Make Your Mark: Missing the Mark Review · 5:27pm Jun 12th, 2023
So it is that we come to the end of another batch of episodes for Make Your Mark, sure seems like they just fly by don't they? I probably don't need to say it by now, but especially considering what this episode means going forward I'm going to say it anyway.
Chapter 4 is definitely the strongest installment of G5 we've had since A New Generation, and it seems to indicate that they're taking the criticisms of earlier chapters seriously. With the mane five finally meeting and confronting Opaline, a lot of things are gonna come to a head. But did this episode provide a satisfactory resolution, or pull a "The Ending of the End" where it tripped up over itself? Well, let's find out.
The episode begins not unlike "Have You Seen This Dragon?" with Sparky being kidnapped again. But this time, Misty's already managed to steal away with him and make it back to Opaline's castle. We never see how she was able to accomplish this, but just like her last attempt she did it while Hitch was asleep.
Hitch wakes up and finds Sparky missing, and begins to panic when he can't find him around the office anywhere. Meanwhile, Misty starts to feel conflicted about whether or not to give Sparky to Opaline, but her decision is made for her when Opaline emerges and praises Misty for doing a good job. She then takes Sparky up some stairs to a tower where she has set up a workshop, and makes use of the magical stone she obtained a few episodes prior to perform a spell to drain Sparky of his dragon fire magic, channeling it into herself to become more powerful.
Meanwhile, Hitch comes to the Brighthouse to inform the others that Sparky is missing again. They tease Hitch about "another Operation Glitterbomb", before they quickly conclude that Sparky's probably hiding in the same place he was last time, the storage closet. But when they check it they find Sparky isn't there. Then they decide to sing "A Special Tune" again since it worked last time.
That too fails, and now Hitch starts to panic anew. That is, until Misty shows up and offers to take the mane five to Sparky's location, while sheepishly skirting around how she knows. Zipp isn't fooled, she suspects something is up. But the mane five and Misty take off in the Marestream anyway, and despite flying through storm clouds they arrive outside Opaline's castle just fine. Upon heading inside, however, the mane five are ambushed and trapped by Opaline.
Misty's deception is now exposed to all as the mane five are imprisoned within a magic bubble. Opaline, meanwhile, promises to finally give Misty her cutie mark. That is, once she's done draining Sparky of all his dragon fire magic, after which she'll let him fall from the tower.
Heartbroken at Misty's betrayal, the mane five can't do much even as Misty apologizes to them, insisting that she has to be loyal to Opaline because Opaline took her in as a filly when she (Misty) had nowhere else to go. Sunny, meanwhile, tries to power up into her alicorn state, but fails to do so and believes it's a failure on her part. But Zipp soon points out that the magic bubble is blocking out all other means of magic, so it's not Sunny's fault. We get a mostly redundant scene of Misty apologizing a second time and visiting with Opaline again, but when she apologizes for a third time she decides to defect and free the mane five, using a torch to pop the bubble to set everyone free.
As a result, Misty finally gets her cutie mark, which is similar to the fake cutie mark she's been painting on herself.
Then Misty enlists the mane five's help to stage a plan to help rescue Sparky. To that end, she pretends to have been overpowered and tied up by the mane five, necessitating Opaline to come down to rescue her (Misty). Sunny, now powering up into an alicorn, confronts Opaline head on, mentioning that Opaline was who Twilight was warning them about.
Opaline and Sunny clash for a bit as Opaline taunts Sunny for thinking that she (Sunny) could be a match for her (Opaline) on her own (Sunny). Sunny replies with a line equivlanet to "My friends are my power".
Although it is a bit fast paced, I do like that contrary to how a lot of these fights between hero and villain tend to go, Sunny and Opaline aren't standing around and chatting amidst a beam struggle. They're constantly moving around.
While this is going on, Hitch and Zipp manage to sneak away upstairs and rescue Sparky. Then, Sunny manages to land a blow that knocks Opaline down, and with Sparky safely in tow she and the rest of the mane five decide to leave. They opt not to spring the news that Misty has defected to them, and Opaline fails to notice that Misty has gotten her cutie mark, she stil thinks Misty was overpowered and captured. I guess they don't want to paint a target on Misty's back and give Opaline a reason to come after her (Misty)?
Once safely back at the Brighthouse, the mane five discover that Sparky is still weak despite being rescued. Then, to their surprise, Misty shows up and announces that she has indeed left Opaline for good and wants to do her (Misty's) part to defeat Opaline.
However, Opaline is down but not out. She says to herself that "dragons are awakening", though the image that shows up looks more like the Dazzlings in siren form. In either case, Opaline now sets her sights on the other dragons.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, it's very fast paced, almost from the get go. It kind of feels like there should've been more to it than what we got, almost making this a "Magical Mystery Cure" kind of situation only without the musical flow to help carry the story.
Considering we'd seen Misty's first attempt to kidnap Sparky go awry, I kind of think we were entitled to see how she was able to succeed this time. And if we consider Tell Your Tale to be canon, she had several more mishaps along the way before this point. I do appreciate the call backs to "Have You Seen This Dragon?", it feels like this episode but done better since there's actual stakes and conflict, whereas that episode showed us that Sparky was never in any real danger and the mane five couldn't even figure out how to work together, which did not make them look good. Fortunately, the showdown with Opaline was very good, and showed that Opaline could indeed be a competent and serious villain. All we really were missing with her in this episode was a villain song for her. I know she's gotten one in Tell Your Tale but come on, they couldn't give her one here?
The pacing and the flow is not entirely without fault, though. Misty's second apology scene is completely redundant and accomplishes nothing. Even if they were going for "Rule of Three" in regard to Misty cementing her defection, they at least needed to have the second apology mean something more, some sign that Misty wanted to join the mane five but was uncertain. And once again, Sunny's self doubts come on suddenly and just abruptly get resolved. Considering they said this chapter was going to focus more on Sunny, they really needed to do a better job if her self doubts were supposed to this ongoing character arc, especially when she's apparently mastered her alicorn form and can transform almost at will now.
I do have to question the mane five just declaring victory after rescuing Sparky and knocking down Opaline. But it's entirely possible they realize they're in over their heads considering they just found out about Opaline, and she unknowingly told them how powerful she was. So they decided that saving Sparky was more important, that they couldn't really hope to match Opaline in a drawn out fight. I also think they should've had Misty join the mane five at that point, instead of her defecting almost out of the blue later on. Again, maybe that was so Opaline wouldn't get suspicious and have reason to come after Misty, but considering they're going to have Opaline go hunt down dragons I think it could be justified in that Opaline would want to get more powerful before getting her revenge.
I think it's safe to say this marks the end of the first "season" of Make Your Mark, if for no other reason than because the status quo has undergo a major shake-up. As for what it may mean going forward, it's anyone's guess. There's still no hint about where they might be going with the crystals, and I'm still not entirely sold on Opaline being the threat that achieved what even the Legion of Doom could not, even with the supposed establishment of her having been an alicorn at the same time as Celestia and Luna (that we never knew of). Opaline is more competent and dangerous now, but I'm still not sure she's an end game level threat just yet. She seems about on par with Nightmare Moon or Queen Chrysalis in their debuts, maybe a little bit stronger.
I'm definitely going to want to see more, more so for how they'll tackle Misty's quest for forgiveness and redemption. Hopefully it'll be more on par with Sunset Shimmer than Starlight Glimmer, and definitely leagues above Princess Luna or Discord (the former of which they did nothing to establish why she'd still feel so guilty after being forgiven when she was stopped before she could do any lasting harm, and the latter of which repeatedly undermined his own redemption with questionable actions that were never called out properly). In the end, I give this episode an A-, a strong end to Chapter 4 of Make Your Mark. Now I just have to wonder how they'll change the intro to include Misty with the mane five, and Opaline being on her own.
Now, for the next couple of days, I'll be doing some journals related to G5, starting with an update on the main characters since now I'll have to include Misty Brightdawn and where I put her in regards to the others. You might be surprised by some of my opinions.
At least I'm glad that Misty is on the side of good now. ^^
5733030 Me too.
5733031
Of course... I do wish they do address of how she eventually changes the colors of her mane and tail though as what was shown in promotional material. ^^'
Ah well... hopefully maybe by the start of Chapter 5 of MYM when that does happen.
How were you able to watch these episodes, by any chance?
5733057
Pretty sure the answer is obvious: Netflix.
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if this episode was the biggest reason Chapter 4 was so well received.
5733034
Something tells me Misty will get her new mane and tail colors after Opaline has been defeated.
5733070
Maybe. Maybe.
5733057 5733066 Yup, Netflix. Maybe someone's figured out how to pirate them yet, but I don't know.
5733073
Heh :3
5733073
5733066
I don’t have a Netflix account, so I can’t watch the episodes on the service itself.
5733113 Well, that's a shame. Hopefully, the episodes will get uploaded to YouTube or some other video website so that people who don't have Netflix can see them.
5733113
Huh.