“She-Ra and the Princesses of Power” has returned, and Noelle Stevenson and her crew have succeeded once again in creating emotional, inspiring content that breaks down barriers. The newest season follows Adora, Bow and Glimmer closely as they face the Horde, learn more about She-Ra’s past and discover where Adora came from.
Based on the original “She-Ra” series that aired in the ‘80s, Dreamworks and Netflix have remade the TV show to be even more groundbreaking. Lead by the show’s creator, Noelle Stevenson, “She-Ra and the Princesses of Power” portrays people of all colors, shapes, ethnicities and sexualities as they fight against the evil villain, Hordak.
The show follows Adora, who grew up an orphan and was later raised by the Horde to become a soldier. One day, after being promoted to Force Captain, Adora celebrates by running away with her best friend, Catra, to the Forbidden Forest to explore. Too excited about adventuring into usually off-limits territory, they accidentally crash into a tree, where Adora falls and hits her head. When she wakes up, she sees a sword hidden among the trees, but she shakes it off, assuming she imagined it.
However, the sword calls to her, and continues to call to her even after she returns to the Horde. Adora returns to the forest against Catra’s wishes, wondering if the sword has a bigger meaning. Once she arrives, she is captured by two rebels, Glimmer and Bow, who take her hostage to return to the queen of the rebellion — Glimmer’s mom, Angella.
While Adora travels with the rebels, she sees for the first time what the other side of the war looks like and begins to realize that the Horde is not the philanthropic army that she had originally thought them to be. Her captors are also different than she had expected. Adora finds Glimmer to be courteous and considerate, contradicting what the Horde taught her, and Bow shows Adora kindness. She begins to grow fond of them in their travels together as they show her life outside the Horde.
Not only does she realize that the Horde must be wrong in starting the war, but she also begins to have strange powers after being exposed to the sword. The sword calls to She-Ra and speaks to Adora in her mind, and when she picks it up, she discovers that it can also turn her into an 8 foot tall warrior with incredible strength and power.
As a team from the Horde is sent out to retrieve her from her captors, they begin to destroy a small town of innocent people. Adora is distraught and quickly realizes that she can’t fight for the Horde any longer. Abandoning Catra, Adora leaves the Horde to join Bow and Glimmer to fight with the rebellion.
Since the events of seasons 1 and 2, viewers have learned more about Catra and Adora’s past, as they moved from best friends to worst enemies. Catra tried to forgive and forget Adora, only to find more pain and rejection. Adora learned more about She-Ra and what it means to have so much power, and she also learned about family — her real family with Bow and Glimmer.
Season 2 ended with an episode in which Adora and Glimmer met Bow’s family for the first time. Bow’s dads thought he was off studying to become a scholar but was unaware that he was actually fighting as a soldier in the rebellion.
Viewers then learn Catra’s side of the story, where Hordak is very upset at her having lost their prisoner, Shadow Weaver.
Shadow Weaver is a manipulative and evil mother-like figure to Catra and Adora. She trained them their entire lives to be soldiers for the Horde and uses manipulation to get people to fall for her traps. The loss of her as a prisoner is especially upsetting to Hordak because he had been planning to have Shadow Weaver sent to die.
Hordak is upset with Catra’s inability to succeed in giving him exactly what he wants, and he leaves her gasping for breath.
As Catra fights for her life, the show switches to Adora’s perspective, where Shadow Weaver stands menacingly over her as she sleeps. Viewers are left with an intense cliffhanger, and they’re more than excited about finding out what’s going to happen. Did Hordak kill Catra? What will Shadow Weaver do to Adora?
The newest season of “She-Ra and the Princesses of Power” is a rollercoaster of emotions, taking viewers on a visual journey of friendship, family, pain and love. This season explores new sides to characters — audiences see villainous love, find out more about Adora’s past and learn about Hordak and where he came from. In Season 3, the characters face gangs, the Horde, past friends turned evil and the loss of a loved one.
