I need to rant about Cassandra from Tangled the Series
Let's get one thing out of the way; I love her! Got it? OK, let's move on! (spoilers for the whole show btw)
Content warnings: abuse, child neglect, toxic friends
If you've watched Tangled the Series, you'll remember Cassandra, Rapunzel's Lady in Waiting, and the villain for season 3. She's a bit rough around the edges, she's goal-oriented, and she'd much, much rather be a knight than a Lady in Waiting. But, she fulfills her duties and takes care of Rapunzel.
In season 2 and 3, we find out that Cassandra is Gothel's biological daughter (!), and this is where my rant begins. Because they. did. her. dirty.
When Cassandra finds out Gothel was her biological mother, she is rightfully angry - but she directs her anger at Rapunzel. ......... wut?
I'll be honest, I have nothing new to add, so here goes; Cassandra was, throughout the show, obviously not happy with where she was. She knew she was capable of MORE, and she felt like the world held her back - which it did. She gave up opportunities in favor of helping Rapunzel, but she was also shown to be smart.
And that's the key word; she was smart.
Never once did Cassandra seem to forget about Rapunzel's situation; on the contrary, she was often a bit annoyed with how naïve she could be, which resulted in her being overly protective. She knew Rapunzel had been kept hidden and isolated, she knew she'd been imprisoned.
When she got ahold of the moondrop after learning about her and Gothel's relation, Cassandra's rage is turned towards Rapunzel and the Kingdom of Corona (I love how Rapunzel is the Princess of Corona and was also forced to isolate...), and... why?
To me, it made no sense that she'd do this. Cassandra wasn't shown to have a bad life. She was raised by the captain of the guards, Rapunzel makes it clear that she loves her, even Eugene steps up and becomes a sort of low-key frienemie of her's... Cassandra's anger was so out of character it threw me off completely (still watched and loved the show!)...
After watching the show almost 2 years ago, I talked with a friend about this. I no longer talk to this friend, because she was toxic AF, but I clearly remember her using this argument when I said Cassandra was deeply in the wrong: "Well, you just don't know how it feels when your mother loves someone else more than you!"
... there's a lot to unpack there, and I won't get into it. However, I still deeply believe my ex-friend was wrong.
Because Gothel didn't love Rapunzel more than Cassandra.
Gothel didn't love either of them.
And Cassandra was smart enough to have known, if not this, then that her biological mother didn't love Rapunzel.
I like to put this into a modern perspective if I have to go that far: Imagine a woman kidnaps a little girl and keep her in her basement for 18 years. This woman has a daughter that, sure, she keeps her alive, but she also neglect her.
The daughter gets taken away for child neglect, and when she's 18, the girl in the basement gets rescued. The two of them meet, and the daughter starts attacking the girl and yelling at her because she "stole her mother's love".
I don't think any rational person would think of that as rational.
So what is my problem? Well, my problem isn't Cassandra or that she became the villain by season 3 - my problem is that it was handled through victim blaming despite having a lot of potential.
How could this've worked? Let me se...
We keep everything the same - Gothel is still Cassandra's mother, she finds out the same way, but! She tells Rapunzel. She's crying, maybe even apologizing (even though she doesn't have anything to apologize for), and the two of them bond even more over their shared trauma caused by Gothel.
But then people find out. They start alienating Cassandra, seeing her as the daughter of the woman who kidnapped their princess. Even the king and queen demote her, her adopted father, the Captain, can't do anything.
Rapunzel tries to help her, but Cassandra's life falls apart. Not because of her, but because of her mother.
She's angry. She's spent her whole life serving and protecting, being there to take care of the Princess and doing everything in her might to prove herself as a good soldier.
And just like that, it all vanishes.
She becomes desperate. And this is where Zhan Tiri comes in.
She shows up like a little girl, still, but tells Cassandra she knew Gothel and that the two of them learned about the powers of the sun drop together; and she knows how Cassandra can right her mother's wrongs.
Zhan Tiri starts gaslighting Cassandra when she won't have it at first, telling her her friends are being fake or doesn't completely trust her - basically sowing doubt like in the actual show.
In the end, she manage to convince Cassandra that the moondrop will have the power to make everyone forget Gothel is Cassandra's mother. This'll give Cassandra something to do in season 3 instead of just kinda walking around (now she has a lot of memories to erase), but the moondrop and Zhan Tiri will also have time to eat her away even further.
Cassandra does wrong things. She hurts people. And when her friends tries to stop her, her mind's been twisted into believing that it's because they're afraid of her mother. Feeling lost and hopeless, we get the same conclusion with a few tweaks, specifically to her motivation and hatred towards Rapunzel.
Cassandra no longer hates Rapunzel or her friends; she hates Corona for turning on her, and she hates herself and her mother. But she is still, deep within, a hero driven by morals.
Does this have any big conclusion? No? Purpose? Uh... I guess "@disneyanimation, please hire me, you won't regret it"? Other than that?
... nah, I just remembered my friend's half-assed excuse for Cassandra and got really mad...
