As Bow, Entrapta and Adora attempt to keep Mara's ship functional, Horde Prime orders Catra to betray Glimmer – under threat of a memory wipe.
Tropes
- Armor-Piercing Question:
- Glimmer asks Catra why she keeps visiting her even though Prime has expressly forbidden her to do so. Catra doesn't answer but Glimmer is able to easily see that it's because Catra is very lonely.
- While she didn't really mean for it to be, when Glimmer asks what Catra would be doing if she was back on Etheria, it ends up reminding Catra of all the terrible things she had done.
- Attack Its Weak Point: Hitting the clones on the ports on the back of their necks blanks them out.
- Big "NO!": Adora lets out a string of ones after Catra's transmission cuts out when she is swarmed by the clones.
- Brainwashing: As it turns out, the process Prime used to purge memories from his clones will work on anybody, and Catra will be next if she doesn't prove her loyalty by getting answers off of Glimmer.
- Cleavage Window: Entrapta made her spacesuit with one, and for some reason gave Bow's a belly button window.
- Cult: Horde Prime has one centered around him. One of their rites is a mind wipe, where they gather around and chant "Cast out the shadows!" as one of their members is given a painful Symbolic Baptism to "cleanse" them of their individuality and free will.
- Defiant to the End: After getting Glimmer to safety, Catra is captured by the Horde and brought before Horde Prime. He makes it clear that she is now well and truly out of his good graces; Catra quite literally laughs in his face.Horde Prime: You were beloved in my sight... and this is how you repay me.
Catra: [laughs] What did you expect? After all, us Etherians are "so very emotional". - Description Cut: When Catra is rescuing Glimmer, she self-deprecatingly states that there is "no one left in the universe who cares about [her]". Cut to Adora, implying (as the later conversation proves) that despite their falling out and everything that's happened, Adora still cares for Catra.
- Despair Event Horizon: Why did Catra throw in with Horde Prime? There's nothing left for her in Etheria anymore.
- Don't Touch It, You Idiot!: Bow sternly tells Adora not to touch anything as he and Entrapta make repairs to the ship. Guess what Adora ends up doing. To be fair, a problem occurred almost immediately after he left.
- Duct Tape for Everything: Adora tries to fix the computer's wiring system with some tape. It doesn't work.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- Despite her ugly history with Hordak, Catra is horrified when Horde Prime subjects Hordak to the "purification" ritual.
- Catra knows that Glimmer's future will be a bleak one if she remains on board the Velvet Glove, so she helps Glimmer escape to Adora's ship.
- Heel Realization: Catra deeply considers what Glimmer said to her about her selfishness and how all she thinks about is running away when things get bad for her. The point that truly cements her realization is remembering a flashback to Adora telling her that she would always be her friend and that her destructive lifestyle led her to destroy her friendship with the one person who always had her back.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Catra decides to finally do one good thing in her life, and bring Glimmer off the ship at the cost of Horde Prime punishing her for treason. However, when Glimmer asks Catra why she's helping her, Catra tells her (as far as she herself is concerned) she doesn't care about saving Glimmer, only Adora.
- Irony: Catra is known for her habit to betray people to save her own skin and to secure her power. However, funnily enough, her Heel–Face Turn actually starts when she finally betrays Horde Prime, by saving Glimmer and sending her to Adora at cost of herself.
- Laughing Mad: Adora and Entrapta’s antics on the ship eventually drive Bow to this. This is lampshaded by Adora:Adora: Is this a good laugh or a bad laugh? (Beat as Bow continues laughing) Well, the longer it goes on, the more I think it's a bad laugh.
- Lonely Together: Glimmer and Catra bond over their mutual loneliness at being stuck on Horde Prime's ship and the two swap their favorite stories about their time spent with Adora.
- Meaningful Echo: In one of Catra's childhood flashbacks, she angrily vows to Adora that she'll never apologize to anyone. The climax of the episode has Catra apologizing to Adora for everything she's done just as she teleports Glimmer off the Velvet Glove.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After remembering a flashback with Adora telling her that she would always be her friend, Catra finally realizes that her anger and desire for power drove away the one person that always believed in her for no good reason. It's what finally leads Catra to do one truly unselfish thing and teleport Glimmer to Adora while warning her not to go after Prime.
- Noodle Incident: When Catra talks about her and Adora having sleepovers she says after pranking Kyle, they would sit up all night and whisper about... whatever. While we never hear what that "whatever" is, the memory of it causes Catra to blush.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Catra apologizes to Adora, showing she really did not expect to survive.
- Pet the Dog: Catra helps Glimmer escape from the Velvet Glove, at great cost to herself.
- Rapid-Fire "No!": Adora's response to Catra's apology before the communication is interrupted.
- Religious Horror: Hordak's second mind-wipe is reminiscent of a baptism. Horde Prime and his clones use religious language throughout the scene.
- Something Only They Would Say: Catra is able to recognize Hordak despite him looking identical to the other clones because he calls her by her name instead of "little sister" like the other clones do, even if they already know her name.
- Space Friction: When Darla shuts down in the middle of space, the ship quickly slows to a stop.
- Symbolic Baptism: When Hordak's memories start to resurface, Horde Prime subjects him to a second mind wipe in the form of a purification ritual. Hordak wades into a pool of clone life force and screams as his memory is wiped and his fellow clones chant "CAST OUT THE SHADOWS" and "ALL BEINGS MUST SUFFER TO BECOME PURE".
- That Man Is Dead: Hordak reacts with shame when Catra addresses him by his name.
- Thrown Out the Airlock: Catra can't beam Glimmer directly to Adora, so she instead beams her into space as close as she can and gives Adora the coordinates where she'll end up, allowing Adora and Bow to pull her inside right as she appears and before the vacuum of space becomes a serious issue.
- The Unapologetic: Catra finally breaks out of this and her Never My Fault tendencies by saving Glimmer and apologizing to Adora for all she's done.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Catra recognizes Hordak among the Galactic Horde clones, addresses him by his name, and reminds him of his life back on Etheria. This results in Horde Prime subjecting Hordak to a second mind wipe in the form of the purification ritual.
- What You Are in the Dark: Once Horde Prime has Catra confirm that Adora is coming to rescue Glimmer, all Catra had to do by that point is wait for Adora to be captured and she would've been rewarded by Prime. Instead, after remembering the bond she had with Adora, Catra can't bring herself to betray Adora like that again and teleports Glimmer close enough to their ship for the crew to rescue her, warning them not to come looking for Prime.
