>>115082464That’s a good point. I’d always characterised Adora and Catra’s drama as being the main draw of the show but Shadow Weaver is an immutable part of that and the driving force behind most of it.
I think my favourite thing that any story can do is making flawed characters confront the aspects that they don’t like about themselves realistically. To do that effectively you’ve got to show your character’s psychology, why they think that way and how it effects their relationships with people.
What’s so great about Catra in S2 & 3 is that we already know those things about her. We know she feels betrayed by Adora, we know she’s got an inferiority complex, we show feels threatened by Entrapta’s position with Hordak, we know she’s desperate to catch a lucky break.
She ends up convincing herself that maybe finding some kinship with Shadow Weaver is that break. Despite everything that’s happened, Catra is still in the best position she’s ever been in, she equates position with things running smoothly, all her life if she just had a chance to not be the treated like the runt, things would fall into place for her, like they do for SW and Adora. She thinks that maybe Shadow Weaver respecting and admitting that she cares for her is a sign of that.
So when the betrayal happens, it completely pulls that rug out from under her. Despite everything she’s worked for, despite getting herself into a position she feels should give her protection, she’s still losing battles to Adora, she’s having her position with Hordak being cucked by Entrapta and she’s still being manipulated by Shadow Weaver. The only way she can rationalise it is that world just hates her, so that’s when she completely ends up losing it. The only person she still has is Scorpia but that’s not enough to hold her back once she finds that SW only escaped to be with Adora. That’s when Catra decides that if the world hates her that much, then she’ll just end it.
