She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Rewatch 2.5, "White Out"

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A surprising amount is laid bare amid conflict, making things more tragic than they otherwise might have been.

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2.5, "White Out"

Written by Noelle Stevenson and Laura Sreebny
Directed by Lianne Hughes

Synopsis

Looks like a cool place...
Image taken from the episode, used to inform terrible jokes

In a cold and snowy region, Catra, Scorpia, and Entrapta search out a piece of ancient technology. Entrapta crows about available data, and sinister creatures begin to present themselves.

Sea Hawk escorts Adora, Glimmer, and Bow to the same location. Glimmer explicates their reasoning; they are reconnoitering, following reports of Horde activity in the north.

Scorpia tries to increase her intimacy with Catra. Catra rebuffs the attempts at advances Scorpia makes. She does notice a piece of ancient technology that Entrapta cautions her about the technology, and Catra realizes the potential of the technology to thwart She-Ra. Trouble interrupts their conversation.

Decidedly not a good sign.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary

As Adora, Glimmer, Bow, and Sea Hawk advance, Adora grows apprehensive, and Sea Hawk explicates rumors of strangeness. Entrapta confirms them just before a confrontation begins. Bow tries to talk Entrapta out of working with the Horde; she refuses. Catra takes the chance to infect She-Ra with the programming problem she'd experienced when first meeting Entrapta. It sends her into a berserk rage in which she cannot distinguish friend from foe. Scorpia manages to restrain Adora, and the Horde takes her captive as sinister creatures look on.

Also not a good sign.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary

Glimmer, Bow, and Sea Hawk take stock of their situation. It is not great, but they proceed to rescue Adora. She is incapacitated, as if drunk, but the Horde installation comes under attack from the local megafauna--which has been affected by the programming problem. Glimmer, Bow, and Sea Hawk fall under the same attack. The enemies are forced to work together to extricate themselves from the threat, though Catra is not pleased at the event. Nor yet is she pleased that Entrapta had long succeeded at the mission of retrieving ancient technology.

Discussion

Sea Hawk seems to have come down a bit from his earlier-noted mimicry of Sir Kay the Seneschal. Though he still seems obsessed with his public profile, and he is still given to overwrought bombast, he seems to have accepted his limitations. It indicates a degree of character development that seems to be absent from the medieval antecedent.

Something that does seem to align with medieval antecedent, if not to be congruent with it, is courtly love; it is clear that Scorpia suffers from it, as does Sea Hawk (to a lesser extent). In both characters appears a critique of the concept; yes, both speak and act as if their devotions to their beloveds--Catra and Mermista, respectively--ennoble them, but both also express their misgivings about the ways in which they are treated as they try to demonstrate their devotions. (It is notable that Scorpia does more and better in her devotion to Catra than does Sea Hawk in his to Mermista. Might there be a comment about relative maturity to be found therein? Or perhaps an elevation of affection that reads as divorced from procreative impulses?) Both reaffirm their devotions, however, with Scorpia doing so in rather emphatic fashion, so the critique is nuanced.

I find myself unsure how to regard the nuance. Scorpia recommits to a relationship that seems woefully one-sided, verging on abuse if not outright engaging in it. She is, in the main, a strong character, one of a few who breeds sympathy for the antagonistic forces in the series; for her to be treated so, and to allow herself to be treated so...again, I am unsure how to regard it. I think this is a place where others, better informed about such things, are better positioned to speak; I hope to have the chance respectfully to listen.