Fate: The Winx Saga is a frustrating show. Based on a popular children’s cartoon about fairy warriors, the series should be a glittery celebration of …
Fate: The Winx Saga is a frustrating show. Based on a popular children’s cartoon about fairy warriors, the series should be a glittery celebration of girl power at its most girly. However the Netflix live action adaptation chooses dark, gritty, and complex over fun, femme, and upbeat at every turn. The result is a confusing mess of a YA fantasy show that is meant to a narrow audience of the animated series’ fanbase, one old enough to appreciate the mature tone, while also ignoring the Netflix show’s extreme departures from the spirit of the source material. Caught in the crosshairs of Fate: The Winx Saga‘s wild choices are its young cast. Abigail Cowen, Hannah van der Westhuysen, Elisha Applebaum, Precious Mustapha, and Eliot Salt have the dubious honor of bringing fairies Bloom, Stella, Musa, Aisha, and Terra to life, respectively. All five young actresses are absolutely charming in their roles. Together they not only truthfully encapsulate the stress of being alone at a sleep-away school for the first time, but also the hard-won friendships that are earned through arguments, favors, and traumatic shared experiences. I couldn’t stop thinking that all five of the Winx Suite stars deserved better from the show. The five leading ladies of Fate: The Winx Saga all have talent, charm, beauty, and innate charisma.
