She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Rewatch 5.12, "Heart, Part 1"

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It's the beginning of the end for She-Ra.

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5.12, "Heart, Part 1"

Written by Noelle Stevenson, Josie Campbell, Katherine Nolfi, Laura Sreebny, and M. Willis
Directed by Jen Bennett and Roy Burdine

Synopsis

Doesn't look easy...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In the resistance camp, Adora contemplates her decision as her companions comfort one another. She continues to struggle to summon the power of She-Ra and lays out the current, dire situation. She assigns her companions to deal with Horde Prime's control chips; she purposes to activate the failsafe and disable the Heart of Etheria.

She steps outside, looking for Catra. There is no sign of her, and Adora warns off Glimmer and Bow; they refuse, determined to accompany her while the rest interdict Horde Prime's control.

Not an obvious place, is it?
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Adora, Glimmer, and Bow proceed towards the failsafe. They are admitted to the innards of the First Ones' devices.

Elsewhere, Catra rides Melog away from the resistance camp, if with some reluctance. Melog confronts her about her decision, and Catra protests her seemingly unrequited love for Adora until a Horde clone happens by.

It's an impressive edifice.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

The other resistance members make their attack on the Horde facilities to begin interdicting the control signals. They are remarkably effective in their assault, allowing Entrapta access to Horde machinery. She begins her work, if with some trepidation.

Adora, Glimmer, and Bow proceed. Adora begins to hallucinate Catra or to see projections of her, and her She-Ra form begins to destabilize.

Catra pursues the Horde clone to find a massive Horde installation at work. She remains undetected even as Horde Prime works through the clone to announce his impending triumph and direct access to the Heart of Etheria via the installation. Catra rushes to warn Adora of the coming peril.

Adora continues to waver as she proceeds. She finds herself in a projection of her first encounter with the sword of She-Ra, and she begins to push her friends away, thanking them for their help but denying them the ability to go with her. She vanishes in a flash of light, leaving Glimmer and Bow behind as Horde Prime's influence spreads.

The picture of ease...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Catra returns to the resistance camp to find it empty save for Shadow Weaver. The latter notes that Adora has gone off to trigger the failsafe. Catra rails against her and rushes off to aid Adora as Prime continues to take over the planet's imposed architecture, teleporting Entrapta to him as he does so. And the battle turns against the other resistance fighters who had been screening her presence: Mermista and Scorpia make their entrance.

Horde Prime gloats over his perceived victory. Catra demands Shadow Weaver help her with Adora; Shadow Weaver reluctantly agrees, and they teleport to Adora's whereabouts, finding Glimmer and Bow. Catra reports what she has learned, and Glimmer and Bow transport to take up Entrapta's mission; Catra takes over theirs, and they part as friends. Glimmer takes a moment to confess her love for Bow; he admits the same to her, and they move off to take care of their work.

It is a pleasant thought.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Adora finds herself in a utopic vision alongside a projection of Mara. They confer briefly, Mara questioning Adora's motivations before the interruptions of Horde Prime manifest and Prime confronts her.

Glimmer rescues the other resistance fighters, affording Sea Hawk an opportunity to try to reach Mermista. It seems to work, but Scorpia's presence is missed--until she appears at Bow's location. And Micah also remains to confront his daughter and her companions in power and fury.

Meanwhile, Horde Prime gloats over Adora and leaves her to face the suborned Etherian defenses...

Discussion

A penultimate episode--and the first part of a two-part episode, no less--cannot be expected to bring in many things. In truth, the present episode does not seem to introduce any new medievalism, and it only lightly seems to reinforce that already present in the rest of the series. One thing that does come to mind, however, is an invocation of the Malorian Sir Palomides that has occasionally popped up as an antecedent. Wrong Hordak seems to follow the model to some extent, being a (religious) Other who is integrated into the primary narrative group (and, like the Palomides of the earlier and more thoroughgoing Malorian borrowing that is The Once and Future King, becomes a comedic figure). And, to continue the prevailing Arthurian pastiche, Wrong Hordak notably over-emotes throughout his appearance in the series; it is a commonplace of Arthurian fiction that the Round Table knights weep and bewail their situations, with Lancelot's death bring a prominent example thereof, though there are no few others. While not something that emerges in the present episode, it is something that is reemphasized by it, pointing up the medievalist borrowings of the series even as it comes close to its end.