My Review of MLP:FIM season 9 episode 4 Sparkle’s Seven · 8:43pm Jul 27th, 2020
Grading Scale:
A (fantastic episode)
A- (an excellent episode with at least one flaw)
B+ (a great episode with a couple of flaws)
B (a good episode which still could have been better)
B- (a good episode with numerous flaws but still rewatchable)
C+ (a decent episode)
C (eh... it’s not terrible but not good either)
C- (it’s not worth rewatching although it does have good elements)
D+ (a bad episode with a few good things in it)
D (a really bad episode with wasted potential)
D- (a terrible episode with badly written characters and butchered moral)
F (horrible and unwatchable)
************
Greetings, everyone! Here is my review of MLP: FIM season 9 episode 4 Sparkle’s Seven. After watching this episode back in 2019, I thought that this was a really good episode that was full of fun, charm, and good drama. This was a huge “thank you to the 5 voice actresses who brought us this far" as Jim Miller acknowledged on Twitter.[3] There were plenty of moments that were funny, adorable, sweet, and even heartfelt that just made me go “awwww!”. Seriously, this episode was heartwarming and adorable.
If there was one particular thing I liked most in the episode, it was Spike getting the love he rightfully deserved. He was one of those characters who always was set aside in the ponies’ shadows, or just made as a source of unnecessary problems and drama. It’s the main reason why I HATE those episodes such as Princess Spike, the worst episode of season 5. Here, he just gets the attention and affection he so needed (this makes me so happy). He is the one character I had some sympathy for and felt that he was a victim of bad writing... like some other character(s) we know.
This episode begins with Spike returning to the School of Friendship with a scroll for Twilight. It was a message from Shining Armor about gaining a toy crown as the Supreme Sibling. This gets both Twilight and Spike so excited as they remember the times they had when they were younger... Shining and Twilight playfully rivaling each other through good grades, kite flying, doing competitions every week, and so forth. So they fly off to Canterlot to commence their final sibling competition while Starlight handles the School in their absence. Yeeeeaaaahhh... talk about being irresponsible and running off to trivial events instead of focusing on important duties. But whatever...
Anyway, they meet Shining who was with Celestia and Luna in the throne room. There, he was wearing that same toy crown. Ever since Sombra returned and terrorized Canterlot, they were diligent in increasing security and creating every means to protect its quarters from any potential enemy threatening to attack them. They created fans on rooftops, more guards at every gate/door, geese in the throne room, and especially utilizing shards of Chrysalis’s throne to immobilize magic from the outside. Wow... Celestia has been keeping busy, huh?
So Twilight calls on her friends to help her win this sibling competition and earn the Sibling Supreme crown. They each expressed visual ideas of how to break into the castle and get the crown whereas Rarity suggested to Twilight to do absolutely nothing to lower Shining’s suspicion of what she might be up to.
Yeah, the Mane 5 did quite well in doing their part to break into the castle... except maybe Pinkie. Also, Applejack in her “Apple Chord” persona was really cute. I actually am fascinated with this idea of experimentation with bits of fun and wonder added. Although adding Zephyr Breeze into this felt a little surprising as I didn’t expect him to return in the show after his “Flutter Brutter” debut. I guess he was okay. Of course, it gets better later on.
One of my favorite moments were the interactions between Spike and Fluttershy. I love those moments. Spike expresses how much he feels overlooked or sad when not acknowledged as Twilight and Shining’s little brother. To me, I always viewed Twilight and Spike as older sister & brother relationship over the downright mother & son relationship. I was so relieved they finally confirmed the sister and brother type.
At the end of the episode, we see Spike gaining the prize as Sibling Supreme as Luna helped him accomplish his plan. That makes sense since Luna and Celestia had an earlier disagreement about the castle security and Luna getting salty over Celestia not listening to her. This is what the episode is telling us: we must always hear out what our siblings may say to us before we pass judgment or express what we think in a conversation or circumstance. Seeing Spike getting all the hugs and the acknowledgment as Sibling Supreme touched my heart. That was beautiful to see.
Yeah! This gets an A-! If there was one thing that annoyed me most in this episode (and seen throughout the whole season), it was the over-the-top stupid faces they made. Ughh, I hate those disgusting faces. But this episode was still enjoyable to watch. Any thoughts on Sparkle’s Seven?
Peace.
And of course, it’s the 200th episode! YAYY!! Almost forgot to add that!
The episode remained me of something I did with my cousins.
I really enjoyed this one, Specially Spike being accepted as younger sibling!
This is probably my most fav episode of season 9 but also the entire show.
Spike and Luna teaming up like that, with Spike winning the crown and finally be acknowledged like that(and confirming he's truly part of Twilight's family) while Luna one-upped Celestia there.
Spike and Luna certainly clicked so good, wished the show and comics had them interact more. Especially with how they have much in common.
In fact I think this episode is one of the factors that made me start shipping those 2 many months ago. Their interactions were so interesting to me.
5325612
Indeed.
5325626
Heck this is even before I realized Luna and Rarity share the same VA too.
5325633
5325636
Eeyup indeed