People like me better as She-ra.

Adora: Okay, this is different from the Fright Zone, but I’m sure I’ll get the hang of this in no time.

This episode is evidently inspired by an episode of the original series, “Flowers for Hordak”, in which Perfuma is captured, but proceeds to cover the Fright Zone in flowers, and generally annoy Hordak so much that he’s begging She-ra to take her back by the end. Honestly, I might have preferred an episode more along those lines.

This episode kinda embodies all my worst fears about what the show might be like going forward. There are all of two (maybe three) relevant plot points, couched in shallow characterization. This is the first episode that Stevenson didn’t work on the script, instead falling into the hands of a group of people who weren’t credited in any capacity for the first three episodes, which is all I can say to excuse it: Maybe they just hadn’t found their groove yet.

But there is one thing they do right: Adora acclimating to life at Bright Moon. Glimmer just shows Adora to her room and expects her to be fine with it, even when it’s clear to the audience that Adora’s uncomfortable. This does make sense for Glimmer’s character, though, as she’s generally not that aware of the needs of others (that’s more Bow’s department). And when Adora “kills” her feather bed, she’s left wander the halls in search of Glimmer.

Then she runs into the Queen, who’s presumably up for a very different reason.

Angella: When I feel the cares of the day weighing upon me, I come here.

Adora: Who is that?

Angella: King Micah, my husband. He built the Rebellion with me, and he was one of the first casualties of the Horde.

Adora: I’m sorry, I- I didn’t know.

Angella: Adora, my daughter believes you can help us. Glimmer has vouched for you despite your background, and because I greatly love my daughter, I am willing to give you a chance. Do not disappoint her.

And after that stressful experience, she just crawls into bed with Glimmer (causing Glimmer to fall out of bed when she wakes up to discover someone else in her bed, which is no small feat, as other people need to jump in order to get up there).

Glimmer: What are you doing in here?

Adora: I’m sorry. I couldn’t sleep in my room – I’ve never slept without any other people around before, and then I ran into your mom and I think- I think she doesn’t like me.

Glimmer: What? My mom loves you.

Adora: Yeah, sure, she loves She-ra.

Glimmer: Mom can be…a little intense.

And the fact that she lost her husband to the Horde already makes it very clear why she’s so overprotective of Glimmer.

Anyhow, in the morning, Adora’s invited to some sort of military counsel/briefing.

Where we finally meet these two, Spinerella and Netossa, who both appeared in the original series as characters with no or very limited magical abilities, but have been promoted to princesses with magic (though no corresponding kingdom). Also, they were “best friends” in the original series, but in this continuity they’re married.

Adora: The chairs are still empty.

Glimmer: Those are for the other Etherian princesses, but none of them have been active members of the rebellion since I was a kid. The Rebellion had a big defeat years ago, and most of the old princesses gave up. Now all the kingdoms keep to themselves, and the new princesses do the same.

Bow: Other than Spinerella and Netossa. Hey guys! We’re not really sure what they do.

It’s eventually confirmed that this nebulous disaster had a lot to do with the battle that got King Micah killed.

Anyhow, this meeting is mainly about a distress call from Princess Perfuma, whose kingdom of Plumeria is under siege by the Horde, and since Glimmer is always eager to get out there and do stuff, she proposes to fight the Horde (as usual), and is promptly shut down by her mom (as usual).

Adora: You should send me, Glimmer, and Bow to lead the relief mission. You can send me, as She-ra. I’ll make sure everyone gets there safely and protect Bow and Glimmer if the Horde attacks. I promise, I won’t disappoint you.

Angella: Very well. You will deliver food and supplies to Plumeria, and under no circumstances will you engage the Horde.

Meanwhile in the Fright Zone, Shadow Weaver’s still giving Catra crap despite (or maybe even because of) her promotion.

Shadow Weaver: You will explain how you lost Force Captain Adora.

Catra: Ugh! I’ve told you everything I know about Adora!

Shadow Weaver: I know you’re lying. You have to be lying. What happened to Adora? What did you do?

Catra: What did I do? She left us! She left me! You ever think Adora’s not as loyal as you thought?

But before it can get ugly, Shadow Weaver appears to suffer something like a magical migraine and retreats to her lair.

And Adora’s just being She-ra all the time for this mission, and to be fair, after spending the last episode being literally attacked for wearing a Horde uniform, it’s understandable that she might not be comfortable hanging out with rebels in her regular form (even if she has obviously changed her shirt by now).

But it turns out being She-ra has its own drawbacks.

Perfuma: Look! The universe has heard our pleas and sent the legendary She-ra to help us save our home.

As it happens, Perfuma was also promoted to princess, as while she had the same plant powers in the old series, she had neither a title nor a kingdom. And yes, she’s the ruler of Plumeria despite having the title of princess; Bright Moon is the only place that appears to have an actual queen. I don’t make the rules, I just complain about how nonsensical they are sometimes.

Perfuma: Our people have lived here in tranquility for thousands of years. […] This is the Heart Blossom, the center of our kingdom, and the source of all my magical powers!

Bow: At least this tree is fine. What happened to everything else?

Perfuma: We’re going through a little rough patch, but I’m sure the universe will right itself soon.

Glimmer: Everything is dead or dying.

Perfuma: Look, the blight hit right after the Horde arrived. We- we don’t know why, and nothing I do stops it. But we don’t dwell on the negative. Look at the positive! The Heart Blossom’s still healthy, and the She-ra is here, and the celebration’s about to begin!

Not wanting to bother the Horde is one thing, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to surmise that the blight that began after the Horde moved in is being caused by the Horde, especially when there’s SMOKE coming from the Horde encampment! The Horde isn’t exactly known to care about the environment at the best of times, and when Plumeria is explicitly under siege, it just makes sense to assume that the Horde would target their primary resource (and magic source!). But unfortunately, that’s not the last of the writing issues this episode.

Hordak: You have disobeyed my orders.

Shadow Weaver: I have done no such thing, Lord Hordak. My will is your will.

Hordak: Then explain to me why you requisitioned more troops to look for one missing soldier. A soldier I ordered you to give up on.

Shadow Weaver: Finding Adora is crucial to the Horde’s-

Hordak: Our mission is to kill the Whispering Woods so we can finally march on Bright Moon. Our mission is to finally destroy the princesses and their ridiculous rebellion. You are distracted, Shadow Weaver. Our ground troops demand your full attention. The siege on Plumeria has carried on for too long. You will give the order to increase power until victory is achieved. And never forget: I gave you your magical power, and at my slightest whim, I can take it away. Understand?

This isn’t bad writing, it seems that the whole writing team just hadn’t considered the intricacies of the magic system at this point, as later seasons would characterize Shadow Weaver’s powers differently, not nearly as reliant on Hordak.

Perfuma: I’m so happy that after all these centuries of being gone, you’ve finally returned! […] And at our hour of greatest need, just like in the stories.

She-ra: What stories?

Perfuma: The stories we’ve been telling for thousands of years! She-ra, the warrior who tamed the beasts of Beast Island with a single word!

Then Bow and Glimmer add to the She-ra mythos by telling (and greatly exaggerating, if not outright fabricating) some of Adora’s previous exploits.

Perfuma: We’re so excited for you to heal our land and bring all the plants back to life. Will you be doing it before the drum circle, or after?

She-ra: You want me- you want me to heal your land?

Perfuma: Yes! Like in the ancient story. She-ra heals the forest and brings the trees back to life!

[…]

She-ra: […] The Horde is up to something big. Maybe we should investigate.

Perfuma: We? This is my power. I grow plants. We’re not strong enough to go up against the Horde. All we want is to live peacefully in our ancestral home. […] We need you, She-ra.

This is what really annoys me: Perfuma and her people refuse to take any action to defend themselves when there is (or at least was) common sense solutions to their problems. They’re not even pacifists, they just couldn’t be bothered to be proactive until the heroes showed up.

But of course it’s Adora, so she desperately wants to live up to their expectations and heal their land, even if she hasn’t a clue how it would work.

She-ra: I don’t know what I’m doing! I can’t heal anything!

Bow: But the stories say you have healing powers.

She-ra: They also say I fought the Mantisaur. I don’t even know what that is.

Glimmer: Why don’t you just concentrate really hard? That seems to work whenever you need to transform.

But Glimmer didn’t see her last episode, when she tried “thinking She-ra thoughts” but didn’t actually transform until she found a purpose for being She-ra. That is to say, she tries concentrating, but still fails.

Then a parasite seemingly infects the Heart Blossom, and although She-ra manages to do something, it’s clearly just feeding the parasite and making it worse.

Adora: I’m sorry. I don’t know how to heal. […] My name is Adora. I was chosen to carry the sword of She-ra, but I haven’t been doing this for very long, and I don’t know exactly how it works yet.

Plumerian: She’s just a girl!

Adora: I never meant to deceive you. I am She-ra! I’m just not the same She-ra.

Perfuma: Then…you can’t save us?

And then they all just give up on their ancestral land because She-ra wasn’t able to heal it, even when Adora suggests an alternative that might not even involve fighting!

Perfuma: It will be all right, I promise! We’ll rebuild. We have to believe the universe will repay the Horde for their evil deeds eventually.

Glimmer: The universe won’t protect you! You want She-ra to fix everything, but you won’t even try to save yourselves? At least Adora’s trying!

And then Adora feels like a failure, because not only did she fail Plumeria, but she feels like she failed her friends because they talked her up so much. The issue with Bow and Glimmer is quickly cleared up, so they proceed to investigate the Horde camp like Adora suggested long ago.

And what do they find but EXACTLY WHAT ADORA SUSPECTED IN THE FIRST PLACE.

But at least their note prompts Perfuma to reconsider her choices.

Perfuma: “We’ve gone to the Horde camp to find the weapon killing your trees. If we don’t make it, I wanted to say I’m sorry. I couldn’t be the hero you wanted. Adora.” She’s still trying, even though we were so negative! Glimmer was right! This is our home, we can’t let her do this alone!

So the Plumerians (but mainly Perfuma) FINALLY get off their butts and do something.

Perfuma: I’ve always said the universe will repay the Horde one day. Well I guess that day is today!

So She-ra stabs the toxic waste machine and manages to heal the land for good measure.

Perfuma: Thank you so much! You inspired us to save ourselves. How can we ever repay you?

Glimmer: Join the Rebellion, and help me re-form the Princess Alliance.

Perfuma: Um, are you sure? Didn’t that go horribly the first time?

Glimmer: It went horribly for our parents, but we have a chance to do it right! We’re clearly stronger together. Think what all the princesses united could do.

Perfuma: Would I…get to hit more people with flowers?

Glimmer: Absolutely.

Perfuma: Then you have a deal! Hey, everyone, look at us! We’re mighty rebels now.

And since the villains are the only competent people in this episode, Shadow Weaver puts two and two together from the footage of the Horde camp and deciphers that Adora is She-ra (which seems to be much more than any of the villains in the original series figured out).

Shadow Weaver: Pathetic, you’re still trying to protect her! Did you think you could keep the truth from me?

Catra: It’s not- it’s just a phase. She’s confused. I’ll bring her back in, I swear!

Shadow Weaver: Oh, yes, you will. Because until I tell you otherwise, that is your mission. And to ensure success, no matter where Adora goes, no matter how long it takes, my shadow spies will find her. Find her, and bring her home!

I mean, Shadow Weaver was seemingly already tracking Adora, but the shadow spies evidently come with a degree of surveillance, too.

And since Glimmer is grounded for disobeying orders (again), she and Bow throw a multi-night sleepover in Adora’s room to help accustom her to her new surroundings. It’s a cute way to end the episode.

Until next time…