After four seasons and one movie from the original Wizards of Waverly Place and 3 seasons from the revival, we've reached the conclusion. “The Last Spell” serves as the heartfelt goodbye to the Russos. Although it hasn't been favored by all, I've loved every piece of magic we've seen over the years from both shows.
I understand the want for Justin and Alex to end up with certain people, but I love Gia and Damien. Yes, Harper and Mason having small parts was a bummer. Yet, the parts they did play touched my heart so much. Despite the missing original characters and storylines we expected to see, David Henrie, Selena Gomez, and Disney still put together a heartfelt and magical revival. It doesn't replace the original, nor does it take away from it either. The original brought us the Russos, Harper, Mason, and so many more. While the revival reunited us with our favorite family, new and old friends, and even some familiar and new villains. I'll forever love the magic Disney brought into our lives on Waverly Place.
Although most people thought Wizards Beyond Waverly Place ruined a beloved series, I don’t think it did. In little impactful ways, the revival honored the stories Wizards of Waverly Place brought to us in 2007 - 2012. Despite not bringing in enough original characters, we still shared many new laughs with some familiar faces. In the end, they paid homage to their beginnings and had a family dinner at the sub shop on Waverly Place.
Beyond the rift
At the end of episode 3, Justin was pulled to Alex by Roman’s spell. Before he finds out his whereabouts, a masked figure scares him. When he realizes it’s a dummy, Alex throws it back at him, saying it makes him the dummy. But he’s too excited to see her alive to care about the insult. After some convincing, Alex casts one of her charming spells to turn Justin’s hands and wardrobe back to normal. As if we had gone back in time, Alex was hoping Justin would have all the answers, but he doesn’t. Justin updates Alex on Damien’s whereabouts while they build a fire to keep away the monsters. When Justin insults the dummy, Tina, Alex’s only friend, they realize they really need to get Alex home.
It crushes me when Alex worries about all the damage she may have done to Billie. She left her at Wiztech and then jumped through a rift after being reunited. After all this time, she doesn’t know how to be Billie’s mom. Before their memories were restored, Alex was just someone Billie could count on to give her another chance. Now, she’s her mom and everything to her. Justin goes against everything he believes and tells Alex she’ll know how to be a mom to Billie when they are reunited again. Being unprepared for their dad’s lessons and winning the family wizard competition is her signature. Now, without a plan, they must survive long enough to see their family again.
Saving Alex and Justin
Silas doesn’t know how Justin disappeared, nor does he want to help Billie escape. His thoughts are persuaded when he realizes Damien Penwulf is with Billie. He fanboys a little too hard before they break him out of his cell and figure out how to escape. It is very obvious Alex and Damien’s sense of humor rubbed off on Billie as the father-daughter duo decides they don’t like Silas, but he’s their only way out of Wizacrataz.
He brings them to the room with the spell scrambler. For five seconds, while it reboots, their magic will work normally. Instead of answering when it reboots, he leads them into the room and into a trap. They overrule the double-crossing by faking out the guards. Damien reminds Billie not to smash the crystal before she tosses it into the air. It lands in Silas’ hands, allowing Damien and Billie to escape.
With the locator machine broken, Gia calls Jerry for help and reaches Theresa. Turns out Jerry was sprayed by wereskunk again, and they burned his clothes. Thankfully, they removed his phone from his pocket, which is why Theresa has it. She freaks out when Gia asks to talk to Jerry. When he is unable to answer the phone due to the spray's effects, Gia tells her to call her back. But I have a feeling Theresa will keep to her promise of hopping on a ferry to get to her family. With Grandpa Jerry in quarantine, the kids pull up The Handsome Hexman video on how to fix your quantum locator. When they fix it, they not only re-establish the connection to Alex but also learn Justin and an unknown entity are with her.
An evil laugh sounds around the unknown location, scaring Justin and Alex more. In a bolt of lightning, Damien’s dad appears for another showdown. Out of all the rocks and dimensions in the world, Alex still manages to run into her father-in-law. Not only is he more powerful, but they can’t even hide from him with how small the planet is.
Billie teleports Damien and herself to the Russo house in the middle of Roman’s crisis. As Alex and Justin think all hope is lost, Damien opens the rift with Billie’s help. Alex fools her father-in-law, allowing her and Justin to escape. Finally, all the Russos are reunited, including our star-crossed lovers, according to Winter.
With her parents reunited, Billie is finally getting much-needed family time. She’s leaving her aunt and uncles to join her parents. While Justin smooths things over with his mom, Winter muses over Damien and his love for his family. Alex and Gia’s sister-in-law moment is the best. But Alex reminding Justin that she’s the queen of lying to their mom takes the cake for the best moment. They say goodbye and step through the mirror, but not before Billie comes back and hugs her aunt, uncle, and cousins.
Family is the real magic
The good times don’t last very long. Grandpa Penwulf opens the rift inside the Russo house. They come home from dinner to find him in the living room. He immediately puts them under a spell and calls Billie in Justin’s voice. They come as fast as they can, knowing in their guts something is wrong. Grandpa Penwulf saps their wands away as soon as they step through the mirror. As soon as he blames Alex for breaking his family apart, she decides she’ll punch him. He stops her with a spell, causing Damien and Billie to talk to him. Just as he threatens his son to die with the Russos, Theresa hits him on the head with her lamp. The knock to the head breaks the spell on the Russos.
Grandpa Penwulf doesn’t stay down for long. Russos are ready to fight this time. Billie decides to give her grandpa the same treatment she got when she first met the Russos. They always have each other’s backs, and she wants to mend things with words. Instead of love making them weak against his powers, it puts a protective shield around them. All the power combined saved the Russos and made Grandpa Penuwulf disappear.
All episodes of Wizards Beyond Waverly Place are streaming now on Disney+.
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