Into the Dark Dimension

A direct rebel attack on the Fright Zone leaves the rebels pinned down, and Hordak springs a surprise on She-Ra in which Shadow Weaver's spell and Catra's Dark Blaster fire at once and tear a hole in space, dropping Hordak and She-Ra into a void. They land in a cavern world ruled by a being who calls himself the Dark One, who says they may leave only by finding a door and its key, or stay as his slaves. After agreeing to a truce they work through the Dark One's tests, with Hordak nearly ruining several of them. A final test of mercy, in which She-Ra frees a trapped creature, wins them a jewel each, but Hordak tries to take both and strand her, and the Dark One then declares that Hordak must remain. She-Ra refuses to leave without him and withstands the Dark One's power without striking back, which wins them both their freedom. Back in the Fright Zone only minutes have passed, and Hordak calls off the Horde, saying he will not be in her debt.

Loo-Kee: "Instead of playing our usual game, I'd like to talk to you about a very big...problem. Drugs. You may have friends, maybe older children or even adults, who are trying to, or may try to turn you on to drugs. Drugs are not a turn-on. Drugs are a turn-off. They could seriously harm you. I beg you, don't try them. Say no to drugs. Say yes to a life free from drugs."

Hordak: "I'm a Horde commander. I'm not supposed to think."

She-Ra: "I won't allow anyone to become a slave, not even Hordak."

The Dark One: "Your heart is as great as your courage."

Hordak: "You saved my life. But I will not be in your debt."

What happens when She-Ra and Hordak have no armies, no rebels and no Fright Zone to hide behind? Into the Dark Dimension is the show's answer, and it has to take them out of Etheria altogether to ask the question. The opening is a mess of the rebels' making: a direct attack on the Fright Zone that someone sold as the last thing the Horde would expect, which leaves everyone pinned down. Hordak's surprise then fails in a funny way. Shadow Weaver talks about her new spell, Catra about her Dark Blaster, they each fire at once, and Hordak is left pleading with them not to do both. The hole they tear in space drops him and She-Ra into a void together.

The Dark One's game is where the episode starts to say something. He describes a world between worlds, a door somewhere and a key to open it, and a penalty of slavery if they fail. Hordak is outraged at the idea of being anyone's slave. She-Ra points out that the rebels feel the same way about him, and he sputters that "that's different." The rest of the episode tests whether it is.

The Dark One's tests are puzzles on the surface, and the question underneath each one is whether She-Ra will treat Hordak as a person. Hordak breaks down the drawbridge rather than wait, and she works out that the boulder in front of them is shaped like a key. When it fits, she tells him that all he has to do is think, and he answers "I'm not supposed to think." In the berry test he scares off the creature that knows the way, then reasons his way into heading down and nearly gets eaten. The talk afterwards is the centre of the episode: She-Ra says he lies so often that he assumes everyone does, he says "I don't know right from wrong," and she says it is the only time she feels sorry for him. His angry answer is "no one feels sorry for Hordak."

The standout is the last trial. Hordak has taken both jewels, She-Ra has brought him down with a rope, and the Dark One now says only she may go. She says she will not allow anyone to become a slave, even Hordak, and takes the Dark One's power full on. A voice calls for revenge, and the sword's lightning goes into the rocks instead of the Dark One. The Dark One's verdict, "Your heart is as great as your courage," is stiff, but the scene earns it, because the earlier tests have shown how much easier the other choice would have been.

The weak point is the game itself. The Dark One calls the test of mercy the final one and announces that they have won, and then the real climax is a new trial after Hordak's double-cross. That gives the story its showdown, but it leaves the drawbridge and the berries as warm-up. Each puzzle also gets about a minute, with She-Ra usually supplying the answer, so the tests do less work than the conversations between them.

The coda gives the point back. Someone on the Horde side points out that Hordak was gone only a few minutes, and Hordak declares "I will not be in your debt" and lets the rebels go. Bow wants to press the advantage, and She-Ra will not. It is a rare episode in which the Horde's leader is left asking why she did it, and the show is better for leaving him there.

1. Continuity: Scorpia again has troopers beside her, and she is the one demanding to know what the rebels did with Hordak, as in The Anxious Apprentice.
2. Continuity: She-Ra turns the Sword of Protection into rope here, as she does in The Anxious Apprentice.
3. Continuity: Catra and Shadow Weaver are both on the Horde side in the Fright Zone, each claiming the surprise that sends Hordak and She-Ra into the void.