As a saying goes, "Never shake hands with the Devil, because the devil never does you favors." This is an honorable mention in favorite episodes of the show, it's also an honorable mention in favorite "Halloween" episodes. Also, this is another one of the episodes Paul Dini wrote/co wrote for he shows which is cool as he's one of my favorite script writers and writers for this show and this is another to me that doesn't disappoint.
The only drawback to the episode is "Ram Man" he's not very useful in the episode he's really there to fill in empty space, let alone a joke at the end of the episode which sort of made me roll my eye, though that's chalked up to this common cliche in TV back then where there sometimes always had to be a joke at the end as a cheap device to end the episode on a positive note.
Other than that, everything else is fine, what's interesting about the episode is that "He-Man" and "Teela" are second-string supporting characters as it focuses on characters that's not part of the core group Malek and Karyn. I always like episodes like that because it really broadens the scope of world the characters inhabit and reminds us that they're not the only ones that live on Eternia and other people that live there have stories also.
I even like the villains in the episode which aren't the core rogue group which I'm fine with because it's a break from the usual norm, let alone Skeletor and his bunch aren't the only game in town. From Locos who sort of looks a bit like a flying monkey from "The Wizard of Oz" which you could say just adds to his evil as those at the time scared me as they were just real brutes. Locos is clearly a sleezy con, you can easily see like any con he is just reeling Malek in by baiting Malek on with his own desire, only to serve his own means in the end. Down to Old Scratch himself whom I'll talk about latter.
Malek we see isn't a bad guy but he unfortunately has let himself become obsessed by his unfulfilled desires mainly his love for Telia. But he doesn't really love her, according to psychology it's really his love for the concept of being in love. The problem is Malek has confused and mistaken this as real love for Telia whom he barely knows, let alone never had any relationship with. The obsession is so bad it makes him desperate that he willing to do anything to make to fulfill this desire, but we all know it won't be because desperation never leads to fulfillment but more emptiness and what he wants from Telia isn't even real because Telia just doesn't feel the same way about him and even time hasn't changed it because that's not how love works.
This obsession is also so bad that he doesn't even see that the person that can fulfill his desire of love is staring at him right in the face which of course is the person Karyn his apprentice. I'll admit one look at her I thought "what the hell is wrong with this guy" as she's pretty with persona to boot. Karyn is a person that he's obviously close to as both have spent a significant amount of time with each other and are more than just a teacher and student relationship.
But is someone that clearly does care about him deeply as she expresses concern for what is happening and is doing pretty much what any good friend/girlfriend should do when their friend/boyfriend is in serious trouble.
There's not a whole lot in action, there's a couple of decent scuffle, one with an oversized bird creature and another with old scratch himself. Old Scratch doesn't disappoint as we see the design, which is good if not great, mainly like the eyes which make him creepy and evil. Even like the voice which is just booming which makes you really believe this truly is a deity of pure evil.
And as we see he is uncompromising and unkillable he's a deity after all, but isn't unbeatable, really like one moment when we see Old Scratch trying to squash He-Man with his hand but He-Man is pushing against it, it was really cool because here we see how truly powerful He-Man is that even Old Scratch as powerful as he is can't keep him down.
Really like the final moments which are a pivotal moment which truly show what true love really is.
Rating: 3 and a half stars.
The only drawback to the episode is "Ram Man" he's not very useful in the episode he's really there to fill in empty space, let alone a joke at the end of the episode which sort of made me roll my eye, though that's chalked up to this common cliche in TV back then where there sometimes always had to be a joke at the end as a cheap device to end the episode on a positive note.
Other than that, everything else is fine, what's interesting about the episode is that "He-Man" and "Teela" are second-string supporting characters as it focuses on characters that's not part of the core group Malek and Karyn. I always like episodes like that because it really broadens the scope of world the characters inhabit and reminds us that they're not the only ones that live on Eternia and other people that live there have stories also.
I even like the villains in the episode which aren't the core rogue group which I'm fine with because it's a break from the usual norm, let alone Skeletor and his bunch aren't the only game in town. From Locos who sort of looks a bit like a flying monkey from "The Wizard of Oz" which you could say just adds to his evil as those at the time scared me as they were just real brutes. Locos is clearly a sleezy con, you can easily see like any con he is just reeling Malek in by baiting Malek on with his own desire, only to serve his own means in the end. Down to Old Scratch himself whom I'll talk about latter.
Malek we see isn't a bad guy but he unfortunately has let himself become obsessed by his unfulfilled desires mainly his love for Telia. But he doesn't really love her, according to psychology it's really his love for the concept of being in love. The problem is Malek has confused and mistaken this as real love for Telia whom he barely knows, let alone never had any relationship with. The obsession is so bad it makes him desperate that he willing to do anything to make to fulfill this desire, but we all know it won't be because desperation never leads to fulfillment but more emptiness and what he wants from Telia isn't even real because Telia just doesn't feel the same way about him and even time hasn't changed it because that's not how love works.
This obsession is also so bad that he doesn't even see that the person that can fulfill his desire of love is staring at him right in the face which of course is the person Karyn his apprentice. I'll admit one look at her I thought "what the hell is wrong with this guy" as she's pretty with persona to boot. Karyn is a person that he's obviously close to as both have spent a significant amount of time with each other and are more than just a teacher and student relationship.
But is someone that clearly does care about him deeply as she expresses concern for what is happening and is doing pretty much what any good friend/girlfriend should do when their friend/boyfriend is in serious trouble.
There's not a whole lot in action, there's a couple of decent scuffle, one with an oversized bird creature and another with old scratch himself. Old Scratch doesn't disappoint as we see the design, which is good if not great, mainly like the eyes which make him creepy and evil. Even like the voice which is just booming which makes you really believe this truly is a deity of pure evil.
And as we see he is uncompromising and unkillable he's a deity after all, but isn't unbeatable, really like one moment when we see Old Scratch trying to squash He-Man with his hand but He-Man is pushing against it, it was really cool because here we see how truly powerful He-Man is that even Old Scratch as powerful as he is can't keep him down.
Really like the final moments which are a pivotal moment which truly show what true love really is.
Rating: 3 and a half stars.
