The Cutie Re-Mark: Review · 12:21am Nov 29th, 2015
So, as you know I have not been reviewing episodes on a weekly basis anymore. I don't really review anything anymore for that matter, and by review I mean actually writing it down. I missed a lot of episodes in the second half of the season, mostly because I just started to loose interest in the show. However, I felt it was important to watch and review the season finale.
It must be said, I do prefer MLP when it's action/adventure as opposed to slice of life, being different from most people. It's not that I dislike the slice of life episodes, it's the main juice of the show, but I just feel as if it's gotten a bit stale. I mean, they've tried to jazz it up in season 5 with all these ideas, but they weren't really putting their all into it so it just comes across as a forced way to try and revitalize people's interest. For example, with the Lost Treasure of Griffonstone.... "guess what, the ponies are going to the Griffon Kingdom, how cool does that sound", when as a matter of fact it's completely underwhelming and is really just the same thing as everything else, nothing new or exciting. Of course I don't think you can make one sweeping generalization of most of a season, Amending Fences was a brilliant episode for example... But it must be said that this season's slice of life episodes for the most part weren't great.
Anyway, I have very mixed feelings about this episode. Partially because my sense of critique is at war with my sense of enjoyment. There were things that I loved about this episode and really enjoyed, mostly the alternate universes.
All of the universes are really creative and unique, but I especially love the first one when Equestria is at war with King Sombra. This was just really cool, and I would have loved to have spent more time in this universe, it's fucking awesome. A gritty, grimy, war torn Equestria with much more advanced industrialization. This was by far the best universe, and it left me wishing that there would be a spin off show of it, because it was so cool, (which almost certainly won't happen, unfortunately, but a new AU series based in this universe could save the franchise.) With the massive docking bays with supplies in, to the awesome Rainbow Dash warrior, to the automated industrial Sweet Apple Acres, it inspired my creativity as I thought of loads of great stories that could be told in this universes through fanfiction, which I would love to write.
I also enjoyed all of the other alternate universes, unfortunately though there is a lot which doesn't make sense in this episode. It's so ingrained into the episode and is confusing in every sense of the word that makes me not be able to give this episode a good score.
So... Starlight Glimmer sends Twilight back in time to when Rainbow Dash is first performing the sonic rainboom, she stops her, then Twilight is transported to the first and in my opinion best universe with the war against King Sombra. Except, despite it's epicness, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense why it's SOMBRA who is invading. Before this we would have had Nightmare Moon who would have been unstoppable without the elements of harmony, (now I know that there is one universe with Nightmare Moon in but I'll get to that.)
Then, when Twilight goes back into the past and continues her fight with Starlight Glimmer, she changes one little thing which is make the two bullies friends with Fluttershy. So then she goes back into the present and see's that Chrysalis has taken over, when Twilight asks why this is, Zecora says that even the smallest change in the past can make a difference in the future.
Except this should make none.
There is no reason why this simple change would make any difference to which villain was ruling at the time. The villain that should have been ruling in all universes should have been Nightmare Moon because she was the one to first come back, unless some other villain took over. My real point though is that the changes made in the past shouldn't have made ANY difference to the future because the tiny little differences were so unrelated to which villain came back at a certain time and which villain beat which that it utterly baffles me. Now, I know the point was that tiny differences can make a big impact, but it's not explained why or how those little changes effected which villain rules Equestria. If they do affect it... please explain why... because as it stands I have no fucking clue. I don't get how Rainbow Dash eating popcorn is going to effect whether it's Nightmare Moon or Chrysalis that rules the world in the future.
The second thing is that Starlight Glimmer's plan makes no fucking sense and it's a million dollar question as to what her plan actually was. She said she wanted to get rid of their friendship by not having the sonic rainboom happen at the time it did.... okay
You know the sonic rainboom had absolutely nothing to do with the mane six meeting each other. It played a role in how they got their CUTIE MARKS, which they seem to retain throughout all of the universes, which is really strange, because it's the one thing the lack of that sonic rainboom should have effected and was what we were told this episode was going to be. But yet they retain their cutie marks. Applejack still has a apple cutie mark, Rarity still has gems even though she's a guard.... Now, this could have still happened, I mean, they still have those talents, but I don't get how the sonic rainboom somehow changes absolutely everything APART from their cutie marks. Doesn't this kind of completely defy the narrative purpose of the sonic rainboom which was given to use in The Cutie Mark Chronicles to explore how the mane six got their cutie marks?
Also, this idea that suddenly the universes seem to get worse and worse makes NO SENSE AT ALL. WHY? Why when they keep on jumping back into the present do they slowly get worse and worse when all that happened was that Starlight and Twilight had a little fight, Fluttershy made friends with the bullies, and Rainbow Dash ate popcorn whilst they were having their fight?
This episode should have been one thing but was another. It had absolutely NOTHING to do with cutie marks, AT ALL.
The next thing we need to talk about in length is Starlight Glimmer and her "plan".
So later in the episode we understand her motivations, which were that she lost her closeness with her brother because he got a cutie mark and went to Canterlot, and so this made her so angry about loosing friends by cutie marks that she decided that everyone had to have the same cutie marks.
Okay, this is probably the dumbest backstory ever and has totally, and I mean totally, destroyed Starlight Glimmer as a character. In edition that in this episode she was no longer the creepy, mysterious, moral opponent that she was but instead a stupid cartoon villain who blurts out over the top things, she also decides that she can't be friends with anyone ever again because her brother got a cutie mark in magic and got to go to magic school.
But she has a bloody cutie mark in magic! Surely she would have joined her brother anyway if they both had magic cutie marks, what's the deal? Also, this is just the biggest overreaction to somebody getting a cutie mark ever, and it doesn't even make any sense when a pony reaches adulthood and already has their cutie marks, because ponies already have their special talent and therefore can not grow further apart because of that fact. This would have been a great plot for the CMC as I said in earlier post, but not for Starlight Glimmer, a fully grown adult, because it no longer really applies to her, because at her age everyone HAS their cutie marks.
Out of all of the possible backstories you could have had for Starlight Glimmer you chose this! WHY! This episode has utterly ruined Starlight Glimmer as a character from the second she stepped on screen, and ruined her even more over the course of the episode.
In The Cutie Map, she was portrayed as an intelligent, socially adept, deceiving, and strongly moral adversary of Twilight Sparkle. Her threat wasn't through her magic but through her morality, a clash of ideals between her and Twilight. She was up their with Discord as one of the greatest MLP villains of all time, even though when she first appeared, the show was well past it's prime.
But when she appears her she's just over the top. All of that intellect is gone, a large portion of depth has gone from the character with a combination of her manner in the episode. With The Cutie Map for a while you were actually convinced that she might not be evil, just with a different set of values. She was so charismatic, convincing other people that what she was doing was completely right so well, that for a while even Fluttershy was drawn to the village. But now, she just acts all stereo-typically evil. Even when she's telling the foals not to fight, she speaks to Twilight in such a way about it that it just makes her come across as again, just a stereo-typically evil villain.
She almost feels like a character that the American government would have created in the Cold War to villainize communism. Even in the episode Twilight shudders when Starlight talks about equality which is absolutely stupid, kids should not be being taught that Equality is a bad thing. Equality is a very good thing, the bad thing about communism, or in particular, stalinism, is that it's not true equality because it you have an absolute dictator restricting peoples free will and being above everyone else, which is exactly what Starlight Glimmer did. But this gives no reason for Twilight to say that equality is bad, the season premiere acknowledged that full equality was a good thing despite it not working properly, but this episode is black and white, equality is bad, the mane six are good, and it's truly wrong.
And that reformation was just so awful. I will give it credit for it not happening straight away like with Sunset Shimmer, and she does take some convincing, but then just like that, she becomes so happy and smiley, like another Sunset Shimmer. The episode ends so sugary sweet, and it is a betrayal of Starlight's character. When they dance off into the Ponyville it just feels so out of line with the character of Starlight Glimmer that we knew and loved, and I feel truly enraged by the fact that she was reformed, ruined, and butchered. She also should be PAYING for her crimes! Instead of the mane six just forgiving her straight away. This show is a complete and utter fucking joke! Why are the mane six just accepting her friendship when just a few minutes ago she was a known enemy. Starlight Glimmer could work as an anti hero, but changing her morality to that of Twilight's and skipping off into the distance. FUCKING NO!
Every single time this show comes up with something awesome, they always have to fuck it up. Now I can safely say that both of MLP's previously greatest villains, have been ruined. I've already talked in length about Discord, and now Starlight Glimmer is reformed as well, and I can't FUCKING believe it. Why did they do this? Why did they feel the need to make her and the mane six friends? Modern MLP has NO respect for it's world, NO respect for it's characters, and NO respect for the viewer who maybe wants a story with a little bit more substance, something which was given to us at the start of the season but then cruelly ripped away, as if they were teasing us by thinking we could have a really interesting and complicated villain and then throwing it in the trash! The only thing they thing the older viewers want is fan service shoved down their face, if they have that, they'll be happy. Well I'M NOT.
So, despite me enjoying this episode and me absolutely loving the coolness of the alternate universes, I can't really defend it in terms of quality. It has some really cool stuff in it and some fantastic ideas for fanfiction, but that doesn't mean that the episode was good. I would love to be able to defend it, but I just can't. It's like Twilight's Kingdom, it's an episode that I enjoy that is not good.
So, I'm going to be giving this episode two ratings, one for enjoyment, and one for quality.
ENJOYMENT: B+
QUALITY: F- (Sorry, I can't give it a higher grade than that.)
Another thing that should be mentioned. Neither Twilight, Spike or Starlight were affected by the time changes for no reason at all.
Ooh, ooh, I think I have an idea why.
It all ties down to the unpredictable nature of time. You see, it is very, very hard to predict the future from the past, and even more so when you change it up. A small enough change will result in large scale ripples, no matter how seemingly inconsequential they may appear. Every change in the past will result in a large change in the present and future.
The answer you're looking for deals with the Butterfly Effect and also ramifications of Time Travel.
3575887 It's because they are paradoxes.
Twilight and Spike as they are should not have been able to exist because of Starlight's plans. By extension, Starlight's plans could not have existed if Twilight and Spike existed. However, as they do exist, there is a fundamental reason why. They are paradoxes outside of the time stream.
The timelines that they appeared in, they could interact with, but they were not of that timeline. All actions that resulted in that timeline could not affect them, as they were from a different time. A different frequency. (A great example of this is the Reverse Flash from the DC comics, particularly his portrayal in Flashpoint.)
In short, they were living time paradox anomalies that existed beyond the frequency of the changed present. It's very confusing and entirely theoretical in physics, but very, very fascinating.
It's sad that people will enjoy this episode despite the glaring problems it have.
About Starlight getting reformed... I think I will talk about it in my Blog.
This just goes to show that there is nothing to really look forward to in this show anymore. Constantly mishandled potential is the saddest thing you can consistently see in former great shows.