A Lesson in Love

Prince Kevin, tired of studying the laws and told he will soon be king, thinks of running away. Adora, Bow, Kowl and Madame Razz head for the Twiggit Carnival outside the Whispering Woods, and Hordak decides he needs a spy inside it. With no spy bots to hand, Mantenna opens a dimension door and Kevin tumbles out of it. Shadow Weaver puts him under a spell and sends him to rescue Flutterina from a staged attack. At the carnival Adora calms a charging bison without transforming, Kevin is welcomed, and then he is said to have broken open a black egg, with smoke covering a Horde attack. She-Ra wrecks the robots, but Hordak seizes Flutterina and the friends argue over trusting Kevin. She-Ra follows to Horror Hall on Swift Wind, with Kevin beside her on his jet-cycle. There Shadow Weaver's spell freezes him, until She-Ra and Flutterina urge him on and he breaks it, and Shadow Weaver ends up in her own collection. Kevin admits he ran from responsibility, his father arrives to take him home, and Loo-Kee closes by talking about doing what we are supposed to do.

Loo-Kee: "Hello! Here's your friend Loo-Kee. Did you find me today? If not, take another look. See me? Here I am! In today's adventure, Kevin learned how important it is to do the things we're supposed to. People who don't are called irresponsible. And that's bad. But those of us who do what we're supposed to, like our homework, or cleaning our room, we're called responsible. And that's good!"

Kevin: "I don't want to be king, Father."

Hordak: "Another good idea. Oh, I'm glad I thought of it."

Kowl: "I don't like being a tattle tail, but I saw Kevin sneak behind a booth and break open a black egg."

She-Ra: "Nothing, except the power of good. It's always stronger than evil."

Kevin: "I ran away because I didn't think I'd like the responsibility."

Responsibility is hard to dramatise, because the opposite of it is usually a nap. This episode hands the problem to a prince instead. Kevin sits over a book of "dusty old laws", and his father tells him he will soon lead his people. His answer is "I don't want to be king, Father." The scene lasts about half a minute. It is enough, because it gives the rest of the half hour something to push against, and it tells us what Kevin is running from before anyone casts a spell on him.

The Horde plot is the better written half. Hordak wants someone inside the rebel carnival, and Mantenna is sent for a spy bot. There are none, because they were sent through the dimension gate to Horde force command. Mantenna opens a dimension door to call some back, and Kevin falls out of it. Shadow Weaver offers a spell to turn the boy into the spy, and Hordak approves with "Another good idea. Oh, I'm glad I thought of it." The shamelessness is why the gag works. Shadow Weaver then points Kevin at a girl he is to rescue. Kevin objects, "But she's not in trouble." The answer is "She will be." It is the coldest line in the episode, and it makes the plan tidy: the Horde stages the danger, and the spy walks into the camp as a hero.

Kevin himself is written with some care. He is a runaway, a spy, a rescuer and a suspect in a single episode, and he is muddled about all of it. After the attack, Kowl names him: "I don't like being a tattle tail, but I saw Kevin sneak behind a booth and break open a black egg." Kowl takes no pleasure in it, and the line shows it. Kevin's reply is "I did that?" followed by "I... I don't remember." The group splits fairly. One voice says "I think he's telling the truth." Another says "Whatever has happened here, it wasn't on purpose." Nobody is stupid, and nobody is cruel. Kowl is right about what he saw, and the others are right to doubt the boy's guilt.

The best scene is the last fight in Horror Hall. Leech takes She-Ra's strength, and Shadow Weaver turns on Kevin: "Halt. I command you. You are still under my power." He can only say "I can't move!" She-Ra tells him, "Yes, you can, Kevin. Try." Shadow Weaver sneers, "Nothing can break my spell, muscle brain." The answer is "Nothing, except the power of good." Then Flutterina, who has been Shadow Weaver's captive since the carnival, says "Look at me, Kevin. You can do it. Try." The spell breaks because two people who barely know him refuse to give up on him. That is a better answer to the prince's problem than a lecture.

The weakness is the join between the lesson and the story. Kevin runs from the crown, and then the crown vanishes for about eighteen minutes. His part in the Horde's raid comes from a spell, not a choice, so when he says "I'm responsible for what happened", the line is generous but not accurate. Loo-Kee's close then praises homework and clean rooms, which sits a long way from a throne. With about twenty-two minutes of screen time, the script had little room to connect them, and it chose the spell over the moral.

Still, it is a light episode with one solid idea, and the chase is brisk. She-Ra even stops to help Mantenna when his parachute fails. The ending lands softly: Kevin's father thanks She-Ra "for showing our son the power of love", and Shadow Weaver is left in her own collection. It is slight beside the show's bigger adventures, but it likes everyone in it.

1. Continuity: Kevin arrives through the dimension door that Mantenna opens to call back the spy bots, and his father later says they must go before the warp gate closes; the title's lesson is named in the king's thanks to She-Ra "for showing our son the power of love".
2. Continuity: Adora does not transform to calm the charging bison at the carnival ("Haven't time to change to She-Ra"), then changes later with "For the honor of Grayskull!" when Hordak's robots attack.
3. Continuity: Shadow Weaver's spell on Kevin breaks when Flutterina and She-Ra urge him on, and Shadow Weaver ends up in her own butterfly collection.
4. Production: Written by Phil Harnage and directed by Ed Friedman; first aired 1986-10-04.
5. Note: Loo-Kee's closing talk is about being responsible, while the story turns on a mind-control spell and a runaway prince.