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She-Ra s5 ep3 Corridors Full, Early, Uncut (Patreon)

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2024-01-15 17:00:05
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OMFG WHAT A FUCKING EPISODE. Defo one of my favourites so far!!! 

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Liam Gradders

Ooooh. It’s happening!

Sekiro

You're not fooling anyone when you say that you're not feeling sorry for Catra, ya know. You're a bad liar. You can't change that.🫵

Zen

Yessss! Can't watch it just yet but very much been looking forward to this reaction.

Christopher Bouzas

“Stay up all night whispering about… you know whatever .” Ah yes the greatest unsolved mystery of the show WHAT WERE THEY WHISPERING ABOUT?!

Christopher Bouzas

“There is no one left in the entire universe who cares about me.” Cuts to Adora. Press x to doubt

Christopher Bouzas

There is a small inconsistency with Catra saying she will never say sorry. In the first episode she actually says sorry to Shadow Weaver

Vilmu
>>127051087

She has apologized to authority figures that scare her like Shadow Weaver and Hordak who could hurt her if she didn't.

Luke Teasdale

notice when there was that guitar sting catra ran away from the shadows and her whole demeanor changed. she was back to that cheeky little crafty b*tch from season 1. only this time with actual purpose.

Anonymous
>>127051087

I think it's meant to be taken as her never "genuinely" saying sorry to anyone, yeah, I'm sure she's said some half-assed sorry's to people, but I think this would be her first emotionally true apology

Mahlernut

Worth pointing out that Catra didn't actually tell Horde Prime anything he didn't know. He knew the ship was coming, he knew it was someone coming for Glimmer, and if he hadn't figured out that it was Adora, he would've worked it out pretty fast. Catra on the other hand needed something only Prime could tell her...where the ship is...and she saw near enough to give Adora a teleport location she could get to. She still seemed conflicted for a minute or two after, but the transaction was definitely all to her benefit.

Vilmu

Based on kid Catra and Adora's designs, the flashbacks seem to happen around the time they were 6, when Shadow Weaver threatened to kill Catra and told her she is only kept around because Adora is fond of her. So along with the more typical jealousy, maybe Catra panicked because she thought she might die if Lonnie becomes Adora's new best friend.

Tyran

Fun fact, Hordak, Horde Prime (Daddy Hordak) and all the clones have the same voice actor. Keston John is an amazing voice actor.

Mahlernut
>>127047920

And you can tell that she'd meant the "one good thing in her life" to be the last thing she did. Between betrayal and laughing in his face, Hordak would definitely have killed her, but Prime's a malicious SOB. A miscalculation on Catra's part, if you will.

Jenny D

This episode is number 8! We’re getting close to the explanation!

Stephen Ray

"yes Catra is a complex character whose story we worked very carefully on but also, literally just a cat" -- ND Stevenson The Best Friend Squad is back together, and they have Catra to thank for it. Nothing she could have done would have made more of a positive impression on Adora. At least until she kills Horde Prime in episode 8.

RibKoboldScout

I feel like episodes like this are what fans most remember Catra for, instead of all the awful shit she did throughout season 4.

Jenny D
>>127049050

Cute boys, obviously! /s in case that wasn’t clear

Anonymous

You went from "Fuck Catra" to "I'LL SHOVE YOUR FOOT UP YOUR ASS IF YOU DON'T GET IT OFF OF HER RIGHT NOW" really fast. I am looking forward to the future. XD

Rufus May

I can't believe how rude Mosco is to Horde Prime. She obviously doesn't understand his tragic backstory.

Jenny D
>>127047920

I’m glad she miscalculated, because I’ve never considered a character redeemed after doing one good, selfless thing for the first time in their life and then sacrificing themself right after. So I’m glad that—for now—Catra is still alive and has the chance to work towards redemption.

BlueEyedRaven

Taunting: Mosco likes Catra, Mosco likes Catra!!

Jenny D

When you finish the season you should do a reaction to the season 5 episodes that Elijah reacted to a few years ago!

Vilmu
>>127055184

Catra to Prime: I'm gonna kill you...but only because I want to impress Adora. Y-you think she might like this?

Jenny D

Re: Catra scratching Adora as a child, here’s an important quote from ND to keep in mind, “yes Catra is a complex character whose story we worked very carefully on but also, literally just a cat”

JHB

Speaking of looking in a mirror, you came out with one of Catra's catchphrases: "This doesn't mean I like you."

Jenny D

The question is, which corridor is the right path? Does the darkness represent the darkness she grew up in, like the typical idea of good and evil, like Light Spinner vs. Shadow Weaver? Or is the light actually bad, such as with Horde Prime or even Light Hope? Cats are crepuscular, meaning they’re most active at dusk and dawn, aka on the edge between light and dark.

Luke Teasdale
>>127055328

Yeah, but on a rewatch we love her even more, even when she does catra things

Mizz
>>127051087

I think it’s more about her saying sorry and actually meaning it. She def didn’t mean it to shadow weaver.

Jenny D
>>127054650

Yeah, but he does do different voices for Hordak and Prime, and even slightly different for the other clones. Hordak speaks more gruffly than the others.

Jenny D

Himbo!Adora is so rare these days, I love how we got her for pretty much this whole episode! 🥰

Ryan Porter
>>127053771

Congratulations! You found the darkest possible read of the subtext. Your high school literature teacher would be proud.

JHB

I imagine your girlfriend stood up and cheered when she heard your shoe rant.

Ryan Porter

Well, Catra's gonna die. Again. Good thing she has nine li- ... wait, how many does she have left? (counts on fingers) Oh. I think the light/dark symbolism here is not about good/evil, but flipped. Prime is light, but harsh white light. Prime sees all, Prime knows all; there is nowhere to hide if you cast out the shadows. But you can hide in the dark, in the shadows, and people only know you are there if you choose to let them. "We'd stay up all night, whispering about ... whatever." Whispering about pizza. Adora thinks the brown ration bars make a better crust; Catra thinks its the gray ration bars (they're her favorite). Did you recognize the music that started to play when wee Catra said "I'll never say sorry to anybody!" You've heard it before... in "Promise", in "Remember". I've seen it referred to as the "Childhood" theme, and it always, *always* plays before the "Promise" theme (which played while Catra was sending Glimmer away). But this is the first time you get to hear it in full. "Fine, I'll admit it! I'm worried!" She'll be fine. Well, her clones will be fine. Remember the "Roll With It" episode back in season two where She-Ra was surrounded by all the variants of Catra? That was foreshadowing.

Mahlernut
>>127056466

Brings to mind a hilarious comic of Catra sitting impatiently outside a door...tail thwapping on the floor...then clearly annoyed...then scratching on the door...then desperately trying to crawl under the door while Adora's shouting "Let me pee in peace, Catra!"

Carabas

It's a tragedy we never got proper OST releases for most of the music. But you can find a lot/most of it on the WaterWitch youtube channel. https://www.youtube.com/@waterwitch/playlists

Tammy Ragsdale

Rollercoaster. This whole season is a rollercoaster, I say. This is one of my favorite episodes for sure. There were parallel's between Glimmer and Catra's arcs in season 4 and the first few eps of this season, culminating in this episode, just brings that home. Myself, I think they were always a bit alike- they feel weaker and make up for it with hubris, they're stubborn, they don't handle being in charge as well as they think they do, etc. This ep just ties it up as well as setting up future events. Also, poor Bo. He's like the only adult on a road trip.

Vilmu
>>127056466

I remember seeing one of Catra waking up Adora in the middle of the night and going "FEED ME!"

Jenny D

I said it on an earlier reaction, but the thing to note about Catra and Adora’s friendship growing up is that, based on everything we’ve seen, it’s pretty clear the Horde discouraged physical affection. We always see the two of them play-fighting and tackling each other, pushing each other around, and I think this is at least in part because it’s the only way they can get physical contact. We saw Adora participate in this just as much as Catra during the alternate universe in 3x05. On top of that, Catra is part cat. The scene in the corridor between the two of them as kids, the scene that made Catra turn around, always reminds me of young Simba and Nala. “Pinned ya again!” Catra is the only magicat in the Horde, so I kinda feel like Adora maybe ended up adapting to some of Catra’s instinctual behaviors growing up.

Mahlernut
>>127053771

When you're looking at a story about the impact of child abuse, and have a flashback featuring abused children, the text and subtext are both gonna be pretty dark.

Jenny D

Whoa, not Mosco getting all mad on Catra’s behalf!

Luke Teasdale

And the long wait for 'save the cat' begins

Dafydd Mac an Leigh

Yeah, the music in this is pretty feckin' awesome: the creepy AF chanting of the "cleansing ritual" scene, the Childhood Theme in the flashbacks leading into the electric guitar as Catra takes action, and most of all the Promise Theme kicking in as Catra finally holds up her end of the promise.

Dafydd Mac an Leigh

Also, 5 by 5 Takes has a magnificent video essay about this episode and how it subverts the usual "light=good/dark=bad" tropes. Definitely worth checking out once you're done with the series.

Jenny D

This episode is definitely in my Top 5 episodes of the entire series! We haven’t gotten to any of my others, because they’re all from this season, but some of them include the episode where some of the characters reenact scenes from the movie Hercules and the one where Catra finds a therapist.

Jenny D
>>127056466

But Adora is such a puppy dog (Labradora) that I can also see her sitting outside the door waiting for Catra as well.

Jenny D
>>127056466

I could see the continuation of that being Adora tries to feed her a brown ration bar because they’re all out of the gray kind and Catra gives her the most offended look.

Christopher Bouzas
>>127062746

She did give us a small snipit of save the cat in the discord as well as episode 6 where she has a gay panic attack

Blue Eons

Yes Catra stans we won!!!!!! It’s our victory!!!! We won!!!!!

Sam Pamenter

no matter how anyone feels about catra there's no denying she's the most interesting and unique character of the series. it's very rare to get these characters written this well in shows today. I'd say she's this shows Zuko yet redone in a new way that none of us could've seen coming and you won't either!

jac jacob israel

Where do I sign the petition for mos to free the other two episodes?

Omegastar
>>127051087

She also says sorry to Adora in S1E2 after she accidentally tazed Adora a second time, and in S3E5 'Remember', after she slapped Adora.

Catradora fan

No cold opening meaning we're in for something special Catra finally figuring out things for herself her memories are from her thoughts no pretenses no one else in her head to tell her what to do just her love for her friend. I'm so proud of Catra. "I'm always going to be your friend." 😭😭 Young Catra and Adora are so freakin cute! Adora and Catra grew up in the Horde which is not conducive to learn what healthy relationships are family friendship or romantic love looks like. (Side note in season 4 episode 8 Boys Night Out Octavia said Catra scratched her eye now the question becomes what did Octavia say or do to Catra who was 6 YEARS OLD?!) Unlike the episode Promise Aimee and AJ provide the voices of young Catra and Adora but just pitched up I believe. Catra and Glimmer's conversation is well needed. BOTH AKNOWLEDGE THEY MADE MISTAKES AND ARE GENUINE IN THEIR APOLOGIES AND THEIR FEELINGS. Catra saving Glimmer while sacrificing herself=SELFLESS. They aren't so different after all their love for Adora and they know they messed up so bad and sorry for it. Not to mention Glimmer getting jealous in Princess Prom of Perfuma hanging out with Bow she thought she was getting replaced just like Catra gets jealous when Adora hangs out with anyone else but Catra is afraid for her life like Shadow Weaver said "I only keep you around because Adora is fond of you." And "whispering about... whatever" whispering about what Catra? 🧐🤔

Rufus May
>>127057900

The light/dark corridors could also be the safe (in her mind at least) and familiar choice that Catra usually makes vs the more frightening choice with unknown outcomes. So by admitting what she feels and acting accordingly instead of being defensive and closing herself off, Catra chooses the riskier 'dark' path.

Jenny D
>>127065388

In Promise we also see the moment after Catra scratches out Octavia’s eye. I think in that scene Aimee and AJ also did the voices, and the characters were about the same age that they were in this episode’s flashbacks. In Promise it was only the flashback with the really tiny Adora and Catra—the scene where the titular promise happens—who had different voice actors.

Jenny D
>>127062746

Thanks for the heads up! I don’t use Discord often but I’m going to go there right now!

Mahlernut
>>127056466

Oh god...Labradora's gonna be lodged in my brain now. :D Of course, I'm now imagining Adora sitting outside the door waiting for Catra, until Catra walks up and asks what she's waiting for. Adora forgets exactly what it was but knows it's important, and decides that as long as she's waiting with Catra, everything'll be fine.

Hannah

one of my absolute favorite episodes AND seasons

Production_Run

The lack of a cold open immediately shows that this is a BIG IMPORTANT EPISODE. It's too important to break up with a cold open. The last episode that didn't have a cold open was The Sword Part 2- the second half of the two-part series premiere, which was the first one that had an intro sequence at all, so yeah, kind of a big deal to change the episode structure. What exactly the light and dark symbolism means is a matter of intense debate, but most agree that whatever it means, Catra went with the dark. The simple widely accepted explanation is that light represents Prime and Catra chose darkness in opposition to him, and the complex widely accepted explanation is that light symbolizes the known and dark the unknown, and after spending the whole show sticking with the familiar evil of the Horde, she's finally chosen the unknown of opposing them. Of course, both explanations can be true, and that's the interpretation I'm going with. Something to keep in mind about Catra's behavior in the flashback is the flashback from Promise where they sneak into the Black Garnet chamber. Shadow Weaver outright tells Catra that she's only being allowed to live because Adora likes her. She thinks that if Adora doesn't like her any more, Shadow Weaver will kill her- and, well, she thinks that because Shadow Weaver said so herself. This informs a lot of her behavior- not only in this flashback, where she thinks Adora is abandoning her for Lonnie, but way back in the first episode when Adora initially defected and Catra saw it as Adora abandoning her to Shadow Weaver's cruelty in favor of a bunch of random strangers. Of course, Catra would have been much better off if she'd defected as well, but Adora didn't exactly do the best job of explaining the situation and, to be completely honest, Catra wasn't wrong to feel betrayed that Adora was moved to the point of defection by seeing the Horde attacking a bunch of random strangers, but not by seeing her best friend suffering at their hands for their whole lives. The exact dynamics of Catra telling Horde Prime about Adora being on the ship are also a matter of significant debate. As Catra says to Glimmer, Adora is on her way to them. There was nothing Catra could do to make her situation better or worse- nothing, that is, except get Glimmer out so Adora would no longer have a reason to come to Prime (at least, Catra no longer believes she has any reason to come to Prime. I know you've recorded a few episodes past this already, so you know how that worked out). However, Catra had no way to do that. She'd found the teleporter, but had no idea where to send Glimmer. She could have just sent her back to Etheria, but that wouldn't stop Adora. Even contacting her to tell her Glimmer wasn't there anymore wouldn't work, since Adora would have no reason to believe her. For the plan to work, she had to actually send Glimmer directly to Adora. When Catra decided to tell Prime, she didn't see any possible way she could actually help, so she decided to keep sucking up to Prime in the hopes that at least she might make it out of the situation even if no one else could. However, when she told Prime about it, he started tracking the ship, revealing Adora's location to Catra (the shot from Catra's perspective focusing on the tracking screen next to Prime's head wasn't just symbolic of her inner conflict, it was how she found out where Adora was to send Glimmer to). It wasn't until after that, once she didn't just have the guilt (and Glimmer) telling her she should help, but a way she could actually do that, that she finally decided to turn. A major theme in this show is the cycle of abuse, from Horde Prime to Hordak to Shadow Weaver to Catra to Adora. It's a little more complicated than that, of course, but that's the general gist of it. Adora finally managed to break the chain, and now Catra has as well. And, ultimately, that's all it takes for a villain redemption. They have to recognize what they did was wrong, and take concrete steps to fix the problem. Which is why despite everything she's done, even Catra's most die-hard haters finally get pulled around to the side of supporting her by this episode. The music in this show is incredible, and this is probably my single favorite episode for it. The music that plays during Catra's windowsill ruminations at the beginning of this episode is one of three childhood themes introduced in Promise, and up to this point the only one to have appeared outside that first episode or the end credits. In my analysis, I've labeled it "Childhood B," since it's the second one to show up, but it's the main one ("Childhood A" is the ascending sequence on a music box sort of synth that plays during the end credits of Promise and Remember and a few times during the episode in Promise). This usually accompanies flashbacks or discussions of Adora and Catra's, well, childhood, though I've also identified at least one spot where it's used for childhood more generally in the party in Elberon in Flutterina. In Promise, it came with a second section, which I've labeled "Childhood C," consisting of a sequence of ascending figures in bars of three beats, that was first used during the part of the Promise flashbacks where Adora joins Catra in making fun of Octavia and running around the Fright Zone, and it seems to suggest a resolution to the conflict between Catra and Adora. It then doesn't show up again for three whole seasons until this episode, during the last flashback where Catra sees the young Catra and Adora playing in the halls of Prime's ship, immediately before Catra turns against the Horde- that is, it doesn't show up again until Catra finally ends her feud with Adora, fitting that conflict resolution theme. The other big moment in this episode is the scene of Catra and Glimmer in the teleporter room, which first has a choral variation on Catra's theme (first heard at the end of Razz, and played in full during the credits of Razz, In the Shadows of Mystacor, and Once Upon a Time in the Waste, in addition to the simplified variations more commonly heard during the show proper), and then THE Promise theme. This is first heard during the end of Promise, when Catra leaves Adora hanging from the cliff in the Crystal Castle, and it primarily symbolizes Catra and Adora's relationship, particularly the eponymous promise from that episode: "You look out for me, and I look out for you. Nothing really bad can happen as long as we have each other." It's mostly reserved for the really big heavy-hitting emotional scenes, including some that only have one of the characters present- that first one in Promise, the bit in Once Upon a Time in the Waste when Adora discovers the fragmented message from Mara, the fight at the portal cliff in Remember, Adora finding out the full truth about the Heart of Etheria and She-Ra's role in it in Destiny Part 1, and now this (there's also a weird use in Roll With It when Adora describes how she expects Catra to outsmart them in the battle after finally getting sick of everyone's DnD fantasies, but this can still be connected to its general use by being Adora talking about how Catra can get inside her head). This is also one of the very few episodes that doesn't have Adora's theme in it at all, fitting for how little she's in it and how this is very much a Catra-centric episode.

song sl

Seeing as Mosco recorded the next two episodes already I think it’s time to let her know about the FAMOUS FANFICTION THAT ND WROTE back in the day! No I’m not kidding. Pretty sure most Catradora fans read it. ND never confirmed which fanfic it was that he wrote, only that he wrote one himself, but we’re pretty sure we know which one it was since it fits so PERFECTLY after episodes 5 & 6 and serves as an untold story of what happened then! 😁 I recommend you read it when you can! Hope I helped!

Vilmu
>>127053771

Yeah, like there's lots of implications about Shadow Weaver physically abusing Catra (like more than what we're shown on screen.) Catra talks about learning to predict Shadow Weaver's strikes.

song sl
>>127071358

I haven’t read this one in years but it’s called “Don’t go” by Annacharlier. Here’s a link to the fanfic. Enjoy! 😃 https://archiveofourown.org/works/24280306

K Cianci

Mosco: “How’s my recoding 47 minutes!? What was I doing!?” Video breakdown: - 2 minutes of anxiously avoiding pressing play. - 40 minutes fighting feelings - 5 minutes processing feelings (Sounds like basically everyone’s healthy emotional process, or at least certainly mine, so I see nothing wrong).

Mahlernut
>>127073170

There was also a long period of off-screen ranting while tea was acquired!

song sl
>>127071358

Even better! She can read it if she wants! I can’t wait to see her upcoming She-Ra reactions! 🤩 (Hopefully she will talk about the fanfiction too if she does decide to read it 😋)

Ashley Silver

And so my favorite arc begins.

Squirrel

There's a lot of darkness/light symbolism in a lot of earlier Angela/Glimmer scenes too - Angela withdrawing to the shadow when confronted and then stepping back into the light when being assertive, Glimmer backlight by flames when trying to order Bow and Adora around. Personally I read it as more of a confidence vs doubt or power vs weakness metaphor. At the very least, I don't think this show limits light vs dark to simply good vs evil.

Omegastar
>>127071358

Actually, someone else already brought the fanfic up in a previous vid, and Mosco responded by saying that she is not going to read any fanfics until she has finished the show. And that is a good decision, because 'Don't Go' does, in fact, contain a **SPOILER**. It is not spoiler-free. People really should not be telling her to read it before she has finished the show.

Porpoise Power

I'm really happy you caught onto the dichomety of light and shadow, and Prime using light/purity for power with Catra finding her own power in darkness

Omegastar
>>127070331

Beautiful and very thorough analysis of Catra's thought-process and decision-making in this episode!

song sl
>>127071358

Oh really? I didn’t remember that.. Then yeah she should wait until she’s done with the series (again, if she wants)

FaerieKim

The episode we've all been waiting for. One of my absolute favourite episodes too.

potato potato also another potato
>>127057900

it seems to very much be the order and chaos light/dark you see in stuff like the smt/persona games, where light isn't good, so much as it is stagnation or void, which fits well with the whole mind wipe, clone army, emotion and attachment is pain thing horde prime has going on. With darkness the chaotic antithesis of that, a churning stormy sea rather than a flat sterile wasteland...or something to that effect.

potato potato also another potato
>>127060997

that's a good point, especially since when we do see them together, they seem to always be alone, they ran off somewhere private where they wouldn't get in trouble for it. (which they do in the very first episode as well)

Jaakko Nurro

Gotta love the Horde Choir at the end. "Ave Etheri", indeed.

Childofthestars111

When I first watched this episode, I was freaked out of my mind by the weird chanting and Prime’s last lines here, followed with MORE WEIRD CHANTING. Like you, I was stubborn in liking Catra beyond “ooh catgirl” because of her tendency to physically harm Adora, but here I was genuinely SCARED for her

Tabatha Cat

One of the things I love about Catra is how sassy she is (not sure that's the right word). Forced to kneel at Horde Prime's feet, completely at his mercy, she laughs in his face. It reminds me of how she laughed at Hordak, just before he sent her to the Crimson Waste.

Ross Jennings

Wow, that was an emotional journey. Not that I was expecting any less from *this* episode. And it's far from over.

Sero

Ahhh, this reaction was everything I hoped it'd be. The voice acting of AJ Michalka (Catra) is phenomenal - you can really *feel* that "I'm sorry - for everything!"

Kayla Ryan

So glad you're turning around on Catra. So can't wait for Save The Cat!

SweetCandle

Whatever you react to after this definitely needs a lot of Rs in the title.

Nicholas Lemos

You remind me of me when I know a redemption arc is coming for a character I feel has done too much harm. "They are going to try to make me forgive them, and it will probably work, but I'm not happy about it!" I was kinda already on board to forgive Catra as soon as she stopped doing bad things and confronted her true feelings, but this episode still did a lot of heavy lifting.

Glorinfeld

It's a important episode for Darqui, i dont know he is that important for you! :o :D what, who ? Elijah...never heard :p

Omegastar
>>127062746

It will actually be two weeks for the patreon. Mosco is only holding off on the Youtube cuts, but she’s already set dates for the release of the next episodes on Patreon.

RibKoboldScout
>>127062746

Where are those clips? All I see on the discord are the introductions, rules, and welcome channels.

Zen

"whispering about... you know, whatever." Catra (TOTALLY NOT ABOUT GAY STUFF)

Luke Teasdale
>>127077653

Oh yes, catra left the shadow in this episode, only to be forcefully dragged into primes cleansing light

Zen
>>127073170

Tea is an important part of the fighting/processing feelings portion

Jenny D
>>127062746

And once you introduce yourself and get approved, I recommend just searching for “save the cat” and “episode 6” cuz that’s how I found the clips.

Vilmu

It was kinda heartwarming to see Mosco defend Catra so fiercely at the end. But yeah, Horde Prime touching people in unnecessary ways seems to be a recurring thing with him and is probably some subtle commentary from the writers. He feels like the type of person who claims he's all about purity, but is actually a creep. And he just generally sees himself as above personal space.

Catradora fan

Mosco: "I don't like you bakka!" Pours runs away 🤭

Eliteguard99

I think it's absolutely amazing writing that this is the episode that shows that Catra and Glimmer are VERY similar to each other, and they have a lot in common. But because these three episodes are the first ones where the two of them interact with each other (without trying to kill each other this time) you didn't notice how similar they were all along. When you go back and watch the show again and really think about their characters you can see the similarities.

Anonymous

(I’m sorry for how long this comment ended up being! I intended for it to be like one paragraph, but I just couldn’t bring myself to stop writing. I promise there aren't any spoilers in it, and all of the stuff I say is just my interpretation of the meaning behind the motifs in the show [up to S5 E3], though admittedly some of them seem to be supported by what the creators have gone on record saying. I don’t mean to try and force my ideas or interpretations of events on you, though my writing style may give that impression, for which I’m sorry. I’m basically just trying to get all my thoughts off of my chest before they crush me) So, Catra has some very interesting worldviews that are really hard to wrap one’s head around. For example, she clearly believes love/affection/kindness to be entirely conditional, finite, and zero-sum, and as a result, when young!Adora started being friends with Lonnie, young!Catra concluded that Adora must no longer want to be friends with her, because she believed people couldn’t be kind to multiple people at once. Keep in mind that the entire reason Shadow Weaver didn’t literally kill Catra was because Adora liked her, and so Catra was a way of controlling and manipulating Adora, and Catra knew this. So when Catra saw Adora start being friends with Lonnie, she concluded Adora was no longer friends with her, and as a result, she would be killed. It’s also very likely Catra assumed Adora knew this and was fine with abandoning Catra to die. Hence, this is why Catra lashed out and scratched Adora across the face. It’s a chain of assumptions that wouldn’t even occur to us, having been raised in western democracies on Earth, but to her, having been raised in the fascist and highly conservative Horde, and by a physically and mentally abusive parental figure, it makes complete sense. Like, I can’t emphasize this enough. Young!Catra thought that young!Adora, by abandoning her to be friends with Lonnie, with LITERALLY leaving her to die. As in, like, actually be killed. Shadow Weaver wasn’t exactly subtle that Catra’s only use was her and Adora’s friendship, and that without that use she’d dispose of her in a heartbeat. In this context, her scratching Adora is extremely tame. In her position, I think I would have lashed out a lot more. This, interestingly, is also related to Catra’s reaction when Adora ran away to the Rebellion. She by then understood that maybe you could be friends with two or three people at once, but she still thought love was finite and zero-sum at the end of the day. She also incorrectly assumed that Adora knew how Catra was being heavily abused. So when Adora, who by this point had displayed little care about Catra being abused, suddenly got distraught by seeing some strangers suffering, and left the Horde, Catra felt very highly betrayed, because not only did her friend apparently care more about complete strangers than her, but Catra thought Adora left knowing full well that it would result in Catra being killed because she was no longer useful to Shadow Weaver for controlling/coercing Adora. Now, one could argue that the second half of that argument, Catra being left to die, could be countered if Catra had just run away with Adora. But, Catra still felt betrayed that Adora had seemingly known she was being abused all this time, but not cared, and then suddenly started caring for complete strangers. And, on top of that, the Horde is all Catra ever knew, and running away from that, no matter how horrible it was to her, is really damn hard. In real life, a lot of actual people willingly choose to stay in terrible regimes because they can’t bring themselves to take that leap into the unknown, even if they know they’ll likely die if they don’t. Now, on Horde Prime’s ship, Catra still believes that Adora willingly broke her half of the promise they made, abandoning Catra to die to run off with some strangers. However, Catra, despite this, deep down, still has some sort of feelings for Adora, and she realized that even if Adora broke her half of the promise, Catra still has the opportunity to be the better person and keep her half, even if it’s the last thing she ever does. She knows Adora is coming to save Glimmer, and she knows that this will result in Adora getting captured and killed. By sending Glimmer to Adora, she is preventing Adora from needing to come rescue her, and thus saving Adora’s life. Catra has no other things to do at this point - she knows she can’t work her way up the ranks and get power in Horde Prime’s fleet, and she knows at some point she’s going to run out of usefulness and be killed, regardless of what she does. Keeping her half of the promise is literally the only thing she can do before she dies, so she does it. Now, this doesn't excuse Catra being an abusive asshole when she was working her way up the ranks in the Horde. The worldview she was brought up with, of kindness being conditional, zero-sum, finite, and always handed out as a form of manipulation or as a means to an end, does explain her actions somewhat but she still acted as more of an ass than she strictly needed to, which is probably indicative of other mental problems as well, like borderline personality disorder to give one example. Generally, the bad stuff Catra did can be grouped into three main causes: 1) she incorrectly was brought up to believe a worldview that was wrong, i.e. that people have no inherent value beyond the power they wield, that kindness and affection are finite, zero-sum, and only given out as a means to an end, that displaying unconditional love or kindness to someone always results in them betraying you, etc, 2) she was placed in a situation after Adora left where she no longer had any inherent value, because her leverage over Adora was gone, and so she had to rapidly gain power in the Horde if she was going to avoid being executed, and this situation never really stopped, with her continued existence being dependent on her maintaining a high position of power over others right up until Season 5, and 3) her abusive upbringing and Adora’s betrayal, combined with a bunch of other distressing events, caused her to develop a number of mental problems, such as BPD, and probably general anger management issues. With that being said, I just want to say that even though she did stuff in the past that, while being explainable and understandable, was nonetheless inexcusable and wrong, that doesn't mean that IF she gets into a better environment and can be re-educated to a better mental understanding of how the world works, she can’t change for the better and abandon those tendencies, and become a genuinely kind and loving person. Whether she actually does that or not though, you’ll just have to wait and see! (I’d like to note, though this isn’t strictly related but it popped into my head and is refusing to go away until I write it down, that a fairly common idea that fans seem to have (I’m pretty sure you don’t subscribe to it, but some do) is that Catra deserved to be punished for what she did, and suffer significantly in the process, if she’s ever going to have a chance for being redeemed, and that her simply changing by itself isn’t enough. This is a very Christian-hegemonic concept that has little actual moral reasoning behind it beyond “god said so” and has been responsible for the unnecessary suffering of at least hundreds of millions of people throughout history. Fundamentally it’s rooted in the idea that people do cruel things because there is an inherent evil corruption within them, and the only way to purge that corruption is for them to suffer, or even in some cases die, for the benefit of others. In the words of Horde Prime himself; “All beings must suffer to become pure.” Needless to say, I fundamentally reject this principle wholeheartedly, though I can understand why some might not) Also, with regards to the light vs dark motifs, you’re not the only one to think the episode might be trying to subvert the usual expectations there! I don’t recall if the creators ever confirmed it, but the consensus in the fandom does seem to be that dark is being portrayed as good and light as evil, and it doesn't seem to be something specific to Catra either, but a general statement. Anyway, uh, I’m really sorry again for how long this rant was! I understand completely if you don’t read all of it, but I just had all these thoughts pop into my head and I couldn’t help myself but write them down. In any case, I really like the reactions, and I can’t wait for the next one! EDIT: I am so incredibly sorry, I assumed that Patreon comments automatically got shortened, with a "see more" option, like on Youtube! I didn't realize it would just keep the entire thing open, if this is too long I'd be more than happy to delete it.

Dinker

The fact that Mosco went into the reasons for loving the idea of the ship, then having the show destroy her affection for Catra. Then after all of that having that moment with Catra being the hero and watching Mosco trying to rationalize all of her emotions... It left me going "she's looking for a target for resentful anger that needs to be released." And Horde Prime shows up and does a single thing and I'm immediately going "and there we go." Boy howdy that was a vocal grumble.

MoscoMoon
>>127062746

I've pinned them to the top of the She-Ra chat to help folks who are just coming in for those clips, but hope folks stay around coz we do have a lot of fun! We all watched Kiki's Delivery Service together the other night and I may post future clips too!!

Jenny D
>>127350254

I mean, if you think about it, Horde Prime is kinda the source of Catra’s abusive upbringing. What I mean is that, without him sending Hordak away (I don’t quite remember how it went down between them) then the horde would’ve never existed on Etheria and Catra likely would’ve never ended up in Shadow Weaver’s care.

Verdigree

Something that may not be obvious is Horde Prime’s ship is based on American Megachurch architecture

Willow Arkan
>>127153528

Especially touching her face with his foot, is one hell of a visual. Talk about an uncomfortable scene, well done but so unsettling.

Willow Arkan

Btw the way you noticed the light and shadow aspects of the episode, there's this breakdown by five by five takes that dissects this episode on that aspect. Although if you are interested best to finish the show first because some of the images used spoil the show pretty heavily.

Sarah
>>127268313

I hear people say this a lot and it always confuses me. They definitely have SOME similarities, but there are also some aspects to them that are wildly different

Sarah

Speaking of soundtrack. The BGM during Catra's apology is called "Promise" and its the same one that played when Catra left Adora in the Crystal Catra. Gah, and both of these scenes end with Adora yelling out for Catra 😭 Also this song does show up again 1 more time in a crucial moment