Episode Review - "A Royal Problem" (S7:E10) · 3:35am May 31st, 2017
So by now Episode 10 of Season 7, "A Royal Problem" has aired in Canada, though not in the US. At the time of writing this, it's not long after it aired in the land of pine and poutine, and rather than getting spoiled, I've kept up on those releases.
This is an episode with a lot of big things going on, and I felt the need to weigh in on it. If you haven't seen it yet, there are spoilers below the break, so come back later. I'll try to post a little reminder about this review after it airs in the States if you're following that schedule. 
If you have seen the episode, though, carry on!
Okay, let me be upfront: I loved this episode. It was fantastic and a long-overdue look at the lives of the two Royal Sisters. Despite my casting Celestia as the antagonist of the first part of my main story, I'm actually a huge fan of ol' Big and Tall, and who could object to a little Luna in their life? Not this grown-ass man watching little girls' cartoons, that's for sure!
But there is something I need to touch on regarding what I did not like about this episode, and I can sum it up in five words: "Starlight Glimmer and Twilight Sparkle."
First of all, there's this:
Okay, I hate to get bent out of shape about things, but this bugs the crap out of me. I don't hate Starlight's character at all. I thought she made for a truly interesting villain (though her backstory is incredibly underwhelming), and while she has her ups and downs as a heroine, I thought her character arc in Season 6 was enjoyable too. To be honest, I felt a little cheated when she didn't leave at the start of Season 7, not because I wanted her to leave forever, but because I thought it would be a chance for Starlight and perhaps Trixie to go off and have their own side stories with Starlight educating Trixie about magic and also using the lessons she learned from Twilight to further spread friendship across Equestria.
But if there's one thing that rubs me the wrong way about how Starlight's been handled, it's that, in many ways, she's replaced Twilight as a character: she's the socially awkward one who occasionally screws things up by trying to solve things with magic. Go back to Season 6 and realize something... Twilight had ZERO episodes where she was the main focus, at least by herself. If it wasn't for "Top Bolt," which she shared with Rainbow Dash, Twilight did very little to solve actual friendship problems in the season. Indeed, for "The Princess of Friendship" being her title, I really thought there would be more missions involving her from the Cutie Map. I especially thought she'd get a solo mission on one of these, perhaps.
Instead, the first pony to get a mission all on her own is... Starlight. Well excuse me for being vulgar for a second here, but...
Okay, Starlight, love you, really... but you are NOT a member of the Guardians of Harmony or, uh, the Friendship Council, or whatever you care to call it. You aren't associated with the Elements, you didn't earn a key, you didn't get Pony Super Saiyan powers (and hair) from the Tree of Harmony, and you don't have a throne with your cutie mark on it. There's no reason for the map to call you!
Now maybe one could argue that I'm assuming more than I should, and maybe I should just get over my head-canon getting destroyed. And I'll concede, maybe that's so. However, one argument I've heard thrown around is that Starlight really was the best choice for this. The episode pretty much says that Starlight is unbiased and her bluntness was just what the situation called for. I don't agree. You know who was the best choice for this?
Twilight. No, really, hear me out: Twilight is actually close to both Princesses, so I don't buy that she would play favorites. This episode would have also given her a chance to stand up to her senior princesses and assert herself as taking care of something that was in her realm of expertise. And to those who might argue that the cutie mark manipulation plot was best left to Starlight, since she's had a history of screwing with cutie marks, I'd point out that in the entirety of the show's history, there's only one pony who's ever switched one pony's cutie mark with another. Remember the Season 3 finale?
Exactly. From a plot standpoint, this could have been done with Twilight using a modified version of Starswirl the Bearded's original spell to swap the two sisters' cutie marks without altering their memories. The rest of the plot could have played out about the same and we wouldn't have had to deal with Twilight being passed the idiot ball and being an overbearing busybody like she was in the actual episode.
Yeah, that's right, I said it, you dumb book horse. You were so the load this time around.
But, all that said... yeah, this episode was still great. It was great to see some more of the royal facade peeled back on Celestia and Luna, it was full of lots of truly golden comedic moments...
Greenfinger and I both lost it at these scenes.
...as well as some epic moments straight out of a comic book...
...and a resolution that I can't help but adore.
This was an episode that I feel the show needed. Celestia and Luna have both been important parts of the show for a while now, and to date we've really only gotten a few glimpses at the two of them in a more vulnerable place: 2 for Luna in "Luna Eclipsed" and "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?"; and 1 for Celestia in this season's lovely, understated "Celestial Advice." But this is the first time since "Slice of Life" that we've gotten to see the two interact as sisters, and not in a silly argument over gifts, but as actual characters with real conflicts and problems and hurt feelings.
As much as I take the time to criticize the things I dislike about the episode from a larger view, I can't help but love this episode for what it is and what it accomplished. Bravo to the voice actresses as usual, and especially to episode writers Joanna Lewis and Christine Songco. 
How about all of you? What are your thoughts? Please feel free to comment below, because I'd love to hear from you!
Very nice review, and pretty spot on about Starlight's role in this episode and why Twilight would have been a better fit. The episode itself was fun and enjoyable, although I wish something more important had come up for Luna than a class field trip and telling three dudes that the timberwolves weren't a problem (like screwing with the gryphon/minotaur/yak/mule kingdoms by accident). The dream bubbles floating by when Celestia entered the dreamscape were an awesome bit of detail, but I had to pause and stare when I saw Applejack dreaming of being held by her parents, just holy crap man.
Starlight, though, continues to be shoehorned into the show in places she shouldn't be, making rash decisions with Mary Sue-levels of power and no repercussions to that. Oh hey, I'll just screw with the magic keeping us all alive because my gut told me to...why are you putting this inhibitor ring on me, throwing me in the dungeon for a week, and taking away my tendies? I mean, it's not like the last people to screw with the sun and moon had anything bad happen to them, aside from being turned to stone and left in the castle garden for a millenium or being banished to the moon for the same period of time. Your note about Starlight not being in the CoF but still getting called by the map is right on; unless the map starts calling every supporting character the mane 6 know, then it's just more heavy-handed interference with the show trying to force Starlight into everything.
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I see someone else is a DWK fan.
Greenfinger and I get together and laugh our asses off whenever he gets a video out. Ironically, they've helped me appreciate Glim-Glam a bit more.
Anyway, Starlight is great when she's used right. She was tons of fun in the Season 6 opener (especially her dialogue with Spike) and closer, "A Hearth's Warming Tail," "Every Little Thing She Does," and the recent "Rock Solid Friendship." That's actually most of her appearances. "No Second Prances" is fun, if flawed, and her other appearances aren't so bad, mainly because they're not too intrusive. The only issue was the sheer number of episodes she got at the expense of the other characters. We've gone an entire season without the Mane 6 saving the day, and my hope of seeing more of Twilight learning to be a better teacher kind of evaporated. Glimmy needs to keep doing her own thing, but her story arc in Season 6 is over. It's time to balance things out and give the other characters more focus, and I already think Season 7 is doing a good job of that.
That said, this episode is one where I really felt Starlight was in a place she didn't belong. I'm hoping this is a one-off...
...unless the map calls Derpy and the Doctor or Lyra and Bon Bon. Then I pretty much have to give this episode a pass.
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Yeah, his videos touch pretty close to home a lot. Always enjoyable, and somewhat introspective as well.
Don't get me wrong, I like Starlight as a character, I just dislike how the writers are using her. I feel like they're overusing her spontaneous admissions of "evil and magical brainwashing and enslavement" when that didn't even happen in the Season 5 opener. Yes, she held the mane 6 against their will and played recordings over speakers into their holding area. But all the citizens of the town seemed to have their own ability to think and to reason and some even questioned the status quo (not to mention their reaction when Starlight's Cutie Mark was revealed); if they were magically brainwashed, that wouldn't have been the case, they would have been obedient puppets of a sort, or similar to Shining Armor in the Season 2 finale experiencing headaches whenever he thought of something that was counter to Chrysalis's will. From what we can see, Starlight founded the town on an honest ideology that's actually proven right, of a sort, when the exposure of her having a Cutie Mark when no one else does causes it to collapse.
When the writers had Luna dealing with the specter of having been Nightmare Moon in Luna Eclipsed, they used more subtle methods than having Luna constantly shout her past at people. There was the scene of Luna pushing a piece of candy towards the statue of Nightmare Moon while sitting in its shadow, the part with her transforming into NM to scare the children but still needing fake fangs to complete the image, and her honest attempts to endear herself to the citizenry while failing spectacularly.
Season 6, episodes 1 and 2, Starlight tells Sunburst how she was a crazy evil dictator. Episode 6, No Second Prances, Starlight tells Trixie how she was a crazy evil dictator. Episode 8, A Hearth's Warming Tail, Spike snarks about Starlight being a crazy evil dictator. Episode 21, Every Little Thing She Does, it's all over the episode. Episodes 25 and 26, every three minutes she talks about her dark past and trying to overcome it.
Season 7, episode 1, everyone can't stop talking about Starlight "coming so far" but she stays exactly where she was. Episode 2, All Bottled Up, Starlight spends the episode explaining how she can't control her anger. Episode 4, Rock Solid Friendship, we get a flashback to Maud helping Starlight be a crazy evil dictator. Episode 10, A Royal Problem, Starlight screws with the very underpinning of how life in Equestria survives and it's ok, and also suddenly neither ruler has any staff so Starlight just fills in for them instantly because who needs training, and also Celestia worries that not solving Starlight's nightmare will "damage her psyche", as if she wasn't already presented as damaged goods.
Again, as much as I'm ragging on this, I like Starlight as a character, I dislike the way the writers are using her. And yes, it does seem like she either starts as or becomes the main focus of every episode she's in, with the exception of The Times They Are a Changeling, a Spike episode. I share your hope that Season 7 moves away from this, but if you've already seen the new EQG shorts...well. Sunset coming back to Equestria is something everyone who likes Sunset wants to see, but instead we get about 20 seconds of that and the rest is 'Oh hey, Starlight Glimmer is a human now! Whoooa!'
As for Derpy, the Doctor, Lyra, and Bon Bon having an episode together...if it's not like https://www.fimfiction.net/story/160578/long-story-short-things-went-down then it just won't do it justice.
I want to hear your thoughts on Celestia's evil version, Daybreaker. (I'll admit that the fan names for her, Nightmare Star and Solar Flare were cool, but I fell in love with the new name.) I think in some ways Daybreaker was on equal footing with Nightmare Moon. She has control over the fires of the sun while Nightmare Moon, if you recall in Season 1 premier, has control over lightning and can shapeshift. They're both powerful in magic and ...wow. I can't think of anything else. Anyway, do you think we might see Daybreaker again or is this episode a one time thing to give to fans of the "what if Celestia became evil instead of Luna" theme? I personally like Daybreaker's scenes the most because Hasbro was acknowledging the evil Celestia that exists in the fandom.
I couldn't agree more. On every point.
4553636 I suppose I'm a bit annoyed that they have to keep bringing up Starlight's past as a villain because, you know, anyone watching the show all this time gets it by now. We don't need to mention Discord's villainous past and he appears far less often. And yeah, I don't think they use the word "brainwashed," but they do use the word "enslaved," and that's... not really what she did. Actually, "brainwashed" is probably much more apt, since she used cult leader tactics.
Annoyances aside (and no, I haven't seen the EQG shorts and I don't really care that much), looking ahead at the Season 7 episode synopses, it looks like Starlight already has way fewer episodes centered around her (not counting the opening, because while she's the topic, it's Twilight's episode). By my count, 4 in total, and only this episode, "A Royal Problem," is a solo act for her. Two of them we've seen already: "All Bottled Up" and "Rock Solid Friendship," both of which pair her with another character. Heck, in "Rock Solid," the real conflict is between Pinkie and Maud, so it barely counts. There's one more coming up, I believe, and it involves Trixie again. Twilight's already gotten 2 and there should be at least 2 more coming up. As I said, already an improvement.
4554306 Here's hoping that holds true for the rest of the season, then!
I know Twilight was a little annoying for most of the episode (I didnt mind, but I could immediately see that other might find it annoying... I thought it was great to see her flip out again and when Starlight just shoved her in a drawer, that was great XD) BUUUT, can I mention the scene right at the end where Twilight pops out of nowhere and has the most amazing explosion of Twi-ness I´ve ever seen? I watched it like six or seven times before I let the episode continue
4553637 Not much to say on Daybreaker. She's awesome and very possibly a nod to the fans. The only question I have is this: was she a figment of Starlight's, since she appeared in her dreams, or did she leak into it from Celestia? If it's the latter, then she has potentially more significance for Celestia's character than we thought.
Either way: cool design, fun character.
I completely share your opinion on Twilight, Starlight and on the episode in general. I couldn't have said it better.
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There is another good fan-name I have seen in an old, abandoned fanfic : Daymare Sun.