Somewhat incoherent reactions to to rest of Season 3 of She-ra

[alias_sqbr]

THAT WAS AMAZING

Content note: abusive parents, ambiguously incestuous shipping, iffy portrayal of disability

***Spoilers***


I'm glad Entraptra seems to be at least a LITTLE uncomfortable with the idea of opening a portal which will destroy her planet and also reunite Hordak with his shitty abusive brother-dad.

Siiigh more mother-daughter tensions between Glimmer and her mother Angella, leader of the good guys. This whole "stop overprotecting me and being so cautious" vs "I don't want to risk anyone" dynamic makes sense, especially since Glimmer seems pretty young and Angella's obviously still traumatised from her husband Mika dying (I think in battle?), but it's still annoying that they keep cycling through the same arguments over and over.

Shadow Weaver: Glimmer, if you allow me to access your connection to your runestone I can give you the power to teleport to Adora.
Me, remembering the terrible things that have happened any time a bad guy accesses a Princess Runestone: D:

(Princesses are the (I think hereditary) rulers of the kindgoms of Etheria, and have runestones that give them power)

You know Entraptra is easy to fool when ADORA can successfully lie to her. Man, the relationship between Entraptra, Catra and the other princesses is so sad, the way Catra convinced Entraptra noone else liked her but doesn't actually like Entraptra much herself, because she never lets herself like anyone. I'm all "Poor Entraptra just wants a friend ;_;" but like...she really is very unconcerned with the consequences of her actions on others. She does better than Catra, but so does literally everyone else, including Hordak.

Nnnng where is the dynamic between Scorpia and Catra going...one reason I didn't ship it before was feeling like Catra doesn't know what love looks like except as a way to manipulate, and it kinda feels like it's going that way.

Glimmer and Shadow Weaver holding hands is sure an image D: D:

Catra: You made me this way and now you get to be a good guy!

AHHH

Glimmer and Shadow Weaver holding hands while Shadow Weaver tortures Catra is...oh god.

"There will be nothing left of you or the Princesses". But Scorpia is a Princess too...

...yeah ok I am in favour of Entraptra and Scorpia realising they deserve better and running off together to the Crimson Waste to run a cheerfully amoral band of technologically advanced ne'er do wells.

OH NOOOOOO. OH NO CATRA CONVINCED HORDAK THAT ENTRAPTRA BETRAYED HIM AND HE'S ALL QUIETLY SAD ABOUT IT. THIS IS NOT ENDING WELL. (And when Catra betrayed Entraptra she was all "Tell Hordak about the portals being dangerous he'll understand!" They trusted each other so much but I doubt they'll ever be able to be friends again ;_;)

OMG REALITY IS SCREWING UP BECAUSE CATRA OPENED THE PORTAL AND NOW ADORA IS IN THE PAST WITH CATRA STILL HER FRIEND???? This is amazing. I don't think I've seen twisty f/f like this since Homestuck.

*watches the rest without pausing*

OK TWISTY PARALLEL UNIVERSE WAS EVEN BETTER

ANGELLLAAAAAAA ;_;

Ok that made the dynamic with her and Glimmer less annoying retroactively. I guess Mika will be coming back, maybe?? Oooh and having a messy relationship with Shadow Weaver since she didn't stab everyone in the back like I thought she would (yet).

Not really shipping Catra with anyone right now, guh. Also could do with less correlation between goodness and being an able bodied human who felt loved growing up.

But overall that was great.

WHERE IS SEASON 4 I WANT IT NOW.

Comments

[hebethen]

You know, I hadn't thought about the "and felt loved growing up" thing, but now that you bring it up, it's definitely a tricky line to walk between "goodness is not an innate quality but something that your environment can facilitate your doing" vs. "your environment, your trauma or abuse, do not define your fate".

[alias_sqbr]

Yeah, it's a difficult subject, and I don't know for sure where they're going with it. They haven't actively SAID "Some people are just too broken by trauma to be good/functional", which is a step up from many narratives, but I wish they'd tried a bit harder to clearly not be implying it. Adora having also had an abusive upbringing helps a bit, but it still makes me uncomfortable, especially combined with the 1-1 correspondence between disability and being an evil adult.

[lea_hazel]

The fact that Shadow Weaver was amoral and self-serving but has not gone back to Hordak miiight suggest that Entrapta could do the same. And wouldn't it be fun to see Shadow Weaver and Entrapta interact? But then again, maybe the two of them are meant to be a contrast to each other, two people taking different paths from the same starting point. Maybe I'm overthinking this, but with the wait until the next season, what else am I supposed to do?

[alias_sqbr]

Hmm. I don't think Entraptra is entirely amoral the way Shadow Weaver is. While she can be oblivious to people around her, and unconcerned with the greater good, in her own way she's pretty loyal to those she considers friends. She had to be convinced that She-ra and the others had abandoned her before she joined forces with the Horde, and I think she'd need to be convinced that Hordak had turned against her to work against him. Of course, there's good odds that Hordak WILL turn against her, now.

Entraptra with NO friends is a very sad thought. I can see her making new friends on Beast Island, and then sticking with them when she realises Hordak is against her now. But I can't see her rejoining the good guys unless she was convinced they genuinely liked her, unlike Shadow Weaver she'd feel sad being around ex-friends she thinks dislike her.

If you're overthinking it, then so am I, but I regret nothing :)

[lea_hazel]

Overthinking is what fandom is all about!