The Prisoners of Beast Island

Rebels gather at Bluestone to meet a Horde attack and talk the timid dragon Sorrowful into playing the guardian who will frighten the invaders off. The bluff fails, She-Ra's ice and falling dome win the battle, and Catra's side carries Sorrowful away to Beast Island. Bow and the others follow to rescue him, but it is Sorrowful who, sitting among caged beasts as scared as he is, finds the courage to organise them and send the Horde running. Friends stand by one another through good and bad.

Loo-Kee: "Did you find where I was hiding? If not, take another look. Do you see me? Look carefully. Here I am! In today's story Sorrowful had a big problem, but he had friends who loved him, and were willing to stand by him even when the going got rough. Being loyal to your friends is very important, especially when they need you the most. Until next time, bye!"

Bow: "Brave? I've never been so scared in my life."

Sorrowful: "Well, being sorry isn't enough. I want you to know that if I wasn't a gentle dragon, I'd take you over my knee and spank you."

Sorrowful: "Uh, next time you want to go and fight the Horde, don't call me. Ha! Just foolin', honest."

Sorrowful, the dragon who weeps when he is not grinning, is told at Bluestone to hide in the village, wait for the gate to give, and then leap out and roar. He has never roared. When he asks what a roar is, the answer is "Well, it's like a cough. Only louder." Kowl adds that when the lesson is finished they will start a class in fire-breathing. The scene is funny because the rebels are so cheerfully coaching a frightened animal to be someone else, and it lasts until Sorrowful stammers "Or I'll have to breathe fire all over ya!" and a Horde voice answers, "That dragon is no threat."

Bow has promised "No matter what happens, Sorrowful, I'll be here to protect you," and then the battle takes the dragon away from him. Asked where Sorrowful is, the answer is "We got separated during the battle." Bow's own verdict follows a few scenes later: "I promised to protect him, I knew how scared he was, and I let him down." That is a plain, believable line for a character who has been the dragon's main supporter.

The episode is about Sorrowful learning that being frightened is not the opposite of being brave, and it has him prove it by asking questions where everyone else told him to roar. Bow sets it up in the cave. Sorrowful says "I don't know how you're always so brave" and gets "Brave? I've never been so scared in my life," followed by "Being frightened is natural. And it's nothing to be ashamed of."

The dungeon is the best scene. Sorrowful notices that the caged beasts "growl and roar and wave their claws" and guesses that "maybe inside, they're just as afraid as I am." Bow tells him "Why don't you ask them?" and he does: "Hello, beasts. Uh, my name is Sorrowful. Uh, I'm a dragon, you see." Then comes the roll call, "how many of you beasts here are afraid of Leech?" and "who's afraid of Grizzlor?" By the next shot a crowd of grey, green and pink creatures stands behind him, and he tells them it is time to go up and say "we don't like the way they're treating us." Later he meets Catra with "Why are you such a mean, mean person?" When she says she is sorry, he answers "being sorry isn't enough" and tells her that if he were not a gentle dragon he would take her over his knee. A dragon who could not manage a cough on command ends up leading a prison break by being polite.

The weakness is where the middle of the episode spends its time. After the gate falls, a long run goes to She-Ra: the ice maker, the big blue dome she lifts over Catra's advance, the swim to the island, the whirlpool that pulls the Horde ships under. They are competent set pieces, but none of them involves Sorrowful, and they stand between his capture and his turn in the dungeon. The seizure itself is not in the dialogue. He is gone, and the next we learn is Catra announcing "I'm sure your pet dragon will enjoy himself on Beast Island!" The fear that makes his dungeon speech work is established early and then left alone for a long stretch, so the payoff leans on a single conversation with Bow in a cave. A few more beats of Sorrowful afraid in the Horde's hands would have given that conversation something to answer.

As a verdict, this is a modest and sound episode with one good idea well placed. The roar he was handed fails, and the question Bow nudges him to ask works. He ends on a joke, "Uh, next time you want to go and fight the Horde, don't call me. Ha! Just foolin', honest," and then says "I'll never let you down."