My 500th Review: MLP: FIM season 8 episode 16 Friendship University · 5:54pm Oct 21st, 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)
Here we are, ladies and gentlemen. I have made yet another milestone in this journey of mine…500 reviews!!! Man, this keeps getting better and better, huh? Well, in celebration of this achievement, it is time to review the sixteenth episode of MLP: FIM season 8 entitled: “Friendship University”.
Now, to be honest, I was a little worried that this episode would suck because I really hoped that I can review something positive for once, especially for my 500th review. So as I just finished re-watching this episode, I actually…found myself enjoying it. Finally, an actual good episode after too many bad episodes in this season!
The episode starts with Starswirl the Bearded traveling through all the world helping different ponies along the way after learning much about friendship. He shares this experience through a letter to Twilight Sparkle who was reading it out loud. Joining her is Rarity who shares her joy over the fact that Starswirl is learning friendship from her albeit indirectly. Then Cozy Glow shows up and informs Rarity that her sowing packages arrived along with a strange poster.
Twilight and Rarity read it and are shocked to learn that another friendship school exists: Friendship University. Learning about its location from the Young Six, they travel to Las Pegasus to see the university themselves and find out who’s running it. Unsurprisingly, the culprits are none other than the Flimflam brothers. They, as usual, sing a catchy song about their new school, how they share the same interest as Twilight, and so on.
To add even insult to injury, it is revealed that Chancellor Neighsay approved the university as accredited as he wants to see the new institution as a pony-exclusive environment—not even trying to hide his xenophobic attitude. Again, I would’ve liked if they expanded on his prejudice—explaining why he is so hateful towards non-ponies. This episode probably wouldn’t be the appropriate one to fit it all in, but I would say make another episode that serves as a direct follow-up on this so that we can learn more about him.
Moving on, Twilight expresses her skeptical thoughts on the legitimacy of Flim and Flam’s new school, but she soon realizes how serious this is when they show Starswirl taking friendship lessons from them. Twilight then gets upset that he chose to go to their school instead of hers; Flim and Flam then accuse her of being jealous and trying to eliminate the competition.
She denies this and points out all the dishonest, bad practices they did over the years, but Starswirl reminds her of what she taught him: looking past everyone’s bad history and instead look at the best in everyone. Man, it was really sad to see him being taken advantage of like this, and I was a little surprised that they would go so far in enticing him to go to their school just to taunt Twilight with it. Like, if that isn’t villainous levels of petty, then I don’t know what is.
And this goes to show that not everyone is all sympathetic and good in the inside. There are just some folks who just simply love to trick, scam, and deceive people either for money or just for the kicks and laughs. Flim and Flam may not be hardcore villains like Chrysalis, Tirek, and Sombra, but they’re still annoying little swindlers who make a living off of ponies’ gullibility. And to be honest, I’m kinda happy they didn’t get any redemption by the end of the show; they may have helped our heroes at the end, but they’re still Flim and Flam. It’s not like they’re spiteful criminals or anything, so why would they be reformed?
Anyway, Rarity suggests that they go undercover to find anything suspicious to lay any dirt on them. So they disguise themselves as new students; Rarity goes to class while Twilight goes to Flim and Flam’s office to detect anything she can use against them. The brothers catch her in the act, take a picture of her (undisguised), relish the idea of exposing her as a jealous competitor.
They then propose that if she stops investigating, then they’ll get rid of the photo and won’t ever tell anyone of what she was trying to do. This discourages her for a bit until Rarity mentioned that they’re charging their classes, and that students have to pay if they want any more lessons. That’s where she secretly follows the brothers to their secret room where they’re hoarding all the bits they got from the students so they can build their resort.
Rarity shows that Starswirl has been listening to everything they just unwittingly admitted to Twilight; the latter then forces them to return every bit they have back to the students which they immediately do. So the day is saved, and the magic of honesty prevails. It kinda makes me wish Applejack was in this episode since she has a history with them.
So overall, I genuinely like this episode. It brought back some of the most interesting antagonists of the series and had them utilize a concept that Twilight is well familiar with and use it against her in a subtle way. Plus, seeing her act all vulnerable and emotional was really cute to watch. Nothing makes me more happy than seeing this patronizing, pontificating imbecile get humiliated. But my Twilight hate aside, it is a well-written episode despite some flaws.
I will give it an B+. I also wish they show Neighsay’s reaction when he sees his plan go up in smoke and how he feels about Starswirl recommending students to Twilight’s school at the end. It’s like he just took off, expecting that everything is gonna be fine. Like…I wanted to see that!
And how come Starswirl made no reaction to Neighsay’s racist remarks about the creatures’ “infectious behavior” getting to Twilight? Dude, you’re just gonna stand there and let him disrespect the Princess of Friendship like that?? I know you’re learning about friendship and all, but those statements do not reflect that concept at all. Put him in his place, you fool!
Peace out. And Cozy was definitely behind all this, judging by the ending.
Congratulations.
Yeah, Neighsay reaction was amusing
Congratulations on your 500th review, man!! Now that is a milestone worth celebrating! I thought this episode was alright. Entertaining, but nothing really memorable. The dynamic between Starswirl and Twilight, as well as the Rarity and Twilight team up saves this premise. I don’t know, I just can’t really get attached to Flim and Flam stories because they’re all repetitive. The Bros show up, cause mischief, get found out, and go in the run. I think their best episode has to be “Viva Las Pegasus” because they actually helped Applejack and Fluttershy, and the episode does a lot to “humanize” them. But in this episode, they’re back to their old ways, rendering their supposed reformation in the former ultimately pointless.
I liked the episode alright, but it is sad that the writers never gave these guys the opportunity to really get along with Applejack past one episode. It would’ve made their inclusion in the final battle against the Legion of Doom that much stronger.
Congratulations on reaching your 500th episode analysis, my friend. It truly warms my heart that you were able to find another Season 8 episode you actually enjoyed for this occasion.
This episode would’ve also have been a good chance for Gladmane to return if they decided not to use the Flim-Flam Brothers.
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I agree. I could never understand why the show team didn’t have Gladmane return as the main antagonist for an episode just like this one, especially instead of using Flim & Flam again. Heck, it seemed like “Viva Las Pegasus” was the right episode to conclude the latter two’s character arcs.
Flim and Flam are one of my favourite characters in the show, and nopony was as shockingly out of character as they were in Friendship University. It was just so not the Flim and Flam we know! They don't act like themselves in the slightest. What with treating Twilight so cruelly, and blackmailing her and threatening to destroy her reputation. Flim and Flam may be conponies, but they would never do something like that! And don't get me started on their bad attitudes. Flim and Flam would never be so nasty to anypony. Flim and Flam are positive, enthusiastic showponies who, despite their deception, are actually really nice and good-natured. They would never be so mean and nasty and grumpy and bad-natured, and would never do something like blackmail! I mean, sure, deception is their thing, but blackmail is just cruel, and Flim and Flam would never do that to anypony.
And does anybody notice how tacky their speech is!? Flim and Flam are professional showponies with elaborate speech and high-standard vocabulary range, always speaking using long professional words like "Indispensable" or "Hypothetically" or "Unimpeachable". In Friendship University, their speech is just so messy! They say stuff like "I guess" and "Sure" and "Nah" and "Yeah". Flim and Flam don't talk like that! They don't say "Yeah", they say "Precisely" or "Indubitably" or "Unquestionably", or at the very least, "Indeed so". And it's not just their vocabulary that's been ruined. What happened to the bounce in their voices!? They just talk like flat, regular ponies in Friendship University! Plus, they don't say anything simultaneously, they don't talk super-fast like they're supposed to, and to top it off, they don't even finish a single one of each others' sentences! Ruined!
And that part when they were selling their papers and they were just being total grumps to the buyers (which is also something Flim and Flam would never do), Flim says: "Come back for the rest when you can afford it." And, I mean, he's just so cold! That's definitely not the Flim OR Flam we know! The real Flim and Flam would have said something like: "Come back tomorrow, my good sir, where my brother and I shall very gladly grant you these fine and, might I add, quite superlatively remarkable scriptures, for the right price, naturally!" THAT is the kind of thing Flim and Flam would say. Their vocabulary is completely off, as are their attitudes.
I've mentioned Flim and Flam are way out of character in Friendship University, and yet another thing that really bugged me about the episode was that Flim and Flam didn't even reform, even after they made friends with Applejack and Fluttershy in Viva Las Pegasus. I always hoped Flim and Flam would return again in Season 8, but my expectations were crushed. Their fourth episode should have been about Flim and Flam's reformation, not some stupid University of Friendship, not to mention they're suddenly bad guys again. Not only does it not tally with the timeline in the slightest, but it's just getting old.
In The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, I had absolutely no idea what they would do, since they were new characters. In Leap of Faith, I had a suspicion they were up to no good, but couldn't be sure, since I didn't know them too well, and since their tonic did seem to work. Then in Viva Las Pegasus, Flim and Flam were having a friendship problem and arguing, so I didn't think they would be antagonists, then their teaming up with the goodies was also brand new, but in Friendship University, their school being a scam was just too predictable.
Friendship University was their fourth episode, and they weren't antagonists in their third episode. They can't be antagonists, then turn allies, then just be antagonists again as if it never even happened. That just doesn't work. Sure, to have two episodes with ingenious scams, then a "team-up-with-the-goodies" episode for a third is fine, but a fourth episode with the same old hackneyed scam plot as before, and it's just too predictable, and also doesn't tally with the timeline. They've gone too long without reforming. Their fourth episode should either have been about their full reformation, or Viva Las Pegasus have been their last episode.
It makes me so furious to see how Sugar-Honey-Iced-Tea Twilight is treated in Friendship University, and, come to think of it, several other episodes. Celestia, Luna and Cadance are always treated with bows and utmost respect, so why is Twilight treated like some dumb everyday pony? Ponies scowl at her as she comes through the crowd, and just plainly insult her! "You'd think the Princess of Friendship would be friendlier." How DARE they say something like that!? That's absolutely outrageous! You do NOT say something like that in front of royalty! That's like saying: "You'd think the Princess of the Sun would be prettier," in front of Celestia! That's just insulting royalty! That shouldn't be allowed! And would the Princess of Friendship really try and sabotage a school out of jealousy? Really? And would a princess of Equestria really make accusations at a pair of con artists unless she knew what she was talking about!? Seriously! Why is Twilight treated like Sugar-Honey-Iced-Tea, when she should be treated with the utmost trust and respect!?
Yet another complaint I have about Friendship University: Where the heck is Applejack!? Flim and Flam have always been Applejack's personal nemesis! Since when are they anypony else's problem!? And since when do they appear without her!? A FlimFlam Brothers episode without Applejack is like a Discord episode with no finger-snapping! Plus, not only is Twilight the one who takes them on instead of Applejack, but Twilight and the FlimFlam Brothers somehow seem to know each other perfectly, even though they've only ever seen each other once, at the cider event years ago, and they never even met each other or even spoke to each other! They act like they know each other personally, which they certainly don't! When Flim and Flam first jump through the paper, Twilight says:
"Flim and Flam. Of course!"
She doesn't sound surprised in the least. It's like she knows them perfectly, and she "should have known". Twilight hasn't seen Flim and Flam for years, and doesn't even know them! A much more appropriate sentence would be:
"No way! It can't be! Is that....the FlimFlam Brothers?"
Twilight Sparkle clearly states that Flim and Flam are obviously up to something, and Starswirl just dismisses it, saying she taught him to "look for the best" in a previous enemy.
I must say, Starswirl, that is just dense! There is a big, big difference between "seeing the best in somepony", and just being stupidly trusting and completely ignorant to the fact that they are up to no good!
Plus, he actually believes Flim and Flam over Twilight! Twilight tells him point straight that she is not envious and that Flim and Flam are obviously up to something, and she is just trying to find out what, and Starswirl just jumps to the conclusion she is lying and Flim and Flam aren't, just because of some picture of Twilight searching their office! There are, like, a million reasons that Twilight could have been searching through their papers, and two notorious con artists are likely to lie about it! Starswirl actually trusts them over Twilight! That's just appalling!
Therefore I'll give the episode Friendship University an F. This is one of the episodes that quickly ruined my day upon watching it and its just makes me mad upon rewatch wishing it to just go away. The episode Viva Las Pegasus was so good but they just butchered its ending. After all its just another forced friendship mission by the map on Applejack and Fluttershy as well as an excuse for the writers to have the viewers see new places. But at this point? I think the writers are just running out of ideas and reusing characters for whatever reason rather than to milk more money. No wonder Season 9 was announced to be the last season after the episodes like this.
i.pinimg.com/1200x/c8/06/40/c8064082fbbd312a085b04f8d4ee1db9.jpg
Anywho after getting on a bit of a tangent in my thoughts about Friendship University hehe sorry Mr. J I wish to say congratulations for releasing your 500th Episode Review of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Many you have many more endeavors about reviewing Friendship is Magic as well as other movies and shows
I always have fun reading this and I found it interesting even if I disagree with them sometimes. 
That's all for now!! Have a good one man. 
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