Discordant Harmony S7E12 Review · 12:00pm Jun 20th, 2017
Remember how Season 4’s finale has Tirek accusing Discord of being tamed by the ponies?
Yeah this is basically that: The Episode.
So, before we start this review in earnest, here’s the thing with Discord’s episodes - they tend to grate on me. And it’s because ever since his reformation, all of Discord’s episodes have basically the same plot outline. Discord is invited to spend time with the ponies. Discord uses his magic to troll them and acts like a jerk. The ponies get angry with him. Discord realizes abusing his magic to troll them and acting like a jerk is bad. Everybody hugs, roll credits. Three’s a Crowd, Make New Friends, What About Discord, Dungeons and Discords, they all follow that formula. And it was fine once for Three’s a Crowd, but now it’s just annoying, especially after Season 4 and his genuine remorse at his deeds in the finale. People harp on Starlight for “not learning her lesson” about magic reliance and her short temper, but she has changed and evolved in other ways. Discord has not, he’s been going through the same motions for three seasons now.
This episode, to its credit, does not follow that formula. But in its place is a plot as predictable and formulaic as you can guess. I still call out “Ticket Master” as one of the worst episodes of the series not because of any missteps on its part, but because it’s a plot we’ve seen over and over in other works to the point when we see it now in anything we can call it note by note, unless it does something new. This episode is another plot we’ve seen in other things and it does nothing new with it.
Discord invites Fluttershy to a tea party at his place and in the process of accommodating her starts to get rid of the things he likes for the things she likes. This is all in the first five minutes or so, and from there we know exactly how the rest will go. Of course Discord completely gets rid of the chaos stuff to make his place normal, of course Fluttershy doesn’t like it, of course they bring all the chaos stuff back and the episode ends with them laughing.
And it’s such a disappointment because the episode was going good. Discord really wanted to throw a tea party for Fluttershy, he wanted her to be comfortable at his place, he showed good depth here. And with the clerks repeatedly noting he doesn’t seem like the kind of being Fluttershy would be friends with, I thought they might actually examine why their friendship works and how it is that a meek, quiet pony like Fluttershy likes having the Spirit of Chaos around.
But, no. Let’s go back to Discord’s place and watch him get rid of everything chaotic to create a normal home. I did like the twist that he begins to fade away, though they didn’t examine that too closely. Fluttershy acting all chaotic was fun but again, we knew this was coming, just not in that way.
So, yeah, episode was just kinda eh. Discord’s schtick is staring to wear thing after four seasons of his stuff. I suppose this is the best Discord-focused episode to date, by default, because it does something new that doesn’t regress his character or make him act like a jerk to keep the plot moving.
I'm going to have to respectfully disagree. The plot was fairly straightforward, yes, but the presentation was excellent and we got some great interactions between Fluttershy and Discord. Just because you know the destination doesn't mean you can't enjoy the journey.
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I agree. Except I didn’t merely know the destination, I knew every stop along the way. “Discord’s trying to do what Fluttershy likes and he’s compromising to make her feel better and she’s not gonna like it because that’s not who he is and they’ll be all chaotic together and have fun in the end.”
Aside from the chaotic Fluttershy stuff in the climax, I didn’t find any great humor in this episode. Discord’s chaos stuff is wearing thin because they’re running out of funny things for him to do that still have impact. Detaching his fingers and letting them eat the sandwiches? It’s creative, but it’s hardly anything special for Discord’s humor. Turning into the shopkeeper was a cute bit though.
4577068 Same here, there was enough to keep me entertained despite the predictability of the moral.