Winx Season 4 Doesn't Quite Hold Up

INTRO:

Oh season 4. You were once my favorite, but you’ve dipped a bit as time’s gone by. I still appreciate the changes it tried to implement in letting the Winx grow up after graduating from Alfea, but… it could’ve been handled a lot better. And today, we’re gonna explore the problems of season 4, and maybe throw out some ideas as to what could’ve been more interesting. Partially because I wanna articulate my feelings, and also because I may or may not be toying with the idea of a season 4 rewrite down the road. How would that fit in with my season 5 and 6 rewrites? No clue!

Speaking of which, I do wanna give y’all a brief update on my season 6 rewrite, which yes, is in the works. If you’ve seen my video about learning Blender, you’ll know I’ve been learning a lot about 3D modeling and animation in the last few months. As such, I decided it would be fun to put what I’ve learned into practice, making character models and sets to create visuals for my Winx season 6 rewrite. You can see some of my creations over on my Instagram if you’d like. I also just got back to working on the first draft of this rewrite, and I’m about 75% done as of writing this script.

I’m taking my sweet time, as a lot of you were so understanding and patient in encouraging me not to rush this project, both for the quality of the rewrite and for my own mental health and wellbeing. It’s so reassuring to see that, and in general I’ve really appreciated the kindness and excitement of all my viewers who are Winx fans. It’s by far a more welcoming atmosphere than… some of the other fandoms I’ve been part of in the past.

With that all said, if you wanna support me further while I work on my projects, you can pledge yourself for myself and the channel over on Patreon, and also give a one-time donation via the Super Thanks feature I’ve just enabled for my videos. Think of that as like a little tip jar if you’d prefer not to do any recurring payments. And you can also check out my urban fantasy novel, De Cineribus: From the Ashes, over on Amazon and wherever else books are sold, or if you can’t afford it (because printing costs kill me as much as shipping costs kill you), you can request a copy at your local library!

Now with that all out of the way, let the madness begin.

THE WINX BECOME A HIVEMIND:

This isn’t quite as bad as it is in later seasons, but it still very much detracts from season four, especially the first few episodes. In the earlier seasons, it made sense they stayed together given they were still students. But now as adults, the Winx would presumably be going off in their own directions, rather than clinging to each other on autopilot. That would’ve been really interesting to see, especially as a setup to them being invited back to Alfea by Faragonda. Maybe Bloom could be struggling to adapt to life on the newly revived Domino, or Musa is considering starting up a music career while carrying out her duties as a Guardian Fairy.

The self-doubt that comes from entering adulthood could easily push them back to the safe haven that is Alfea, which would then be taken away with the encounter with the fairy hunters. But instead, the Winx are acting like nothing has changed, all returning to Alfea to show off their powers to the adoring freshmen fairies. I’ve said it before, and I will say it again - the beginning of the fourth season feels like a very stale fan fiction that doesn’t properly characterize the girls.

It actually makes a lot of sense to have the girls go to Earth, as Earth being… well, a nonmagical dumpster fire, could help put the Winx into new, more mature conflicts that force them to acknowledge their faults and grow as people outside of the usual saving-the-world stuff. You could even use it to show some of them trying to escape their problems and responsibilities in the Magical Universe with the excuse of a new mission, only to find they can’t get away from those problems so easily. But instead, the only things they seem to miss once they go to Gardenia are their relationships… which oh boy, we will get to those, cuz there’s a lot of melodrama to unpack.

Bloom has lost all of her fiery, impulsive personality. Granted, a lot of them came from her characterization in the 4Kids dub, but even in the original, she wasn’t this picture-perfect role model that everyone put on a pedestal. But from season 4 onwards? She’s treated as the most important member of the group, even when her storyline of the destruction and revival of Domino is complete.

The writers treat her as though she’s flawless; she’s the paragon that the others look to, especially Roxy, her protege. And quite frankly… it’s annoying. Part of a good teacher-student dynamic is also acknowledging that teachers can learn from their students. Roxy calling out some of Bloom’s arrogance and bad choices would be most welcome, and do well to remind Bloom that she still has a lot of growing up to do. She’s not finished learning.

Stella, meanwhile, is so childish. One of the main issues with season four is that for the most part, all the faults of the girls - and their storylines - revolve solely around their relationships. We’ll get into that more specifically in the next section, but not only is there more to adult relationships, but there’s more to adulthood in general than romantic relationships. Stella’s problem is that with her relationship drama, she acts completely out of character, losing her sense of security. And while insecurities are interesting to see, this feels completely out of character and contrived. I’d much rather see Stella unpacking how her parents’ divorce affects how she handles relationships. Just in general, I’d like to see more reflection from the Winx this season.

Musa, likewise, has lost a lot of her tomboyishness, both in design and personality. That itself isn’t a problem, but it’s not something that’s ever acknowledged or addressed. It isn’t Musa actively wanting to change how she expresses herself. And the more I describe this, the more I wish we could do some gender exploration with these characters, especially Musa. Yes, I know it’s an animated children’s show from the 2000s, but let me have my queer dreams, okay? Personally Musa is my nonbinary kin and a bisexual icon and I will never back down from this.

She does at least get a story outside of romance with her pursuit of music with Jason Queen’s record label… but even then, the drama with Riven winds up tainting a lot of it. I wish they did more with this storyline, maybe with Musa struggling with the songwriting process as she tries to produce singles or an album, and maybe even being confronted with the corrupt, soul-destroying, capitalist nightmare that is the music industry.

On top of that, the formation of the Winx Band winds up putting Musa’s love for music on the backburner, because it becomes yet another example of the girls becoming a hivemind who must do EVERYTHING together. Their very identities are now enmeshed, and they are not allowed individual dreams. And as some extra salt in the wound… they have Bloom be the lead singer with Musa on backup vocals. I just… no. Go to jail, Bloom.

Aisha fawning over Nabu and being caught up in their relationships really doesn’t bother me. Honestly, it’s nice to see a relationship where the couple actually communicates and enjoys each other’s presence without any pointless drama. What I will say is that I wish they both had other storylines outside of that. I appreciate Nabu being best buds with Riven and giving him good advice on making things up to Musa, but something else would be nice. Actually, given they talked about living on Earth together, I’d like to see how that relates to Aisha’s relationship to her homeworld of Andros. Like, does she even still want to one day be queen? She loves her world, and would do anything for it, but does that necessarily mean she wants to rule it?

Flora and Tecna… have absolutely nothing going on. And in a way, I’m kinda thankful for that, because it means they don’t have any forced drama going on. But even so, they deserve something. Maybe Flora learning about environmental issues on Earth? No way that girl would let climate change go unchecked. And maybe Tecna becomes a videogame designer given how much she clearly enjoys them.

Roxy’s a great addition to the cast, and I do appreciate her expressing her hatred of magic, as opposed to Bloom wanting to become a fairy with all her heart, given Roxy’s feelings come from a place of wanting her life to stay the same. I would’ve loved if they did more with the Winx, as that could’ve allowed her to form individual friendships with each Winx and maybe teach them each something about themselves. And just in general, I wish season 4 had more character-driven stories like season 2, focusing on the individual girls’ dreams.

RELATIONSHIP DRAMA:

Again, there’s more to adulthood than relationships. This season is meant to show the Winx growing up, yet somehow, their relationships feel more juvenile and messy than they ever were in the first three seasons. Still not as bad as the later seasons… but let’s also raise our standards, shall we?

Honestly, I do wish they allowed some of the couples to dissolve, or talk about whether a relationship would be best for them moving forward. Not all-around messy breakups, but sometimes people drift apart, or relationships stop serving the people in them with where they are in life. The transition into adulthood can test all relationships, especially romantic ones, and that would’ve been nice to see in season four, especially with all of the guys uprooting their lives in the Magical Universe to follow the Winx to Earth. If anything, this makes it feel like the guys don’t have lives of their own to begin with - they’re just their girlfriends’ shadows, following them wherever they go. They try to pretend Sky leaving his duties as Eraklyon’s king - or “crown prince” - are a big deal, but… outside of episode 9, they really aren’t.

Bloom and Sky have a dumb jealousy problems towards the beginning, with Sky worrying about Bloom flirting with her ex-boyfriend Andy, which then sparks a conflict between the Winx and specialists as units for the next couple episodes… and yes, it is a slog to get through. Even the fact the Winx are angry about the guys following them to Earth is frustrating, with a “You don’t believe in us” angle that feels so contrived and hollow.

If anything, I’d like to see Bloom and Sky’s responsibilities to their kingdoms be the thing getting in the way of their relationship. Not only is Sky busy with learning how to run Eraklyon, but Bloom would be busy with helping Domino in adjusting to its own resurrection. Not to mention the question of what happens when they get married (if the writers can remember they’re supposed to be engaged at this point), and how potentially ruling two entire planets would work on a day-to-day basis.

Stella’s beef with Brandon is… so stupid. Brandon saves Mitzi from one of the monster pets, she clearly develops a crush on him, and then Stella winds up accusing Brandon of cheating, which… what? It was one-sided, and this is the couple that made a game out of who could flirt with the most people. In what world would this ever happen, let alone turn into a potentially relationship-destroying fight?

Musa and Riven are a totally goddamn mess, which again, winds up ruining a lot of Musa’s storyline about her music career. In theory, I don’t mind the story acknowledging the toxicity and unhealthy aspects in their relationship, but the way they handled it… was not good. Both of them have trash communication, unable to properly get their feelings across to each other, and Riven specifically feels threatened that if Musa pursues her dreams, she won’t have time for him. Which… is a very big red flag.

You know that breakup scene in season 6? That should’ve happened here, with Musa and Riven realizing their relationship no longer worked, and maybe it never did. That they’re both better off going their own ways. Even Musa’s crush on Jason doesn’t bother me, as to me it feels like a rebound crush people often develop when they leave a relationship, falling for the idea of a person so they don’t have to be alone rather than actually liking the person themselves.

Aisha and Nabu… again, love them, just give them stuff outside of their relationship to do. And I’m not gonna comment on Nabu’s death again, but Rainbow… you did my boi dirty, and I will never forget that. Tecna and Timmy have nothing going on for their relationship, and neither do Flora and Helia… but in this case, they were at least spared from the bullshit, so thank god.

POWER CREEP:

Normally, I’m not a fan of the idea of power levels, but in this case… they royally fucked up their magic system. I don’t mind there being additional higher-level transformations beyond Enchantix, as seeing new forms can keep things interesting with new storylines. The problem arises with this idea that each new form is more powerful than the last, because then you’re going to run into problems very quickly, one of which being the nerfing of the previous form.

Instead, new forms are better when they’re specialized for specific environments or missions. Instead of Believix being stronger than Enchantix, it should just be that Believix specifically is needed to restore Earth’s magic. That could even explain why it starts out relatively weak when first achieved - because there isn’t enough belief in magic from the people of Earth to make it truly powerful just yet. Not to mention, having Faragonda mention it in the very first episode feels so… why? Again, it feels so fan-fic-y and unnecessary. We haven’t even encountered the fairy hunters, so why are we hearing about an Earth-specific form already?

And in the attempt to introduce Believix, Enchantix got nerfed. I’d argue that Enchantix never really got a chance to truly shine. So many of its spells were just amplified Magic Winx spells, and it wasn’t around nearly as long as Magic Winx. And then comes season 4, having the Winx unable to put up a fight against the Black Circle with their Enchantix powers. Yes, it makes sense if the wizards are immune to fairy magic, but at this point, the Winx should know how to fight. They should be able to indirectly battle the wizards until earning Believix.

Conceptually, and design-wise, Belieivx has grown on me, but I still feel the therapeutic spells come across less like the Winx understanding the humans of Earth and empathizing with them, and more like they’re subtly controlling people’s minds to get them to do what they want. Believix spells have cool names, but almost all of them are just generic energy beams and shields. Seriously, this idea that any spells from previous forms must always be scrapped was a mistake.

The extra sets of wings are also so annoying. They take up way too much time to pad out episodes, and even functionally, they’re unnecessary. Speedix is pointless, as Winx Decoded and Lisa Fevral has both pointed out (btw, go watch their stuff, they’re both great), the Enchantix wings were strong enough to handle the fiercest of winds, and even keep up with airships. Zoomix’s teleportation is unnecessary because Stella has her scepter… at least, she should, and she can use that to teleport the girls. And even if she can’t, Tecna made a portal device last season for when Stella couldn’t go with the Winx.

And Tracix? For the longest time, I liked the idea of this, but again, it’s unnecessary because its function is already served by Flora. Remember how she asked the trees where Bloom went back in season 1? Or what happened to Faragonda in season 3? Yeah, just have her do that. Hell, she asks the trees about Batson the Asshole when they go out to Roxy’s old family farm, so what gives? Why do we even have Tracix? And as Winx Decoded mentions, Stella’s ability to recreate the past through her light magic would’ve been a great addition to season 4. More individual powers for the girls instead of making each of them all-powerful.

Honestly, I’m still mixed on how I feel about the Gifts of Destiny. I tend to actually like when things have variants. I’m just annoyed Flora doesn’t get to shine with Sophix, because… hello, she is the Fairy of Nature. Why is Bloom the one to get the rivalry with Diana? Again, more of the weird focus on Bloom when it isn’t necessary. I would’ve loved Flora taking on Diana, especially if her story revolved around environmentalism on Earth.

And as for Roxy… what the hell form does she even have? Because she’s from Earth, it adds an element of confusion as to how their forms could potentially work compared to fairies of the Magical Universe. For merchandising and branding purposes, they likely wanted Roxy to fit in with the Winx’s Believix forms, hence why her wings are gigantic and so detailed, especially compared to the Magic Winx forms. Yet Bloom says Roxy isn’t a Believix fairy, hence why she can’t use the special wings or the Gifts of Destiny, so… what the hell is she? Hell, what is any Earth Fairy? Do they have Enchantix, Believix, or something else? Some clarity would’ve been very appreciated.

THE BLACK CIRCLE:

I used to consider the Wizards of the Black Circle my favorite villains… but uh, no more. Don’t get me wrong, I do love the idea behind them, especially since they’re the first villains of the franchise not to be somehow tied to the Ancestral Witches of the destruction of Domino. It really signals we’re done with that era. But uh… they don’t have much going for them beyond that.

First of all, how did they not realize Bloom wasn’t an Earth fairy? It’s pretty common knowledge at this point she’s the long-lost princess of Domino and Fairy of the Dragon Flame, the force which created the Magical Universe. And if they really didn’t know, how did they not sense her earlier? When she first came to Earth, using her magic to put out the fire in her mom’s flower shop, or whenever she and the Winx used magic on Earth in the first three seasons, how did the wizards not sense that and come running? Instead, they only seek out Bloom when… she looks at them in a portrait in the Hall of Enchantments? Okay then.

It really feels like the Black Circle have just been lazily sitting on their asses for centuries, and have only just now reignited their fairy hunting mission. That would’ve actually been interesting to see, and show not only their arrogance, but also their confidence in how thoroughly they've secured their victory in making  Earth… well, trash. And there are also timeline issues of when exactly the wizards showed up and did their fairy hunting, when Earth became trash, and even how old Morgana is given she was free long enough to have Roxy with Klaus.

In terms of powers, Duman is cool. I really love his shapeshifting, with all his dangerous forms, and his ability to deceive the enemy. I would’ve loved a fight between him and Wizgiz in the first episode. Kalshara could never. But his fellow wizards? Eh. The idea of Ogron’s power is cool, but I wish they had him actually mimic the powers of his enemies, allowing him to wield Bloom’s Dragon Flame, or Aisha’s Morphix, and throw it back at them. Instead, it comes off as him just absorbing strength, exactly like Darkar and Valtor.

Gantlos’ seismic waves and super strength work, but they feel incredibly basic. And Anagan’s super speed is… just laughable. But their powers aren’t the worst part of them - it’s their characterization. For the most part, they’re all some deviation of the generic evil bad guy personality we’ve seen a million times in most pieces of media, with nothing really unique to make them stand out. The closest we have is Anagan briefly flirting with Flora, which is probably why we all cling to it… aside from how entertaining it is.

And their motivations are, likewise, nonexistent. We don’t know how they all met, how they became fairy hunters, or even how old they are. How did they create the Black Circle, or was it perhaps given to them by another entity? Do they actually want to control the world, or do they want something else, with Earth falling into chaos as a side effect they dismiss? I really enjoyed them feigning remorse in the second half of the season when the Fairies of Vengeance are released, only for them to attempt a last stand to eliminate all the fairies in one fell swoop. But… WHY? Why are they so desperate and intent on eradicating magic?

CONCLUSION & OUTRO:

Winx season 4 had a lot of great ideas, but not so great execution. I do still love the season and have a lot of respect for what it tried to do, but a lot of its charm has worn off on me over the years.

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I’m the Unicorn of War, and Musa and Riven’s relationship is a shit show.