Episode 30 – Pulse

In which Glimmer shows just what she can do.

Aware of the Rebellion’s plans – thanks to Double Trouble’s presence in the ranks – the Horde is able to arrange an ambush and inflict a serious defeat on a team led by She-Ra, Bow, Spinnerella and Netossa. In the aftermath, Glimmer bemoans the fact that she is no longer able to come on missions and feels guilty about continually putting her friends in danger – a feeling worsened when Swift Wind brings news of a secret Horde base containing a new and powerful weapon.

Spinnerella: “I know things are serious, guys, but surely we can solve the problem without resorting to pulling stupid faces?”

Reluctantly, Glimmer sends Adora, Bow, Swift Wind, Spinnerella and Netossa out to find the base, but they’re greeted by another ambush in which Bow is seriously injured, and he’s only healed with a return to Bright Moon and a bit of Space Jesusing from She-Ra. There follows one of those irritating bouts of self-recrimination in which Adora, Glimmer and Bow all blame themselves for the disaster, after which Adora decides to head back out for a second attempt on the base.

Once She-Ra, Spinnerella and Netossa have returned into the forest, Glimmer finds herself having a chat with Shadow Weaver, who persuades her that she should use her magical powers to help her friends. Shadow Weaver embarks on a training programme with Glimmer, and Glimmer quickly learns to cast a locator spell which reveals the Horde base is really elsewhere, and that She-Ra is in the wrong place – awaiting yet another ambush.

Shadow Weaver: “Gaze deep into the magic birdbath, Glimmer.”

Glimmer now has a tough decision to make: it’s clear that the Horde has some kind of trace on She-Ra, so logically Glimmer can use She-Ra as a distraction while she goes after the real base herself. On the downside, this could lead to further defeats for She-Ra, Spinnerella and Netossa. Egged on by Shadow Weaver, Glimmer decides to attack the real base, and she does a damn good job of it too, taking on Catra in a one-on-one fight and destroying the secret weapon.

Glimmer then teleports over to save Team She-Ra just in time, which is all well and good – but Adora is not at all happy at having been used as bait, and even less pleased at the revelation that Glimmer is taking magic lessons from Shadow Weaver. There are very clear cracks in the best friend squad developing here – a fact not lost on Catra and Double Trouble, who plan to widen and exploit the rift…

Adora: “I always relish a chance to get my craziest eyes out.”

In today’s adventure…

This week we learn that being devious and using your friends may get you short-term advantages, but it could lead to them not liking you in the future. We also learn – in the guise of Spinnerella and Netossa – that trying to copy the Legolas/Gimli relationship from The Lord of the Rings is at best ill-advised.

Character checklist

The cast this week consists of Adora, She-Ra, Glimmer, Bow, Spinnerella, Netossa, Swift Wind, Shadow Weaver, Catra, Double Trouble, a bunch of unnamed rebels, and a couple of Horde Troopers.

There’s also been a Bright Moon guard identified as “General” hanging around the last few episodes getting quite a lot of lines; I’m on the lookout for her getting an actual name. The General is – at least sometimes – Double Trouble, but I can’t be certain if she’s a real person as well. I think she appeared prior to Double Trouble’s arrival, but I don’t remember for sure.

Adora: “Swift Wind, are you stoned again?”

Insults

Catra refers to Bow as a “dummy”, which is pretty strong for this largely insultless series.

Oh No, Bow!

Faced with a new Horde bot that trots up to the team and then simply stops about 10 metres away from them, Bow decides the best thing to do is go right up to it. Obviously, it’s a bomb which explodes right in his face. Being honest, it serves him right.

Bow: “Unidentified item in a combat zone? Definitely something to take a very close look at.”

Does it have the Power?

Yes, it does, though a few things keep it from being an out-and-out success. Firstly, as alluded to above, it’s good to see an attempt to give Spinnerella and Netossa some character development, but unfortunately they don’t do a lot other than pull off a second-rate imitation of Legolas and Gimli’s Orc-killing game from the Helm’s Deep chapter of The Lord of the Rings. This has the effect of simply making them a bit irritating.

Secondly – and less seriously – the episode seems to flounder in its early stages, with She-Ra and her gang going out from Bright Moon again and again, only to fall into ambushes. This is obviously to emphasise just how much chaos Double Trouble can cause, and it’s effective enough, but not enormously interesting. Luckily, once past the halfway point, the episode shifts up a gear and gives us a downright excellent confrontation between Glimmer and Catra, which is quite possibly the most exciting fight scene the series has yet offered. The aftermath is good too: it’s a victory, but things are not rosy, and there’s ominous signs of further trouble ahead.

In short, to start with, it’s not great and was indeed heading towards being a clunker, but once Glimmer starts her lessons with Shadow Weaver, it becomes utterly fantastic. A real episode of two halves.

Episode 29 – Flutterina

In which a new recruit is not all she seems.

Adora, Bow and Swift Wind have just succeeded in recovering the village of Elberon from the Horde, and as such there’s a massive party being thrown in their honour. With all the adulation being thrown their way, the trio soon let it go to their heads, so when an enormous Horde bot is detected heading for Elberon, She-Ra arrogantly insists there’s no need to evacuate the village, instead heading out with Swift Wind to deal with it.

Adora: “You’d think at least one of us would have seen confetti before, but apparently not.”

Well, surprise surprise, the bot proves to be no more than a distraction, and while She-Ra’s gone, the Horde attack the party and take everyone prisoner – everyone except for Flutterina, an irritating child who hero worships She-Ra. Searching for the captives, Adora, Swift Wind and Flutterina soon come across a Horde base in the forest and break in.

Not unnaturally, the whole thing is a trap. Bow manages to escape with the other captives without She-Ra’s help, whereas She-Ra and Swift Wind fall prey to an electrified floor and are nearly taken prisoner by Catra. It’s only with the help of Flutterina and Bow that they manage to escape at all, and She-Ra gratefully allows Flutterina to join the Rebellion. But, in a last minute twist, we learn that this entire performance has been an elaborate setup to allow Double Trouble, in the guise of Flutterina, to gain access to the Rebellion’s inner circle…

Double Trouble: “It ought to have been obvious Flutterina’s not real. No one’s really as cutesy as her.”

In today’s adventure…

Well, we have a couple of lessons today. Firstly, She-Ra’s arrogance in Elberon is the very epitome of “don’t let success go to your head”. Secondly, when the villagers are trapped in the Horde base, they have to be told not to wait around to be rescued when there’s a chance they could free themselves. And thirdly, I think that Double Trouble’s easy admission to the Rebellion’s ranks is a strong advert for the need for in-depth security vetting.

Character checklist

The principal characters are Adora, She-Ra, Bow, Swift Wind, Flutterina, Elberon’s mayor, the other inhabitants of Elberon, Catra, Scorpia, and Double Trouble. Glimmer, Hordak, Imp and Emily the bot get lesser roles, and Entrapta makes an appearance in flashback.

Catra: “Oh hi, Emily. Nice to see you. Now get out of my bedroom.”

Insults

A sudden outbreak of courtesy seems to have swept Etheria this week, with no overt insults. On the other hand, Catra does tell Scorpia in no uncertain terms that they are not friends, which Scorpia naturally finds upsetting.

Does it have the Power?

Rather like last time, it seems a little lacklustre, but there’s nothing really wrong with it other than being a bit slow and padded out – the first half of the episode is taken up with Catra introducing Double Trouble to Hordak and with the party, both of which could have been covered in mere minutes if there were a bit more meat to this plot. The episode is enlivened by Swift Wind, who – as I think I’ve said before – is a fantastic character. His behaviour at the party is particularly entertaining. Ultimately though, this episode feels like no more than a vehicle to get Double Trouble into Bright Moon – while progressing in very minor terms the plots about both Glimmer and Scorpia feeling left out by Adora and Catra respectively – and as such, it’s a necessary instalment, but hardly an enthralling one.

Episode 28 – The Valley of the Lost

In which Perfuma resolves her weird issues with cacti.

In her new role as queen, Glimmer has been thinking and has come up with a plan: to send Adora, Bow, Huntara and Perfuma back into the Crimson Waste to bring Mara’s spaceship back to Bright Moon. So off they go, but on arrival at the ship’s crash site, they find it has been stolen by the Horde. Following some massive tracks left in the sand, the gang soon arrive at the Valley of the Lost – a settlement of deadbeats, criminals and smugglers which Huntara calls home.

Huntara: “I’d rather sit here licking my fingers than hang out with these morons a second longer.”

Entering the town, they find that it’s crawling with Horde soldiers, so Huntara leads the team to the home of one of her friends, a grizzly-looking creature called Grox. To my total lack of surprise, Grox turns out to be working with the Horde and betrays our heroes within about three and a half seconds, leading to a bit of a kerfuffle between Team She-Ra and Team Horde.

Speaking of the Horde, Catra and Scorpia are here in the Valley of the Lost too, and they’ve made a new friend: an individual called Double Trouble, who has the ability to adopt whatever form they please. Despite initial scepticism, Catra is keen to recruit Double Trouble, recognising their potential in spying on the rebels or spreading confusion or dissent in their ranks.

Thanks to Bow being pretty clever, our heroes are able to trace where the Horde are keeping Mara’s spaceship, and so it’s all bicycle shorts on and tiaras out for the big denouement in which She-Ra steals the ship back. Once that’s dealt with, Huntara decides to remain in the Crimson Waste and to clear it of Horde influence, while Catra, Scorpia and Double Trouble speed back to the Fright Zone intent on forming new plans.

She-Ra: “Oh, here we go again with the endless falling off stuff rigmarole we two go through.”

In today’s adventure…

There’s an irritating subplot about Perfuma not being able to work with cacti and then getting really upset about it and deciding she’s useless, in a storyline that reminded me (with something of a shudder) of Orko’s worst Filmation excesses. Eventually she manages to get the cacti to do what she wants, so I suppose the lesson of today’s episode is that cacti aren’t that bad after all.

Character checklist

The main players today are Adora, She-Ra, Bow, Huntara, Perfuma, Catra, Scorpia and Double Trouble. Also involved are Glimmer, a Bright Moon guard, Mermista, Grox, Kyle the barmaid, an array of Horde Troopers, and lots of background inhabitants of the Valley of the Lost.

Double Trouble: “Super pleased to join the team.”

Insults

Huntara calls Perfuma a “flower girl” about a million times, which is sometimes meant to be insulting and sometimes affectionate. She also suggests that Adora is “soft”, an insult which is repeated to Huntara courtesy of Grox. Grox also describes the Horde as “scum” and Huntara, Adora, Bow and Perfuma as “fools”. Finally, Adora says that Kyle the barmaid and her fishy friend are “goons”.

Oh No, Bow!

Put your bloody phone on silent, Bow. That’s all.

Does it have the Power?

Maybe I’m just not in the mood today, but while there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with this episode, it really didn’t do it for me. It felt like a bit of a step backward to be heading back into the Crimson Waste to find the spaceship again, and Perfuma’s storyline was annoyingly self-pitying and a bit too tweely wholesome. A few seeds for the long-term plot seem to be being planted here – Glimmer is beginning to feel left out of the gang because she’s now sending people on missions rather than going on them, and Double Trouble is interesting with good potential for the future – so these threads redeem the episode a bit, but on the whole, I can’t say that I’d call it especially good.

Episode 27 – The Coronation

In which Glimmer becomes Queen Glimmer.

With Angela lost in the portal and presumed dead, Glimmer has been elevated to the position of Queen of Bright Moon. Today is her coronation day, which ought to be a day of celebration, but Glimmer’s understandably upset about the loss of her mother. She’s not helped by her aunt Castaspella, who’s flapping about causing unnecessary stress about cakes, flowers, etc, and the various other princesses, who are bickering over which jobs they do at the coronation. The final straw is the ever-insane Swift Wind, who’s decided he’s going to perform a song at the ceremony.

Swift Wind: “Oh come on, guys, it’ll just be a short song. And it’ll be appropriate too. Probably ‘God Save the Queen’ by the Sex Pistols.”

All this nonsense leads to Glimmer shouting at everyone to make them shut up, so sadly no one’s in a very good mood when the ceremony begins. Fortunately, the first part of the ceremony is the Quest of Queens – in which Glimmer needs to bind her powers to those of the Moon Stone – which is suitably distracting, and by the time it’s over, Glimmer is reasonably happy and secure in her new position as Queen.

There’s a short subplot in the Fright Zone this week too, involving Catra taking a sneaky look at the suit of armour that Entrapta built for Hordak back in the episode Huntara, then extracting the First Ones tech from it to leave Hordak powerless. Having set herself up as leader of the Horde, Catra decides that her first step will be to crush the Rebellion before Horde Prime’s armies arrive.

Catra: “Too many Jaegerbombs, Hordak?”

In today’s adventure…

There’s a moment towards the end where Perfuma says, “We all worked together to make it happen!” This is said in a massively irritating voice that comes with an undertone of “HEY! YOU THERE, WATCHING THIS EPISODE! PAY ATTENTION!” So maybe the message is that you should work together. I kind of wish it wasn’t though, because Perfuma really is annoying.

Character checklist

Populating this episode are Adora, She-Ra, Glimmer, Bow, Castaspella, Mermista, Perfuma, Frosta, Swift Wind, a hologram of Queen Angela, Shadow Weaver, Catra, Hordak, Scorpia and Emily the bot. Sea Hawk also makes a brief non-speaking cameo, as do lots of coronation ceremony guests.

Castaspella: “And just who the hell are you, you blithering idiot?”

Oh No, Bow!

This week, Bow only has two jobs: firstly, to read a scroll and find out how to complete the Quest of Queens, and secondly, to look after a sacred lantern until Glimmer needs it for her quest. This latter doesn’t sound too difficult, but evidently it’s harder than it sounds, because Bow loses the lantern almost immediately. Luckily, Swift Wind finds it, but unluckily, he decides to be a dick about it and refuses to give it back without agreement that he can sing his stupid song at the ceremony. All this could have been prevented if only Bow had had even the vaguest concept of competence.

Looking after a lantern may have been too tricky, but you’d find Bow would at least be capable of reading. Apparently not. When Glimmer, Adora and Bow venture into a cave system as part of the Quest, they are completely taken by surprise when a giant snake monster shows up. On being questioned, Bow reveals that the scroll did say something about this, but he didn’t really understand it so he chose to ignore it. So all in all, not a good effort from Bow this week. He’s still streets ahead of his sleazy Filmation counterpart though.

Bow: “Okay, so all we need to do is beat the one-eyed snake, right?”

Does it have the Power?

It’s not up there with the greats, but this one’s a perfectly decent instalment. Glimmer being upset about the absence of her mother, and Adora and Bow not knowing how to act around her to make her feel better, all feels very realistic; and the frustration Glimmer feels as everybody tries to make her coronation ceremony perfect will probably ring very true with anyone who’s ever tried to plan a big event. The episode’s humour doesn’t always quite work, but when it does – with Swift Wind, for example – it’s very good.

Long-term plot-wise, obviously Glimmer taking up her throne is important, and so is Catra taking over the leadership of the Horde. I also wonder if we’re getting a brief hint as to what lies ahead – Shadow Weaver cautions Adora that power tends to change people, and comments that she hopes Glimmer remains a good friend. So there’s a few threads that the series can take from here: let’s see where the story takes us next.

Episode 26 – The Portal

In which Queen Angela saves all of reality.

Adora arrives at Bright Moon to learn that in this reality, King Micah is still alive, Bow is an apprentice historian, and everything is happy and good because the Horde don’t exist, having been swallowed up by the portal last week. Trying to explain the situation to Queen Angela and King Micah, Adora manages to come across simply as a babbling halfwit, and her story is dismissed as nonsense.

Queen Angela: “Glimmer, leave the loony alone.”

Luckily, Glimmer and Bow are their usual inquisitive selves and stick their noses into proceedings. Adora manages to persuade them that she’s telling the truth – in part thanks to the portal dissolving reality right next to them – and this leads to Angela and Micah accepting the story too. Angela then flies away from Bright Moon as it disappears into the portal, taking Micah with it, while Adora, Glimmer and Bow fall through a convenient trapdoor into Entrapta’s castle.

Entrapta has been studying the portal, and she explains that the only way to shut it down is for someone to enter it and close it from the inside by removing the power sword. Unfortunately, this will leave the person who entered the portal trapped for ever between realities. Having imparted this crucial info, Entrapta gets swallowed up by the portal herself.

There’s then what I would charitably describe as a load of nonsense in which Adora and Catra have yet another of their interminable “we used to be friends but now we hate each other but perhaps we don’t” conversations, which only comes to an end when Adora punches Catra in the face. With that settled, it’s time to pull the power sword out of the portal, and though Adora makes a valiant effort to be the one who draws the short straw, it’s Queen Angela who ultimately gets the honour of retrieving the sword and getting herself trapped outside reality.

Queen Angela: “An unexpectedly central role for me today.”

This all restores the world to rights, hurrah hurrah, and we return to Hordak’s lab to find She-Ra smashing the portal machine to bits. Shadow Weaver and Glimmer teleport everybody back to Bright Moon, where everything’s all super except Queen Angela is gone. Meanwhile, out in deep space, Horde Prime receives a signal from Etheria informing him of Hordak’s whereabouts – and I daresay he’ll be bringing his armies along to conquer the planet soon.

In today’s adventure…

Today we learned that if your ex-best-friend is going on and on about various rubbish, just punch her in the face. That’ll teach her.

Catra: “For God’s sake, Adora, this is in clear violation of the guidance – hands, face, personal space.”

Character checklist

In the portal reality, we see Adora, She-Ra, Glimmer, Bow, Entrapta, Queen Angela, King Micah, Catra, Mara, some Bright Moon guards, and there’s a quick flashback to Swift Wind too. In actual reality, we also see Perfuma, Mermista, Frosta, Shadow Weaver, Hordak and Horde Prime.

Insults

Glimmer addresses Adora as “crazy lady”, but that’s all. I have to say, I hope that Revelation and the CGI Masters of the Universe series have some better insults than this one does.

Oh No, Bow!

On the gang’s return to Bright Moon at the end, Bow has literally the stupidest expression on his face that I’ve ever seen. I realise this is fairly innocuous compared to some of Bow’s previous behaviours, but it’s been a while since we’ve heard from this category and I really wouldn’t want you to think I’d forgotten about it.

Bow: “What is this expression supposed to convey? Anyone?”

Does it have the Power?

I’m afraid that I don’t think it does. The first half occupies itself too much with Adora trying to persuade the inhabitants of Bright Moon that everything’s wrong, and while the second half does ramp up the action, it seems curiously lacking in tension, especially when it gets derailed by yet another Adora/Catra shrieking match. We get it: these two are not friends anymore, and Catra blames Adora for her rubbish life. We saw this conversation last week and it wasn’t that compelling then, so we certainly don’t need a rerun today.

Elsewhere, Angela’s sacrifice is definitely a good idea for story progression – seeing how the team react to her absence will be interesting – but it feels oddly bloodless in actual practice. Probably the most exciting thing about the entire episode is the final scene with Horde Prime learning of Etheria’s location, which is an effective cliffhanger for next season. But all in all, I can’t summon much enthusiasm for this instalment, sadly.