Hello Hero Club, this is Darkon633 and hopefully everyone had a great holiday! Now, with the festivities being over, I can finally return to the normal schedule of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power reviews. As for the episode, I will be focusing on today, it will feature Castaspella, another returning favorite from the original series. What is interesting to note, is that unlike the original series, she is now Glimmer’s actual relative. So, with introductions out of the way, we will now begin our look at the seventh episode of the first season.
[Warning: The following review contains several spoilers]
Synopsis:
The episode begins with Adora, Glimmer, and Bow sleeping in the forest. However, they soon wake up and Adora tells the others she has noticed something strange, although the others believe her to be overwhelmed from the past events. Glimmer then decides that the group should take a short vacation, specifically to the Kingdom of Mystacor. Now, as our heroes exit the forest a mysterious shadow appears to follow them. Yet, during the trip to Mystacor, Adora seemingly notices this shadow, but the others pass it off as nothing.
Finally arriving in Mystacor, they quickly meet Glimmer’s aunt, Castaspella who asks the reason for their visit. Glimmer explains that they have come to recruit her to join the other princesses in the Rebellion. Following the explanation, Castaspella invites the group into Mystacor, as well as treats them to dinner and a tour of the kingdom. On the tour, Castaspella shows our heroes a room full of “Lunar Lenses, that maintain the kingdom’s ability to protect itself, as well as how they must be replenished on a monthly basis. Ironically, that time is drawing near in the form of the Eclipse Ceremony, which is upon the kingdom. Since the event is near, Castaspella also invites Adora to event, although Glimmer is uncomfortable with the idea.
It is at time that Adora notices the shadow again and decides to pursue it. Bow notices Adora abruptly leaving so he informs the others to follow her. Their chase leads them to the “Hall of Sorcerers,” where Castaspella begins to explain that the hall depicts the Great Ones who once helped the kingdoms. In addition, Castaspella show our heroes a statue honoring her belated brother, Micah. However, Adora comes across a strange statue dedicated to Light Spinner, a former sorceress who was cast out due to her quest for power. Now, while the others begin to depart from the hall, Adora notices the shadow again. However, it vanishes as soon as Adora is approached by the others. Noticing Adora’s uneasiness, Bow and Glimmer try to cheer her up by visiting the beach.
At the beach, our heroes decide to take a nap, but Adora is unable to relax. Glimmer then comes up with an alternative in a visit to the Steam Grotto. There Adora manages to find some relaxation time, however it is short lived when she begins to hear Shadow Weaver’s voice calling to her. Adora is startled by this, but finally realizes the shadow following her is Shadow Weaver. However, when Adora tries to explain everything to the others they deny her claims, so Adora tells them leave her alone then. Adora proceeds to return to the Hall of Sorcerers to look upon the statue of Light Spinner again, only to be attacked by Shadow Weaver’s shadows. Adora transforms into She-Ra to defend herself, but begins to hear another voice, Catra’s.
Continuing to defend herself from the shadows, She-Ra tries to locate from Catra’s voice came from. She-Ra locates the source to be the room holding the Lunar Lenses but once she arrives, she hears Hordak’s voice instead. In a moment of frustration, She-Ra loses focus when trying to defend herself and accidentally destroys crystals located in the room. Castaspella soon appears and outraged by the event, as She-Ra attempts to explain her actions. Luckily, Castaspella notices the Lunar Lenses were not damaged. However, the crystals that were destroyed held the source of secret writings, and history of the kingdom. Nevertheless, Bow tries to calm the situation by telling Adora the Horde is not in Mystacor, and that she should go get some rest.
Later in Adora’s guest room, Glimmer comes to confront her over the events that transpired today. Glimmer expresses to Adora that a true friend would not cause the level of damage that she has done. In addition, Glimmers insists that Adora should leave immediately, which Adora complies. Whereas, Castaspella begins the Eclipse Ceremony, but is interrupted by Shadow Weaver’s shadows which encase the entire room. With the shadows covering the room, the barrier protecting the kingdom begins to slowly shut down. Yet, as Adora begins to leave Mystacor she notices the barrier shutting down and tries to head back but is stopped by Bow. However, Adora comes to the realization that the Bow she is conversing with is an illusion sent by Shadow Weaver to stop her.
Adora then rushes back to the kingdom, only to find the others unconscious and Shadow Weaver standing over them. Shadow Weaver has come to convince Adora to return to the Fright Zone, as well as reveals she was the sorceress formerly known as Light Spinner. However, Adora unconvinced to rejoin the Horde decides to fight Shadow Weaver. In the struggle the Sword of Power transforms into a shield which emits light capable of stunning Shadow Weaver. In addition, the power of this shield allows Adora/ She-Ra to reactive the Lunar Lenses. The power from the lenses causes Shadow Weaver’s power to return to her, but also knocks her back into the Fright Zone. Shortly afterwards, the others regain their composure, and apologize for not believing in Adora sooner. Whereas in the Fright Zone, Catra finds Shadow Weaver unconscious and comes to the realization to bring Adora back, she must go through Adora’s friends…
My Thoughts:
This is another interesting episode as it helps to explain a little bit more about Shadow Weaver. While I do enjoy what she has done so far in the series the backstory behind Shadow Weaver featured in the episode does help flesh out her character more. This episode does not do too much for the actual story progression of the series, although it is nice to see another familiar face being introduced.
This version of Castaspella is interesting enough although I personally feel there is not much to say about her as a character. It is nice to see that she is related to other important characters within the series, however, she seems a bit bland overall. Castaspella is depicted as a nice aunt to Glimmer and does seem to work hard to keep her kingdom safe. Outside of that Castaspella does not seem to feature many other traits, which is a shame since the original character is viewed as a fan favorite. In this case, I personally think the original Castaspella was more fleshed out in the original series since she was a lot more involved back then.
Overall while I cannot say this episode is uneventful since it does address Shadow Weaver’s backstory, it still feels like a weak episode. It would have been nice to see more backstory involving Castaspella’s past rather than just being told it. However, it is possible that it is a story that will be addressed within the next season or beyond.
