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She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Seasons 2 and 3 Review

The second and third season of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power only have seven and six episodes respectively, so I am going to review them both together.

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“You will not distract me with puns now“

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These two seasons really should have been counted as one as they were both released in the same year. If watched separately, clearly the former one is inferior to the latter as the storytelling was only picking up steam there and the show was still rather childish in approach, but the third season finally changed all of that, and what we’ve got here is a show that’s become more mature with the significantly raised stakes being obvious.

Adora is still growing into a stronger person who isn’t defined by her superhero alter-ego. Although she can still be too trustworthy and naïve, I continue to find her tumultuous friendship with Catra the heart of the show for sure. It is difficult watching those flashbacks and then realizing that their relationship is strained now.

Speaking of Catra, she is really becoming a full-on villain herself, and I am personally happy for that development. This ambition suits her character and she is at her best when kicking some ass and fighting Adora. The two together continue to be the most complicated and interesting part of this show.

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Bow and Glimmer are somewhat pushed aside this time around, but both still got their moments to shine. Meeting Bow’s gay parents was interesting and the show clearly is meant for adults and probably a bit too subtle for kids to pick up in its treatment of sexuality, but the backstory mostly worked and Bow has really become an interesting, likable character on his own. Glimmer is the most fun of the bunch once again, but her relationship with her mother was very moving here.

Everything that they did with Shadow Weaver was very interesting to me. Once a powerful villain, here she is relegated to an outcast and her entire backstory is the best flashback so far while her relationship with Adora and Catra is excellent. I really like this character and I expect more from her. Mermista is fine, Entrapta is still too silly to be a henchman, but it’s still fun seeing her contrasted with Hordak.

Speaking of Hordak, he is very menacing and cool, and I can’t wait to see him finally in a more proactive role in the future. The fact that we still haven’t seen him in action is troubling to me. As for Scorpia, she continues to be overly obsessed with Catra. The LGBT angle to this show is a bit excessive and needless as kids really wouldn’t understand it, but again the show is interesting in its lesbian characters with Scorpia definitely pursuing Catra way too much, but she’s still so endearing and goofy that I root for her each time.

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She-Ra continues to be only okay in animation. Nothing here is particularly polished nor artistic, but just serviceable. The music is much better and the transformation sequence is still a scene-stealer. The tone is all over the place and I find the humor problematic. It is very childlike, which is fine, but when the show tries to be both very serious and very childish, it doesn’t quite work. The whole episode where they discussed their plan like a game was too silly.