Fate: The Winx Saga is a Magical Escape with Badass Fairies, Beautiful Friendships, and a Major Character Problem

Warning: this review contains spoilers for the entirety of Fate: The Winx Saga Season 1.

Overall, Fate: The Winx Saga Season 1 is an entertaining escape into the Otherworld with fairies, specialists, and burned ones. The season explores the value of friendship, the struggle of knowing who you are and how much your lineage affects your image of yourself, and throws in some bad guys and politics along the way.

The series does a good job in terms of the pacing of unraveling the big mystery surrounding Bloom’s origins, the burned ones, and Rosalind. New clues are shared at just the right time to keep you intrigued, and slowly you learn that things are more interconnected than they initially appeared.

In the midst of all that intrigue is the Winx club suite.

The friendships between Terra, Musa, Stella, Aisha, and Bloom are at the heart of this show. It takes some of them a minute to warm up to each other, but once they do, their bond is incredibly strong.

We also learn more about them as the series goes on, making each girl a fully fleshed-out character. Some shows struggle to develop their characters when there is such a big cast, but Fate: The Winx Saga does a decent job.

Despite the fact that there’s not enough time to fully dive into their backstories, we get a hint of them. It’s enough to give us a hint as to what secrets or pain the characters may be hiding, making them more intriguing and relatable.

And we get to see different friendships highlighted throughout the season, which is wonderful. It’s not always the same two suitemates hanging out. Stella and Musa’s chat in Fate: The Winx Saga Season 1 Episode 5, “Wither into the Truth,” is emotional and fantastic, and I also love watching Terra and Musa’s friendship evolve. 

Stella: Ricky was my best friend. I didn’t mean to hurt her. I just lost control, and it was better for my mom if people thought I did it on purpose because at least if I’m a raging bitch or a monster, I’m not weak.

Something else I really appreciate is that Terra, Musa, Stella, and Aisha don’t sit by, waiting for Bloom to pull them into a new mystery or a dangerous situation. They are perfectly capable of snooping and initiating things on their own.

This gives them more agency and shows that while Bloom’s story may be front and center during this season, any of them could take over and be just as captivating.

In addition to our favorite Winx club fairies, the various other characters we meet are delightful in their own ways. Beatrix is a total badass, and it’s fascinating to see her and Bloom working together. We see different sides of both characters because of their team-up.

While Fate: The Winx Saga succeeds in making us invested in the Winx suite and dying to see where things go in a second season, the show does have its issues.

The biggest one involves two of the main characters: Bloom and Sky.

Beatrix: Are you photo collaging at a party? How are we not friends?

Bloom is extremely self-involved; everything has to be about her and her mystery. Granted, she does get a lot of life-changing information dumped on her at once, but that doesn’t mean that she has to be incapable of considering what anyone else is going through.

It’s actually shocking that the Winx Suite considers her such a good friend that they would break all sorts of rules for. Bloom does nothing to earn it.

It would’ve helped to see more of Bloom putting aside her drama, even for a moment, in order to, for instance, ask Terra what’s really bothering her on Fate: The Winx Saga Season 1 Episode 3, “Heavy Mortal Hopes.”

It is beyond obvious that Terra is going through something and simply deflects to Bloom’s issues, but Bloom doesn’t see that and goes along with the change of topic.

The series does such a good job at developing the other Winx suite friendships that it’s surprising that Bloom is such a terrible friend, and yet we’re supposed to pretend that she isn’t. At times, it is hard to root for her. I’m shocked that she’s even in on the secret that Musa is dating Sam.

Bloom’s “all about me” main character behavior and her firm belief that she knows more than absolutely everyone are really the only reasons the high school setting makes sense. For the first couple of episodes, the series gives off more of a college-aged vibe, but it would be extra depressing if Bloom still acted this way in college.

Then, there’s Sky.

There’s nothing horribly wrong with his character; he’s simply boring. He is an average white male that we are supposed to fawn over or at least like, and he does nothing to earn it.

There’s nothing exciting nor interesting about him. To borrow from Eleanor Shellstrop, “Sky, ya basic.”

When the twist is revealed that Silva instructed him to get close to Bloom, Sky becomes slightly more interesting. But it’s also immediately clear that we’re supposed to feel shocked and betrayed by this news, and it doesn’t happen. Honestly, him faking all of his interest in Bloom would have been much more intriguing.

However, with the blood lust trait of his father and the twist at the end that his father is still alive, there’s a chance that maybe he might become more captivating of a character on Season 2.

Also, there’s no chemistry between him and Bloom. He is nice to her and opens up about his past. There’s nothing swoon-worthy there for me.

Riven: The more you say no, the more she wants it. Give in.

Beatrix: Do we need to have a talk about consent?

The show goes all out on Fate: The Winx Saga Season 1 Episode 6, “A Fanatic Heart,” giving us a series of reveals and a shocking death, and let’s hope there’s a Season 2, otherwise, all the groundwork they set up won’t matter.

Another thing that has to happen on Season 2 (if there is one) is seeing more of Rosalind’s treachery for ourselves and not hearing about it second hand. It’s hard to decide what to really make of her because all we, and Bloom, get are people telling us about her.

What we do see is that she manipulates people to do what she thinks is best. This character trait doesn’t make her the best person, but I don’t know that it makes her full-on evil either. It’s hard to understand why she was imprisoned for years under the school.

Murdering people like it’s no issue though…that is concerning. I want to see more of her devious ways during Season 2, and I’d love to see if Beatrix is as important and involved in things as she thinks she is.

At the end of the day, Fate: The Winx Saga makes you invested in this world and these characters. I will be rooting for a Season 2 renewal. Will you?

Stray Thoughts

• I wish we actually see more of them learning magic in a class setting and not like at the last moment, “oh by the way, you can do this.”
• The world-building could use a bit more work.
• I love how the number #1 rule is don’t cross the barrier, and everyone does it like it’s no big deal. Children.
• Dane, Beatrix, and Riven are hot, and I need more of their relationship.
• It’s such a relief that Terra doesn’t get mad at Musa for lying about dating Sam.
• Bloom’s fairy wings look badass.
• What kind of father lets his son believe he’s dead for 16 years?
• I still have a lot of burned one questions.
• A little tough to decide, but my favorite characters are Beatrix and Musa, followed by Stella from the last two episodes.

What did you think of Fate: The Winx Saga? Share your thoughts in the comments below! 

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Fate: The Winx Saga is now streaming on Netflix.

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