"She Talks to Angel" Review: The Revelation I've Waited For

This episode is a revelation. And a blessing. I was waiting for something like this, getting an insight into Angel's mind. To see how he truly ticks.
For years, I was annoyed by it when I saw so many shrugging Angel off as a jerk for being mean to Fluttershy. Nearly everyone said that he doesn't care about her and that he is nothing more but a selfish, little monster who sees Fluttershy as a slave. I always hated this, because we've seen moments when he showed genuine care towardy Fluttershy, gave her advice, helped her and encouraged her to be more brave. It bothered me that everyone ignored this and pretended that Angel is horrible. Now we got a deep look into the mind of that bunny and I'm really glad we did.
In short, Angel's problem isn't being a jerk, he feels lonely. More precisely, it's not exactly loneliness what plagues him, but something closely-related to it:

He is unsatisfied with it that Fluttershy is the only pony he can talk to.

Over the years, we've finally gotten an answer on the question why Angel shows such a grumpy, demanding behavior all the time. He is not a jerk, he is merely unsatisfied with being unable to talk to ponies who aren't Fluttershy and unhappy about being a bunny, because that is what prevents him from talking with other ponies. I bet he secretly wishes to be a pony and that he has imagined how it would be if he were a pony quite a few times over the year since he knows Fluttershy. That also explains nicely how he could get accustomed to move around in Fluttershy's body so easily, even use her wings like he always did that. At least in his imagination, he has been a pony a couple thousand times already.
I'm really glad we got an episode to understand Angel better. I always said he is a good bunny, something no one wanted to hear or even consider, but now the truth is out and I hope it changes people's minds about him. It's one of the things we needed in the last season, before the show ends and before we might not see all of them anymore.
Speaking of that, watching this episode drove it home to me that this is probably the last time we've seen Zecora. I realize that we might see her a couple more times in the official comics and maybe the new, official manga, but with this episode, it was likely the last time we've heard her mysterious, exotic voice. Even if Generation 5 isn't a reboot, there will sure be changes and we don't know if Zecora would have any role in a Friendship is Magic sequel. It's good that there was an opportunity to give her a big role one last time, but I'm going to miss hearing her skilled rhyming.

I also liked the insight into the inner mechanics of Fluttershy's animal sanctuary. This episode was quite dark in a certain aspect, it started out right away with a discussion between predator animals and prey animals of the sanctuary, because the snake that resides in it has apparently eaten one of them prior to the episode's beginning. The prey was upset and scared because the snake said it's her business what she eats and the other predators agreed with that. And even though the predators kind of agreed to only eat vegetables while being in the sanctuary later on, the snake wasn't giving up and eventually ate the young elephant who was there with her.
What I didn't expect from that episode was such a realistic depiction of the food chain and what problems it brings for Fluttershy's animal sanctuary. I love this subplot almost more than the mainplot of the episode. It has gotten quite dark and deep with that.
This was also the first time we've seen an ordinary wolf and an elephant in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Neither the show nor the official comics have shown us any, so far. Especially the wolf is very welcome to see, for me. Wolves are probably the coolest, most stylish and most epic animals in existence.
Seeing that wolf also got me thinking about Tornado Bolt immediately. I'm sure she comes to the sanctuary quite often to visit the wolf there. Wolves are very similar to hyenas, after all.

That wraps up the review for this episode. I could probably say a few more things about it (like, did you see Carrot Top and Derpy together in the background? So, they are indeed friends!), but I'm making this a little shorter to finish it up quicker, since the next episode is almost here already.
Overall, this episode satisfied me greatly. The look into Angel's mind and soul was sorely needed, so that the fandom finally understands him and sees his true self. Though, it's doubtful that simply talking with the other animals will solve Angel's problem, since he wants to talk to more ponies. I want to see how it continues for him and this episode really needs a sequel, so that we can see a conclusion for Angel's little arc there and him finding a definite solution for his problem. It's sad that we likely won't get this anymore.
But I still hope that the official comics will pick that up at some point in the future.

Stay easy as a filly!

~ Fluttercheer

Comments

[Bronycommander]

I found that pretty neat too!