A Matter of Principals · 6:43pm Aug 9th, 2018
Friendship is Magic review by Obake
(SPOILERS!)
This is yet another episode with a botched message. Discord tricks the Mane 6 into going on a fake map quest, so he can harass Starlight at the school. Twilight put Starlight in charge, not bothering to hire more teachers while the Mane 6 are away. Quite a massive oversight. But it is the least of the episode's problems.
This is Discord at his most outrageous. While I admit I found some of his antics funny, the rest are overly cruel. Scaring young children by sending a bugbear after them? Making paintings and armors come to life to chase them around? And all because he is angry at Twilight for not putting him in charge? Discord may be the Lord of Chaos, but this is way too petty. Maybe taking revenge on Starlight, scaring the students once or something. This is just overkill.
But what sinks the episode is (again) the ending. Starlight apologizes to Discord for not allowing him to help lead the school, and makes him vice-headmare, which even the students comment on as dumb. It is not as if the apology is played for laughs, asides from the students remarks. After everything Discord does, Starlight has every right to be fed up with and kick him out.
Sorry for the short review. I will extend my thoughts (and add the extras) when I get back on the regular computer.
Extras:
- The reveal that Discord was behind the Mane 6's friendship quest is out of nowhere. I guess Discord is powerful enough to influence the map.
- Discord dresses up as the Steve Buscemi "Hey fellow kids" character from 30 Rock. It is neither old enough to be nostalgic or new enough to be topical, so it is just weird.
- Starlight hires Trixie, Maud, and Cranky to be stand in teachers (though we never get to see Maud teach.) It is odd that Cranky is so mean. I get that is the mood he is named after, but this feels out of place given that he's dealing with students. The students are not even causing trouble!
