MLP Make Your Mark: Have You Seen This Dragon? Review

I know I've mentioned my...erm...disdain for the Sparky character on here before. But, perhaps the first truly Sparky-centric episode will change my view on that...or, at the very least, make him less of an annoyance and more of an endearment. Let's dive in and check it out, shall we?

Premise: Hitch awakens one morning to find that Sparky has gone missing. So, he rallies his friends together and they attempt to find him. When their efforts come up fruitless, they kick the search into second gear. Meanwhile, Misty, who has kidnapped Sparky, attempts to keep him under control in the closet of the Crystal Bright House. This leads to a bunch of Home Alone-esque gags as the dragon tries to get away from her. Elsewhere, Sunny and her friends keep getting under each other's hooves while searching, and Hitch, in desperation, launches "Operation: Glitter Bomb" to try and find the dragon. After this terrorizes their fellow ponies, Sunny finally realizes that they need to be searching together. They get Hitch reigned back in and Pipp suddenly remembers that she wrote a lullaby for Sparky. This, combined with a group singing effort, finally locates the dragon just as Misty is able to get him out of the Bright House. A desperation swipe with a mason jar nets her some dragon fire and she's able to bolt just as Hitch, Sunny, and the others return. But the little bit of power is not enough for Opaline, who admonishes Misty and tells her that she won't be useful until she procures the dragon himself.

I must say...this was one of the better episodes of the second "chapter" of MYM. I'd put it up there with Hoof Done It and The Cutie Mark Mix-Up as being the best of the batch. It's a fun episode, tells a good story, and manages to give everypony some time in the spotlight. It's also nice to see Hitch being a parent in such a familiar way. Some might find his reactions stereotypical, but it's exactly what would happen if a parent lost a child. I also love how they flesh out the relationship between adoptive father and son here. It's a nice shoutout to those kids in the audience who might have shared a similar experience of coming into a family via adoption. Really good stuff from the writers there.

Elsewhere, they manage to slow the pace down a bit and allow the episode to breathe more. Yes, by the end, they're back to endless rapidity, but for a few minutes, they do have the wherewithal to actually split their segments apart and let the characters have room between lines. The whole thing doesn't feel like one huge, run-on sentence. Instead, it feels more like an actual script. There are gaps where appropriate, the dialogue is somewhat snappy at times, and I appreciate a lot of the voice acting here. The characters are brought to life nicely, with thought definitely taken to where certain lines need to be placed. That, coupled with the excellent Home Alone visual gags, makes up the bulk of what's great here.

Do I have issues with it? Yes, I do...I have one big one, actually. The lullaby that Pipp sings for Sparky at the end of the episode is beautiful. Seriously. That and Where'd It Go are definitely the best songs from the series so far. My issue lies not in the song, but in all the noise going on over the top of it. The sound isn't mixed well, so Pipp's beautiful melodies get lost behind Misty's screaming, a ton of cartoonish banging, and Hitch's excited proclamations when Sparky is found. If you listen to the album on the soundtrack, with none of the plot elements fighting for position in the mix, it's absolutely gorgeous. The only shame is that it's so short. This is a song that definitely could've made the cut in FIM. Unfortunately, its beauty is confounded by a bunch of loud noises that, really, didn't need to exist.

But, all in all, this was one of my favorites from these first eight episodes. It had a solid story, the characters were interesting, and the animation was good. They just needed a bit more prioritization in the third act. So, in light of all that, I'm giving it a 4/5.