Thoughts on the Season 5 Opener (Spoilers)

I'm pleased to say that I avoided spoilers for Season 5. I did accidentally come across one or two little images, but not enough to spoil me. So I went into this completely unaware of what I was in for. My only clue was the title. So, here are my thoughts on the episode.

The underlying message of this two-parter was clear. They didn't even try to be subtle about it. Of course, to younger viewers, the message was just another version of "be yourself, not like everyone else". To older, more analytic viewers, it was more of a broad commentary on tyrannical governments that believe forcing people to conform to one specific image is the way to insure a perfect society, while they themselves are allowed the privilege of being superior. The creation of any type of government or ruling party automatically makes equality impossible, but that's a whole other thing I could spend paragraphs and paragraphs talking about. I'll just sum up that particular thing by saying that true and complete equality, regardless of us all having the same rights, is merely a fantasy due to the whole idea of total equality being in itself a paradox

So, what'd I think of the episode itself and not just the big message underneath it all? It wasn't the best season premiere. That honor goes to the Return of Harmony. Regardless, I liked it. Pinkie had a lot of hilarious scenes and lines. Her suspicion about the village ponies was absolutely priceless And Fluttershy being so naive was both cute and frustrating to watch. If this had been a horror movie, she probably would have been the first to die (no offense to Fluttershy fans. I'm a fan of her myself). My favorite joke in the episode was the slightly dark one with Pinkie Pie and the map. The one where she sees the miniature version of her parents' house and says "Hi Mom and Dad!", then Spike steps on the "house" and Pinkie's eyes fill with tears. It's kind of ironic, since we haven't seen Pinkie's parents since that flashback in "Magic Duel". We didn't even get a glimpse of them in "Maud Pie". Hopefully they'll show up somewhere in Season 5. Also, I've got to mention how nice it is to have a villain whose just a pony. Has anyone else noticed that all the major villains in the series have been different creatures altogether? A draconoquus, a Changeling, a unicorn corrupted by evil magic, a centaur, and a malevolent forest corrupted by a poisoned magical tree. Yet the villain in this episode is just a plain old unicorn who doesn't even appear evil. And whose probably going to turn up again, since they didn't actually catch her. On the other hoof/hand, she reminds me far too much of both Tirek and Discord when it comes to her powers. She, like Tirek, can remove ponies' Cutie Marks and, like Discord, she can change their personalities. What gets me is that her methods of altering their personalities isn't strictly through magic. Her brainwashing doesn't entirely require spells. It's a disturbingly realistic way that anyone could brainwash another person or pony. In my opinion, that makes her a little scarier than Tirek. She knows how to trap ponies in their own minds and manipulate them into being how she wants them to be without having to use magic. Tirek just knows how to appeal to another villain's sense of vanity. Moving on to something unrelated before I go on about it too much, there's the whole host of new (most likely one-shot) ponies this episode introduced us to. First off, I think they have the most unique designs we've ever seen in the show (their post-conformity ones, anyway). Second off, it could just be me, but the writers seem to have finally mastered the art of balancing the genders in an animated show. That's a problem I have with any show with a mainly female or mainly male cast: The fact that the show is bound to make one gender out to be the superior one while making the opposite one look stupid and useless. Even some good shows fall into this trap, because a lot of writers think the key to female empowerment is making all the guys in the show look dumb and they think that to appeal to males they have to make the female characters useless and far less prominent except for the sake of romance. In this specific two-parter, it seems that both the male and female characters were given an equal chance, with neither appearing dumber, smarter, more heroic, or less heroic than the other. Also, Spike is hanging out with Big Macintosh? Let the shipping be-- What? Oh come on, people ship Rarity and Spike together! Geez, people, make up your mind

To (finally) sum it all up, I liked it. The concept was good and carried out well, the ponies were in character, Pinkie was hilarious as usual, the villain was good, and I can already see improvement. This show just keeps getting better and better, and that's why I keep watching it, even though it's no longer my favorite. Long live the ponies!

Congratulations if you read all that. Here's a cookie or something.