Season Four Episode Review: Three's a Crowd · 3:55pm Jun 12th, 2014
It's time I got off my lazy butt and reviewed the rest of the season's output. As you know, there were four episodes I skipped over for one reason or another, and while I would normally have the season analysis up by now, it doesn't feel right to throw it up before covering all of the episodes individually. It'd be kind of like skipping from a homework assignment all the way to the final exam.
And we might as well get the worst of the four episodes done.
This is “Three's a Crowd.”
TECHNICAL SPECS:
Season: 4
Episode: 11
Written By: Meghan McCarthy and Ed Valentine
First Aired: January 25, 2014
SUMMARY:
To Twilight's eternal delight, Princess Cadance has agreed to grace her with her presence, and this time it'll be without Shining Armor or the world in danger. For the first time in years, the two will just be able to shoot the breeze and have fun at the Starswirl the Bearded exhibition that's come into town. Fluttershy will also be departing, having gotten the chance to observe the Breezies. Pinkie's brain also left town, having had enough of her attempts to murder it by bashing her head against the school bell and downing lethal levels of sugar at every meal, and she's easily distracted by red balloons.
Oh, and Flash Sentry still exists. EqG is still canon. And somewhere, the Round Stable is crying.
No sooner have all the parties arrived or departed than Discord arrives, now colored blue. He's come down with an illness, and his sneezes are causing all manner of chaos. He came for Fluttershy's tender care, but with her gone, he's willing to accept anypony else's help. Dash, that wonderful representative of Loyalty, abandons her friends, and Pinkie is again distracted by a balloon. Discord then infects Rarity and Applejack, leaving nopony but Twilight and Cadance. Fortunately, the Princess of Love has access to shielding magic capable of defending against germs, so Discord cannot similarly infect them...but that leaves Twilight stuck taking care of him. And as Discord's “song” proves, he's a whiny, petulant child when ill, and she's soon at her wit's end.
The only cure, according to Discord, is to brew the petals of a flower that grows at the far edge of Equestria into some tea. He has the two carry him by flying chariot to the site, where they discover the flower is ten times as big as a pony...and guarded by Terramorphous of all things. The two manage to defeat it and retrieve the flower...but then discover that Discord is back to normal. He faked the whole thing. He tries to pass this off as a friendship test – that Twilight was willing to ruin her day with Cadance to help him – but that's shut down when Cadance admits that it was nice to play the role of the action hero for once. Discord is upset that his plan failed – at least, until the worm comes back up. And as it turns out, it's sick, and sneezes on the three. Cadance and Twilight are still protected by the shield, but since Discord was outside the barrier, he gets sick for real this time.
Twilight writes in the journal about how even the most chaotic days can make great bonding experiences, while Discord is trapped in an isolation bubble while being cared for by a returned Fluttershy.
REVIEW:
I'm sure you guys noticed some considerable anger up there, but in case you didn't, here's the for-real deal: I hate this episode. Hate everything about it. Hate every last simpering minute of it. Watching it again to refresh my memory was torture.
Not that the episode starts bad. Twilight going into adorkable mode in the beginning was cute as could be, and her actions with Cadance were also lovely. I even liked Pinkie's joke about the used patio furniture. Up to when everypony leaves the train station, I had enjoyed everything the episode had to offer. Even Cadance's admission to how boring it is ruling the Crystal Emprie is fine; who doesn't love playing the bold adventurer every now and then? But the moment Discord shows up, everything comes crashing down.
This bears repeating: I cannot stand reformed Discord. The guy worked as a villain. He worked as a one-shot character. But as a recurring nuisance, he falls flat. He's not so much Q as the Genie with all the likability sucked out and replaced with annoyance. His “song” is just a long, rambling bunch of nonsense coupled with a parade of pop culture and visual references. Yes, him slow dancing with Twilight or swapping her and Cadance's manes was fine, but almost everything else really rubbed me the wrong way. The guy is just an asshole, but now that we have no Elements to trap him and he claims he's reformed, we have to put up with him...because friendship.
In fact, the whole “friendship test” is an obvious lie. Discord faked his illness to get sympathy from Fluttershy, but when he learned that she was gone and Cadance was with Twilight, he proceeded to eliminate the ponies keeping him from bothering her (who, if he was sick, could have taken care of him in the meanwhile), used and abused her, and then drove her and Cadance to the ends of Equestria on a variation of a snipe hunt. The only thing I'll credit him for is that he didn't seem to know about the worm, or that it was sick; but even so, would he care? The only reason he seems alarmed is because the worm was now targeting him as well.
You know the folks who got upset that Discord so readily betrayed everypony in “Twilight's Kingdom?” This episode is why that shouldn't have been a shock. Heck, Twilight should have brought that up to Celestia the minute she suggested sending Discord against Tirek.
Pinkie is written horribly this episode, as is Rainbow Dash. Fortunately, they aren't in the episode long enough for it to matter.
Oh, and Fluttershy goes to see the Breezies. This connects it to another episode from this season I can't stand. Goodness me...
And that's it. There is nothing else to discuss about this episode. It has no substance outside of Discord ruining Twilight's day, and that's just there to string out one gag after another. There is simply nothing to talk about that won't involve an endless string of cussing and banging my head against the wall until the pain goes away.
CONCLUSION:
Whether or not you'll like the episode seems to depend heavily on how you feel about Discord's antics and presence as a “reformed” character. If you like those elements, you'll probably enjoy the episode just fine. As for me:
Next time, we're tackling “Somepony to Watch Over Me.” I know that episode has problems, but I promise that it'll be an actual review and not me screaming incoherently at the screen for ten minutes.
Oh, I hated the song too
, but for different reasons. Mainly, it could've been the redeeming aspect of the episode, being a song sang by a (theoretically) mad god of chaos. We could've gotten some crazy stuff, like multiple instruments in different time signatures, or some deliberate atonality, or at least it could've been in 5/8 or 7/8. Instead, we get a damned patter song. What a waste of potential.
I didn't utterly hate this episode but I absolutely agree with you on reformed Discord. Fuck that guy. Can't believe they tried to get us to feel sorry for him in the otherwise stellar season finale.
At the very least, this episode has come and gone, and was in no way a 'key' episode, so there's that comfort.
The only reason I can think of why they brought Discord back into the show is because he was rapidly found the most liked individual in the show after his debut. I mean, come on: Voiced by a big-time actor from Star Trek, based on one of his previous roles and an attitude like the Joker, only without the homicidal stuff attached to it. I loved him when he was a villain. When it was announced he was gonna come back, I thought: "Hey, maybe it doesn't work and he gets turned to stone." Then I saw the episode; "Oh. Well, guess we won't see much of him."
And then this happened.
FRD. You can guess yourself what that stands for. I will admit that I was glad that Tirek turned on him. The guy was mostly unbearable this season and this episode stood out even then. I also could have lived without the Mary Poppins shout-out from him. Brrr...
And when he asked in Twilight's Kingdom where his throne was, I actually said to the screen: "You turn your back on Equestria, let Tirek steal everypony's magic, betray your friends in a most horrifying fashion and you have the gall to ask that?"
I will take comfort in the matter that Twilight and Cadance kicked ass together against that worm. Like sisters. I don't care about technicality, they're sisters. Anyone could tell by looking at them.
I found the episode disappointing, but I think it works in concordance with Twilight's Kingdom. It shows that, while he never did anything too malicious, Discord wasn't truly reformed. I just wish they could've written Discord better.
The Supposedly "reformed" Discord doesn't bother me nearly so much, but I still pretty much agree entirely. That said, I still actually appreciate this episode to an extent because of the fact that Discord is just a pompous self-entitled ass the whole time As you point out when mentioning that no one should be surprised about Discord's betrayal in the final, this episode went a long way towards illustrating just how much of a farce Discord's "reform" always was. Though that does little to alleviate the lingering frustrations I have over how ill-conceived Celestia's reasons for even trying to reform him in the first were.
The only thing about this particular episode, however that makes me angry isn't the actual episode itself, but rather the reactions it seemed to garner within certain segments of the fandom. Namely, condemnation of the M6. Admittedly, Rainbow Dash isn't really living up to her element, but then again the characters aren't supposed to be mono dimensional stereotypes either. the way she bails is both an amusing gag, and actually consistent with her character given the scenario isn't a life threatening adventure. Pinkie Pie is exceptionally vapid this episode, but just silly enough to still be in character as well.
No, rather the accusations I've seen levied against the cast all relate directly to their still obvious lack of trust and overt hostility towards Discord. It's like these fans have forgotten just how sinister a villain Discord was, how he manipulated the M6 one by one into doubting their own element before placing a whammy on them that turned their whole personalities inside out. Sure an argument could, and has , been made that Discord had to eliminate them so he wouldn't get locked away in stone again, but if he hadn't been such an evil asshole to begin with then no one would have ever needed to lock him away in stone to begin with. I get the fans that like to portray Luna as the hapless victim of her older sister, I don't agree, but I understand. Discord however is entirely different and entirely unworthy of sympathy. He's a self indulgent hedonist who gets his jollies from screwing with the lives and welfare of everyone else around him.
Anyway, point being that the M6 have no reason to trust or even forgive him in the first place. He can prattle on about how he "reformed" all day and night, but the only thing he's ever done to prove it is NOT turn Equeutria back into an insane chaos-scape again now that no one can actually stop him. In every over way he still acts like the same self-entitled ass. He flat out imposes upon the M6 with thinly veiled threats about how if they don't reciprocate his "friendship" he might go back to his old evil ways.
I could except an argument that the M6 should all do a better job of placating the dangerous god of chaos (who should never have been released in the first place), but not arguments that they are being a bad friend to him, when he's never done anything at all to be worthy of that friendship.
Given just how nonchalantly he mentions knowing of breezie trip through his correspondence with Fluttershy, I'm pretty sure it was his intent to impose on Twilight and Cadance from the start.
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Actually, in retrospect, I sort of wish this had been a KEY episode. If Discord had to be Twilight's key-giver, then at least this was an episode where two of them actually interacted with each other.
True, Twilight was never a good friend to Discord here, but the other KEY episodes were never really about demonstrating the respective elements on behalf of the key-giver's, but rather just being a good example in general and indirectly inspiring them. Rarity was never generous to Coco, rather Coco supposedly observed the generosity the M6 all showed amongst each other. Rainbow wasn't loyal to Spitfire, quite the opposite really. Pinkie did teach Cheese the value of laughter, but that was years ago in the flash back; in the actual episode itself she instead demonstrates the importance of stepping aside and placing the happiness of her friends above her own. Applejack clearly feels bad that he own lies have encouraged Silvershill to lie even more, but it's still the need to be honest with her own granny and the rest of the town that ultimately causes him to change his tune.
...Oh, and as for Fluttershy, well that's something of a rant unto itself, and I've rambled quite enough as is.
Point being that Twilight never had to show friendship towards Discord himself to turn him into her key-giver, she just had to demonstrate the value of friendship in his presence. I'd say that she and Cadance being able to still have good time just hanging out together in spite of Discords best attempts to ruin their day works quite well in that regard. The only flaw, such as it were, is that it's Cadance who delivers exposits on that particular moral and not Twilight, but flip that around and this could have been a surprisingly effective KEY episode... or at least better than the rushed hack job Twilight ended up getting.
Actually, Discord's reformed elements have little to do on why I liked this episode. What I liked was that we got a little bit of world building with that flower, and some actual characterization from Candybutt, even if only a little. I would have probably liked it MORE if Discord wasn't such an episode stealer.
So to put it in layman's terms, you consider this to be an overrated episode? I say this because most other Bronies I've read or seen have said that they like this episode in their reviews.
I agree 100%. this episode sucks. Discord 'reformed' is laughable bullshit and those trying to defend him... ugh.
Now you know how I feel about Party Of One.
this was very coherent though....
Im glad i didnt waste an afternoon watching this piece of trash.
You seem a little harsh:
The main problem is terrible characterization of Miss Pinkamena Diane Pie. Setting that aside, it is a fun throwaway episode. The best part is the visuals of the song.
I do not get the animosity against this and PowerPonies:
PowerPonies is a simple fun story about a magical comic book which acts like an holodeck, complete with safetyprptocols so Spike and the Mane 6 are never in danger. Spike and the Mane 6 have a fun adventure. It does have its problems, the largest being SpikeAbuse.
Ponies are mad that PowerPonies is not the Avengers. The avengers has a dozen times the budget of all of Season # 04 and a dozen times the running time of PowerPonies The expectations of the complainers are about as much in-line with reality as creationism.
The thing is that Season # 04 has some genuine stinkers like Like Daring Don’t which cause massive problems in worldbuilding and canon and have the Mane 6, mares who saved the World on multiple occasions, stand and drool as thugs attack Daring Do. ¿Why do not the ponies go after episodes like Daring Don’t?
The main problem I had with this episode was how much it dragged. Not only did it take the whole first act and a good portion of the second to establish the setup, but a good five minutes of that was set up in a scene where the characters say the exact. Same. Thing. Over. And over. And over.
Twilight: I'm gonna spend some quality time with my sister in law! We haven't had much quality time together since I last saw my sister-in-law! It's gonna be so nice and quiet, me and my sister-in-law, together, having quality time together!
Twilight's friends: Don't you worry, Twilight! We'll make sure nothing disturbs you and your sister-in-law while you have your quality time together! That way, you and your sister-and-law can enjoy that quality time you're having together, quietly!
Discord: I, Discord, who have been reformed by Fluttershy, who is not here because of that thing all of you already know happened, am sick and I need someone to take care of my sickness. Perhaps Twilight and Twilight's sister-in-law can un-sick my sickness!
Twilight's friends: Ooh, that Discord is up to no good! Hey, girls, remember when we promised Twilight and her sister-in-law that we wouldn't let anything disturb their quality time together? Well, that no-good Discord is gonna ruin their quality time together, and we can't let that happen!
Me: SHUT. UP. We get it. Quality time good. Discord different kind of good. Now do something.
Another thing is this: I don't find Princess Cadance that interesting. At all. Now, I don't hate her, far from it; she's kindhearted, level-headed, and a tremendous singer, so there isn't anything terrible about her. But outside of that, she's pretty bland. She and Twilight have next to no chemistry together, especially compared to the interactions between Twilight and Discord. She doesn't even have much of a strong reaction to Discord; she's just sort of there, keeping Twilight grounded when she starts acting up around him. Maybe if she took on more of a mediator role to better balance out Twilight and Discord, they may have made a more effective trio. But if anything, Cadance seems like more of the out-of-place third wheel, like she's just there for Twilight to fuss over. She does get some development when we learn that she can get bored ruling the Crystal Empire, but I feel so disconnected with her character that I don't honestly care.
On the whole, I didn't find the episode bad, just annoyingly boring. And when an episode featuring Discord turns out boring, well, you can imagine the underwhelmment (couldn't find a better word, sorry). I did like the song, though. But only on its own. To have such a fast-paced song smack dab in the middle of a slow and repetative episode is just jarring.