Rock Solid Friendship Review · 4:45pm Apr 29th, 2017
Well, looks like I was wrong about two things. Maud DID move to Ponyville, and we had a veteran writer pen this episode, Nick Confalone who has written episodes such as "Party Pooped", "Hearth Breakers", and "The Saddle Row Review". You may want to remember those first two episodes though, because they're going to play an important part in addressing a complaint later on. For now though, this episode may have defied my predictions, but did that mean it was necessarily for the better? Well, let's find out.
We begin with Maud graduating from her academy (she's the only student), having completed her rocktorate in rock science. Her whole family is in attendance, along with Boulder, and Pinkie Pie is incredibly excited for Maud. The only other one who seems to get emotional is Cloudy Quartz, a very rare show of emotions from her. Now that Maud is done with her rocktorate, she tells Pinkie Pie (who is being a bit overly excited and hyperactive, to the point where we can already see other passengers getting annoyed with her) that she's planning to possibly move to Ponyville since there's nothing rock related left for her to study back home. But she also announces her intent to possibly move to Ghastly Gorge, and claims it's based on rocks. Pinkie decides she needs to prove to Maud that Ponyville has better rocks so that Maud won't move to Ghastly Gorge.
Pinkie takes Maud to Rarity and Spike's secret gem cave, but Maud isn't all that impressed by the rocks, and Rarity finds it hard to really make small talk with her. It takes a little while longer before we get to the actual plot of the episode, Maud says her decision to move to Ponyville actually won't be based on rocks, but on the fact that she wants a friend, one who can actually understand her. The first pony to bump into Maud happens to be Starlight, and as it turns out the two know each other. How, you ask? Simple, Maud inadvertently told Starlight how to obtain the rock necessary to steal cutie marks and seal them away.
Feeling guilty all over again, Starlight opts to go out and do some shopping, and Pinkie encourages Maud to help. The two slowly but surely start to bond a little, but every time Pinkie Pie keeps getting in the way, insisting on trying to force them to be friends. And we get to the big problem with this episode, Pinkie Pie is flanderized to an extent here. It's not nearly on the level of "Over A Barrel", "Luna Eclipsed", or "Filli Vanilli", and more on the lines of "A Friend In Deed", where she doesn't seem to understand the concept of personal space. This would be bad enough for a new writer, but for Nick Confalone, who penned two Pinkie Pie episodes in Season 5, both of which understood her character properly and knew how to strike the right balance between silly and serious, this isn't excuseable. Heck, even though none of his episodes in Season 6 featured Pinkie Pie, he had no trouble handling her well for the scenes she was in. I suppose it's a tad bit excuseable, since the production schedules for Seasons 6 and 7 overlapped (this has been confirmed), but even so he should know better.
Maud actually manages to get some development here, which is a nice change of pace from more recent episodes featuring her which mostly just used the same joke (she doesn't express her emotions outwardly and appears uninterested if something's not rock related). Heck, this is the kind of non focus episode potrayal of Starlight we were missing in Season 6, and I sure hope we'll see more of it. It turns out that Maud likes rocks, because each of them has a story to tell, and none of them will judge her for the way she reacts.
With Starlight's help, Maud discovers a hidden place with a waterfall and gems, and when Pinkie Pie shows up, she makes a comment about how Maud and Starlight will be sharing the experience with their grandfoals. Yes, I'm not kidding, that's what she said. She then proceeds to "accidentally" detonate some dynamite and cause a cave in, hoping it'll force Starlight and Maud to bond. But Maud uses Boulder (who we learn is over 2,000 years old but doesn't look a day over 600) to break open a hole for them to escape. Still unable to take the hint, Pinkie slips cowbells onto Maud and Starlight, but as soon as she's out of sight, Starlight yanks off the bells and the two go to do whatever they feel like doing. That night, at Sugarcube Corner, Maud tries to tell Pinkie what the problem is, but Pinkie doesn't listen. So Maud slips out in the middle of the night and leaves a note behind informing Pinkie of her intent to go to Ghastly Gorge. Devastated, Pinkie rushes to the train station, only to be too late to stop Maud from leaving. She then goes to sob to Starlight in her bedroom.
Starlight tries to put it as delicately as possible that Pinkie messed up, only to make Pinkie feel even worse. Pinkie dashes off, while Starlight throws the covers back over her head in belief that she's botched a friendship lesson delivery. Meanwhile, in Ghastly Gorge, Maud is busy digging for rocks, when the wind blows one of them away. She ends up inside the jaw of a quarry eel, seemingly unaware of the danger she's in, even as Pinkie comes to save her. Maud insists she's fine on her own and wants to be around rocks, and Pinkie apologizes, as Maud dangles over what looks like a ledge above a huge chasm.
Turns out that's not the case though, it's right down to the ground, and after Maud accepts Pinkie's apology, she decides to give Ponyville (and Starlight) another chance. Upon doing so, Maud bonds with Starlight over kite flying, and reveals that the special area in the cave they found earlier is where she'll be staying now that she's moved to Ponyville. Pinkie shows up but quickly leaves after making a wrong turn, and the episode ends with Starlight and Maud just enjoying each other's company.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, despite Nick clearly needing to brush up on how to write Pinkie Pie, this is a good episode that managed to succeed where "A Flurry of Emotions" failed, subverting my expectations. I was expecting this episode to bomb, and it managed to be better than I could've anticipated. While I still think this conflict could've worked just as well with Limestone or Marble, Maud actually justified her appearance this time around with some actual development. Starlight was the best thing about this episode, it was the kind of non focus episode potrayl she's been long overdue for since she was added to the cast. Several episodes in Season 6 were ripe for opportunities to include her, but didn't do so, and hopefully this is not the last time we'll be getting these roles for Starlight in Season 7. The episode does take a while to get to the main focus though, the first part with rocks kind of drags on with only one or two funny jokes to break it up. Pinkie does get a few good jokes in, and much like Twilight in "A Flurry of Emotions", the episode manages to convey that she's learned her lesson. But again Pinkie's performance is troubling considering Nick Confalone's experience with writing her. In the end, I give this episode a borderline B+/A-, tying it with "Celestial Advice", though if I had to pick one over the other, this episode would win out. Don't get me wrong, "Celestial Advice" was good, but that was largely because of the stuff with Princess Celestia that came out in the five minutes or so of the episode, the rest was spent building up to a hasty resolution. Again, I'm willing to believe Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco were banking on "Celestial Advice" to be the two parter premiere for Season 7, but when Hasbro told them no they were forced to condense their ideas down to one twenty two minute episode, and with the overlapping production schedule, they didn't have much time to really work on readjusting "Celestial Advice" and practically no time to work on "All Bottled Up" before they had to turn both in. This episode took less time to get to the important part, and spent more time giving everything a satisfying build up and conclusion, the first episode of Season 7 so far to do so. So cudous to this episode for managing to surprise me.
Next week we have "Fluttershy Leans In", which may or may not be the first of who knows how many Season 7 episodes to air early in Canada. Right now the episode synopsis suggests they'll be showing Fluttershy's career desires, but she'll have to stand up when her desires aren't being fulfilled by the ponies she's working with. This episode should be good, as long as it isn't yet another "Fluttershy learns to stand up for herself" story. Considering how great Fluttershy was in Season 6, I'm hopeful Season 7 will be not once again hit the reset button on her growth. But we'll have to see.
Honestly, I thought Pinkie Pie was the best thing about this episode. She was hilarious! Apparently this episode takes place during "Gauntlet of Fire "
4513568 Nah, it couldn't take place during that episode, because it if did Rarity and Spike wouldn't have been in the mine. You could say that it takes place BEFORE "Gauntlet of Fire" though.
No one is talking about this... Maud knows how to take over Equestria with only a rock... That should be story I love to read!
4513579 Pinkie and Maud could have met them a little while before Spike is summoned.
4513598 As would I. Just the fact that Maud knows of a rock that could help Starlight take over Equestria is a scary thought. It's hilarious that Maud knew Starlight back when she was evil (this came off as a pleasant surprise to me) and was the catalyst behind the events of season 5.
I had low expectations based on what Season 7 has given us so far, but I had to admit, it turned out better than I thought. But oh boy, a Fluttershy-focused episode? That episode could be make or break for me in regards to staying interested in Season 7.