Season 6, Episode 21 Thoughts and Review · 11:43pm Apr 5th, 2017
Oh dear lord... I did not want to review this episode. I really didn't. I have some mixed opinions about Starlight's inclusion in the mane cast to begin with and this episode just... YIKES. Oh, well, I guess I better dive in...
The episode begins at the Castle of Friendship in the early morning. Twilight Sparkle prepares to quiz her pupil Starlight Glimmer with a full day's worth of magic spells to perform, including rapid teleportation to multiple locations, object transfiguration, and magic shields.
Is Starlight secretly Captain America Equestria?
Starlight excels at her magic studies with Twilight, even using advanced spells to go incredibly fast and duplicate herself. However, Twilight points out that Starlight hasn't addressed any friendship lessons since she befriended Trixie (CALLBACK, AYYY). Becoming uneasy, Starlight says she will find the time to tackle some between her "many commitments". Twilight says now is the perfect opportunity since she and Spike are expected in Canterlot to give a presentation at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. She suggests that Starlight complete a friendship lesson before they return later that evening.
...Really, Twilight? You want her to complete a new lesson about friendship in one day? You want her to actively seek out an issue to solve in one day? HAVE YOU LEARNED NOTHING???
Though Starlight outwardly insists that it will be no problem, her unease around Twilight – and later Spike – indicate otherwise. In her castle bedroom, she has several friendship problems planned out: baking with Pinkie Pie, scrap-booking with Applejack, sewing with Rarity, helping animals with Fluttershy, and "chillaxing" with Rainbow Dash.
"I could combine all five of these at the same time without breaking a sweat."
— Starlight Glimmer
A short while later, after Twilight and Spike have left, Starlight Glimmer gathers the rest of the Mane Six at the castle to carry out her friendship lessons with them. Applejack advises Starlight to take her time with her lessons, but Starlight is certain she can handle it as long as they work as a team.
She assigns Pinkie Pie to the kitchen, Applejack and Rarity to the library, and Fluttershy and her animals to the castle foyer. However, Rarity has reservations about sewing in a dusty environment, and Fluttershy's animals each require specific habitats. In addition, Rainbow Dash suggests "specific conditions for optimal chillaxing", and Applejack has over eighty moons' worth of photos to scrapbook.
Starlight is overwhelmed by the taxing requirements of the friendship lessons before her, and she retreats to the library. As she worries about completing her lessons in time for Twilight's return, Starlight decides to use magic to lighten her stressful workload. Using the Fiducia Compelus spell in conjunction with Cogeria and Persuadere, she brings her friends under her direct control.
Hoo, boy...
There's... something really messed up about the way Starlight acts when she does things like this. She likes to act all innocent to convince herself that she has changed, but deep down, she knows exactly what she just did.
With the ponies now under her control, Starlight directs them to the locations in the castle that she originally assigned them to, and they follow without question or hesitation. First, she bakes in the kitchen with Pinkie Pie, and Pinkie simply follows Starlight's orders in a cheerful, stilted tone. In the library, Rarity and Applejack exhibit identical behavior, doing whatever Starlight tells them to do, and Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash do the same in the foyer.
As time goes on, however, Starlight grows bored of Applejack's long-winded stories, Rarity takes Starlight's orders too literally while sewing clothes, Pinkie Pie makes a large mess in the kitchen, and Fluttershy gets carried away in her animal care by bringing together all of the spiders and snakes in the castle. To make matters worse, Starlight accidentally fills the castle with smoke when she leaves the cakes in the kitchen oven unattended. Starlight commands Rainbow Dash to get water, and she responds by bringing storm clouds into the castle and causing a flood.
Just as Starlight Glimmer thinks the situation could not get any worse, Twilight and Spike return from Canterlot to behold the big mess in the castle.
Twilight was rightfully angry in this episode.
As Twilight and Spike clean up Starlight's mess, Starlight tries to figure out what went wrong with her spell. She believes she did not cast it correctly or reverse its effects earlier than she was supposed to, but Twilight and Spike agree that she is missing the point.
...Dude. She literally controlled your five best friends and didn't even think there was anything wrong with it until you brought it up to her. Let me repeat this: SHE DEPRIVED YOUR FRIENDS THE ABILITY TO THINK OR ACT ON THEIR OWN ACCORD SIMPLY BECAUSE SHE COULDN'T STAND TO SPEND TIME WITH THEM. She did a lot more than miss the point, Twilight.
When asked how things got as out of control as they did, Starlight admits that she has been deliberately avoiding her friendship lessons. Though she excels greatly at magic, she feared failing such simple tasks as baking with Pinkie or sewing with Rarity and thus letting Twilight down. However, Twilight points out that the purpose of her friendship lessons is to get to know other ponies better, not to complete tasks as baking or sewing.
...OK, that's a good lesson. Spending time with your friends doesn't mean having to accomplish anything other than becoming better friends with one another. But, still... mind control? I'm just... I get Starlight is learning, but my god, this was such a backslide.
At a cafe in Ponyville, the rest of the Mane Six are left suffering from hangover-like fatigue by the lingering effects of Starlight's magic. When Starlight approaches them, they express how upset they are at Starlight using her magic to mind-control them.
Rainbow said what I've been saying this entire episode and I am very glad.
Starlight accepts the consequences of her actions and offers her sincerest apologies to her friends. Which, I will admit, she did a good job of doing. She admitted it was her fault, said that it was wrong of her to do it, and that they were all right to be upset with her. She's given better apologies than most people I've met could ever dream of giving. So... I'll give her that.
Before she leaves, the ponies see how genuinely sorry she feels. They offer to help her clean up the mess she made at the castle and give her a second chance for them to have fun together.
...Really. They forgive her, just like that? Well, I guess I can't get too upset, since this is a show about friendship, but I don't like how quickly they were to forgive her. And I especially don't like how Rainbow said, "That was a pretty good apology." Just because someone apologized really considerately doesn't mean you should just up and forgive them.
Over the course of the day, Starlight spends time with each of Twilight's friends, getting to know them better while Twilight supervises. She fixes up the castle tapestries with Rarity, listens to Applejack's family anecdotes, helps Fluttershy find a home for the castle spiders, and bakes with Pinkie Pie.
This scene really spoke volumes about Pinkie. She was still mad, but when she saw Starlight struggling, she suddenly understood why she was nervous. Like, Pinkie didn't have any lines in this scene and it just shows how understanding she can be. I think this is when she decided to forgive Starlight for real.
As she finishes tidying up the castle, Starlight says it may be a while before she tries addressing any friendship problems, but Twilight says she has been doing so all day without realizing. The only task that remains is "chillaxing" with Rainbow Dash.
Starlight Glimmer, Mane Six, and Spike conclude their day by lounging together on the castle roof, and Twilight commends Starlight for completing another friendship lesson. As Starlight asks how long they need to "chillax", the eight friends share a laugh.
...OK. OK, I'll say it. I'm still a bit sore about Starlight being in the mane cast. I like her as a villain better, but I was open to her being in the mane cast after reconsidering her reformation. I was apprehensive at first, but when I got to see her struggling to overcome old habits and join the crew in missions, I was hopeful. She was showing promise and real character. I was rooting for her and I wanted her to continue to gain some development.
Then, this happened. This freaking episode just... made me really uncomfortable. Seriously. I was constantly having to pause it to take a couple breaths to calm down. A show should not strive to make its' audience uncomfortable for the majority of an episode. I don't like how the mind control was played off as humorous, and I definitely don't like how Starlight didn't seem to understand what was wrong with what she did until Twilight said something to her about it. Like, I understand that she's still learning, but... Good lord.
I hate being this critical. I really do. I want to see the bright side in this episode but it's really hard to see past how Starlight was in this episode. I wish they had taken this lesson in a totally different direction other than creepy mind control... I just can't even formulate how much I dislike this episode. I have never shown this much disdain for a product of MLP and that's really saying something...
If you guys want to discuss this episode and try to help me see the bright side of this episode, then I'll gladly take a look. I'm free for discussion.
Honestly, this is my third favorite episode of the season.
Partly because it's a Starlight episode (though Starlight didn't become my pick for best pony until AFTER the finale aired), and partly because, like Lesson Zero back in season 2 (which also had mind control magic), it managed to lean more towards hilarious than uncomfortable.
Plus, it did feel like everyone involved was in character, at least when the members of the mane 6 other than Twilight weren't under the spell.
I can't fault any of your points here. I did enjoy the episode personally, but you're certainly not the first person I know to have this kind of aversion to mind control being used in a story/show/whatever.
So this might be a cheap cop-out, but I guess mind control is just one of those "Your mileage may vary" plot devices.
Well the thing is, there is a reason why the mind control here works. It backfires on her almost immediately. Everything spirals out of control and throws a proverbial pie into her face wherever she goes. All the interactions were funny because of Starlight's uncomfortable station and that no one was really hurt by this. Granted they had a headache, but given what they've been through in the past {Rainbow's many crashes and having her wing pinned by a boulder} this isn't anything severe.
And honestly, I felt the apology and acceptance was actually handled quite well. While they are quick, they are also handling this quite maturely as Starlight wasn't aware that she was doing something wrong or more so in this case. I think it was a good showcasing of her character and the other's maturity. That and Pinkie didn't immediately forgive her. Starlight had to apologize and learned that she was in the wrong and then had to clean up her mess.
I found this episode an absolute delight personally.
You're not the only one who questioned their willingness to give Starlight a chance after this episode. This show seems to have a problem with realizing that you can't just have someone say "Sorry" when they mess up and think that's good enough. Saying you're sorry is one thing, but actually meaning it is different. You have to show that you realize what you're sorry for, and either fix what you broke, or at least TRY to. Starlight didn't do that, she messed up, didn't seem to care about why what she did was wrong, had to be directly told it was wrong, said she was sorry, and that was it.
Honestly? I was pretty mixed at first, too. But then you realize the 2 reasons they were able to shrug it off:
1: Starlight did barely anything under the mind-control. She maybe gave 3 commands to each of them, and none of them went against that character's nature. Even Rarity stitching, she did what her friend wanted, which is something established as in-character all the way back in season 1. Not to mention, they accepted the apology because almost all of them had done worse and had the same, quick style apology. This is especially true for Rainbow, who has nearly constantly broken things in the past. By her standards, that WAS a pretty good apology.
2: I hate to play this card, but if they accurately portrayed the more dark effects of mind control and what they really meant, then it REALLY wouldn't be kid friendly. There's a good 10 million people that analyze this show and look for outstanding quality, but there are a good 290 million more little girls and their families watching this for pure enjoyment factor, not following everything to the best of their ability, but just relaxing with it. If they really showed how dark it should've been... That wouldn't be good for anyone.
Your points are still valid, though. I don't like this episode either.
0/10: no ButtonBelle.
I wasn't a fan of the episode, either.
Starlight was so cold after seeing what her spell had done. She stared into her friends' bleak eyes and was fine with it.
The episode would have been a lot better if she went 'Damn, that wasn't what I wanted' and the rest of the episode she would have caused chaos by trying to fix it WHILE letting the others cover the activities because schedule.
And the Mane Five. They let Starlight call the shots before she starts spellcasting by that silly teamwork excuse. She is the STUDENT. They are the experts. They have to reign her in when she attempts nonsense like this. I would have wanted a bit more objections, especially from AJ. She knows what Starlight did to Big Mac in her last episode because things weren't going her way.
Plus, they too have been there in Lesson Zero. The 'did you learn nothing' is for them as well.