#wrongdak

Sure, Noelle meant it as a joke, but it's actually very fitting for the episode.

Yes, there's the obvious interpretation: Adora saves the Catra.

But Save The Cat has a more extensive meaning.

A Google Search reveals that there is a book called Save The Cat, written by screenwriter Blake Snyder. This book goes into details about a film trope with the same name.

What is that trope? José Silerio defines it as

"A moment, very early on in the story, where we meet or see our hero do something nice that makes us like him and say, 'I want to follow this person’s story.'"

So how does this pertain to the episode? Well...

Horde Prime believes this is his Save The Cat moment.

In religious language, converting to a religion and assuming its morals is considered being "saved." In Catra's case, she was brainwashed of her love for Adora and desire to oppose Horde Prime.

Horde Prime seeks peace and power by eliminating all desire and free will. By taking Catra's gay away from her, he believes that he saved her. In his mind, he has done a kindness great enough to warrant sympathy.

Wrong Hordak actually gets his Save The Cat moment.

While Horde Prime is being a little bitch, Wrong Hordak actually has his own legit STC. When we meet him, he helps Bow and Entrapta, even though it will change his life forever. (Admittedly, he doesn't know that, but the point is still there).

By showing that he is capable of doing good, Wrong Hordak establishes himself as a good character. We start to follow his narrative arc and care about him, as a textbook case of Save The Cat.

For Catra, this is the part where the entire audience starts to root for her.

While most of Tumblr has happily ridden the Catredemption train since season 1, many casual fans do not. I forced 3 of my friends to watch the series, and in seasons 3 and 4, they stopped caring about whether Catra lived or died, succeeded or failed.

This perfectly set Catra up for a Save The Cat moment. And while we started to see hints of it in early season 5, Catra intended to sacrifice herself, completely avoiding the struggle she anticipated in being redeemed in Adora's eyes. So her narrative was still fated to end.

Then, she finally had her moment. When presented with the chance to die in Horde Prime's control or to return home with Adora, she asked Adora to promise to take her home. She finally believed the promise.

This moment was Catra's STC moment because it marked the instant she did something good for us. All rational viewers want to see Catra and/or Adora happy. Catra finally deciding to pursue that happiness is what allows the audience to invest themselves in her story.

ToA fandom calling NotEnrique "NotEnrique":