Doctor Perseus Reviews: "Amending Fences" *SPOILERS* · 3:57am Jul 5th, 2015
In this week's episode of MLP, Twilight remembers how bad of a friend she was to her old friends in Canterlot prior to moving to Ponyville. She and Spike travel to Canterlot to make amends with them. However, Twilight is forced to face the repercussions of one of her past mistakes when she attempts to reunte with her old friend Moon Dancer...
I was really interested in the premise of this episode. I mean, an episode that was a follow-up to one of the first moments of the entire series?! I wasn't expecting that. And, in the end, I found myself loving this episode.
I love how the whole conflict of this episode was an expansion on a single moment from the very beginning of the series. I'm sure the writers didn't have this story in mind all the way back when, but the way this episode played out helped it feel like it had already been planned from the get-go.
Twilight's actions in this episode felt very genuine and believable. Being the perfectionist that she is, it makes sense that Twilight would go to such lengths to make amends for a mistake in her past. It also helps how Spike's initial comments about Twilight's past actions were not meant to be taken as insults or criticisms. He was simply complimenting her on how far she's come. However, with Twilight being Twilight, it is only expected that Twilight would take it the wrong way.
I've always thought about how interesting it would be to see a conversation play out between the Twilight as she is now and the Twilight from before Episode 1. And, in a way, we got that in this episode with Moon Dancer. Moon Dancer represents who Twilight could have potentially become (heck, she has the same design as Twilight aside from the glasses, cutie mark, and differing color scheme). This is very much in the same way that Lightning Dust represents who Rainbow Dash could have been and how Suri Polomare represents who Rarity could have become. But unlike those two, Moon Dancer has a pretty sympathetic and relatable backstory. Some may question why someone would give up on friendship because of one party, but it makes complete sense to me given what I saw from Moon Dancer's character. It's not hard to believe that a normally shy and introverted person would hide themselves away if their first attempt at coming out of their shell was met with negative results. I was really glad to see her forgive Twilight in the end and officially begin coming out of her shell. Man, who could have expected this to spawn from one line spoken in the series premiere?
Colgate...I mean Minuette was an enjoyable character as well. She seemed to very much be the Pinkie Pie of Twilight's original group of friends. It's cool how she already knew Pinkie Pie and that her role as one of Cadance's bridesmaids in A Canterlot Wedding was remembered (thank you, Pinkie!). Speaking of Pinkie, it was nice to see her play a role in this episode. That makes two Twilight/Pinkie Pie episodes in a row! Although, granted, this episode is obviously more focused on Twilight than Pinkie. Unfortunately, there's not much to say about Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine. While it made sense for them to be there, given how they're some of the friends Twilight was making amends with, nothing really stood out about them and they're both pretty forgettable overall. The most memorable thing about them was how Lemon Hearts got her head stuck in a beaker in the flashback. Speaking of the flashback, yay for more filly adorableness! One thing I'm disappointed about is how Lyra was absent from the episode. I mean, yeah, she got a bit a focus back in Slice of Life but it would have made sense for her to make an appearance given how she's part of Twilight's original Mane 6. Oh well. At least the episode explained why Minuette, Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine, and Lyra kept appearing in Canterlot and Ponyville.
It's great how this whole episode was a follow-up to moments from Episode 1. I loved seeing Twilight and Spike return to their original home in Canterlot. I'm just as shocked as Twilight that they up and left their home in such a state. The book Twilight was reading back in Episode 1 was still left on the page about the Elements of Harmony for Pete's sake! It was still nice to see it again though.
Now, I must talk about something that I've noticed a few people mentioning. During the restaurant scene where Twilight, Spike, Moon Dancer, and the others are having dinner, there's a mare reading a menu at a table a little ways to the left. Most of her body is hidden but she is indeed a unicorn and has the same color scheme as Starlight Glimmer.
If it is Starlight Glimmer, then this means that she's keeping a close eye on Twilight. She showed a keen interest in Twilight's cutie mark in the premiere. It makes sense that she would stalk her. Whether this is on her own will or the will of a possible boss (Grogar, perhaps?) is currently unknown. If this speculation proves true, I predict that we'll get a scene in the finale showing a montage of Starlight spying on Twilight during various episodes with this scene being among them. Do you guys think it's Starlight or am I (and others) just grasping at straws?
Overall, I really liked Amending Fences and it may very well end up being one of my Season 5 favorites. It had a relatable conflict, heartwarming character moments, and was a satisfyingly unexpected follow-up to a moment from Episode 1. I love it when shows expand upon seemingly throwaway lines and moments. I wonder if we'll see this happen more and more with future episodes.
Next week's episode is Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep!
Princess Luna enlists the Mane 6 to help her track down the Tantabus, a magical force that threatens to turn everypony in Equestria's dreams into nightmares.
What did the rest of you think of Amending Fences?
Okay that was the best episode this season so far by my standards.
Wow hold up a minute.… that is Starlight Glimmer's color scheme!!!!
that's a good assumption that she would flash back.
Hmm... Grover the evil gout guy from g1. I've heard many predictions that he would be in season 5 and I have heard that the writers are contemplating it but it's a long shot.
So that's the next episode hmm... I'm interested now, can't wait!
It was a realy great episode. It was funny and serius at the same time. It was an adorkable episode.
But after I watched it. I got a question:
Isn't the spell that Twilight used to get in the book, the same one she used in the comic when she fighted the bookworm?
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Possibly. Though, in the comic, Twilight and her friends literally traveled into the stories within the books. In this episode, Twilight appeared to only travel physically into the pages of the book.
First of all, the credits whizzed by too quickly to see: was her name spelt Moondancer (like in G1) or Moon Dancer (as a way to distinguish)? And while everyone knows Moondancer was a G1 reference, did anyone catch the G3 reference with her calling Twi "Twilight Twinkle"?
Simply put, this episode was amazing, best of the season, easily Top-whatever list of the series. Slice of Life easily topped the season at the time, but being dethroned a mere 3 episodes later makes me extremely excited about the rest of the season, more so than before.
Also, I must address what has now become a pattern. Grogar. First Silver-Quill, twice, now you, and I'm left asking, "Why Grogar?" What is it about Grogar that's got everyone who's discussing potential recurring G1 villains specifically singling him out of the crowd? Nothing against him, just...of all the options, why him?
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Yeah, you are right.
But it is stil an awesome spell.
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On MLP Wikia, her name is shown as Moon Dancer so I just went with that. I didn't know "Twilight Twinkle" was a G3 reference though. I think I remember hearing that was one of the potential names made for her during the production process of the series back before G4 started.
From what I've seen and read about the original series, Grogar is considered to be the second most evil villain behind Tirek. I'm just assuming that if the current staff were to reach into the past and revive an old villain he would be the most expected choice due to us already having Tirek last season.
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Indeed it is.
Well, I also very much enjoyed this episode. I go all into why in my own review. In a way, this episode is actually a lot like "Twilight's Kingdom". It's plot is based on an almost inconsequential thing that was brought up in a previous episode.
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I think we might have already seen that Grogar might be showing up this season.
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Yes, evil he was, but not the smartest. Spoilers: during the city of Tambelon's X-hundred year stay in the Nether Realm, Grogar seemingly left the thing that defeated him the first time exactly where it had been, letting the ponies use it to defeat him again during the episode.
Wait a second. Upon closer comparison, I just realized that the story of Tambelon is almost the exact same thing that happened with the Crystal Empire! Or at least close enough to let a Couch Tomato "24 Reasons X and Y are the same movie" video make it seem "already taken". Actually, let me try that myself.
"24 Reasons 'The Return of Tambelon' and 'The Crystal Empire' are the Same Story"
1. It starts off as an ordinary day with everypony doing their ordinary pony things.
2. Suddenly, one of the characters gets an urgent message.
3. The relevant parties are called together, and it's story time.
4. So apparently, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, there was this whole other kingdom place.
5. Some evil guy is in control of the kingdom. He may have been in charge all along or just recently taken power, but the point is he runs the show now.
6. He also has a really gruffy-sounding voice, and would seem an awful lot more threatening if he didn't speak.
7. Evil guy gets himself defeated...
8. ...and then the kingdom vanishes into thin air.
9. Some order-of-magnitude number of years go by, and most of the land forgets about the place.
10. Suddenly the kingdom's reappeared...
11. ...and the bad guy starts trying to take over the world again.
12. He makes use of some crazy power that no one can seem to counter.
13. Naturally, our heroes say "no way", and go try to stop him.
14. They encounter a few obstacles of some description...
15. ...involving one or more of our heroes getting trapped somewhere...
16. ...and there's at least one cliffhanger where it totally looks like the bad guy is winning.
17. We soon find out that the bad dude has this evil scheme cooking that means it would be bad if he's not stopped in a certain amount of time. Tick tock.
18. If it wasn't obvious enough already, a lot of the guys under the evil dude's rule don't really like him.
19. The citizens don't really have the chance to think about that, though, because someone is forcing them to have fun.
20. But it turns out that there's this other part to the legend about this ancient MacGuffin thing that can stop the evil dude hands down...
21. ...and, surprise surprise, it's hidden somewhere in the kingdom.
22. Good guys find it...
23. ...activate it at the last possible second...
24. ...and the bad guy goes bye-bye.
That's 24 reasons why these two are the same story. Do you agree with these reasons? Yes, no, maybe so? Let me know in the comments below.
Wow, I didn't expect to actually be able to do that. Maybe I'll repost this as a blog on my account.
So basically, Grogar would need a different story if he was brought back.