Hello Hero Club, this is Darkon633 and I am back with another episode review on She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. We last left off at the end of the series premiere, which revealed the setting of the series. In my opinion I thought it was a decent start, however will the quality continue to increase, or will it fall into the abyss? Today, we will be looking at the third episode of the series simply titled, “Razz.” Longtime fans of the original series should recognize the name as one of the main characters featured on the show. The original Madame Razz was depicted as someone who could use magic, although at many times she would fumble causing more issues instead of solving them. Will the new version of the character match up to the original’s charm? To find out read through the review.
[Warning: The following review contains several spoilers]
Synopsis:
The episode starts with Adora, Bow, and Glimmer making their way back to Castle Brightmoon. Glimmer tells Bow to help Adora enter the castle through a different entrance in order to not alarm anyone especially Queen Angela. Bow and Adora make their way into Glimmer’s room and Bow tells her to change her outfit. Glimmer approaches the front of the castle where she is met by her mother, Queen Angela. Queen Angella yells at her for making her worry, although her anger gets quenched when she sees her exhausted daughter about the fall to the ground. Queen Angella picks her up and takes her to the rejuvenation chamber. Inside the chamber, Glimmer soon awakens and informs her mother what she has been up to. After the short conversation Glimmer leaves the room in excitement, thinking of a way to help show her mother Adora.
Back in Glimmer’s room, Adora and Bow decide how she will meet Queen Angella, and the people of Brightmoon. Glimmer soon teleports into the room to tell them that Adora should turn into She-Ra in order to impress her mom. However, Adora explains that she does not really understand how it happened the first time, so they leave her alone in order to figure out what to do. Adora also leaves the room and notices the horse that she met during the party earlier outside (see season premiere). Adores decides to go out to try transforming into She-Ra, but as she tries to use the sword, a blast ricochets off trees and rocks leading to it to accidentally hitting the horse. The blast soon causes the horse to transform into a Pegasus. Understandably frightened, the horse runs through the meadow and finds its’ way into a camp. Adora chases the horse into the camp causing the drapes to fly off her shirt. The citizens soon see that Adora is a “Horde Soldier” and they chase her out.
Back at Castle Brightmoon, Glimmer and Bow lead her towards Glimmer’s bedroom. Bow runs ahead only to discover that Adora is missing and tries to tell Glimmer. However, before Bow can fully explain what happened a castle guard appears to tell them that a “Horde Soldier” is on the castle’s grounds. In the Fright Zone, one of the cadets talk about the failed attempt to save Adora. Whereas, Catra starts to fight one of them, but stops when she realizes she is outnumbered. One of the cadets tell Catra that she is weak without Adora, causing her to leave. Meanwhile in the Whispering Woods, Adora runs through the forest trying to hide from the people chasing her. Adora soon overhears a weird noise and investigates its origin. Adora finds a small hut with an old woman with a broom in hand whose believes Adora to be her old friend Mara and invites her into the hut.
Puzzled, Adora decides to follow her and she discovers that she “promised” her to pick berries. Adora explains to her that she must be confusing her with someone else and upon further inspection the old woman agrees. The old woman tells Adora that her name is Madame Razz and tells her “Mara” also had the same sword. Adora follows her through the forest and tries to get answers seeing as she must know something about the sword. Madame Razz explains to her that “Mara” always had the sword with her. Eventually, Adora and Madame Razz make their way to a giant structure. Adora asks if this structure is also a “First One’s” ruin, although Madame Razz ignores her and tells her to continue to pick berries. Madame Razz heads up the structure and the building lights up causing her to fall. Adora manages to save her and they turn around to see stars in the skies. Adora tells Madame Razz that this setting looks quite familiar to her and thinks back through her memories. In addition, Adora asks Madame Razz if she knew anything about the sword, although she continues to change the subject by dragging her to pick up more berries.
Back in the Fright Zone, Catra decides to take a nap, but instead destroys her bed in anger from the prior events. Shadow Weaver appears and insults her for her previous failures to capture Adora, while Catra tries to make up excuses. It does not seem to help quench Shadow Weaver’s anger, as Catra continues to say it is probably for the best Adora defected and demands more respect. Shadow Weaver finally decides she had enough of Catra’s folly and takes her to Hordak. Whereas, in the Whispering Woods, Adora continues to follow Madame Razz and continues to ask her if she knows what she should do next. However, they find their way to a clearing with destroyed Horde machines to which Madame Razz explains that the Princesses no longer work together thus leading to more destruction. It leads to Madame Razz explaining that Adora must find out what to do herself.
Adora soon hears that the horse from earlier, and discovers it is being trapped by Horde Soldiers. Upon witnessing this Adora uses the power of the sword to become She-Ra, to save the horse. The Horde Soldiers quickly attempt to retaliate, but they are pushed back with Grizzlor being left behind. Grizzlor tries to maintain control of the battle by gunning She-Ra down. However, Madame Razz comes to her aid by using the berries to create a beam of light allowing them to escape. Shortly afterwards, Adora wakes up to Madame Razz explaining that the horse wishes to be called “Swift Wind.” Madame Razz also asks Adora what she think she should do next, with Adora’s answer being to convince the other Princesses to help fight the Horde. Adora then takes her leave with Swift Wind to return to the castle.
At Castle Brightmoon, Queen Angella is furious that Glimmer did not explain earlier that she helped a “Horde Soldier” make her way to the castle. The conversation gets cut short though as She-Ra appears and explains that she has come to help the Rebellion. She then transforms back into Adora revealing to the Queen her identity, while continuing to convince the queen she will help. Yet, Queen Angella exclaims that she knew She-Ra would return one day, and immediately agrees to Adora’s request. Whereas, in the Fright Zone, Shadow Weaver takes Catra to Hordak and explains that she has failed her mission, but surprisingly Hordak promotes Catra to Force Captain.
My Thoughts:
I personally think this is a pretty decent episode, and it does an okay job to help with establishing the premise of the upcoming episodes. This episode does some world building along with feature some decent character development. Madame Razz is pretty much what I expected her to be albeit she is a bit more scatterbrained than I thought. Now, I cannot say the original was the smartest character around, so I think that the way they depict her in this new show is fine. The Horde did not have much of a presence in the episode overall, which I think is a bit strange although it was nice to finally see Hordak in the show.
While not spoiling anything specific about the scene itself, I found the interaction between the horse and Adora as outright hilarious; it led to some pretty good comedic moments. The interaction between Queen Angella and Glimmer is much stronger in this episode. I am liking the new take on both seeing as they are a lot more realistic to teenager/ parent relationships today. Outside of that there is not much else to say about the episode itself, however I thought that the episode did do a good job to foreshadow some important events that will happen within the next couple of episodes or so.
