A second look at "Bloom and Gloom" · 8:55pm Apr 25th, 2015
I'm not alone! I thought I was the only one, but I'm not! It feels so wonderful to know there are people out there like me!
So I still hate this episode. There were so many long, interesting, well thought out responses to my previous blog post, I couldn't let it rest. I watched it a second time and made an attempt to really analyze my feelings. Is it really as bad as I said it was? Is it bad on a technical level, or do I just disagree with it personally? What is it, exactly, that I don't like about it?
After some soul-searching, here's what I've figured out.
Cutie Marks aren't "Ruined Forever"
I watched the episode a second time, especially the part where Luna explains cutie marks. This time, I paid very close attention to the exact wording of her explanation. I don't think I have a problem with what she says! I think I read way too much into this conversation the first time, and it isn't nearly as restrictive in terms of morality and storytelling potential.
I still don't like what it tells Apple Bloom in this specific case. And I don't like how ridiculously, childishly simplistic this message is. But as worldbuilding goes, for a cartoon show aimed at little girls, It's not offensive or anything. It might be a bad premise for a story--or more likely a good premise that was badly executed--but it's certainly a good message for kids. No argument there.
Apple Bloom Does Nothing
Protagonists need to have agency. They do a thing, and something happens because of that thing they did. Maybe something good happens. Maybe something bad. But it's something, and then the protagonist has to go do something else in response.
All throughout the episode, Apple Bloom has things happen to her. She does nothing significant herself. Even worse: during the final confrontation, Luna doesn't even deal with the threat: she simply explains that there was never any threat to begin with. This is a fundamentally broken plot element and I will fight you to the ends of the earth if you say otherwise. We will take up pistols at dawn, and you will know the truth in hell.
Thinking back on it, there are hints of this in another episode. In "For Whom The Sweetie Belle Toils," Sweetie Belle thinks back on all the times her big sister upstaged her. Then Luna shows up in her dream and explains, point by point, how everything Rarity did, she did for Sweetie Belle's benefit. I liked that episode just fine but, thinking back on it, it has a touch of "Dear Miss Protagonist: Here's a spreadsheet explaining why everything you say and think is wrong." But at least in that episode, Luna actually shows Sweetie Belle those past events from a viewpoint she never experienced. Much like Ebeneezer Scrooge, Sweetie Belle was shown things from her past from a different point of view, and came to the ultimate realization of her own accord. Bloom and Gloom had none of that.
It's a subtle difference. Extremely subtle. Handled by a different writer or director, this episode could have been great. But as it is, I Just can't tolerate it.
Okay then, Smartass. How would you do it?
Applebloom experiences only two nightmare loops on her own. The first one seems real, but by the end of it Apple Bloom and the viewer both realize she's dreaming. The second dream loop is creepy and surreal, obviously a nightmare, but there are hints of "if you die in your dream, you die for real." Near the end of the second dream, Apple Bloom sees Luna out of the corner of her eye. Luna calls out "You can't escape your own fears" in a cryptic and vague manner, then turns to leave. Apple Bloom chases after her, while she herself is chased by the creepy smiling face.
Applebloom sees Luna go through a "door in space," and manages to dive through just before it slams shut. She finds herself in a different place entirely, and realizes she's somehow entered Sweetie Belle's dream. She sees Sweetie Belle suffering through a similar nightmare: Applebloom realizes that while her own nightmare felt super-real, other people's fears can seem silly and harmless. Cue an action scene where Bloom kung-fu fights the elements of Sweetie Belle's dream, and then snaps her out of it and explains they're both asleep. Together they seek out another door without Luna's assistance, enter Sweetie Belle's dream, and rescue her in a similar fashion.
In the climax, all three CMCs are transported to the woods, surrounded by creepy smiling faces that want to do awful things to them. When all seems lost, Apple Bloom remembers Luna's cryptic words. She makes the connection that these aren't mysterious creatures or evil spirits... They are the CMC's own crippling self doubt! They created them themselves, and only they can defeat them. Once they realize this, the faces melt away into nothing (In the style of "Giggle at the Ghosties"), and the spooky woods are soon lit up by a full moon. Luna comes down and tells them "the power was in you all along," or something similarly cheesy.
Cut to denouement at the CMC's clubhouse. We get the exact same speech about what a cutie mark really is, except this one is told by the CMC's: they figured it out all on their own, and Luna nods and smiles in agreement. Ice cream and balloons for all. Luna leaves, and they all wake up. However, there are hints that the CMCs now have the ability to find Dream Doors without Luna's assistance: they can now visit each other's dreams whenever they want, ensuring they'll never be alone for long. This "dream jumping" might come in handy in a later episode, playing a small but critical role: perhaps they could help Luna with a particularly troublesome dream job, and inadvertently repay her by teaching her an important lesson ("From the mouths of babes," and all that). Or they could help the Mane Six after they get trapped in a dream-like dimension such as Tartarus or Limbo. Maybe children are more powerful in dreams than adults are, because they have stronger imaginations.
Yeah... that woulda been awesome.
Yes, the CMC's are still Officially "Dead to Me"
Yes, I know how melodramatic that sounds. If I thought the CMCs were merely uninteresting or had no redeeming qualities, I wouldn't say anything about it. I'd just quietly stop watching those episodes. But I'm not just disinterested... I'm emotionally offended. That's what it's come to: "Bloom and Gloom" has technical problems that I can argue, but it is the first episode I've had a strongly emotional reaction to, and you can't argue with emotions (You can, actually, but you have to argue past the emotions and adress the underlying issue... but that's another topic). It could have been great! The writers have proven in the past they can do this well! But they didn't do it justice in the slightest.
I still love Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo with all my heart. I love them as characters. I love them as story devices. I love them as archetypes. I love their complex relationships with each other, and their family. I love how they occasionally grow and develop. I love that we see children being portrayed with competency and respect on the part of the writers. I love how charming they are. But most of all, I really like her mane! One of my favorite episodes of all time is Sisterhooves Social. I love that episode! I love every single thing about it, technically, thematically, and plot-wise! Again, the episode has a touch of "Here's why everything Sweetie Belle said or thought was wrong," but it's not really an episode about dispelling Sweetie Belle's fears. It's about Rarity struggling to regain and appreciate her little sister's love.
But when the CMCs get together as the CMCs, to do CMC related things, I usually end up hating them with a fiery passion. There are exceptions to this I suppose... but Bloom and Gloom just happens to exemplify everything I hate about the childishly simple, morally blunt lectures that are thoughtlessly inflicted upon children. If you want to tell a story about grown ups reassuring frightened children that their fears are unfounded and irrelevant, then write an episode that centers on the adult in question. Remember Stare Master, when Fluttershy babysat for the CMCs? That wasn't a CMC episode. That was a Fluttershy episode. Now that's a bait-and-switch plot device that works just fine and dandy! Just because the CMCs appeared in 80% of the episode doesn't make them the protagonists.
MLP:FIM does such an amazing job of elevating itself above all the other 30 minute advertisements for toys. I don't like it when it regresses to the eighties.
Final Thoughts
Scootaloo rode an eggbeater-unicycle down a giant ramp and into an entire canyon full of whipped cream.
How is this not the greatest cutie mark of all time?
Because she didn't go through a hoop, obviously.
Okay, I like your version a lot, even if the "they can dream powers now" is likely not something we'd see the show do (it's more bait for fanfic writers than anything). :)
I saw "Bloom and Gloom":
As the equivalent of an early chapter in the fifth book of an ongoing series of fantasy novels. The focus of this season, after all, is supposed to be "Cutie Mark Magic,", so I took the whole episode as the writers taking the opportunity to refresh the memories of viewers not as obsessed as we all are around here by saying, "Hey, remember these characters? Remember how they're trying to get their cutie marks? Remember what cutie marks are? Well, now you do, and you're gonna need to know this stuff for later." I saw it as the writers not wanting to advance either the characters or the plot until they'd re-delivered the baseline info they wanted the audience to have.
So, yeah, kind of an annoying episode for those of us who don't need the rehash, and yeah, they could've done a much better job of getting the info out while having an actual story go on around it. But if they were targeting the new or casual viewer who maybe hadn't seen much Pony before, then I'd say the episode accomplished the basics of what the writers wanted it to do.
Mike, Shrugging and Moving On
How do you feel about the unnecessary references and the extremely bizarre faces they are shoving into each and every episode? Regarding the latter, I personally think that only Starlight Glimmer's was somewhat warranted.
Also:
Twilight Sparkle
Sunset Shimmer
Starlight Glimmer
[time of day] [light reflection]