Mother Knows Best (song) own gains. Falco continued, "The audience knows what Gothel wants with Rapunzel, but the fact that we are unable to protect the naïve princess results in further hatred for the witch." Falco also concluded that Gothel's "sinister reprise at the end of "Tangled" allows for these horrifying undertones to emerge, which makes 'Mother Knows Best' one of the most sinister villain songs in the Disney library." Similarly, Elissa Smith of Paper Droids wrote that while the audience is fully aware of Gothel's evil intentions, Rapunzel is denied "the outsider's point of view." Glen Chapman of Den of Geek wrote that
Mother Gothel Gothel of her access to what is essentially the only thing that is keeping her alive. Meanwhile, the King and Queen's newborn daughter Rapunzel is gifted with the flower's abilities, which manifest via her long, golden hair when a special song is sung so long as it remains uncut. Desperate to stay alive, Gothel steals the baby from the palace and she imprisoned her in a secluded tower for eighteen years, raising the child as her own and prohibiting her from leaving solely in order to use her hair to stay young. As her eighteenth birthday approaches, Rapunzel continues to