Retro Reviews Season 2: Lesson Zero · 3:57am Oct 25th, 2014
This has been a busy week here, so there isn't much to report on the writing front. Hopefully the next one will be more fruitful. Also, looking forward to seeing Rainbow Rocks since I have heard that it is supposed to be fairly good. Until then, have the next review after the break.
Twilight Sparkle is my favourite pony, as surprising as that is. */massive sarcasm* So, I was pretty much going to like any episode with her as the main focus regardless, even if she was shoehorned into a few episodes last season just for the sake of having her deliver the moral. We'll get to why that isn't a concern later and why I am thankful for the possibility of LESS of my favourite lavender pony, but I suppose we should really talk about the episode itself before we get into the future of the series.
"Don't forget to add 'Get rid of the failed clone', Spike... On that note, we also need some Lye."
~Story~
Lesson Zero commences with Twilight Sparkle and Spike getting started on a new day. Ever the prepared one, Twilight has not only comprised a checklist for the day, but a checklist for things needed in the CREATION of a checklist. Nothing new there, so let's move along. After the opening, Twilight and Spike are walking down the streets in Ponyville while going over the last things for the day's checklist. They stop in at Sugarcube Corner to pick up some cupcakes for a picnic she and the rest of the girls are going to in the afternoon. However, there is a serious problem. One cupcake has too much frosting! Er... okay. Twilight 'doctor's' (or rather butchers) the icing until they are equal amounts on all 13 (when she specifically ordered 12) cupcakes and goes about on her merry way. But wait, there's a much more serious problem: when she gets home, she realizes that she has not sent a letter to Princess Celestia for that week, and it's due by sundown!
In desperation, the purple pony goes to her friends, seeking out a problem she can help with in order to make her report on time. At first, she finds Rarity, who has lost a ribbon needed for a dress... but then she finds it just as Twilight makes her proclamation to assist. So, she decides to see what Applejack is up to, only to find that Rainbow is destroying her barn, much to her delight since the pegasus must hate AJ's guts! But then it turns out the farmer hired her to destroy the barn so they could raise a new one. Dejected, she leaves instantly and finds herself on the path to Fluttershy's home, whom she realizes is so shy and timid that she must have a problem she can help with. She arrives at her house and finds, however, that sh-holy s***! O__o Did she just? Uh... I... I don't know what to say to that. Moving on... she eventually comes to the picnic and confesses her problem to her friends, but they laugh her off as such a small thing cannot possibly be so bad. Haha... they have no idea.
With the clock ticking and sundown approaching, Twilight becomes more desperate and realizes that if she cannot find a friendship problem, than she will make a friendship problem! To this end, she digs out an old doll from a chest she has named Smarty Pants. She then finds the Cutie Mark Crusaders playing with a ball in a field and teleports INTO the ball, making it explode. Losing her grip on reality, she tries and fails to capture the girls' interest in her old toy, causing her to hex it. But things get out of control as half the town sees the doll in the squabble and lusts after it too. At sundown, Princess Celestia comes and fixes the mess, but isn't happy at all and tells her to meet her at the library. Fearing they will never see their friend again, the others come and try to dissuade the princess. She smiles and says that from now on, she wants them ALL to write her friendship letters, but makes the important distinction to only send them when they LEARN a lesson. She leaves, teleporting via the moon and all the girls write their first letter. The end.
The face most students make when they realize they have a test they did not study for the next day in a couple of hours.
~Talking Point~
This episode is obviously to help establish the character of Twilight Sparkle. Sure, in past episodes, she has shown some skepticism, but usually she was in the right to be so. Until today, she was a little bit of a Mary-Sue, admittedly, if only because there where no detrimental flaws to her character outside of a few nuances. However, with this one we now know that she is an over-achieving and neurotic time bomb when it comes to even the most remote chance of failing in the eyes of herself or her Princess. It is very typical in a character type such as herself, but sprinkle in a bit of magic, a few memorable expressions and her almost voice-cracking outbursts and you have a maniacal meltdown to remember.
O_O HOLY SHI(yay~!)!!
[Until seasons three and four, this episode was, and remains, an early Crowning Moment of Awesome for Twilight. Not because it made her seem like a bad flank-kicker, but because it broke down her character in a way that rivaled, and in some ways, surpassed the earlier Party of One. The previous episodes to air set a high bar for the season, and this one and the next vaulted over it spectacularly. This episode rounded out one of the most important characters in the show, and has become a fan favourite still to this day. Not much more can be said about it other than that my initial thoughts remain largely unchanged.]
"I wants the precious!"
~Likes and Dislikes~
If I were to make a full comprehensive list of all the things I liked about this episode, this could go on for a long time. So, instead I will just pick my top three and move on to things that were less than stellar. The first thing to catch my eye was that the changed the colour of magic for Twilight, Rarity and Celestia: they are now more burgundy, a more vivid blue and golden yellow where they used to be lavender, blue and light blue respectively. There was also the motion of the sun and the windmill to simulate the moving hands of a clock, which I thought was a nice touch. Finally, Tara Strong delivered a very impressive performance in this episode, with a wide vocal range as Twilight fell deeper into a stress-induced mania.
Now, as for the things I liked a little less than the rest, I would have to say the foremost thing was the cupcake scene. Not only does it bring to mind a certain, nameless fan fiction, but it also feels a bit off. I know it's to establish that Twilight has a touch of mania in her normal life, but we've seen her in similar situations like that before and yet she did not freak out then. At least not over something so very petty. Secondly, it is implied that Spike knows the extent of Twilight's anxiety problems and that these breakdowns are a thing. Heck, he ever foreshadows it when he says "This won't end well." So, how come he delayed what we can assume is HOURS to tell the princess? Of course, we can never know when he actually sent the letter, or when sun-butt finally got around to reading it, but he could have at least told the others this was a thing so they would be prepared. Finally, I'm not sure I like how Celestia acted like she was going to punish Twilight when her friends came in. I mean, we all KNOW she was going to let her off. *Shrugs*
I think I saw this in The Shining. o.o;
~Conclusion~
So all in all, Lesson Zero was a very strong episode creating timeless moments and memes galore, I am sure. It will be hard to top and surpasses the bar set by the opening episodes. So, if you were to lock me in a room with our purple manic mare and she had just failed a test, I would give this episode a crazy 90/100. There are a couple of flaws, but they are there to help the plot for the most part, so they do not detract too much from the overall experience.
Next week, the Princess of the Night hath returned! It is Nightmare Night and the monarch of the moon, Princess Luna comes to Ponyville to help celebrate. But a lot changes in a millennium. Can the old-mannered mare manage to adapt to the present, or will the timid townsfolk find Luna Eclipsed by her alter ego, Nightmare Moon? Until then, this is Ciroton saying, "Don't walk down the road of life. Hitchhike! It's faster."
Now THAT is a Sonic Rainboom that Micheal Bay would be proud of.
We did have hints that Twilight could go this crazy doing what she and she alone thinks will please somepony who just wanted her to be happy last season. I recall her going bug-eyed with terror trying to sell Fluttershy on doomsday scenarios as regards Philomena's transitive state of location. The only difference now is that they sort of take her seriously. This need to freak out over nothing is going to backfire on her when her doomsday proclamation happens to be right, though.