My Review of MLP: FIM season 8 episode 13 The Mean 6 · 7:30pm Sep 30th, 2023
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! This is Mr. J back with another MLP episode review for today! This afternoon, I will be reviewing the thirteenth episode of season eight entitled “The Mean 6”. Now we are in the mid-season finale, half way through the eighth season. This time, things get more intense than before…which swiftly results in wasted potential and creating massive disappointment. I can think of ways Michael Vogel could have wrote this episode better, and I guarantee you it would’ve been a million times better than this dumpster fire.
The episode begins with the Mane Six preparing for a retreat as a way to relax and spend time together, but they are first waiting for their photographer to arrive. Once she arrives late, she quickly takes pictures of each of them while she also picks a strand from each of their hairs.
Once she left the premises of the School of Friendship, she transforms into the former Queen Chrysalis. She talks to herself about her newfound plan: creating duplicate clones of the Mane Six so that they can harness the magic from the Tree of Harmony. With that power, Chrysalis can rule Equestria with a new hive of ponies at her disposal.
She creates them successfully, but it came with unexpected side effects. Each clone manifests a direct polar opposite of the Mane Six’s personalities respectively: Fluttershy is cruel instead of sweet, Applejack is a liar instead of honest, Rarity is extremely greedy instead of generous, Rainbow Dash is uncaring with no loyalty, Pinkie Pie is lifeless and uninterested with anything, and Twilight displays treacherous cunningness with a cold demeanor.
Now, here is one of my primary issues with this episode: Michael Vogel thought it was a good idea to write this interesting storyline and throw it all away under 22 minutes. What Chrysalis did is something that could have been developed throughout this entire season—y’know, like an actual arc that could’ve been payed off in the finale.
If she has the power to create clones from a pony’s DNA and photo picture, then nothing would stop her from making more based on countless ponies…ponies who can be trained and disciplined to obey their queen and take out the original ponies so that no one can oppose her.
Why wasn’t this ever tackled again? This was a perfect opportunity to have “The Mean 6” be the first episode to have the original Mane Six square off against their evil counterparts and have their animosity build up until the finale. There could have been later episodes where the Mean Six disguise themselves as the real teachers at the School of Friendship and sow discord, lies, and deceitful lessons about friendship but without giving away their true identity or agenda.
With the School of Friendship under their tutelage, they can create a wave of unfriendliness towards every pony and creature. Now, some of you may question this, “But Mr. J, some of the evil clones aren’t really subtle at all. The only one who has brains is evil Twilight.” That may be true, but keep in mind, if evil Twilight was their leader from the start (and with better writing—making the other evil clones slightly more intelligent than what they were in the episode), they would’ve had a chance in infiltrating and taking over the school.
And this leads to another issue I have with the episode: Chrysalis is an idiot. Sure, she isn’t one of the most intelligent villains in this show, but the way she handled her leadership over the clones was beyond stupid. She tried so hard to control them with her forceful hoof, but she took no initiative to punish any of them for wasting her time in finding the Tree of Harmony. Villainous bossing 101: Always make an example of one of your henchmen to set them straight if any of them DARES to step out of line!
What Chrysalis should have done was possess one of them (especially mean Twilight), and mentally torture her to subdue her insubordination. With the clone in her full control, she can spread permanent fear in the other clones so they’ll showcase zero hesitation in obeying her commands. It would’ve made Chrysalis a much more serious threat and not stoop down to an idiotic joke.
So throughout this episode, the Mane Six and Starlight Glimmer marched for their retreat only to be separated through different circumstances and end up seeing different evil clones without ever realizing they’re not the real ponies. How in Scourge’s burning, fiery ass did none of the ponies ever notice that some things weren’t adding up? The biggest red flag was evil Applejack; her eyes and her cutie mark were literally green, not red, yet neither Rarity nor Starlight ever noticed that?! HOW?! It’s absolutely mind-blowing they failed to notice!
That confirms to me that these ponies are actually colorblind. They have to be colorblind to not see the difference between both Applejacks. And they all thought that all the trivial problems they had would make them say or do things completely out of character? This is why I hate the trope of characters being stupid whenever evil counterparts are involved. It’s like the ability to tell the difference between the real deal and the fake one is nonexistent.
It made this episode really hard to watch. Let me just skip to the end; the Mean Six and Chrysalis finally found the Tree of Harmony, and evil Twilight attempts to betray her creator while her comrades try to take on the Tree. However, the Tree immediately recognizes they were faulty duplicates of its original bearers and decides to drain the absolute life out of them. Their timely death marks the failure of Chrysalis, and she once again swore revenge on Starlight.
That was really brutal for a kid’s show, but I’m glad it wasn’t too much to the point where it would traumatize children. Boy, Michael Vogel almost went hardcore on that one.
In the end, Twilight and her friends discover their tents were all ruined, but it did not deter them from ending the night in a positive note while Chrysalis flies away in defeat. I have two questions for you, Mr. Vogel: Where was Spike during all this? He is an important staff member of the school, so he should’ve been in this episode. Why was Starlight in this episode? She did little to nothing throughout this camping trip and had little impact on the plot.
Ladies and gentlemen, this episode is the very definition of wasted potential. The Mean Six were a group of promising antagonists that demanded at least half a season of character development and buildup. They are more interesting than Cozy Glow, I’ll tell you that. This gets a D! This is one of the worst episodes Michael Vogel wrote for this show, and it pains me to see characters this stupid and cringeworthy.
Peace!
I agree with you on all these points.
Aside from supposedly serving as a build-up towards Chrysalis’s return in Season 9 and her overall state as a character, “The Mean 6” never gave much in the ways of a remotely meaningful contribution to the overall series. I too couldn’t understand why the real Main Six weren’t able to tell each other apart from the evil versions, especially considering they’ve literally stated they could see color many times before. Not to mention the situational comedy aspects were boring and dragged on too much.