For Want of a Horse

Hordak is reminded that Horde Prime's birthday is near and that a good present is expected. After Grizzlor's idea of a pair of ties earns him a drop through the trapdoor, the scene settles on stealing Swift Wind, and Shadow Weaver takes the job. She has the Horde robots crack a dam to draw She-Ra off, then poses as a girl in trouble so that Bow leaves Swift Wind alone and a trooper can freeze the horse and take him to the Fright Zone. Bow blames himself, She-Ra tells him Shadow Weaver tricked him, and the two go in together, She-Ra by a stream under the throne room and Bow with a diversion arrow. She-Ra frees Swift Wind herself, and Bow's own rescue attempt only ties up the guards, so the pair escape on the horse. Hordak, left with nothing better, sends Horde Prime a tie, and the reaction is not kind.

Loo-Kee: "Hi, everybody. It's me, Loo-Kee. Did you see where I was hiding today? If not, look for me now. Here I am! There's a very special kind of love between people and animals. If you have a pet, you know what I mean. If we treat them with patience and kindness, they can be one of our very best friends. Bye, now, and see ya next time."

Grizzlor: "A pair of ties, one for each head."

She-Ra: "You did what you thought was right."

Swift Wind: "I have nothing else to say to you, Hordak."

Bow: "Was I too anxious again?"

Who is the trap built for? In For Want of a Horse it is built for Bow, and it works because he says out loud what he wants seconds before the bait appears. Left in a village street with Swift Wind while She-Ra patches a dam, Bow grumbles that babysitting is a poor job for a hero and tells the horse, "I'd just like some action." Then a woman screams.

The Horde scenes that come first are the funnier half, and they run on one gag. Hordak has been told that Horde Prime's birthday is coming and that a good present is expected, and the throne room keeps dropping people through a trapdoor whenever Hordak is displeased. Mantenna goes down for forgetting to bow, and Grizzlor goes down for suggesting "A pair of ties, one for each head." The scene settles on Swift Wind as a gift that even Horde Prime cannot buy, and Shadow Weaver takes the job of catching him. Her method is a cracked dam to pull She-Ra off and a girl in a pink dress to pull Bow off, and the girl is Shadow Weaver herself. Bow saves her, accepts the thanks, and learns who he has been talking to only when she starts to cackle.

What the script does with that mistake is its best idea. Bow blames himself, and She-Ra gives him the line the episode rests on: "You did what you thought was right." She lets him come along when he asks, and the trip pays him back. The arrow he fires on her cue is the distraction she asked for, and when he turns up later for a daring rescue of a She-Ra who is long since free, his rope ties up the two guards and Shadow Weaver ends up tied up as well. He asks, "Was I too anxious again?" and She-Ra tells him she appreciates the help. The second rescue is the first one run backward, with the damsel stronger than the hero and a trap that does no harm, and nobody scolds him for either.

The standout scene is the one where the jokes stop. Hordak shows Swift Wind the defences he has prepared, then tells him what Horde Prime will do: a cage in the deepest, darkest dungeon, fed and cared for, but never to "see sunrises or sunsets" while his mane greys and his wings wither, because Horde Prime cannot fly and hates anything that can. Swift Wind answers that he has nothing else to say to Hordak, and the golden collar glowing on his neck in the close shots makes the threat look half done already. It is a cruelty aimed squarely at a flying horse, and Loo-Kee's closing words about patience and kindness toward animals have this speech to lean on.

The trapdoor is the best-used prop in the script. She-Ra swims up a stream and surfaces, as she works out, right under Hordak's throne room, in time to pull Mantenna out with a rope, and he says Hordak dumps him in there all the time. The punishment gag from the opening is waiting for her on the way in, and Mantenna thanks her by trying to hand her over. The weak point sits next to it. Hordak makes a point of listing his defences, freeze rays, stun cannons, scanners and Destructo Tanks covering every inch of the Fright Zone, and then almost none of it matters: the infiltration is one swim and a diversion arrow, and the guards at the ship are two robots who panic the moment they see Bow's arrow. The boast sets up a siege and the script treats it as set dressing, so the rescue feels easier than the speech that promised it.

The episode ends on the tie. A messenger presents Horde Prime with a birthday gift from Hordak, it is a tie, and Hordak pays for Grizzlor's idea after all. A pleasant, minor Bow story with a Horde Prime gag attached, and the one scene about never seeing the sky is worth the rest.

1. Continuity: Horde Prime, described as ruler of a thousand worlds, is seen here only as a shape in swirling smoke, and the one description of him in the dialogue is "Two heads"; he is the same Horde leader as in Horde Prime Takes a Holiday.
2. Continuity: Hordak says aloud that the gift will make him Horde Prime's favorite commander, and that perhaps someday he will become Horde Prime.
3. Continuity: Shadow Weaver wears a human disguise (a blonde woman in a pink dress) to lure Bow, and Bow recognises her only after she cackles.