5 Reasons She-Ra Deserves to Be Your Next Binge Watch

To that end, one of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power’s greatest strengths is …

2. The friendships! (And …that friendship.)

It’s not surprising with Stevenson at the helm, but the inherent power of deep friendship is one of this series’ central themes. Of the representations of the positive side of that power, the friendship between Glimmer, Bow and Adora (dubbed the “Best Friend Squad” by Bow) is the most important. Aside from a few episodes in which the writers investigate the natural insecurities spurred by the arrival of new members to any friend group (“Princess Prom” being a standout example), the value of this core trio isn’t found in the exclusion of others. When other princesses join Glimmer, Bow and Adora’s fight, their skills and personalities are folded in as strengths. This inclusive approach extends, even, to non-princesses, welcoming in Adora’s talking rainbow unicorn pegasus, Swift Wind (Adam Ray), as well as Mermista’s (Vella Lovell) erstwhile pyromaniac pirate boyfriend, Sea Hawk (Jordan Fisher).

Interestingly, this positive dynamic is reflected on the opposite side of the Horde v. Princess battle, Force Captain Scorpia (Lauren Ash)’s self-styled “Super Pal Trio” bringing an unwilling Catra (and a spoiler third member) together in a kind of inside-the-Horde survival squad. But as fascinating a negative film take on Bow’s Best Friend Squad as Scorpia’s Super Pal Trio is, neither of those (mostly) supportive friendships drive the narrative as much as does the poisoned dart that is the fractured lifelong bond between Catra and Adora, the former who sees Adora’s abandonment of the Horde as a personal betrayal, the latter who can’t let go of the belief that if she just says the right thing, she’ll be able to convince Catra to turn away from cynical ambition and join the side of good.

This is meaty stuff, for sure, but again, anyone who has even a passing familiarity with this show will know, that toxic knot of betrayal and mismatched ideals isn’t all there is to the tension between Catra and Adora. For that, we need to turn to…

3. The gay (and more) agenda*.

While the temptation is high to just drop this chillingly good compilation of all the times Catra has purred Hey, Adora and move on, that’s probably cheating. Because while it is true that the queer dynamic between Catra and Adora is far too nuanced to do justice in a single, short blurb, theirs isn’t the only queer relationship represented in the show, and nor is queer where the show stops in terms of deliberate and prolific diversity.

On the queer side, see: Bow’s academic dads, George and Lance (Chris Jai Alex and Regi Davis). Drop-in adult partners Netossa and Spinnerella (Krystal Joy Brown and Noelle Stevenson). Scorpia’s obvious unrequited crush on Catra. In terms of everything else, see, literally, everything else. Following the model of the original, Adora is canonically white, but for the most part, everyone else in both the Rebellion and the Horde—Bow, Glimmer, Mermista, Entrapta, Frosta, Netossa, Castaspella, Mara, Lonnie, Shadow Weaver—is not. In Scorpia’s claws and tail, Shadow Weaver’s magical disfigurement, Hordak’s [spoiler] physical limitations, and Entrapta’s laser-like scientific obsessions, both physical diversity and neurodiversity are represented. Between Bow’s love of crop tops, Catra’s masculine-coded fashion sense, and the Season 4 debut of non-binary actor Jacob Tobia as new character Double Trouble, a non-binary, shape-shifting mercenary, gender normativity is given a pass. Just solid, intentional diversity of every kind, across the board, and all in the service of telling a story about identity, destiny and the inherent dignity of individual life in the strongest, most organic way possible.

*This phrasing from Stevenson herself, on the “Battle of Bright Moon” episode of the “She-Ra: Progressive of Power” podcast. (Start around 48:30 for this specific part of the conversation.)

4. The skepticism of destiny.

If friendship is She-Ra’s central theme and diversity and inclusivity its main framing elements, the burden (and skepticism) of destiny is its narrative engine. As the only person currently living on Etheria who has the power to become She-Ra when wielding the Sword of Protection, Adora has classic “chosen one” energy, and all the frustrations and insecurities that come with it. But she is only one powerful princess in a constellation of them, each burdened with their own “chosen one” powers and responsibilities, and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power never forgets that.

Nor does it forget that you don’t have to have powers or a magical legacy to feel the suffocating burden of destiny—one of the series’ best episodes is “Reunion” (Episode 2.07), in which Bow returns home to his academic dads’ expansive library to seek out She-Ra lore the Princess Alliance needs to win the next battle, only for Adora and Glimmer to learn that he became a rebel without their blessing, and that in addition to keeping his family secret from his friends, he’s been lying to his dads for years about attending university to become an historian. The stress of this burden is small potatoes next to the expectations Adora is facing as She-Ra, or Glimmer is facing as her mother’s daughter, or Catra is facing as her own worst, most ambitious enemy, but it’s still important, and She-Ra gives Bow plenty of space to explore it—and, of course, to use the powerful support of the Best Friends Squad to level up in his ability to handle it.

5. Finally: The villains.

As antagonists, The Horde don’t have much going for them beyond being evil. (To quote Bow exclaiming his shock at an aghast Adora early in their first adventure together: “You’re literally called the Evil Horde!”) What does the Horde want? To overrun Etheria! Why? Reasons! While they definitely want to win, as a collective, the Horde doesn’t seem to have much of an ideology beyond “annihilate” driving their campaign.

Given that She-Ra is technically a cartoon, some level of cartoonish evil is fine—even expected. But in the year of our She-Ra, 2019, even animated villainy needs greater dimension. This isn’t an impossible task—storytellers work hard to internalize the idea that everyone is the hero of their own story, a truth that animated villains like Zuko (Avatar: The Last Airbender) and Eclipsa (Star vs. the Forces of Evil) have thrived on.

But when it comes to the deeply traumatized Catra (and, to a lesser extent, Shadow Weaver), She-Ra puts the lie to that whole “everyone is their own hero thing” being a universal rule. There are plenty of people, it turns out, who aren’t the heroes of their own stories, because as far as they’re concerned, being a hero isn’t a real thing. It’s a mug’s game. All that’s real is power—who wields it, who’s crushed by it, and who can get enough of it to make sure no one else comes out ahead of them. Even, as Catra sneers in Adora’s face in their final showdown of Season 3, if that means burning down the whole world (“I don’t care! I won’t let you win. I’d rather see the whole world end than let that happen.”)

For a kids’ show, this is a lot. But there is something so chillingly familiar in it, especially at this moment in history, that it’s impossible not to be impressed—and just as impossible not to hope that the tools Adora, Glimmer, Bow and the rest of their friends fight back with as the series continues will be ones we can use in our own lives, back here in the real world.

For the honor of Grayskull, Season 4 of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is streaming on Netflix as of November 5.

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