TheBrianJ Reviews - The Hooffields and the McColts & The Mane Attraction (Double Mini-Review) · 8:03pm Nov 25th, 2015
I liked doing the double review last time, so let’s do it again! The finale will get it’s own review, and there will be one final season-ending mega-review where I rank the episodes, but for now let’s do two quick reviews! Head below the sighting of the most important pony to get a quick look at the last two episodes of the season before the finale!
I’d recognize that cello anywhere, Tavi.
THE HOOFFIELDS AND THE MCCOLTS!
Part 3 of The Map Chronicles, I gotta say, might have been my favorite of the three. Yes, Griffon the Brush-Off was a great redemption story for Gilda, and Made in Manehattan had some fun moments, but this one was one of those wonderful episodes where everything from start to finish just worked.
The Fluttershy/Twilight dynamic really hasn’t shown up since, like, A Bird in the Hoof (sidenote, has Philomena even been seen since that episode? Fuckin’ bird), but this episode brought it back in such a great way. The two of them play off each other so well that I’m kinda surprised we haven’t seen them be the centers of attention more often. Fluttershy’s quieter, emotional approach vs Twilight’s logical, book-based solutions created for a lot of fun back-and-forth.
On that note, one of the big themes I’ve seen this season—which was all over this episode—is Twilight’s uncertainty about her role. I really like that, because through the uncertainty she is still getting things done and learning more about friendship along the way. Yeah, it’s cliche, but I’m really glad that there has been some real character development for Twilight this season: it would have been very possible to have her Alicornization be the end of that character arc, but they’ve kept things going really well with her, especially this season. And Fluttershy’s, well, Fluttershy-ness played well with that.
That said, the highlight was the actual clans of families. I love the way that the writers/animators really took the classic Hatfields/McCoy dynamic and gave it a fresh twist, and a sort of classic MLP feel of “friendship conquers all.” I went into the episode pretty much expecting two more Apple Family clans, but they actually put some effort into making the two families distinct from one another. It added a lot to the episode, mostly in the comedic sense.
The whole lesson/ending was well done. I went in expecting the gimmick to be that the families don’t even remember what they were fighting about, but I did like the reveal of what the history was, and seeing the subtle changes to the valley as the time went on. As I’ve said before, it’s those little details that make the show so great.
So yeah, I actually really, really enjoyed this one. Lots of fun, a really well-done story, and continued character development for the main characters.
Boy, good thing Twilight did that freeze spell before this 100% Actual Real Murder happened.
THE MANE ATTRACTION!
First thing’s first… was it just me, or was Countess Coloratura’s voice, like, off? It wasn’t off in the sense that it was bad, Lena Hall seems like a really good voice actress and brought a lot to the role, but there was something just, like, odd about the voice mixing. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but her voice just sounded like a hair off, but that’s not a big deal.
This was another really good episode. Countess had a real sort of Pony Gaga vibe, which is what they were clearly going for, and it worked. It created another of those character interactions that I’ve talked so much about, between the glamorous and over-the-top Countess and the Exact-Opposite-Of-Those-Things Applejack. I would have liked to see more about Coloratura’s past and where the big change came, but it certainly didn’t take away from the episode.
I know I’ve talked about this before, but I really hope Coloratura returns to the show in Season 6. This season has introduced a whole lot of great characters, but Coloratura really comes across as one I’d love to know more about. I’m sure Lena Hall would be welcomed back to the show, and a character whose entire gimmick can be about finding who they are again/starting from scratch, even when they are reportedly quite famous, would make for some excellent shows.
I wouldn’t mind Sven Gallop back, either. With Diamond Tiara reformed, the show has lost that regular antagonist role who could be slotted into so many different episodes, but Sven seems like the perfect replacement. He gets his comeuppance at the end of each episode, eventually he gets his reformation, he seems like the kind of character perfectly built for that kind of role.
And as always, Daniel Ingram REALLY delivered in this episode. The two main songs in the episode (one as Coloratura, one as Rara) really stood out as drastically different and, more importantly, both memorable. The final callback song was sweet too, complete with the CMC getting the quick cameo to sing along with them.
Other than that, the episode played out pretty standardly; a cliche story well told, an art form that MLP has pretty much perfected over the years. Not a whole lot else to say about it.
[AUDIBLE HORSE GASPS]
I’ll have a full-sized blog for the finale episode, then a final season wrap-up with a rank of each episode from least favorite to most favorite.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! I will be spending it eating food with family and secretly fretting over fact that, if the episode previews are anything to go by, there’s a chance that the entire scope of Of The Night will change…
-Brian J
Amy Keating Rogers wrote the lyrics to the songs. Ingram did the music. And yea that episode had some great music in it.
I would have liked to have seen something more from Twilight as far as her role as a princess went. We did this whole unsure of her place bit back in season four.
Im torn between Marble (Pinkies twin!) and Rara on who ive like the most out of new characters this season.