TheBrianJ Reviews - The Cutie Re-Mark · 1:53am Dec 3rd, 2015
Well that was a hell of a thing.
It’s been a fairly crazy season with a lot of emotional highs and lows, and it was all capped off with The Cutie Remark, which ended up being really different in terms of season finales. In many ways, it broke the mold for how the finales of MLP go, and I think it was overall one of the most unique episodes in MLP history, not just in the way the story played out but even in the overall tone of the episode. So head on down below CyberDash 29, and let’s review the finale.
A SHOW FOR LITTLE GIRLS.
What really set this episode apart is the fact that before now, every finale has been really about the Mane 6 as a group. Even ones that had a focus on Twilight, the Mane 6 played just as important roles in the episode. But this time, the Mane 6 as we know them barely appeared except for the ending. Sure, we saw them, but they weren’t how they were normally portrayed. They were fighting in a great war or working for the bad guy or forming an anti-Chrysalis resistance or appearing as some form of half cyborg pony or WHAT IN GODS NAME WAS THIS EPISODE?
Okay let’s back up a bit. The Cutie Map was one of my favorite season premieres, mostly because of the villain. Nightmare Moon, Discord, King Sombra, they were all major threats to the world of Equestria in their episodes. Starlight Glimmer wasn’t; she was powerful, but it felt like her aspirations were small, at least for now. She had her goals and her drive, and she saw them through.
And that brings me to one of my favorite things about this episode: the fact that Starlight Glimmer was NOT trying to destroy/take over Equestria. Her aspirations were solely directed at Twilight Sparkle and her friends. We’ll come back to that when we discuss the ending of the episode, but this episode cemented just how much I liked Starlight Glimmer as a character.
Would a “Soon” joke be too cliche here? I think it would.
A good portion of the episode was just examining the Bad Futures (™) that were created, and that’s where the creativity shined. I was honestly surprised at how dark the show got, I hadn’t seen bad futures like that since one of the best cartoons episodes ever, “Speed Demon” from Powerpuff Girls. King Sombra’s War Future was the most stunning; goddamn Mortal Kombat masks as the ponies go to Actual Real War (mostly consisting of hoofy-kicksies and standing on each other), Rainbow Dash with a scar and cybernetic wing and presumably on the search for Metal Gear, all ponies outside of the war contributing to the cause… even for MLP, it was kinda… dark.
Fun fact, this was actually the first time that the phrase “Queen Chrysalis” was used on the show. Nice to see her back, she was one of my favorite designs of any character MLP has ever used. I love the whole idea of the Changelings already having taken over, and the resistance forming deep in the jungle just to scrape by. But what really stood out in the scene was the fact that Zecora knew that they weren’t a part of the “correct” timeline. I love Zecora being this character who is so separate from the world around her, in a good way. I kinda hope that one day we get more exploration into her backstory, she’s one of those characters who, despite appearing a lot, we don’t know anything about.
Also Pinkie Pie had a Red Bull today.
I kinda wish we spent more time in the Nightmare Moon world. Nightmare Moon was a lot of fun for the brief time we saw her in the show, and with how much the show has changed since Season 1 I wouldn’t mind seeing more of her, but the scene also served its purpose of establishing that the world was getting worse and worse.
We also got brief glimpses at the other timelines, and what stood out to me is the fact that Flim and Flam are considered actual villains, which I’m totally cool with. I’ve loved them in both of their appearances on the show, and I really, really hope we see them even more in Season 6. They’re such great throwback characters, they remind me a lot of characters who would appear on Looney Tunes.
But we’ve danced around the issue enough, let’s get to the big stuff.
And thus, Starlight Glimmer starts her quest to reach The Nuclear Throne.
Individually, the two scenes with Starlight seeing the ruined world and Starlight revealing her past were really, really good. But taken together, I think they gave us a really, really good backstory for all of Starlight’s motivations. I have heard some people complain “Wow, that’s IT? That’s why she wanted to destroy Equestria?” But the way I see it, she never wanted to destroy Equestria. The whole point wasn’t that she was a supervillain or anything like that. She was a powerful pony who made her intentions known: Cutie Marks for Cutie Marks. She had no idea that her actions were basically destroying Equestria.
And as far as her actual backstory goes, it was simple but effective. They touched on friend abandonment previously with Amending Fences, and we got another glimpse of it, this time in the form of losing a friend to success. It’s something that everyone can relate to in a way, and it gave Starlight Glimmer the sort of relatability that helps with redemption stories.
For me, the scene of Equestria being a barren wasteland was… well, kinda intense for a show like this. I mean literally, the implication was “Everything is dead.” Shit be dark, yo. And it’s drastic moves like that that helped to make Starlight Glimmer’s turn to the good side believable; she saw, first-hand, the world without friendship.
Yeah, it was a bit abrupt. But I think that overall they handled the whole thing as best as they could. But what I’m even more excited for is the fact that it doesn’t appear to be a one-time thing, and that Season 6 will feature a brand new major character. I could see this going one of two ways; Starlight Glimmer is the seventh member of the Mane 6, or Twilight starts having more Princess-y adventures, and Starlight takes her place in terms of learning more about friendship, and quite frankly, either one I’m okay with.
Don’t care how cheesy this was, I loved this shot.
So that’s really all there is to say. This was a really, really enjoyable episode, and as I said, not only a great cap for the season but one that leaves me excited for Season 6 and beyond. I’ll be doing one last review blog to recap the whole season and give my list of worst-to-best episodes. See you then!
-Brian J
OH SHIT AND ALSO SCREWBALL WAS BACK AS WELL ALSO!
I wanted both more Nightmare Moon and more Discord, personally... we needed another episode's worth of show for this one, I think.
This episode has really grown on me over the past few days. Well, it's more accurate to say that the ending has grown on me, since the rest was horrifyingly awesome. Starlight's turnaround really does work, but one has to dig a little deeper than normal to see it in action, since a lot of the major shifts are going on in Starlight's head. That scene in the ash-strewn wasteland was the real turning point; everything after that was Starlight desperately trying to justify her actions and deny her responsibility for literal omnicide.
I'm still not over the moon about the end montage, though. That shoved the new friendship down my throat a bit much. Still, I suppose it was a nice change of pace from the insanity and death earlier in the episode. Also I am now totally convinced that season finales have a one-song minimum on this show.
Still, an appropriate sendoff for a season of television that has strained the TV-Y rating to its absolute limits.
I really liked the finale. It wasn't perfect, perhaps, but most of the complaints I've seen seem really over-blown. In particular, the issue of her backstory. If I see one more person complaining about it, I'm gonna scream. You are exactly right: Starlight was never evil. At least, not at heart. She was just misguided, and as any psychologist will tell you, childhood trauma, no matter how minor it may seem, can sow a lot of nasty seeds in kids' heads that will later manifest in destructive ways. It wasn't until Twilight showed up and took away her supposed utopia that she went full Dark Side, and even then she was just trying to do unto Twilight as she felt Twilight did unto her. And like you said, the fact that seeing the full consequences of her actions was enough to snap her out of it wasn't at all unbelievable to me.
If I had one complaint about the finale, it's that all the causality involved in the alternate universes doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Like, what stopped Nightmare Moon in the world where Equestria is at war with Sombra? But even then, part of me feels that's beside the point. It's more a series of what-ifs than anything, and being anal about it seems unnecessary.
"We go places that, perhaps, other candy colored TV shows won't go. And that's part of what I love about this show, is that we're allowed to explore those areas. Kids love to be scared."
— Jayson Thiessen
So yeah the dark is so intentional it isn't funny.
Sombra's timeline was rather.. different. And yeah they fight like stereotypical girls. Which is rather amusing. I didnt think Mortal Kombat when I saw them helms. I went Mad Max.
I rather liked Nightmare Moons timeline and would love to have seen more of it. Especially an explanation as to why the world isn't withering away. And her castle was awesome.
As for season six, It almost seems like Starlight would be taking Twilight's place as the leader of the group. With her royal bookishness being more of an actual princess. Probably dictating marching orders to Starlight and friends.
Fo shizza, masta Brizza.
And I really enjoyed the episode too. I think some of us have taken the weak ending a bit too hard. I agree it could have been better but it didn't destroy the episode as a whole. There was too much good in it to love.
I liked the episode as well - both parts in fact - but my main problem is that the crazy time travel and Starlight's redemption aren't tied together very well. It doesn't ruin it for me, it just made the episode come up shorter than it should have.
the ending kinda sunk it for me, since Starlight, sympathetic backstory or not, had done some truly evil stuff and then basically got a "Get Out of Jail Free" Card, without any REAL consequences in the present timeline.
Hopefully, the show will address this
Personally, I think Starlight's backstory would have been stronger if she was the one that got her cutie mark. Thus making her inner turmoil about both the falling out and fear of her own pride.
Other than that, I completely agree with your assessment.
I think the claims of her redemption not working because she was "pure evil" is the most annoying complaint that I keep seeing. All the context between the premiere and finale made it very clear that she had legitimately good intentions behind her equality plan, and she had no idea about the consequences of her revenge on Twilight. It really is just a matter of putting two and two together.
On a side note, I have to wonder if the final alternate present is one in which Starlight successfully stole Celestia and Luna's cutie marks. It would make the fact that it is the one she sees even more fitting.