She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Rewatch 5.7, "The Perils of Peekablue"

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Lovers and friends are torn apart as the Horde's machinations continue.

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5.7, "The Perils of Peekablue"

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

Synopsis

The very picture of focus, Adora.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Adora and company continue their progress towards Etheria. Adora attempts to bring She-Ra under further conscious control, but she is hindered by distractions. The group takes stock of its situation and begins to plan for action back on Etheria.

Snazzy.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

On the planet, Mermista, Perfuma, Scorpia, and Sea Hawk prepare to seek allies in high style. The ally, Prince Peekablue, favors an elite, clandestine meeting spot, one requiring cover that Mermista tries to provide. They are, however, observed by a Horde-suborned agent: Spinnerella. She proceeds to try to suborn Netossa, who rebuffs the attempt.

Mermista's group arrives at the soiree and successfully enters it. Unfortunately, many past entanglements arise that inhibit any ability to find their target. Perfuma's overacting and Scorpia's awkward timidity also interfere, and the two confer. Perfuma gives Scorpia a pep-talk, which seems to help her.

Target acquired.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

They are interrupted by the emergence of Peekablue and the resulting cheers. Entertainment ensues. Scorpia tails Peekablue as it does. Her efforts end up finding her spotlighted on stage; after an awkward start, she adjusts admirably.

Netossa frets about Spinnerella and observes her as under Horde control.

After her performance, Scorpia confronts Peekablue. In the event, however, the Peekablue present is, instead, Double Trouble, who proves as vulnerable to Scorpia's sting as any other. They had taken up the role as a means of support, and they report what they know about Horde activities--and that a trap awaits Adora.

Melee ensues as Netossa confronts Spinnerella and Mermista, suborned, confronts her companions. Few of the remaining members of the resistance to the Horde escape, despite their best and most valiant efforts and the self-sacrifice of several of their number. And word of it reaches Adora's group, to their horror.

Discussion

As something of an aside: it is notable that the suborned princesses and Micah show themselves as remarkably, devastatingly powerful while under Horde Prime's control. It may be an artifact of that control, to be sure, but it may also be an indication that, when they are "themselves," they are playing nice. It's not an uncommon thing, really, but it is always of interest to see it.

The aside brings up a point. One of the tropes most commonly associated with the medieval is the notion of chivalry, and chivalric codes call for the exercise of restraint in combat. Malory offers examples, of course. Gawain is rebuked by Gareth for his improper pursuit of vengeance for his hounds, and he suffers greatly for his continued wrath against Lancelot (though the latter is far more justifiable; the deaths of brothers should elicit more anger than most other things). The Pentecostal Oath of the Round Table Knights explicitly obliges mercy be given to those who ask it, and the "evil" knights whom the Round Table often faces are "evil" precisely because they eschew mercy--that is, they fight fully and without reserve.

Too, I've argued that the fighting practices tacitly advocated by Malory often tend away from the "more realistic" efforts to kill or incapacitate an opponent, even if no few of the protagonists' foes end up dying, anyway. It is rare that such figures as Lancelot exercise their full power; when they do, it is particularly marked, as in Arthur's fighting the giant at Mont. St. Micheal or Lancelot facing Meliagraunce. It does not seem so discordant, then, that the protagonists of the present series would act in such a way, given how many other ways they follow a pastiche of medieval forebears.