Tear Jerker / She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

"They're not coming back for me."

"You know what? It doesn't matter. Nothing matters anymore. You know what I see here? All my hard work ignored because of one mistake. My dreams turning to dust in front of my eyes."

— Catra, "Once Upon A Time In The Waste"

Moment Subpages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is a show that dedicates itself to harsh subjects and complex characters, from its heroes to its villains. It's no surprise, then, that it provides plenty of heartbreaking moments.

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Season 1

The Sword Part 2

• Adora having a blast at the party... only to realize that the peaceful village is the supposed "enemy fort" that was due to be attacked.
• Adora's and Catra's parting of ways, especially after Catra reveals that she (unlike Adora) always knew that the people raising them were self-serving liars who didn't really care about them - but that she thought it was okay since she and Adora at least had each other.

Razz

• Catra throwing a hysterical fit and crying in her room after Adora's departure.

Flowers For She-Ra

• A minor one, but when Shadow Weaver recoils from her mask's gem seemingly running out of power Catra steps forward with a worried expression, only for Shadow Weaver to harshly shove her away. Despite being a horrible abusive witch, Shadow Weaver is still the closest thing to a parent Catra has and she was rewarded for concern with more abuse.

In The Shadows of Mystacor

• Adora gets afflicted by Shadow Weaver's magic, leading to her seeing hallucinations of Shadow Weaver everywhere in Mystacor. Adora's mental state keeps getting worse as the hallucinations get worse, especially the ones where she thinks Glimmer has coldly ended their friendship and Bow blames Adora for the destruction of Mystacor.

No Princess Left Behind

• Entrapta's apparent demise. She didn't make it out in time because she went back for her robot, Emily. At the end of the episode, all the characters are sorrowful over her disappearance.
• Poor Kyle just wants to make friends. Just as it seems he is bonding with Bow, Sea Hawk grabs him and tosses him away.

The Beacon

• Entrapta's sad realization that her friends are not coming to save her.
  Entrapta: Hour 47... that's... too many hours.
  • And at the same time, watching the members of Princess Alliance grieving and blaming themselves for Entrapta's death.
• Despite Shadow Weaver's constant abuse and Catra's open disdain for her, when Catra sees Shadow Weaver affected by Hordak's recrimination she still tries to show some comfort in her own way... only for Shadow Weaver to bitterly reject Catra.
  • Then, after Shadow Weaver calms down, she quietly admits that she only ever tried to make Catra strong, something that many abusive parents say to justify their poor treatment.
• Glimmer's worsening glitching over the course of the episode and the apparent toll it's taking on her, all while she is still trying to downplay her pain.
  Bow, hugging a glitching Glimmer: It hurts... so much.
• The dinner scene between Glimmer and her mother, with escalating argument, which really is just Glimmer tearing at herself with guilt.
  Glimmer: Don't yell at me! I know I mess everything up okay, I know I'm a big disappointment!
  • Which then reaches its peak with Angella's revelation that she ordered the battle that led to her husband's death and the end of the first Princess Alliance.
    Angella: I ordered the battle your father perished in. I've never forgiven myself.

Promise

• The entirety of Catra's past. She's isolated from the other kids, who dislike her, constantly abused by her foster mother, and seems to always be second fiddle to Adora.
• Adora finally gets her answer to why Catra let her go: Catra didn't want her to come back, because she was finally free from Adora's shadow.
• Catra sees a vision of when she was still a child and she and Adora made their titular promise to always have each other's backs in the Horde. The way both versions of Catra repeat the word "promise" is just heartbreaking as Catra still clearly feels betrayed by Adora. It's also seeing this vision which causes Catra to sever ties with Adora for good.
• At the end of the episode Adora is hanging by some spider thread over the edge of a cliff when Catra appears and destroys the spider bots. Instead of helping her up, however, Catra takes the opportunity to let loose all of the hidden resentment she's had for Adora supposedly treating her like a sidekick and then comments that her leaving was the best thing that ever happened to her. Catra then cuts the thread Adora's hanging on and leaves her to die telling her that she is going to miss her. All Adora can do is tearfully beg Catra not to abandon her and, at Light Hope's instruction, "let go" thus causing the rift in their relationship to truly form and turn them into enemies.

The Battle of Bright Moon

• During the defense planning, Adora wanting to protect Bright Moon on her own. When Bow tries to argue that not even She-Ra can hold against an entire army Adora shouts, "Then what good is she?!" The unspoken "What good am I?" hangs in the stunned silence.
• Outmatched by the Horde's forces and without the Alliance for backup, She-Ra, Bow, Spinnerella, and Netossa are cornered and about to be killed. Bow begs Adora to say that they can "still fix this." All she can do is apologize.
• Adora's reaction to Catra saying she was glad Adora was still alive, hope that Catra still loved her written all over her face, before being cruelly snuffed as Catra stated her desire to kill Adora herself.
• After the Horde is defeated, as Catra and Scorpia run away in a skiff she and Adora share a solemn look.
• While it doubles as awesome, there's something incredibly poignant about Angella struggling to keep the Moonstone powered, especially when a Horde robot begins firing on her and she has to defend herself as well. It serves to enforce that the Rebellion really rests on Angella's shoulders.

Season 2

The Frozen Forest

• Glimmer shouts at Frosta, causing her to cry and run away.
• Frosta reveals that her initially cold exterior is due to taking over the throne at such a young age. She's so desperate to actually have friends like the princesses that she overcompensates.

Ties That Bind

• Catra is undoubtedly hurt by Glimmer's assertion that Adora didn't run away from the Horde, but from Catra herself.
• Entrapta realizes she's changed sides and joined the Horde... and doesn't seem at all bothered by it. The look on Bow's face speaks volumes.

Roll With It

• It’s a small thing in an otherwise lighthearted episode, but when Adora breaks down the worst case scenario, the music in the background is a variant of “Promise”, used during some of her and Catra’s most important moments. This, coupled with her talking about Catra as an unstoppable force throughout the episode, it’s clear that Adora has stopped seeing Catra as her friend.

Light Spinner

• Light Spinner was the only sorceress at Mystacor who viewed the Horde as a legitimate threat that the princesses were having trouble against, but when the others refused to listen, her ambition drove her to perform a piece of dark magic that corrupted her in an attempt to defeat them.
• Shadow Weaver plays Catra like a fiddle, offering her a taste of the maternal love she'd withheld for so long for the means to escape. Catra's utter breakdown when she realizes what's happened, tearing apart the illusion Shadow Weaver left as a decoy, is heartbreaking, especially for such an otherwise savvy character— as awful as Shadow Weaver always was to her, a little affection was all it took to convince her.
• Oddly enough, Hordak gets a small moment near the beginning of the episode. While performing maintenance on the machinery that makes up his cyborg body, one of the arms holding a piece of his armor sparks and malfunctions, hitting him in the back. He roars in agony and swats it away. After taking a moment to catch his breath, he goes to retrieve the piece... and is shocked to realized that his fingers can't grasp it properly. His shock quickly turns to what can only be described as quiet shame as he sighs and retreats back into the shadows. He knows that his body is falling apart on him, and is visibly disturbed that there's very little he can do to stop it.

Reunion

• George's backstory. He fought for the Rebellion back in the day, only to come home and find that the Horde had burned down his village. A sad reminder that the Princess Alliance suffers from more realistic limitations than you'd expect from a group of cartoon heroines.

Season 3

The Price of Power

• Adora's argument with Light Hope is very loaded, from her desperation to know if she had a family to her helpless anger when Light Hope tells her she never had a choice.
  • Light Hope is confused as to why Adora is upset by all this, even when it's implied that she experienced that kind of behavior before from a previous She-Ra (presumably Mara).
  Light Hope: It is happening again.

Once Upon a Time in the Waste

• Mara's message sounds so broken. It's still not clear what "weapon" she's talking about, but the decision to trap an entire planet in a dead dimension— seemingly sacrificing herself in the process— can't have been easy.
  Mara: I never wanted to be a hero... I won't be remembered as one.
• The whole episode is one giant Hope Spot for Catra as, despite being sent there to die, she quickly realises that she thrives in the Crimson Waste, becoming the number one gang leader in less then a day and gaining the respect she always wanted. Scorpia even notes that she's never seen Catra look so happy, and that the two of them should just abandon the Horde and make a life in the Waste, something which Catra seems to genuinely consider. However, the second she finds out from Adora that Shadow Weaver came to her, Catra decides to take the sword back to the Horde, abandoning a potential life of happiness for revenge against the two people who hurt her the most.

Moment Of Truth

• Catra and Shadow Weaver meet face to face. Catra reveals just how hurt and betrayed she felt from Shadow Weaver's actions.
  Catra: So, what? You're on the side of good now? You made me this way, and you get to be the good guy? Do you know what happened to me after you escaped?! Do you even care? You couldn't wait to get away from here, from me! [starts to tear up] But you came back for Adora!
• Catra tasering Entrapta, sending her to Beast Island, and then lying to Hordak about Entrapta betraying him. Hordak had recently accepted Entrapta as his friend and is noticeably upset at this news, not realizing that it's a lie.
  • Right after tasering Entrapta, Catra points the taser at Scorpia, threatening her to keep her mouth shut about the portal being dangerous. The look of hurt on Scorpia's face is heartbreaking, especially after all that Scorpia has done to help Catra.
  • One of the worst parts of this affair is the reason why Hordak never questions whether it's a lie. According to Word of God, (The She-Ra Twitter) Hordak doesn't question it because he doesn't think he's worthy of her friendship. Truth in Television for people with low self-esteem.
• Glimmer and Angella's last argument with each other is very much Harsher in Hindsight for viewers who know what happens later. Even worse, it's understandable for both sides to react the way they do: Glimmer clearly doesn't appreciate Angella's disapproval of the raid and sees it as her mother backsliding from her trust in her and not caring about what happens to Adora; on the other hand, Angella is clearly conflicted knowing the Rebellion's limited number of fighters and the danger Shadow Weaver and the Fright Zone pose and is falling back on protecting what she does have, including Glimmer.

The Portal

• Glimmer realizing that her father is dead. He's right there, but only in the false reality. She has to let go all over again.
• Angella coming to the same realization and leaving her husband to save her daughter and the world. The look of confusion of Micah’s face as he fails to understand what’s happening, and the dawning horror as he starts to. He dies the moment he figures it out, his last words still at his throat, with the implication that he may have been the real Micah.
• The look on Entrapta’s face as she remembers her friendship with Hordak and Catra betraying her.
  Entrapta:I remember everything now… I’m not really here…
• Entrapta’s last action before she vanishes? Sadly telling Adora, Glimmer and Bow that “It was nice being friends with you.”
• Glimmer and Bow vanishishing. Adora is completely devastated.
  • Even before that, the only time she crumbled down to her knees to cry was after Catra refused to take her hand and let herself fall in the portal chasm. No matter what happened between them, Adora still thought that everything started to go wrong after they separated and still cared about her childhood friend.
• Adora and Angella find the Sword of Power, but Angella forces Adora to admit that taking the sword and sealing the portal will trap whoever does it. Angella won't let this happen.
  Angella: Do you want to know a secret? I am a coward. I've always been the queen who stays behind. Micah was the brave one. And then Glimmer. Oh, Glimmer, so much like her father. Once again, I stayed behind, letting her make the hard choices. Letting her be brave for me. I told myself I was being responsible. But Adora, I was just scared. And then, I met you. You inspired us. You inspired me. Not because it was your destiny, but because you never let fear stop you. And now, I choose to be brave. [flies up and grabs the sword] Take care of each other.
• Catra hits rock bottom. Her desperation to prove she's better than Adora has her burning her bridges with both Scorpia and Entrapta, probably the only two people who still genuinely cared about Catra. During the final battle, Catra has become so utterly broken that she willingly tries to erase reality — herself included — purely because it would deny Adora a victory. Adora is forced to admit that Catra is a lost cause, her former friend now nothing more than a broken shell of a girl filled with rage and spite. The look on Catra's face after reality gets restored is mirrored with a murderous glare from She-Ra, causing Catra to realize that Adora is done trying to redeem her. Adora had held back constantly and she's done with that.
  • And, when you look at the whole ordeal from Adora’s perspective, it's very much like leaving an abusive relationship. All Catra has done up to this moment is try to make Adora feel bad for leaving her, make her think she’s the bad guy in their failed friendship. It’s awful to have to live with a lot of Post-Support Regret when you realize the person you knew your whole life, whom you had your back for, is willing to emotionally manipulate you, only to screw you over in the worst, yet biggest way possible.
• Adora having to tell Glimmer that her mother is gone. Glimmer is just devastated by this, not just because of Angella's apparent death, but it also means she's got big shoes to fill.
• Hordak tenderly touching the First Ones crystal that Entrapta embedded in his armor, devastated by her "betrayal".

Season 4

The Coronation

• After encountering the Bright Moon Guardian, Adora tells Glimmer to teleport them out. But Glimmer can't, as she hasn't been recharging her powers. Doing that would have to signify to Glimmer that her mom is dead.
  Glimmer: Recharging would mean taking the Moonstone's full power for myself! It would mean... admitting that she's really gone. Everyone is already acting like she doesn't matter. It's like no one remembers her. No one cares. We're having a coronation because she's gone! And, everyone is acting like it's a fun party! And it's not!
  • Tying in the context of the above, the reason everybody's "already acting" like her mother's death is no big deal is because they're trying to put up a front for Glimmer. But unfortunately, all it amounts to is giving Glimmer the impression that her mother's been written off.
• Adora and Bow comforting Glimmer and telling her they'll always have her back is touching, but it's pretty bittersweet when you've seen the rest of the season and you know this is the closest the three of them are going to be for some time.
• It's subtle, but Adora says she's supposed to take care of Glimmer, according to Angella's final wish. What were Angella's real last words? "Take care of each other." Once again, Adora is trying to take responsibility for everything and refusing help, because she thinks it's the only way she's worth anything.

Flutterina

• This episode shows Catra suffering from a nightmare of knocking out Entrapta and opening the portal. Both times she does this Entrapta and Adora asks her why she would do something like this. It's implied that Catra has been having these nightmares every night since her impulsive actions at the end of Season 3 and now that she has calmed down she genuinely feels guilty over what she has done. This would already be sad enough but the real tragedy is that despite her guilt Catra decides to ignore her feelings and instead violently lashes out at any mention of Entrapta, from scratching Emily's face, to yelling at Scorpia that the two of them are not friends when she offhandedly mentions Entrapta's name. It really shows how far off the deep end Catra has fallen.
• Adora and Catra see each other again for the first time since the portal incident last season (Adora isn't yet aware that the Catra she fought in the last episode was actually Double Trouble in disguise). Catra tries to give one of her usual gloating monologues but Adora bluntly tells her that she isn't interested in anything she has to say anymore after all the hurt she caused by opening the portal showing just how done she is with Catra at this point.
  She-Ra: Can we skip the speech? I'm done playing your games Catra. Too many people got hurt when you set off that portal. I hope it was worth it because I won't let you hurt my friends, or anyone else, ever again!

Princess Scorpia

• The episode tells you it's going to be sad right away, with Scorpia's morning affirmations including "Push down lingering insecurities".
• Scorpia leading Emily to the old hall of the royal family is quietly tragic, with its murals of Scorpia's family broken and her stories of a family long gone. What's especially grim is how fragile her rationalizations are - that her grandfather somehow knew she'd be happier as a soldier, even though she was only a child at the time.
  • Adding an extra layer of sadness to this scene is the fact that Scorpia doesn't know the names of any of her ancestors past her grandfather to the point that she had to give them names herself. Scorpia is standing in the hall off her ancestors and she doesn't know anything about them; all knowledge of her families past stripped away thanks to the Horde.
• Emily playing footage of the good times between Scorpia and Entrapta. It's this, more than anything else, that makes Scorpia realize she deserves better than Catra's abuse.
• Scorpia finally reaching her breaking point with Catra, realizing her "wildcat" doesn't care about her, or anyone but herself.
  Scorpia: ...You're a bad friend.
  • There's also the look on Catra's face after Scorpia says this. This is quite possibly the first and only time Scorpia ever intentionally criticized her and she looks legitimately shocked, as if realizing more and more how much she's pushing away those who actually care about her.
• Catra's rant to Hordak. Her tone is utterly desperate, bordering on manic, as she is clearly trying to convince herself as much as him.
  Catra: Get. Over. It! You don't need Entrapta. You never did. You don't need a princess in your life telling you what to do! Look at what you've done without her. You built an army. An empire! You and me... we don't need anyone. Forget them all, no one matters - nothing matters but this mission! You want to prove yourself? Prove your worth? Then do it. You and I are going to conquer Etheria, and then... and then, they'll all see!

Mer-Mysteries

• Just imagine how Adora, Bow and Glimmer felt when they discovered that Flutterina was not only a spy but just an identity the spy created? The girl who looked up to them and they considered a friend never even existed.
• Mermista's facial expression when she sees what the Horde has done to Salineas, as well as her little 'no' when Double Trouble reveals the Horde's plan and what they were distracting the Rebellion from.

Boys' Night Out

• Bow venting about how much it sucks that he seems to be the only one actually trying to keep the Best Friends Squad together and how no-one appreciates it. Dude needs a hug.
• During Adora and Glimmer's fight, when Adora defensively says that she's trying her best, Glimmer snaps "Well, maybe your best isn't good enough! If it was, my mother would still be alive!" Adora's eyes begin to fill with tears, and Glimmer clearly understands that she went too far... but Mermista cuts off her apology, and Adora is too angry about it afterwards to give her a chance. The rupture is still there at the end of the episode; Glimmer approaches Adora and reaches for her with a smile, only for Adora to pull away and leave. Bow, witnessing this, can only look away, quietly singing the Best Friends Squad song in a miserable tone.
• Though it's largely Played for Laughs, Mermista's whole reaction to Salineas being gone.
• When Catra enters Scorpia's room only to find that she's left the Horde deserves a mention. Even more so is the fact up until that point, Catra was completely unaware that Scorpia had left days prior and had essentially spent the entire episode talking about her problems and personal doubts into her communicator to someone who was NOT there in the first place, and she hadn't even noticed for at least a day.
  • We never find out within the show what exactly Scorpia wrote in the letter, but according to what ND said in a live-stream, it simply read "Sorry".
  • Even worse, it's implied that Catra realized that Scorpia was right that she was being a bad friend, considering that she tries to confide how hollow she felt victory turned out to be, and her attempts to atone for it end up being for naught.

Hero

• The last time (at least chronologically) that Mara and Razz meet. Razz is clearly distraught because she already knows what is going to happen, and tries to convince Mara not to sacrifice herself by insisting that they had to make a pie today. The only thing that Mara can do is tearfully smile and promise to bake a pie tomorrow.
• The huge dissonance between Mara and Light Hope's loving friendship at the start of the episode and the enmity between them after Light Hope has been reprogrammed by the First Ones to force Mara to activate the Heart of Etheria. When Mara says that she isn't her Light Hope anymore the AI states that she has the same framework just focused now on destroying the First Ones enemies.
• Never has putting a pie on a chair been so gut-wrenching... because it's clearly Razz acknowledging Mara's Heroic Sacrifice. Until that moment, Razz was the only one who knew how brave and wonderful "her" Mara had been.

Fractures

• The friendship between Adora, Glimmer and Bow hitting an all time low once they find out about the Heart of Etheria and end up divided over what they want to do with it, with Adora and Bow wanting to find Entrapta and destroy it, while Glimmer wants to use its power to defeat the Horde. Glimmer tries to appeal to Bow asking her to be on her side but he finally snaps at her that she is wrong. Glimmer then tells them that, as their queen, she will not give them permission to go after Entrapta. Adora and Bow finally decide to sneak out despite her orders and after finding out that they are gone Glimmer says that, if they don't trust her, she doesn't trust them.
• A brief one but, after seeing Shadow Weaver walking around free and clear, Scorpia notes that she suddenly gets why Catra has been acting so crazy lately. Adora has an uncomfortable look on her face at this and quickly dodges the subject.
• Catra's complete mental breakdown in this episode is a mix of this and Nightmare Fuel. While at this point her misery is 100% her own doing its hard not to feel bad for her after seeing her desperately trying to find Scorpia in security footage around the Horde's conquered territories, hearing her voice, and becoming a paranoid wreck who thinks that everyone is laughing at her behind her back. It shows that, despite what she may have said otherwise, she genuinely did consider Scorpia her friend and her loss has profoundly impacted her. Her last scene of the episode, wherein she rips of her headpiece and starts crying, bears an uncomfortable resemblance to Azula's mental breakdown in Avatar's final episode.

Beast Island

• Whether you love him or hate him, it is downright chilling to watch Swift Wind, normally a pillar of optimism and humor, slowly succumb to the island’s effect. His voice as the vines begin to encompass him is heartbreaking.
• When Adora lets slip that Glimmer is queen now, and Micah realizes that means Angella must be dead, he immediately loses all will to fight and succumbs to the signal.

Destiny, Part 1

• Tears well up in Hordak's eyes when Double Trouble reveals that Entrapta had not betrayed him after all — that her sudden disappearance was actually Catra's doing, having exiled Entrapta to Beast Island. It can be interpreted that he's both worried for Entrapta's safety (she could very well be dead for all he knows), and is also devastated that Catra, his most trusted compatriot (or so he thought), had told him such an earth-shattering lie — realizing that she had probably been manipulating him the entire time. This is worse because Catra and Hordak had finally seemed to have some level of respect for one another, with Hordak specifically correcting himself to acknowledge her role in the conquest of Etheria and Catra seeming to genuinely respond well to his trust.
  Hordak: I trusted you.
• Entrapta succumbing to the signal and falling into despair, convinced that friendship hasn't worked out for her and she might as well stay behind on Beast Island, and is content to let the place consume her (luckily for her our heroes don't give up on her like she had given up on herself).
• Glimmer desperately clinging to Scorpia when the latter gives her an impulsive hug. It really drives home that no matter how much of a Jerkass she's been this season, no matter how bad an idea her current plan is, she's still, at heart, scared, lonely, grief-stricken, and carrying much more weight than anyone should ever need to.
  Scorpia: Sorry. That was probably too much... [notices Glimmer is still embracing her] Oh, wow, still going.

Destiny, Part 2

• With Glimmer captured, Micah has been denied his long-awaited reunion with his daughter. Even more tragically, they miss Glimmer leaving by seconds.
• Double Trouble breaking the Awful Truth to Catra as they transform into Shadow Weaver, Hordak, Adora, and Scorpia: no one wants to stay with her because she pushes them away. When Catra asks them why they're doing this, Double Trouble smugly answers that it's for her own good. Catra is left slumped on the floor, so broken by the one-two punch of all her ambitions being thwarted and Double Trouble calling out her toxic behavior that when Glimmer threatens her with a staff, she won't even defend herself.
• Glimmer's realization about how badly she screwed up this season is pretty rough.
• When the Heart has been activated and it seems like everything is about to end, Scorpia drags herself outside, clearly in pain, over to Perfuma and Frosta. With the way everything was going, the three basically have no reason to believe they aren't about to die, so they spend what could very well be their last minutes hugging and holding each other for comfort. Similarly, Sea Hawk tenderly holds Mermista as the Heart of Etheria activates.
• Hordak finally meets Horde Prime again... and the former ends up "reconditioning" him, with Hordak's expression right before it happens being like that of a child who can't understand why his parent is hurting him. Horde Prime also shows no gratitude towards everything Hordak has done for him on Etheria. If anything, he's insulted at the thought of having an equal.
  • Essentially, all the pain Hordak brought upon others and himself was for nothing. If he's not been mind-wiped, he's lost his empire, reputation, and never got the chance to reconcile with Entrapta, who might have given up on their friendship. It truly is his Darkest Hour, as well as everyone else's.
  • Prime remarks "There was even a time you wished I would not come for you, is that so?" while touching the opening in Hordak's armor for Entrapta's crystal. In other words, the scene confirms that Hordak cared deeply for Entrapta, so much so that he considered staying on Etheria with her.
• Light Hope begins glitching out and remembering her original programming as Adora tries to stop the Heart of Etheria powering up, eventually turning into a case of Dying as Yourself.
  Adora: I won't be controlled. I am not a piece of their machine. I am not a weapon. And I am going to end. This. NOW!
  [Adora begins to push back against the activation of the Heart of Etheria.]
  Light Hope: [Growing alarmed] No. Stop!
  [Adora continues to struggle against the activation, crying in pain]
  Light Hope: Don't—[glitches, and her expression softens]—Do it. Do it. Don't— [Begins to flashback to memories of herself and Mara, and breaks free of her reprogramming, lowering her hand, letting Adora finish.]
  Light Hope: [Sadly] Do it.

Season 5

Horde Prime

• Adora has gone full on Leeroy Jenkins in this episode out of frustration and guilt about not being able to stop the invasion from happening.
• Adora's visions coming back full force (which is worsened by her physical exhaustion) at the end of the episode can make some viewers with epilepsy, chronic stress, or sensitivity to strobe lighting cringe.

Launch

• Adora admitting in the dream where she's talking to She-Ra that part of the reason she liked being She-Ra so much was that like the idea of having a destiny.
• After Entrapta accidentally endangers the mission to get close to one of Horde Prime's transmission towers, the other princesses reach their limit and furiously lay into her about not just ruining the mission, but also all the grief and terror her alliance with Hordak and making new weapons for him has caused them throughout the series. Entrapta, for the first time in the series, drops her fun-loving personality completely, somberly admitting that she's not really good with people, but she had thought, and hoped, that her affinity for technology would help her make friends. Seeing that's not the case, she runs off in tears.
  • If you look carefully, you can see Frosta tearing up during the rant, suggesting that, of all the princesses, she took Entrapta's initial "betrayal" the hardest. Which actually makes sense, since Entrapta's apparent death that sent her into the Horde's arms happened at her party.
    • Yet, none of the princesses even realized that, because of Catra's manipulation, Entrapta thought they abandoned her to the Horde.
  • Mermista runs after her, trying to pull her back because they have to leave, only for Entrapta to insist that she's getting the signal because the princesses need it to save Glimmer - it's a rare moment of Entrapta openly revealing how much she does care for the others, especially in contrast to an earlier conversation where the other princesses thought she had plain forgotten who Glimmer even is.
    Mermista: I said we have to leave! Can you listen for once in your life?
    Entrapta: I'm sorry I'm bad at listening! I'm sorry I mess everything up! But you need this signal, and I'm gonna get it for you.
    Mermista: You're still trying to get the signal?
    Entrapta: [with tears in her eyes] Of course. Glimmer needs us.
• A small but no less sad moment was Mermista admitting that she isn't Adora with tears in her eyes after she became overwhelmed by the responsibility of taking charge, asking "Why did I think I could be the leader?!" A clear indication that she may not be as over the loss of/failure on her part to save Salineas as she seemed at the end of 'Boys' Night Out'.

Corridors

• Hordak willingly submits to the purification ritual, either because his resurfacing memories are too painful to endure, or because he is so brainwashed that he sees them as impurities to be cleansed. The look he gives Catra before wading into the baptismal pool is one of sorrow and regret.
• The look of realization on Catra's face as she remembers a young Adora promising to always be her friend. Unlike in "Promise", where relieving her childhood had embittered her, now she clearly realizes she has pushed the person that always saw good in her away, hurt her irreparably, and, and gained absolutely nothing from it.
• Catra being mobbed by Horde Prime's clones, but outright begging Adora not to come anywhere near Prime as she sends Glimmer back; she even actually apologizes for everything she put Adora through. This shocks Adora, who attempts to re-establish contact to no avail.
  Catra: Adora... I'm sorry! For everything!
  • Shortly before that, when Glimmer asks Catra why she isn't trying to save herself, Catra simply replies that there's no one in the universe that cares about her anymore since all she does is hurt people. All her life, Catra was under the false impression that love was a finite commodity due to the massive differences between Adora's and Catra's upbringings under Shadow Weaver. Because of those differences, Catra believed she had already given Adora all the love she could give and felt betrayed when Adora stopped doing the same; Adora had decided to give all her love to complete strangers, instead of continuing to give it to her lifelong friend. Nonetheless, Catra still loved Adora, which caused her to push away everyone else who cared about her. Double Trouble’s breaking speech to her in Destiny Part 2, and her conversations with Glimmer help her realize how flawed her perception of reality has been. To Catra though, her revelation is too little too late, and that no one will or should forgive her for what she has done. All she wants now is for Adora to be safe. Her response to Glimmer doesn't sound bitter, nor angry or desperate. It's stated calmly, if sadly, making it clear that she has made up her mind and doesn't care about her own well-being anymore.
  • Even Glimmer, who lost her mother to Catra's Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum, is horrified to see Catra's desperation just before she's teleported into space.

Stranded

• Glimmer has a minor breakdown when she realizes that Horde Prime will likely ravage Etheria like he did the planet they landed on, and it'll be her fault. Especially since Bow tells her that she is right to think that way.
• After hearing Glimmer tell her Catra did this to save her and that she wanted to do one good thing in her life, Adora briefly looks away, upset, as she is still hurt by Catra's betrayal in Season 3 and refuses to believe it.
• Bow is still very embittered over how Glimmer treated him and Adora back in Season 4.
• The Star Siblings lost their home planet, and presumably their parents (and body parts for Tallstar and Jewelstar) to Horde Prime, and until Adora inspires them, they're determined to just survive as best they can by getting as far away from Prime as possible.
• Adora tries to say that she wants to go to Horde Prime's ship to save Catra. When Glimmer says this more plainly, Adora seems to only just keep herself from crying.

Save The Cat

• Whilst Catra is under the total control of Horde Prime, how much of Catra's "broken heart" speech was genuine?
  Catra: "My place is with Horde Prime, Adora. I don't want to leave.[...] Prime has given me peace, [Adora], something you could never do. You broke my heart, but he has made it whole again. Don't you see? This is for the best. I'm happy here. You could be happy too."
  • How A.J. delivers Catra's speech makes it all the more heartwrenching... Doubles as Fridge Horror, in retrospect, due to Horde Prime using Catra's mind as a crucible for hurting Adora, one of a very few people in her life that Catra truly loved.
  • On the split side, try to imagine how Adora must have felt when Prime goads that Catra was so afraid and suffered so much during the reconditioning process that at one point she hoped Adora would come rescue her. Or that she may become his new vessel, at the cost of her body not lasting very long. It's enough to make Adora lose it.
• You can clearly see Adora becoming more and more horrified as her fight with brainwashed Catra drags out, and throughout it she tries to hit Catra as little as possible.
• After the mind-control chip is damaged, Catra asks Adora why she came back to save her since “she doesn’t matter” as she puts it. She never expected to be saved, let alone to deserve it, especially after everything she did.
• The way Catra brokenly whispers Adora's name after the latter promises she will get Catra home, no matter what, in an echo to their vow to always take care of each other. Just as their hands are about to reach, Prime gets Catra back under his control.
• Horde Prime forcing Catra to step off his throne platform and critically wound herself, purely to mess with Adora. If not for She-Ra healing her, she could very well have died from her injuries^note The fandom is actually split on whether or not Catra died after her fall, since after Adora transforms, the swell of music cover what many interpreted being Catra's last breath. The fact that, before Adora manages to heal her on Darla, she doesn't move and, later, coughs like her lungs suddenly started working again may back this theory up. Even before that, when he first goads Adora into stepping closer by making Catra almost fall back into the void, the sheer panic on Adora's face is gut-wrenching to watch.
  • A Twitter user handily divided the scene in frames.
• The way Adora cradles Catra's body to her chest after they fall from the platform. She sounds like a little kid, telling Catra that she's there and she'll be okay.
• It's played for laughs, but Wrong Hordak's situation is heartbreaking upon inspection. He's in profound emotional distress after finding himself disconnected from the hive mind and unable to sense Horde Prime. He cries hysterically in the midst of his existential crisis. His plight is similar to someone having a "dark night of the soul", unable to feel the presence of their god and overwhelmed with existential doubts.
  Wrong Hordak: I cannot connect to the hive mind. I am alone? I am alone!... Horde Prime, how will he see my thoughts? How will he know that I am faithful?
• Hordak's Wham Line after he finds the LUVD crystal that Entrapta dropped in the chaos. Even after two mind wipes, he remembers her.
  Hordak: "Entrapta?"

Perils of Peekablue

• Netossa forgot her and Spinnerella's anniversary due to everything going on, and finds out that she's been chipped when she tries to think of a way to apologize to her. Plus her sad statement of ‘Happy Anniversary...” afterwards.
• Sea Hawk's reaction to seeing that Mermista's been chipped is especially sad. He sounds like he's about to cry.
• Scorpia pulls a Heroic Sacrifice to let Sea Hawk, Perfuma, and Double Trouble run away. Perfuma desperately tries to pull her to safety but Scorpia willingly stays back and uses her powers to make the underwater club collapse on itself.
• Perfuma brokenly telling Adora that the Rebellion has fallen.

Shot In The Dark

• Catra is still clearly dealing with leftover trauma from when Prime chipped her. When she's arguing with Adora about how to get past the blockade, when she says that Adora's plan will get them caught, she suddenly trails off as she's about to say what Prime will do to them and her hands start shaking, which Adora notices. Later, when the team comes across a ruined Spire on Krytis, the sight of it causes Catra to instinctively feel her neck, as if checking to make sure the chip was still gone.
• Wrong Hordak has an existential crisis upon encountering hard proof that Horde Prime is not the perfect being that he claims to be. Luckily, Entrapta helps him through it, and he becomes determined to help take Prime down.
• Melog's entire species was wiped out by Horde Prime. He spent the next centuries alone on a decaying planet.
• A small one, but seeing Micah, Mermista, Scorpia and Spinnerella among the clones with the green Glowing Eyes of Doom is quite sad, especially because they're all gone from the final shot before the episode proper starts as well.

An Ill Wind

• The state of Etheria when Adora and co finally return is as bleak as it is horrifying. Almost all of the Rebellion has been chipped with the sole exceptions of Perfuma, Frosta, Netossa, Sea Hawk, Castapella, and Shadow Weaver, leaving virtually no one left to oppose Horde Prime has he effectively takes over the entire planet. Those citizens who aren't chipped outright are shown to live in abject terror as the clones and chipped princesses lord their authority over them, having them under constant surveillance and ruthlessly punishing them if they step out of line even slightly.
• The look on Adora's, Bow's, Catra's, and Glimmer's faces when Netossa tells how Mermista, Scorpia, and King Michah have been chipped. Especially Glimmer whose look just says: "That's not fair! I just found out he's alive, and now he's Prime's slave too?!"
• Netossa is so torn up about what happened to her wife that even while the rest of the remaining rebels are in hiding, she can't stop tracking her and trying to free her.
• Netossa manages to reach Spinnerella for a moment, but the chip's control gets furthered and she flees before she can be captured.

Return to the Fright Zone

• At the beginning of the episode, Netossa is boasting about her knowledge of the weaknesses of the princesses, Bow, and Catra. What's her weakness, which she reveals when fighting her mind-controlled wife? Spinnerella.
• Netossa's rubbing her knowledge of the weaknesses of the other members of her group in their faces, especially with Glimmer.
• Perfuma reminding Catra that she was a terrible friend to Scorpia, and will not likely forgive Catra if they see each other again.
• At the end of Netossa and Chipped!Spinerella's fight, Spinerella tells her to just give up and join her in submitting to Horde Prime. The way she says it, as well as her facial expressions, make it seem like she's begging her wife to give up so she doesn't have to hurt her anymore.

Failsafe

• Good news? Entrapta was able to free Spinerella. Bad news? Removing her chip was more difficult than removing Catra's because it was almost fused to her nervous system, which means anyone else who is chipped doesn't have much time.
• Hordak and Entrapta meet at night near a Galactic Horde spire. Entrapta is touched that Hordak still remembers her and still has the LUVD crystal. Hordak, who is struggling to remember his past after two mind wipes, is bewildered by his persistent love for her and asks her, "What have you done to me?" He ultimately lets her go rather than bring her in as a prisoner, hoping that if she leaves, he'll be able to forget about her.
• Adora sounds so... defeated before going to accept the Failsafe. She's sad but composed as she explains to Catra that she'll be the one to carry it, if it means nobody else will get hurt. It's like she's telling herself "you were an idiot for thinking you could have something good in your life for once."
• Catra ultimately deciding to leave Adora when the latter still insists on sacrificing herself for the greater good. She lays an Armour-Piercing Question to Adora, asking her what is it that she wants, and Adora can't find an answer.
  • Their final exchange is just heart wrenching with Catra bitterly noting that Adora will always choose the option that will cause her to leave and, when Adora begs her to stay and tells her she needs her, Catra just sadly states she's never needed her before.
  Adora: I have to do this Catra, I'm the only one who can.
  Catra: Then do it! That's what you want. That's what you'll always choose. I don't have to stay and watch it happen.
  Adora: Catra, please stay. I need you.
  Catra: No, you don't. You never have. [Catra and Melog turn invisible and disappear]
  Adora: CATRA!
  • Adora goes back to camp clutching Catra's backpack to her chest, looking completely numb to her surroundings.
• Immediately after this, Shadow Weaver attempts to comfort Adora, only for her to finally tear into her about everything she did to her, Catra and Micah and making it clear that, once the magic of Etheria is unleashed, she will not allow Shadow Weaver access to any of it. Shadow Weaver's shocked expressions make it clear: She has finally grasped just what her obsession with power has cost her.

Heart Part 1

• Melog trying to stop Catra from running away. He's psychically linked to her and tries his best to make her realize that she shouldn't be leaving Adora. This prompts Catra to finally admit her feelings out loud.
  Catra: You saw what happened! Adora chose Shadow Weaver okay?! Not me! Adora doesn't want me! Not like I want her...
• When Catra rushes back to the base to try to warn Adora of what Horde Prime is doing, she only finds Shadow Weaver holding a cup in a way that implies that she was Drowning Her Sorrows over Adora planning to make a Heroic Sacrifice to save everyone.
• The temple of the First Ones showing Adora flashes of her memories of Catra, from different moments of their lives, demonstrating that even when they were worlds apart and divided by war, Adora never once stopped loving her.
  • Later, she comes to the conclusion that her worldly attachments are stopping her from being able to maintain her transformation, as her conflicting desires are clouding her emotions. She tearfully thanks Glimmer and Bow for being the best friends she could've ever asked for and leaves them behind.
• When Adora has her vision of Mara, she resolves to finish her mission and avenge her memory. Mara simply says she never wanted to die and hoped her sacrifice would prevent Adora from having to do the same. She then asks Adora to stop thinking what's expecting of her and what she really wants.

Heart Part 2

• Catra coming to Adora's rescue and gently spurring her to get to the Heart with the help of Shadow Weaver. Adora, dazed from her injuries, can only brokenly try to turn around and help.
• Shadow Weaver finally, finally performing a selfless act for Adora and Catra by facing the guardian monster with the last of her magic power. She tells Catra that she is proud of her, removes her mask, and gently smiles at her before her demise.
  • The music playing over this scene? It's the same music that played in "Beast Island", when Adora remembered Angella's own Heroic Sacrifice. It comes with a bit of Fridge Sadness: After witnessing Angella sacrifice herself, Adora refuses to trade other people's lives to save the universe. Catra herself has spent enough time with Adora to adopt this sentiment, that she could never wish something horrible even on someone who's hurt her badly.
  • Despite her own horrific trauma from Shadow Weaver's abuse, Catra actually tries to dissuade Shadow Weaver from sacrificing herself, and can do nothing but tearfully watch when she's disintegrated, while Adora bursts into tears. The hurt is still there, yes, but Shadow Weaver was still, for all intents and purposes, the closest person to a "mom" they'd known their whole lives.
  • During Shadow Weaver's final speech, she believes she can never have a future or any peace with her foster daughters after all the horrible things she's done to them, and it's too late for her to make amends. The tone of her voice and her first (and only) visible facial expression indicate Shadow Weaver is just... tired and ready to go but at the same time a sign of relief that she found peace.
  • While Shadow Weaver showing her face gives Adora and Catra the one chance to know the woman who raised them, to see her disfigured face is rather depressing; it's a visual reminder of what a lifetime of evil can do to a person. Catra herself is still rather doubtful she can be a better person, but after that Catra can be damned sure she won't make the same mistakes Shadow Weaver did.
• Horde Prime's virus blocks Adora from transforming into She-Ra, but she decides to complete the mission fully knowing that activating the failsafe will destroy her. She asks Catra to leave and save herself, cupping her jaw like the simulation of Catra the temple made her see. Adora clearly thinks this is the last time she'll be able to touch the girl she loves, but when she slowly peels herself away, Catra grabs her hands and refuses to leave. The way Adora whimpers Catra's name, clearly begging her not to make this more difficult, in heartbreaking.
• Catra finally admitting to Adora that she loves her as the latter lays dying, begging her to stay this time.
  • The way Catra phrases it is also quite heartbreaking. She literally asks Adora to stay "just this once". Catra didn't expect Adora to love her back. She didn't even expect Adora to stick around if she actually managed to survive the failsafe, and likely resigned herself to live with her love perpetually unrequited. This not only show that Catra matured enough not to only respect Adora's priorities, but she resigned herself to being always the second choice.
• Horde Prime ordering Hordak to kill Entrapta. This was Hordak's ultimate identity crisis, his one chance to define who he really is; continue to serve Horde Prime loyally, or to forsake his loyalty to a brother who doesn't care about anyone but himself for someone who cares about him. Hordak's love for Entrapta exceeds his fealty to Prime, and he attacks Prime instead.
  • After Season 5 aired, storyboard artist Emily Wu released a video of the original storyboard for the scene, which was later shortened. In the original scene, Hordak felt anguish after killing Horde Prime but was comforted by Entrapta, who touched his face with her hair and assured him that he was free now. Prime's possession of Hordak was much more painful and included Prime mocking Hordak as the most "Unloved" of all his clones.
• After She-Ra exorcises Horde Prime's consciousness from Hordak's body, he briefly has a flashback to the moment he found baby Adora. Hordak is tenderly holding the infant with a surprised but gentle expression on his face — a reminder that despite everything he's actually the closest person to a father that Adora ever had. Hordak then awakens to the smiling face of She-Ra... no traces of malice or spite or hatred for him that he'd probably deserve... her expression instead full of glowing warmth as if to say, "You're free now, and I'm glad you're OK."
  Hordak: I remember you.
• A tearjerker of the happy variety: after nearly four seasons of torment, Catra finally gets what she wants — Adora by her side, safe and sound. Similarly, Adora stops thinking of herself as a disposable being destined only for a greater purpose and simply lets herself be, listening to what she really wants and being with the girl she's had feelings for the longest time.

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