Daily Cartoon: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power S04E03 “Flutterina”

Welcome back to another exciting She-Ra episode recap! What a time to be alive!

If you recall from yesterday’s episode, Glimmer’s first mission as Queen – to retrieve Mara’s ship – was successful, yet, as we concluded, it seemed as if the Horde had won the day by bringing Double Trouble into their mix. In the interim, however, the Rebellion is feeling pretty good about themselves right now which is nice to see as they still deal with the loss of Queen Angella.

We’re still getting into the meat and potatoes of this season, as the kids on the street would say, but this much is clear: the Rebellion is being almost lulled into a false sense of security right now. They have no idea that the transmission to Horde Prime made it through and that him and his forces will be coming to Etheria. It’s going to be a game-changer and, though we’ve kind of backed off Adora’s intense She-Ra training, she is still learning all she is capable of and realizing her true power and purpose. Add that to Glimmer being new to the throne and the learning curve that goes along with that and it’s not unreasonable to think that Catra is right: this is the time for the Horde to end the Rebellion.

Season 4, Episode 3: Flutterina

Catra may finally be feeling a little bit of guilt for having Entrapta eliminated. Catra’s shown in bed, restless as the memories of the portal roll through her dreams. When Entrapta realized opening the portal was a mistake, Catra – consumed by the desperation to win – tased her and had Scorpia send Entrapta off to Beast Island which is spoken about as some sort of Horde prison, but has yet to be shown or really described with any level of detail. Of course, this doesn’t last long, though, because Catra is a soldier and gets over it pretty quickly even whipping her claws across Emily (Entrapta’s robot assistant) for good measure.

Hordak is working in his lab when approached by Catra who immediately starts poking the bear. Hordak feels the rage begin filling him and looks to be getting to the point where he’s actually going to do something about it when Catra – the real Catra – walks in from the shadows clapping slowly. The Catra who was prodding Hordak was merely Double Trouble and this was Catra’s way of introducing the two. Hordak is impressed by the shape-shifter, but makes it clear that neither Catra nor Double Trouble should attempt to deceive him again. He begins working again saying that the Rebellion’s tech has improved dramatically since Entrapta has returned to them. This, we know, is not true as Entrapta has been stashed on Beast Island, but it’s also the cover story that Catra has fed Hordak since she told him that Entrapta had double-crossed the Horde by allowing the princesses access to the Fright Zone to stop the opening of the portal.

We check in with the Best Friends Squad who have just freed the town of Elberon from Horde control and are now on their way to a party in their honor. Except for Glimmer, that is, who is back at Bright Moon being the queen and missing the excitement and adventures that being a front-line commander would see. It also doesn’t help that her two best friends are never around anymore so her only real friends time seems to come through FaceTime. In all actuality, that’s just something that happens when you get older. People get new jobs, transfers, families, have new responsibilities. People grow apart, not necessarily because they want to, but because life dictates it. It sucks, Glimmer. I feel you.

The people of Elberon have thrown a helluva party in honor of Bow, Adora and Swiftwind complete with decorations, confetti-shooting tanks and a massive feast. It’s here that we’re introduced to Flutterina, a small Elberon girl who totally stans She-Ra and is amazed to just be in her presence. Everybody is having a great time which obviously can’t last because a scout sees a Horde-bot nearby. She-Ra heads out to take care of it and tells Bow to stay behind and enjoy the party since she can handle one bot.

She does make pretty quick work of it, but upon returning to the party finds the town of Elberon completely empty. Flutterina appears to be the only one left and she explains the Horde came in and took everybody prisoner…including Bow. They’re all being kept in a Horde cell and Catra and Scorpia are counting on She-Ra to attempt to rescue the townspeople. Scorpia’s feeling left out since Catra won’t share a lot of the details and this is causing Catra to have even less patience with Scorpia than usual.

She-Ra, Swiftwind and Flutterina track the prisoners to a Horde camp and break in. Things don’t seem quite right, though, and this all seems to be gearing up to an even bigger ruse perpetuated by Catra. Bow is able to break himself and the prisoners from their cell and She-Ra chases off Catra, but there really doesn’t seem to be a lot of resistance from Catra or the Horde. It all just seems…I dunno…a bit off. As Catra returns to the Fright Zone, Hordak asks her a simple question, “Did it work?” Catra gives her trademark giggle and replies, “Like a charm.” So there was something off about this! All part of a bigger scheme! I’m with it.

Flutterina asks to join the Rebellion and Bow and She-Ra are quick to welcome her to their cause. As they return to Bright Moon, they’re excited to have saved Elberon and be returning with a new recruit. But as Flutterina gets her first look at Bright Moon, her eyes shutter into a different look before returning…this isn’t Flutterina. It’s Double Trouble.

Final Thoughts

Another episode laying more groundwork for what’s to come, but done so while still advancing some things which I’m more than OK with. At the end of the day, I really just love these characters and the way they’ve been written so I’m more apt than some to enjoy things to a higher level.

It’s cool to see Flutterina again as she was a character from the original Filmation series, but now I’m left to wonder what actually happened to the real Flutterina since the one currently strutting into Bright Moon is actually Double Trouble. In addition, this plan by Hordak and Catra to insert Double Trouble into the spy role in this way is actually pretty ingenious. It really did work like a charm and a lot of that is probably because they didn’t share the full scope of the plan with the rest of the Horde like Scorpia who is feeling left out, for one, but now is getting constantly badgered by Catra whom Scorpia thought was her close buddy. I’m kind of hoping for a Scorpia and Emily team-up episode where they head to Beast Island to rescue Entrapta.

Of note, we really haven’t seen anything of Shadow Weaver through the first three episodes. She did make a very brief appearance in the first episode, but just as someone there to witness Glimmer’s coronation. I assumed she’d play a pretty significant role in this season following her switch to the Rebellion in Season 3 – and she still very well could – but we just haven’t seen that as of yet.

Rest up, enjoy the weekend and we’ll pick back up on Monday as we continue the Etherian saga.

Until next time.

Joe

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