Here is one review ahead of the crowd of Three’s A Crowd! · 8:28pm Jan 25th, 2014
When I went to Japan, I was the only person within my group aware of the Cicada’s in the summer. It was quite amusing hearing the rest of the group wondering what the constant noise was, and then one of the members becoming ecstatic over finding a Cicada skin. What does this have to do with anything? Well as you’ll hopefully find out next Friday, it has something to do with the chapter I’m writing.
Fanfiction Progress
It is rather ironic that as I write a chapter involving Cadance to a small degree than an episode with Cadance airs. I was hoping it would give me a clearer, more defined idea on her character yet it seems what I have currently written of Cadance works well enough. My one worry is more in regards to Celestia and her character but I’m sure Ugugg will berate me on that if it is really bad.
Anyway, Friday 31st. That day, while I’m unsure on Ugugg’s schedule to be proof-reading, I’ll be sure to upload chapter 4 of The Shy Knight and the Rainbow Princess. A little more work and the chapter will be done which I might get done either tonight or tomorrow. If I stay up I’m pretty sure I can get it done tonight but if need be I can finish it off tomorrow. I shall! I state this that I shall finish this chapter and send it to Ugugg for proof-reading. He’s quick so it should get back to me on Thursday, I’ll look through it and upload it on Friday 31st. This is far off from when I wanted to get the chapter done by and uploaded but hey, at least it’s in January.
Episode Reviews by Strebiskunk
I personally blame the various YouTube changes as it had only recently been brought to my attention that Strebiskunk had made several reviews for several Season 4 episodes. Now that I am aware of them I can link you to them and let you know of their existence. So enjoy YouTube reviews by Strebiskunk of the following episodes:
Flight to the Finish
Power Ponies
Bats
Rarity Takes Manehattan
Pinkie Apple Pie
Other Episode Reviews for Rainbow Falls
James Corck
Thejboy88
NintendoGal55
Zyr1987
Episode Review of Three’s a Crowd
As I watch the live-streams of the episodes I have gotten into the habit of writing notes divided up in pro’s and con’s during the commercial breaks. My first pro listed in its purest note form goes a little something like this; ‘BREEZIES! BREEZIES! AAHAHhewudfheuwhijaerbfhuei1!’ As you can probably tell, I love them bringing up a G3 related matter, though do find it strange that they are referring to them as creatures (though they do the same with the intelligent and communities enabled dragons).
So then, this is a Twilight, Cadance and Discord episode. Cadance has come to visit Twilight to spend a day of sister-in-law bonding (I love how they always add the in-law part) but then Discord shows up, blue and sick. He had come to get treated by his friend and pen-pal Fluttershy, but due to the opening events of the episode Fluttershy is not present. So Discord decides to disrupt Twilight and Cadance’s day together to get treated by them.
The plot is something I will probably discuss and reveal more of in both the positives and the negatives of this review. Starting off with things is of course the opening which first reveals to us that Cadance is coming to visit and why Fluttershy is not available throughout the rest of the episode. It has some comical moments with Spike, some adorable moments with Twilight and my favourite part of the episode; Fluttershy has been given permission to go and study the Breezies. A simple nod to G3 and set up for a future episode was indeed my favourite part of this whole episode, though that is not to say the rest is bad, rather the rest is absolutely hilarious!
After the great opening we have some wonderful moments concerning the Mane 6 and the arrival of Discord. Each pony has a moment, though I will note that Rainbow Dash is far from her best here. Admittedly Discord is just something that puts Dash on edge (might that have something to do with Discord being close friends with Fluttershy, I like to think Dash is being protective and possibly jealous over this) so naturally we see her quick to flee. Regardless we have Pinkie managing to be random and silly yet also level headed when it calls for it. Her willingness to care for the arriving sick Discord was sweet; showing her greater acceptance of Discord as reformed. Applejack has some brilliant facial expressions and one line which goes completely over the top in how southern it was. Rarity meanwhile has this one brilliant joke with Pinkie Pie when she screams for the group to duck and the moment Discord asks if anyone has a fainting cou… couc… c… ‘fainting sofa’. Yes, there was this one brilliant moment when Discord asks if anyone has a fainting sofa and all eyes turn to Rarity-absolutely hilarious.
You might think I’ve spoiled a lot of jokes but this episode is a plethora of them and many more come up through references in Discord’s song. Discord gets a song and it fits him well, starting off as a sing-song styled talking but rapidly explodes into a plethora of music and sound.
From then on we are given an out-of-nowhere action sequence that is truly exciting to watch. Along with that there is a neat little moral that does well in establishing a little more to Cadance’s character, though frankly not as much as I was hoping for. It ends well and overall, if you want a good laugh, this episode will guarantee it.
Onto the negatives and I can sum up my problems with this episode to two factors that do connect up to one another. The first is pacing and the second is the lack of story depth, the former being why the latter is so badly affected. This pacing problem has been seen before in Keep Calm and Flutter On and the reason for this pacing problem is obvious; they focus too much time on Discord and his humour.
Discord is funny and he often steals the spotline when he appears. That said they focus too much time on giving him the spotlight and not enough time in getting on with main point of the episode; Twilight and Cadance trying to spend time together but being disturbed by a sick friend, a.k.a. Discord. The scene where Discord interacts with Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash goes on for ages, far longer than is needed. This ends up leaving not much time for Discord to inconvenience Twilight and Cadance’s day initially particularly when he has to explain the fact that he is ill and needs to be taken care of twice in this episode.
The inconvenience is also not focused much on. We have Twilight and Cadance abandon their initial activity, pretty much show one scene of them having annoyance with caring for Discord through his song (that sums up as one request) and then moves onto trying to cure Discord. It goes too quickly to abandoning Twilight’s and Cadance’s attempts to spend the day together properly. Furthermore we don’t get much out of Twilight and Candace’s interaction, very little new between them is displayed other than a mutual love of Starswirl the Bearded and one last moment giving Cadance more character development. Discord is this episode’s grace, making it astonishingly hilarious but he is also its one downfall.
That said I have a feeling this episode wasn’t even attempting to be deep. The focus moves way too quickly onto Discord and the focus stays that way mostly. It has a big problem to it, particularly as a matter of quality writing but does make it so darn funny that it can’t help but be enjoyed throughout. Thus I shall still rate Three’s A Crowd a 7.5 out of 10 and note it as a high ranking Good episode.
i LOVE that picture you posted, oh my god that was hilarious! i myself gave the episode a 5/10 it was nothing special for me, only huge saving grace was the song haha
Yeah, I feel like this was pretty much a Discord episode with a side of other ponies when conveniently funny.
As for the Dash/Discord, I quite enjoy how they both openly dislike each other and I think it's pretty consistent with RD's character. She's been protective of Fluttershy since they were fillies as was established in Cutie Mark Chronicles and various sequences throughout the series (just this season the opener and Power Ponies both had RD watching out for Fluttershy, she even questions why Shy is in the spooky castle, and etc.). In Keep Calm and Flutter On, Dash was easily more protective, or at least more openly protective, of Shy than the rest and Discord picked on her quite a bit more than anyone else too. And I think another key factor is that it took Dash FOREVER to trust Twilight without question. I would go as far as to say Read it and Weep, but you can go as far as the Crystal Empire before you can say she begins to accept Twilight's decision making consistently.
Okay, that is a hilarious comic.
Anyway, I loved Discord'/s antics in the episode, even though DailyMotion (where I watched the ep) kept interrupting them (and weirdly, only them) with ads for my local congressman, who I didn't even vote for (single party election for the seat. California's elections in 2012 were pretty wonky, due to new election law), and watching him suffer at the end was so worth it, but you're right about the segment with Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash going on too long, On the bright side, seeing more of Cadance was great, especially since I'm planning a story down the line with heavy influence by Cadance.
Well you do certainly do make a good point about this episode having a decent moral and putting in a wee bit of room for character development for Cadence and the bond between her and twilight, yet it's rushed for the sake of Discord being the centre of attention and conquering most of the humor.
I still love this episode anyway and I think it's the funniest and has the best song in it. I might come off as shallow for saying this, but good characters and excellent humor is what I need to like something without pointing out it's faults. That actually sounds less shallow when I bring up the characters part, but since this episode is the funniest so far, I only started caring about how much I enjoyed Discord and not so much Twilight or Cadence's bonding. So I'm that guy that just switches off his brain to humorous things.
I won't say you're wrong about what you say, I'm not kind of guy. Once I've enjoyed something very much I don't think too much about it's flaws unless their easy to notice.
So okay Threes a Crowd is a flawed episode but it's an entertaining funny episode too
And hey, hopefully later in the week we'll see the next episode that tells Fluttershy story about going to the society thing to see the Breezies!. Hope they're as cute as Fluttershy says they are.
1757760 I'm glad you enjoyed the comic. As for the episode, yes, I do feel I was little soft on this episode. It's humour is primarily it's only strong point but did also include a brilliant action scene and an opening that affectively established the upcoming events of both this episode and the one to follow. If the humour doesn't work for you though, this episode has little else to entertain. Thanks for commenting Josh6520.
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That's a pretty analysis of Rainbow Dash there. Though she is certainly a loyal character, it is interesting to see that her trust is hard to earn, perhaps linked to her loyalty towards others.
I speculated on Dash not trusting Discord as something to do with Fluttershy, though here we're given the first case wherein Fluttershy in not present and Dash continues to not trust Discord. Still, the argument has weight when you add previous moments to it, though it would been even more solid of a reasoning if it was Dash who questioned Discord and Fluttershy writing letters to one another. Thanks for the detailed analysis and comment, Drankito.
1758389 Discord's antics were hilarious, though as noted, than in turn leads to too much focus on his antics. The reprecautions at the end was very satisfying, I'd have been quite annoyed if he had gotten off scot-free.
Seeing more of Cadance was nice, though I'd have preferred more attention being paid to her rather than all the focus going towards Discord. We at least learnt of two matters though, Cadance is also a big fan of Starswirl the bearded and due to living in the Crystal Empire for so long wants to see more action. Those are at least some nice details to become privy to, as Chapter 4 of The Shy Knight and the Rainbow Princess does involve a bit of Cadance. Anyway, glad to hear your opinion on this episode and thanks for commenting, Zyr.
1766266 As noted, Discord is both the reason this episode is great and also it's downfall. Discord makes this episode hilarious but it then focuses too much on Discord and rushes all the other details as a result, details that would have actually been more interesting to see.
I wouldn't say this episode is the funniest so far. Even in this season I have found both Castle Mane-ia and Pinkie Apple Pie as funnier episodes. The great humour to this episode though gets complicated by a great action scene and a wonderful opening; all to which help make this a very enjoyable episode, albeit a flawed one.
As for the next episode, that is not going to be the Breezie's episode. The Breezie episode, It Ain't Easy Being Breezies, is episode 16 of this season. Before that we have Pinkie Pride, Simple Ways, Filli Vanilli and Twilight Time. Still, out of the episodes known so far it is the one that has me the most excited which is something I applaud considering Twilight Time involves both Twilight Sparkle and the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
As for what the Breezie's are like, here is a picture of the main Breezie trio from G3 MLP: derpicdn.net/img/view/2013/1/3/201312__safe_screencap_g3_breezies_zipzee_tiddlywink_tra-dash-la-dash-la.JPG
Thanks for the comment, Funinightmare.