of the (many, many) things that bothered me about season 3 was that early in the season Rapunzel was given an exact template for how to talk Cassandra down and reconcile with her and she never??? used it????
The third episode is about Catalina turning into a werewolf. She was feeling like Angry kept speaking over her, wasn't listening to her, and didn't care about her. She got approached by a spirit that said it could help her, and she received a dangerous (but not evil) power,
that she caused destruction with because she was upset. Her friends accidentally set her off again by pressuring her to give it up when they didn't address the reasons she was upset, and she took off. Finally Angry gets through to her with an apology that followed the steps:
1. recognized she played a part in how Catalina was hurt ("I didn't mean to be so bossy") 2. APOLOGIZED ("I'm sorry I didn't listen better") 3. assured that she'll work to not cause the problems again ("I promise I'll try harder") 4. affirmed how much she cares ("I love you")
Meanwhile, Rapunzel talking to Cassandra? She doesn't recognize the part she played, doesn't apologize and therefore makes no promises about addressing the problems. She gives orders and acts patronizing. She tries to communicate she cares, but without the rest it rings hollow.
Seriously, listening to what she says in all the episodes before the finale, she says a lot about wanting to talk and not wanting to fight but she acts like she has no idea why Cassandra's angry - when Cassandra told her point blank several reasons in the dark kingdom -
she acts like its a personal problem on Cassandra's part ("whatever this anger is" "are you fighting me or are you fighting yourself"), and she shows directly that she wasn't listening to what Cassandra had told her ("I have always supported you").
Then in the finale she escalates the fight with Cassandra by saying "I'll do whatever it takes to protect this kingdom" (which could sound like I don't care about you), "give me the moonstone" (commanding her numerous times when Rapunzel has seen that orders seriously upset her),
"now that you've made it impossible to talk" (this one annoys me the most because she says this immediately after Cassandra HAS started to talk about her feelings and answer Rapunzel's questions about what it is that she wants - so this line is untrue and makes no sense).
Rapunzel never apologizes to Cassandra in s3, not even in the finale (do I think she actually has much to apologize for? no but that's a different hangup about the writing, for now I'll pretend what the show wants me to believe, that Cassandra has legitimate reasons to be upset).
Rapunzel gives a better apology to PASCAL in the first island episode ("I'm sorry if I made you feel small & unneeded" "he got carried away with the attention, which he wouldn't have needed if his friends had been giving him the credit he deserves") than she ever gives Cassandra.
(Side note: We don't even see her apologize for MUTILATING HER HAND at the end of Rapunzel Day One! we only see Cassandra explaining why she's mad and assuring Rapunzel that she'll get over it. (Surely, Rapunzel must have apologized, but why not show the audience too?) )
Unlike the werewolf episode, we see Cassandra have her power ripped away from her and get forced into an extremely vulnerable position when finally nothing but an appeal to their emotional bond was enough to get through to her and restore their relationship.
I love that scene don't get me wrong (I'm a lesbian and it's in the contract) but it's absurd that there is never any apology, accountability, or assurances with regards to Rapunzel's behavior that set Cassandra off in the first place. Especially when SHE HAD A TEMPLATE
I mean it doesn't matter because Cassandra leaves her at the end of the episode anyway (side note: WHY WAS CASSANDRA ALONE? HER FEELING LIKE SHE DIDN'T HAVE REAL FRIENDS, FOLLOWED BY MONTHS OF ISOLATION WERE SOME OF HER BIGGEST PROBLEMS IN THE SERIES! a rant for another day)
(Side note I talk a lot about Rapunzel apologizing to Cassandra but obviously Cassandra has a lot to apologize for too - a lot more - starting with refusing to talk about her feelings and ending with demolishing a city. At least we see her take accountability and apologize)
related: my sister's liveblog points out all the catalina-cassandra parallels in the werewolf episode, there are more than what i listed: https://cassandra-watch.tumblr.com/tagged/s3e03/chrono/
