Episode Re-Review: Horse Play · 4:26pm May 11th
Season 8 finally had an episode that made use of its changes to the status quo with "Surf and/or Turf", which many said was FiM tackling the trickly subject of divorce (though I personally don't see it). However, the episode also felt at times like it was more of a belated commercial for the 2017 movie rather than an actual episode, and the School of Friendship itself was only sort of relevant to it. And now it was time for something completely different: Princess Celestia's very own focus episode. Yes, that's right, despite a few glimpses into her past back in "Princess Twilight Sparkle", and her sharing the spotlight with Princess Luna in "A Royal Problem", on top of being esentially a special guest of sorts for the third act of "Celestial Advice", it was only now that she was getting her very own focus episode. How fitting to re-review this episode on Mother's Day weekend given how many have said Princess Celestia is a motherly figure. As for who was writing the episode, it was a brand new writer in the form of Kaita Mpambara, whose previous writing credits were mostly for obscure shows. This episode seems to be another forgotten one when discussing Season 8, largely because other episodes seem to have generated all the controversy. Was Princess Celestia's first (and ultimately only) focus episode able to do her justice, or did it only prove that she's better off staying out of the spotlight? Well, let's find out.
The episode begins with Twilight and Spike visiting Princess Celestia in Canterlot. The occasion? It's her "Onesversary", the anniversary of the first time she raised the sun. As it turns out, Princess Celestia is only a little over a thousand years old, suggesting that alicorns are long lived but not necessarily immortal. She is utterly flatered when Twilight and Spike inform her that the School of Friendship will be putting on a special play to commerate the occasion, and reveals that she always felt a connection to the world of theater ever since she was a filly. Twilight then decides to help Celestia live out her dream, opting to have her play herself. And she does this without consulting any of her friends. As we'll soon see, this is not a good idea even if it sounds like one.
We then cut back to Ponyville as the rest of the mane six (and Starlight) are getting the stage and the actors ready for the play. Pinkie Pie descends to the stage via umbrella, having attended the Mary Poppins school of entry.
Applejack, however, scolds Pinkie, repeating a warning not to get the special effects near the sets. Meanwhile, Rarity is making the costumes, and Starlight mentions that Fluttershy (who is supposed to play Princess Celestia) has already memorized all her lines. Fluttershy states that memorization is easy once you get past stage fright and performance anxiety. So Fluttershy has now developed enough to be able to perform for crowds. This is how you do character growth right.
Twilight then shows up and informs the others that not only did she get permission from Princess Celestia to do the play, but that Princess Celestia is going to take over and play herself. Naturally, her friends start to panic at this realization, or at least Rarity does since she and Pinkie Pie state that they'll need to make upgrades in their departments. Rainbow Dash opts to spread the word about the play, and Starlight expresses her worries about having to be on stage alongside the princess (even though Starlight only seems to be responsible for passing out the scripts). When pressed about her apparent anxiety of "just talking to a princess", Twilight informs Starlight of how she talks to her (Twilight) no problem, to which Starlight says that Twilight's "not a princess princess." and Twilight takes some offense to it.
But although the episode doesn't say it outright, I think the real worry from Starlight is that Princess Celestia might still harbor some lingering resentment for the cutie mark swap back in "A Royal Problem". Just because it worked out in the end doesn't mean Celestia necessarily approved of it being done without her consent.
The play soon gets underway, with Fluttershy serving as the narrator. Through the play, we learn that it used to require five powerful unicorns plus Starswirl the Bearded to raise the sun every day. And because it used so magic, all the unicorns who aided Starswirl would lose their magic forever. We do see the student/young six playing the roles of Starswirl and the sorcerers, but this is the most to which they're involved with this episode, which is kind of a wasted opportunity. If nothing else, why not have Ocellus transform into Starswirl, rather than have the ponies show favoritism by making Sandbar Starswirl and the non-pony creatures the sorcerers who lose their magic? If Ocellus was offered the role and turned it down, that would be different. But as far as we know, that was never considered. So yet again, the School of Friendship is just window dressing for an episode, it hasn't really altered the status quo much, Say what you will about Twilight being an alicorn or the cutie map in her castle, but at least those things were actually utilized and acknowledged throughout their seasons, whereas seven episodes in the School of Friendship has only directly been focused on once. That's as bad as Make Your Mark sending Misty back to spy on Opaline, only for Misty to come and go as she pleases without ever providing meaningful intel.
Well anyway, Twilight takes great pride in having not only thought up the play, but having also written it and directed it. So it's just like when Mike Wioskia from Monsters Inc. put on a play.
But Princess Celestia, probably unsurprising given her lack of experience, is a terrible actress. At first she speaks too softly, then she's too stilted, and then she speaks too fast. When Twilight suggests that Princess Celestia speak up, she opts to use her Royal Canterlot Voice (I guess Luna had to get it from somewhere).
Applejack immediately suggests that they tell Princess Celestia to her face that she's a bad actresss. But Twilight, not wanting to hurt the princess' feelings, lies and says that Celestia is a great actress. Things only go from bad to worse when Princess Celestia accidentally triggers a trap door intended to be used for the fake sun, then knocks the other actors into it and destroys the fake sun by accident. Kind of odd that this is the only time she's ever shown to be at all clumsy. Are we sure Derpy didn't secretly take over the princess' body for this scene?
Well, while Pinkie Pie tries to conjure up a new fake sun in time for the play, Twilight decides to give Celestia some acting lessons on the side. She opts to bring in two of the Method Mares performers: Raspberry Barrett and On Stage, who just like Applesauce and Apple Rose get brand new voice actors here. Strangely enough, they sound more exaggerated here when they're supposedly being themselves, rather than when they were playing characters back in "Made in Manehattan". However, the lessons go poorly because Princess Celestia is quite literal minded and doesn't understand what it means to improvise. Even her attempt at charades is a bust, because she opts for something that is very difficult to convey (the love and warmth she feels for all of Equestria, according to her). Yet Twilight still won't tell Princess Celestia to her face that she's not a good actress.
To make matters worse, Rainbow Dash went and talked up the play and Princess Celestia being part of it, so now a huge crowd has gathered to see it. That means the show must go on. Twilight decides then and there that there's only one thing to do: Rework Celestia's role so that she doesn't speak at all. She never says how she'll convince Celestia of such a change on such short notice and not have her get suspicious. Pinkie Pie, meanwhile, reveals her latest brainstorm for a fake sun (after trying both a giant balloon and a giant burning marshmallow, the latter of which actually caught some of the background props on fire), a huge bunch of fireworks. She reveals that they're actually magical fireworks that she "Got from Trixie in a back alley at midnight", which means Trixie is secretly dealing in illegal fireworks sales.
The fireworks naturally cause destruction, destroying most of the sets and props. And this setback is enough to set Twilight off, having her complain about how everything's going wrong. Just when you think things can't worse, they do. Princess Celestia overhears Twilight insulting her acting, and is naturally quite upset. Twilight stupidly tries to save face, claiming she didn't mean it. But Princess Celestia tells Twilight that she isn't mad about being told she's a bad actress, she's mad because Twilight lied to her for so long.
Princess Celestia thus storms off in a huff. Twilight prepares to go after her, but Pinkie Pie stops her, saying that the crowd is growing restless and needs to be entertained. Twilight, however, is determined to make up for her mistake and leaves. Spike then wonders who's going to have to go out and stall for time, right before the ponies all look at him. Surprise surprise, Spike is made to go out and entertain the crowd, esentially being thrown to the wolves. It would be different if he volunteered for the role, instead of basically being volunteered. Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash could've easily taken his place, both have lots of experience with entertaining crowds.
We cut away from this to Twilight trying to catch up to Princess Celestia. Princess Celestia is still quite hurt about the lack of trust Twilight showed, and Twilight confesses to how much she's idolized Princess Celestia from youth, finally addressing her idol worship. She even more or less admits that she's looked up to the princess even more than her own parents or her big brother.
Celestia is briefly flattered and touched by this, but then responds with an absolute about how "The truth is always better than a well meant lie." Again, like with "Leap of Faith", they aren't willing to address how honesty can be a bad thing. I know that not telling the whole truth is considered a lie by omission, but if they could show how generosity and kindness could be taken advantage of, there's no reason why they can't do the same for honesty. There's even a real life example of how sometimes telling the truth can be a bad thing: A woman in Nazi Germany during the Holocaust harbored Jews within her house despite knowing that it was illegal for her to do so. She was asked multiple times by the Gespato if she was harboring Jews: If she told the truth, the Jews would've been exposed and sent off to concentration and death camps. But by saying she wasn't harboring Jews, she was thus lying. One could argue that she would be a liar even if she told the truth since she likely promised to keep the Jews safe. But again, no matter what she did, she would be lying to someone. Yes, lying all the time is never acceptable. But using honesty as an excuse to be blunt or rude is also not acceptable. In the end, it's like they say: Extremists deal in absolutes, realists deal in shades of grey. There are only a few times in life where there are absolutes and the choice between good and bad is clear. And Princess Celestia of all characters should know that better than anyone, given that she probably didn't bother to correct the narrative of Nightmare Moon going from being a corrupted form of her sister to being a pony boogeyman.
Fortunately, a conversation is all that's needed to make things right, as Twilight promises to be honest with Princess Celestia going forward. Then Celestia says she knows how to salvage the play, not as an actor but as a princess. We then cut back to the play itself, with Spike naturally being booed by the crowd and even being pelted with tomatoes.
Luckily, Twilight returns with Princess Celestia, and Celestia quickly takes charge of the situation. She opts to restore Fluttershy to her originally planned role. After all, it wouldn't be the first time Fluttershy played such a role. From there, Celestia has Rainbow Dash gather up some clouds to use as a backdrop. Spike then steps into the role of narrator, only to immediately encounter some hecklers who see fit to mock the student/young six for their taterred and torn costumes. Nevermind the fact that it's obviously a school play, and you wouldn't expect a school play to have professional looking costumes (I mean, you wouldn't expect a school play to be on the level of a professional touring play, would you?).
However, Princess Celestia instructs Spike to roll with it, and the play continues uninterrupted. That is, until it's time for the sun to be raised, as Twilight only now realizes they don't have a fake sun. Celestia opts to "improvise" by raising the sun herself, yet only Princess Luna (who is in attendance with Fleur of all ponies) realizes it's the real thing and not a well crafted special effect.
The play is thus a success, even down to the audience throwing roses afterwards. Twilight is grateful to Princess Celestia for salvging the play, to which Celestia replies that she so enjoyed her time as an actress that she intends to step down from the throne and devote herself full time to the theater. It quickly turns out to be a joke on her part, but I find it funny that about a season later she would in fact step down for real. They probably weren't aware of those plans when they wrote this episode, but part of me can't help but wonder if Princess Celestia was secretly testing the waters here?
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, for being the only episode focused directly on Princess Celestia, it's really good. It's a good blend of her two selves: The wiser, more reserved self we saw throughout the first four seasons, and the more humrous, fun loving self we saw from Season 5 onwards. Some question how she can be a bad actress if she's such a good princess, because that requires her to be a good politician, and politics does involve performance. But the thing is: Performing for the theater and performing for politics are two very different things. The former involves intentional exaggeration, delibertly playing up your emotions, whereas the latter often involves suppressing your emotions and masking your true feelings, whether it be in negotiations or in dealing with adversieries. Yes, there is such a thing as "Bread and Circuses", distracting the populace with entertainment, but even then the Romans never blended the two together: The politics were kept separate from the performances.
Plus, as this episode makes perfectly clear, just because you admire or appreciate something doesn't mean you're going to be good at it, especially if you have no practice or prior experience in it. Things often seem easier from afar than they are when you try it for yourself. Yes, having to watch intentional bad acting on Nicole Oliver's part can be difficult, but she pulls it off convincingly without going too far in the intentional department. This episode really shows Princess Celestia at her best, demonstrating what she is and what she isn't. The hallmark of a good leader is not just how they manage in peace time, but especially how they handle themselves in a crisis. A good leader inspires others, knowing when to take charge and when to delegate authority to others. It doesn't fully make up for all the times Princess Celestia would be uncerimoniously defeated by the forces of evil, but it does go a long way towards restoring some of that dignity and majesty she commanded in earlier seasons. I also appreciate how this episode was willing to address a very big problem for Twilight, her idol worship of Princess Celestia. Twilight never really questioned the princess, even when she might have reason to. And as we saw with Rainbow Dash and Daring Do, putting anyone on too high a pedestal can lead to trouble. I do wish we could've gotten a follow up to this development by having an episode where Twilight actually disagreed with Princess Celestia on the right course of action to take, because the closest thing we have to that is Twilight's initial reluctance to make friends, and Twilight questioning why Princess Celestia would bring Discord to Ponyville.
I do have to deduct points for Twilight once again not listening to her friends (or at least not listening to Applejack), ignoring the aesop from the movie about how she needed to trust her friends rather than try to go behind their backs. It's probably more believable here than when she outright shrugs off them telling her the School of Friendship isn't working, but it's still a case of her forgetting the very lesson she's supposed to have taken to heart. And Spike being thrown to the wolves to buy time for Twilight to make amends with Princess Celestia is just wrong, he shouldn't be the scarifical lamb for the ponies. They know him well enough at this point to know that he wants respect just as much as they do. The scene with the hecklers mocking the play costumes is also unnecessary, even for the sake of showing how Princess Celestia reacts to a problem. The hecklers just feel petty, like they came solely to mock a school play even though they had to know what it was ahead of time. The scenes with Pinkie's attempts to conjure up a new fake sun are also not very funny. The balloon scene was funny, but the burning marshmallow and the illegal fireworks were dangerous, someone could've easily gotten hurt.
These not so minor problems do hurt this episode, but only enough to where I'd give it a narrow A-, maybe a borderline B+/A-. It's definitely one of Season 8's best episodes (not that that's saying much), and I do consider it in the higher tier of episodes for the show. But "What Lies Beneath" easily beats this out for the best episode of Season 8. This episode is good, but it's not quite that good.
*Sigh*, well, it's going to be a long time before we'll get back to anywhere near this level of quality in my re-reviews this year. I already covered "The Parent Map" in 2021, so next week it's time for what many consider not only Season 8's worst episode but also one of the worst episodes of the entire show. It's the dreaded "Non-Compete Clause" in which Applejack and Rainbow Dash endanger their students for the sake of trying to become teacher of the month.
While I like this episode, I do think it's kinda overrated.
Starlight is the best part of it, though with her "You're not a princess princess" line.
5780195 Funny, I never got the impression this episode was overrated, even for Season 8. It seems like a lot of the bad stuff in Season 8 overshadowed this, and "What Lies Beneath" drew attention for its direct focus on the student/young six and Cozy Glow.
Similar to The Beginning to the End, I recall in your original review of this episode you appreciated the fact that someone other than Starlight tried to knock some sense into Twilight for once.
Also, if you think about it, this episode kinda feels like a reverse of Applebuck Season, with Applejack insisting on using a simple solution and Twilight stubbornly refusing to do it. How much you bet Applejack was thinking to herself "Please tell me I wasn't this bullheaded during the first Applebuck Season after she moved to Ponyville."
Yeah the Spike scenes in the play made me want to turn some ponies into glue and dog food.
Uh, a bit too much?