One of the earliest episodes from A New Wish that got my attention was "Fearless" because it explored both Jasmine and Hazel's relationship and their characters.
The episode starts with Hazel telling Cosmo and Wanda how Jasmine is coming to her house after school. Hazel comments that she wants for both of them to watch a horror movie the same way she used to with her brother Anthony. Cosmo and Wanda question this a bit as the movie may be too scary for Jasmine but Hazel says that it would be fine.
Here we see that Hazel is in a way trying to project what she used to do with Anthony to her new friendship with Jasmine. She assumes that Jasmine is going to like watching horror movies without having considered if she likes that first. Note that she is doing unintentionally, she isn't being pushy nor anything but it is worth of pointing it out since it what in part drives the plot of the episode.
So Hazel goes to school and tells Jasmine about the film. Jasmine tells her that she doesn't like horror movies and begins to name a number of things that she is really scared of. She is someone who is a bit of scaredy cat, even being scared of things that would be harmless like cheese. She also adds that her family often makes fun of her for getting scared so easily and it is something that bothers her.
This makes Hazel asking for a wish that makes Jasmine ¨fearless¨, as it takes her main big fears out of her. Hazel does this in a way to ¨help¨ Jasmine but is also so they can watch the horror movie together. When Cosmo and Wanda grant the wish, this seems to work, however, they quickly notice that there is another Jasmine outside the classroom and Hazel goes out to figure out what it is.
It turns out that Jasmine's fears weren't sent anywhere after they got taken out from Jasmine, meaning they came to life and now they are going all around the school causing chaos. This is a interesting twist to the premise of what you would expect from these episodes which usually are about the ¨fearless¨ character acts super reckless without their fear as part of them. In this episode the fears manifest themselves in the real world and Hazel has to find a way to defeat them.
Eventually Hazel realizes that she can only defeat the fears if Jasmine faces them herself. She goes to Jasmine and talks to her about this (without revealing the magic part) and highlights how she was able to speak to Hazel without any problem when they first met or how she doesn't have any issues with singing in public. It is a cool scene because it shows how people can fear different things. While some fears can be more social, others can be related to things that look dangerous like spiders or snakes. Hazel tells Jasmine that she is able to overcome her fears, her family could stop bothering about her. Finally Jasmine goes along with the idea and then a sequence of her facing each of her fear plays.
Suddenly Jasmine gets possesed by ¨fear itself¨ and grows a lot in size. The being provokes Hazel, telling her that she tried making the relationship she has Jasmine the same she has with her brother. ¨Fear¨ says that Hazel is afraid of change and she is scared of trying out new things. This aspect is something that a huge part of Hazel's character, as she deals with how things changed so abruptly in her life and she wants for things to stay the same. She wants to repeat things she used to do because that's what she is comfortable with and she gets anxious when she has to step out from that comfort zone.
Hazel admits that she is scared but she is going to try new things with her new friends from now on. This makes the fear disappear and for Jasmine to return to her normal size back. Jasmine asks Hazel if she still wants to watch scary movies, to which she replies by saying that they should do something they both like, showing that she is trying out new things in a way. The episode ends with the two laughing while leaving the gym.
In all, i think this episode does a good job at showing better how Jasmine is as character and how she has different sides to her. She can be energetic and sociable but she also gets scared of a lot of things easily. Some aspects from her family get revealed as well, which adds more to her character. The episode explores well how Hazel is still struggling with moving to a new city and how she misses her Anthony, something that was established in the first episode ¨Fly¨. In a way she tries to make Jasmine something that she is not in an attempt to repeat what she used to do with her brother.
It is an episode that is quite creative in the execution of its premise and it develops both characters really well, making it one of my favourites episodes from the Season 1 A.
