Welcome to season 1, episode 8 of the re-imagined world of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. The threads are starting to come together as our He-team is training and preparing for the trials ahead. Heads collide as father and son are thrown into a literal storm together.
Spoilers ahead.
1. Hello, Father, you don’t know me yet
Having Prince Adam get to know his father under the cover of his hulking He-Man form is a novel way to explore a father/son relationship. It’s kind of a Freaky Friday vibe, if you know what I mean. I can’t remember if this has been done in recent memory so it feels like a fresh way to reimagine a long-standing franchise character. And for the people who might have been wondering why start another He-Man show when we have had multiple already -well this show is almost completely different from the past incarnations.
2. When are Evil-Lyn and Kronis going to get into the game?
Aside from an early skirmish with the team in episodes 1-2, Evil-Lyn and Kronis have had precious little to do other than plot and scheme against their master. I mean, sometimes they stare at Skelator’s junk after coming out of the bath, so I guess they do have something to keep them occupied. In the past incarnations of the show Evil-Lyn and Kronis are fairly active, but I know this show develops over a season so the bit players don’t get much time to shine. Heck, Skelator himself hasn’t even gotten into it with He-Man in this form so I guess it’s all gonna come together at the end in an epic showdown of good versus evil.
3. What is so wrong about sharing power?
There’s an interesting philosophical question that is slipped into the episode. As He-Man and his father, King Randor are running through a storm, the King bellows at He-Man for sharing his power. He tells him only the most trustworthy can wield the power, and that even he has never used it himself. This leads me to believe that the 1.0 way of thinking about power is that it must be centralized, but this leads often to the wrong people controlling it easily. However if you decentralize your power and give it to trustworthy people, you are exponentially more powerful as a group, and there are checks and balances. Or maybe I’m reading too much about crypto these days.
4. Stay away from my father..who’s kind of a jerk!
Oh snap, they meet! I wasn’t sure if they were going to meet in this episode. But things get heated and heavy as the storm threatens King Randor’s life. He-Man shouts out ‘Stay away from my father!’ at the storm. After he is done saving his life, King Randor falls to his knees and gives him a hug. Prince Adam says ‘Nice to meet you, I guess.” so it’s a bit more awkward than a typical Hallmark Moment. The King is in a rush for Prince Adam to take his place in the palace, but first he must relinquish the POWER OF GREYSKULL. King Randor has seen his son for less than 30 seconds and he is already putting the archaic formal duties of Royalty on him. He-Man rejects him and Hulk-jumps his way out of there. As he flies away he has a face of sadness, and the King says ‘My boy..’ this is definitely not going to be resolved this season. The nuance of this interaction resists everything we expect from a standard children’s show, so kudos to the writing. They obviously watched a lot of Braveheart.
5. Saving Eternia is up to us!
The plot twist of King Randor leaving He-Man with no choice but to return back to his friends is another subtle modern-day messaging for children. Apparently He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is focusing on independence over trust of the system. He-Man rejects King Randor’s 1.0 ways and tells his friends emphatically ‘Saving Eternia is up to us!’ This feels like a thinly veiled analogy for the current situation fans of this show are faced with. That it is up to them to save the planet, because the good guys aren’t doing so well at it themselves.
