Season Six Episode Review: Viva Las Pegasus · 4:43pm Sep 17th, 2016
Well, that was a nice vacation from reviewing. But the coconut drinks and sandy beaches must end sometime, so it's back to the weekly grind. And just in time for a new map episode, to boot.
This is “Viva Las Pegasus.”
TECHNICAL SPECS:
Season: 6
Episode: 20
Written By: Kevin Burke and Chris Wyatt
First Aired: September 17, 2016
REVIEW:
Once again, the ponies have been summoned by the Magic Friendship Map of Magical Friendship Magic to go solve some vaguely-designed problem. And this time, the odd couple is Applejack and Fluttershy – a pony whose work ethic borders on suicidal, and a pony who thinks large crowds are a barbarian horde. And they're being shipped off to Las Pegasus, Equestria's resort playground. The map is a cruel and merciless god, indeed.
The center of this week's episode is Gladmane, a pony with the hairstyle and vague voice mannerisms of Elvis Presley. He presents himself as a loving fellow who wants to be everyone's friend, especially if they spend money at his resort. He's even willing to hire Flim and Flam, the notorious tricksters who, having squandered the one thing they had that actually worked, have been reduced to selling tickets for Cirque du Soleil and magic shows. And they are competing against each other...and hate each other. In fact, pretty much every pair, from the circus performer and their director to the Siegfried and Roy stand-ins, hate their partner with a passion. Of course, this all turns out to be Gladmane's actual goal: if everyone is busy distrusting and hating each other, but loving him, they will continue to work for him and draw in the crowds – and with them, the money.
Sounds like a certain other Vegas-affiliated fellow...
Las Pegasus itself is supposed to be modeled on Las Vegas, but any actual gambling is strangely absent. I can figure that Hasbro would be squeamish about showing Applejack blowing the family savings on a game of Craps, but they did show Pinkie and dogs playing poker before, so perhaps the reference was just too on-the-nose this week. Instead, the resort is played more like a Circus Circus kind of thing, with an emphasis on arcades and stage shows. However, I forgive this because the episode confirms that skeeball exists in Equestria. And skeeball is awesome, so that's perfectly fine.
Applejack is obviously rather hostile towards the idea of helping Flim and Flam. After nearly losing the farm to them and then getting suckered into being their snake oil salespony, it's understandable that she views them as being worse than Tirek. Fluttershy obviously gravitates towards helping them, but it seems like it's mostly because they're the most obvious problem. Indeed, Applejack's refusal is what allows her to uncover the other issues Gladmane was covering up, which in turn gives Fluttershy the idea to use the two against him. The episode does a good job working the two off each other and the situation, and highlights their individual strengths as it pertains to the con at the end. Flim and Flam are also given a chance to shine, but unlike so many of the other villain reappearances, it's made very clear at the end that they have not changed their ways.
The rest of the background cast is likewise enjoyable. They are all fairly standard Vegas stand-ins, but they work to help carry the story along and have their own enjoyable little quirks and quibbles. They aren't given a lot of focus, but they are still fun to watch.
The scheme they use to take down Gladmane is rather basic, but it works. Fluttershy as Impossibly Rich is amusing, and the way the plan turns out to be a plan-within-a-plan was at least better than Gladmane failing to notice an obvious microphone in front of him. Indeed, if he had fallen for something that obvious, it would have cast doubt on how he could have kept his initial charade going as long as he did. I also loved how his statue got torn down Saddam-style at the end.
About the only issue I had was with Applejack saying that she never lied. She has, in fact, lied to others, whether directly or with half-truths. Heck, her Key Episode back in Season Four was all about Applejack lying, and one of the future episodes is about her lies apparently killing her parents. (Or not, because they would never do that, but this fandom just wants to see some dead parents, damn it.)
CONCLUSION:
I really, really liked this episode. The characters are great, the setting is fun, and the story is simple but charming. It's not a heavy or majorly important episode, but it's definitely one of the best map ones across these last two seasons, and is one of the few episodes so far this season I can see myself watching multiple times. Definitely recommended.
Next time, Starlight returns. Didn't even know you were gone.
So far, I've enjoyed pretty much the entire season with a few exceptions.
Are you planning on reviewing the episodes you missed sometime? It'd be interesting to see what you thought of them...
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Eventually.
Yes, and probably the thing I like best about this episode.
Otherwise, it's still a pretty good episode all around. The plot is a bit basic, and the resolution a bit too easy, but the execution still keeps everything both fun and amusing along the way without any obvious hang ups or flaws that could have made it much better given the limited constraints of the half-hour format.
Sort of... or at least unlike the front half of the season her recent absences have generally bothered me less, if only because I've maybe had to give up on the idea of her ever becoming a properly integrated member of the cast. Give me rather mixed feelings about her getting another episode and the risk that it will just hammer that flaw further into the ground.
Agreed, it was just a very tight episode with good pacing, good morale and hell, some good comedy to back it up.
You know what else I like about this? It's not just Applejack who knows what F&F are up to; they make that "You never lie!" statement together. They've come to understand her as much as she understands them, and that's just a concept I want to float around in for a couple days.
It was really Flim and Flam who said that, AJ just didn't argue. On the one hand, her being seen as honesty incarnate is what they based a lot of their last con on. On the other, that very con would kind of show that AJ is not always the avatar of honesty. Maybe they just figured "close enough."