Hearts and Hooves Day (FiM: Episode Review)

I'm going to do something different with these blogs as of now. I'm going to take an episode of a show that I like, a game that I like and a movie that I like and make a full fledged review out of it. And seeing this is Valentines Day, I'm going to look at the episode that not anybody can agree on. The My Little Pony episode that is "Hearts and Hooves Day". I just recently rewatched it and thought I could share what I've discovered so let's dive right in.

Story
The Cutie Mark Crusaders; Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo are using a lot of ornaments to create a giant love heart letter to their teacher Cheerilee. They ask her who her special somepony is but she corrects them saying that she doesn't have one. The CMC then seek out a boyfriend (or coltfriend in this case) to be Cheerilee's special somepony. They eventually pick Big MacIntosh (Apple Bloom's brother) and decided to hook them up together. After the attempt at their chemistry failed, the CMC find a book given to them by Twilight Sparkle which researches about love potions and use it to amp up their A-game. After mixing in the ingredients required and feeding it to both Cheerilee and Big Mac, the two then become struck with love and fall for each other. Though happy at first, the CMC then realize their mistake when they start talking all mushy and cuddly to each other. Sweetie Belle realizes that it's not a love potion but a love poison and without the two ponies to fulfill their duties and routines around Ponyville it will fall apart. The CMC have now tasked themselves to prevent Big Mac and Cheerilee from looking at each others eyes for at least an hour to break the spell bestowed upon them. They successfully do so and after a moral about not forcing somepony into a relationship, Cheerilee tells them to do Big Mac's work to learn from their mistakes. We then end with Cheerilee and Big Mac teasing the CMC that they are still in love, complete with them screaming the 'BIG NO'.

Impressions and Problems
Okay... first of all. I don't really find this episode that bad. It starts off okay, but the part about using glue confuses me. It's just glue. What's it made of? The fact about the CMC trying to hook Cheerilee up with a date is a bit of a stretch considering that this fandom has about as much shipping fanfictions than Sonic the Hedgehog and Adventure Time. I'm okay with shipping in main canon shows and games, yep, no problem, but I seriously think pairing Cheerilee and Big Mac seems like a stretch too far when telling a love story. Be aware that I'm not a shipper, that's not my thing. And the fact that the CMC really want Cheerilee to hook up seemed rather forced. I know they're kids but they didn't exactly thought this through well enough.

The next thing is the song "Perfect Stallion". Yeah, it's corny, yeah, it sounds more like it belongs in a Sesame Street episode, but it was funny. Also, Button Mash is in this song. Just thought I point that out. And Sweetie Belle interrupting a funeral, calling the old pony old- WAIT! DOES THIS MEAN DEATH AND COFFINS ARE CANON IN MLP!? That's kinda dark, dontcha think, DHX? Now let's get to the part that people had a problem with. The dialogue in the later half of the episode. Yes, even I cringed when I hear this. When Cheerilee and Big Mac get transfixed by the love potion they start giving each other cute, disgustingly, mushy names that fall into the category of G3 writing.

To be fair, even the CMC are disgusted by the names they gave each other. Since, Sweetie Belle is one of my favorites, I like how she plans on how to keep the two lovebirds from looking at each other. But even though it's barely flawless, they struggle to keep them away from each other. The only reasonable plan for them to stop looking is to... go to sleep, blind them with dirt, or at the very least cover their eyes. I don't think a wedding plan was of anything to keep them apart. But I digress. The moral at the end was good and I liked the ending where they teased them.

I forgot to bring up the fact that Twilight is the only one of the Mane Six to appear in this episode. Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash or anypony else for the matter are absent from this episode. Surely Rarity would flip out when her doors were smashed apart by Cheerilee's sheer strength of desperation. Did Sweetie Belle repaired it when the episode was done? No explanation 'coz cartoon comedy, everybody.

Verdict
In conclusion, this isn't the worst episode I have ever seen. It's definitely a lot better than "Spike At Your Service" that's for sure. Perhaps Meghan McCarthy was more than likely parodying romance comedies because it felt like one. At the end of the day, it's average at best, for better or none. I didn't like the cute naming dialogue they had going there but let me say that it was so bad, it's funny. And the love episode cliche doesn't really work for me that well. But, it's enjoyable enough to see the CMC doing their usual crazy antics and the voice acting was well done with the characters acknowledging the situation they threw themselves in. Let's just hope the next love story episode they do won't be as bad as this one.

Final Score: 8.0/10
+Corny but funny song
+Characters and voices were performed well
+Good moral
+Average writing
-Sappy love dialogue
-Cliche love story

Comments

[Jake8765]

You're off the hook, mopey dopey love talk!