Episode 25 – Remember

In which Catra loses half her face.

Adora wakes up to find herself in the Fright Zone, feted as a hero by the armies of the Horde thanks to her recent success in conquering Thaymor, and remembers nothing of her actual life as She-Ra – except brief, mysterious flashes of images she doesn’t understand. As the day goes on, she notices things going missing (100 inch TV screens, doors, Lonnie, Kyle and Rohalio – you know, the sort of thing that really shouldn’t go missing) and eventually comes up against a massive white energy vortex which seems to be gobbling up reality – but no one else even notices there’s a problem.

Kyle: “Oh, don’t mind us, we’ll disappear soon.”

Teaming up with Scorpia – who, inexplicably, is also getting flashbacks to reality – Adora busts into Hordak’s sanctum to try to figure out what’s going on, where she begins to remember about the portal machine and the power sword plugged into it. It’s at this point that the entire Fright Zone begins to be consumed by the energy vortex, and Adora flees, following Madame Razz who is bumbling along through the ruins.

Adora and Catra take refuge in the Whispering Woods, where they have one of their impassioned heart-to-hearts in which Adora tries to persuade Catra to give up her Horde membership card – but all Catra can focus on is the sense of betrayal she feels from Adora’s behaviour since she joined the Rebellion, and eventually proclaims that she’d rather destroy the entire world than let Adora win. I think we can safely say that Catra’s picked her side, guys. She even does a full-on ‘evil person laugh’.

Catra: “God, Adora, you need to chill.”

Catra then helpfully falls into the energy vortex, leaving Adora to have a chat with Madame Razz, who informs her that “this has all happened before” – instantly making me think of that infernal nonsense towards the end of the Battlestar Galactica reboot – and then tells Adora she’ll be able to fix things if she goes back to the beginning. Adora interprets this as meaning she has to find Bow and Glimmer – which seems a bit mental if you ask me, but by this point I was beyond caring – and so off she trots, pursued by Catra, who’s now got half her face missing. Good good.

In today’s adventure…

I think today we learned that if you wake up and things seem wrong but everyone else thinks they’re okay, then you should just stand around screaming at people until they admit things aren’t okay after all.

Character checklist

Righty ho – this week’s cast is Adora, Madame Razz, Catra, Shadow Weaver, Lonnie, Kyle, Rohalio, Scorpia, Hordak, Imp, Grizzlor, Octavia, a blue dude, a green dude, and some Horde Troopers. Seen in Adora’s flashbacks are Glimmer, Bow, Swift Wind, Queen Angela, Perfuma, Mermista, Sea Hawk, Entrapta, and Mara.

Madame Razz: “Bet you’re dead pleased to see me, hmm?”

Insults

A Horde Trooper addresses Catra as a “twerp”, but besides that, we aren’t treated to any zingers today.

Does it have the Power?

Hmm, difficult question. It’s tense and relatively exciting, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that it’s trying to be all clever and important, but failing. And on top of that, it seems like it’s wasting time really. Other than the big argument between Adora and Catra at the end, I don’t think there’s anything of relevance in here. That’s fine, of course – not every episode has to be relevant to the long-term plot, but one positioned here, right after last week’s high drama, really ought to be pushing the story forward, not slowing it down with a rather odd left-turn.

So really, I suppose the question is whether Adora and Catra’s argument makes the episode worthwhile. It’s got a distinct air of finality to it: I don’t really see Catra coming back from this one, and that’s great because it means these two can stop having these conversations. On the other hand, their parting of the ways just somehow doesn’t feel as dramatic as I think it was supposed to. I’m going to have to chalk this episode up as a valiant effort but ultimately a bit of a misfire, regrettably.

Episode 24 – Moment of Truth

In which Queen Angela opts for petty point-scoring over problem-solving.

Glimmer, Bow and Huntara teleport right back to Bright Moon, bearing the bad news that Adora has been kidnapped and the Horde, equipped with the power sword, will be able to open a portal and bring countless armies to Etheria. This initially sounds like incoherent babble to Queen Angela, and even once she’s grasped the situation, she decides to waste time telling Glimmer off for pointless quibbles and then refuses to send a rescue party to the Fright Zone, unless Glimmer herself can come up with a plan. This seems to be simply in order to prove a point about the need for forward planning, which would be understandable if the fate of the entire world wasn’t hanging in the balance, but as it is, it comes across a bit petty.

Angela: “No no, I shan’t rescue Adora. You’ll just have to do it yourselves.”

Feeling like they have no other choice, Glimmer and Bow enlist the help of Shadow Weaver, who offers to improve Glimmer’s powers to the point that she’ll be able to teleport right into the centre of the Fright Zone. To do so, however, Shadow Weaver will need access to Glimmer’s rune stone, and as such, it seems rather as though Shadow Weaver might simply be trying to escape. As it turns out, though, she’s as good as her word, and successfully teleports herself, Glimmer, Bow, Mermista, Perfuma and Frosta to the Fright Zone.

Catra and Scorpia, meanwhile, have returned to the Fright Zone and handed the power sword over to Entrapta, who immediately gets to work determining how to use it in the portal machine. Adora tries to persuade her to think again, and succeeds at least in prompting her to run more tests – which conclude that opening a portal will create a “warped reality that will collapse in on itself, erasing [Etheria] from existence”.

Adora: “This is one of those images that looks like it could come from a VERY different series.”

This does not sound good, and even Entrapta realises that the portal experiments must be halted. Unfortunately, Catra is by now completely unhinged, and when Entrapta refuses to continue, Catra stuns her and orders her to be dispatched off to Beast Island. Catra then runs to Hordak and informs him that Entrapta is responsible for letting Glimmer and the other princesses into the Fright Zone. Believing Entrapta to be a traitor, Hordak then finds himself under attack from Glimmer, Bow and Shadow Weaver – and in the midst of the battle, Catra pulls the lever that activates the portal machine…

In today’s adventure…

Queen Angela was pretty insistent that it’s really important to have a plan and that you shouldn’t just jump into things. I’m beginning to wish that I hadn’t just jumped into this He-Man and She-Ra reviewing business all those years ago. How could I have known then that they’d make more and more series, thus condemning me to a never ending task?

Character checklist

There’s pretty much everybody here this time: Adora, Glimmer, Bow, Huntara, Swift Wind, Queen Angela, Mermista, Perfuma, Frosta, Spinnerella, Netossa, Catra, Entrapta, Hordak, Scorpia, Kyle the barmaid, the fishy Crimson Waste guy, Shadow Weaver, Emily the bot, Lonnie, Rohalio, and Imp. Off the top of my head, I think this episode is only a She-Ra, a Sea Hawk, a Light Hope and a Kyle off a full house.

Glimmer: “New Best Friend Squad?”

Insults

Fairly mild but Mermista does address Shadow Weaver as a “weird and scary lady”.

Does it have the Power?

This is an utterly outstanding episode: it comes to a climax of high drama, with a brilliantly exciting final five minutes in the Fright Zone and a fantastic cliffhanger, and builds up to that point perfectly with ever escalating stakes. It’s great to see Entrapta’s moral side – she’s not so blinded by the pursuit of knowledge that she’s willing to risk the whole planet – and Glimmer’s pact with Shadow Weaver makes for a very tense scene: it seems that Glimmer is tempted by power, and while that works out okay this time, it’ll be interesting to see if it’s the root of a later downfall. For now, though, the immediate problem is that portal: I’m desperate to see what happens next.

Episode 23 – Once Upon a Time in the Waste

In which Tung Lashor proudly enters and unceremoniously exits.

Catra and Scorpia, exploring the Crimson Waste in search of First Ones tech, come across the pub that Adora and co. visited last week. Naturally, Catra proves rather better in this sort of establishment than Adora did (I wish I’d had Catra with me in the Beeswing), and before long she’s intimidated the clientele and ‘persuaded’ the barmaid (who she rather cruelly christens ‘Kyle’) to take her on the trail of Adora.

Unfortunately, Kyle the barmaid accidentally leads Catra and Scorpia into a ravine which is inhabited by a gang of outlaws, lead by a snakey fellow called Tung Lashor. Tung Lashor is considerably cooler than his Filmation counterpart – though perhaps not as scary as the MYP version – but that doesn’t stop Catra from mercilessly taking the piss out of his name before defeating him in a scrap, stealing his whip, and taking his place as leader of the Crimson Waste’s outlaws.

Tung Lashor: “Well, at least she didn’t take the mick out of my outfit.”

Meanwhile, Adora, Glimmer, Bow and Huntara enter the crashed spaceship, only to find it mostly empty – doubtless because the inhabitants of the Crimson Waste have stripped it of everything of value. Luckily, Adora is able to use her super She-Ra powers to open up a door to a locked chamber, where the team find a computer which, when powered up, displays a holographic message from Mara.

The message is rather distorted, so Adora can’t get all the answers she’s seeking, but she does at least learn that Mara – in an effort to keep Etheria and the entire universe safe – opened a portal to a completely empty dimension called Despondos and pulled the planet in. Mara further reveals that She-Ra’s sword is the ‘administrator key’ to Etheria, and that with it, a portal back to the universe can be opened – but it really, really shouldn’t be. Gosh, I wonder if this ties in somehow with Hordak’s portal machine? You know what – I’m not going to be at all surprised if a portal is opened in the near future.

Glimmer: “Hey, Adora, you make an excellent door, but not a very good window.”

Once our heroes have finished listening to the message, Catra and her new gang show up. Using Tung Lashor’s whip, Catra manages to steal the power sword before Adora even becomes She-Ra, and then captures Adora herself. Huntara, Glimmer and Bow escape, but Catra is relatively unconcerned: she’s more interested in taking the power sword back to the Fright Zone and regaining Hordak’s favour.

Scorpia suggests that there’s no need to return to Hordak, observing that Catra seems to be happy as the boss of the Crimson Waste, and for a moment Catra is tempted. Unfortunately, she then has a quick chat with Adora, who lets slip that Shadow Weaver is now in Bright Moon – which sends Catra down a spiral of fury, and leads her to decide to return to the Fright Zone with the power sword, where she will open a portal purely out of spite.

Catra: “Absolutely couldn’t be more pleased with myself.”

In today’s adventure…

I’m not sure exactly what lesson we learned this week: perhaps that if you’ve been captured by your ex-best-friend who you abandoned and now seems to be barely tiptoeing around the brink of sanity, it’s not the best idea to imply that other people have also abandoned said ex-best-friend in favour of you. I mean, yes, this is a pretty convoluted and specific situation, but at least now if it’s one you find yourself in, you’ll know what to do.

Character checklist

Another pretty sparsely populated episode this week, with just Adora, Glimmer, Bow, Huntara, Catra, Scorpia, Tung Lashor, Kyle the barmaid, and various other Crimson Waste inhabitants.

Catra: “Okay, NOW I couldn’t be more pleased with myself.”

Insults

I think the Crimson Waste brings the nasty; in the two episodes we’ve spent here, we’ve had far more insults than ever before. We start with Kyle the barmaid addressing Catra as “kitty kitty”, which prompts Catra to respond by calling Kyle the barmaid “dumb”, an “idiot” and – sarcastically – a ““genius”. She follows up by suggesting that the rest of the pub’s patrons are “washed-up hacks”. Elsewhere, Tung Lashor tells Catra that she’s a “dumb outsider” and a “kitty”, while Scorpia refers to Huntara as a “crazy desert lady”.

Does it have the Power?

There’s some nice MOTU history in this one, firstly with Tung Lashor and secondly with Mara. I’m pretty sure it’s just a cool Easter Egg, rather than of long-term plot importance, but Mara looks almost exactly the same as Mara did in The New Adventures of He-Man, which is pretty fun; it’s nice to see that series get a little bit of acknowledgement. As for Tung Lashor, it’s great to have another old character back – even if it is just for a one-off, which I suspect it is – especially since Catra’s confrontation with him is both dramatic and some of the best comedy this series has yet offered, with some genuinely hilarious lines amid the life-and-death struggle.

Adora: “Oh God, you can get the New Adventures in 3D now?”

Elsewhere, the mystery of Mara and Etheria continues to be unpicked, with a little more information offered to us here. I think that’s probably all we’ll get now for a while – it feels like we’re going to build to a big season finale involving the opening of the portal – and then we’ll be back to whatever mystery remains after that. It’s a reasonably interesting story, though I can’t say I’m massively invested in where it goes: I’m more concerned with the relationships of the characters here on Etheria – and on that score, this episode marks another step in the massive deterioration in the former friendship of Adora and Catra.

All in all, for action, character development, Easter Eggs, and a very healthy dose of humour, this episode is a real winner. The series seems to be in very safe hands.

Episode 22 – Huntara

In which Adora, Glimmer and Bow go to the pub.

After last week’s infodump, Adora has concluded that she and Mara must have come from the same place, and decided she needs to seek out answers – which means following the “Serenia portal Mara” message to the Crimson Waste. The Crimson Waste is, of course, a very unpleasant place, filled with monsters, quicksand, distinctly weird plants, and so on, and to make matters worse, they quickly find that Bow’s tracking device doesn’t work here either. Long story short, they’re lost.

Bow: “What, you honestly expected me to have done something useful?”

It therefore comes as something of a relief when they find – unexpectedly – a pub. Admittedly, it’s one of those pubs where the music stops and everyone turns to look at you when you go in (such as the Beeswing on Hull Road in York, just to name one example that still haunts me now nearly 20 years since I went in), but nonetheless Adora, Glimmer and Bow try to elicit some help from the locals.

Despite initial resistance from the pub’s drinkers, they manage to find someone who can guide them to the centre of the Crimson Waste. This someone is Huntara, who as we will all recall from the eponymous Filmation episode is a big strong purple fighty type, and she leads our team deep into the Waste – before, as I expect we could have predicted, betraying them with the use of paralysis darts. Along with two more of the pub’s denizens, Huntara steals Adora’s sword and Bow’s arrows, before throwing our hapless trio into a pit.

Huntara: “Come on, don’t tell me you didn’t see this coming.”

Back in the Fright Zone, Hordak and Entrapta’s experiments continue apace: they have now designed the portal machine and wired it up correctly, but even so, when activated, a portal begins to form but then collapses, causing an explosion. Hordak takes this setback badly and ejects Entrapta from the lab, but we all know Entrapta by now: later, overcome by scientific curiosity, she returns to perform further tests.

To her surprise, she finds Hordak undergoing some kind of augmentation, with new armour being attached to him. Something is wrong, however: he collapses, and Entrapta realises that his armour is literally holding his body together. Entrapta pushes for answers, and Hordak bursts out with the big reveal that he is a clone of Horde Prime, the emperor of the universe. On top of that, Hordak was also Horde Prime’s second-in-command – but he was eventually rejected due to an imperfection in his cloning.

Continuing the story, Hordak explains that he was sent out to die in the Horde’s endless wars, but fortuitously a portal opened and he fell through to Etheria, where he established a small Horde outpost. His aim now, apparently, is to open a portal so the rest of the Horde can finish the job of conquering Etheria, which will somehow prove to Horde Prime that Hordak is not defective. I’d say that if you need a universe-conquering army to defeat a Rebellion of about 10 people, you might not be defective as such, but you’re certainly not effective.

Hordak: “Don’t mind me, I’m just doing some creepy flashbacks.”

Entrapta listens to the whole sob story and utters the phrase “Imperfection is beautiful”, which instantly made me think of that Tears song Imperfection – which is, ironically, a ridiculously perfect song. Go and look it up. I’ll wait. Right, anyway, once she’s finished reminding me of excellent music, Entrapta uses First Ones tech to design Hordak a super new exoskeleton-like armour suit, which pleases him very much.

Meanwhile, back in the Crimson Waste, Glimmer eventually manages to teleport the gang out of the pit, and they set off to reclaim their property, but thanks to the temporary paralysis, Huntara and her sidekicks have a long head start. The gang eventually catch up with them around a camp fire, and there’s a great big brawl soundtracked by some awesome hair metal, eventually winding up with victory for our heroes.

She-Ra: “Right, are we going to be friends, or shall I beat you up some more?”

Huntara then reveals that she used to work for the Horde, but escaped into the Waste when she saw the devastation they were wreaking on Etheria. She-Ra persuades her to help – and to really help this time – in order to defeat the Horde, a sentiment with which Huntara fully sympathises. Without wasting any more time, she leads them to the centre of the Waste, where they find a spaceship half-buried in the sand. Adora proclaims that this must be Mara’s ship, a statement for which she has no particular evidence but certainly does make for an exciting cliffhanger.

In today’s adventure…

I think today gives us a lesson we can all get behind: don’t go off with people you meet in seedy pubs if you don’t want to get knocked out and robbed.

Character checklist

This week offers a pretty tight cast list: it’s just Adora, She-Ra, Glimmer, Bow, Huntara, various pub patrons, Hordak, Entrapta, Imp, and Emily the bot.

Glimmer: “Do you reckon this guy might be a one-time special guest star?”

Insults

Hordak gets the ball rolling by unexpectedly bellowing “fool” at Entrapta, but really it’s Huntara who gets the insults flying. She refers to everybody in the pub as “lowlifes”, “scoundrels”, “criminals” and “outlaws”, then says that all the combatants in the Horde war are “idiots”. Getting more specific, she says that She-Ra is a “fool”. Two uses of the word ‘fool’ in one episode. It’s like old times.

Does it have the Power?

Yes, it really does. This was an incredibly strong episode, with a pair of parallel plotlines that were both interesting and exciting. Hordak’s bonding with Entrapta in the lab gave some further back story to the series – given all the back story we’ve had lately, it’s impressive the series isn’t collapsing under the weight of it – and the animation as he recounted his past was beautifully stylish. The Crimson Waste storyline was great fun too, and Huntara’s an excellent new character, bringing a bit of grit to Team Rebellion, which can at times get a bit saccharine. And finally, there’s a fantastic cliffhanger that can’t help but make us want to watch the next episode immediately. Yep – this one’s got the Power all right.

Episode 21 – The Price of Power

In which Shadow Weaver explains what Hordak’s up to.

When Adora wakes to find Shadow Weaver in her bedroom, she – somewhat to my surprise – does the right thing and alerts Queen Angela, who instantly arranges for Shadow Weaver to be locked up. Admittedly, she’s locked up in the spare room, but points for effort, I suppose. Adora offers to assist in Shadow Weaver’s interrogation, but Queen Angela refuses, on the basis that Shadow Weaver is too dangerous; having brought Adora up, she knows how to manipulate her.

It seems Shadow Weaver agrees: when Queen Angela and Castaspella speak to her, she claims to have vital information that the Rebellion will find useful, but she will only disclose it to Adora. This condition is refused, but naturally enough the interrogation goes nowhere – the only information Queen Angela and Castaspella gain is that Shadow Weaver is seriously unwell, having been injured during her escape from the Horde.

Angela: “Put your arm down, Castaspella – that’s Shadow Weaver, not a bus.”

Adora, meanwhile, has been trying to get in to see Shadow Weaver, hoping that there is a chance of redeeming her. Glimmer and Bow argue that Shadow Weaver is evil – since she is from the Evil Horde, after all – but Adora points out that she came from the Horde too, and now sees that she was wrong. Maybe, just maybe, Shadow Weaver can make a similar change. Glimmer and Bow accept this premise, and help Adora to sneak into Shadow Weaver’s prison/spare room.

Adora’s conversation with Shadow Weaver doesn’t prove enormously edifying: she too learns that Shadow Weaver is dying, having expended all her magical energy in her escape, but the only explanation Shadow Weaver offers for having come to Bright Moon is that she wanted to see Adora. The two strike a bargain: if She-Ra heals Shadow Weaver, Shadow Weaver will reveal all her secrets. Unfortunately, She-Ra doesn’t know how to heal, so she’ll have to take magical tuition lessons from, er, Shadow Weaver herself. This sounds like a bad idea, but who am I to judge?

Shadow Weaver begins by explaining that all Princesses, including She-Ra, have a rune stone: She-Ra’s is implanted in her sword. It’s through these stones that magical energy is channelled, but it requires concentration. After a shaky start, She-Ra unleashes some impressive elemental energy and restores Shadow Weaver to health.

She-Ra: “Okay, thanks for the funky new powers.”

Slightly surprisingly, Shadow Weaver doesn’t just instantly cackle “Ha hah ha hah haaaa!” and escape like she might have done in Filmation: instead, she reveals that she’s only come to Bright Moon because she has nowhere else to turn. After her betrayal by Hordak and Catra, she wants nothing more than to take them down, and to that end, she explains that Hordak and Entrapta are building a machine that will open a portal and allow a passage for countless Horde armies to come and conquer Etheria.

Glimmer is sceptical: a portal to another world sounds implausible, especially since most Etherians appear to know nothing of stars, other solar systems, or indeed anything beyond their own planet. Remember last week how Bow’s dads had to explain what stars were, before they could even cover constellations? Shadow Weaver agrees it seems unlikely, but then goes on to drop the bombshell that Adora herself – when a baby – fell through a portal from another world and was subsequently adopted by Shadow Weaver and the Horde.

Obviously, Shadow Weaver could be lying about this, but Adora is unsure, so she heads off to the First Ones pyramid to consult Light Hope. Light Hope confirms the story: Adora did indeed come through a portal as an infant and was stolen by the Horde, where she remained until Light Hope found an opportunity to pass the sword to her and allow her to claim her destiny as She-Ra.

Light Hope: “Looking a bit snarly there, Adora.”

This opens up still further questions: primarily, why does the sword respond to Adora? The answer is that the First Ones were also not native to Etheria, and they made the sword so it could only be wielded by one of them – so, in short, Adora is a First One. Adora’s next question is whether she could open up another portal and go home to her family – but Light Hope reveals that the previous She-Ra, Mara, cut Etheria off from the rest of the universe and that opening another portal now would be disastrous. Uh oh.

Over in the Fright Zone, Catra is awaiting punishment for her having allowed Shadow Weaver to escape. Rejecting an offer of help from Scorpia – and in the process, rejecting Scorpia’s heartfelt demonstration of friendship – she finds herself sentenced to imprisonment on Beast Island. On Entrapta’s intervention, however, Hordak agrees to instead send Catra out into the Crimson Waste in search of the First Ones tech, which he intends to use in his portal machine.

Catra: “Day out in the Crimson Waste? Yeah, I’ll take that.”

In today’s adventure…

Most of this week was concerned with giving us back story, but there is one scene where Shadow Weaver helps Adora to succeed in her magic by advising her that she “is more than her fears”. So I suppose that’s a little lesson in how to conquer our fears? Though I must admit I don’t think it’s a very useful lesson.

Character checklist

The gang this week consists of Adora, She-Ra, Glimmer, Bow, Queen Angela, Castaspella, Light Hope, Shadow Weaver, Catra, Hordak, Entrapta and Scorpia. Swift Wind, Lonnie, Kyle and Rohalio also appear without speaking roles, as do a few Bright Moon guards and rank upon rank of Horde Troopers.

Insults

Nothing today. This series is generally pretty disappointing on the insult front.

Oh No, Bow!

You had one job, Bow: distract Queen Angela and Castaspella while Adora and Glimmer speak to Shadow Weaver. Perhaps if you’d tried something more absorbing than stupid card tricks, you might have succeeded.

Angela: “Just…. piss off, Bow.”

Does it have the Power?

I get the impression this is an immensely important episode, full of bits of information that will prove relevant over the rest of the series. Often, such episodes run the risk of being relatively dull, but this one sidesteps that trap by keeping us guessing about Shadow Weaver’s motives – and I’m still guessing there: even though she seems to have been telling the truth, I must say I remain unconvinced by her loyalties – and by focusing on Adora’s reaction to the answers about her own past. It’s not an out-and-out fun episode, but it is dramatic, entertaining, and even a little suspenseful – and I’m pretty sure it’s going to prove crucial if we want to understand what’s going on in the weeks ahead.