Once Upon a Time in the Waste

**Once Upon a Time in the Waste**

*August 2, 2019*

**Once Upon a Time in the Waste** is the third episode of Season Three and twenty-third episode overall of *She-Ra and the Princesses of Power*.

It was released on Netflix with the rest of the third season on August 2, 2019.

## Synopsis

*Catra and Scorpia arrive in the Crimson Waste and have no trouble fitting in. Huntara and The Best Friends Squad enter Mara's ship to try to unravel the mystery of her message*.

## Plot

Exiled to the Crimson Waste on an apparent suicide mission by Hordak, Catra is despondent over her dreams turning to dust over a single mistake, and she is annoyed that Scorpia accompanied her. They enter the same seedy bar as The Squad had, and Catra intimidates the locals into guiding her to where Adora is.

Meanwhile, Adora enters Mara's ship, which Huntara claims is haunted. True to her word, Mara's voice begins emanating from the ship. Adora uses her sword to discover and open a doorway inside, from which a stream of bats emerges. While this is happening, Catra and Scorpia continue to abuse their guides as they move through the Waste, Catra beginning to warm up to Scorpia, until they walk right into an ambush.

Within the ship, Adora and company manage to reach the bridge, where a broken hologram of Mara plays on a continuous loop. Adora becomes frustrated until she slams a console, then notices a slot in which to place her sword. She does so, and the bridge comes to life, a video log of Mara then appears in a chair. The hologram says that she "barely made it out" and that if anyone is listening to this, they are the new She-Ra, which Mara says she attempted to prevent, and that she will have failed to prevent the sword from passing on.

In the ambush, it is revealed that the one who organized the ambush is Tung Lashor, leader of the second-most powerful band in the Crimson Waste after Huntara. Tung Lashor duels Catra and loses, with Catra taking over his group. Once more in the ship, Mara relates how they had just intended to study Etheria's magic, but everything "went wrong". The message becomes garbled, and the next intelligible phrase is that Mara used a portal to pull Etheria into a completely empty dimension in order to "keep everyone safe", saying that this is the "one place they'll never find us" and that hiding was their only option to save them from "what they would do. The deaths that would follow."

An alarm then begins wailing in the recording and Mara rushes to finish, saying that the Sword of Protection is the "Administrator Key" to Etheria, and with it a portal can be activated, but she begs the future She-Ra not to do it, to instead "leave us here". Mara continues that "death and destruction will follow" if a portal is opened, and that "for the good of the universe, Etheria must stay in Despondos". Mara tries to explain what will happen if Etheria leaves Despondos, but at that very moment the recording ended.

Resounding clapping rings out, and paralyzing darts fly from the shadows, knocking out Bow and Glimmer, although Huntara blocks one intended for Adora. Huntara and Adora are then surrounded by Catra and her new gang, and Huntara blocks another volley of darts meant for Adora using her body, and Adora reaches her sword. But before she could say "Grayskull" Catra rips the sword from Adora's grip using the whip she took from Tung Lashor. Scorpia restrains Adora, although Huntara is able to resist the numerous paralyzing darts and manages to take Bow and Glimmer out of the area.

The band celebrates their victory, giving a toast to Huntara being ousted from the Crimson Waste, to their newly gained loot, and to their new leader, Catra. Catra also has a toast given to Scorpia, and shortly after the pair heads into a side room together where Catra could not wait to return the sword to Hordak and reclaim her place in the Fright Zone. Scorpia, however, asks why they should even return at all. She says that Catra has been truly happy in the waste, unlike in the Fright Zone, and they could rule the waste together. Catra is sorely tempted, and didn't deny Scorpia's claims, but left anyway to "check on the prisoner".

— Catra

Within the holding cell, Adora tries to dissuade Catra as opening a portal could allow the entirety of the Horde's army into Etheria. Although Catra is unconcerned, saying more of the Horde could only be a good thing and that Adora listens to "anything weird old holograms tell" her. Catra asks how she knows Hordak's plan anyway, at which point Adora reveals to Catra that Shadow Weaver switched sides and told her everything in Bright Moon. Catra snaps, shocked that Shadow Weaver left her for Adora and blamed Adora for everything that has happened to her. Despite Adora's pleas, Catra walks dazedly from the holding cell back to the party area. Scorpia gets her attention, but in a fit of rage, Catra decides that they will go back to the Fright Zone, open a portal, and crush all of her enemies.

## Characters

* Catra
* Scorpia
* Adora/She-Ra
* Glimmer
* Bow

* Huntara
* Four-Armed Lizard Girl
* Horned Goon Girl
* Tung Lashor
* Crimson Waste Barmaid

## Artifacts and Tech

* The Sword of Protection
* Mara's Ship

## Transcript

*See: Once Upon a Time in the Waste/Transcript*

## Gallery

*See: Once Upon a Time in the Waste/Gallery*

## Trivia

* The episode title is a reference to the 1968 western "Once Upon a Time in the West".
* The dust storm that Huntara says unearthed Mara's ship happened at the same time the Best Friends Quad investigated Alwyn in "Signals".