TV Review – Fate: The Winx Saga

So, if you’re like me, you remember The Winx Club and were super excited when you heard that Fate: The Winx Saga was announced as a six episode season. The original show followed Bloom and her friends as they learned about their magic and kicked bad guy butt in fabulous fairy outfits that were colourful and sparkly with gorgeous wings to boot and those characters were just about everything a little girl wanted a fairy to be. The Winx Saga is the grown up, “we’re not kids any more” version of the story but without the transformations and, to be quite honest, I have some bones to pick with this new series.

Warning: This whole review contains spoilers after the trailer so if you haven’t seen the show and intend on watching it please don’t read any further.

Firstly, Terra. Terra is an Earth fairy (hence the name) and is larger than the rest of the girls in her suite and I have no issue with Terra’s appearance. My issues are a) why is Terra portrayed as a complete pushover and constantly fumbling over herself and b) why does the only larger character in the show have to have body confidence issues? Terra is an earth fairy; she could wreck your sh*t if she wanted to by dropping a rock on your head and you’d never see it coming. She specialises in plants? Okay, she’ll grow one of the huge variety of poisonous plants on the planet and kill you that way or just choke you with vines which we know she’s capable of manipulating because it was in the show. In my mind, a girl like that would have a personality that matches her element; tough, durable and unforgiving even if she was mollycoddled by her father and overprotective brother. The second issue is just poor writing. There’ve been plenty of stories revolving around women with body issues so the writers can do one of two things: 1) deal with the topic carefully and thoughtfully to show the struggle and reality that body dysmorphia, negative body image and, possibly, eating disorders cause. OR they can have a strong plus sized character, who doesn’t need to change her physical appearance because all the other girls are skinny. And I don’t mean the cliche moment where all her friends begin to notice that she’s eating less and tell her she doesn’t need to lose weight because she’s “beautiful inside and out”, I mean she looks in the mirror and tells herself those things.

Secondly, there is the whole trust thing between Sky and Bloom. It was all cool up until they were in the stone circle and Sky opened up to Bloom about EVERYTHING and, because Bloom was so desperate for answers, she drugged the guy and just left him there… In the middle of NOWHERE!! Oh yeah, that’s trustworthy! Plus, there’s how the writers resolve this. We don’t see the characters talk it out or get any semblance of confrontation between the two instead Bloom kisses Sky and we’re all good again. Yes, I know Bloom is desperate to know about her parents and her desire for answers would outweigh a lot but it does not mean she can drug someone and then kiss him to make it all better. Sky might as well have said, “We had a long conversation about trust, you drugged me and left me unconscious out in the open being aware of the threat looming but you kissed me so we’re cool.” Excuse me…no. If you wanted tension in your show, that scene could have given you a plethora of possible routes to go down.

Also, we’re missing one of my favourites of the Winx club: Tecna. Everyone has a mobile phone in the show but you don’t include the fairy of technology. Okay…cut off your exposition source right off the bat… Brave! Tecna was also the high IQ tactician of the Winx club and was more cool and calm than the other girls. I would love to understand why they decided to take her out entirely because so far the Winx Saga has Aisha (will run to the teachers if necessary), Terra (goes along with everyone else), Stella (bossy princess), Musa (slightly in a world of her own empath) and Bloom (do now, ask questions later). There is no balance or voice of reason in the group and that would be where Tecna comes in.

When it comes down to the nitty gritty, Fate: The Winx Saga is a good show but can be, at times, poorly written. There are some excellent misdirects and moments in the first season that will hook you and the acting is very good across the board. At some points, the tension and conflict between characters seems inconsequential because there are no repercussions for actions in some situations. Personally, I hope that in the next season we get more development of our villains and more serious consequences for some of the more rash behaviour we know certain characters are guilty of. Visual effects are very well done and don’t look out of place which is a big plus since it is such an integral part of the story. Personally, I would use the next season to continue on from the first 6 episodes with 6 more and make it more of at Season 1b kind of thing because I feel like season 1 ended in the middle of the story. The girls returning to the school only to meet their new Headmistress and teachers seems to be just the beginning of the conflict.

Overall, if you don’t remember The Winx Club or never saw it, Fate: The Winx Saga is a good fantasy/drama show to watch but, in my opinion, it may have been better to create a new generation of Fairies and Specialists separate from what some of the audience will remember at the Winx Club. This initial season has a lot of potential for future seasons and there are plenty of possible storylines that can feel like a natural progression from where season one ends. Naturally, there is the main plot, Bloom and her parentage, but there is the possible storyline surrounding Silva and whether or not he should be saved (save him and put him up against Sky’s dad again and really kill the dad this time!). Fate: The Winx Saga is streamable on Netflix now.