Celestial Advice/All Bottled Up (Review) (SPOILERS)

I like the more adventure-focused episodes, but these more slice of life episodes that focus on character development and character interactions are great as well. I wasn't expecting such a tame season premiere. In many ways this felt more like a couple of mid-season or penultimate episodes. However, they were nevertheless pretty enjoyable all things considered. It was nice seeing the "Temp Main Cast" (as I like to call them) interacting with one another again. I was worried the season six finale was just a one-time thing and we'd never see Discord, Starlight, and Trixie in the same room together again. The three of them (plus Thorax) seem to have formed a legitimate bond after their little adventure. I hope to see more of that at some point. Their shared character trait of being reformed villains/antagonists has opened up a world of possible storylines.

Discord was great in this episode. His ability to be a huge dick and a phenomenal troll while at the same time pointing Twilight in the right direction is what makes their interactions entertaining. I hope we see a lot more of Discord with Twilight this season. The Intellectual Mare and the Literal God of Chaos seems to be a match that really works.

I have a feeling this season is going to get even more in depth with Starlight's major flaw of trying to use magic to solve her problems. The way she brought up her magic being tied to her emotions was undoubtedly intentional on the writers' part. I predict this is going to figure into the season finale in some way.

Now to address the elephant in the room: Trixie. To be clear, I like Trixie. Maybe not as much as some other people, but I like her. However, "All Bottled Up" did her a great disservice in terms of writing. Of course Trixie is arrogant, but the episode exaggerated this one flaw to a gross extent for the sake of conflict. We've seen Starlight and Trixie interact before. We know Trixie isn't usually this oblivious and that it's unusual for even a show-off like her to have her head so far up her own ass. It's the one glaring flaw in an otherwise great episode.

More than anything else, I feel as if both these episodes were setting up Starlight (and possibly Trixie, Discord, and Thorax) for something big later on. That is probably why we got these two episodes back to back instead of the usual two-parter. I think this season is going to focus heavily on Starlight's growth and the repercussions of her dependence on magic.

I thought the B plot for "All Bottled Up" wasn't very interesting compared to the A plot. I feel as if the Mane Six didn't need to be in the episode at all. I know they're the main characters so this is inevitable, but at the same time I've come to prefer it when the spotlight drifts away from them entirely. We've spent 90% of the show getting to know the Mane Six. I'd like to get to know some of the other characters a little bit better, especially seeing as the Mane Six have reached a point in which they don't need to be the main focus anymore. Instead of Explore Equestria, I want the theme of Season 7 to be "Explore Ponyville". I'm not saying I want another Slice of Life or something like that. But more episodes that focus on, say, Starlight and Trixie or maybe Spike and Big Macintosh would be great. Season 6 actually branched out quite a bit when it came to focusing on other characters, but I hope Season 7 branches out even more.

All in all, I give these episodes a collective 9/10.