In the season three finale of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, I cry uncontrollably.

The episode begins in Bright Moon. Glimmer is spending some quality time with Angella, playing a game that I personally believe they used to play a lot when Glimmer was younger. To make the scene even more wholesome, Glimmer runs up to her father, Micha, who is alive and well and was never taken by the Horde when Glimmer was way, way younger than I thought she was when that happened.

I hate that this happy moment will soon be destroyed.

Their happy family time is interrupted by a guard reporting that a stranger was just captured trying to sneak into Glimmer’s room. This stranger is, of course, Adora, trying to jog Bow and Glimmer’s memories. I wonder if she used the back entrance to Glimmer’s room Bow showed her in episode 3.

Because Glimmer is Glimmer no matter the universe, she immediately tries to spy on Adora’s interrogation with Bow in reluctant tow. Bow….

I have no idea why Bow is like this in this universe. The entire area of Bright Moon doesn’t seem to be any one person’s ideal world — though, if I had to pick, I’d say it’s Angella’s. Because the Fright Zone was swept up by the light and thoroughly erased from reality no matter the time period, this seems more like a Bright Moon that never suffered the actions of the Horde. Without a war to fight, Bow never would have run off to be an archer. He would have had to actually follow through with becoming the historian he wanted his dads to think he was.

Anyway, at Adora’s attempt at convincing Angella and Micah that the world is collapsing around them fails, even with Micah’s truth spell. Some truths are just harder to swallow than others, especially coming from a complete stranger who was trying to break into your daughter’s bedroom a few minutes ago.

Glimmer, on the other hand, is a bit more open-minded than her parents. Having full faith in her father’s truth spell, she teleports Bow and herself into Adora’s cell, which is the spare bedroom, because even in an alternate reality, Bright Moon doesn’t have a proper jail cell.

Adora jogs Bow and Glimmer’s memories by pointing out all their strengths, weaknesses, and insecurities. While neither Bow nor Glimmer remember everything, they do know that Adora is their friend and that the three of them are pretty ride or die.

Together, they manage to put together that it’s probably best to ask Entrapta about the portal, y’know, considering that she built it and all. Since Glimmer can’t teleport all three of them to Dryl, Adora opts to try and make a run for it. The keyword is “try.” Thanks to the reality distortions, the three of them don’t get very far before they’re cornered by Angella and Micah.

We then get a very heartfelt apology from Glimmer to Angella, not about their argument two episodes ago but about Glimmer’s current, seemingly irrational, actions. It is as close as we’re going to get to a heart-filled final words between Glimmer and Angella, and Glimmer will remember absolutely none of it.

Bow, Glimmer, and Adora fall through the floor before Angella can respond and somehow end up in Dryl. Entrapta has been a bit busy building robot friends, two of which look like Scorpia and Hordak It’s actually a bit sad, since it probably means that Entrapta feels she can’t make any human friends the normal way so if she wants any friends, she has to build them herself and that Scorpia and Hordak were the only two to make a positive lasting impression on Entrapta.

Anyway, Entrapta already knows what’s going on, because of course she does, she’s Entrapta. Soon enough, some of her memories come back — memories about Hordak and, more importantly at this time, memories about the portal. Entrapta tells Adora that the sword has been following her this entire time (which isn’t actually all that helpful upon retrospect) and that to turn off the portal, someone must stay behind and close it on the inside. Because why not make turning off an incredibly dangerous creation stupid difficult? Who invented these portals?

Back over with Angella and Micah for a moment, the world is collapsing around them and now, of all times, Angella’s memories decide to come back. Why is this time a bad time? Because she leaves Micah, who she thinks is just an illusion of this world, right as Micah’s own memories are coming back. And because the world is falling apart, Micah can’t call Angella back before falling into the light and disappearing from reality.

Darn you, drama.

Before Entrapta can help anymore, she fades away and the Best Friends Squad are transported to the beacon.

I don’t know if the scene Adora sees of Mara is real or not. I don’t know if time and space are so thin and fragile right now that, like how Madame Razz flitters between millennia, Adora and Mara are occupying the same spot at the same time or if this is just like a vision of the past. Either way, it’s a neat scene showing the shoes Adora feels she needs to fill.

Luckily, Bow and Glimmer are right there to talk Adora out of her attempted self-sacrifice. Unfortunately, this doesn’t last long for the universe is still unravelling and doesn’t care about big, emotional moments. Glimmer and Bow fade away, leaving Adora alone and somewhat vulnerable, the perfect position to be for a mentally unstable Catra to stumble across.

As they fight through a bunch of settings we’ve seen throughout the show, Catra just verbal rails into Adora, blaming her for everything wrong in the world. I have no doubt that the things Catra says are the same thoughts that have run through Adora’s head on more than one occasion.

However, throughout all of season two and bits of season three, Adora has been somewhat working through her terrible habit of trying to take responsibility for everything and everyone. She hasn’t gotten over it completely, by far, but she is learning that everything can’t be her fault. Adora is responsible for what Adora does, no one else.

That’s what Adora knocks into Catra at the end of their fight. And, it is so satisfying. If only it had gotten through to Catra right then and there.

Before Adora can fall too far into the light and vanish from reality, Angella swoops in and saves her. Adora tells her about the sword and the portal and how they are at the very beginning of Adora’s life on Etheria, the field where Adora’s portal appeared. Even on a rewatch, I didn’t get what Razz was talking about until this moment.

Once Angella realizes that Adora can’t retrieve her sword to turn off the portal without sacrificing herself, she doesn’t hesitate to take Adora’s place. Before she does, Angella makes sure to explain to Adora why she’s going to be the one to turn off the portal.

In Angella’s eyes, she’s a coward. She hides away in her castle while others do the fighting and lets her fears of losing anyone else in her life hold her back from taking action.

In the very beginning of the show, Angella always preferred defending areas where the Horde wasn’t explicitly at, or at least sending Glimmer to those places, rather than plan any offensive attacks. Earlier this season, we see her planning an assault when Glimmer pops in from the Crimson Waste.

Angella is cautious and fearful, but now is the time for her to be brave.

Angella is a good mom.

With that all said, Angella flies up to the sword, tells Adora to “take care of each other” in regards to Adora and Glimmer — remember these exact words — and then pulls the sword from the portal.

The sword falls down into Adora’s grasp and with tears in her eyes, Adora transforms into She-Ra and ends this horror.

The world returns to how it was before the portal’s activation. Everyone who was in the lab at the time of the disaster has returned, almost like this was all just a really bad, horrible, God awful nightmare. Catra and Hordak flee the lab, but not before Catra catches Adora giving her the deadliest glare imaginable.

The Best Friends Squad reunion is put on hold as the lab falls apart around them. Destroying an unstable portal that tears apart the fabric of the universe tends to do that. Shadow Weaver helps Glimmer teleport everyone back to Bright Moon where they can properly celebrate their victory. Perfuma even hugs Shadow Weaver, much to the latter’s displeasure and my personal enjoyment.

Unbeknownst to any of the characters, the portal may have failed to tear apart reality or pull Etheria out of Despondos, but it was on just long enough for Horde Prime to pick up a very interesting signal. But, since that won’t be a problem for another two seasons, they have every right to celebrate.

At least until the worst news is broken and turns their victory into most bittersweet thing I’ve ever tasted.

“The Portal” was a wild ride. Not as wild as the last episode, at least not in the first half, but still pretty wild and painful, so emotionally painful.

Yes, the death flags were raised the second Glimmer said that Angella was always going to be around.

No, that didn’t soften the blow.

Personally, I choose to believe that Angella is just sitting in that world between worlds, physically fine. She is immortal and I choose to interpret that as killable but only by physical force, like stab wounds, not by age or lack of food or water. One of the first things everyone does after season five is look into rescuing Angella from her prison.

I feel like she also could’ve come back when Etheria was eventually ripped from Despondos. But, she didn’t, so I’m not going to throw a fit about it. I’m just going to weep inconsolably.

Season three was short — it’s the shortest season in the entire show. Binged, it’s the length of a movie, and I think that works in its favor. Time isn’t really spent on anything other than the main points. There isn’t a goofy Sea Hawk episode, no side quest, just the main events — one right after the other in a tightly woven narrative of emotional gut punches.

It’s tied with season five for my favorite season of She-Ra (2018) or a reason.

Season four is my second favorite season and the why is solely because of how many times I think to myself Dammit, Glimmer while watching it. On to watching Glimmer make terrible, terrible decisions.

Episode 5 Season Four