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She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Season 4 Review

The fourth season of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is where the show really becomes dark and more mature while it continues to build on its villains in a great way.

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“If that doesn’t say friendship,

I don’t know what does“

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I liked this season for actually delving more into the darkness, the psychology of the characters and the problematic, tumultuous relationships between them. It also finally makes full use of its overarching storyline and it’s great seeing the show become this confident in its action scenes and amazing villains.

Still, it could get very forgettable in those subplots and episodes that focused on less interesting supporting players, but thankfully the childish humor and the very kid-centric approach at characterization was mostly abandoned this time around, though it was present in certain stretches.

I’d really come to appreciate Adora. She is a very interesting, well developed protagonist and the friendships that she has with others are the show’s heart and soul. As She-Ra, she continues to be badass and powerful while the whole exploration of the differences between the two and what brings her to the fore was very well explored.

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I like Catra quite a bit, though she does get over-the-top at times, but overall she’s grown into a formidable villain herself, which was unexpected for me. That final fight between her and Hordak was truly something special and this season’s best executed action scene. Speaking of Hordak, I was personally disappointed that he was played out like that. He was never given an opportunity to be a truly badass villain as he was given too much foreshadowing and promising without ever truly getting to shine in action himself.

Still, the building up of his brother Horde Prime worked for me as the show will undoubtedly deliver in the final season with this character who has a lot of promise to be a formidable, mighty villain. Again, the build-up continues to be terrific and the show treats its villains as hierarchy, which was interesting.

Shadow Weaver was great. She has become a complex, very well developed character and the moral ambiguity to her is fascinating. I did like Entrapta getting a bigger role this time around, but still the treatment of this character as both silly and fully fleshed out as well as important still seems messy to me. As for Scorpia, I had come to truly care for her. She’s clearly tortured by Catra’s rejection and she’s such a likable, endearing character that it’s very easy to root for her to find happiness, and it was only realistic that she would side with the good guys now.

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Others such as Sea Hawk continue to be only comic reliefs, but I do find Swift Wind hilarious in his bitchy attitude and snarky lines of dialogue. It’s a shame that his role is never particularly big. Bow is once again stoic and inspirational, but Glimmer really struggled after her mother’s passing and her friendship with Adora was put to the test in great capacity in this season. As for Double Trouble, she is a very entertaining, highly memorable spy who raised the stakes significantly.