She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Rewatch 1.9, "No Princess Left Behind"

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For the Halloween 2019 piece on She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, neither tricks nor treats seem apt to be found.

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1.9, "No Princess Left Behind"

Written by Noelle Stevenson, Sonja Warfield, Katherine Nolfi, and Josie Campbell
Directed by Stephanie Stine

Synopsis

She's a happy kitty.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Catra exults in possessing She-Ra's sword and having captured Glimmer and Bow. Shadow Weaver is not impressed, though Hordak congratulates her for the efforts. Catra is incredulous, and Shadow Weaver is dismissive. But she is far more interested in Glimmer, restrained by magic in her lair.

Adora approaches Angella, who unhappily considers her prospects: self-surrender or the death of her child. She accepts self-surrender, and Adora rejects the idea; Angella opposes a rescue mission, though Adora forges on with it. The arrival of the allied princesses--Perfuma, Mermista, and Entrapta--buoys her.

It's always Kyle.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In the Fright Zone prison, Kyle tends to Bow--ineptly. Bow takes the chance to make some inroads with his captor.

Adora and the other princesses confer, if erratically, about how to rescue their friends. The plan proceeds in similarly erratic fashion, with some hiccups along the way (and not all of them are the fault of the princesses, though their eccentricities come to the fore). But it does largely succeed, if not entirely as expected.

Glimmer attempts to effect her own escape, unsuccessfully, as Shadow Weaver expounds current plans. Shadow Weaver taunts her before leaving.

It is a triumphant moment.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

The rescue continues, with the princesses retrieving Bow with some struggle. In the meantime, though, Bow learned Glimmer's location; he reports it to the princesses. Adora proceeds thence, sending the rest to escape as she surrenders to Shadow Weaver to retrieve Glimmer. Shadow Weaver dismissed Catra and works on Adora. Seeing the struggle spurs Glimmer to escape, and she releases Adora.

The other fleeing princesses proceed--but Entrapta is caught behind. Meanwhile, Adora and Glimmer continue to flee, and Catra confronts them--with She-Ra's sword. She surrenders it to Adora and tells them to leave. Adora transforms to more easily effect their departure.

She is not a happy kitty.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

The group, sans Entrapta, reunites and makes to return to Bright Moon. Adora is confronted with a compounded failure, and the outlook is bleak.

Discussion

The episode marks something of a turning point, both in the season and in the series as a whole. While the previous episode ended in capture, the present ends in an apparent Pyrrhic victory; the stated goal of the mission to retrieve Bow and Glimmer is realized, but at the cost of another princess. It is a decidedly more somber thing than might be expected of a children's show--and certainly more somber than the kind of children's show from which the present series emerges; though I did not watch much She-Ra in the 1980s, I did watch He-Man, and victory was assured in every episode.

The somber tone, however, is not one unfamiliar to other works typically assigned to children--such as retellings, bowdlerized and sanitized as they typically are, of Arthurian legend. There is a hopeful note held out in such legends, that the titular hero will return in the hour of need--rex quondam rexque futurus and all. But the hero is not present; Arthur dies, and his kingdom does not long outlive him. And that is a message that needs teaching, even in days such as these that prize the grimdark and look to the cynical (not without cause). There are risks, and they do not always match the rewards--or, if they do, neither risk nor reward is what was thought to be. But there remains some hope.

We do not see the body, after all...