nobody asked for this but here’s some season 1 meta
in the middle of s1e3 “razz,” we get this heartbreaking scene of catra scratching out adora’s face from their bunk and destroying adora’s bedsheets.
much has been said about this. to me this scene is very clearly catra trying to destroy the evidence of her life with adora, in an attempt to sever that connection because it makes her feel vulnerable. she hates that she still has these feelings for adora, so she tries to destroy the bed they shared, the symbol of their intimacy. it fucking hurts man i’m crying
in the next episode, “flowers for she-ra,” we get the very good scene of adora accidentally busting open her new, too-fluffy bright moon mattress.
this is played for laughs, because it is hilarious.
if you look at it as a parallel to the scene i just discussed, it gets a lot sadder. this mattress is too fluffy, the room is too big, it’s full of unfamiliar things—and absent of familiar things. familiar people. she tries to get comfortable by beating the mattress. you can see this as her literally trying to beat her new life into the shape of the one she left behind. she tries and tries but it just isn’t the same. when she tries to force it to be the same, it breaks and makes a mess.
then, at the end of the episode, bow and glimmer see her struggles and try to give her what she needs to be comfortable!
this is the first time anyone has offered to change adora’s living space to make her more comfortable. they give her control over her surroundings. that’s a vital part of healing from trauma.
catra never gets this. she doesn’t get friends who make space for her and listen to her needs. she gets shadow weaver, who treats her like garbage until the very day she escapes. she gets scorpia, who tries so darn hard to be a good friend but ultimately doesn’t understand what she needs.
but it’s kind of ironic! because even given these comforts of a new bed and new friends who want her to be comfortable, adora can’t quite escape her trauma… until she gets the one thing she needs, unconditional love, from the one person she needs it from. the one person who isn’t there.