Rewatch Discussion Post: Flowers for She-Ra

[mod_wolf]

 Hey folks!



This is the post to discuss episode 4, Flowers for She-Ra. As always, spoilers for the whole season are fair game.

Comments

[jaggedwolf]

Most of this episode is focused on the defense of Plumeria, but on rewatch I'm grabbed by the first few minutes. Adora immediately latches on to not disappointing Angella after a simple warning, and also continues to be terrible at reading a room (couldn't figure out the giant tall chair might be special), probably because she's used to a far more explicit hierarchy. Glimmer and Bow are immediately disappointed when Adora decides to show up as She-Ra, which is interesting to me too.

[froggimus_rex]

I think Adora's reaction to Angella's warning makes a lot of sense when you consider that's it's an incredibly milder echo of Shadow Weaver's threat against Catra in Promise, i.e. you're only here because the kid I like likes you, don't fuck things up for them, or else.

And Angella's definitely not Shadow Weaver, but in that moment she's probably close enough for all Adora's conditioning that if she doesn't sufficiently please her abuser then Bad Things will happen to kick in.

[jaggedwolf]

oof, yes, I was also thinking that since we got another Shadow Weaver & Catra scene this episode, that now Adora gets to feel what it's like being the kid only tolerated because the "good kid" likes them. Old conditioning kicking in makes perfect sense, especially since she got to see how Catra was treated for all those years.

(Of course, as you say, Angella isn't Shadow Weaver, and I imagine Glimmer would have had something to say if she found out about that particular conversation.)

[froggimus_rex]

Not only is Adora the 'bad kid' in this situation, but whereas she knows the way Shadow Weaver treats Catra is unfair, she can construct a narrative where it's perfectly reasonable for Angella not to like her, and her appease and deflect tactics don't work so great when she's the one who needs anger deflected from. It's not really a shock that she hits on the "I will be She-Ra the entire mission and everything will be great because everyone thinks She-Ra is great, unlike Adora, who is useless" idea.

(Oh yeah, Glimmer would not be happy, and I suspect if pressed, Angella would probably admit she was maybe being kind of a dick, and that she wouldn't have said it at all if she was aware of that aspect of Shadow Weaver's abuse of the girls.)