She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Rewatch 4.11, "Beast Island"

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Things thought lost are found, and not all to the good, as the fourth season moves towards its end.

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4.11, "Beast Island"

Written by Noelle Stevenson, M. Willis, Josie Campbell, Katherine Nolfi, and Laura Sreebny
Directed by Mandy Clotworthy

Synopsis

One can almost hear the doom.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Adora, Swift Wind, and Bow continue towards Beast Island in Mara's ship. They discuss the wisdom of their choices as they go, and Bow frets about the consequences of their disobedience. Swift Wind voices apprehension just before the ship loses control and begins to fall to the ground. They touch down just offshore of the foreboding Beast Island.

The three proceed to the island, Adora relating the horror stories told of the place by the Horde. They find evidence of Entrapta's arrival, and Swift Wind complains of a strange noise that the other two do not hear. Bow realizes that Beast Island is a dumping ground, and Adora grows concerned regarding her sword--but they proceed, even so.

He has looked better, admittedly.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Strange beasts begin to stalk them as they proceed, and others proceed to attack. Adora finds herself unable to transform into She-Ra, and the trio flees with difficulty. Swift Wind hears the strange sound again as the attack continues. They are saved by the sudden emergence of Micah, Glimmer's father, who had been believed dead.

Meanwhile, Glimmer searches for Light Hope in the Crystal Castle. She initially has some difficulty, but manages to secure an audience with the hologram.

Micah rejects the obeisances of the trio before checking to see if they are real. Introductions are interrupted by more interference from the local fauna; they explain their search for Entrapta once circumstances allow, and Micah notes knowing her. He also warns them against following her, noting that a signal from the center of the island--her seeming destination--has a suppressing effect on the mind. Further conversation is interrupted by more sign of local fauna; they proceed while conferring, soon coming into peril from said fauna and the pervasive signal.

She does know how to make an entrance.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Amid the attack, the group begins to succumb to the signal. Adora returns to confidence and determination, and she is able to transform into She-Ra, rescuing the others from the pernicious transmission. The fauna, however, continues to be problematic--until Entrapta arrives.

In the Crystal Castle, Glimmer manages to get information from Light Hope that she can use to activate the Heart of Etheria. Scorpia is the key.

Discussion

There seems something of Tolkien's Mirkwood and Radagast the Brown in the present episode's Beast Island and Micah. A darkened region fraught with peril on all sides and a somewhat...differently thinking magician are parallel tracks between the two, and it is not to be wondered at that a series would make use of such prevalent pop-culture images--especially given its already-established recourse to the medieval and medievalist. (Nor is it unexpected that a member of the Tales after Tolkien Society would find a way to make a series a tale after Tolkien, really.) And while the parallels perhaps follow Jackson's reinterpretation of Tolkien more than Tolkien, himself, the chain of transmission seems clear enough to point at, or at least to suggest.

Related to Micah's appearance in the same vein as Tolkien's Radagast is the often-medieval association of mental illness and life in the woods. It is to the woods, for example, that Lancelot flees after his violation by Elaine and rejection by Guinevere; it is to the woods that Yvain takes in his great sorrow. (It might also be noted that both do so after breaking agreements with important women in their lives, not unlike Adora and Bow entering the woods with some mental and emotional difficulty after disobeying Glimmer.) While Beast Island is not precisely a forest, it partakes of many of the same tropes associated with "the deep, dark woods," and many of the technological constructs resemble trees in outward form. And it is to such a forest-like place that Micah and Entrapta are exiled by the Horde, the former becoming, and the latter becoming more divergent from typical standards of behavior and understanding. It is a bit of a modification of the trope, but it is still one that resonates, helping the series continue to partake of the medieval it often employs.