Reunions

Through the Sword of Protection, the Sorceress tells He-Man and She-Ra that they are twins, that Hordak took baby Adora with Skeletor at his side, and that Eternia was spelled to forget her. Adora joins the Rebellion, and the two fly to Talon Mountain to free Queen Angella from Hunga the Harpy. Adam then brings Adora home to Randor and Marlena, but Hordak follows through the dimensional gate and meets Skeletor, his old pupil, in a standoff over her.

Melendy Britt as She-Ra/Adora and Hunga the Harpy

George DiCenzo as Hordak and Bow

Linda Gary as the Sorceress, Glimmer, Shadow Weaver, Madame Razz, Teela and Queen Marlena

John Erwin as He-Man/Prince Adam

Alan Oppenheimer as Skeletor, Man-At-Arms, Cringer and the Announcer

Erika Scheimer as Queen Angella and Gayda the Harpy

Lou Scheimer (credited as Erik Gunden) as Kowl, Swift Wind, Broom, King Randor and the Horde Troopers

Hordak: "You may have defeated us, but you'll never see this child again."

Hordak: "Ah, my old throne room."

Skeletor: "My throne room now, old friend."

Hordak: "Did you think to defeat your old mentor so easily, Skeletor?"

He-Man: "Give your brother a big hug."

He-Man opens the episode with "You say you're my sister, but I never had a sister," and She-Ra answers "I know how you feel. I never dreamed I had a brother." Neither of them knew. The Sorceress, reached through the Sword of Protection, supplies the history, and Larry DiTillio's script hands it to a flashback: the twins in Marlena's bed with Randor looking on, Hordak leaning over the cradle, Skeletor holding the queen from behind. He-Man reacts to the one surprise in it, "So Skeletor was originally a member of the Horde," and the Sorceress adds that "To save himself, Skeletor betrayed his teacher and told us the way to the Horde's secret base."

The middle is errand work. Adora says "I can't just leave Etheria. The Rebellion needs me," and Adam brings her to the rebels, telling them she served the Horde because of "one of Shadow Weaver's evil spells." Glimmer wants her mother freed from Talon Mountain, so He-Man and She-Ra fly there on Swift Wind. In Hunga's throne room they find a false Angella, and "Where's the real Angella?" gets the answer "Behind the throne." A collar that "prevented me from using my magic" comes off when He-Man says "That shouldn't be too hard." Adam then suggests the trip home, since "with Queen Angella back, the Rebellion will have a much better chance against the Horde."

The episode is built on two reunions, a family's and a pair of villains', and the villains' one is the better written. Hordak walks into the skeletal throne room with "Ah, my old throne room" and is told "My throne room now, old friend." They fight, and Skeletor thinks he has won: "I've sent him back to his dimension." Hordak is back on his feet with "Did you think to defeat your old mentor so easily, Skeletor?" Then the fight stops and the two trade accusations: "You left me alone in the hands of our enemies." "And you betrayed me to those same enemies." "I'd say we're even." Skeletor still holds to "Eternia is mine to conquer now," and Hordak makes his offer: "help me capture Adora and return to the world I came from, and I'll leave you in peace." Each man wants something different and says so in plain words.

The family half is the weak one. Before Adora arrives, the Sorceress has told Randor and Marlena only that Adam will return "with a...surprise." Marlena says "My daughter!", a bystander asks "Daughter? I don't understand," Man-At-Arms explains "Why, she's Adora, Adam's twin sister," and Randor closes the scene with "by the ancients, I swear that nothing shall ever separate us again." At the start the Sorceress said that only the king, the queen, Man-At-Arms and herself knew the secret of Adora. The reunion never says what those years were like for the two parents, apart from one line, "after all this time." The audience has just seen the nursery scene in the flashback, and Marlena gets no exchange with Adora about it. The frame holds the two of them from behind while Randor makes a speech that would suit any homecoming. Next to the specific grievances in the throne room, it is general and a little dutiful.

Reunions is worth watching for the throne room scene. The family reunion is pleasant and short on content, and the flashback sets up more than the ending of the episode collects.

1. Behind the scenes: The episode was originally titled "The Sword of She-Ra Part IV". The script was approved in June 1984 and finalized that August. The birth room is reused, and the kidnapping of baby Adora is staged differently from the flashback in Into Etheria.
2. Continuity: Adam tells the Rebellion that Adora served the Horde because of "one of Shadow Weaver's evil spells," and that he has broken it.
3. Continuity: The episode ends with Hordak and Skeletor agreeing to work together (as the closing audio has it, Hordak proposes making life miserable for the Eternians together and Skeletor agrees, like the old days). The following chapter, originally titled "The Sword of She-Ra Part V", is Battle for Bright Moon.