Glimmer vs. Holdo

[Winter]

I've mentioned a few times that I see She-Ra and the Princesses of Power as The Star Wars Disney Sequel Trilogy done right and I wanted to make a few posts that covered why I thought that, starting with one of the most notable similarities which is the Distrust between the Soldiers and their Superior Officer. Season 4 and Season 5 of She-Ra have the most in common with TDST and one of the most surprising points is actually how the main plot of She-Ra's 4th Season is almost identical to The Last Jedi's plot.

Both SRS4 and TLJ are about how both sides end up almost destroying each other and how the ultimate result of said destruction is due to infighting on both sides. Needless to say there will be spoilers for both series so stop reading now if you don't want to know what happens. You have been warned.

On the Horde side of things Catra bullies Hordak into making her Co-Leader of the Horde and while it works for a while Catra's banishing of Entrapta which Hordak eventually finds out thanks to Double Trouble (who's being paid by Glimmer as they're a mercenary) and because of his love for Entrapta goes on a rampage to try and kill Catra.

But I want to focus more on the hero side of things as Glimmer is really no better then Catra in Season 4. Like Catra Glimmer spends most of the season pushing Bow and Adora away and keeps using some rather questionable tactics to try and destroy the Horde which includes using Adora as bait, without telling Adora this until AFTER she was used as bait.

Pushing to be more aggressive in combat despite the fact that they don't have the numbers for this sort of fight and need to fight smarter not harder (which results in everyone turning to Adora for tactical advice) and, oh yeah, Glimmer relaying on the advice of Shadow Weaver. You know, Adora abusive surrogate mother who's tried to kill them on several occasions and only joined the rebellion to save her own skin. Yeah, no way THAT'S going to cause any trust issues.

And yet, despite acting like a complete twat I get why Glimmer is acting this way. She just lost her mother less then a few months ago and is now given a major role in the war with people coming to her for advice on how to fight the Horde along with all the other fun things that comes with being a queen and a teenager. Except everyone keeps turning to Adora for advice and Shadow Weaver and later Double Trouble keep probing her self-doubts in order to more easily manipulate her which drives a wedge between her and Adora.

Holdo, acts like an @$$ to Poe for no reason, which is made worse when you note the scene when she flat out tells Leia that she likes him and thinks he's got what it takes to be a real leader... Okay, if you like him then why not just tell him you had a plan. You didn't even need to tell him your plan you could just have taken the time to say "I have a plan". Four words it's not that hard. And POE, I know you just got demoted and that Holdo is treating you without any respect but you should have SOME trust in your superior officer instead of just deciding that she'll get you killed.

This is why I don't like this plot in TLJ, there's no reason for these two to distrust each other and yet the film pushes this conflict that does not need to exist because the film needs conflict, even if it's stupid.

By contrast the conflict between Adora and Glimmer is believable and woven into the story naturally so while it hurts to see two characters that we've come to know and care about it's believable. And this keeps getting worse and worse until we reach the finally when Adora pretty much does what Poe does and goes to solve the problem, going behind Glimmer's back because Adora doesn't trust her like she used to.

And in the end, just like with Poe's plan it fails. Adora finds Entrapta and even finds Glimmer's dad but that doesn't change any and Etheria is almost destroyed. And Glimmer, seeing everything she fought for on the brink of being destroyed tries to stop it but fails in the end and Adora is forced to destroy the Sword of Protection in order to stop the Heart of Etheria.

So in the end the Horde and the Rebellion, just like the First Order and the Resistance at the end of TLJ, are both on the brink of death and all as a result of both sides leaders having no trust in their own people.

Adora and Glimmer grew close to hating each other while Catra and Hordak came to truly hate each other and in the end that did more damage to their own sides with the Rebellion only coming out slightly better then the Horde but they lost She-Ra in the end and now Horde Prime has arrived.

In the end these are the same basic plots but She-Ra lacks all of the issues I have with TLJ. Adora and Glimmer's distrust in each other makes sense while Poe and Holdo's conflict feels forced and unneeded to me.