She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Rewatch 4.13, "Destiny, Part 2"

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In the final episode of the season, matters do not seem to improve, setting up well for the fifth and final season.

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4.13, "Destiny, Part 2"

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

Synopsis

Scorpia gives great hugs.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary

In Bright Moon, Adora sends Swift Wind with Bow and Entrapta to retrieve Glimmer; she heads to the Crystal Castle to confront Light Hope and stop the Heart of Etheria. Meanwhile, Glimmer and Scorpia stalk through the Fright Zone, encountering Lonnie, Rogelio, and Kyle; the three allow Glimmer and Scorpia to pass, noting their own dissatisfaction with affairs in the Horde.

Hordak attempts to kill Catra for her betrayal. She flees until she can find a position from which to counterattack; she does so successfully, leaving him disabled and trapped.

Glimmer and Scorpia reach the Black Garnet, and Scorpia connects with the gem, summoning and displaying power. As she does so, the Heart of Etheria begins to come online, with all of the princesses suddenly swelling with might and Light Hope preparing to discharge the weapon.

Double Trouble confronts Catra, revealing their betrayal, in turn; knowing of the superweapon, Double Trouble throws in with the princesses. The confrontation leaves Catra shaken, badly, as Scorpia and Glimmer proceed through the Fright Zone in power. Scorpia pleads with Glimmer to spare Catra, and Glimmer agrees.

It does not look easy, no.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary

Adora reaches Light Hope, and the Heart of Etheria powers up. The hologram reveals that she, not Hordak, pulled Adora to Etheria. Adora resists the activation, albeit with substantial difficulty.

Glimmer arrives where Catra and Hordak linger, defeated. She is there when the Heart of Etheria begins draining power from her and the princesses in preparation for firing; the princesses are caught out in the field, and their power channels itself to Adora, who continues to resist. Light Hope transports Etheria back into normal space.

It is a decisive statement.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary

Glimmer tries unsuccessfully to thwart the Heart. Adora continues to try to convince Light Hope not to fire the weapon, and, in the end, she shatters the sword of She-Ra to prevent the Heart of Etheria firing.

Adora wakes to find the sword destroyed and Light Hope flickering out of existence with words of thanks. The Crystal Castle is darkened.

Such a smile...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary

Bow tries to reach Glimmer, only to see her and Hordak taken by Horde Prime, whose ships fill Etheria's skies. Glimmer wakes on Horde Prime's ship, where he rebukes Hordak and takes Glimmer captive--at Catra's sudden emergence and suggestion--in advance of taking Etheria as a weapon for his own.

Discussion

If the episode is to be regarded as continuing the Arthurian pastiche that is legible in so much of the series, then I have to wonder if the arrival of Horde Prime and the incipient invasion of Etheria do not partake of either the attempt by Rome to reassert dominance over Britain (as in Malory, the Alliterative Morte Arthure, Geoffrey of Monmouth, and elsewhere) or the invasion by Hengist and Horsa at the behest of Vortigern--or both, given the pastiche. Certainly there is some of the Saxon-story in the present episode, with Horde Prime having arrived at Etheria at the summons of Hordak, not unlike Vortigern inviting Hengist and Horsa to aid him in subduing the "less advanced" Picts and Scots; too, Horde Prime betrays Hordak, not unlike the manner in which Hengist and Horsa turn on Vortigern. But there is also somewhat of the Roman assertion in the manner in which Horde Prime regards Glimmer; even before Catra's emergence and intercession, he regards Glimmer as a (lesser) royal, while he afterward asserts a claim of overlordship of Etheria--not denying Glimmer's rule, but placing his above it.

As with many things, there are other available antecedents. But it is clear that the medieval Arthurian antecedents are in place, and they do resonate with the long- and earlier-established invocations and refigurings of Arthurian legend that pervade the series. And it may well be the case that a similar end comes, with the Arthurian figures achieving victory over the outside forces that plague them--though it must also be remembered that few of the most notable at the Round Table survive the end of that fellowship...