One Star (Part 1/7)

We begin our journey with the worst of the worst. Thankfully, there aren't actually too many of those.

Somepony To Watch Over Me
Abbreviation: STWOM
Total Ranking: 87th Place
Season Ranking: 25th Place
My Thoughts: Ugh, where do I begin? Applejack's protectiveness, while understandable, is ramped up to truly obnoxious levels. Applebloom's decision to run off to prove her responsibility can sort of be understood as a justification for her actions, but is regardless hypocritical and sends a really bad message. The Chimera had some interesting possibilities, but those went completely ignored in favor of an admittedly cool but completely pointless fight scene. Also, depending on how sensitive you may be about PC stuff, the cajun ponies at the end may be seen as a bad stereotype.
Conclusion: This episode should just be forgotten about by everyone involved.

Keep Calm And Flutter On
Abbreviation: KCaFO
Total Ranking: 86th Place
Season Ranking: 13th Place
My Thoughts: While Discord's antics are as good a treat to behold as always, the episode is rushed, Celestia's motives for redeeming him are pretty much nonexistent and quickly glossed over, and probably worst of all, there are some serious unfortunate implications behind his setup with Fluttershy and the way she finally 'reforms' him. It's easy to get on his case for viewing friendship as an obligation in later episodes, but after his treatment here, I honestly can't blame him.
Conclusion: If you must watch the episode, feel free to skip the last five minutes or so.

Spike At Your Service
Abbreviation: SaYS
Total Ranking: 85th Place
Season Ranking: 12th Place
My Thoughts: While the episode introduced an interesting new facet of Spike's character and shows some development after the events of Dragon Quest, (namely the Dragon Code) it also does so at the cost of his competence and general intelligence levels. Also, the CGI Timberwolves were awkward. I honestly haven't seen this one in a while, so I don't remember it too well beyond that.
Conclusion: Meh, honestly kind of crappy and disrespectful to Spike, but relatively watchable.

Three's A Crowd
Abbreviation: TAC
Total Ranking: 84th Place
Season Ranking: 24th Place
My Thoughts: Another "Redeemed Discord" episode that I can't stand; while unlike KCaFO it's... relatively harmless, I still personally take offense to the fact that the chance to develop Cadence's character more was mostly passed up in favor of yet another fight scene of questionable relevancy, and some of Discord's weakest humor from the show yet. I mean, we do get some hinting at Cadence secretly being a bit of an adrenaline junkie, but it still wasn't quite on the level of what I was hoping for.
Conclusion: Probably harmless for anyone else, but I was personally disappointed in it.

Yep, only four this time around. Tomorrow, (or some time) tune in for the Two Star reviews, 83-75, for those episodes that I didn't hate, but still had some fairly hefty issues holding them down. Once I go through the whole series, Part 6 of this blog series will examine each season and each writer based on my ratings, and Part 7 will be dedicated to some slightly off-kilter statistical analysis and predictions for Season 5 based on the most absolutely ridiculous criteria!

Comments

[Csquared08]

Keep Calm And Flutter On

I'm one of those weird guys who thought the episode was mostly fine. My thoughts can be summed up by the great Scribblestick:

My Top Ten Pony Moments (Feb 18, 2013)

3) Fluttershy’s gamble (S3E10 “Keep Calm and Flutter On”)

I’ll admit, I was skeptical of this episode when I heard about it, but after seeing it (and debating it), I realized it actually has a lot to it. Besides showing how much Fluttershy has grown throughout the series, it also shows just how effective her talents can be, and it all comes together with her big gamble at the end.

And let’s face it, this was a huge gamble. Her entire plan hinged on being able to get into Discord’s heart, a challenge in itself when Discord just does whatever he wants regardless of who it hurts. Had this gamble failed, Discord would have been able to roam free, unless Fluttershy went back on her promise. She was willing to risk everything—even the confidence of her friends, to an extent—to make this plan work, and in the end, it did. For me, this episode really showcased Fluttershy’s strength of character and willingness not only to do what was necessary, but also give everyone a second chance, and while I’m not sure that's advisable in every circumstance, I think being a little more forgiving would do everyone some good.

Spike At Your Service

>not in its own tier at the very bottom
u wot m8

[ColdGoldLazarus]

2547974

I'm one of those weird guys who thought the episode was mostly fine. My thoughts can be summed up by the great Scribblestick:

Fair enough.

>not in its own tier at the very bottom

u wot m8

To be fair, it's been a while, so I've probably forgotten about all the other things it's done wrong.