Everything Wrong With the Flintstones [episode spoilers!] · 6:03pm Apr 29th, 2017
Well, that was an episode. :B
Y'know how I just started off a review with "I don't get Maud and why does anyone"? I did not exactly have high expectations going into this one. And with that said, the end result was at least more interesting than Maud's first episode -- she gets two of her funniest lines ever! -- but still borders somewhere between "meh" and "okay".
But really, the problem wasn't Maud, it was Pinkie. I remarked to my friend that if there's one thing Pinkie Pie is bad at, it's being superfluous. She's back in full "please shut up" season 4 mode, and... yeah, the whole time, I just wanted her to shut the fuck up already. D: I mean, what even is the point of this episode? "Pinkie Pie is too exuberant for her own good"? All the drama and conflict is entirely of her own making. She could have just, y'know, not done that. :|
Meanwhile, Starlight gets an odd bit of genuine character development with the kite thing. c.c I don't really know how to feel about that. inb4 five fics about the social stigma associated with kite-flying in Equestria.
I also like that bit about Maud showing Starlight where the cutie mark vault was. I mean, kind of not important overall, but the kind of thing I didn't expect, alongside the return to Ghastly Gorge. Which, sadly, did not give me extra fuel for my Ghastly Gorge Sentinels of the Multiverse environment deck. :| That one needs work still.
Beyond that, the underground cave was a what the fuck moment, just because... well, where the hell are they that there's all this space under Ponyville? O.o But it did provide the highlight of the episode, namely "Get us out of here, boy." That killed me. :D
And yeah, the intro scene sets the stage for the rest of the episode by being cringey as fuck (though I only have myself to blame; I made the "Rocktor" joke the same instant as Pinkie -.-), but at least that is balanced by getting to see my waifu Limestone again. :V
So, overall, just okay, coulda been better with less annoying Pinkie Pie, definitely Maud's best episode, though that's not saying much, considering where she's shown up previously.
All Bottled Up
A Flurry of Emotion
Rock Solid Friendship
Celestial Advice
Best Friends Until the End of Time
“Hey, Maud. I like kites.”
I liked how she whispered that to Maud, yeah.
There problem with Pinkie is that she clearly lacks sufficient distraction. Apply one (1) Rainbow Dash directly to their Pinkie and your problem will be cured.
Now, here's a question about the Institute of Rockology...
Does it just have really high standards, or did Maud murder all of her fellow rocktorate students?
Or the most boring answer, Maud is the only pony going for a rocktorate who got it that year.
Although Bonbon's Grand Theft Lyra moment was worth their price of admission.
The great thing is that Starlight has actually had kites in her bedroom this whole time.
"Starlight likes kites" is clearly something the writers came up with ages ago but hadn't found a place to put it into an episode until now.
4513667 You should write a thriller where Maud murders all of the other rocktorate applicants
4513676 Hmmm.....
Maybe I should.
The whole 'living cave' was a nice nod to Project Genesis from Star Trek II.
I absolutely wanted to strangle Pinkie from the first minute of this episode to the last. Holy fucking shit, that was a huge idiot stick she was hit with!
Starlight is a character I don't like (Mary Stu and all that), but at least there was some nice things about her in this episode. I've upgraded her from 'Not as determined to mind control ponies into being her friends/subordinates' to 'vaguely likable so long as she keeps showing she can be humble and sincere'. To this point, she's gotten more screen time and lines since Season Six compared to the other main characters (best background pony Applejack included).
Maud continues to rock. Yeah, she's probably not a favorite of people who like their ponies to be emotional, but Maud is literally a rock character; she is sensible, logical, and very Vulcan. She's so different from other characters, it makes her either likable or the most detested thing since the Iron Maiden. Depends on who you ask.
Just gonna leave this here.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2017/4/29/1424720__safe_starlight+glimmer_sweetie+belle_ponyville+confidential_rock+solid+friendship_spoiler-colon-s07e04_exploitable+meme_image+macro_meme_oblig.jpeg
Simple--they're in Jules Verne Land, where Hollow Earth Theory is real, and the hollow places are full of spectacular visuals to keep the audience's attention.
And now:
We can get an adventure with Starlight, Maud, and Trixie--and with Trixie knowing Maud from her time working on the rock farm before the Alicorn Amulet Incident, well, that just makes the dynamic much more interesting, I'd say.
Mike
I'm kinda with you on this one, Maud is a one note character and was good for exactly one episode and the occasional cameo. I loved the first episode (Maud Pie) but she's getting on my nerves now.
4513667 That raises questions about the financial viability of this institute of higher learning.
Kite flying is racist against Pegasi. Earth ponies used them as weapons.
4513667
I'm pretty sure she's the only student that year. :B
4513674
That is fascinating. Good catch!
4513779
This is distressing, because I am not sure who I want to kiss Trixie more @_@
4513785
Actually, one thing I forgot to mention was her talking about how rocks don't judge her for being different. Ever since she was introduced, she's always seemed as out-there and spacey as, well, Tree Hugger. But knowing that she understands she's different from other ponies really humanized her. It's not just that she was legitimately funny that I'm calling this her best episode.
4513863
We have a winner!
4513895 Now Starlight will teach Maud Let's Go Fly A Kite from Mary Poppins while she in return teaches Starlight the Mine Song from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves...
Honestly, I loved this one to death. Maud hasn't gotten tiresome for me yet, and Pinkie not only ratcheted up a level in crazy but also for once actually got burned by it. Plus, y'know, Starlight is non-aunt-related BAE anyway, and inches closer to challenging AJ for outright best pony status every week.
4513914
None of these words make any sense in the order you have placed them. :B
4513919
Maud's great, Pinkie's nuts and also great, Starlight is greatest, and Applejack is still best pony.
4513946
I approve this message:
In every way a message can be approved.
Mike
Pinkie was annoying sure, but the way I see it she would be OOC if she acted differently. The whole point of Pinkie is her level of excitement for things is very high. When you get something as exciting for normal people is my sister that I really enjoy spending time with is possibly moving nearby and yea, the excitement levels are over 9000. Also thankfully this bit her int he tail because overdoing is something she needs to learn to reign in. The problem is when she hits higher excitement levels most of the time even if it does end badly she doesn't notice. This time it directly curbed the reason she was excited so maybe it might actually stick. Every other time she certainly didn't learn anything, at least about overdoing things.
I'm 15 minutes in and I've had to pause the episode twice. I can only take so much cringe.
EDIT: All done. Limestone's cameo and Maude's development as semi-insecure couldn't save this episode. Too much Cringey Pie, and I really don't like Starlight Glimmer continuing to be forced down our throats. She felt like a damn OC this round: "My character connects with Maude in a way no one else could, becomes the reason Maude moves in, and calls out Pinkie Pie for being too overbearing."
http://orig13.deviantart.net/959a/f/2017/111/1/4/celestial_advice_by_deusexequus-db6nlrt.png
Welp, that's a Pinkie episode for ya. :V
orig13.deviantart.net/959a/f/2017/111/1/4/celestial_advice_by_deusexequus-db6nlrt.png
Only applied to Pinkie. This might have been one of Pinkie's lowest points since "A Friend in Deed" for me. Probably because she's doing basically the same thing. Only with added emotional manipulation of a loved one in favor of refusal to back the hell off after being told "no." In conclusion, this episode is an example of why Pinkie is my least preferred of the Mane Six.
Also: "She hasn't enslaved anyone recently": Pretty sure it's been less than a season since she brainwashed all of Twilight's friends. <.<
Might be about the best Starlight episode since S5, and she and Maud together made a good foil for Pinkie, with their attitude regarding Pinkie notably making me want them to succeed, for things to work out for them. Which is good! But it was driven by the bullshit from Pinkie that I detest. Which is bad. I'm also not sure how I feel about the prospect of a greater concentration of Maud going forward.
4514224
"Celestia out." XD That comic.
It's funny everyone's mentioning Friend in Deed. I've always considered that one of the best episodes, certainly one of Pinkie's best. It's Filly Vanilli that really killed her characterization, as far as I'm concerned, and it took all of season five to restore her to some semblance of "is a decent person you might actually want to care about". :B
4514270
So, "Filly Vanilly" Pinkie was bad, but it was presented unambiguously as such. Also, by then I'd just given up on her, in large part due to "Friend in Deed."
Of the Mane Six, I identify personality-wise most with Twilight, but then Fluttershy. Imagine that in "A Friend in Deed" Pinkie was doing all that to Fluttershy, who's just moving to town. That's some of what drives my opinion on that episode, and of Pinkie in general. Maybe it's not fair. But then, that's how subjective impressions like likability go.
4514370
I think the thing about AFID is that it didn't come after an entire season's worth of episodes of Pinkie acting that way. I mean, I was never put off by her actions in that episode; they weren't too far from A Party of One, if you ask me. But by the time we hit Filly Vanilli, she's been acting like a clueless nimrod for all of season four up to that point, and possibly season three as well. You can throw AFID onto the pile, even. Point being, FV has a whole host of bad behavior before it, and it's not only offputting, but tiresome. She seemed to get better over the course of season five, again, but I think we can at least agree that this is back to the old, bad Pinkie. :C
4514224
That's it, exactly!
If she had been trying all sorts of different (and cleverer) tactics, it would have felt much more like classic "random" Pinkie. As it was, it's the cliche definition of insanity; doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome.