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Bet you didn't see this coming, did you?
I've already done three write-ups from this show, so you should be familiar with the summary by now... but here he is again, just to recap.
What's the Work?[]
The basic premise to Just Add Magic is that it centers around three girls (Kelly Quinn, Hannah Parker-Kent and Darbie O'Brien) who are best friends and come across an old cookbook that used to belong to Kelly's grandmother, quickly learning the recipes were magical and that the three of them were the latest in a long line of the cookbook's owners known as "protectors" that would cook supernatural recipes and solve mysteries around their town.
...but this next candidate is for the mastermind of the third/final season, or "The Night Bandit", with their identity being completely shocking and unexpected, and yet making complete sense.
Who's Is She?[]
Season 3/The last season's mastermind is none other than ...Kelly Quinn herself... and no, this isn't a joke proposal. Just a quick recap: Season 2B's main villain was a delusional ex-protector named Caroline Palmer, who viewed magic as a burden and wanted to destroy and trace of it, succeeding in wiping nearly everyone's memories (including the OCs). In the storyline's climax, Caroline destroyed the girl trio's magic spice garden and nearly wiped the girls' memories of magic with it, but the girls' managed to keep their memories, and using a vanilla bean, were able to create a magic recipe with enough Cedronian to bring back the spice garden. Except, recipes with Cedronian always came with a price to pay for whoever pours the spice in, so restoring the magic spice garden meant the girls would lose something equally valuable, which they have no idea what it is. But near the end of Season 3, it's revealed that what they lost was actually Kelly herself (as she was the one who poured the spice), and she'd get magically poisoned in place of the spice garden, with the magic feeding off of Kelly's insecurities of losing Hannah and Darbie after they're no longer the protectors, and causing her to see only the bad sides of people around her and what they were saying.
What Makes Her Magnificent?[]
- She was already incredibly smart during the first 2 seasons as a hero, and she's just as intelligent and crafty as the season's surprise antagonist.
- She was able to put on a convincing act of being the same caring and normal Kelly they knew, for about a month and a half without Hannah and Darbie suspecting a thing until near the end of the season and arc, but by then it was nearly too late.
- She was aware that bringing back the magic spice garden with a Cedronian spice would come with a powerful price, and so she created a bunch magical plants that grew all over town without her friends' awareness and claimed that the out-of-control growing plants was the price they were paying for regrowing their garden. She also kept up her act, by helping Hannah and Darbie undo the spells caused by the magic plants and eventually destroy the rapidly growing plants. This got Hannah and Darbie off her tail, and drew suspicion away from her for some time.
- She took advantage of Mama P selling her restaurant and Erin Chua turning it into Springtown Coffee, in order to use "Chameleon Cauliflower" to impersonate Erin, so she could ask Mama P for favors, and hunt after magic and ingredients without revealing her true self. Impersonating Erin was a smart choice as to other protectors, she was following in the show's tradition of evil chefs who owned successful, popular restaurants, and were after magic (like Mama P or Noelle Jasper). She blended right in.
- Plus, she always made sure the real Erin was never nearby while she was in disguise, in order to pull off her act. Even Mama P — an MB herself, no less — was fooled by the Erin disguise for quite some time.
- She was able to secretly steal the night-blooming mints she and the other girls had collected, without drawing suspicion or getting caught.
- She was extremely cautious about her plan, making sure to cover her tracks, by erasing anyone's memories of magic if they discover her true plan, or if she no longer has any use to them.
- As "Erin" she's unfazed by Mama P's claim that the girl trio would stop her plan, claiming she could handle them.
- Despite failing to notice the first time, she realized that Charles Peizer's secret bunker indeed contained something useful to her -- his pie tin which he used to cook the Mulberry Pie -- and crafted a plan to steal it from the history exhibit when it was presented, using a spell that could melt glass.
- Then, when Hannah and Darbie decide to cook a do-over spell to redo the day and prevent the pie tin from being stolen, Kelly takes part in cooking, and deliberately turns up the oven heat for the recipe to 450° rather than 400°, while making it looking like an accident, making that spell work differently than indented, and forcing the trio --including herself -- to relive the day over and over again. The cycle lasted hundreds of loops and three weeks, until Kelly eventually convinced Hannah and Darbie they had to relive the day exactly the same as the first time -- and let the pie tin get stolen -- while secretly adding a counter-spell. This allows her to get the pie tin.
- As "Erin", she extracted the morbium residence left over from Charles' pie tin to form a piece of morbium inside a jar. Then she tossed the pie tin in the recycling, aware that the other girls would attempt to steal it back.
- While she has a brief slip-up moment where states she had "ways of making the others cook", thus allowing Mama P to deduce Kelly was the mastermind, this isn't much of a prevention, as Kelly already had all of the information she needed for the spell, and simply erases P's magic memories to cover her tracks and prevent P from stopping her. (Though, she'd later regain them by eating a magic quiche)
- She rewrites Ida's "Keep The Cookbook Casserole" recipe -- and the ingredients needed for it -- on a sketch paper, while giving it a different title ("Hook The Crook Casserole"), claiming to Hannah and Darbie that said recipe would help them catch the Night Bandit, and nearly getting them to unwittingly help her cook to keep the book and help the Night Bandit, roping them into her scheme.
- When she catches Piper with her morbium and attempting to shut her party down, she wipes her magic-related memories, so the latter can't report what she saw.
- Despite committing a lot of questionable actions during her story arc. Night Bandit Kelly is more misguided than outright malicious. She had good reasons to assume she, Hannah, and Darbie were the best protectors considering all of the major enemies they fought were ex-protectors gone rogue-- Kelly even brings up when Mama P froze Saffron Falls back in the Season 1 finale. On top of that, she was paying the price of regrowing the magic spice garden, which poisoned her mind, and fed off of her insecurities and fears of potentially losing Hannah and Darbie once they were no longer they were no longer the protectors, thus making Night Bandit Kelly a Villain By Proxy, as she didn't choose to go down the dark path, and is portrayed sympathetically.
- Case in point: Hannah and Darbie would use "In Your Head Banana Bread" to get inside Kelly's head with the banana bread, and learn about said insecurities and her mind being poisoned. And, so the next day, the two convince Kelly to eat a slice of the banana bread and get a glimpse into Hannah and Darbie's minds and made her see how they really felt, showing her they still were, and always would be good friends even without magic. This gets Kelly to break her curse and return to her normal self, as she instantly regrets everything she had done as the Night Bandit.
- Even though she had reformed herself, it's revealed shortly afterwards that the "Night Bandit" had used a sleepwalking spell on Hannah and Darbie prior and had them cook the casserole without their awareness, to make them the permanent protectors, which gives the "Night Bandit" the last laugh, and a victory. Albeit, a posthumous one, but still.
What Makes Her a Baddie?[]
- Even though she was a genuine well-intentioned extremist with her plan, there's no denying she did some very shady actions during her ploy to keep the book
- Growing the magic plants across town, knowing full well that people would unwittingly spell themselves, and it would cause a lot of trouble
- Impersonating Erin Chua, despite the latter not having done anything to her
- Causing an earthquake in Saffron Falls (the first in over 100 years) just to try attracting some morbium to her (nobody was injured, but still)
- Using a mysterious drink to wipe any magic-related memories of people who discover her true plan, or whom she no longer has any use for. (She also wiped her friend Piper's memories when the latter finds Kelly's morbium seed, and she never even gets them back)
- Trapping Hannah and Darbie in a time loop, which lasted hundreds of loops and three weeks.