Doctor Perseus Reviews: "Brotherhooves Social" and "Under the Lake" *SPOILERS* · 3:06am Oct 4th, 2015
In the week's episode of MLP, Applejack is forced to miss the upcoming Sisterhooves Social due to her set map quest with Rarity. Big Macintosh decides to step up to the plate and take Applejack's place in the Sisterhooves Social in order to help Apple Bloom win. But things don't quite go as planned...
Season 5, oh how I love you and your glorious episodes! This episode was just...fantastic!
We've had episodes in the past where Big Mac is part of the focus but to have an episode that centers entirely on Big Mac was something I definitely didn't expect. But it was more than welcome surprise! Along with that, we got to see further exploration of a relationship that hasn't been entirely portrayed until now: Big Mac and Apple Bloom. We've seen a bit of it in the past such as during Hearts and Hooves Day but we've never gotten as thorough of a portrayal until this episode. I really felt for Big Mac in this episode. It's interesting to see how Applejack's status as one of the Elements of Harmony affects her family. While Apple Bloom adores her, Big Mac finds himself caught in her shadow. It's not too often where we see an older sibling being caught in the shadow of their younger sibling (though there have been some instances such as Chris and his younger brother Drew in Everybody Hates Chris). Big Mac pretending to be Orchard Blossom led to many hilarious moments. Of course, people are already calling the transgender card but, obviously, Big Mac's situation was more crossdressing than transgender. I wouldn't mind seeing transgender ponies on the show; but I reckon Hasbro isn't too keen on diving straight into issues that are so controversial in these current times. My favorite Big Mac moment, as well as my favorite moment in the episode overall, was at the very end where Big Mac opened up to Apple Bloom. It was an incredibly heartwarming and emotional moment. I couldn't help but smile whilst listening to the normally silent Big Mac telling Apple Bloom about how he feels in relation to how Apple Bloom sees him compared to Applejack in a stretch of dialogue that I'm sure beats out all of his dialogue throughout the past four and a half seasons combined!
Apple Bloom was fun in the episode as well. Her reactions to Big Mac/Orchard Blossom's antics were perfect and, again, that final scene she had with Big Mac was incredibly heartwarming. My only complaint is that some of her praise of Applejack early in the episode felt a bit exaggerated and only so that Big Mac can be pushed further into Applejack's shadow. Speaking of Applejack, while we didn't see much of her in this episode (mostly due to the fact that she was caught up in the events of Made in Manehattan for most of the episode), I did appreciate seeing that she wasn't oblivious to Big Mac's obvious problem with Apple Bloom ignoring him in favor of spending more time with her.
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle also had some fun moments. It seemed that Sweetie Belle was more accepting of missing the Sisterhooves Social than Apple Bloom was. I really liked seeing Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash's sister-like friendship being addressed here. I'm sure all the fanfic writers who wrote an endless amount of stories pertaining to this concept just exploded. I especially liked how Rainbow Dash, along with pretty much everypony else, was able to quickly deduce who Orchard Blossom really was. Well, everypony aside from that poor elderly stallion. Or...maybe he did know who Orchard Blossom really was and just found Big Mac more attractive as a crossdresser. Great. I've just started a whole chain of slash fics and Rule 34, haven't I? Oh who am I kidding? That chain was started probably the second it happened in the episode.
It was great seeing more of the Sisterhooves Social. That original episode only focused on the race so it was interesting seeing the other competitions and events. The episode's short song "Sisterhood" was a nice little ditty shared between Big Mac/Orchard Blossom and Apple Bloom. It's an enjoyable song though I think it would have been more enjoyable without Orchard Blossom's slightly annoying voice. I have to give credit to Peter New for going most of the episode with that voice. Who could think Big Mac would be able to make his voice like that?
Overall, I really liked Brotherhooves Social! It had great humor, wonderful character moments, and an incredibly heartwarming ending full of FEELS!
Next week's episode is Crusaders of the Lost Mark!
When Pip Squeak decides to run for class president, the Cutie Mark Crusaders rally around their friend, but find themselves helping their long-time nemesis, Diamond Tiara, in an unexpected way.
What did the rest of you think of Brotherhooves Social?
In this week's episode of Doctor Who, the Doctor and Clara arrive in an underwater base in 2119. But they quickly find that things are not how they seem when the base is apparently under attack from ghosts...
And the second 2-parter of Series 9 has begun! So how did it fare? Splendidly! This is easily one of the most scary and intense Doctor Who episodes I've seen!
It's great for us to finally get a proper ghost story. Series 7 teased the idea with Hide and, while I enjoyed that episode overall, I was let down in some areas. This episode gave us a true to form ghost story with a good ol' Doctor Who twist! Capaldi's era seems to have a strange focus with the afterlife. Could it be a subtle reference to the Doctor going past his predicted final death in The Time of the Doctor or is it just a coincidence?
Both the Doctor and Clara were on fire in this episode. It's episodes like this that show why 12 and Clara have so quickly jumped up to being my second favorite TARDIS team due to how their chemistry is so wonderfully similar to that of 10 and Donna: my favorite TARDIS team. Moffat wasn't kidding when he talked about Clara becoming reckless. One of my favorite moments was when the Doctor talked to Clara about how he was concerned with Clara's eagerness for danger and adventure. And, once again, we got a "Clara is becoming more like the Doctor" moment with the Doctor talking about how the TARDIS only has room for one of him. Speaking of the TARDIS, it's nice to finally see the interior. It's strange how we went through the first two episodes of Series 9 with only one millisecond of the interior being shown to us. I really like the slightly new design with the addition of the yellow "round things". It feels like a nice mesh between Classic Who and New Who. Anyway, back to the Doctor and Clara. One moment that made me roll with laughter was the reveal that Clara has given the Doctor flash cards with generic kind messages on them for him to read to people when he says something insensitive. But I must take note that this season appears to be starting a trend with the Doctor and Clara being separated. Come on! I want to see them together as much as possible since this is confirmed to be Clara's final season! And that cliffhanger has certainly raised some questions. I can admit that the whole "the Doctor is dead" story is starting to get a bit tiresome. But that doesn't mean I'm not interested in seeing how this particular dilemma is solved. Maybe it's not even the Doctor at all. It sure was one hell of a cliffhanger, I'll admit.
The secondary cast was also really likable. I liked the inclusion of a deaf character and having her deafness actually play a role in the story aside from adding a bit of diversity. It's nice to see deaf people getting more recognition nowadays with shows like Switched at Birth and now an episode of Doctor Who! The only character who annoyed me was Pritchard as he was pretty much the "corporation man" archetype we've seen on this show throughout the years in episodes such as Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead. I did like the Doctor's comment to him about him being an idiot. The only credit I have give him is that he made a pretty damn creepy ghost.
This episode was incredibly intense and, more importantly, scary. The ghosts had an incredibly creepy and eerie presence. Their misty forms and large, empty eye sockets sent shivers down my spine. The explanation for the ghosts was rather interesting and very sci-fi with alien writing planting a signal in your subconscious that plays out so that you'll become a ghost and constantly recount the signal following your death. We already know how Moran and Pritchard died but I am very interested in learning the origins of the suited man. From the promos for the next episode, that'll be answered next week.
I must say that this is a very interesting execution of a 2-parter with Part 2 explaining the origins to the dilemma in Part 1. Next week should be very interesting with the Doctor, Prentis, and O'Donnell a few hundred years in the past and Clara, Cass, and Lunn dealing with the ghosts in 2119. One last thing to note is that I've really taken a liking to the sonic sunglasses. They really suit 12 and have added a few more interesting tools to his disposal such as projecting his POV view via wifi to other screens and such.
Overall, I really liked Under the Lake! It was scary, intense, had great character moments, acted as a great first part to an interesting story, and had one hell of a cliffhanger.
Next week, the second 2-parter of Series 9 concludes with Before the Flood!
What did the rest of you think of Under the Lake?
I too enjoyed "Brotherhooves Social" and go all into it in my review, though I chose to humorously avoid topics of controversy.
As for "Under the Lake," I actually forgot this was a two-part episode and was quite surprised and annoyed by the cliffhanger.
I don't think there are coincidences on Doctor Who.
I don't think I ever will. They're not the screwdriver! I don't think they go with his look either. They make him look like an old man trying to seem younger. You know.
Now that we've gotten two episodes involving the Sisterhooves Social event that each focus on the relationship between a member of the CMC and their biological older sibling, I wonder if we'll get a third one centering around Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash's pseudo-sister relationship for a full episode trilogy. I mean, they did it with the "Luna Dream Visit" episodes (Sleepless in Ponyville, For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils, and Bloom & Gloom) so why not do the same thing here?
Also, in your personal opinion, which pair of episodes do you think did the Synchronous Episodes trope the best? Just for Sidekicks & Games Ponies Play from Season 3 or Made in Manehattan & Brotherhooves Social from Season 5? Coincidentally, both pairs have Dave Polsky as one of the writers for them (Games Ponies Play and Brotherhooves Social).
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You're not the only person who did. Weird. I thought everyone was already aware that this was a 2-parter.
Yeah they're not the screwdriver but they don't have to be. It's just something different. I think Capaldi's Doctor is, at times, a young man in an older man's body. Similar to how Smith's Doctor was somethings an old man in a younger man's body. And, as I said before, if Miss Foster can have a sonic pen and Sarah Jane Smith can have sonic lipstick I personally don't have a problem with sonic sunglasses. But we all have our own preferences I suppose. Don't worry. I'm sure they'll bring the screwdriver back...someday.
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That would be interesting but I'm not sure a trilogy like that has been planned. The Luna/CMC trilogy was obviously set in some way since we saw it take place over three seasons. The Sisterhooves Social was last seen all the way back in Season 2. Unless they're planning to do another one in Season 8 (if we even get to it) this would be a very uneven trilogy.
The Just for Sidekicks/Games Ponies Play pairing played with the idea a bit more with some scenes overlapping within the episodes, giving us a differing POV. But the Made in Manehattan/Brotherhooves Social pairing had better quality episodes at the helm. I personally prefer the S5 pairing.
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I never realized that!
That could be.
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Well, I guess there's that.
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Yeah, because the last time he lost it, it was only gone for most of the 5th Doctor's first season...and his second season...and his third...and the 6th Doctor's first...and second...and the 7th Doctor's first...and second...and third...and it reappeared in 7's possession during the beginning of 8's movie. So yeah, expect the sonic back by the beginning of Series 17.
As for the actual episode...
"Hide" did a ghost story, but put a twist on it: it wasn't actually a ghost, why would it actually be a ghost?, there's no such thing as ghosts, oh why didn't I know it was really the image of a time traveler stuck in a pocket dimension? But then "Under the Lake" came along and put a twist on that: is it a ghost?, of course it's not a ghost, there's no such thing as ghosts in Doctor Who, oh my goodness it's really a ghost!...but how? That and everything else: the good supporting cast, mystery, intrigue, twists and turns. That is how you make a Doctor Who episode.
3446334 So The Doctor previously spent all that time without a sonic screwdriver.