Adora and Glimmer make some interesting connections when Bow suddenly runs off, and Catra cracks under the pressure as she tries to find Shadow Weaver.
Bow hypothesizes about what "Serenia" could mean, but leaves himself a message that he's getting nowhere, and he realizes something important is happening today.
Glimmer wakes Adora and shows a note arrow he shot through her window, though Adora points out it says "I'm fine, don't follow me" as they go through the woods. Glimmer rants that he can't be, as he would've told them where he was going, and to Adora's surprise, she admits she doesn't know where he would go. She explains that although they've been friends a long time, he never talks about his past or where he's from, and she believes the Mara transmission is involved. While tracking Bow's distinct footprints, Adora finds his quiver and they find a large, intricate building, discovering a library when they teleport in. Bow enters, and to their confusion is wearing ordinary clothes and shushing them; he quickly hides his arrows and Adora's sword as someone enters behind them. He awkwardly introduces them to his his fathers, George (Chris Jai Alex) and Lance (Regi Davis), who are excited to meet his "school friends." Meanwhile, Catra orders the others to notify her of anything suspicious, getting a jump when a shadow seems to resemble Shadow Weaver. Lonnie questions her, bringing up how SW's cell is somehow empty, but Catra threatens to toss them into it if they don't listen, and sends them away.
While Lance fetches snacks, George asks the girls about the "Academy of Historic Enterprises" Bow supposedly attends, and the two play along.
The dads mention shards of First Ones pottery that Bow's older brother sent. Bow is the youngest of 13 kids, who all became historians like their parents, and he's meant to take over the library when he grows up. Lance tells of a shard they have from an ancient runestone, and George grimly says they wouldn't keep it if it wasn't valuable, as they want nothing to do with the war. Glimmer protests, but George says he enlisted for the first Alliance, and after returning home, he found everything turned to ash, and vowed to never get involved again. Lance wants to show baby pictures, so Bow hurries his friends out, explaining to the demanding Glimmer that his parents think he's at boarding school. This frustrates Glimmer, who assumed his past was dark, but he says while he loves his dads, they decided his path when he was young, and since he wanted to travel instead, he taught himself archery and ran away, making up the boarding school. Glimmer is still against it, but Bow says it'd kill them if they learned what he does, and begs her to let him lie for now. He catches Adora's attention by saying their library is the perfect place to research First Ones tech and She-Ra's past, but Glimmer doesn't think it will go well. Before returning to his dads, he runs through having told the men that Glimmer is a physics major, Adora an art major, and none of them have magic powers. Back in the Fright Zone, Catra is snippy with Scorpia for wanting more details on what she's looking for, so Scorpia wraps her in a blanket and rocks her like a baby. Though not calmed, Catra blurts out that Shadow Weaver escaped, and Scorpia agrees to search without going to Entrapta for help, as she can't keep a secret. Unbeknownst to them, Hordak's spy is watching from a vent.
Lance leads the group on a tour, embarrassing Bow, and Adora asks about She-Ra. He gives some inaccurate info, then shows a vase where she is shown riding a dragon.
Bow deals with Adora as she flubs up about the academy, and George tells Glimmer he thought she didn't exist at first, and praises her for bringing Bow out of his shell. Bow asks about Serenia, and Lance excitedly shows them a bunch of scrolls, with George explaining Serenia was supposedly an ancient hero. Glimmer moans about how long it will take to read everything, and Adora accidentally reveals her ability to read First Ones language by saying one scroll is about aqueducts. George excitedly shows his First Ones tattoo, but Lance laughs at him when she says it reads "lunch," and taking a liking to Adora, asks for her help elsewhere. Bow wonders later how Serenia is connected to She-Ra, but Glimmer is upset, feeling like she doesn't even know Bow based on what his dads have said. He says she knows the real him, which he is unable to be around them, but she claims this is making him miserable. She says they'll love the real him, but he counters that he's tried to tell them before, as he's always been different, but they don't listen. Upstairs, Adora easily deciphers the words on a First Ones sphere, but this brings out a previously seen creature, putting Bow in a situation needing to reveal the truth, and Catra faces Hordak.
Well, here we get a classic story trope, in which the parents are forcing a main character into a life he or she doesn't want, but the character can't tell them.
Much like Glimmer, we really learn a lot about Bow this episode, with how his parents have planned his life and the fact that he has 12 siblings, and holy cow to that. An aspect about this that confused me is that Bow seems incredibly similar to Lance, in a way that seemed strange for a gay couple, since they'd be adopting. Obviously everyone gets a lot of their mannerisms from parents, and we definitely see this with George, who has moments resembling his son like his punny dad jokes. He seems to be a nod to Bow's design in the original series, which we saw episodes ago in Bow's plan, having coifed hair and a fancy mustache. Bow is definitely more similar to Lance, however, and the voice resemblance is uncanny, with this dad having a squeaky voice like Bow's. This is the area that confused me, because it could just be that Bow picked up on certain speech patterns, but this seems more like an inherited trait. Perhaps Lance and/or George was in a straight relationship before this massive family was started, but whatever the case may be, it's a lot of fun watching these two. Like I said, you can see where Bow got a lot of his personality from with these two, so it's sort of like seeing two split versions of Bow interacting. The two have a loving relationship that feels real, with them expressing their emotions but being willing to groan or laugh at the other at times. My favorite instance of this comes when the two learn George's tattoo says "lunch," and while he's disheartened, Lance bursts out laughing. And really, this is the perfect reaction to have, because George thought it said "love," and was likely proud of the tattoo, yet it turns out to be a mundane word. This is definitely a She-Ra take on real life, where people will get tattoos of Japanese or Chinese words without knowing for sure what they mean. Throughout the episode, you can see examples of what Bow meant when he said his dads decided his life and just don't listen, believing they already know him. First up is when Lance shows the place Bow used to play. Glimmer immediately assumes he'd play pirate, but Lance laughs and says his son doesn't like pirates, and always played historian. Later on, George thanks Glimmer for "bringing Bow out of his shell," which seems more fitting for what he did for her. It's clear Bow was just never able to speak his mind as a kid, and the reason they interpreted him as shy is that he just couldn't talk to them. I can definitely understand this, and know it must've been sad for Bow growing up feeling like he couldn't get a word in edgewise with his fathers or let them know what kind of person he is. Adora plays back-up comedic relief this episode, especially messing up while talking about "school" to the point she's listing five majors. The funniest part of this for me was when Lance wants to show pictures of Bow in a bubble bath. Bow immediately says he's taking the girls to his room, and Adora protests that she wants to see the bubble bath. Something I didn't understand with Adora's comedy this episode was that she repeatedly emphasizes words incorrectly. At times this makes sense, as she'll be saying something she's never heard of before, but it gets old fast, and occasionally she's saying a phrase she says all the time. There's also a moment with Bow I didn't understand this episode: while fighting near the end, he has to retrieve his bow and arrows from under some furniture. Initially unable to reach them, Bow finally rips off the lower part of his shirt, making it resemble his typical outfit, and he is immediately able to grab them. I suppose you could say the shirt was restricting him, but I really don't see why ripping off the lower half enabled him to reach farther. We see less of the Fright Zone this episode, but Catra is in a terrible state, worried as Shadow Weaver is on the loose and unsure what to do. Typical for her, her frustration causes her to lash out with Scorpia having to calm her down and softly request the truth from her. This of course leads to a worse situation for Catra, as Hordak's spy is listening, and we know the little gremlin has a sort of tape recorder function. While this episode mostly focuses on teaching us about Bow and having him grow, we also find out important info on She-Ra, and find Catra in a terrible spot.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
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
April 2020
Categories
All
|