Part of me really wishes they’d focused a bit more on Varian’s redemption arc;; they kinda wrapped it all up in one episode and it felt sort of rushed? I would have loved to see more of Varian coming to terms with the things he did and realizing how wrong he was and how awful he’d treated everyone in Corona--but he’s still holding onto that pain and the betrayal that turned him into a villain in the first place. That sort of torn feeling between “Yes, I need to take revenge for what they did” and “No, I’ve gone too far, I need to make up for my mistakes”.
Clearly this is something Andrew could take advantage of, because Varian obviously hadn’t made up his mind yet, and dangles the “Obviously you’re conflicted about this so you can still be friends with everyone after we wipe their memories and start fresh” option in front of his face. And Varian, alone and trapped in a jail cell, probably wouldn’t have hesitated to go along with Andrew’s plan, being so young and impressionable and ready to please just about anybody. And when he was presented with the option, with the chance to be friends with the people he once loved so dearly...of course he would go for it, because deep down he’s still desperate for their approval. It’s a win win, he can take revenge and then wipe the slate clean.
By the time Rapunzel comes back to Corona Varian already seems to have fully accepted that he messed up, badly, and he wants to make up for it, but doesn’t see any other way around it other than going to the extremes again. I would have liked to see this inner conflict pushed even further, maybe with Andrew taunting Varian that listen, we’re all you have, we’re all you have to turn to, we were the ones that picked up the pieces and gave you a new purpose and if you betray us here you’ll have NOBODY, and be all alone again. And Varian knows this because he firmly believes Rapunzel and the others won’t ever forgive him, so he’s caught in a battle of morals, “Do I help the only people that actually ever LISTENED to me or save the kingdom at the cost of being abandoned again”. And in the end his good side wins over the bad, and he decides that hey, everyone may still hate me but I won’t make the same mistake twice, I’m going to make the right decision this time. And that in turn moves Rapunzel into forgiving him and knowing that he truly regrets hurting her, and that she can start to trust him again.
Another thing that they really glossed over was Quirin’s rescue;; I know the fans hypothesized for AGES what the note he wrote said, only to have it be an anti-climactic “I’m proud of you, Varian” when it could have been SO much more than that. Maybe information about the Brotherhood or some ancient secret kept about Zhan Tiri, maybe even any of Quirin’s knowledge on the black rocks and the moonstone. It felt really disappointing when it was just oh yeah Quirin’s proud of Varian but we all knew that already! And ofc that’s a driving factor to Varian’s character arc, wanting his dad to be proud, so being told that was definitely important, but there could have been more.
And I guess his rescue was sort of a let down too since it’s been building for an entire season, and then Rapunzel just swoops in and gets him out in two seconds flat and is like welp. That was easy. IDK I just think there could have been more drama around it--I would have loved to see an episode focused solely on Varian and Rapunzel, maybe they have to venture out and get a special artifact or something that works with her hair incantation to break the amber, and during that time they start to rebuild their friendship and actually talk things out fully. (I mean they kind of hit on some of those points in Be Very Afraid but not ALL of it.) They’d probably bring up Cass, too, and Varian tells Rapunzel if there was still a chance for me after all I did, then there’s a chance for her, too. And after lots of danger and perils they manage to get what they need, and by then they’ve completely mended their friendship, and Raps comments on how grateful she is that Varian’s back by her side again and it’s SOFT. And then after that they free Quirin--something that came of teamwork, something that would feel a lot more satisfying than what we were given. That would round out Varian’s redemption as a whole, helping Rapunzel, giving her advice, and taking his own part in saving his father rather than just having Rapunzel do all the work.
TLDR Varian’s redemption felt really rushed ESPECIALLY considering how much work they put into his story arc in the first season so it wrapped up in a really anti-climactic way (and there’s also the fact that he’s such a big fan favorite so we would not have minded a longer redemption arc for him?) along with Quirin’s rescue and the note being kind of a letdown and this is how I would have made it better