[Show Spoilers!] Quick Thoughts On: Crusaders of the Lost Mark · 4:38pm Oct 10th, 2015
OKAY REAL TALK IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN TODAY'S EPISODE THEN GO WATCH IT FIRST BECAUSE
THE GAME HAS CHANGED.
Our favorite fillies have discovered their talents.
And it happens to be helping others with their talents.
Which fits into the overall theme, sure. And I'm extremely happy for them and with the episode (enough songs to make the season three finale nervous, and a better narrative to boot), plus I'm eagerly awaiting where the show will go with this. I've already seen some guesses at the cutie map summoning the CMCs instead of the Mane Six.
My first impression? A very respectable 9/10.
But as for things that brought the score down? Well, there was a subplot with Silver Spoon that was introduced, brought to a head on a sour note, then never shown again. Silver was treated as a plot device to make Diamond Tiara's plot roll along, and reducing a character - an endearing one at that - to a device is worthy of a sin. *DING*
There was the fact that Diamond's mother...whose name I totally missed, sorry! She was clearly seen in the town square during the most intense song of the episode, then Twily-ported to the schoolhouse to exit a school board meeting that she never even attended because SHE WAS IN THE TOWN SQUARE and Pip came to find the fillies AFTER THE BOARD MEETING WAS DONE so WHAT THE HELL STORYBOARDISTS WHAT HAPPENED THERE HUH? So *DING*
There was the entire redemption of Diamond Tiara herself, which I think is an okay-enough idea, but it was rushed SO MUCH. I mean REALLY, now. This episode had so much going for her that it was effectively the most demographically-accurate episode of the series. I MEAN REALLY, NOW. This episode had a starting plot, a resolution that led into a conflict, circumstances that deepened that conflict, and Diamond Tiara was at the center of it, and it was all accompanied by song and dance and squeaks and awesomeness and d'aww. I know it kind of sounds contradictory, but the nature of the method is separate from the method, and neither are bad...but I MEEEEANNN RREEEEAAAAAALLY NNNNNNOW. Couldn't we have, oh I don't know, followed Silver Spoon instead? That would have been just as interesting, more endearing, and FAR more engaging than giving Diamond Tiara the Discord Redemption. *DING*
There was Pip's hair. Confirmed: Pipsqueak is an anime protagonist. *DING*
There was...I'm sure there was more...
Bear with me...
Actually you know what there is one last thing and it was the first thing to really bug me to the point of RANTING about it here like a FOOL.
THERE'S THE FACT THAT THE CUTIE MARKS THAT THE CMC'S GET KIND OF ACTUALLY GOES AGAINST ALL THEY'VE DONE. Either that or I'm entirely mis-interpreting them, which is possible, but hey.
So their cutie marks represent their ability to help others discover what their talent represents? As in, ponies who get their marks are still lost by what it means, so require some outside insight to glean their purpose in life? Okay, so why didn't the girls get them back in the Troubleshoes episode? That certainly applied. I mean I totally respect the repeated theme of "Can you imagine having a cutie mark you don't like/don't understand" in this season, but still... It was hardly developed enough, so it still comes very sudden.
Going further, their cutie marks also symbolize their knack of discovery? So where was the sudden "A-ha!" moment during their years of crusading? Pretty sure they discovered a great many things about themselves, each other, and others during the times Sweetie Belle burned Rarity's house down (or other totally not-made-up scenarios). Or, on the opposite spectrum, their marks symbolize the act of discovery. How does one discover discovery?
However, if I'm being totally honest with myself, I find more reasons to support the new cutie marks than to say anything against them, because really they do kind of make sense and I'm just grasping at straws with all these arguments so I'll just stop now.
OH AND ASIDE FROM ALL THAT, how about those awesome moments, eh? Not even counting the cool songs (not all of the songs were cool but most of them were and I'm especially fond of the music behind the chase-scene one because snare and brass baby), there was:
•Applejack mentioning mom and dad because it's sweet and sad and perfect.
•Rarity singing.
•APPLE BLOOM singing.
•Conflict between Silver and Diamond. I know it's sudden and goes away fast, but it's good to see one there after all this time.
•CONTINUITY.
•Cheerilee's sass. Dayum, gurrl.
•Our Cutie Mark Crusaders, who started out as too-cute and moderately annoying (and disliked by much of the community), who then grew on us all to become staple characters with their own fanbases, who grew and matured in SO many great ways...have reached the next stage of their journey. They got their cutie marks, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders can still exist! Either this is a brilliant execution with an equally-brilliant retcon, or this was planned all the way back when Faust was at the reins. Nothing wrong with either idea, because the payoff is gratifying.
•The simple fact that the Crusaders themselves aren't going anywhere. They've explored extremes with gaining a mark - having one that ruins friendships, having one that you hate, having one that you plain don't understand - and now have earned the ones that, after all of those, feel right. No, not just right. They belong.
Okay yes I admit I enjoyed the episode far more than my nit-picking allows but DON'T HATE ME I've been trained to notice detail and I enjoy these girls too damn much for anything less.
Really, though, 9/10. 9.5 really. And among the top ten episodes that you cannot miss.
That's all. Continue with your squee.
~Leo
For why the CMC didn't get their marks in the Troubleshoes episode, it's simple:
They didn't realize that helping others realize what their marks meant would actually be their talents in that episode.
As for this one, it's my new favorite episode of the entire series, and will probably remain so.
It was already in the upper half of the series when Diamond Tiara became an actual character instead of the b*tch she had been for most of the series. Then her becoming likable pushed the episode into my top ten. And then the CMC getting their marks at the end pushed it into the number one spot.
That last moment actually made me squee, which is something that no other episode managed to do. Not even Weird Al being in Pinkie Pride (which was my previous favorite episode) made me as excited as the ending of this one.
YOOOOOOOOOOO.
DT EP MAN. CHAR DEV. CUTIE MARKS.
YOOOOOOOOOOO.
3461490 In light of your well-versed and highly thought-out argument, I hereby retract all the negativity I posted in this blog. 12/10. 12.5 really.