Series Review: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

“For the honor of Grayskull!”

5 out of 5.

Oh, sorry. Guess I got ahead of myself there. Let me start from the beginning:

I give Netflix’s She-Ra and the Princesses of Power a 5 out of 5.

…

What? What are you still doing here? Did you not just read my words? 5 out of 5. Go watch it.

……………..

What do you want? A higher number? You want me to give it a 6 out of 5? 7? 8? What number do I have to give this show for you to stop reading this review and just go watch the damn thing?

Uuuuuuuuuuuuugh. You want me to actually explain myself, don’t you? Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine. From the top again…

“Hey Adora.”

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is a Dreamworks animation studio show put out by Netflix and is a reboot of the 1985 show She-Ra: Princess of Power. Which itself was a spin-off of the 1983 show He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. None of that is super important though and you need no prior knowledge of He-Man or She-Ra to fully enjoy this show. While it retains the same basic outlines of the show (including keeping all of the original names of the characters), it changes everything else. And this time, She-Ra isn’t a spin-off of anything. She has her own show without He-Man being stapled to her. He-Man hasn’t been rebooted since 2002 (though TWO He-Man reboots are currently in the works. I don’t think they have anything to do with this show though), and Dreamworks made the bold play of letting She-Ra lead on her own with a standalone reboot. And it worked.

But I’m getting ahead of myself (again). The story follows Adora, a soldier in the Hoard army that currently seeks to rid the planet Etheria of the evil princesses that infest it. Alongside her teammate and best friend Catra, they’re about to complete their training under their teacher and surrogate mother Shadow Weaver. On the eve of Adora’s first mission as a Force Captain, however, she stumbles across a strange magic sword and crosses paths with one of the enemy princesses, Glimmer, and her best friend Bow. Before long, Adroa learns that the Horde has been lying to her about the true nature of the Princesses and their role in this war. Along with these revelations, Adora discovers that the sword lets her transform into an ancient warrior princess named She-Ra. And with that, Adora severs ties with the Horde and vows to help the Princesses of Etheria defeat Hordak and his army and reclaim the planet. But Adora’s former friend Catra feels betrayed by Adora, and after being elevated to a Force Captain by Hordak, vows to do anything in her power to crush the rebellion and defeat Adora once and for all.

So what makes this show so great? Oh boy where to start.

The art direction is fantastic, and especially looks cool when you compare it to the aesthetics of the original show. Basically every character in the reboot was also in the original show, and looking at how they updated their appearances here is just fascinating. But also, each character and location has a distinct and memorable look. First One technology looks sufficiently ancient and yet still high tech, the halls of Brightmoon are bright, grand, and are so obviously made by people that don’t know war that it doesn’t even have a dungeon (forcing them to keep prisoners in guest bedrooms). It kind of looks like a cross between Steven Universe and Avatar: The Last Airbender if I’m being honest. It’s bright and sparkly when it needs to be, and dark and gloomy when that’s appropriate. Add to that some really crisp, fluid animation and She-Ra has the visual aspect nailed down.

I’m also a fan of the score of this show. It has some really epic instrumentals to really make the fight scenes as epic as they need to be. One small nitpick I have in the sound department though is the OP “Warriors.” It’s a little… uh… how to say this… on the nose? It’s short, but despite that, it’s mostly just repeating the phrases “We must be strong!” and “We must be brave!” I guess I’m kind of spoiled by anime, but it’s just… not very stimulating. It’s not a bad OP, but it definitely could have used some more work.

And now the meat of what makes She-Ra so great: The story, the writing, and the characters. Starting with the story, I love how they went about this reboot. There are basically two schools of thought when it comes to reboots: Retellings, and “Slash and Burn”. The retellings want to stick as close to the original roots of the show as possible, whereas the “Slash and Burn” route just completely redoes everything from the ground up. But both methodologies have issues. The problem with the former is that it tends to keep the flaws of the original (and especially with a campy 80s glorified toy commercial, there are a LOT of flaws to address) intact, and the problem with the latter is that you can end up with a show that’s so different from the original that it might as well be its own thing and basically pays no respect to the nostalgia people have for the original. She-Ra, however, took a similar approach that SomethingWittyEntertainment took when abridging SAO. Realizing that the basic story structure has promise, and tearing it down to that skeleton and working up from there. Still a sort of “Slash and Burn,” but with respect for the original that birthed it. A hybrid method, if you will, and it works wonderfully.

The writing is really the glue that holds everything together. Smart dialogue can say so much in so few words, and She-Ra’s writers know how to grab our attention and keep the plot moving. And it’s also so, so damn funny. There are tons of gags that will hit you out of nowhere and leave you in instant stitches. But really, what I appreciate about She-Ra’s writing the most is how they manage to keep things moving forward and keep pulling out revelation after revelation without stagnating or teasing out a reveal too long. I remember in something like Danganronpa how tired it can be for 90% of the story them to be teasing out one piece of information on what happened in the past, and every time they pretend they’re going to let you in on a piece of the puzzle, they’ll pull the rug out from under you and leave you just as confused and uninformed as you were before. And then not until the end will they hit you with a giant information dump that completely overloads and confuses you. She-Ra dishes out information on the story and characters in a very steady and consistent way, and this especially lets them be bold and bombastic with their finales. Those season finales, by the way, being some of the best episodes by far.

And it isn’t just comedy and story that the writing manages to nail. This show will emotionally drop kick you into a blubbering ball, and it will do it frequently. While the final season is where this happened for me the most, I definitely got misty eyed throughout the previous seasons. The show is great at pushing characters to their emotional breaking point and then letting the audience melt in front of the result. The writers aren’t afraid to push those boundaries, even if it can at times bring out the worst of a character. And at times BECAUSE it brings out the worst of a character. By the end, we’ve seen the best and worst of these characters laid bare to us, which honestly just makes you more attached to them than ever before. And it’s those kinds of risk taking that makes this show so great. Constantly upset the status quo, and the audience won’t be able to look away.

I’ve heard comparisons between She-Ra and Avatar before, and I think those are apt. Both shows realize two major important things for making a compelling epic: giving the main cast a large objective to tackle over the course of several smaller arcs within several seasons, and giving the enemy a face and letting us get to know them. A well realized and characterized villain cast is absolutely critical and can be a force multiplier on an already good story. And She-Ra nails that aspect.

She-Ra’s new story still casts the evil Horde led by Hordak, Catra, Shadow Weaver, and Scorpia to try to take over Eternia and destroy its princesses, and the rebellion led by Queen Angella, Princess Glimmer, and Adora. But the reboot realizes that there’s more to this conflict than just a war. While it’s true that Adora was also a Horde soldier later turned to good in the original, from what I can tell, her relationship with Catra is almost entirely new in the reboot. And that relationship is the key to making this entire story working. Not only does it allow us a grounded conflict point for the war as a whole, but it also helps us understand our characters better. And a great story is meaningless without great characters. Which leads very well into my next talking point…

She-Ra’s greatest strength certainly lies in its characters. I cannot think of a single character that does not work within the context of the story. Every single one of them fits their role perfectly and is expertly written. Not only that, but practically all of them have a unique arc that rounds out their character and just makes it a joy to watch them grow. Be it Glimmer’s struggle to learn how to be a leader, Scorpia’s rejected advances on Catra, or Mermista’s incredibly complex relationship with Sea Hawk. Of course, Bright Moon’s cast is excellent. Just on the topic of Adora, Glimmer, and Bow’s friendship, the twists and turns it takes is just as wild and unpredictable as… well, a real friendship. But once you add Glimmer’s strained relationship with her widowed mother Angella, all the other princesses of Etheria, Swift Wind, Madam Raz, Light Hope, and more… it’s practically impossible for me to even paraphrase all of the nuanced relationships and interactions on display. But what really pushes it over the top are the villains. So many series make the mistake of turning their villain into some generic monster that becomes such a bore to battle. But as I mentioned earlier, She-Ra knows the importance of a good villain team, and the villains of the Horde are incredible. Catra, Scorpia, and even Hordak all have complex personalities and unique relationships and, most importantly, we get a chance to see them all in action. Some episodes will have us mostly following the Horde, which gives us more time to be with and connect with these villains. Hell, I found myself getting so attached to the villains that at times I wasn’t quite sure who to side with at times. By the end of the series, you’re going to be shocked at who you end up rooting for. The only minor issue with the villains is that the final season brings in a new villain who’s meant to be the biggest bad of them all, the big obstacle for the heroes to overcome. But because he wasn’t around for the first four seasons, he isn’t nearly as interesting as our original villains. He ends up more as a punching bag than anything else. The writers definitely try to cram some interesting stuff in there for him, but we end up knowing next to nothing about his background or motivations, which makes it hard to get invested as him as the villain, and likewise makes defeating him feel like a secondary objective of the season even if it’s supposed to be far and away the primary objective.

But at the center of it all is that conflict between Adora and Catra. It’s painful at the start to see two people who obviously care about each other end up on opposite sides of the war, but their personalities so perfectly clash that you end up practically begging to see how it turns out. Adora has something of a hero complex, desperately wanting to save everyone and frequently throwing her own safety out of the window to accomplish that, which is frequently not the best solution and tends to get her into more trouble than it solves. She also feels this great burden thrust upon her by the title of She-Ra and lacks confidence in her ability to become the hero that everyone needs. Catra, meanwhile, has a chip on her shoulder the size of Texas. Her whole life she was getting upstaged by Adora and psychologically abused by Shadow Weaver, who was meanwhile grooming and doting on Adora the whole time. But despite that, they were very close friends. So when Adora switches sides, something inside of Catra snaps. She feels betrayed that Adora left again, frustrated that once again Adora is special and admired by literally everyone, and confused as Shadow Weaver still fails to trust her and seems more interested in bringing a traitor back home than to use the resource in front of her. And within these conflicting emotions, Catra reasons that if she can finally best Adora, everything in her life will finally come together and she’ll finally get the recognition she deserves. So we have two characters squaring off against each other, both with intimate knowledge of the other one and yet barely a clue what to do, and both who feel that they can’t afford to lose. Catra’s journey is honestly the most fascinating in the show because she, more than anyone else, has no idea who she is at the beginning of the story. And watching her struggle to figure that out make up the best parts of the entire story. And her own complex relationships with Scorpia, Shadow Weaver, Hordak, and of course Adora further enrich her journey.

If it sounds like I’m being intentionally vague, it’s because I am. I really don’t want to spoil anything, because this story is really, really good and deserves to be experienced with fresh eyes. The pacing is almost perfect and compelled me to watch all five seasons (basically four, since seasons 2 and 3 are each half seasons) in about a week. The last two seasons in particular I binged in just a couple of days. While the entire story is damn good, the ending is where everything comes together. The house of cards set up in the previous seasons comes tumbling down and it’s time to see how all the previous decisions and relationships established by these characters pan out. I’ll be honest, the last two episodes had me a blubbering mess. Tears were basically pouring from my eyes constantly. And that’s just a testament to how good these characters are. Even though I had some idea going into this how it would end up (it’s rated Y-7, so I didn’t expect half the cast to kick the bucket or anything), the story had me immersed and made me care about the characters so much that everything in the climax hit me and hit me hard. And like I’ve been saying, if you can immerse us and get us to care about your characters, everything else will come naturally. And this show had me more invested than most other shows I’ve seen in my life, which is one of the biggest compliments I can give a show.

If I have to criticize a few things about the story, I’d have to say that a few characters can, at times, slightly jump in personality and motivations, and the story doesn’t really have time to/care to explain how and why. Also, for as well as the final season ties everything up, I have a few issues with it. First of all, a few things about the world are never, EVER addressed. For example, fans of Masters of the Universe are familiar with Castle Grayskull, which is basically where She-Ra draws her power from (or rather, where her powers originated) but despite it still being part of her battlecry, nobody ever bothers to ask “hey, I wonder what Grayskull is?” Also, as I mentioned before, the final season’s villain is a bit of a let down. Compared to the villains we’ve had before, the series has shown me that it’s capable of so, SO much more.

I also feel like, as great and compelling as the final season is, it feels a little bit too tightly packed. The final two episodes in particular has a TON of shit going on to the point that you barely have time to digest it. It’s all good stuff, but if he had been stretched out into two episodes or had a double length episode to tie everything up, that may have worked better. Better still, the entire final arc of the show might have made more sense as two seasons, or at least an extended season. So many big moments and revelations happening back to back to back, and there just isn’t much time for each moment to breath and for characters to react to what’s happening. And it also would have given us a chance to see more of these characters interact at the end of their character arcs, which I really missed. Certain characters who I expected to have really moving reunions and moments in season 5 instead barely interacted at all. A couple characters were all but cut from the season entirely. And is it just me, or could anyone else REALLY do for an epilogue? Everything was wrapped up very well, but I’d just love one episode set a year or so in the future to show where everyone is and how everything developed. Maybe they’re saving that for a special, maybe they have more plans for these characters down the line (despite the fact that Season 5 is meant as the final season of this particular series), or maybe that’s just never going to happen, but just with how jam packed the final episode was, I just felt like one episode to show how everyone is getting along would give a real sense of closure for the series.

(NOTE: After finishing this review I did see that in the past couple of months fans have been asking Netflix to fund a She-Ra movie, and the showrunner says that she’s on board as long as Netflix gives it the green light. And with the number of people who have been asking for it on par with the number who asked for the Snyder cut of Justice League, I’m optimistic that this isn’t the last we’ll see of She-Ra.)

Some people could also say that the story is a bit predictable at times, but like I said, when you draw the audience in and make them care, it doesn’t really matter that the story is predictable. You care about what happens no matter how it happens. There’s also something to be said for how keeping some of the old names of these characters can definitely make certain aspects a bit… goofy. Having an anthropomorphic cat named Catra is a little on the nose, as is the water princess being named Mermista. But I think it was smart to keep the names as they are. It’s a great tribute to the original, and makes a great comparison point to show how each character was updated for the modern times, plus fans of the original show will definitely get a kick out if it knowing that basically all of the characters from the original show are returning.

One last thing I should mention is that some very thick people are probably going to say “this show has too many gay characters” and use that as a negative. Obviously, anyone pulling that card can fuck right off. But to address it very briefly, yes there are a lot of gay characters but… well, this is the Masters of the Universe…verse. No doubt everyone is familiar with how overtly flamboyant the original shows are. In fact, I wouldn’t find it surprising to learn that the original He-Man and She-Ra cartoons have a big LGBT following because… well, they’re just full of those kinds of themes. And the reboot doesn’t shy away from those roots. Rather, it embraces them. To an extent that’s pretty refreshing for a show that is meant for people of all ages. None of this wishy-washy “Oh, are they gay? Are they a couple?” She-Ra has the balls to say “I SHIP IT! THIS IS A CANONICAL GAY COUPLE BITCHES!” and let that be the end of it. Point is, yeah, there are heavy LGBT themes in this show. They don’t need to be justified, but the roots of the series justify it anyways. Don’t make a big deal about it. It makes sense, and it’s respectful.

I just really, really liked this series. It’s been a long time since a show has made me care THIS much about its cast, made me THIS obsessed with watching all of it, and made me so eager to share it with everyone. I cannot recommend this show highly enough. If you’re worried that it’s going to be too goofy, or that it’s for kids, don’t be. The show was smartly constructed in a way that people of all ages can appreciate everything on screen and I have no doubt that different people will walk away from She-Ra with different messages and lessons. If you haven’t yet, drop whatever you’re doing and go watch it.

I give Netflix’s She-Ra and the Princesses of Power a 5 out of 5.

Happy? Now, for the love of god, go watch it.