No Second Prances Review · 5:33pm Apr 30th, 2016
These past two weeks were really worrying me when I learned about the snyposis for this episode, and when it was confirmed that Trixie was going to be the pony Twilight was weary of Starlight befriending, my fears only grew. I was seriously hoping that we wouldn't get a rehash of "What About Discord?", and thankfully that was not the case, for the most part. Nick Confalone, who wrote "Party Pooped" with Jim and Jayson, and "Hearthbreakers" on his own returned to write this episode. So, how did he do with his first episode that didn't involve Pinkie Pie? Well, let's find out.
We begin with Twilight trying to set the table, in the hopes of providing a friendship lesson to Starlight. But when Starlight uses her magic, the lesson ends before it can really begin. Twilight then explains to Starlight that with Princess Celestia coming over for dinner tomorrow night to see how the friendship lessons are going, Twilight wants Starlight to make a new friend. Starlight cracks a joke about her former evil ways, and Twilight is anything but amused.
Starlight heads out into Ponyville, and tries with each of the mane six to make a new friend. She first tries Mrs. Cake, who gets rather grouchy when Starlight uses her magic to bake a cake. All things considered, this is really rude of Mrs. Cake. When Starlight tries to befriend Big Macintosh at Sweet Apple Acres, her attempt at coaxing him out of his shell involves a magic spell that can make him talk more than he ever could before. Big Macintosh freaks out at this and runs off, and Applejack is understandably upset at this. This is where I can buy someone being a bit hard on Starlight, because here she made an actual mistake and made someone upset. Next up is Rarity, who's appearance is mostly just to be there for lack of a better term. Then we have Rainbow Dash offering to introduce Starlight to Spitfire, only for Starlight to reveal she doesn't know who that is or who The Wonderbolts are. I'm actually kind of surprised Rainbow Dash hasn't told her given her hero admiration of them.
After Fluttershy's cameo (in which Starlight actually seems to befriend Angel), Starlight finds herself getting stressed out. So she heads to the spa to unwind, and it's there that she meets Trixie and learns that they have a lot in common. When Starlight introduces Twilight to Trixie, the two still have a bit of hostility towards each other.
Trixie tells Twilight that she's come to Ponyville as part of an apology tour, and Twilight tells Starlight that Trixie might not be the best pony to befriend. Starlight calls Twilight out on her hypocrisy, avoiding what could've been a painful rehash, and Twilight reluctantly agrees to trust Starlight. Starlight helps Trixie to set up her stage, and Trixie reveals how much it hurts her that her past misdeeds are still remembered. One thing that's worth pointing out here is that Trixie doesn't really talk in the third person all that much, which Twilight seems to not notice. She even suggests that Starlight befriend Vinyl Scratch, Derpy, or Cranky Doodle Donkey instead. Starlight once again chews out Twilight for her lack of faith, and walks off. Then, while helping Trixie unload her wagon, Starlight learns that Trixie has a special act she's been dying to pull off that only her idol, Hoofdini, has successfully accomplished. The performer launches themself at a hungry manticore, then teleports into a box on the stage after the manticore swallows them.
Starlight offers to help, but runs into a scheduling conflict when she learns that Trixie's show will take place on the same night as the dinner with Celestia. Now, there is a little something I feel is worth mentoining here that the episode didn't consider, Starlight could've offered to help Trixie if she promised to postpone her show until the following night, instead of Trixie basically guilt tripping Starlight into helping her. But then again, Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle have resorted to guilt tripping from time to time and no one seems to get on their case for it. The night of the dinner arrives, and Twilight has invited Vinyl Scratch, Derpy, and Cranky Doodle Donkey to her castle since Starlight hasn't showed up. When she goes off to find Starlight, she finds her backstage with Trixie and lashes out at her. Starlight decides she's had it with Twilight's hypocrisy, and then we get to the painful part that really hurts this episode, Trixie flat out gloats about Starlight befriending her and even says acting repentant was just an act. In tears, Starlight runs off, and then Trixie admits that she got caught up in the moment and legtimately meant everything she said earlier. Twilight also realizes her mistake, and goes to find Starlight, while a sorrowful Trixie attmepts to perform the deadly trick on her own.
Twilight admits her mistake to Starlight and tells her that Starlight should have the freedom to make her own decisions, so Starlight helps Trixie pull off the trick, and the two make up their quarrel and agree to be friends. The episode ends at the castle with Cranky asking Princess Celestia how she keeps her mane in its flowing state all the time, and Princess Celestia looks rather unamused. I suppose there are some questions even she gets tired of being asked.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, despite a few moments that had me really worried, including one that was only there for the sake of creating drama and extending the story a little, this was a good episode. Much like "Gauntlet of Fire" before it, this episode could've easily gone the low road and simply been a rehash of "What About Discord?" but instead it took the time to consider what it was doing, address some of the flaws, and make sure to avoid being too predictable. Trixie was handled rather well, and despite a few OOC moments from Twilight, this episode treated her and Starlight properly. Perhaps the only downside is, this episode seems to confirm Starlight is already friends with the mane six so there's no real need for her to have episodes where she struggles to prove herself to them, and that means it's going to be harder for the writers to show that she has legtimately changed for the better without it having happened off-screen. In the end, I give this episode a borderline A-/A putting it above "On Your Marks" which did lag a bit when Bulk Biceps showed up, but below "The Crystalling" and "Gauntlet of Fire" due to a few uncomfortable moments. Words cannot express how relieved I am that this episode turned out the way it did, a "What About Discord?" rehash would've a major disappointment.
So far, Season 6 is doing pretty well for itself, no episode yet has been a major disappointment. But next week is another episode that could really hurt this season if it turns out poorly. It's "Newbie Dash" and it involves Rainbow Dash making a disastorus first impression as a full-fledged Wonderbolt that results in her getting an embarassing new nickname. Hopefully, this episode won't be another episode that demonizes The Wonderbolts like "Rainbow Falls".
Ugh, yeah I have to agree with you there on that last bit. I have a personal pet peeve with bashing or demonizing charicters for the sake of story reasons. It's just dumb, and I personally think whoever came up with the basic idea for THAT episode should have given it a second look and thought about it a bit more.
I personally found that the uncomfortable moments only helped to enhance the episode.
And I honestly find it to be the best episode of the season so far because of that.
On top of that, it gave a new contender for "best face of the series": derpicdn.net/img/view/2016/4/30/1143034__safe_solo_rainbow+dash_screencap_animated_faic_discovery+family+logo_no+second+prances_spoiler-colon-s06e06.gif
I think Twilight was a bit too distrustfull and Starlight notably does not apologize for ditching Twilight and Celestia at the dinner they had organized. At the very least she could have told Twilight she wanted to help Trixie.
I enjoyed this episode for two things. Trixie FINALLY making a return after three seasons and the part with Big Mac talking made me laugh.
But as for the next one...I am worried about that one too, I really hope it's one of the writers who doesn't demonise the Wonderbolts for the sake of the plot.
Paint and gowerfull twikie
3908033 I've said it before and I'll say it again now but that is what I'm half expecting for Newbie Dash. Then again I might just be pleasantly surprised. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt until the episode airs.
The episode is a mixed bag for me. Pro- Some of the jokes are funny, good moral at the end, awesome cameos, and the return of Trixie.
Cons- Some of the jokes are badly timed like Twilight pointing to Cranky after Starlight said Twilight didn't trust bad, bad timing. Twilight forgive Trixie in Season 2 and was happy about, but does not trust her here. Trixie should have not made a contest out of Starlight's friendship. How does Starlight make a cake that fast, I don't care about it being magic it is stupid. As you Starlight should regain the trust of the rest of the main six. This episode is not best the last week's is still the best so far.
So would you say this episode is "What About Discord?" done right? If so, how would you go about explaining it?
3917810 I would say this episode is "What About Discord?" done better, but not completely done right. If it was done right, Twilight would've completely trusted Starlight to make her own decisions, and wouldn't have blown at Starlight for deciding to ditch the dinner in favor of helping her new friend out. Starlight would've at least made an effort to try and talk Trixie into postponing her show until the next night so she wouldn't have to miss the important dinner with the princess, and Trixie wouldn't have tried to guilt trip Starlight into helping her after she revealed she had prior arrangements (your friends have lives too, and it's wrong to expect them to always drop what they're doing to help you with everything).
This episode pissed me the hell off! I consider this episode to be to Twilight what "A Friend in Deed" was to Pinkie Pie. I hated the way Twilight was portrayed in this episode! But even worse is the way Trixie is portrayed. Once again, Trixie is portrayed as being in the wrong despite not really doing anything wrong and being demonized for it. And am I the only one who remembered the lesson from "The Crystalling?" Why did that lesson need to be repeated here? Why couldn't Twilight just remember it and back off and let Starlight make her own decisions? I think the last time an episode left me this pissed off was "The Mysterious Mare Do Well", and I don't look forward to viewing this episode ever again! It was, in one word, horrible! I absolutely hated it!
3936104 To be fair, this episode addressed Twilight's hypocrisy and behavior, though I really felt like the only reason they made Trixie even remotely in the wrong was so they could have a conflict. Still, considering what this episode could've been, I'm really glad it didn't go that route.
What if it's possible Starlight didn't tell Twilight about wanting to help Trixie instead of attending the dinner with Celestia just to spite her teacher for not trusting her to make friends on her own?
4275220 That would make things even worse.