So there’s finally some progress on the question of Gwen’s parents and possible cursed-ness or maybe lack thereof. Jamie is still rather pointless, except to make a minor connection of interest with the Queen of the Plaid Kingdom. The Plaid Princes are sort of backseat, except for Frederick; Frederick and Gwen actually sort of make a little progress, although there might/will be trouble ahead because of course it’s still too early for the fairy tale ending. The Plaid King actually gets a little more character than the rest of the Plaid-folks. The Cursed Princesses make some interesting progress as a group, at least in addressing the Aurelia problem. The main event of the volume is Gwen’s dinner party hosting the members of what her family thinks are her school club ladies who have to try and pretend to be normal princesses. The expected shenanigans occur, as does what passes for a cliffhanger for how much progress Gwen might be making.
It’s still a cute fairy tale take that’s got the tropes but doesn’t take itself too seriously while managing to maintain some sense of interesting characters and plot progress. There’s some possibly interesting little hints being set up, like Maria’s dilemma to get Blain’s mom to like her and Prez having to confront her past again after kind of making peace with Whitney.
The one part that doesn’t quite make sense, except as a place to be tropey, is the dinner party training. If all the girls are royal daughters, even if they are cursed exiles, why do they need to be trained for how to act at a royal dinner party? Shouldn’t they already know that? At least the training montage isn’t a long one. The related running “poppycock” gag is not actually that funny until the final time, and by that point the word it’s supposed to cover for might be itself a euphemism.
Complaints aside, it’s still a cute story that’s making some progress.
