I loved season 5 so much, but especially the moment between Catra and Adora in which Catra asks Adora what she really wants.
Because Adora has been taught during almost her whole life that the only way she will be loved, is if she is useful to other people, if she has some destiny she can chase and fulfill. In the Horde it was becoming force captain and whatever followed after that, then it became saving the world as She-Ra.
And we can actually see Adora hesitating, struggling to answer, and ultimately dodging the question by saying something along the lines of having no choice and having to save the world.
Catra’s perspective is a lot different from Adora’s in this very specific case: Adora will always choose to do what is right, what is needed to save the world, because 1). she sees it as her responsibility, 2). abuse and 3). because that is her way of loving people. The world is being destroyed and she needs to save it in order to save the people she loves.
Catra however has severe abandonment issues and associates love with always choosing a person above anything else, be it yourself or the world. That is why she leaves in this scene, because she recognizes Adora’s answer as a rejection, as Adora not loving her enough to (finally) choose her. That even if Adora is relieved of her burdens, Catra won’t be her first priority.
Like she states herself, later on: “Adora doesn’t want me. Not the way I want her.”
In the final episode of the season Adora gets caught in Horde Prime’s virus, and we get the scene in which Catra is trying to get her back. Note: Adora thinks all hope is lost, like she says herself: “It’s too late.”
But still, she reaches out for Catra. And in this scene specifically, in my opinion, they finally reach a point of understanding, middle ground.
Catra knows Adora will never allow the world to be destroyed even if all she can do is try, but now she also knows Adora will still try to reach her, like she went back to get her out of Horde Prime’s (filthy bastard) hands, like she went back when she heard Catra screaming even though she and Shadow Weaver hadn’t even gotten to the Heart yet.
And Adora finally knows that Catra has always loved her, has always wanted to be at her side. And that’s so crucial to Adora, because Catra has known her forever, way before she became She-Ra, before she had to take the whole world upon her shoulders. And Catra doesn’t care about all that, she just wants and loves Adora for who she is.
They have always danced to the same song but never the same rhythm, reaching out their hands but never at the same time. But now? Now they have linked their fingers and you know what, I don’t think they will ever let go.
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