On a mission to help another princess facing the Horde, Adora struggles to be the hero people need, and pressure from Hordak and Shadow Weaver increases.
Though the guards still distrust Adora, Glimmer is happy her mom allowed the new princess to stay, and shows her to her large, glamorous room.
Glimmer leaves the confused Adora, who doesn't even know how to shower, and accidentally pounds her cushy mattress into an explosion of feathers. In the hall, she bumps into Angella, who is looking at a mural she explains of her husband, Micah, who started the rebellion with her and was one of the first to die. She explains to Adora that she's only giving the former Horde soldier a chance because of Glimmer, and warns her to not disappoint them. Glimmer is startled awake the next morning and falls out of her hanging bed when she sees Adora curled up in it. Adora explains she's never slept without people around. Though Adora is afraid Angella dislikes her, Glimmer says she's invited to a rebellion war meeting, and wouldn't have been if Angella didn't like her. In the meeting room, Adora is surprised at the empty chairs; Glimmer explains most of the old princesses gave up, and the new ones stay in their kingdoms. The exceptions are Spinnerella (Noelle Stevenson) and Netossa (Krystal Joy Brown). Adora makes an early mistake by sitting in Micah's chair, then Angella reveals she called the meeting because Princess Perfuma (Genesis Rodriguez) needs help. With her kingdom Plumeria on the front lines, the Horde is attacking and has cut off their supply route; Angella says they'll be providing food and humanitarian aid. After Angella turns down Glimmer's idea to fight, Adora suggests the queen send her as She-Ra, Glimmer, and Bow, to handle the mission. The queen reluctantly agrees, commanding they not fight, and will be leaving at dawn.
Back in the Fright Side, Catra reveals her new position to a disgusted Lonnie as the cadets train, and Shadow Weaver's arrival cuts her bragging short.
The sorceress pulls Catra into the locker room and demands more info on Adora, not believing she knows nothing; Catra says Adora abandoned them and was disloyal. Snarling that she'll drag the truth out of the girl, Shadow Weaver begins using her magic, but an apparent pain stops her, and she retreats. Bow and Glimmer are shocked to find the plants are Plumeria dead, realizing Angella must not know, and are confused to see Adora already transformed into She-Ra. She explains she promised she'd be in this form the whole time and begins showing off, saying people prefer her as She-Ra, anyway. They notice smoke nearby and meet Perfuma, who becomes excited upon recognizing She-Ra. Barely hearing She-Ra's words, Perfuma leads the group around and shows them the Heart-Blossom, the tree source of her powers at the center of town. They ask about the plants, and Perfuma says they started dying after the Horde invaded, but they don't know why and don't feel like worrying about it. Back in the Fright Side, Shadow Weaver forces a large crystal to obey her will and give her power, then Hordak appears onscreen, saying she disobeyed him. Though she denies this, he asks why she's having soldiers look for some soldier he told her to forget, as their mission is to march on the forest and crush the rebellion. Saying the troops need her full attention, he tells her to amp up the attack on Plumeria to finish it. He warns her that he can take her powers, and though she politely agrees, she explodes in rage once he's gone.
Though She-Ra wants the villagers to have the supplies, they instead pamper her, glad she has returned like their thousand-year-old stories foretold.
Perfuma gushes about the past She-Ra's exploits, and Bow makes the problem worse by telling his own experiences and making one up. Though She-Ra notices smoke nearby, Perfuma keeps her busy wondering when she'll heal the land and plants; she did in the past and Glimmer says it will be easy. She-Ra wants to investigate the smoke, but Perfuma feels Plumeria isn't strong enough, nor is her plant-growing ability. Praised again by Bow and the Plumerians, She-Ra agrees, but pulls her friends aside and worries as she doesn't know how to heal, knowing nothing from the stories. Glimmer suggests she concentrate like she does to transform, but She-Ra finds she can only shoot concussive magical blasts and at one point transforms a lizard. Angered, She-Ra kicks over some plants, feeling she's useless regardless of if she's Adora or She-Ra. After an explosion, Perfuma rushes in begging for her help. The corruption has reached the Heart-Blossom, but She-Ra is still unable to heal it, and confuses everyone by transforming back into Adora and introducing herself. She explains to the upset villagers that she's just not the same She-Ra, and theorizes that the Horde is poisoning the land with machines they could try to stop. One man is skeptical, but Perfuma is positive the universe will punish the Horde; Glimmer chastises them for wanting to sit back and let She-Ra fix everything. Perfuma takes this to mean no one can save them, and decides to evacuate, leaving Adora feeling like she disappointed everyone. With her friends by her side, however, Adora comes up with a new plan to take down the Horde, and Shadow Weaver reminds Catra of her current place.
This is definitely an episode where I see a lot of controversy regarding the reboot and its new designs for classic characters.
Perfuma is vastly different from her original version, who had a flower-shaped dress and golden, curly hair, but I don't know too much about her to compare. As I've said, I haven't seen a lot of She-Ra, and Perfuma is someone I didn't know about, but evidently she was rather ditzy and carefree in the original. Back then, she didn't even fear Hordak, and this may have been because of her power's ability to transform dark energy. Considering how little I know about her, I had no reason to hate how she's been changed, though I didn't really like her much due to her beliefs about the Horde. With their armies right outside the village and her plants dying, I had though she'd be more willing to fight, especially because she called to Angella for aid. This version seems pretty based on hippies, however, with her pacifism and flowy way of dress involving sandals and flower crowns. She does begin to see the error of her ways thanks to Adora, but even then, the change she finally makes is a major 180 from her previous stance. While I do always think kids shows don't have to be dumbed down for their viewers, I do always remember that lighter, simpler methods are more likely. The main change for this episode came form the hardly seen Spinnerella, whom a quick Google search of just to find her actress led to some controversy. Thus far this is the character I've seen the most outrage of when it came to design, as a character who was once thin-but-muscular has been beefed up a bit. Along with jokes being cracked about how a bigger girl had the power to "break wind," many found it to be forced inclusion. In this video, YouTuber MechaRandom42 took a look at the character's then-leaked design, and found it disproportionate and promoting poor body image. I feel inclined to agree, for the fact that she's most likely going to get involved in combat, and this would affect how she looks. Now admittedly, I've always been a scrawny, lanky guy, so I don't know how bigger people felt growing up, especially when it came to bullying. There's also the fact that I'm white, so I can easily find superheroes of my ethnicity, while others get cries of "POLITICALLY CORRECT!" But when I looked at superheroes, I wasn't expecting someone whose appearance matched mine perfectly, but rather something I could strive toward. A good superhero is often relatable, like the ever-popular Spider-Man, but for me, their strong ethics and physical attributes were things I thought I should try to more resemble, rather than having them be exactly like me. While She-Ra's appearance has been criticized as androgynous, she's at least muscular, but it's clear Spinnerella isn't much for the battlefield. I've often found the desire for more "average" or bigger heroes to be silly, as people would give heroes beer bellies and flabby arms, disregarding their physical demands. Heroes are constantly taking on tasks that push them to their limits and beyond, like Batman training to peak human condition or the Punisher as the ultimate marine. This isn't limited to just men; it wouldn't make sense for Wonder Woman, an Amazon, to have a more average physique after all her training. In regards to this story's episode, I dislike moments where a hero becomes conceited before crashing, as I've seen this done plenty and always just find them irritating. It's important to teach character humility, however, and I was glad Adora didn't spend the whole time bragging about her greatness as She-Ra. In fact, she seemed bashful at times, and was quick to correct Bow when he started embellishing stories about her. The introduction of her apparent healing powers has me intrigued, as I was unaware of these abilities, and they'll be something for Adora to strive toward. Having her continue to struggle while learning her abilities is a good way to keep her relatable, and will allow us to see her grow over the series. The backstory we get about King Micah was a good way to introduce future story plots, as well as make Adora more nervous about messing up. Angella's demands in this episode for the mission were rather dumb, I felt, with how she expected the group to not engage the Horde despite their enemies being right on the edge of the village. Even if their goal was supposed to be humanitarian aid, it's only logical they'd maybe at least be forced into fighting at some point. With another princess added to the mix and some power struggles happening over in the Fright Side, Adora and Catra are finding themselves on opposing sides of a growing confrontation.
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AuthorI love the entertainment side of things. Video games, tv shows, superheroes and movies are my passion and I'd love to get the news out for things I enjoy. My contact page has links to my social media, so if you enjoy what I have to say, likes, shares, comments, and follows are always greatly appreciated! Archives
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