Mystic Mind Analysis: Celestial Advice and Plot Pacing · 9:35pm Apr 23rd, 2017
Note: This is the script for my upcoming video review on "Celestial Advice". I wrote this script at the same time as the analysis for "All Bottled Up", but that hasn't been fully edited yet. Please bare with me while I do a bit of catching up on video creation, which I haven't done in months!
But for now, enjoy.
Flash of dramatic magic
Coughs heavily Ugh, how does Trixie tolerate those smoke bombs? Oh, hey! I'm back at last! And just in time for Season 7 too. Greetings one and all, and welcome to another Mystic Mind Analysis! I am the Nightmare Rider, Mage of Mind, reminding you as always that even a Cheeseburger can be deconstructed to its original source.
Season Seven of MLP has kicked off with a bit of a break from the traditional opening format, as this time around, we technically don't have a two part story. Rather, we have two separate stories which influence one another, while still being separate in their own right. As such, I think it'd only be fair to review these episodes individually instead of as one like in previous seasons. After the dramatic (and quite frankly epic) Season 6 finalé that was “To Where and Back Again”, “Celestial Advice” opens up immediately after, and though Twilight is forever over organised when it comes to friendship lessons, Discord has different ideas.
With Twilight being Celestia's former protégé, history is now repeating itself with the teacher agonizing over their student—in this case, Twilight over Starlight—developing enough to learn about friendship independently. While Starlight's development has been rather haphazard—and some would say minimal—over the course of seasons 5 and 6 , she did step up and take a big role in using her wits to infiltrate the Changeling hive, giving Thorax the opportunity to reform the majority of Changeling culture into something sustainable! An feat of heroism which is a pretty big jump in the right direction, in this humble mage's opinion.
So this begs the question, as proposed by Discord; are Starlight's friendship lessons complete? While Discord's motivations are hardly ever straight forward, it should be noted that Twilight's paranoia is not a result of his chaotic suggestions. While Twilight is projecting her fantasies to Spike and Celestia for advice, the potential negative outcomes we see are not entirely unfounded. The new situations in different nations are as new to Twilight as they are to Starlight, and so when we have cultures which form their friendships on perhaps more dangerous traditions, Twilight has at least some validation for her fears. Spike's role as the down to earth deadpan snarker also serves an important contrast, pointing out the logical inconsistencies in Twilight's fears. The fact that we can understand how both sides are valid in their rational reinforces both the complexity of their base characters, while also giving us an insight into how they've developed.
It must be said, however, that the plot of this episode as a whole is rather thin. Twilight's fantasies take up a good chunk of the overall run time, with Celestia's flashback stretching out these scenes in order to delay the central point. That's not to say that anything was misplaced, however. After all, though Twilight's character arc isn't a broad as it used to be, she is still getting used to her roll as a Princess. It's just that this last minute change of plans also has Starlight feeling a bit shocked, yet we get to see almost none of her reactions. If we had cut down Discord's elongated ramblings and instead replaced them with more of Starlight's reactions, Twilight could have come up with a compromise akin to the Changeling fantasy, as a means of concluding what was collectively best for both of them. As it stands, this episode could really have been fleshed out more.
Now what I can say without a doubt is the best aspect of this episode is Celestia's development. For most of the show's run, she has gotten relatively little depth besides being a reflection point for Twilight to compare herself to. Many have speculated the kinds of emotions she went through when she had to banish Nightmare Moon—a subject which is explored in many a fanfic—but now that Twilight is a Princess on a similar level to her, she can honestly reflect on how she went through the same worries that Twilight is experiencing. Trying to find the best solution for a gifted student was always going to be a gamble, one which is implied to have been previously lost with her own sister. I like the fact that Celestia isn't a god-like figure as some may have initially pictured her as. She may be a powerful royal leader of a nation, but by the same token she isn't immune to everyday worries and difficult decisions the average pony may go through. Though ultimately the choice she made was the right one, the fact that she has been in the same horse shoes as Twilight now gives her the perfect moment to guide Twilight, not as a mentor, but as an equal.
Overall, Celestial advice was more of an interesting episode than an entertaining one. It follows more of the slice of life formula than the adventure stories we are used to getting in past seasons, and sets up a new dynamic for Starlight, who still has issues being defined as an individual character beyond her villain status. The episode was slow paced and perhaps lacking in the plot department, so this isn't an episode that really entices me back into multiple viewings. But by that same token, it doesn't mean that this is a bad episode. Weaker than other season openers? For my money, yes. But it still gives us potential for Starlight to expand on her own lessons in the seasons to come, as well as giving us a glimpse of where she can go from here as an independent learner. I give Celestial Advice an overall grade of a B-.
