Castle Sweet Castle Review

All righty, we are now into the third episode of season five! The premier was fantastic, a really solid start to the season and very interesting. ^w^ So, now we're jumping back into the familiar Slice-of-Life territory with Castle Sweet Castle! Let's take a look, shall we?

Spoilers shall be present...

Our episode begins with Twilight helping Fluttershy getting her animals all cleaned up. Bathing them, brushing them, ect. However, Twilight is finding all kinds of excuses to stick around, for some reason. To the point that Fluttershy is trying to very nicely tell her to the leave. Twilight won't have it, at least until she gets the idea to help Pinkie out with making pancakes for their little get-together breakfast the following morning.

The Main Six discuss the matter during said breakfast, coming to realize that Twilight may very well be avoiding something. But what? They confront her about it, to which Twilight admits that she doesn't feel like her new castle is home. This is actually a very understandable dilemma to address, and it even fits very well to Twilight herself. You might wonder why this wasn't addressed before... But I can answer that besides just "This episode didn't happen yet"

For starters, the events of Rainbow Rocks happened, which was shortly after the season four finale. For a while, Twilight had been occupied with other things, such as the movie's events and then later, the season five premier. Obviously, these events probably happened within days of each other, if not maybe a couple of weeks. I think it would be safe to say that it never truly sunk in for Twilight yet. Maybe her feelings were there all along, but she didn't think much of them.

Now that she has downtime and settling in a lot more than before, obviously she probably would end up realizing how she actually feels. But now, with her feelings out on the table, the Main Six devise a plan to help make her castle more homey. So they gather every bit of materials that they can and decorate the throne room accordingly. They have Spike take Twilight out to the spa to keep her distracted,

Applejack gives it a touch of the farm, Rainbow with her trophies and posters, Rarity with curtains, flowers and gems, Fluttershy with animals, and Pinkie with all kinds of party paraphernalia. Needless to say, it ends up being a big clustered mess. Although their attempts to clear it out help, it makes them realize they were focusing too much on making THEMSELVES feel at home. But what to do?

Meanwhile, we also pan over to Twilight and Spike, going through some hilarity, and yet, very touching moments. They even go to the site of the destroyed Golden Oaks library, to which Twilight and Spike take a moment to mourn their old home. It even makes Twilight see just how much this affected Spike, as well. Although brief, it was a touching scene and spoke volumes about Twilight's feelings.

Finally, the Main Six manage to find a great way to decorate the castle. When Twilight and Spike return, they come to find a great surprise. A series of gems showcasing photos of various memories since Twilight moving to Ponyville... are all hanging from the roots of the tree the library had once been. Twilight is touched by this, driven to tears, as she thanks her friends. She's especially ready to create new memories, in her new home.

On top of that, they even came to a compromise with adding their personal touches! Rarity decorated the dining room, Applejack added some farmer decor to the kitchen, Rainbow hung some Daring Do posters in the library, and Fluttershy put some stuffed animals in Twilight's room. Pinkie, of course, keeps her party paraphernalia in the form of hidden confetti canons!

This all fits perfectly with giving Twilight something from them, yet in a much more personal way that would benefit her as well.

Overall, this episode was funny, very touching, had fun music, and felt like yet another great start into season five. It almost feels like it's something they would've addressed in the premier, but it was very wise to give it its own episode.

Even with the abundance of comedy, it did not detract from the feels. It addressed a very believable problem and handled it well. Twilight goes through the motions of someone in grief, and learns something very important. That it isn't about what you have, but the memories that come with them. Just because the library was destroyed, it doesn't mean the memories are gone. It's not a new lesson, but it is still a very good one to learn and to teach kids.

I really enjoyed it. ^w^