Episode Re-Review: Three's A Crowd · 7:28pm Apr 2nd, 2021
Although she had been seen frequently throughout the season, Twilight had yet to get an episode centered around her since the premiere. Well, that was all going to change. And it was also going to be a Discord episode and a sort of sick day episode. Suffice it to say, the title for the episode was incredibly accurate because there was a lot on this episode's plate. Ed Valentine was on tap to write it, but strangely enough Meghan McCarthy was helping him. Considering Meghan had already done a double collab with one returning writer and one new writer which had not gone over well, her teaming up with another new writer didn't seem like the best idea. Then again, Meghan had shown that she got Discord so maybe that was why she was helping Ed? Well, let's find out.
The episode begins with Spike retrieving the mail for Twilight, and she checks it for an important letter. To her delight she receives a letter from Cadence saying that she'll be coming to Ponyville to spend time with her sister-in-law. Twilight is so delighted about this that she picks up Spike and flings him around, making him sick to his stomach. Really don't see why they needed to have that, it's yet another case of having a joke at Spike's expense when he hasn't done anything to deserve it. Again, the golden rule for slapstick is to exaggerate, make the pain cartoonish and over the top. Things like this aren't funny because they're all too real. Anyway, once the scene subsides Fluttershy comes in and announces that the Equestrian Society for the Preservation of Rare Creatures has given her permission to go and study the breezies. Then Pinkie Pie bursts in, using her tail to hold up a flyer advertising a sale on used furniture.
Everyone gathers at the train station to see Fluttershy off, and Pinkie Pie rushes after the train and vows to never forget Fluttershy mere seconds before a balloon wanders into her line of vision. Pinkie immediately forgets all about Fluttershy because of said balloon, and there's nothing special or enchanted about it. This is the kind of joke where the writers think making Pinkie act like modern Patrick Star is funny, when in fact it isn't. And it's not like this is a one and done joke either. But the thing is, Pinkie Pie is not stupid. She's shown that she can be and often is smarter than she looks. She is also not a child, there's a difference between being child like and acting childish. Jokes like these don't work, Pinkie Pie is better than this. So anyway, when that's over with, Twilight reveals what she intends to do with Princess Cadence. The two will attend a special festival themed after Starswirl the Bearded, which Rainbow Dash immediately dismisses as lame despite not being asked for her input.
All of this is honestly just filler though. We then have Cadence arrive in a special crystal train that appears to be pulled by a diesel locomotive (or a streamlined steam locomotive). She exits accompanied by two royal guards, one of which is pony Flash Sentry. But there's virtually no acknowledgement of Twilight's alledged crush on him, he's just there to be there. Also, oddly enough, Twilight and Cadence don't greet each other with their usual chant despite having done it on all previous occasions. The two alicorns soon leave to go to the festival as the rest of the mane six take it upon themselves to make sure Twilight's day is not interrupted. Mere seconds later, however, Discord comes crashing in and is quite literally blue.
According to Discord he has contracted "The Blue Flu" which is actually a term used to describe police officers who call in sick to work in order to go on strike (since public servants are not allowed to strike at any time). There is a good meta joke about needing to find a fainting couch as everyone looks at Rarity, it's a good example of how to do self aware humor. Then Discord more or less asks his friends to take care of him because he's sick. And Rainbow Dash immediately bails. Even with what we'll learn later this doesn't make Rainbow look good at all. She literally abandons a sick friend just because she doesn't like him.
Then Pinkie Pie offers to let Discord stay with her, but Discord sends her away with another balloon. It's not enchanted or anything, it's a plain old balloon. The joke wasn't funny the first time and it isn't funny here either. It's not even being used as a callback to Discord's corruption of Pinkie Pie in "The Return of Harmony".
So that leaves Applejack and Rarity, who seem to view taking care of Discord as a real burden and don't seem particularly concerned that he might actually be sick. Then they accidentally let it slip that Twilight is spending the day with Cadence and Discord "accidentally" infects them so they'll have to go away. He then meets up with Twilight at the festival and pleads with her to let him stay at her place. Twilight is rather hesitant because she's busy with Cadence, and the implications make it seem like she only agrees to Discord's demand so as not to look bad in front of Cadence. It seems like they're going out of their way to make the rest of the mane six look bad, or at least everyone except Pinkie Pie who just gets sent away. And just like "Flight to the Finish" it's only now, halfway through the episode that we get the actual plot that's supposed to be important. I know Ed worked for The Fairly Odd Parents which had two eleven minute stories for each episode, but they did do double length episodes quite often. So I don't know why he had so much trouble getting through his set-ups. Here especially he could've trimmed so many scenes or even cut them all together and nothing of substance would've been lost.
Discord is tucked into Twilight's bed (because I guess she doesn't have a spare guest bed, but if so where was she planning to have Cadence sleep unless Cadence wasn't staying overnight?) and we get to the song "Glass of Water". It's a fine song full of wacky visuals and a chaotic pace. But even so it just pauses the episode to do it and seems to exist to make Discord like The Genie from Aladdin, jamming in as many pop culture references as possible. And here's the thing, pop culture references don't magically make your story better. It just proves you know pop culture.
Quickly growing annoyed with Discord, Twilight is determined to find a way to cure him and send him away. Discord then mentions a rare flower far away that could work, and Twilight and Cadence take him there in a chariot that they themselves pull. Cadence mentions that she's a little out of practice with flying, which is odd when she was an alicorn before Twilight and assuming her backstory from Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell is canon she was born a pegasus. Anyway, the two land and go to retrieve the flower only to encounter a giant worm like creature called a tatzelworm. We do get a fairly good fight scene as the two alicorns use their wings and their magic to fight off the creature, drive it back underground and bury it. Then they come back to Discord to find out that he was faking his illness the entire time, which you'd think Twilight would suspect when she's never heard of Discord's illness before. So what was Discord's reason for doing all of this? Well, he claims it was a "test" because he was concerned that Twilight may think she was too good for him now that she'd become a princess. Except if Discord really believed that he could've subjected her to such a "test" at any point. It's quite clear that he did this just to mess with Twilight because he can.
It's also clear that Discord enjoyed the fact that he ruined Twilight's special day with Cadence, so Cadence decides to undo Discord's plan by claiming that she loved fighting the tatzelworm and that life in the Crystal Empire has been boring. By extension she's implying that even Shining Armor can't satisfy her. And even if it is boring she has a responsibility as its designated ruler to ensure its safety and well being. Being a leader isn't all fun and games. I'm sure Princess Cadence is reacting spur of the moment to try to make Twilight feel better, but something like this really doesn't make her look good if she's more interested in "excitement" than ruling. And if she really did want something more exciting, why not communicate this to Twilight? But instead of ellaborating on any of this, the episode instead has the tatzelworm reappear to even Discord's surprise! Cadence manages to throw up a protective barrier to shield her and Twilight, but Discord gets slimed on and actually becomes sick.
So Discord is now staying at Fluttershy's cottage while encased in a magic bubble so he can't infect anyone else, and Twilight is having Spike write in the journal for her about how her day with Cadence didn't go exactly as she planned but that's okay since what mattered most was getting to spend time with her sister-in-law. There's no mention of Discord's "lesson", which goes to show that Twilight didn't need to learn it since she at no point thought she was too good for Discord and if anything now thinks less of him for messing with her for no good reason. In fact, it seems like she isn't willing to grant him a request when he asks for one because of all that she had to endure, meaning that Discord has in fact become the boy who cried wolf. Because he faked being sick for the sake of a "test" Twilight is now less inclined to believe a word he says now that he's actually sick. So even if Discord was sincere about the "test" motive he ended up creating what he specifically was trying to avoid.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, I think it's clear by now that Meghan McCarthy was not the kind of person who could help other writers overcome their flaws. Meghan had too much on her plate as it was to even be a good story editor for this season, so another collab with a writer who had a pretty glaring flaw was not the best idea. It really does seem like Ed had two or three different ideas for episodes in mind but couldn't think of how to write them and decided to hastily combine them together. Think about it, the first half is focused more on Twilight's day out with Cadence and the rest of the mane six (minus Fluttershy) taking care of a sick Discord, while the second half is about Discord staying with Twilight and Twilight and Cadence going on a trip to get a cure for him. But Discord is easily the weakest aspect of the episode, he's there solely because it has to be his episode. It feels like they made a Discord episode solely for the sake of having one. It doesn't really offer any new depth to his character and in fact seems to be used solely to make him like The Genie and show off pop culture references.
It doesn't help that much of the first half is wasted on filler, or on the rest of the mane six not seeming to care that Discord might actually be sick. Yes, we learn later on that he was faking it (and it was kind of obvious) but the implications make it seem like his "friends" don't care and wouldn't care if the sickness were real. Even Twilight is not immune from this when it looks like she's just acting nice to save face in front of Cadence, and assuming she didn't take Discord's friendship for granted before his "test" is enough for her to have reason not to trust him in the future. Princess Cadence does have some good moments, particularly when partnered up with Twilight, but her attempt to try to I assume thwart Discord's sabotage makes her seem ungrateful and selfish. "Glass of Water" is a nice song, and there are some good jokes here and there. But this episode is an unfocused mess. Considering that Ed Valentine supposedly planned for "Growing Up is Hard to Do" to take place during Season 4 before shelfing it for reasons unknown, it's likely that he had problems with this episode too and reached out to Meghan McCarthy for help. And Meghan should've been able to help, she'd demonstrated a good grasp of Discord in "Princess Twilight Sparkle". Alas, it seems like collabs were a particular weak point for Meghan, especially when she subsequently had to edit them. Much like "Rainbow Falls" this feels like it suffers from "First Draft Syndrome" and was not sent back for the revisions it sorely needed (even if that meant scrubbing the episode). So ultimately, this episode gets a D. Flashy visuals and a good song can only do so much to make up for a poorly paced story riddled with unfortunate implications for many of its characters.
Well, things will get back on track from here since next up is "Pinkie Pride" with special guest star Weird Al Yankovic as Cheese Sandwich for only the second celebrity voice in the entire show.
Never a fan of this episode
Once again, this isn't even Pinkie's worst moment of the season.
As for the episode itself, no doubt its biggest problem is the pacing. Like Mr. Enter and Voice of Reason both pointed out in their reviews, Ed Valentine's major writing flaw is that it takes him a while to actually get to the conflict, which thankfully he improved upon when he came back for Season 6. Honestly, it feels like the song's only purpose was to make up for lost time.
This is one that I can find mildly amusing, but otherwise don't really have much of a strong opinion on.