The Hooffelds and McColts Review · 6:10pm Nov 14th, 2015
Before we begin the review, let us first obeserve a moment of silence for those killed in the horrific terrorist attacks on Paris, France last night.
Now then, onto the episode itself. Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco wrote this episode, and this time they're on their own once again. With a map episode centered on Twilight and Fluttershy, both of whom are in desperate need of a good outing after "What About Discord?" and "Scare Master" respectively, did Joanna and Kristine manage without any assistance from Meghan or Larson? Or did they just prove they need someone to help them out?
Well, let's find out.
We begin with Fluttershy hosting a bookclub with all her animal friends. Kind of odd that Fluttershy's hosting a book club and not Twilight, but I suppose Fluttershy could be a bit of a bookworm as well. Suddenly, Fluttershy's cutie mark starts glowing, singling that she is needed by the map. And as soon as she leaves, Angel Bunny starts up the book club again.
At the castle, Fluttershy bumps into Twilight who has also been summoned.
Twilight reveals that even though it's only been five minutes, she's been trying to plan ahead and figure out what sort of problem she and Fluttershy are being called to solve. To that end, she's packed two saddle bags for both of them, filled with all sorts of things (namely books).
After a ride in the hot air balloon, Twilight and Fluttershy arrive at a valley in the Smokey Mountains, and encounter two families that have set up residence on two seperate hills on both sides of the valley. They approach the Hooffeld family first, and meet Ma Hooffeld. The Hooffelds quickly reveal that they're mad with the McColts, and are attacking them with vegetables ala Angry Birds style.
When talking to the Hooffelds doesn't produce any answers (and Fluttershy barely rescues a group of squirrels inside a pumpkin about to be launched), Twilight and Fluttershy go to the McColts camp, and are greeted by Pa McColt. And is it just me, or does his design and appearance remind anyone else of Papa Smurf, minus the Scottish accent?
The McColts are angry with the Hooffelds, blaiming them for sabotaging their wagons that they use to haul crops from far away places. In an act of retaliation, the McColts have taken to destroying the Hooffelds houses. And the feud has been going on for some time now. Twilight decides that as a neutral third party she just needs to get both sides to stop fighting and talk it out. But it doesn't work, because the Hooffelds don't get the message until Twilight and Fluttershy go back to them, and by that point, the McColts have resumed firing due to an attack of vegetables.
Twilight then tries to get the Hooffelds to offer the McColts a token of peace with a cake, but it turns out to be a Trojian Horse ploy by the Hooffelds. In other words, the cake is a lie!
Twilight and Fluttershy soon learn that neither the Hooffelds or the McColts can remember why they are fighting, but both believe the other is guilty of starting the conflict. When the fighting spreads into the valley between the hills, Fluttershy tries to protect the wild life (which is what she's been doing since stumbling upon the feuding families), while Twilight sulks about how her prepared plans aren't working. Fluttershy quickly reassures Twilight that they will figure out the problem, and then communicates with a squirrel, allowing her to learn the source of the dispute. It's a good thing the squirrel knew about Twilight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMHzvT6aLIU
In order to get both families to listen, Twilight casts her freeze spell again.
It turns out the feud came to be because although the founding father of the Hooffelds and the founding father of the McColts agreed that they needed to protect the valley, but disagreed over how to do so. Since neither side refused to compromise, the feud escalated over the years, until it got to its present state. Twilight and Fluttershy then demand a cease fire, as both families see the error of their ways. Ma Hooffeld and Pa McColt apologize, and the animals make sure that they don't think about arguing about who's more sorry, thus averting one of the most irritating cliches when this type of story is used.
The episode ends with Twilight wondering what's next for her and her friends, now that all six of them have been called by the map. But Fluttershy says they should wait until they get home to start wondering about that.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, it does suffer a bit from the same problem as "Made in Manehattan" of taking a long time to get to the source of the problem, but it's not as glaring as that episode, largely because Twilight and Fluttershy aren't split up for much of the episode. After a couple of episodes seemed to forget that there was more to Twilight than just books (looking at you "What About Discord?' and to an extent "Made in Manehattan" and "The One Where Pinkie Pies Knows") it's good that this episode had her come to realize that books can't solve all her problems. Fluttershy is much more strongly in character here, remembering her character growth when it's most important. And considering this is the first TwiShy episode since "A Bird in The Hoof" all the way back in Season 1, it's really good and a much needed breath of fresh air for both characters. But I'm afraid that, unless she suddenly regresses, I will have to put Fluttershy back in third place, and bump Twilight to fourth in my overall mane six ranking. In the end, I give this episode a borderline A/A+, especially because of its moral about how destructive hatred can be. Putting it above "Canterlot Boutique", but below "The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone", which remains the strongest of the three map episodes (even if it lagged a bit in the middle). Twilight and Fluttershy definitely needed this breath of fresh air, and Joanna and Kristine seemed to have learned well from Meghan and Larson, they just need to spend a little more time toning down their comedy.
Next week is the penultimate episode of Season 5, "The Mane Attraction", in which Applejack's old friend becomes a pop star, and the CMC may or may not be involved in helping her break free from a manager that doesn't have her best interests at heart. It will be Amy Keating Rogers swan song, before she leaves us for Disney, and will feature the song "I'm Just A Pony". Good luck, Amy, let's hope you leave us on a high note. I know you probably won't top "Crusaders of The Lost Mark" or "Pinkie Pride", but I'm sure you'll still do well.
Like I said in my first comment on MythrilMoth's Stream-of-consciousness thoughts on the episode, I actually find this to be the strongest map episode so far.
And The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone is not just my least favorite of the map episodes so far, but it's my second least favorite episode of the season. The only episode of the season that I like less is Appleoosa's Most Wanted, which was extremely dull.
When I watched this, my first impression was that it was gonna be something like off Romeo & Juliet or that Family Feud game show. I was glad that neither of them happened.
But on a more serious note, this was a much, much, much needed rebound after the last two horrible episodes.
The next one sounds promising and then it's onwards to the finale the week after, time's gone by so quick!
3542312 I know.