[She-Ra] 4.04-4.13

[hermionesviolin]

Thom and I both took last Friday off from work to spend time together before their surgery and finished watching S4 of She-Ra.

They mouthe/bounce along to the theme song and also delight in the magical girl transformation sequence, so I referred to them as my adorable lesbian a bunch.

In a recent conversation about their gender, Thom said:

I’m cool with “confused she/they/he bearded genderqueer lesbian” for the time being.

Also, thanks to a transcript site for making going back and writing up notes on these episodes easier (though some of the episodes are incomplete, so I still did a bunch of rewatching even after I thought to search for transcripts).

4.04 "Pulse"

• competitive lesbians!  #It'sNotACompetition #ButI'mWinning  "See, this is why no one comes to game night anymore."
• "angry sparkle"
• When Double Trouble said, "foreshadowing," Thom said: "Double Trouble breaks everything, including the fourth wall."
• Shadow Weaver, so transparently manipulative and yet still so effective at it!
• "Those are daisies. I find them cheerful."  I know this sort of "doom doom doom -- oh, this is just cheerful" is not at all new, but it's classic for a reason!

4.05 "Protocol"

• God, poor Kyle.  He should really defect and join the Rebellion.  I appreciate that Lonnie and Rogelio do actually care about him, though.
• "Warmth."  Aww.  I totally thought the Mara memory was like the Watcher problem -- Light Hope won't let herself bond with Adora because she doesn't wanna make the same mistakes/experience the trauma if Adora fails/dies -- but then we get this dark "Heart of Etheria project" teaser! 

4.06 "Princess Scorpia"

• Bow: "Communication is the key to a good friendship." / "Glimmer, would you like to try phrasing that a little more constructively?"
• Entrapta: "Now, when an experiment blows up and I lose all memory of that day, I'll still have a record of the research."
  
• Glimmer trending Dark Willow -- threatening to hurt the Horde soldier who's already told her everything he knows...
  
• Even more than being loyal, Scorpia's defining characteristic is wanting to believe the best of people.
  
• Scorpia's grandfather made the alliance with Hordak -- as part of which their kingdom gave up their Runestone (and princess). When Scorpia says, "Granddad stayed loyal to the end," I'm so curious: Loyal to who? Does she feel like he was doing what was in the best interest of his kingdom?
• Scorpia: "But I still have time. I can still be a good friend."
  
• Scorpia to Catra: "You're a bad friend."
  

4.07 "Mer-Mysteries"

• omfg, Clue! / noir genre episode! not as good as the D&D episode (2.04 "Roll With It"), but this was still a delight
• Wasn't Perfuma gonna stay with Huntara?  (see the end of 4.02, "I've gotten fond of this desert rose")  Has Perfuma been in episodes between these two and I didn't notice?
  
• [lightning crashes] / Frosta: "How are you doing that?!" / Mermista: "I practice. At HOME!" [lightning crashes] (I mean, she's the princess of water, not thunder, so I'm not entirely sold on this, but whatever, it's a delight.)
  

4.08 "Boys' Night Out"

• I promised if I ever fake a kidnapping, I will be very safe about it. 😘
• Bow: "I don't care! You know what? It's not easy being the friendly and upbeat guy all the time. And I get that it's hard being friends sometimes. You gotta work at it. ...So why am I always the only one who's willing to work at it? I mean...they didn't even notice I'm gone. ...Do whatever you want. I don't care. It's terrible being friends with friends.
  me: "Yes, Bow, it's hard being more emotionally healthy than everyone around you."

• Mermista: No shanties! [electric guitar strums] Hit it.
  
  Sea Hawk: [gasps excitedly] I thought you said no shanties?
  
  Mermista: This isn't a shanty, it's like a rock remix, so...it's cool.

• Mermista: Whatever, you goober. [punches Sea Hawk lightly in the gut, and he grunts] Your plan was terrible. [determined] But I'm done moping in a bathtub. [spins staff, tamping it down as a wave washes behind her] I'm ready to fight, to destroy the Horde and get my kingdom back!
  
  Sea Hawk: That's my girl!
  
  Mermista: Also, Bright Moon ran out of ice cream.
  
  Sea Hawk: That's also my girl!

• Of course I then had the stupid "It's fun to be friends with friends" song stuck in my head afterward. 😂

4.09 "Hero"

• I called pretty early on that Razz was switching between Mara's last day -- though I thought she was trying to prevent Mara from Doing The Thing (aka, leaving her), but having seen the whole episode, I'm less certain about that.
• Thom was delighted that there was ANOTHER Magic Girl Transformation Sequence (aka, Mara gets one, too)
• The sword being necessary to control the magic felt very shades of the Captain Marvel movie.  Mara ("Vers") has all this power, but The Kyriarchy wants to be able to control her/it.  (Mara: "But...my people chose me to be She-Ra. I need the sword to control She-Ra's magic. That's...what my superiors always told me." / Razz: "She-Ra was here long before your people arrived. You cannot control magic! Magic simply is.")
• Also, wow, colonialism.  The First Ones come and study the planet's magic -- but don't actually interact with the natives (Mara: "We're here to study this planet's magic, aren't we? Who'd know more about Etheria's magic than the Etherians?") and siphon all the magic (power) into a weapon that they're going to use to ensure their dominance of the galaxy (ostensibly peace, but in a very Pax Romana "they make a desolation, and call it peace" kind of way), even if that means destroying the planet.
• After the episode ended, I told Thom, "I wanna sit with my sad."  (We are different people, and she wanted to move on the next, presumably happier, episode.  But she loves me, so we cuddled on the couch for a bit.)  I talked about the season 5 Buffy finale (where I wept, even though I knew the show was coming back and thus Buffy herself was obviously not gonna stay dead).  I think this was maybe when I pulled up The Speech from "The Gift" ("Give my love to my friends. You have to take care of them now. You have to take care of each other. You have to be strong. Dawn, the hardest thing in this world ... is to live in it. Be brave. Live. For me.") and compared it to The Speech from "Amends" ("Strong is fighting! It's hard, and it's painful, and it's every day. It's what we have to do. And we can do it together.").

4.10 "Fractures"

• Catra misses Scorpia! It's so tragic that Catra pushes people away so aggressively (as a defense mechanism, I know) while also so desperately needing interpersonal connection.
• God, y'all, just defect already!
• Catra freaking out about people laughing feels very Shakespeare's histories -- how when you've screwed over everyone to get to the top, you're constantly worried that other people are out to screw you over and steal what you've got.
• Scorpia: "The thing is, you all seem really good at friendship." / Perfuma: "You're here to learn how to be a good friend?" / Scorpia: "Yes, that's it! See, I thought I was being a good friend to Catra, but it turns out Catra wasn't being a good friend to me, and also that I have no real idea what friendship is. Man, I think Entrapta's the only real friend I've ever had. -- And Emily." / Mermista: (groans) "Say things that make sense!"
• Scorpia: "... And I let her." -- I super-appreciate how this show explicitly calls out the ways we sometimes fail in relationship -- and also models openly acknowledging when we realize we've messed up (and also that we can choose to make different/better choices moving forward).
• Glimmer: "Entrapta has a habit of exploding everything she touches. You really wanna let her near this thing?" -- Okay, that feels like a compelling counter-argument to consider about maybe not enlisting Entrapta to work with this unstable, incredibly powerful, weapon.
  
• Adora: "She[ Light Hope]'s the bad guy!" / Glimmer: "The Horde are the bad guys." -- us: "Both can be true."
• Scorpia: "The Horde always told me I was different, that I wouldn't fit in with you all, but you're making me feel the opposite of not belonging, which I guess is belonging?" / Frosta: "I used to feel that way, too.  And then I met Glimmer and the others, and I realized that none of us fit in. We're all different, but that's okay."
• Aww, Frosta letting them go.  "I didn't join the Princess Alliance just to fight.  I joined to save people.  And the Horde, even after all they did... [pan to Scorpia sleeping] they're people, just like us." I honestly hadn't thought about how destroying the planet would destroy all the Horde soldiers, too, and I don't know that it's exactly the right comment for the moment -- but I do appreciate the reminder that the Horde soldiers are people, all of them, not just the ones we've gotten to know personally; and that choosing the wrong side doesn't necessarily mean you deserve to die.
  
• Swift Wind: "Loop the loops! How could you betray me?"

4.11 "Beast Island"

• Bow: "First Ones' tech. This is all First Ones' tech. But it's corrupted, melted down. This must've been some kind of First Ones' dumping ground."  (I hadn't caught initially that the ship's computer said "Hazardous Materials Disposal Site" when they set a course for Beast Island in the previous episode.)
• I ... don't entirely trust survivor!Micah.
• Micah: "You've heard it? Then we have to hurry. This place is a mass of ancient tech, mostly degraded but some of it still works. And something at the center of that island never stopped signaling. The signal dulls your resolve, exposes your vulnerabilities, it pulls you in. Everything that stays on Beast Island becomes a part of it eventually." -- I think "something at the center of that island never stopped signaling" is where I started to suspect that that as the weapon?
• Glimmer: "The First Ones stole the magic of Etheria, the magic of my people. Please, talk to me! That magic is how I stop this war. It's how I save everyone. That magic, the magic at the Heart of Etheria... I want to use it." / Light Hope: "Temporary administrator access granted to Queen Glimmer of Bright Moon. Queen Glimmer, proceed." -- Because, as established, Light Hope just wants the weapon activated/fired; so even though the First Ones are anti-interloper/natives (as we recall from 4.09 "Hero" when Razz finds the ship), she's willing to use Glimmer to activate the weapon.

4.12 "Destiny Part 1"

• Entrapta: "Of course I'm ok! Have you seen this place? An island, full of technological monstrosities, each more deadly than the next? It's paradise!"
• Adora: "Entrapta, please. We need your help. We discovered what the First Ones and what they were doing to Etheria, a terrible secret that no one else knows." / Entrapta: "You mean The Heart of Etheria? Why didn't you just say so?"
• Entrapta: "Once the planet is balanced, no one can stop it. Not even the First Ones could control it. That's why they left. When the weapon is activated it will channel all its power into you. You don't get to refuse."
• Scorpia: "It's hopeless.. What if the Black Garnet doesn't want me? I just.. kind of get rejected a lot." / Glimmer: "Tell me about it. My best friends left me. Even before this, I was the weak princess, the one who had to recharge. Who didn't fit. But that's changed now. We've changed now. We're stronger than anyone knows. We can do this. We can save everyone." -- I know we already had this with Frosta in the previous episode, but I'm not mad at getting it again. And Glimmer seems genuine, not just using Scorpia, which I appreciated. And yeah, Glimmer is hurting. She's still grieving her mom, it's hard being queen, and she's in a fight with her best friends.
• Wow, did not expect Double Trouble to betray Catra to Hordak.

4.13 "Destiny Part 2"

• Lonnie: "Scorpia, we thought you got OUT!  If Catra sees you--" I love that they're finally getting out!
• Watching this again, when all the princesses get powered up, I wonder if I wondered if this is how the princesses used to be -- connected to their Runestones (and more powerful when connected to each other -- a la the Season 1 finale), and the First Ones have siphoned that power away. (I have honestly lost track of all the lore.)
• When Scorpia walks through the Fright Zone, all super-powered, those two characters we see are from the Crimson Waste.  Does that mean the Horde has taken over the Crimson Waste? Rewatching parts of this season for notes, they had taken over the coast and were moving inland, and were working on taking over the Woods, but there was no indication that they had gotten as far as the Waste. Do they just happen to be the same species as 2 characters from the Crimson Waste episode?
  
• I love the music that comes along with Scorpia's powered-up zaps.
• Scorpia: "Catra! I know she's done a lot of bad things, but -- don't hurt her/" / Glimmer: "We're the good guys, remember?" -- Yeah, but are you, though? You seem to have a real taste for vengeance/power (yup, her arc feels very Dark Willow in some ways ... going from an "angry sparkles" princess to the most powerful of the princesses).
  
• Light Hope brought Adora -- so did Hordak come through accidentally?  The whole Horde siege on Etheria is the fault of the First Ones programming Light Hope to get a She-Ra to activate the weapon to destroy their enemies? Also, lbr, I'm curious how Horde Prime and The First Ones fit into the wider cosmology. They both want to reign over the galaxy, and I don't think they're on the same side, but it's also true that definitely neither of them are The Good Guys. Are the First Ones long dead, like Adora suggests? (It's been a thousand years since Mara.) Who are the people who Adora was born to?
  
• How is Glimmer powerful enough to not be paralyzed by the activation of the weapon for so long?  All her magic(al training)?
• Horde Prime: "For order to thrive, this whole mess must be wiped away."
• I should have predicted that Adora would break the sword, but I did not predict that.
  
• Catra, always a survivor.  (Though honestly not entirely sure that's not Double Trouble.)

I've seen critiques of Double Trouble being one-dimensional, but they're such a chaos agent ("The thrill of seeding destruction and chaos." 4.04), and that's a valid characterization.