Magic Duel Review · 12:26am Sep 18th, 2013
Here is my review of "Magic Duel", which marks the return of The Great and Powerful Trixie. Yeah, I honestly don't have a lot of nice things to say in this episode.
Okay, so it starts out with a hooded pony buying a powerful amulet that has more power than anypony could possibly imagine. Gee, I wonder who the figure is? I'm sure it's not gonna be the certain pony everybody's been building up on the Internet!
We then cut to Ponyville where Twilight is practicing for a magic show she is preparing for Princess Celestia who is returning from Saddle Arabia (GET IT?!), when the hooded figure who is now revealed to be Trixie, comes back to Ponyville and challenges her in a Magic Duel.
Twilight accepts after Trixie abuses her friends a little, but thanks to the powerful magic used by the amulet, Twilight loses the duel and Trixie banishes her from Ponyville, which now has a big glass dome trapping everypony. So it looks like Trixie finally got her revenge against Twilight for...saving her life? Yeah, already you notice a few problems with this episode. When you really think about it, Twilight really didn't do anything bad to Trixie, if anything she saved Trixie's life from the Ursa Minor! And if I clearly remember, nopony really laughed at Trixie in Boast Busters, Trixie just said Twilight will never have her show-stopping ability, and the way she said it came totally out of nowhere! Trixie should be FREAKING GRATEFUL!!!! X0
Also, why doesn't somebody send a note to Celestia? I know Twilight can't because she's banished, but Spike can send for help! And whatever's going on in Saddle Arabia would not be important as your most faithful student being in danger, Celestia!
So while Ponyville is going through the abuse Trixie is putting them through, Twilight tries to learn from Zecora what kind of magic Trixie used and even go through a whole Empire Strikes Back training montage, but unfortunately it doesn't work. Twilight's friends discover the magical amulet Trixie used in the duel and sends Fluttershy in the Everfree Forest to tell Twilight...in an out-of-character way may I add. I mean seriously, Fluttershy was such a freaking wuss in this scene! Especially when the Everfree forest is RIGHT NEXT TO WHERE FLUTTERSHY LIVES. Isn't that like someone who's afraid of cats yet has a bunch of them living around her house?
So Twilight challenges Trixie to another duel with her own magical amulet and Twilight does well, but Trixie steals Twilight's necklace and takes off her own, only to find out Twilight's was a fake. And Twilight's magical ablilities was just through the magic of friendship. Yeah, the show's theme is friendship, I certainly didn't know that from looking at the show's title!
So everything is back to normal, Twilight does a successful magic show for Celestia, but then Trixie has the guts the show her ungrateful mug to Twilght and ask for forgiveness. Yeah, I'd bet Twilight would do tha-
.......................So, let me get this straight. Trixie did not appreciate Twilight saving her from that Ursa Minor, abuses all of Twilight's friends, cheated in a magic duel, banished her from Ponyville, abused Twilight's friends more, tried to steal your own 'magic amulet', and she forgave her for all of that.
You are NOT SERIOUS! How can Twilight just forgive her right there after all she did to her and her friends! She showed a more grudge against her REAL friends for just simple things! Holding a grudge against Spike for accidentally burning her book, not forgiving her friends at first for doing a bunch of bad stuff (And not as bad as Trixie, may I remind you) not thinking they were all possessed by Discord, and shunning the Cutie Mark Crusaders, three little children that have the world ahead of them for writing something about her in the newspaper (They're just children, Twilight!!!), and yet she forgives Trixie for all the crap she did?! Friendship is Magic my butt! That's like if Simba forgave Scar after he killed Mufasa in The Lion King! Yeah, I'd forgive Scar for doing something like that too!
This in my opinion is the worst episode of MLP: FIM, yet. It doesn't make any sense, there are plotholes constantly coming out the wazoo, it gets pretty mean-spirited at times, the characters at times are out of character and the ending...that FREAKING ending!!!!!! I could seriously write stories about why this episode pisses me off! Oh, wait. I already did.
Well, didnt St. Francis say: it is by forgiving that we are forgiven ourselves?
Well, that is true, but it doesn't save how they did that moral here. You know how an ending feels a little too rushed? This kind of rushed is like if someone took a head-start on a race...a 30 second head start. :-)
Agreed.
No need to even think about it, even Trixie's defenders admit Twilight hadn't done anything wrong, so Trixie's desire for revenge against her is absolutely ridiculous
Exactly, so they either ret-conned "Boast Busters" or Trixie was outright lying. Both are distinct possibilities.
Oh there's more, being unable to defeat a beast about 100 times your size is hardly something to be humiliated by, so I don't know WHAT Trixie's on about. Plus, her resenting Twilight for stopping the Ursa, which was stomping around a town full of tiny, easily squished ponies, shows Trixie cares more about her ego than the lives of hundreds of innocent ponies. WHY are we supposed to sympathize with this jerk? To top it all off, she's blaming the wrong pony, as Snips and Snails are the ones who lured the Ursa into town, it's not like Twilight had ANYTHING to do with that
Just for good measure, Trixie had A LOT of money for someone who has supposedly fallen on hard times, plus while her fanbase panders to her "horrible suffering" for having to work on a rock farm, if I recall, she was merely indignant, not truly suffering. Again, it's Trixie's Equestria sized ego at work.
They can't go running to their God-Empress for everything, the focus is supposed to be on the Mane Six. Going to Celestia should be a last resort if they absolutely cannot handle it themselves
Hey, remember back in Season 1 when Twilight was actually a badass? Now she can't seem to do anything. What the Tartarus have to her, Hasbro?
Welllllll...to be fair, living next to does not mean going in to, after all, nothing really seems to leave the Everfree Forest. Still, Fluttershy has been known to pull through when her friends REALLY need her, so yeah, this could have been done better. This however, doesn't mention what a jerk Fluttershy was to Twilight in the beginning. Twilight has been nothing but kind to Fluttershy since they met, and this is twice (The first was in Canterlot wedding) Fluttershy was mean to Twilight with no true provocation. Twilight is a very skilled sorceress, a confirmed animal lover, and a well known Nice Girl. Fluttershy had NO reason to be overprotective.
Honestly? I wouldn't have minded Twilight needing to rely on her friends had it not been at the expense of making Twilight look useless on her own.
...wait, what? Twilight has NEVER held grudges, if anything she's been TOO forgiving of her friends. They've mistreated her several times throughout the series and she's never held it against them,.
I have never seen Twilight hold a grudge. I have seen her getting annoyed when they're acting up, but she tends to let it go.
Three children she has always treated with respect and kindness, and who repay her by PUBLICLY SLANDERING HER. That article could have destroyed Twilight's hard earned reputation, so she had more reason than ANYONE to be angry with them.
Personally, I suspect she, like Fluttershy, was more sad and hurt then angry. Like with Fluttershy, the Crusaders were greeted at the door not by the Nice Girl herself, but by her Jerk With A Heart Of Gold sidekick. Note the force field, I worry that wasn't to keep the crusaders out, but all of Ponyville because of the strong possibility that Ponies in town may have believed that cadswallop about Twilight looking down on Ponyville and may have confronted her.
To be fair, if anyone who does bad things isn't forgiven, what motivation do they have to change their ways? I'm less concerned with Trixie seeking forgiveness for what she did under the corrupting influence of an evil artifact, and more concerned with how this episode seems to gloss over what a creep Trixie was in her debut by her own choice
Scar murdered his own brother in cold blood, forced his child nephew to take the blame, and spent years running the Pride Lands into ruin for his own ego. Trixie's not quite the sinner he is
Overall I agree with you. Trixie's motivation is absolutely ridiculous, she never pays for her ACTUAL crimes, and her heel-face turn comes completely out of nowhere. Also, I'd be more inclined to take Trixie's heel-face turn at face value had it not conveniently taken place after her fanbase spent two seasons fitting her with the tightest pair of leather pants I've ever seen. Yes, I know this was apparently intended for Season 2, but nothing about this episode adds up. So yes, M.A Larson is brilliant, but this is not his best episode.
I understand why you dislike this episode. However, there are a couple of things I have to point out.
Trixie didn't want revenge because Twilight saved her life. She wanted revenge for everything that happened after she left Ponyville. Trixie is a showmare, an entertainer. She made her living trying to entertain others with her magic and her stories. After she was shown as a fake and a fraud, no one respected her, no one wanted to see her shows, her home was vandalized and she was constantly ridiculed. Am I saying she was correct in blaming Twilight? No. Were there others she should have blamed? Yes. Unfortunately, Twilight became the target.
I was wondering this myself. I guess they felt they didn't need to, or was too preoccupied with what Trixie was doing. There could also be the fact that they did try, but Spike couldn't get the message through the dome.
Fluttershy can be afraid of her own shadow, unless her friends are in immediate danger. However, I am surprised Fluttershy didn't try to give Trixie 'The Stare' when Twilight was first thrown out of Ponyville.
Time and her brother's wedding. After enough time passed and finding out about the corruption of the amulet, Twilight probably figured it wasn't completely Trixie's fault. After what her friends, her mentor, and her brother all turned their backs on her, she forgave them. Why not forgive a mare whose very soul was being corrupted?
What is your definition of 'holding a grudge? Twilight was angry at Spike not just burning the book, but not telling her. Twilight was frustrated at her discorded friends with all the crap they were doing (as well as Discord's little taunts thrown it). Twilight felt betrayed by the CMC for what they wrote in a newspaper (as did the rest of the town.)
All in all, I'm not saying you are wrong for hating the episode. (Hell, I didn't like half the episodes in Season 3.) I just wanted to include my views on your blog.
Damn, I'm not used to writing this much.
Well personally much of what happens is because of Trixie being in a bad situation prior to the episode and seeing the alicorn amulet as a way to make things better. The amulet corrupted her and yet even when she esentially spat in Twilight's face and threw her out of town Twilight still saved her. It was that moment that caused Trixie to realize that she was wrong, and she swallowed her pride and begged for forgiveness. And Twilight is never one to hold a grudge.
As for the part about the Everfree Forest, have you seen what lurks in that forest? Fluttershy is not the only one who fears it, I mean there's Ursa Minors and Majors, Dragons, Cockatrices, Hydras, Timberwolves, Phoniexs, and plants like posion joke. Just about anyone in Fluttershy's horeshoes wouldn't want to venture into it, and Fluttershy knows first hoof what can happen if you go in alone.