Just the Way You Are

Prince Adam comes to Bright Moon for the opening of Etheria's circus, and King Darkspur of the Hinterlands arrives to ask Queen Angella for Glimmer's hand once more. Angella refuses. Among the circus people, Drew, a young juggler, believes his father Caleb loves his brother Marsh more because Marsh gets his time and does the dangerous work. Adora tries to comfort him, but Drew goes into the woods, tries to cross an old rope bridge to impress his father, and has to be rescued by Adam and Adora. Darkspur then sends soldiers to seize Glimmer, and they take Drew along too. Caleb insists on joining the rescue, and the group enters Darkspur's kingdom disguised as circus performers, with Adam running an elephant act. Caleb slips off to look for Drew, is caught, and the two are held in a dungeon, where She-Ra breaks them out. When the elephant act is exposed, Adam becomes He-Man, and He-Man and She-Ra wrap Darkspur and his troopers up in canvas. Caleb tells Drew he loves him, and Loo-Kee closes with a few words on showing our parents how much we love them.

Loo-Kee: "Hi, it's Loo-Kee again. Did you find where I was hiding today? If not, take another look. See me now? Here I am! You know, in today's story, Drew thought his father didn't care too much about him. But he was wrong. Like all parents, his father loves him very much. Sometimes we may forget just how much our parents love us. One of the best ways to remind ourselves, is by showing them how much we love 'em!"

Drew: "Not unless you can make me the best high-wire walker in Etheria!"

Darkspur: "Fool, why are you repeating what I say?"

A voice: "parents love their children not for what they do, but for what they are."

Caleb: "Of course I did. I love you, son."

Adam: "Adora, do you think our parents would mind if I brought this elephant to Eternia with me?"

Children keep score of attention, and they often add it up wrong. Drew, the young juggler at the center of Just the Way You Are, has been keeping a tally for a while. His father, Caleb, spends his days rehearsing Drew's brother Marsh. When Drew runs up to say the village children love his act, Caleb answers, "Good, Drew. I'm sure you were very good." Drew then asks to show a new trick and hears, "I'd like very much to see your new trick, but not now." Nobody is cruel here, but the brush-off stings anyway, and that is why the moment works.

Adora gets the comforting job, and the script lets her be sensible. She asks whether she can help, and Drew says, "Not unless you can make me the best high-wire walker in Etheria!" She argues that "making people laugh is as important as being on a high wire." It is good advice, but Drew only says he has to think about it. The writing is patient with him. He is a boy who has the right problem and the wrong remedy, and nobody tells him he is silly.

The wrong remedy is an old rope bridge. Drew wanders into the woods and says to himself, "Boy, if Dad could see me now..." A few steps later he wants to turn back, but he ends up clinging to the planks and calling for help. Adam and Adora handle the rescue with some brother-and-sister teamwork. Adora climbs down to Drew while Adam spots a big oak, decides "these vines will have to do," and swings in to carry Drew out.

That rescue is the best sequence, because of what happens after it. Drew explains that he hoped to cross the bridge and tell his father, so that "he'd be so proud of me, he would love me as much as he loves my brother." One of the two rescuers gives the line the story is built on: "parents love their children not for what they do, but for what they are." Drew does not accept it. He snaps, "My father loves Marsh more than me! I know it!" and leaves. The same pair admits, "I don't think we convinced him." A neater script would let the speech land on the spot. This one lets it fail, and that gives the later scenes something to fix.

The fix is a rescue of a different kind. Darkspur's soldiers carry off Glimmer, and Drew is swept up with her. Caleb refuses to stay home. The rebels get into Darkspur's kingdom as a travelling circus, and Caleb ends up in the cell beside his son. When Drew's father tells him, "Of course I did. I love you, son," he says it to a son who has just said he risked his life, and it carries more weight than any speech in the woods.

The weak link is Darkspur's plot. He proposes, is refused, and sends a guard and some men to kidnap Glimmer. His best moment is yelling "Fool, why are you repeating what I say?" at a soldier. After that he mostly sits and watches a circus, and Glimmer spends the second half as cargo. The marriage question is never raised again, only buried under canvas when He-Man and She-Ra wrap the troopers up. Marsh has the same problem on a smaller scale. He is the cause of the grievance and gets almost nothing to do.

Loo-Kee's tag says the point plainly: Drew thought his father did not care, and he was wrong. The episode earns it. It is a small, warm story about a boy and a bridge, with an elephant act added for fun, and the elephant is a pleasure.

1. Continuity: Adam turns into He-Man after the circus act is exposed ("Time for He-Man"), and Adora has already become She-Ra to break Caleb and Drew out of Darkspur's dungeon, so the final cleanup is the two of them working together ("Need a little help, brother?").
2. Continuity: Darkspur's marriage proposal reaches Queen Angella at Bright Moon, and she turns it down with "Her answer is no."
3. Production: Written by Carol Baxter and directed by Lou Kachivas; first aired 1987-09-19 as episode 16 of season two.
4. Note: Adam's running joke is the elephant: he takes over the elephant act, calls himself "Adam of the elephants," and ends the episode asking whether he can bring the elephant to Eternia.