Doctor Perseus Reviews: "Scare Master" and "The Zygon Invasion" *SPOILERS* · 12:39am Nov 3rd, 2015
First off, I want to apologize for the late reviews. Due to some real life shenanigans I was put into a temporary situation where I didn't have the opportunity to sit down and write a full review of the episodes, though I was able to watch them. Anyway, on with the reviews!
In the most recent episode of MLP, Fluttershy decides to give Nightmare Night a try. This proves to be quite a challenge for both Fluttershy and her friends but the tables are turned when Fluttershy decides to become the one who scares...
As you already know, I am among those who eventually caved in and watched this episode a few weeks ago due to it being leaked. I didn't really have any expectations going into this episode. And what did I end up thinking of it? I liked it...but it's sort of a mixed bag for me.
Most of my problems with the episode reside in its first half. Fluttershy's over-reactions to everything just felt really forced to me. There's a recurring theme in Fluttershy-themed episodes where Fluttershy's shyness gets amplified to the max and it just feels like the character takes a few steps back after being seen taking a few steps forward in previous episodes. Now, I'm not saying that Fluttershy hasn't developed. It just feels like the character's been typecast, shall we say. Episodes about Fluttershy always have to focus on her shyness and increase it beyond the norm. Granted, we've gotten some great episodes out of this and we've gotten some not-so-great episodes out of this. I'm just always open to and hoping for episodes which place characters in situations outside of the status quo their episodes follow. I did enjoy the references to previous episodes like Filli Vanilli and there are definitely moments where the episode perfectly shows just how far Fluttershy has come outside of the overly-scared moments.
For one thing, it does speak volumes about Fluttershy's development with how she was actually willing to give Nightmare Night a try. Season 1 Fluttershy would have never done that. Even by Season 2, Fluttershy wouldn't even venture outside. Here, we see her willing to go out for Angel and later actually agree to give the holiday a try. And how the episode wrapped up actually went against my expectations. Everyone was probably expecting the episode to end with Fluttershy learning to enjoy Nightmare Night and her looking forward to celebrating it with her friends from now on. Instead, the episode ends with Fluttershy being happy that she tried Nightmare Night but having no desire to continue celebrating it because it's just not her cup of tea. Give something a try and if you don't like it then that's okay. That's definitely a moral I can stand behind and I really liked how it was executed in this episode. And while I wasn't that wild about the first half of the episode, the second half is where it really shines. Fluttershy working alongside her animal friends to scare her friends in the maze was a ton of fun and it was there where the episode fully presented that good ol' Halloween feeling.
Of course, it was a lot of fun seeing Nightmare Night again despite Luna not making an appearance. I really liked seeing the costumes the Mane 6 wore. There definitely seems to be a theme with Spike dressing up as a dragon and Applejack dressing up as characters from The Wizard of Oz. I wonder if we'll see her as Dorothy or the Tin Man at some point. Pinkie Pie was probably my favorite of the bunch with her being an 80's roller skater.
Now onto the little moments and other random things to note. That bit with the fake Granny Smith skeleton was actually pretty creepy. It reminded me of that nightmare scene in Hey Arnold when Arnold's grandpa appeared as a rotting corpse. Derpy cosplaying as Princess Twilight was pretty funny. I agree with DrWolf's theory that Angel Bunny may have only asked for more food in order to encourage Fluttershy to go outside on Nightmare Night for once. It seems to hold up given how Angel doesn't seem that upset when Fluttershy returns later with no food and he appeared all-too ready to help Fluttershy scare the others. He could have been planning this for quite some time. You can never trust Devil Bunny. The return of Flutterbat was also a nice touch and I liked the subtle moments where some of Fluttershy's fears actually came back to haunt the others later on (most notably Rarity tripping over her dress while running). I do wonder why Twilight didn't just teleport them above ground or blast the rock or the perceived monsters away. I suppose you could argue that she was caught off guard and didn't know what to think about the whole situation.
So, overall, I liked Scare Master. There are a couple things that bug me and the first half is filled with some painfully awkward and exaggerated scared moments for Fluttershy. But it was nice to see Nightmare Night again, the costumes were cool, and the second half of the episode is really solid.
Next week's (or rather this week's) episode is What About Discord!
Twilight returns from Canterlot to discover that her friends have developed an inexplicably deep bond with Discord. Puzzled by how they became so close in her absence, she starts to suspect that Discord is up to something sinister.
What did the rest of you think of Scare Master?
In the most recent episode of Doctor Who, the ceasefire between UNIT and the Zygons set up back in The Day of the Doctor has broken down. Osgood has been captured by the Zygons and the Doctor, Clara, and Kate spread out to find a way to stop the invasion. But the battle may have already been lost...
I was really looking forward to this one and it has so many things going for it: Osgood, Zygons, Clara with a rocket launcher, more UNIT. So how did it hold up? It was a pretty damn good episode in my opinion.
I think I'll be shocking nobody by saying how much I love Capaldi as the Doctor. It's pretty much become a staple of every episode. Series 9 has truly been a stand-out season for Capaldi's Doctor. While I loved Series 8, Series 9 has shown 12 at his absolute best. Capaldi is clearly comfortable in the role and having a ton of fun. And it's nice to see some of this Doctor's staples being born: the guitar, the sonic sunglasses, etc. I mean, how perfect was it for the Doctor to first appear in this episode playing a rock rendition of "Amazing Grace" on his guitar? Just awesome! And how great was it to see him strike the Nixon pose? Hilarious! And, of course, I can't talk about the Doctor without talking about that brilliant flashback at the very beginning of the episode. I really liked how this episode started in order to show how these events were following up on what we saw all the way back in The Day of the Doctor. Though, I must take note that even though this was archive footage this means that we have yet to see a season of Doctor Who without Matt Smith making an appearance in it since 2010. As I said, I loved how it was incorporated here and I love Matt's Doctor as much as the next guy but I can't help but feel like Moffat is subconsciously still having trouble letting go of the first Doctor of his tenure. Maybe I'm looking too far into things.
For Clara's final season, we sure are getting a lot of the Doctor and Clara being separated. They were split up for a quite an amount of time in the 2-part premiere and Before the Flood and Clara didn't make an appearance in The Woman Who Lived until the very end. And here, the real Clara is barely in it and I assume she might not be around for a majority of the next episode. It just feels weird that we're getting so much of these two being separated during their final season together. Along with that, can we go an episode without some sort of foreshadowing to Clara's departure? It feels like we're saying goodbye to her in every episode! I'm sure some fans are more than happy to say goodbye to Clara but I want to enjoy Clara's final season and then be caught up in the emotion of her departure. I don't need to keep being reminded of this. They didn't do this for any other companion. Granted, Clara has had a huge impact on the Doctor's life but still.
Anyway, moving on, I did like the Clara twist. There were some hints to it but I was still pretty surprised when it happened. And I must say that Jenna Coleman is incredibly good at playing evil. We got to see her go dark in last year's Dark Water but here we get to see her play an evil version of Clara. I'm definitely looking forward to next week where she'll apparently take on the role of the main villain for the episode.
I'm one of those people who loved Ogsood from her first appearance and it was great seeing her return...sort of. The episode appears to be trying to make Osgood's identity in this episode a bit ambiguous but I think there are several hints pointing towards the Osgood we have now being the Zygon Osgood while the original was the one killed by Missy. I loved the opening bit with the two Osgoods together and the scene with Osgood staring at the grave of her "sister" was actually very poignant. It's nice that we get to see more of her interactions with the Doctor and I look forward to seeing the two of them work together in the next episode.
I was also happy to see Kate return and I'm glad that she got a lot more to do in this episode than some of her previous appearances. Kate is finally turning into her own character and is breaking away from simply being "the Brigadier's daughter". Of course, one could wonder why she wasn't able to tell that the lone police officer in Truth or Consequences (it's awesome that they had a real American town play into the plot of this episode) was a Zygon. I do believe the it's the real Kate we see at the end of the episode and that she was able to defeat her Zygon attacker. I hope we get to see more Kate Stewart awesomeness next week. On another note, I was sad to see Jac get killed off because I was beginning to take a liking to the character.
It's great seeing the Zygons returns after two years and boy did they help provide us with a tense episode. The standoff between the soldiers and the Zygon people at the church was a real standout scene. It was perfectly executed and incredibly suspenseful. The very concept of the Zygons is paranoia-inducing with them being able to turn into anyone you know and play with your emotions. I'm definitely interested in seeing how this story wraps up next week. Hopefully, the humans and the good Zygons will be able to find peace once again. It'll also be interesting to see what resides in the Osgood Box.
Overall, I loved The Zygon Invasion. It was an intense modern day sci-fi thriller that acted as a welcome follow-up to the subplot of The Day of the Doctor.
Next week (or rather later this week), this 2-parter comes to its conclusion with The Zygon Inversion!
What did the rest of you think of The Zygon Invasion?
What? Let me see. In "Luna Eclipsed," she was a scarecrow. In "Scare Master," she was a lion....
Oh my gosh! You're right.
As you already know, I liked "Scare Master" a lot less than you did. As you pointed out, Fluttershy has developed a lot since the beginning of the show, and it is a problem that lately it seems she takes two steps forward and one step back. And in the end, it feels like nothing actually happened in this episode. I abhor such an idea because that's like a cardinal rule of storytelling. Generally, stuff happens in a story.
I find it interesting that your review is pretty much what my review would have looked like had I liked this episode. Except there would have been more pictures and references to Rick and Morty.
As for "The Zygon Invasion," I also very much enjoyed it. I liked it being revealed that there is at least an Osgood left out there. And this time she had question marks on her collar like the Doctor used to! What ever happened to the Doctor's question marks? They should bring those back.
I think she's actually the human one because you see her using her inhaler in opening.
I suspect that as well.
I suspect it's that Zygon nerve gas Kate mentioned to Clara early in the episode because she said the Doctor had taken it from them. The two Osgoods say in their video that the Doctor gave them that box.
Speaking of Clara, I find it odd the Zygon Clara apparently goes by Bonnie. Why?
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When Osgood asked him about the question marks in the episode, the Doctor said that he had question mark underwear.
In the past, it's shown that Zygons not only take on the physical look of whomever they're transformed into but also the physical advantages and disadvantages of the original person. Back in The Day of the Doctor, Zygon Osgood needed an inhaler and human Osgood gave her one.
I don't know. Maybe we'll learn why in the next episode. Bonnie Oswald has a strangely nice sound to it, doesn't it?
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Oh yeah, that's right.
How did I forget? Perhaps he should wear his underwear on the outside then.
But Zygon Osgood took the inhaler from human Osgood early in Day of the Doctor. It was human Osgood who needed it later on and Zygon Osgood that gave it to her.
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She did but human Osgood quickly stole it back.
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...
I'm going to need to see Day of the Doctor again.
Given how Fluttershy has been written more assertively throughout Season 5 (the most notable examples being Tanks for the Memories & Make New Friends But Keep Discord), I assume a lot of fans had this reaction to her characterization in this episode.
I think what really hurt the episode for some people is the fact that it was written by Natasha Levinger, the same woman who wrote both It Ain't Easy Being Breezies and the aforementioned Make New Friends But Keep Discord. As SuperPinkBrony12 pointed out in his own review, It Ain't Easy Being Breezies was the episode that started the trend of Fluttershy showing more of a backbone (although it did take a while for it to really stick) and to have the very person responsible for this feat write an episode which disregards said established development for the sake of the plot just left a bad taste in the Fluttershy fans' mouths.
BTW, as a bit of a side note, Natasha also wrote Pinkie Apple Pie.