Castle Sweet Castle, I Hate To Love It

Alright, so I watched the third episode of season 5 and I have to say, I loved it. This has been a hinted at scene throughout the fandom and pretty much predicted, but it was the good kind of expected because honestly out of all I love in the series, emotional depth is that surprisingly and intriguing piece of delight that I have to experience here and there.

I'm not ashamed to say I cried a little at times.

Slice of life makes up most of the series as well, and I expect a break after the whole Starlight Glimmer ordeal, so I am expecting a number of these normal life moments to happen before the adventure arc comes back again. Also, I bet twenty Bits its going to involve Starlight again, I have full bragging rights if I turn out right.

But... well, from the title I am how you say, a little unsure.

On how the problems of the characters actions turn out.

Before we look into that, lets tick off the plot summary, and remember SPOILERS!

We find ourselves at Fluttershy's cottage were it seems that Twilight has volunteered again to be a helpful friend, I like this because it points back to the moments in the series where Twilight offers a helping hoof when needed, like bucking apples with Applejack, or measuring wingpower with Rainbow Dash. Sure enough however, it seems that there is a ulterior motive to her decision and we quickly find out that she is reluctant to go back to her castle.

And so, after a pancake intervention, her friends puzzle out what exactly is wrong, simply the new castle is a new house for her, but it isn't a new HOME for her. I can get this feeling since I felt very out of place when my family moved out of our flat, it felt weird getting settled into a house of our own afterwards.

So because of this, Twilight gets sent off with Spike while her friends decorate the empty crystal castle tree as best they can, all around the express purpose of 'making it feel like home'...

*sigh* I'll explain later, anyway, the end result is that the only pony that would consider the place a home is Discord, and even then, not enough chocolate milk. It's a mish-mesh-mosh-mash of everything but the kitchen sink and it takes a well timed line from Spike to make five of the Mane 6 admit the place is terrible to one another. Hold on a second.

Alright, moving on.

From there on, it's a switch between Spike's mission to distract Twilight for the day, ironically mirroring Twilight's attempts to stay away from the castle, while they try to mix the mess, they all fight over which theme to take out, and eventually end up with nothing as the end product, back to square 1. They panic and then do the sensible idea and think 'what would make this feel home to Twilight?'

And then they got it, they go back the the old burnt down husk of the Golden Oaks Library and dig up it up, bringing it back to redecorate the map room of the castle. When Twilight and Spike come back they are greeted with a chandelier made from it's roots, adorned with several jewels each with an imprinted image of the many memories shared in Twilight's old home.

All in in all, I love this episode, I really really like to say this is a ten out of ten, but unfortunately I find some issues in the over all execution.

Now the general issues I have with this is when the song plays out the message, and I had a sinking feeling the moment the words 'Bushels of apples and bales of hay' popped up. Now, it should all be very obvious that Twilight has been with her friends for a LONG time now, five seasons worth of trials, troubles, experiences and otherwise, right?

So how in the BUCKING hell did they all turn into Rainbow Dashes?!

Alright, this is the one time we can't blame Rainbow for being a little caught up in herself, she wants to help Twilight and so, naturally when 'things and make home feel like home' pop up, of COURSE she would think from her perspective, it is simply her personality showing through in this instance to being a rather egotistical mare. And Pinkie is Pinkie, she can speak and her mind won't pick up any problems from her sentences, she's getting better, just not enough to pick up on this.

The others however, ack, they are so self centered when they don't take Twilight's home into mind, instantly they should have been able to know that their house shouldn't be part of this equation, it's TWILIGHT'S house, and I find that this major regression would have fit at the beginning of the series, I mean it, this moment could have been at the very start and it would have been better. They didn't know Twilight all that well back then, and you could say that her new home in Ponyville could pick up some homesickness from her days in Canterlot. Only THEN could this make sense.

Now... the ending of it all however, that I can respect.

They managed to get their heads together and really did make up for their mistakes leading up to it, not only did they bring a piece of home back to the castle, they also literally preserved the memories of their times together, in each and every gem there is a moment in Twilight's time, not only of her old home of the Golden Oak's Library, but also of her times together with her friends. And that is a promise for the future that more memories will be made within those walls.

As a nice touch, that might have been played out for comedy but I still loved, each of her friends couldn't resist adding their previous design choices to the castle, with the exception of Pinkie technically, since she has hidden confetti cannons stashed around the place.

Now, how the characters were portrayed, this time with a few new additions.
Twilight was not the central focus, in my mind anyway, but she didn't act out of character and I loved both her and Spike's moments together as the remember the library. She also seems to be accepting her princess title a little better, from what I saw of the Spa ponies at least. Also, cool hairstyle going on for her there.

Spike has been a real gem in the episode, sure we had that one moment of Spike manipulation and abuse, but I think he delivered his lines perfectly and I really liked his efforts in this piece, and he was really useful in giving the Mane 5/6 time to fix their mess.
Rarity was rather, how to say, missing from the episode, which is strange since she is usually the one who takes care of decoration most of the time. I mean it, she doesn't get a personal part in the song of the episode like the others, and she was blatantly playing with Spike's affections as well, but she made me laugh with her enthusiasm to keep one part of the castle filled with ribbons and gems.
Applejack should have been better, I know that I like to think of her as a stereotype, and rather stubborn, but she is also usually the most mature and level headed when it all comes down to it. So seeing her fall into the same trap as everypony else kind of, killed it for me.
Pinkie is quickly gaining her place back as the humorous mare we know and love, she has had different types of humor in the episode, both substituting as the drama queen of the episode, and her random Pinkie moments as well, I am also looking forward to if continuity actually takes a part in letting those Hidden Confetti Cannons live for the season, even another two or three times would be enough.
Rainbow as I said loses a little heat for the whole 'Home Decor' problem, but even then it has it's own brand of obliviousness, even if she has a rather self centered state of mind, she should have drawn a line with the trophies and pictures of herself, I did get a chuckle out of the referenced love of Cider as well.
Fluttershy actually managed to shine in this part, I mean it, she actually seems to be showing an amount of assertiveness, showing clearly she is in fact changing since her original demeanor, in subtle ways as well, she actually managed to criticize Pinkie's choices of decoration so that amounts to HUGE improvements, and it was very good to hear her like this! Come on writers, don't let me down! More passive aggressive Fluttershy!
And finally, Bulk Biceps has made an appearance to the show, and it's quickly become apparent he has a place up there with Derpy about how many times he has been shown and mentioned. And I'm sure everypony is going to have a blast fitting this fact into their stories that he is in fact a employee at the Spa.

So then, I love the message, the plot and humor of the piece, and even Fluttershy has turned out better than anything in character portrayal. But still I am hanging of that edge of whenever to say this episode was 'Great' or 'Perfect', in the end, I will have to say that it's 'Excellent', it has those few problems that after a second look we find them not appealing, but in the end I think we can all agree this is an altogether great episode.

Now my friends, I shall see you next time when we tackle the first Cutie Mark Crusaders appearance in the show, and finally looking into the situation 'What if they didn't get their Cutie Marks together?'

Thanks for listening!