After about 2 days of writing, I've done it. I wrote a full rant about all my thoughts on C//A. This whole thing is about 10K+ words, and it's not favorable to C//A, so if this somehow ends up in the C//A tag, my apologies for that. I really don't want discourse on this post, so if y'all like C//A, it's cool, but please don't interact with this. That being said...
I just saw a post (I can't find it but all credit to the OP for this sentence) which said something along the lines of "All the other characters carry Catra's redemption arc," which is just so true. Everyone around her just... drags her through her entire arc. She had to pushed into doing a good thing by Glimmer, she had to be saved by Adora to join the heroes... Catra did one good thing but beyond that, she really has no agency in her redemption. She doesn't go out of her way to make up for what she's done, she just goes along for the ride with Adora because she has nowhere to go. She doesn't offer more than a vague apology for her actions, and another way her arc is carried not by herself but by others is that they go out of their way to forgive her instead, rather than her putting in work. They actually don't hold her accountable and just... accept her, rather than her acknowledging her mistakes, which ends up furthering the trend of everyone else having more agency in Catra's arc than Catra herself. The lack of acknowledgement of her actions cheapens her arc and reduces her agency in it, because she can't and doesn't have to work if everyone does the work of forgiving her already. It is the actions and behavior of the people around Catra that make her seem like a good person, not anything Catra herself does. Like, Glimmer doesn't even bring up Angella. You know, her mom who's gone now because of Catra's actions?
Catra's insecurities and issues aren't dealt with so much as they just disappear or are toned down and written to be a non-issue even after we spent so much time building them up. The people around her just conveniently ignore the magnitude of her actions, and the narrative tries its damndest to downplay and excuse her actions, because the writers know they don't have the time to redeem Catra properly if they actually consider the magnitude of what she's done. So, the characters conveniently forget the more egregious things she's done, her more unsavory qualities are toned down, her personal and emotional conflicts are ignored or shown as a non-issue, or even sometimes portrayed as the right viewpoint to have so that it doesn't have to be addressed. All this ends up making it seem like Catra hasn't changed at all. She still has prejudice against the princesses, she still blames Adora for leaving her, she is still selfish and wants Adora to focus on her rather than others.
Her whole problem was that because of the abuse she suffered, she leaned on Adora to be her protector and felt betrayed when Adora left her because she always thought Adora was SW's favorite and therefore had a responsibility to protect her. Catra feels like Adora gets "everything she wants" and feels like she is always overshadowed and overlooked because of her, and that translates to a resentment of her and an expectation that Adora should stay by her side and protect her, since she's supposedly SW's favorite and Catra's friend, so of course that's her job. Which is why she feels betrayed when Adora leaves and she blames Adora for things that never were her fault to begin with. She was obsessed with taking Adora down because she thought Adora betrayed her and hurt her, which is because she was so focused on herself and what she was owed rather than understand the abuse that Adora also suffered. But come season 5 and her supposed redemption, she is still blaming Adora!
I understand the thought process that she is still in the beginning of her redemption and that she has a lot more growing to at the end of the series. I think Catra can truly be a genuinely good person and that she has the ability to change. But the series presents it as though she has already changed. She is not held accountable for everything she did. In fact, she barely acknowledges it, and she cracks jokes about it instead. If it was a one-time thing it would be fine, but there are many jokes about how Catra hates Princesses, and these are treated as comedy than acknowledged as the unwarranted prejudice that she holds. Entrapta even says it's normal for Catra to hate princesses as though it's some quirky character trait and not something she needs to work to overcome.
She also behaves passive-aggressively and blames Adora for fighting her during their previous conflicts when she was always the instigator. She is still possessive of Adora, treating her choosing to save the world over her own well-being as Adora choosing SW over her. Even at the end of the world, it's still about how Adora is hurting Catra's feelings. It's about Adora choosing something else over what Catra wants for her. Sure, maybe Catra is right that Adora is neglecting herself and what she wants for the world. The problem is that she gets angry at Adora for it and takes it as some personal offense to herself, and she makes it about Adora putting someone else before her. Her words are coming from a place of self-interest and not genuine and selfless care for someone she supposedly has loved her whole life.
Even when Adora is begging Catra to stay, she leaves, because it's never been about supporting Adora and wanting the best for her. It's about Adora doing what Catra wants for her, which ties into what Catra herself wants, which is for Adora to choose her. Catra asking Adora what she wants and then leaving when Adora expressly says "Stay, I need you," is the summation of their entire dynamic. In which Adora gives and gives to everyone, and Catra rebukes her for it, but only because she wants all the focus to be on her. This scene would be a lot more impactful if Catra wasn't the person who helped make Adora this way, if Catra wasn't the person who wanted to take away Adora's choices, if Catra wasn't the one who wanted to possess Adora and keep her to herself, if Catra wasn't the one who made Adora feel like she had to be the one to protect everyone else and that she couldn't fail.
Catra wanted to possess Adora then and she still does now. She hasn't changed and she still can't see beyond herself. She still wants Adora, her entire redemption revolves around Adora. She didn't do a good thing because she realized she was wrong, she just did it because she realized she maybe shouldn't let the person she loves die. She's always known she was doing horrible things and she still enjoyed doing them. She knew the harm she was causing, and she didn't care. One line about how it wasn't what she really wanted does not erase the sadistic, gleeful smiles and the world domination and the threat to end the world out of hatred and spite. And the fact that she changed, just for Adora, does not bode well, because it means she still doesn't care that she did bad things, and that she still would gladly be doing them if not for one solitary person on the other side. She's not a colonizer anymore, but it's not because she thinks it is wrong.
Glimmer was held more accountable than Catra for far less crimes, and Catra was treated like she had a mean argument or a falling out with the BFS rather than that she actively tried to kill them multiple times. She did do a good thing, I won't deny it, but it should take more than that to actually be forgiven, considering everything else she did which is like, way worse, and it didn't. Like I said, I understand the thought that she is in the beginning stages of redemption and has a lot more to change about herself. But if that were so, then she shouldn't be in a romantic relationship, or even any kind of relationship, with Adora, her victim, before she has truly done all the work to undo at least most of, if not all, of her toxic ideas. She shouldn't be portrayed as being healed and healthy. How can you be in a relationship with someone you abused if you're still victim blaming them? How can Adora, a heroic person who has a deep sense of right and wrong and is empathetic and selfless, be with someone who still doesn't feel guilty over everyone they hurt, who still carries irrational hatred for the people she loves and who cares only about themselves? Because that's who Catra is. She's the same old Catra.
She may have taken a first step, but that's all it is. The most annoying thing is that the show actually shows that she is still not there yet, and that she still carries many of her toxic traits. She is still cruel and selfish, and she still has her abusive tendencies. She's just not literally a colonizer anymore. These are all traits that the show has shown are bad and damaging to both Catra and the people around her. But in season 5, somehow, they are supposed to be... endearing? It's not supposed to be an issue. It's played for laughs. Her arc just jumps from one extreme to another. All the insecurity and hatred she felt for Adora just... vanishes, somehow. She is suddenly comfortable with being around her and kissing her, but in the finale of the previous season she was still blaming Adora for ruining her life. And somehow three episodes later and with no build up whatsoever, she's gotten over it, apparently? Where did her resentment and anger go? The show pushed for C//A so much that it had to erase all of Catra's conflicts, because there was no real way to deal with them and get her together with Adora, because the solution to most if not all of Catra's internal struggles is to be away from Adora, and that can't happen if they're supposed to be endgame.
It's really obvious that the story for season 5 was written around C//A and not the characters themselves. The penultimate scene in the finale is the kiss between Adora and Catra. The whole confession Catra gives just shows how the show failed to take into account the characters and their arcs. It just slapped all the romance tropes it could into the story without thinking about how it came across considering the previously established relationship between Catra and Adora. For example, we had Catra ask Adora what she wanted and when she got to choose. A classic trope, of course, the love interest being the only one to see the real person behind the hero's facade. Only, it doesn't work, because like I said, Catra is the one who spent most of the series making Adora feel like she had to protect everyone and everything even at her own expense, that everything was Adora's responsibility and that she couldn't fail. She's the one who spent the whole series resenting Adora because "Adora gets everything she wants!" And so, this line coming from Catra as though she is the only one who actually cares about Adora means nothing. Especially since we never saw Catra actually confront her insecurities about Adora. Throughout the series, we actually have Glimmer and Bow say things like "You'd be so annoying if you were perfect," and "we don't like you because you're She-Ra, we like you because of you," to Adora (I'm paraphrasing but that's mostly right), and they were sidelined so that Catra could ask Adora something she realistically has no business asking or even caring about.
Because she doesn't care about it. She still doesn't. After running away, she reveals the reason for why she is so upset. And it's "Adora chose Shadow Weaver! Adora doesn't want me! Not like I want her." On the surface, it's a common romantic trope. This would be a beautiful trope if used in an otherwise healthy and supportive relationship. Watching the normally supportive character finally be sad because they are afraid of not having their feelings returned and having a misunderstanding with the other character because of it is a great trope which I do love very much.
But in an effort to slap it onto C//A, the show neglected one very important thing. It's the fact that Catra has historically been possessive of Adora and has abused her for leaving her and not putting Catra first. So, to have Catra be like "Adora is choosing other people over me! She isn't loving me the way I want her to!" is really weird. Because she's used these same excuses to abuse Adora for four seasons. And to portray this as a romantic misunderstanding rather than the toxic and abusive mindset it is, is pretty gross. Again, if it were a one-off thing, it would be fine to implement this trope. But this is a repeated behavior for Catra, this is something she has been saying throughout the series, and it's something she has used as justification to abuse Adora. The fact that Adora chose the Rebellion over her made Catra abuse her, the fact that Adora just wanted to be friends with someone else made Catra attack her. Now treating this as some sympathetic moment is just ignoring everything that came before. Just because it's toned down to look romantic doesn't mean it's not problematic in the context of their previous relationship.
Again, in any other context it would be fine, but in the context of C//A, it just shows that Catra hasn't changed her toxic mindset, she still feels entitled to Adora's feelings, and her support is conditional on if Adora will cater to her needs and feelings. The fucking world doesn't matter if Adora doesn't want to kiss Catra. Adora is in a lot of emotional pain, she is afraid and hurting, and she needs someone who loves her more than ever. And Catra leaves, because "Adora chose SW over me!" Which could also be fine. Even the most supportive of people can be overcome by their emotions. They can feel resentful of always being placed second. But since Catra historically has an issue of being possessive of Adora and punishing her for wanting something other than what Catra herself wants, or for wanting to simply be friends with someone who isn't Catra, this trope just does not work.
Catra, who spent about 4 seasons trying to hurt Adora for leaving her even though she never did, is now actually abandoning Adora in her time of need because Adora didn't choose her. Her whole speech about asking what Adora wants is pointless because she ran away for a whole other reason, which is because Adora didn't choose Catra like Catra wanted her to. It's just Catra, yet again, being possessive of Adora and being selfish and cruel to her. It ends up showing us that Catra has not changed. Because after she spent so long punishing Adora and hurting and abusing her, she really has no right to expect Adora to feel a certain way about her, and she has no right to get mad about it. And yet, she does, because she's only thinking of herself and doesn't spare any thought to Adora's feelings and pain.
Catra is obsessed with Adora. She doesn't actually love Adora for who she is, she is still obsessed with the idea of who Adora is to her. She realizes she doesn't want to hurt Adora anymore, but only on a very surface level after she's lost everything. But she still hasn't dealt with all the insecurities and resentment she feels for Adora, and it shows. She still believes Adora abandoned her, that Adora likes being perfect and a hero, and that Adora should choose her over everyone else. She is still basing her self-worth on Adora and making unreasonable expectations of Adora because of this. Adora possibly not loving her back is enough to make her feel like she is unwanted, and this turns into her blaming Adora for choosing SW, and she externalizes it and leaves Adora kneeling in the dirt and calling for her. This is exactly what she's been doing all this time! She's tied her self-worth with Adora, and pushed Adora to validate and protect her, which put a lot of pressure and responsibility on Adora. And when Adora left, she felt so betrayed that she tried to murder her over and over, and even then, her self-worth was tied with Adora and taking her down and winning against her.
To let go of her obsession, Catra needed to find new friends and new people to care about her, and to let go of this obsession. She needed to find new value in herself as a person, and she needed to find her own identity and individuality. But in comes C//A, where this obsession that make Catra abuse Adora is a good thing actually and isn't it so romantic that Catra still doesn't have a healthy sense of self that isn't dependent on her victim, no it's not unhealthy or toxic even though that's what we've been saying all this time, it's true love! And it's like... it's not wrong at all to depend on other people and need them. But it has to be mutual, it has to be a give and take. It has to be healthy, and it shouldn't be a cause of pain to anyone. This relationship where Adora gives and gives and Catra takes and takes is the definition of codependency. And this leads Catra to abuse Adora and hurt her when she feels like her needs are not being met. Like, missing someone and thinking all the time about them isn't inherently an unhealthy thing. But it can't literally be the only thing you do. Catra is just obsessed with Adora to the point that this consumes any other ambitions or wants she might have (you know, other than SW's love, and that is also kind of tied to her obsession with Adora). And she can't open herself up to anything other than Adora and her obsession with her, and it negatively impacts her.
This scene where she runs away from Adora also kind of shows this, that it's still just about Adora and how she only cares about her and is obsessed with her. She is part of the Rebellion, a group that's pretty much the world's last hope, and she just... walks away, because she feels like Adora doesn't like her back romantically. And before this, she tried to get Adora to stop taking the failsafe even though it was the planet's last hope. She is willing to abandon the world for Adora, and not in a selfless way, because she's on board with letting the planet get destroyed if it means Adora gets to stay (for how long I wonder, since the planet is gonna be destroyed), and later she abandons Adora because Adora didn't choose her, which makes it seem like she was alright with letting the planet be destroyed so that she could keep Adora for herself, not out of genuine concern for Adora. It makes it seem like Catra just wanted Adora by her side so that she herself could be comforted and validated and loved the way she wants, because she leaves when Adora doesn't do what she wants.
Her leaving when the world is about to end just because Adora doesn't want to kiss her itself does such a disservice to her character. It could have been a moment of Catra finally doing something for selfless reasons, finally looking past her own pain and her own issues to do something for others. To show that she's grown. She once was ready to let the world end because she wanted to possess Adora and wanted to spite and hurt her, but now she is willing to do whatever it takes to save the world, even if it means losing Adora. That's what Catra's arc could have been. Her really realizing what she wanted and the mistakes she made, and working hard to fix them and make the right choices. Instead, we got that awful scene where Catra abandons Adora in her time of need and leaves her crying and alone.
It makes her asking Adora what she wants also meaningless, because when she is alone, she admits that it's really because she wanted Adora to like her romantically, and that thought that she didn't feel the way Catra wanted her to feel was enough for her to just up and leave Adora when she needed Catra by her side. It ends up showing us that Catra still ties her own self-worth to Adora, and that she still externalizes it when she feels unwanted. This is why she is so possessive. She wants to be needed by Adora, and that means that Adora can't need anyone but her. She's wanted SW's approval but was denied it constantly, so she clung onto Adora instead. Her desire to be needed and the way she relied on Adora for her self-worth is why she felt like she was abandoned by Adora, and so she abused her for it. And once more, this needed to be addressed. Catra needed to find self-worth and an identity outside Adora. She needed to be able to love herself, and not be so desperate for the approval of others. That would make her happier, and it would also mean that any apology she gives genuinely comes from actual remorse than her desire to be needed by someone.
However, that didn't happen. Instead, Catra being dependent on Adora is treated as romantic, like an "oh look how important Adora is to Catra, look how sad she is when Adora doesn't choose her!" And the problem is that that's not all it is. It's that Catra feels worthless if Adora doesn't love her back, she feels like she is unwanted and unloved if Adora doesn't feel the way about her that she wants. And she punishes Adora for it by leaving her alone. This is their dynamic. Catra depends on Adora for everything, from protection to validation to affection to her own worth as a person. And Adora, who internalized being needed and being responsible for everything, tries to please and protect others at her own expense, and this is what she does for Catra.
It's unhealthy for both of them, because it causes Catra to place heavy burdens on Adora that reinforces her martyr complex and causes Catra to feel worthless when Adora can't meet those expectations. This makes Catra take out those negative emotions on Adora because she blames Adora, because she can't blame herself. This starts the cycle of Adora giving everything she can (which reinforces her self-sacrificial tendencies and her own lack of self-worth), and once something happens that makes her unable to behave the way Catra wants, Catra descends into self-hatred and externalizes it onto Adora, and punishes her for it. This is why most of their dynamic in the flashbacks and in season 5 is Adora comforting Catra even after Catra slashed her or yelled at her, and Catra then responding with some kind of positive emotion. Adora leaving Catra made Catra feel abandoned, and she spent plenty of time trying to kill Adora for it, even though the problem was that she didn't like herself. And in the finale, Adora choosing to sacrifice herself reads to Catra as Adora choosing SW over her, i.e., not doing what would make Catra feel better, and she leaves Adora in her lowest point.
Again, Catra leaving would be fine if she had been a supportive, constant presence at Adora's side all this while. Because even the most supportive of people have their breaking point and have conflicts with their loved ones that cause them to walk away, and people make mistakes. But having this here with Catra just makes her come off as a douchebag, because she's only been with Adora for like, a few days? And she spent the time before this short team-up hurting and abusing Adora, and now she runs off once again the moment she has any kind of disagreement with Adora. Even as Adora begs her to stay and tries to reassure her, she just shoves her away and runs when Adora needs her most. This could be a standard conflict, except it makes it seem like Catra's support is very conditional on Adora catering to her needs. Out of context it's fine, but when taken into consideration with all the moments in the show, it just drives home the point that Catra hasn't really changed much at all.
She's so dependent on Adora and so unable to see outside that bubble that she doesn't even care about the world that's about to end. And you know, considering that Catra was once willing to let the world end just because of her selfish wish to not let Adora win, it paints a bad picture that she's asking Adora to not do the thing that might save the world, showing that Catra still doesn't give the slightest shit about anyone else other than Adora, which... considering her past as a colonizer who never really admitted that maybe world domination is a bad and horrible thing, is kinda icky. One more point in the "Catra hasn't truly changed as person" box.
This scene also uses the trope of the supportive character putting their foot down and calling out the love interest. Which is fine and dandy until you realize Catra has been using Adora's martyr complex as a way to emotionally abuse her all this time, and she made worse what SW instilled in Adora, that it is on her to protect others with no regard for herself. Catra spent the whole series exacerbating Adora's martyr complex, and the fact that she is the one who calls it out as though she has been endlessly supporting Adora and not actually making it worse, and that the characters who always affirmed Adora's importance and had her back are not involved in this is really gross, especially since the fact that Catra did this is never actually addressed or even brought up.
Catra asking Adora what she wants is... rich, for reasons I explained above. But another thing is the way that Catra blames Adora for this. Adora does have a martyr complex and does try to take responsibility for everything. But what else should she have realistically done? Let the world burn because her formerly (debatable) abusive girlfriend says she doesn't have to save it even though she's the only one who can? Does she have another plan? Is it that Adora chose this option that would sacrifice herself out of other options that don't involve her sacrificing herself? Because that's what Catra is yelling about when she says, "Why are you like this?" This very much is not Adora's fault. And yet Catra is taking the time to yell at her about not choosing for herself. She's placing fault on Adora for something Adora never did. It's so guilt-trippy and gross.
The show makes it out as thought this is about Adora's martyr complex, when it really is not. It doesn't present any other solution. What about this being the only way can be read as Adora wanting to always sacrifice herself? Catra is blaming Adora for things out of her control. And the problem with this is this is a tactic Catra used to abuse Adora and excuse herself of doing it. So, for her to do it again and for it to be portrayed as a good thing is... fucking disgusting? One more time for emphasis, if Catra had never done this before, it would be fine as a conflict. But making an abusive tactic of hers into her being the only one who cares about Adora is really strange considering her past. She should be dealing with things in a different way if she truly had changed.
Again, Catra made Adora this way. At the very least, she greatly exacerbated Adora's martyr complex. So for her to be telling Adora not to sacrifice herself without any push-back from Adora about how this is what Catra always told her she should do, from blaming her for not standing up for her against their mutual abuser to blaming her for the world domination and the end of the world that Catra caused, is bad writing and another example of the narrative bending over backwards to excuse Catra by not acknowledging her actions, and stripping her of responsibility and accountability for her actions so that she and Adora can kiss without seeming like it's still toxic.
And the "fight" part of this trope, the "falling out" part is also really bad, because it fails to take into account their previous dynamic, in which Adora always tried to take care of Catra's emotional needs and was hurt for it. And she's doing the same thing again. Instead of being supported in her hour of greatest need, she is once again comforting Catra and trying to reach out to Catra, while Catra herself is lashing out over some perceived slight that she makes out to be about herself when it's really not about her at all. Again, if it was just this once it would be fine, but this is a constant and repetitive dynamic in their relationship that has been shown to be toxic, so why would you put this at the end of Catra's arc, when her relationship with Adora is supposed to be repaired? I understand why she does it. Catra wants to be loved. She is also being manipulated by SW. That doesn't make it any less of a dick move, especially since this is the series finale and the end of Catra's redemption arc, where she is supposed to be a better person. She isn't supposed to still be blaming Adora. And her coming back means nothing, because even during her love confession, she is still blaming Adora!
The right way to go would be for Catra to confront Adora (even though she isn't the right person for this at all, but if it really has to be her), but continue to support her, even though she disagrees with her and even if she doesn't like what Adora does, even if what Adora does doesn't benefit her. Having her leave just makes her look like a real fucking asshole, and her coming back and saying she's going to stay loses a lot of its meaning. I don't trust that she'll support Adora unconditionally after this, because she's so erratic about it. She saves Adora from Horde Prime but continues to blame and insult her after the fact. She leaves Adora feeling hurt and sobbing on the ground, but comes back to save her and confess her love. This just paints a really unsatisfying picture. She comes back when Adora is on the brink of death but can't be arsed to stay by her side otherwise if it's inconvenient for her or if Adora isn't doing exactly as she likes.
My point is that all these romance tropes that are added to develop the C//A romance just end up making their relationship seem worse. The need to build up a romance in about half a season after having them be enemies for four whole seasons clearly made the writers stuff it with romance tropes with no consideration for how it would come across if you looked at the whole relationship portrayed throughout the show. For example, another trope used is the "character gets mind controlled and forced to fight their love interest," trope. This tries to get you in your emotions by putting the character through the agony of having to fight someone they love and being determined to save them. But again, this doesn't work with C//A because Catra isn't doing anything to Adora that she hasn't already done consciously and gleefully. And the show wants us to forget about all that and get us in our feels about Adora having to fight Catra now, ignoring the fact that Catra has attacked Adora plenty of times before this, so seeing them fight isn't anything to be horrified about. It just sort of reinforces how Catra has treated Adora all this time.
And another line from the finale is "Of course she's gone! That's what she does, isn't it?" Which could be fine, even great, out of context. But it completely ignores everything about the characters. Catra's whole thing is that she perceives Adora leaving as a personal betrayal and as her choosing others over Catra, which is a source of resentment towards Adora. Adora always leaves, she always takes everything from her, Adora gets everything she wants. And the whole point is that Catra is wrong about this! She's so obsessed with controlling Adora, with wanting her to protect Catra and take care of her and be only with her, that anything that Adora does that goes against something Catra wants must be that Adora is taking things from Catra, that she is leaving her. She never acknowledges the abuse that Adora herself suffered, because she is so caught up in her resentment of being SW's scapegoat. Because Adora didn't leave Catra. She asked her to come with her multiple times. She protected Catra with her own body when they were children. She didn't get "everything she wanted."
So Catra spends most of the series victim blaming Adora for escaping a toxic environment and resents her unfairly, because she is possessive and controlling. She spends the whole series obsessed with hurting Adora and showing her up. She spends the whole series being obsessed with Adora, whether it be getting her back or hurting her with no regard for Adora's well-being, because she felt like something was taken from her. Adora running wasn't her leaving Catra, it was her escaping a toxic and abusive environment because she realized how bad it was, not only to her but also to so many innocent people. But Catra was selfish and possessive, and she made it about herself. And this line just shows that Catra is still blaming Adora for leaving as though it was wrong of Adora to do so, as though Adora didn't try to reach out to Catra multiple times and help her too, as though Adora actually did betray Catra somehow. It's still victim blaming, and just because Catra saw it as personal betrayal doesn't mean it is. If Catra really knew Adora, if she was the person who actually knew Adora best, she would not continue to believe that Adora left her for real, and she would understand why Adora left. If Catra truly overcame her resentment of Adora and really was the person who saw what Adora wanted and actually wanted what was best for her, she would know this, and she wouldn't still be blaming Adora for leaving.
Hell, the confession falls apart if you look at it.
"You've never given up on anything in your life, not even on me."
Ignoring the Season 3 finale where Adora glares at Catra, letting her know she's done with her. And she never tries to reach Catra in Season 4. Adora did give up on Catra. It was an important moment for her character in the show, when she finally stops blaming herself and putting pressure on herself and blames who is truly responsible. It is a moment where she reclaims her agency and self-worth. It is an important moment where she rejects Catra's manipulation and gaslighting and her abuse, and it is important because it shows that you don't have to stick with abusive people and try to save them just because you care about them. You can leave. No one is responsible for their choices but them, and you don't have to continue to be hurt. And yet, this moment is forgotten in order for Catra to make her confession. This is yet another trope, where the character is the only one to have never given up on their love interest, except it just erases a whole part of Adora's arc to make this false claim that Adora never gave up on Catra, even when she rightfully did so.
"I've got you! I'm not letting go!"
Ignoring the fact that Catra never has let Adora go. In fact, Catra's whole problem is that she wouldn't let Adora go. She's always been obsessed with her and that has sunk her deeper and deeper. I understand that in the context of this confession, this line seems alright, and it is actually alright for what it's supposed to mean. But considering the overall narrative, I don't think Catra should be the one saying this. Her arc in S1-S4 revolved around her obsession with Adora a lot, and if she were truly to heal, she had to get over it and recognize Adora as an individual with her own wants and needs. She never does do this, because she still blames Adora and gets angry at her for not putting Catra's feelings first. She is still obsessed with Adora. She changed in that she doesn't want to kill Adora anymore, but the way she thinks of Adora isn't all that different. Her obsession was good in the first 4 seasons because it was portrayed as unhealthy and toxic for both Catra and Adora. It is less so in Season 5, where it's not addressed at all, and instead turned into the peak of romance, even when it is still deeply unhealthy. Someone like Glimmer or Bow should be saying this, not Catra, who should have ideally let Adora go.
"Don't you get it? I love you! I always have!"
This is wrong on so many levels. Because then Catra loved this girl, and she chose to abuse her despite it, or maybe even because of it. She chose to let the world end to spite the person she's loved all this time. And we've already established that she hasn't really changed all that much. Their relationship is not healthy now and it's not going to be healthy. Because if Catra loved Adora all this while, we know how this love is going to manifest, and that love won't stop Catra from hurting Adora. Catra still has her abusive traits, she still refuses to acknowledge that Adora was justified in leaving and she still thinks Adora wronged her. She's not attacking her anymore, but since she still holds onto the same justifications and hasn't changed her mind, it will never be a healthy relationship. Not until Catra stops blaming Adora, and sadly that didn't happen in the show.
"So please, just this once, stay!"
As though Adora left her. I already talked about this, so I won't go into it again, but it just shows that Catra doesn't actually know what Adora needs or doesn't know her at all, really. She's still clouded by her own emotions about the situation to be able to understand that Adora needed to leave for her own good.
This confession is deeply self-centered. It's still Catra asking Adora to protect her feelings and do things for her. It's still Catra blaming Adora for doing something for herself. If this was from any other character, it would have been a wonderful way to emphasize Adora finally choosing something for herself, as the character who stood by her side to help her carry the responsibilities she took on also helps her choose something for herself. But the fact that it is Catra, who spends the series being selfish as all hell, who always demands things of Adora and blames her for everything that goes wrong in her life, who is saying this, it sort of taints the whole thing. Hell, the request to stay would make sense coming from Glimmer or Bow more than it does from Catra, because they bore most of the brunt of Adora leaving them behind and "running away" because of her need to take responsibility for everything (which isn't actually running away, it's pretty much the opposite, but that's a conversation for another time). Adora running away from them is due to her martyr complex, which does make her leave them behind even when they don't want her to and when even she doesn't really want to, while Adora "running away" from Catra is an act of reclaiming her agency after learning that her whole life is a lie. And take a guess at which one is actually called out!
This is why I can't get behind the idea that their future romantic relationship will be healthy. Because none of the issues that made Catra abuse Adora have actually been resolved. She still hasn't come to understand that Adora was also abused, that Adora shouldn't have to always cater to her emotional needs, that Adora didn't abandon her and Catra was in the wrong for thinking that. Without these realizations, we can't truly say that Catra will not abuse Adora anymore. Especially since she still shows some abusive behaviors, even if the excessive violence and murder attempts have come to an end. They'll probably have a brief period of happiness, like a honeymoon phase, if you will, but when Catra's insecurities begin to rear their heads again, I have full faith that she will go back to doing what she's always done, hurt Adora because she wants to own her, because none of the issues she has with Adora that made her abuse her have actually been solved. "But she confessed to Adora that she loved her!" you might say. But just loving Adora has never stopped Catra from hurting her before. Catra has always loved Adora. That's the problem.
Any decent redemption would take steps to address Catra's obsession with Adora. It would make Catra develop an identity outside Adora, it would make Catra realize she was wrong to pretend that Adora had it all easy, that Adora escaping the Horde is not a personal betrayal of her but rather something that Adora needed to do for her own well-being. Catra has an image of Adora that is warped by hatred, and that has to change. But we never saw that. Their relationship only got worse and worse until Catra miraculously just... changed her whole tune about Adora with no build-up to the moment, and Adora just forgot everything Catra did and rushed off to start throwing herself at her. This just came out of nowhere. Catra has spent her life connecting her insecurities to Adora. She's happiest when she's not thinking about Adora.
Adora quite literally gave up on Catra in Season 3 and spent Season 4 not giving a damn about her. There was nothing, nothing, that changed about their relationship to prompt Catra into changing her mind. She was even accusing Adora of taking everything from her in the Season 4 finale, and she never even spoke to Adora after that. One talk with Glimmer about Adora doesn't erase years of resentment and feeling inferior, and it doesn't erase Catra's abusive behavior. What the show shows us is that the girls are better off apart. Catra is happiest when she isn't focusing on Adora. Adora is better off once she gives up on Catra. And yet we get them coming together without any kind of proper reconciliation and they just don't address anything Catra did, as though one good thing just erases everything else. And Adora just starts trusting Catra in such a short time without Catra really showing her that she's truly changed herself, like they just had a small falling out instead of the murder attempts and abuse. Catra fights alongside her, sure. She protects her, sure. She also continues her emotionally abusive tactics, whether she means it or not. She continues to be passive-aggressive and continues to victim blame Adora, she continues to be possessive and selfish.
Even her apology is lackluster. "I'm sorry, for everything!" What is this "everything"? Is it how she treated Adora? Well, she hasn't really changed much on that front. She's still victim blaming and possessive. Is it for trying to take over the world and subjugate its people? Well, she has never once expressed regret over it, so that doesn't track either. What even is Catra sorry for? We, the audience, don't have any idea. Especially since she continues to believe more or less the same things she believed as a fascist, so like, what is this apology for? She seems to fall back onto old habits the moment she's been rescued, blaming Adora and accusing her of playing hero, like she's been doing all this time. She refuses to own up to her actions and take accountability for them, which shows that really, she isn't all that concerned about the feelings of the people she hurt. For fucks sake, she literally yells, "I know you all hate me!" in an accusatory tone, like she is hurt and offended by the thought that people could hate her after everything she's done. And the show rewards her for avoiding responsibility by having everyone forgive her instantly.
There's such a whiplash in the portrayal of Catra, that one moment Catra is saying she's sorry, and the next she's pretending like she never did anything wrong. The "It never stopped you before," line is so gross in that way because Catra is being bitter about Adora fighting her even when they were friends. This is, of course, ignoring the fact that Catra herself started all those fights, that Catra was the one who enjoyed hurting Adora, and that Catra basically forced Adora to fight her to defend herself and the world itself. And here, she acts all passive aggressive about Adora having fought her and pretty much blames her for it by saying that she didn't like that Adora fought her and holds a grudge against her for it, when, like, it's entirely her fault? This is like a robber being annoyed at the victim for catching them. Catra has no right to be annoyed about this or to act accusatory towards Adora for this, considering she abused her and tried to kill her. She's the only one in the wrong for attacking Adora. She really has no reason or right to be bitter about Adora having attacked her, and she is not justified in blaming Adora for doing so.
And importantly, they weren't friends either, so the fact that Catra would treat Adora the way she did and still have the gall to say that Adora attacked her friend is ridiculous. She just pulls the friend card out of her ass now just to blame Adora for attacking her. Catra didn't think of Adora as her friend. The one episode they did spend as friends again ended with her letting Adora hang off a cliff to fall and die. And later she expresses that she would very much like to kill Adora herself. Catra treated Adora so horribly and hated her, and yet held an expectation that Adora should have not fought her because they were friends. She still thinks Adora should have thought of her as a friend and not attacked her, showing that she still has those expectations for Adora to cater to her and look after her even if she herself won't let herself be held to those standards, and even if she won't return anything Adora does for her.
She still thinks Adora is the wrong for fucking defending herself! And it's like, do the writers want her to seem like a dick or do they believe this? She's not really regretful about hurting Adora because she thinks Adora defending herself was Adora hurting her, who was supposed to be Adora's friend apparently. So what was her apology even about? She begrudges Adora for defending herself, so clearly, it's not because she realized trying to kill her was wrong, so what is this undefined "everything" that she mentions? If she truly took responsibility for what she did and admitted she was wrong to hurt Adora, she wouldn't be bitter about Adora defending herself!
And this isn't the only time. The line "I know you all hate me!" which I mentioned previously also reads this way, especially since Adora just went out of her way to risk her life for Catra. Catra legitimately sounds accusatory, like she's calling out Adora for hating her, like she's offended by it. Like "I know you really hate me even though you pretend not to, and I've had enough of it, so fuck off!" It sounds like she's calling out a toxic friend group. I actually have experience with having a group of friends pretend to like you when they say horrible shit about you behind your back. This is how I felt, angry and hurt, when they kept trying to pretend to be nice to me when I knew what they said about me behind my back, that I was stupid and weird and stuff. So I get the feeling behind that line. I get why she feels that way, in her flawed perspective.
The problem lies in the fact that it's toxic and is victim blaming, since Catra abused Adora and did plenty of other horrible things, which makes Adora's and her friends' resentment of her perfectly justified. You see, any redemption for Catra would mean that she finally learns that she shouldn't do horrible things anymore, that she finally learns to see Adora as a person, that she finally acknowledges that she had no reason to hurt her and that she is at fault for their relationship. But that's not what happens. Catra saves Adora, sure, but she continues to play victim, she continues to accuse Adora of hating her or whatever without acknowledging that Adora should be allowed to do this. If Catra was truly remorseful, she would accept it. As it is, it leaves me wondering why Catra even saved Adora? It's one thing to be called out for pushing people away, but it's different with Adora, because Catra didn't push her away in Catra's mind. She thinks it's Adora who left her. And she has a whole assortment of other issues with Adora. So, her turn to save Adora makes no sense, because she spent 4 seasons trying to kill her for these reasons, and nothing changed about these feelings when she decided to save her. If Catra truly had changed and realized her mistakes and how she hurt Adora, two things would have happened in this scene.
A) Catra would understand that Adora doesn't hate her, not really. Because she's been looking at Adora from a resentful and negative perspective all this while, without recognizing who Adora is. And redeeming herself would mean that Catra has to acknowledge the truth, that Adora didn't abandon her or hate her, and that using that as justification for her abuse is wrong.
I do think that Adora never truly hated Catra. She was resentful, and she did make the decision to give up on her, but I don't think she could truly just hate her. But she did give up on her, and it was a very important decision which was erased from her arc. Of course, Adora would want to save Catra, but she also did give up on her. I would have liked to see her feel conflicted about Catra. I would have liked to see her want to save Catra but also be hesitant about trusting her and letting her into her life again after everything she's done. As it is, Catra just blames Adora, proving that she still holds onto that negative and flawed view of Adora that Catra used as justification to abuse Adora. And Adora is expected to take the step to mend their relationship in which she is the victim and where Catra is at fault. One vague apology isn't enough to mend years of hurt, especially since Catra hasn't changed in a way that matters.
Catra views Adora in a flawed and untrue light, and instead of her realizing she was wrong and giving Adora a heartfelt apology, we get a vague sorry for some undefined "everything." And instead of Catra coming to see Adora for who she is and treating her as she deserves, Adora is supposed to prove to Catra that Catra is wrong about her, instead of Catra putting in the work to unlearn her toxic view of Adora. Adora is expected and made to put in the effort to help Catra heal, despite the fact that this is something Catra should do on her own, away from Adora. Because Adora doesn't have to do that for her, and because Catra being around Adora will only make her double down, and as we see, it does. She still accuses Adora of playing hero, she still blames Adora for her mistakes, she is still antagonistic, and she doesn't want to assume responsibility for her mistakes.
B) Catra wouldn't be yelling at Adora about how she knows Adora hates her, because she would understand that Adora should be allowed to have negative feelings about her.
Which she doesn't do. She's offended by it and hurt by it. As though they don't have a reason to hate her, and she's unhappy that they do. Catra is still placing the blame on Adora for hating her, almost like she thinks it's unfair. And then Adora has to comfort her and reassure her that she never hated her. She has to console Catra when she's sad about people hating her for valid reasons, and she isn't allowed to assert her right to be resentful after everything Catra has done, which completely ruins her moment in the season 3 finale. The narrative excuses Catra and never wants her to be sad. We're only ever supposed to feel sorry for her and want her to be happy, and that also means ignoring everything she did and the consequences for that. Because actually having other characters have self-respect and rightfully disliking Catra for what she did would make Catra sad, and we can't have that, now can we? We're only allowed to feel sorry for Catra, which is why the show keeps focusing on her trauma and giving more weight to how she feels while conveniently ignoring how her action make others feel and the impact it might have on them, like the abuse Adora suffered at her hands and Glimmer's loss of her mother. Because Catra needs to be portrayed in a good light so that C//A can happen, and if that comes at the expense of other characters, so be it.
Ultimately, there is no reason Catra is with the Rebellion other than Adora. One reason she fought in the Horde is to spite Adora, to prove herself over Adora and take her down. Her obsession caused her to sink lower and lower, and the episodes in the Crimson Waste seemed like they were setting up the idea that Catra would have to let go of Adora to be happy, because Adora represented everything that caused Catra pain. Which is not Adora's fault, and that's something Catra needed to realize as well, which could only happen if she distanced herself from Adora and her resentment towards her and gained an outside perspective. She needed to be apart from Adora. But Season 5 not only reaffirms Catra's warped view of her victim, and also portrays her obsession as a good thing. Catra is stripped of any personal identity or motivation in the final season outside following Adora around and eventually kissing her. She gets Melog, but Melog is like a cop-out for Catra actually putting in the work to change. She says she's working on her anger, but we never get to see her do it, or even why she comes to the conclusion that she wants to work on it at all, considering she's never thought much of it before. She says she'll do it one episode and she's pretty much over it the next.
Her issues and mistakes are, as I said, overlooked or downplayed so that they don't seem as problematic as they are. This is because making all the characters remember her actions would force them to acknowledge the magnitude of all that she's done, and then it would really be a yikes moment if she were to get together with one of them. Because they knew they couldn't make her come back from all she's done within the span of half a season and still manage to completely repair her relationship with her victims and even end up with one of them. The writers spent too much time on developing the enemies part of enemies-to-lovers, and they didn't have enough time for the lovers part to make it seem believable. So, they (the writers) had to gloss over her mistakes and never really address it. They downplayed it and ignored a lot of it so that they didn't have to put too much work into showing us that she's changed, so that it wouldn't seem OOC or just plain awful when they made Catra kiss the person she abused for years with just a little "development." I don't necessarily disagree with the story arc they planned for her, and I don't think that she's irredeemable or anything, even as she got worse and worse. But her actual turn was rushed to hell and back, and it cheapened her whole story, because if all it took was a few vague apologies, getting a haircut and one good action after a lifetime of evil, then what was all that build-up for?
There was not enough of a resolution for all that build-up, and that hurts all the characters. It hurts Adora's character, who's inspiring moment of asserting her self-worth and choosing to stand up for herself is forgotten in order to have her go back to falling over Catra and trying to reach out to her while getting none of it back again, with no acknowledgement of the fact that she once gave up on Catra entirely. It hurts Glimmer's character, whose grief over her mother is invalidated when she barely spares a mean look to the person responsible for it and smilingly invites her to sit next to her. It hurts Entrapta's character, when the pain she suffered at Beast Island where she was sent to die after being betrayed by someone she thought was a friend was diminished, and all was forgiven with just one sorry from Catra. It hurts Scorpia's character, when she forgave Catra in an instant without even a proper apology even though her whole arc was about standing up for herself and asserting her self-worth and that she deserves to be treated well. It hurts characters like Bow and the others who Catra hurt, who were stripped of their self-respect and rightful hatred of her and who accepted her immediately, because any of them actually not forgiving Catra would make her sad and that's not allowed. And it hurts Catra's character, who could have been an inspiring and wonderful character, who showed us that no matter how far you fall, you can still improve yourself, and you can still find a better life. We could have gotten so much, and their stories could have cemented themselves as one of the most nuanced and compelling stories of all time, with wonderful and uplifting messages that show people that they aren't alone, and that all hope is not lost. That they can change, and choose their own path, and find happiness and love and a better life.
Instead, we got SPOP season 5.
