She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Rewatch 4.8, "Boys' Night Out"

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Shenanigans ensue as the men of She-Ra take center stage. Because of course they do.

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4.8, "Boys' Night Out"

Written by Noelle Stevenson, Shane Lynch, Josie Campbell, Katherine Nolfi, Laura Sreebny, and M. Willis
Directed by Christina "Kiki" Manrique

Synopsis

Such cannon. Much blast. Wow.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary

The Horde presses its wave of assault, Hordak leading the way. Ruin and destruction follow, with the rebellion doing what it can to hinder the advance and evacuate the locals. Conditions are not favorable for them as they are for Hordak.

Their excursion promises to be glorious. Or a travesty. One of those.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary

After, the rebel leaders confer about their current circumstances. Matters are grim, and Glimmer continues to rush out as Mermista mourns her fallen kingdom. The conference concludes sharply, leaving Bow, Swift Wind, and Sea Hawk alone. The last purposes to take the three of them out together, and the proceed thus.

Hordak surveys the results of his work, and Catra confers with him regarding their progress. She tries to have him return to the Fright Zone; he sends her home, instead. She reluctantly agrees, complaining after he leaves.

Bow, Swift Wind, and Sea Hawk find themselves in a tavern. Bow finds himself distracted, and Sea Hawk tries to enliven things through an impromptu musical number. The three are taken from the tavern at sword-point, ostensibly as part of Sea Hawk's plan to reunite the rancorous princesses. The kidnappers, though, are not the ones on whom Sea Hawk planned.

The three find themselves restrained aboard ship our of sight of shore. They try to make contact with the princesses, who find themselves distracted by their own concerns. Glimmer and Adora argue, hindering contact, and their captors reveal themselves as Sea Hawk's former crewmates, who seek vengeance on him, as well as bounties on their heads.

Catra considers her situation and tries to make contact with Scorpia, to no avail.

That doesn't look like a pleasure yacht.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Bow, Swift Wind, and Sea Hawk are told they are bound for the Horde. They are transferred thence, but Mermista finally receives word of their disappearance. She marshals Glimmer and Adora to assist in their recovery, and they effect it after a brief melee and another musical number.

In the Fright Zone, Catra realizes Scorpia's defection. Nor are matters easy among Glimmer, Adora, and Bow, and Adora purposes to find Mara's weapon.

Discussion

Much is made in the episode of friendship, possibly speaking to another cartoon directed towards girls and young women that has enjoyed renewed interests after an initial appearance in the 1980s. Intentionally or not, it also evokes the fellowship--felaweshipe or felawscipe or other spellings, and, generously, the comitatus--that appears in so much medieval English literature. In both Chaucer and Malory, much is made of the increasingly close companionship, not without internal strife and struggles, that emerges among those who journey and fight together--and, yes, with sexual overtones available if not always sounded, as is true of most things. It is in some respects the driving force of the larger narratives in some of the more notable medieval English works, receiving attention from far more erudite scholars than I. As with many things, of course, there are other depictions of it than the medieval, but there are many medieval, and the emphasis of the present episode on friendship and its failures seems to help tie it to the medieval/ist.

This is more so in the relationship between Glimmer and Adora. As I've asserted repeatedly in this rewatch series, something of an Arthurian pastiche is in play, particularly with Adora; Glimmer seems more and more solidly a parallel to Arthur as the series continues. Adora partakes of both Lancelot and Gawain, with more of the former emerging in the present episode; she is clearly the mightiest of the warriors in service to Glimmer, and a rift is growing between her and the monarch she is pledged to serve. More, it is growing in part because Adora transgresses some of the distancing that has to take place between a leader and followers in situations where the leader must send others to die, much as Lancelot's violation of social norms occasions the separation between him and Arthur that emerges. Matters between Glimmer and Adora are not as overtly sexually charged--despite Malory's protestations about love not being then as when he wrote, relationships around Lancelot grow fraught because of sex--but that does not make them any less intense, especially when it is considered, as it must be, that the two of them are adolescents despite their offices and achievements.

Being a young adult is not easy for many.