Mini-Reviews: Season Five: Part Two: First Blood: Resurrection · 4:52am Jul 13th, 2015
Okay, so, here we go again! Several more reviews, taking us all the way to the midseason nano-hiatus. As before, I have included a brief review of each episode, followed by any wishful thinking on what I personally would have liked to have seen in the episode. Enjoy!
The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone
This episode delivered some enjoyable worldbuilding, another classical critter (which is confirmed dead by a view of its bony carcass!), and the return of the endearingly jerky Gilda. The idea of choosing loyalty and friendship over a figurehead with no real power was nice, but it felt a little too much like teaching Griffons a Pony lesson. It reminded me of all the anti-greed pushing against Ferengi in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Not all species hold the same values, gang! Regardless, though, this format of having SOME but not ALL of the Mane Six go and investigate issues is an interesting idea, and it allows for more screen time and development due to a smaller cast, which is nice. Also, Pinkie Pie was odd, but not full-on Toontown, which is good. Pinkie is a Wise Fool, and some writers fumble the former part in favour of the latter...
IF ONLY: It had been made more explicitly clear that Griffons used to have friendships and so forth, and only became dour and surly with the loss of their national pride and joy. As it stands, the ep has some iffy imperalist undertones...
Slice of Life
Hoo boy. Well, here we are. The Brony Episode. Obviously, coming at this episode from a normal standpoint just doesn't work, since it was deliberately intended to be so full of pandas that China would threaten a lawsuit. That said, it was weirdly well paced and crammed in just a TON of events for the runtime, without feeling TOO frantic. That was certainly impressive. Also, I liked the Doctor basically being the town's "wizard/mystic", since Magic and Science have kinda traded places in Equestria compared to our world. Sword and Sorcery Epics are "speculative fiction", and Hard Science Fiction is "fantasy". Also, kudos for using real math in his bowling calculations! For the most part, I did enjoy this episode. I liked Derpy's new voice (it's VERY close to what I imagined when writing her in fics), I was entertained to see a retired secret agent in Ponyville (even if I personally picked the wrong backgrounder in my earlier fictions - dang!), and... no, seriously, Octavia's accent was just AWFUL. Apart from that, the Donkey wedding was adorable, the Big Lebowski Ponies were certainly a surprise, and I liked how casual the townsponies have gotten about ongoing monster and friendship crises. Also, the mild sisterly bickering among the Princesses was ever so cute.
IF ONLY: Things had pandered just a little less. I really would have loved to just have a more played-straight daily life episode in Ponyville, even with the Mane Six battling in the background. Worldbuilding isn't just about Griffons and Dragons - showing us more about how Ponies live would have been wonderful... though it probably would not have made for gripping TV, alas...
Princess Spike
This was a fairly bog-standard "Spike episode", which means it caught some flak. But I think it's important to recall that Spike is not a teen/young-adult like the Mane Six.. he's a "little boy". A baby, even. So his lessons tend to be more primitive and immature than the one the Ponies learn. He's less developed than they are, after all. I liked seeing some more Ponies from across the nation, I enjoyed seeing a slow and plausible slide into mild corruption for Spike, and I was amused to see Spike think of himself as a "Princess" -- the notion that a Prince could rule or be powerful literally doesn't even occur to him. That's what ten centuries of Immortal Princess Sunbutt will get you! Regardless, I did enjoy this one, even though it was relatively by-the-numbers.
IF ONLY: We had broken some new ground with Spike. He may be a child, but he has kind of learned this type of lesson before. There are more things this little boy could learn.
Party Pooped
Pinkie Pie was close to her absolute wackiest in this episode, for good and for ill. The Yaks made for interesting foils, though the eventual denouement was a little brisk even for 22 minutes. It was definitely a plus, however, to see the Ponies struggling to meet the Yaks on their own terms, and to be tolerant of their aggressive and alien cultural mores. I guess cultural tolerance only extends to fellow ungulates? Heh. One thing that was basically a throwaway gag and set-piece actually revealed some really enjoyable things, though: Pinkie's party basement. It was fascinating to see the "backstage" portion of all those wild parties she throws, and to see just how much time and effort Pinkie puts into them. It really hammers her dedication home. In addition, Fluttershy's airy, uncertain comment about how exactly they escape the basement was just the sort of "after the cut", faintly fourth-wall-leaning line that we almost never see, but I found hilarious. It hearkened back to the dryly commenting townsponies in Slice of Life, watching the Mane Six do battle. This was a simple ep, but I liked it well enough.
IF ONLY: The Aesop had been shifted a little. I was expecting the ending, yet I wasn't. All the while the Ponies were making false Yak stuff, only to find that their eventual sincere Pony stuff saved the day. I think it should have been more firmly presented that the Yaks are candid to a fault, and despise phony gestures. Basically the same ending, but with a "be yourself, not what you think others want you to be" lesson.
Amending Fences
Okay, wow. This episode was so much my jam that I spread it on some toast by accident. Twilight is revealed to have messed up massively, and she struggles with fixing things in the terrible aftermath. There is no ex-machina solution, no easy solve. She has to deal with guilt, and painstakingly strive to make things better. Mix that with a tearful accusation and breakdown from Moondancer, and some lovely S1/Premiere callbacks, AND some slice of Canterlot life, and you have a REALLY solid episode -- arguably the best in the season so far. This was also a nice example of an "advanced" friendship problem for the more experienced Twilight to face. Season One Twilight Sparkle would have been CRUSHED by a crisis like this , but after all this time she's gotten more mature, level-headed, and wise. She openly discussed her shortcomings, and stuck to her guns about earnestly wanting to make things right. It was a truly dramatic, and endearing, and wrenching, and heartwarming episode. Bravo!
IF ONLY: We could get more of these emotional and intense moments of simple human (pony!) drama on this show. Soooo good...
Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?
At last, a Luna episode about Luna! This was a fairly classy "surreal" episode, with some stylistic ties to Power Ponies and to Bloom and Gloom. There was some nice depth here and there, from the name of the spectral parasite (Latin for "Nightmare" - well played!), to the personal dreams of the townsponies (wings again, Scootaloo? You're making my Liquid Pride weep out...), to some subtle but kind of shocking self-mutilation themes (notice how many sharp implements the Tantibus, the creature Luna invented to punish herself, creates from its matter? Creepy...). All the wild and zany imagery softens the blow, but that theme made this ep really resonate. Like the jarringly serious cult themes in the premiere, this episode boils down to: "Luna is so ashamed she's cutting, and the Mane Six help her get some therapy". Heavy stuff for a Saturday morning cartoon! But of course, that's what has kept this fandom rolling for so many years. Luna's stilted dialogue and the shaky jumps from zany to darkly serious were not ideal, but this episode still has plenty going for it.
IF ONLY: We included the other SIster. There is an alicorn shaped hole in this ep, and it's not the Tantibus. Celestia's dreams could have offered Luna some insights into her own forgiveness and her sister's regrets and guilt over the banishment, and in the waking world Celestia would have been in a position to offer support just like the Mane Six did. It's a real shame she was written out with an off-hand line.
Overall this has been a really good season so far. Even the weaker episodes have been pretty good, and the good ones have been some of the best in the entire show! Amending Fences in particular.
On including Celestia in DPDoMS, I think that the episode just didn't have enough runtime to handle her meaningfully. Doing it as a two-parter would have helped, but then would have required some more expansion as well.
I know, right? :B
There's a problem with Spike that's rather obvious: the program is mostly being written for little girls who want to see kid brothers as GROSS!!!! and WEIRD!!!! and DUMB!!!!!
This means that letting him be competent would no doubt cause a sort of SpikeGate in which we're alleged to be questioning female competence by letting a boy have a brain.
Also, if they did have to have a focus on the lower decks, why have it be a bigger clusterfuck than TF2? Just focus on a simple problem (Derpy does a sort of pas-de-deux with the Apple family because they don't want her over-the-top gesture of contrition as regards the Town Hall incident) and let it go from there.