What I Thought About "Make New Friends, But Keep Discord" · 5:32pm May 17th, 2015
Spoilers. Episode review
Man, that was a fun one. I honestly don't have a lot of thoughts about this one, but I'll see what I can find to say.
That ending. It... it felt weird. Like, the whole wrapup just felt kinda off, especially Fluttershy. It was just how she delivered her lines. She speaks almost in a monotone during her rant, especially compared to her previous outbursts. Just felt really off. That's really the only thing that bothered me, here.
So what was good? Everything else. Man, this episode just made me smile so hard. I'm still smiling. It's making my face hurt. I honestly don't like a whole lot of blatant references in the show or fourth wall humor, but I make exceptions for Discord and (to a far lesser degree) Pinkie. Discord gets a pass because, well, he can clearly go to other dimensions, so he could very well know about all the stuff he references. His references are still internally consistent. Pinkie, well, she's just nuts.
Actually, that moment when Pinkie shook the camera... I dunno about that one. It was sorta funny, but that was one of the most powerful wall breaks in the series, no doubt. It's just a pet peeve of mine anyway, though, and the rest of the great stuff far outweighs the stuff that bothered me, so forget about it. I mean, we got to see where Discord lives! That's awesome! This episode was fun. Tons of fun. A Smooze-load of fun.
Oh, you didn't think I wouldn't talk about the Smooze, did you? Frankly, I know very little about the older generations of MLP aside from how they looked, that some characters like Tirek, Spike, and many others were inspired by/based on old characters, and that Applejack is a silly pony. As such, I don't really get any of that little bonus from seeing things like Gak—I mean, the Smooze*—making reappearances. Regardless, I like The Smoozinator. He was... cute? Can a revolting blob be cute? Well, he was. I'd totally party with that dude, though I'd want a space suit first.
Tree Hugger... ehh. Everyone is gonna draw her (more) fanart, and talk about how most excellent she was. I found her more bogus, myself. Not, like, totally bogus, more like slightly bogus. Her harmonious defeat of the gelatinous Smooze, while most timely and effective, just felt mostly non-triumphant to me. It's like, she just doesn't interest me. The funny stoner archetype can be funny and all that, but she just didn't resonate with me like some others throughout history. I just don't care for hippies, either. I'll likely forget about her, soon. Or rather, I would forget about her if everybody didn't keep talking about her, which I'm sure they will.
Celestia also felt a little bit off at the end, but only for a moment. She must just be so bored with her usual life if she feels she has to bring the superbeing of ultimate chaos to a party to make it fun. Digging deeper, this also shows disregard for all the other partygoers... I'm gonna stop there before I open this can of worms any further. Suffice it to say that I got to see a more fun side to Celestia, and that was cute, if nothing else.
So yeah, this episode had a few things that I thought felt off, but it was overall pretty awesome. I got a decent giggle out of that Metal Gear Solid reference with that stupid freaking box. And that sock puppet dimension? Hilariously horrifying. What can I say? It was a Discord episode, and even when a Discord episode has some fundamental flaw in something like pacing, they're still fun. That's what this episode was: fun. Lots of fun. That's really all I can say.
9.5/10. Awesome episode. Keep it up, Season 5. I'm having a pretty great time, so far.
*That wasn't a joke; I really kept forgetting that it was Smooze and not Gak.
Best S5 episode so far, along with Castle Sweet Castle. Tree Hugger reminds me of my way of writing Vinyl, although she's much higher. Also, Maud stole that episode, even though she only had a few lines (and now I want to write a fic about Maud and Tree Hugger hiding somewhere by the end of the party and smoking a joint).
It seems that this episode was written so Nicole Olivier could be funny for once – she voiced Tree Hugger and could make "woo-hoo" as Celestia (it felt more like something Luna would do, but Luna didn't appear in this episode).
Oh, and Lyra apparently is heterosexual now:
i.imgur.com/1WHCM62.png
Bon Bon must've really liked that seal.
Oh, yeah, that really was off. When I first watched it I noticed and was like, "That doesn't sound convincing"; but then I proceeded to forget about it. Good catch.
3076294
Most definitely. And seeing Maud again was great, too. Celestia intentionally wrecking the party was... I dunno. Her cute vocal noises made up for it, though.
We need more Bon Bon x seal pics and fics.
3077152
Yeah. I was having a blast, then that "we were getting along so well" line just punched me in the face with how flat it was, and my fun died for a bit.
3077379
Trollestia may be canon.
Yeah, Maud is the only pony who can make Discord shut up
Hmm, too bad I can't draw seals.
I feel like most people didn't see how OOC Celestia was, because we don't see her often. She was acting as if she was in a fanfic! The most trollness we've seen for her is the "Gotcha" scene, and the last gala. She's calm and very leaderly, and she's never seemed down to earth. For some reason, they pushed thy this episode, and I thought it was great. I don't know if the fandom has just gotten her right, or if the show is listening to us, but it was a welcome change :)
3080273
Yeah, exactly. At first, I was like, "Celestia, what're you doing? Celestia? Is that even really you?" But then I thought about it for a little, and just smiled. It was kinda refreshing to see her let loose a little and actually squee. That was probably Celestia's cutest moment in canon, and I rather liked it.