My thanksgiving and a review of Castle Mane-ia

Thanksgiving with my family is always great because they're always so snarky and irreverent about everything, and this year was no exception. My cousin is apparently engaged to her boyfriend, and the number of jokes about this was ridiculously awesome, providing my favorite two moments of dinner: Cousin's boyfriend: "This is the first time I'm hearing about this, by the way" and from my cousin herself: "Oh I'm having kids now, before we're even married," followed by my uncle making a remark about how the table was in a time warp. Great fun for all.

Also, I heard something great about my grandfather who died recently. His golfing buddies went to the course to golf without him. One of them, as he set up the other guy's ball for him (he has a bad hip) said, "this is for you Joe," and the other buddy, before he hit the ball, said "give me luck, Joe." He then hit a hole in one for the first time in his life (my grandfather had three holes in one at that same hole, and he wants his ashes scattered there). Yeah, the man didn't do subtle in life either.

Anyway, on to the episode. I watched it right after I heard it leaked, because I am a weak, weak man. For those who haven't seen it, here's a link to a youtube vid of the episode. Also, spoilers ahoy!

Anyway, I waited until today to actually review it because it's also the air date (though it will be showing after I post this).

I loved the episode, through and through. Rainbow and AJ's rivalry was hilarious to watch throughout the episode and felt just right for them, especially their attempts to find excuses for winning by default, and Rarity and Fluttershy's adventures with trying to find Angel and get a tapestry to restore set up the first skewed priorities joke I've seen in a while that didn't feel out of character (Fluttershy more worried about finding Angel than getting out of the room they were trapped in when the trap door opened beneath them) and was overall a blast to watch. And lets not forget the great comedy that they created when all four of them bumped into each other, and Applejack accidentally "killed" Angel. Also, I'm thrilled to see them bringing the lessons back, after removing them in season 3, with a journal. This should be awesome!

The only real issue I had was the lack of focus on Twilight's search for information, though that can be excused for not being as entertaining as the other two subplots. More minor issues include the slightly squicky scene where a bee flies up Gummy's nose, and the bizarrely macabre tastes of the young Celestia and Luna (though my inner writer is already coming up with an explanation revolving around how Discord seemed so bright and happy and they went the opposite way). The Pinkie reveal was kind of meh. and she seems to be more of a cloudcuckoolander than ever, which confuses me, but it's not a point for or against to me.

Overall, I'd rate it an 8.9 out of 10, putting it at the same level as my favorite season 1 episode "Bridle Gossip"