"Castle Sweet Castle" Review and A Discussion on Spike · 7:55am Apr 12th, 2015
Well this episode was weird. Not the "bad" kind of weird. Just... weird in general. Alright guys. It's time for the"massively late because he couldn't get home until a few hours ago" blog. This week, let's discuss "Castle Sweet Castle" after the page break.
I enjoyed this episode, although I'd probably never watch it again willingly. This blog is probably going to be smaller compared to the last one since there isn't an entire villain to talk about, moreso the conveyance choices of these two new writers, who I haven't heard of until now. I heard that they previously wrote for Johnny Test (a show I haven't seen but heard was average).
For new writers, this episode was surprisingly good. I felt the dialogue was excellent in more ways than one, and flowed from scene to scene to the point that I forgot that the show was a half hour long. I loved the fast pace of the remaining 5 Elements getting so caught up in decorations that they pile everything into the castle and then have to start from scratch. Act one practically whizzed by in a flash, but in a good way since I didn't feel dragged along. The dialogue brought me through all of act 1. The only problem was the song.
It's hard to defend the song. The melodies were all over the place, despite the enjoyable lyrics. You just kind of had a mishmash of the "Crystal Ponies" song that didn't really work, thematically or otherwise. Perhaps if they had more time, they could have extended the song and made it work, but Ingram dropped the ball on this song, unfortunately. Pity, since the premiere's song was so strong.
Passive aggressive Fluttershy is a really good way to use her character for anger. It's a mix between the doormat pony that we all know and love, and the lessons from season 2. I'm surprised that more writers aren't using her in this way, since it seems to just FIT her so well. But then again, she isn't angry that much.
Bulk Biceps being a masseuse is hilarious. We got some Spa pony voices (again), which is awesome. Speaking as someone who has had a deep tissue massage before, what Spike looked like was practically correct. Deep tissue massages will fuck you up.
Spike's stalling was fun and enjoyable. Acts 2 and 3 passed by really quickly, I feel. It's probably the combination of only being 1 episode and the fact that I didn't really feel like I was watching one. It just kinda, happened before my eyes and I enjoyed it.
The memory chandelier was an excellent finisher to act 3. I can imagine that the memories would be easily pulled out of the gemstones like a projector or Pensieve from Harry Potter, so such a decoration was perfect for the main throne room. I am getting memories of Celestia sending all of Twilight's friendship letters down during Return of Harmony Part 2, and I feel that the chandelier could have the same subtle effect. Whenever Twilight feels alone or simply sighs as she walks through the many empty halls, she can go into the main hall, past all of her friend's decorations, and pull up a memory or look at her friend's thrones to remind her that she is never alone. Along with that, she could always add to the chandelier later. It's subtle and it's nice.
We definitely needed this episode. Naturally, I wish the fandom would slow down to let the show actually do its job, since I knew we were going to get a good episode that would put the Golden Oak Library to rest. We simply had to wait for delivery. There's no Amazon Prime for our episodes, unfortunately. Maybe in heaven.
Nevertheless, if there was one thing I'd change about the episode, it would be the song. It just doesn't work. Perhaps just give Daniel more time to come up with a differing melody, or eliminate it altogether and just have no song. The episode might have been better for it. I'll take no song over a crappy one any day of the week.
And thus, my conversation turns to Spike, the character that had many on their hands and knees, praising the writers for bringing up Spike and having him in the episode. I'm not surprised by a lot of Spike fans' reactions, since I was annoyed back when Pinkie had two of three episodes of simply being written wrong (Three's a Crowd for example), so not having your favorite character in the mix at all would suck.
But at the same time, Pinkie is not in every episode, and that's what I prefer. While being best pony, Pinkie doesn't belong in every episode. I believe that we have collectively agreed as a fandom that some episodes would have been better if the entire ensemble cast wasn't there. I feel the same way about Spike.
Now, don't get me wrong. I like the idea of Spike. I love children characters, especially when they are done well or lurk in the background until they have that final word or sentence that simply tears down another character emotionally. I'm thinking of Breaking Bad, Louie, movies like Mrs. Doubtfire, or games like The Walking Dead. Spike is a child character, and I fully believe that he is a good character, but I couldn't really pinpoint what made me so ambivalent towards him compared to the "Spike fans" out there. I really couldn't care less if he was or wasn't in an episode (except for ones where it's obvious he is needed, like Simple Ways). However, I found out upon seeing this episode: he's a worse Applejack.
Spike in the beginning of the show was used as the comic relief character through mostly the use of his childlike innocence and honesty. However, we have Applejack, who is now practically with Twilight all the time now, filling in for the honesty that's needed. At the same time, we had interesting episodes about Spike finding himself despite being a child, questioning who he is or why he is the way he is. Notice how we have the same episodes with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Sleepless in Ponyville and The Great Dragon Migration episode for example. Spike's reasons for his character have practically been used up, apart from the romantic Rarity arc that I really hope is never the focus of another episode (or perhaps just one to put it to bed). As nice as it would be to see Spike find love, he's too young. MAYBE at the end of the final season of the show, he could find something. Or not. Dragons take forever to grow, so he's probably gonna stay the same till the final episode.
Now, at the same time, I'm not going to handwave the, for lack of a better word, caustic attitude that the writers had for Spike back in previous seasons. He was the butt of many a unnecessary joke back in the day. You could say he was "saved" in Season 4 with the Equestria Games, but even then I see so many Spike fans go on the defensive whenever he's not with the Main 6 (such as the premiere), or even the butt of a harmless joke.
I can understand if some Spike fans feel that it's a "cop out" or "contrived" whenever he goes off to do something else other than try to save Equestria with the Main 6, but feelings don't make it true. If he isn't necessary in the episode (such as the premiere, due to his lack of a cutie mark and overall lack of theming that he would have with the Cutie Unmarking process and status of such an effect), then I'd cut him loose. Spike's a smart kid. That's true. But he's also ignorant about a lot of topics, possesses child-like honesty, and prefers satisfaction now as opposed to later (such as the gem cake in the babysitting episode, both with his gem eating and leaving the pets with the CMCs). IE: He's a kid. I've been around kids. I've spent time with them, and have two in my life that I see almost every day. Kids are different characters, altogether.
They're all over the place. They can surprise you one day, and completely disappoint you the next. Which Spike does. I'm sure Twilight would have loved to bring Spike along to help them in the premiere, but Spike wanted to hang out with Big Mac. And who is Twilight to disagree? Parents would understand the feeling. It's hard to say no.
I feel that the Spike fans should really understand that there isn't much of the grandiose nature that's left to do with him. Spike is at his best when he is working off of other characters, injecting quick annoyed stares or one liners (his stare in Simple Ways is still one of his best moments), or perhaps not being in the episode at all. His childlike honesty has a very specific niche, and it's being put to its best potential when it isn't being done better by Applejack or Pinkie. His tales of self discovery were esoteric as well, since they were being done better by the CMCs and the Elements themselves.
I don't plan on watching this episode again. I usually don't watch the episodes again because I don't have the time, but I have less of a desire to rewatch it now because the first thing I think of is the negative connotations that everyone puts towards the episode, which I practically shrugged off with the premiere. Maybe it's me. With this episode, all I saw was the inevitable ceiling of expectations everyone had for the Golden Oaks Library being put to rest, along with the Spike fans coming out of the woodwork to whine about how Spike needs to be used more often, despite his role being esoteric and overdone at best. Along with that, the only reason that he worked in this episode was because he was used when he was needed, not thrown in for no reason and left to stand around.
So, yeah. Really good episode, but I've seen probably too many opinions of it to watch it again. This episode is probably one of the best examples of dialogue flow, apart from the crippling song. An excellent entry by these two new writers into the show. Welcome aboard.
8.5/10
See you next week.
- Vicodin
420
Haha, get it, because the roots are hanging from the ceiling of the castle because they chopped up the remainder of the tree despite the fact that it probably could have started growing again in time but did they care nooo because that's all the library deserved >:V
Seriously? I love deep tissue massages.
Should read: "Whenever Twilight feels alone or simply sighs as she walks through the many empty halls, she can go into the main hall, past all of her friend's decorations, and gaze at the dead carcass of her old home, from which good memories hang for any to see, or look at her friend's thrones to remind her that she is never alone. (...)"
But yeah, I can see how that would be nice.
They should also understand that despite their insistence in this site, Spike is not Ichigo Kurosaki or anything similar.
This. Forever. Best Spike scenes are always like that. From Season one all to the moment when Bulk Biceps picked him up in his mighty pecs and went through a wall with him to massage him. As for self discovery... I think Spike really has the same problem as AJ... his personality is there and its so well established and he plays as the straight man so often, there's very few things you can possibly do with him credibly in less than 50k words.
So who else kept thinking about the tree chandler falling
2975774
Larson is the god that you think Faust is.