Doctor Perseus Reviews: "Hearthbreakers" and "The Woman Who Lived" *SPOILERS* · 12:56am Oct 25th, 2015
In this week's episode of MLP, Applejack and her family decide to celebrate Hearth's Warming Eve with Pinkie Pie and her family. But things don't go quite as expected when the two families' traditions don't meet up...
A Christmas-ish episode a week before the Halloween-ish episode? Well if we can enjoy The Nightmare Before Christmas around this time then I guess this episode placement is fine too. Oh and the episode was pretty good.
It's always nice seeing members of the Mane 6 who aren't normally seen together all that much hang out. It was a blast with Rarity and Rainbow Dash a few episodes prior and it's no different here with Applejack and Pinkie Pie. We got a bit of this last season in Pinkie Apple Pie (which this episode can sorta be seen as a follow-up to) but I think the two got some greater moments together in this episode than that episode. I especially loved the moments where Applejack and Pinkie Pie talked at the same time. They really bounce off each other wonderfully and it's a shame that we haven't seen more of these two together in the past. I also enjoyed the jabs at the ambiguity of Pinkie's possible connection with the Apple Family.
After five seasons, we've FINALLY been introduced to the rest of Pinkie Pie's family...and it's not hard to tell that they're pretty much the extreme Amish of Equestria. Of course, it was great seeing Maud again and it was interesting seeing her somewhat bond with Apple Bloom of all ponies. And, remind me if I'm wrong, I think this was the first time we've seen adult Maud smile. But, I must ask, why was Maud having so much trouble helping everypony else push the giant boulder (forgot its name)? I think it was established that Maud is an earthbender. Pushing that rock should have been a breeze for her! Anyway, moving on, it was interesting seeing the different members of the Apple family interact with Pinkie Pie's family. It was definitely funny seeing Granny Smith with her southern accent playing off of Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz's old fashioned way of talking. I also liked how Marble Pie was the quiet one of the family and her silent interactions with Big Mac were cute. And, if I remember correctly, Pinkie said that Marble was born a few minutes after her. That means that Pinkie and Marble are twin sisters. They must be fraternal twins but it does raise the question of which side of the family Pinkie's vibrant colors and personality stem from. Oddly enough, the one who we didn't see get an Apple family member to play off of that much was Limestone Pie. I guess you could argue that she played off of Applejack the most. She's definitely the one who stood out the most in the family aside from Pinkie in terms of personality. Though the way she acted is understandable as she has a whole farm to manage and she clearly takes her job seriously. Aside from Pinkie, Maud still remains my favorite of the family. Sorry, the rest of you. Earthbending and fourth wall breaking are tough acts to beat.
Another thing I was happy to see was further exploration of the traditions of Hearth's Warming and Hearth's Warming Eve. Sure, we learned the origins of the holiday all the way back in Season 2 but we never got to see how the holiday in the present was celebrated. And, to no one's surprise, it's pretty much the Equestrian equivalent of Christmas. The only difference being that ponies appear to celebrate the holiday at the time it happens instead of celebrating it from the end of Nightmare Night all the way to a month after the fact. 
I know a few people who do what Twilight and Spike do and open presents on Christmas Eve. I especially liked how the moral of the episode was about differing traditions. Instead of trying to make people celebrate your traditions, you should learn about each others' traditions and bring them together to form something new and enriching.
Overall, I really liked Hearthbreakers. It gave us more time to see Applejack and Pinkie Pie together, officially introduced the rest of Pinkie's family, and was a nice way to get into the holiday season...even though the holiday this episode represents isn't for another couple months.
Next week's episode (or rather the episode that was leaked several weeks ago and I already saw but will wait to talk about until its official release) is Scare Master!
What did the rest of you think of Hearthbreakers?
In this week's episode of Doctor Who, the Doctor arrives in 1651 England in search of an alien artifact. During his search, he ends up coming across a familiar face...
The first episode since Series 4 to be written by a woman! After this, there definitely need to be more female writers for this show because this episode was fantastic! It could very well top Under the Lake as my favorite episode of Series 9 thus far! Obviously, I loved this episode.
As is expected, Capaldi was great in this episode. He got a lot of moments to shine in this episode (both serious and comedic) and I absolutely adored his chemistry with Ashildr/"Me". It was interesting seeing Capaldi get an episode without Clara for the most part and see him play off just the guest cast. It was still nice to see Clara make an appearance at the end of the episode. Speaking of Clara, I must admit that this season is really pushing forward the idea of Clara leaving. They've addressed the idea so much throughout the season thus far that it's becoming a bit tiresome. Don't get me wrong, I love the dialog and the scenes in question but it just seems like they're shoving this in our face WAY too much. We know Clara's leaving. You don't have to keep reminding us about it through not-so-subtle foreshadowing.
Maisie Williams got to shine so much in this episode. While I liked her in the previous episode, she didn't really feel different from any other guest actor. Here, we got to see her play a pained, complex character who's lived for eight centuries and has grown desensitized by her immortality. Her anger and pain felt very real and Williams played the part with masterful skill. I really liked how this episode explored the idea of immortality and what it would truly be like for an average human to experience. A scene that really stood out to me was "Me" talking about why she forgets details about her life. An infinite life with a mortal memory. That...actually makes a lot of sense; and it only makes the concept of immortality all the more tragic. It's understandable why the Doctor can remember so much given that he's a Time Lord but the average human brain probably doesn't have the strength nor the ability to remember so much. It was nice to see "Me's" excitement for life revived by the end and I have a feeling that this won't be the last we see of her this season. Her ominously smiling at Clara in the background of Clara's selfie seems to be a huge bit of foreshadowing for the character's return at some point. Since this season's arc seems to be revolving around the hybrid Davros spoke of, it's becoming very obvious that "Me" is shaping up to being that hybrid. Will she be an enemy for the Doctor to face or will she become a new ally? We could have a new recurring character on our hands. If this means more of Maisie Williams and this character on the show then I'm all for it!
The only other guest characters who stood out were Sam Swift and Leandro. Sam was likable and I enjoyed his banter with "Me" and the Doctor. I also liked how the second Mire chip was used to save his life and stop the oncoming invasion. Sam's immortality was left open for debate given the situation he was in but I wouldn't mind seeing him again if he appears alongside "Me" in a future episode. Leandro had an interesting design and some vague, intriguing origins but that's about it. He pretty much had a similar plan to the Geth with opening a portal and allowing his kind to invade Earth. Oddly enough, both his invasion and the Geth's invasion involved death. Coincidence? Well, this season has been doing well at subtlety celebrating New Who's 10th anniversary so maybe this is more than just a coincidence.
Other quick things to note. It appears the sonic sunglasses are here to stay. Sorry to all you naysayers but I'm enjoying them so...tough. I also really liked the Doctor mentioning Jack Harkness to "Me". I wonder if this is a hint for a return. Please? Can we see more Jack? Well we're getting more River Song at Christmas so anything's possible, I suppose.
Overall, I loved The Woman Who Lived. It had great character moments, explored some interesting concepts, fully embraced its 17th century atmosphere, and gave some intriguing set-up for the future.
Next week, the third 2-parter of Series 9 begins with The Zygon Invasion!
What did the rest of you think of The Woman Who Lived?
Haven't seen the Doctor Who episode, but I did enjoy "Hearthbreaking"... sorta. I'm going to be honest, I don't really like AJ that much so it kinda made the episode a little hard to enjoy.
I was disappointed in Hearthbreaking. I'd hoped for more exploration of Pinkie's family culture and more of an explanation for their different traditions. Instead we got a "the plot must run on rails to get to the moral, even if it means making sure two close friends utterly fail to do any communication AGAIN" episode.
As for Maud not being Super-Maud... remember what Granny said? They found the boulder in a dragon's nest. And it's obviously egg shaped. Which means it's not a rock at all, it's a dragon egg. So obviously Maud's earthbending does not apply.
I also very much enjoyed "Hearthbreakers" though I can't help that the timing of it rubs me the wrong way. I go into further detail in my review on my blog.
As for "The Woman Who Lived," I also enjoyed it. I really liked how they chose to depict a sort of realistic take on human immortality. Speaking of Jack Harkness though, I wonder why he didn't get as messed up as Ashildr did over the course of his life. Probably because he's been alive for about two centuries I believe, and Ashildr's been around for eight. When I saw that the alien she was working with was a lion, I couldn't help think to myself "Oh no! Arya is working with the Lannisters!" Despite that though, like Jon Snow, I know nothing when it comes to Maisie Williams as Arya Stark on the show Game of Thrones because I've never seen it. (And possibly I might never see it.) But reading the book Game of Thrones I find that Arya Stark is one of my favorite characters. I can sort of see Arya's appealing characteristics in what Maisie Williams brings to Ashildr. Certainly, I would like to see her come back, and it's very likely she will. I wonder though how that would work logistically speaking since I believe they're currently filming the next season of Game of Thrones like right now or something.