What have now been dubbed the cliff scenes are all very important to Catra and Adora’s relationship development. And I want to talk about four of them in particular. The one in “Promise”, the one in “Remember”, the one in “Save the Cat”, and the one in “Heart Part 2″. All of these are perfect examples of Adora and Catra both as individual characters and their relationship.
In the first cliff scene Catra returns and cuts Adora loose. She lets Adora fall. Deciding to stop oscillating between wanting Adora back and hating Adora for “leaving” and commit fully to her role as Adora’s opposition. She’s giving into the anger symbolized by her walking away from the cliff and into the black nothingness of the virtual world disappearing, like their friendship. Adora is left hanging onto the thin ledge of the cliff with everything crashing down around her. This is Adora trying desperately to hang onto her friendship with Catra even when it’s all crashing down. Despite the fact that Catra is trying to sever their friendship, when Catra cuts the web.
In the second cliff scene Adora reaches out to Catra trying desperately to save Catra from herself, but Catra once again denies Adora’s help and lets go of the ledge herself. She’s gotten to the point where her jealousy has become so all consuming that she would rather fall to her destruction than accept Adora’s help. Adora can't save Catra from herself. She’s done all she can. If Catra wants to get off the metaphorical ledge she has to decide to help herself.
It’s important to mention that in both situations Adora feels bad about how everything turned out. In “Promise” Adora apologizes to Catra for things that were out of her control such as the other cadets and shadow weaver showing her preferential treatment in comparison to Catra. In the one from “Remember” Adora tells Catra she won’t leave her again. But Catra also decided not to go with Adora. It was a two way street. It’s not just Adora’s fault for the crumbling of their relationship despite that Adora herself believes this to be the case. On Catra’s end her responses in these scenes come from a place of pain and hurt. Catra will not be able to reach out or grab Adora’s hand until she admits acknowledges the real source of her pain instead of blaming Adora alone. With the final two the necessary shift happen on both sides.
In “Save the Cat” the “cliff” scene is when Catra, controlled by horde prime, jumps from the ledge and Adora quickly follows and jumps as well. There is no reaching out for one another but there is a marked difference in that when one falls the other follows. There’s still a gap, as symbolized by them falling at different times and not being able to grab each other’s hand, but they are making an attempt to bridge that gap. This is the closest they have come to an understanding and it’s a start to being able to fully reconnect and be honest with themselves and each other. Right before the fall Catra tries to reach out to Adora, she is done pushing her away, but she still has things to resolve before she can reach Adora.
Then there is this fourth and final one. Catra is now the one reaching out for Adora who is in a helpless situation. Catra is the one asking for Adora to stay and for the first time since the start of the series one saves the other from the cliff. They finally come to an understanding. Neither is lying to themselves anymore and they’ve decided to stop lying to each other. The most important difference between this time and the past three is that Catra is the one reaching out. In the past three scenes it is Adora trying to reach out to Catra (or is the first to reach out) and Catra is the one to refrain from doing so. This is why Noelle said the bravest thing Catra does this season is ask Adora to stay because until this point Catra has been too afraid to actually reach out to Adora and decide to stay herself. Catra in this scene has already decided to stay with Adora this time no matter the outcome. She’s decided that she won’t leave whereas the past few times she was the one who left. This is Catra’s most emotionally vulnerable moment. She’s laying herself bare despite the fact that there may be rejection. That Adora will leave before Catra. That Adora may, like Catra did before, refuse to take her hand. And Adora is, for the first time in the series, reaching out her hand to allow someone to stay with her in a dangerous situation. Adora up until this point has pushed people away and tried to shoulder the dangerous burdens all on her own. Right here she is accepting that she can’t do this alone. That it’s okay that she can’t. And that wanting to not be alone when everything is crashing down is okay. That wanting a future, which she has just decided to reach for, is okay. Adora is more than what she can do for others and Catra is more than what others think of her. It’s a very beautiful resolution to their arcs.
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