MERMAIDS VS. UNICORNS

The search for a powerful but dangerous unicorn horn lost in the previous episode draws preteen legend-in-her-own-mind Pacey back to the magical land of Rundalyn.

Here the self-styled Horn Slayer, never the best judge of character, runs into betrayals on both ends of the rainbow bridge to Rundalyn—going from finding supposed new bestie Beth hanging out with rival classmates at the mall to being summoned to hunt for the detached horn of hooved archvillain Arkane in the watery Dark Caverns and, ignoring the warnings of her sarcastic but canny unicorn stuffie sidekick Slasher, following Briony, a seemingly friendly young mermaid, into a trap. Cue a climactic whirl of snide comments, battles with tentacled sea monsters, massive floods, rescues, and escapes during which Pacey manages to find the horn, loses it again, but at least before returning to this world sees it whisked out of Arkane’s clutches too…for the nonce. She also winds up with a token of friendship from an unexpected source. Phillipps outfits Rundalyn with a backstory, a map, and a magical populace that runs from goblins and unicorns to molelike mogs. Pacey and her family appear White; Beth, Briony, and some other human and humanoid figures in the cleanly drawn purple duotone art read as racially diverse.

A splashy, snarky, subterranean sojourn.