SHE-RA AND THE PRINCESSES OF POWER, season 3 - Nonstop

(Reviewed by Melody Werner)

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is an animated TV show which aired for 5 seasons between 2018 and 2020. Showran by comickers ND Stevenson and Chuck Austen, produced by DreamWorks Animation Television, and co-distributed by NBCUniversal and Netflix, it received critical acclaim and amassed a ginormous audience in spite of an indignant nontroversy following its announcement regarding the "heinous" unsexiness of its titular child protagonist (motherfuckers weird like that). Many of these culture warriors of course grew up on the original She-Ra: Princess of Power series by Funimation from 1985 (of which this is a reboot), and, having the memories of a goldfish, don't recall that the show from their childhood did a lot of the things these dorks were crying about. For starters, Funimation was about as gay as they could be in the 80's—their CEO at the time was a bisexual dude. Princesses of Power was not emblematic of the gay agenda tainting the pure classic material, it was an extension and elevation of the pre-existing gay agenda from its entire original production studio. Cuz, y'know, that's what reactionary televangelists at the time recognized at the time threw hissy fits over. Funimation were not subtle, dear culture warriors, you are just too dweebish and disingenuous in your frothing outrage. What, is a gay widdle children's cartoon too "politically correct" for you?

Obligatory dunking on the creepy misogynists and queerphobes from literally 4 years ago aside (tho I wish I didn't have to delve into said nonsense, but it still defines much of why this series took off in the way it did, because the caterwauling nontroversy led to mountains of attention for this show, and it capitalized on that), I have been voracious in trying to finish this show now. However, in case you missed the previous season review, there is a slight wrinkle: after the first season, ND Stevenson noted that they had 4 arcs of the show planned. And yet, there are 5 seasons, with 2 and 3 being about half as long as the others. So clearly, 2 and 3 are meant as companions to each other. Which makes tackling either season alone a bit tough. My prediction that season 3, taken immediately after season 2, would make both of them better was absolutely on the dot.

In light of the (entirely expected) recent confirmation from Stevenson regarding that Netflix had underpaid and exploited the hard work of the animation team behind She-Ra, I want to be very clear. This is contemptible, and contemptuous, of Netflix—but, again, to be expected (though not to be tolerated). I acknowledge that oversights are part and parcel of being mistreated like this. What blame, if any, ought to go to Netflix, as far as I am concerned. Credit, however, all goes to the phenomenal team behind the astonishing animation of this show. They did a terrific job in spite of their material conditions, with countless jaw-dropping moments of what can only be described as visual splendor. But the excellence goes beyond that, with some stellar character designs and facial expressions. Action sequences are dynamic, with clever animated cinematography (e.g. match cuts). I am consistently impressed, even in the earlier episodes I had already seen before. If there were any continuity errors this season, I didn't notice them.

As for the music and sound effects, they are quite good, and help to elevate the storytelling and little moments. It's the sound design that's the real star in this respect, though, as it feels consuming. In a good way. I don't usually mention sound design (as most sound design tries to go unnoticed), but it's a damn craft, and this show's a great reminder of that. Speaking of crafts, what black magicks did these motherfuckers tap into that made the voice acting this goddamn good? Every distinct performance is brings an undeniable sense of personality to it—whether that be moody indignance, woundedness at abandonment, jubilee at witnessing something cool, shame at failure, full-body boredom, lighting up with someone the character in question fancies.

I have gone on the record with my adoration of the webcomic that Mr. ND Stevenson cut his teeth on, Nimona. My appreciation of Nimona has only grown in the years since I first read it (2017), to the point that I would now easily revise my original 9.5/10 review of it to a 10 (which is a canon score revision). So, needless to say, I am also a big fan of a series he was a showrunner and executive producer on. The show has a few other writers in season 1, who all deserve great kudos as well, but my "in" was ND. Narratively speaking, I love the structure here. This season is, unsurprisingly, very heavy in terms of plot and emotions, and feels like the grand conclusion to the preceding season. So things move much more expeditiously, but this allows the drama and tension to ratchet up in a huge way. Still, its world is always in flux, that something actually bad could genuinely happen and won't be able to be fixed. That's a tough balancing act when building a show that's ultimately for kiddos, as you don't want to be overwhelming. And yeah, what humor and character development that are present are very enjoyable. If I wasn't outright giggling, I was always grinning with the comedic reactions, banter, visual gags, hilarious facial expressions, etc.. But the humor also knows its place, and doesn't crop up too much in the darker, more emotionally complex scenes. When this show wants its characters to seriously hang in a lacuna, they will, and you feel that. And when they are in a more chipper mood, the writing and atmosphere are like a warm blanket.

But emotional complex moments are only impactful (at least, in something like this) if the characters are there. And, oh boy, the characters are there. Catra is back to being the most interesting character of the season, though Shadow Weaver is more intriguing than ever. However, every fucking character here is loveable too. From Adora, to Glimmer, to Bow, to Scorpia, to Mermista, to Entrapta, to Swift Wind, to Seahawk, to that lil gargoyle boy. They still carry striking designs as they would've back in the day in order to sell toys, but now they serve a new purpose: forming a cast of clearly identifiable characters who are uniformly great and memorable.

As for narrative critiques? Taken on its own, when this season is almost pure plot movement, and could use more sweetness to cushion some of its blows. Had seasons 2-3 been released as one, this would resolve all of my issues with both tonally.

All around, I can't say enough good things about this show so far. Just about everything about it is at such a high caliber. It is adorable, it is fun, it is gorgeous, it is dark and complicated, it is bright and uplifting, and it is awe-inspiring. It's doing a lot of things we've all seen before, but in a way and on a level that we haven't. And while the splitting of this and next season may make them both feel like they're missing something individually, I believe that season 3 feels like a rollercoaster I don't wanna get off of. And so, the third season of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power gets a 9.5/10.

Must-watch

As for if seasons 2-3 had not been split, I think this is a cut above the first season—and virtually all of its contemporaries. And so, in this hypothetical, I'd give them a combined 10/10.

Masterpiece

Summary:

It's a fun quasi-season that I think I will enjoy more when taken along season 3.