Triple Threat Review · 5:11pm Aug 19th, 2017
Well, apparently "Fame and Misfortune" was an unfinished Larson script that Larson himself wasn't thrilled with, which just further bumps the episode down in my opinion. I'm not sure if it's a form of plagerism to take someone else's unfinished work without permission and tweak it, even if you credit them. The show has had other writers rewrite episodes written by a different writer before, but they have always credited the author for the original story, meaning that someone wasn't brave enough to credit themselves with trying to call out the fandom in the worst way possible. Anyway, we've got a Spike episode this week, penned by Josh Hamilton, who wrote "Parental Glideance" which had the problem of making Rainbow Dash too sympathetic in a story where she was supposed to be in the wrong. Given the synoposis, this doesn't exactly bode well for this episode, especially considering the role Spike's been on since "Gauntlet of Fire" last season. So, was this episode the end of that great character streak, or was it able to keep things going and put Season 7 back on track? Well, let's find out.
We begin with Spike surprisingly acting like Twilight, and Starlight points out Twilight's hypocrisy a bit for telling Spike he's worrying about nothing when it comes to Ember's visit. Things seem to be going great, until Thorax shows up. Turns out that Spike agreed to have him over for a talk, and that unintentionally fell on the same day Ember's coming to Ponyville for a ceremony, but also to hang out with Spike and get some friendship advice. Worried about a possible civil war if the two leaders meet, Spike sends Thorax to the castle, and ropes Twilight and Starlight into helping him keep Ember and Thorax from meeting. So far it's pretty good, Spike's fears do feel a bit unwarranted but they're not over the top enough to be unsympathetic. I should mention that Starlight is utilized a lot better here compared to the previous episode, heck I dare say they utilize her even better than in "Rock Solid Friendship" which couldn't get away with not mentioning Starlight's past just a little.
Things are going great, until Spike accidentally invites Ember to the castle where Thorax is already staying. Fortunately, Twilight is able to distract Thorax, while Starlight and Spike spend time with Ember. Ember starts eating away at the castle walls, and Spike entrusts Starlight to keep Ember occupied while he goes to see Twilight and Thorax. Thorax discovers that Twilight appears to be fascinated with chairs, but we all know what she's really fascinated by are books.
Borrowing Twilight for a moment, Spike's scales start glowing and he ends up being summoned by the map, to solve a friendship problem in Ponyville. At this point, the episode starts to fall apart a little for Spike, it becomes obvious to us what the friendship problem is, but Spike decides to go around town, looking for one, leaving Twilight and Starlight to deal with Thorax and Ember, and neither of them think to maybe communicate with each other about what they'll do, so as to avoid unintentionally sabotaging each other. One reviewer pointed out that the map calling Spike is ultimately pointless, since he's already working on the friendship problem, at least a little, and all it really amounts to is fanservice. I think the bigger problem is that the map just makes the resolution obvious, and thus makes Spike's avoidance of it feel like he's been hit with the stupid stick.
Spike soon comes across what he thinks is the friendship problem, in the form of Lyra and Bon Bon arguing about cupcake flavors. Yeah, it's nice to see them talking again, but again this is little more than fanservice that shouldn't come at the expense of characters and stories.
So after a lot of filler of Spike going around, trying to solve a friendship problem, he comes across Thorax and tries to listen to his problem. We get some foreshadowing to an upcoming episode that will involve Trixie and Starlight dealing with Thorax's brother, and if this is becoming a trend, I think I like it. Foreshadowing and building up to events was never the show's strong suit, the few times it did were for season finales (the Grand Galloping Gala, Twilight becoming a princess, the keys and the chest), the events of most other episodes would just pop up whenever with no prior buildup, and even the best of episodes would occasionally suffer from this. Case in point, "Crusaders of The Lost Mark" as although it was really good there was never anything to suggest prior to it that Diamond Tiara could be a nice pony or that she had family issues, and a little bit of foreshadowing or hinting would've gone a long way towards winning over more fans.
Ember, meanwhile, proves to be socially awkward, to the point where she scares off other ponies with her flame breath and roars, and even smears Derpy's muffin against a wall in an attempt to try and be friends. Suffice it to say, she's lucky Derpy didn't take offense to it.
Following a meta joke from Ember about how Twilight and Starlight look the same, frustrated with Spike in a way similar to how a girl might react to a guy standing her up on a date (kind of like Spike's dialogue about Ember taken out of context in "Gauntlet of Fire" made it sound like he was mad about Ember dumping him), Ember yells at him and pushes him back a bit! Thorax, having seen this and not understanding the context, snaps and turns himself into a bear to attack Ember, or rather just to protect Spike! This does feel a bit sudden, but technically Thorax was shown transforming into a rock and Spike in "The Times They Are A Changeling" so it's not a completely out of nowhere thing. This still begs the question of whether Thorax is the only one who can do this, or if other changelings are capable of such a feat. After all, Chrysalis probably could've utilized that when she was backed into a corner.
Realizing their misunderstanding, Thorax and Ember stop the attack and confront Spike, furious at the idea that he wanted to keep them from meeting because they take it as an insult. It's actually surprising to see how menacing Thorax can be when he's angry. Anyway, while Spike mopes about, feeling sorry for himself and thinking he's ruined everything, Thorax and Ember meet at a pond and have a talk about their problems, the two of them learning from each other how about to be more assertive and more open respectively. We get a brief forced joke where Thorax wonders where Ember is going, and then the two confront Spike, demanding an apology, which they get. Of course, that is the friendship problem and we get another meta joke from Ember about how the ponies always express what they've just learned.
The episode ends with Spike giving a special flame of friendship to Ember and Thorax to share, and Ember lets out a sneeze that melts an ice sculpture, as she jokes about how the ponies need more things made of rock. Spike would probably know a thing or two about that.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, basically everyone was in character, except Spike. And after Season 6 finally stopped slamming the door in his face when it came to focus episodes, this backstep is inexcuseable! I thought maybe we'd finally moved past making Spike the butt money, especially after previous episodes this season already took jabs at him. But I guess Lewis and Songco, even though they wrote "Gauntlet of Fire" just don't have the same love for Spike that Haber had last season. It's a shame too, Hamilton improved a bit here, but he still seems to rely too heavily on cringe comedy for his episodes, which is a major weak point for this show, it's just not possible for it to do cringe comedy correctly it seems. I guess that's a testament to the strongly written characters if we don't like seeing them make fools of themselves. And considering Hamilton's previous writing endevors were for shows that as far as I know used cringe comedy very rarely if at all, I don't see why he's depending on the weakest aspect of the show to carry his episodes. He seems to be turning out similar to Merriweather Williams in that his past writing endevors should make him well suited for the show, but for whatever reason he just doesn't get it. In the end, I give this episode a B-, putting it just above Hamilton's previous episode "Parental Glideance" (in case you're wondering "Fame and Misfortune" drops to second worst episode of Season 7, it would take a lot to surpass the insult that was "Honest Apple"), but below "Fluttershy Leans In" which at least had all the main characters in character more or less (not really sure where Rarity got the idea that an animal shelter needed an interior designer). I guess my fears are coming true, Season 7's second half is starting out as poorly as Season 4's second half, which doesn't bode well for Season 7 as a whole.
Maybe things will FINALLY get going next week with "Campfire Tales", a low key episode that looks like it's basically just going to introduce the characters from the Legends of Magic comic series from IDW, before they appear in the Season 7 finale. The synoposis sounds like "Sleepless in Ponyville" 2.0 though, so that could be a problem. But I won't be around to review it right when it comes out, since I'll be gone from Thursday to late Monday with my family on vacation to the South Carolina coast. Expect a review late next Monday (the 28th) at the earliest. I sincerely hope we don't have three duds in a row to start off the second half of Season 7, I'd hate to see a season that seemed to finally be finding its footing, slip up, and crash and burn.
Yeah, honestly this episode was a dud right from the summary. Ember's casual and accidental racism against ponies all looking the same was funny, and Thorax being assertive is cool, but like most Spike episodes this was more of a miss than a hit. But the fanfic fuel... God above, this episode has plenty of that.
Regarding Fame and Misfortune, i don't let behind the scenes stuff affect how i feel about it. I still LOVE it.
As for Triple Threat, for me it's currently between 8th and 11th place for the season, but i still enjoyed it for the most part.
And i hardcore ship Ember x Thorax
4640570 I'm starting to feel like the show WANTS me to ship Spike and Ember, considering the events of this episode. "Gauntlet of Fire" had Spike moping about Ember as if she'd dumped him, and here Ember was acting not unlike Spike invited her over for a date, then stood her up all day. The only problem is, Ember seems like she'd get possesive VERY quickly!
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Re-Watched the episode, and on second go around, Fame and Misfortune wasn't a terrible episode by any means. Wasn't as insulting this time around. Actually enjoyable. Only problem I have with it nowadays is the sheer drama it created, unneeded drama at that.
Not surprised that this episode turn out to be a disappointment. Unfortunately, this probably the only Spike episode of the season and it was a mixed bag
Thanks for the warning about this episode. Maybe, if you include this in the sixth volume of your "What If?" series, it could have Spike NOT trying to keep Ember and Thorax from meeting, but, rather, realizing and admitting outright to the scheduling mistake and roll with it by trying to get things that BOTH of them like (since that would be a fair compromise). Of course, there would have to be SOME sort of problems to keep the plot going, but nothing that would make Spike, Ember or Thorax look like idiots.
Or, in keeping with the "Triple Threat" title, it could involve a team-up of Chrysalis, Garble and one other villain of your choice, who Spike would have to face WITHOUT the help of the Mane Six or Starlight, who are all busy with other stuff. However, he still wouldn't have to face the trouble alone because both Ember AND Thorax are visiting.
Or, you could go with your own idea entirely (which would be completely understandable)
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I still will not ship Spike with anybody other than Rarity
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Note that Rarity was conspicuous by her absence even though the situation (greeting a foreign dignitary) sounds like the sort of thing that would normally be her specialty. I wonder if Rarity was deliberately avoiding the meeting?
4640778 I ship Spike with mostly everybody, but I ship him with Rarity the most.
4640808 Rest of the mane six didn't appear in this episode either, so I don't think it have anything to do with it.
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I favor Spike x Rarity ("Sparity") over the others. I think the Show is setting up a love triangle with Spike, Rarity and Ember, in which he may have to choose between Rarity and Ember at some point.
Another reason why Rarity couldn't be here is that there is absolutely no way he would have made this mistake if Rarity was advising him.
4640983 I really doubt there be a love triangle because the show rarely do romance only on occasion, when the main characters are not the focus of a episode.
This is the first episode of this season that I've outright hated.
Why would they appear in the finale?
From what I understand, "Campfire Tales" is basically Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash telling stories of their favorite legends when they were the CMC's age.
4641216 Well, considering the finale is titled "Shadow Play" and it was recently confirmed that the Legends of Magic characters would all appear in the show and team up, I think it's a fair bet that "Campfire Tales" is so that non comic fans won't find these new characters completely out of left field. Only problem is, confirming those as canon means that everything the comics have done is canon, good and bad, and sadly the bad outweigh the good due to almost three years worth of no quality control.
4641290 Why aren't they making Queen Chrysalis the villain? Wouldn't that make much more sense, especially considering what happened at the end of the season six finsle, instead of introducing a new villain? Then again, given how everybody was acting as if everything was all hunky-dory in "Celestial Advice", almost as if Queen Chrysalis was no longer a threat, this is hardly surprising.
A second disappointing episode in a row...and it had to be a Spike-focused one. Season 7 is shaping up to be the second worst season and we haven't even reached the finale yet.
4641587 Well, it can only afford to lose one more point to Season 6 in order to tie it for best season, if it loses two more points then it will be the first season in my book that turns out worse than the season before it. It would be unfortunate if that was the case, but it would prove my point that it's suicidal to approve of another season while your current one is still in development, it never should've been a trend. Even the best of shows need to wait and see what the audience likes and dislikes before deciding if there's any ground on which to improve or continue.
I think that last was the best having two like Ember and Thorax is good at world building. just an average with good moments and good jokes.
I didn't have much problems with this episode, to be honest. But I'm also not as allergic to Spike being in the wrong or cringe comedy as many other fans are. Especially the former, I really just don't mind it much.
Also, it's entirely possible Ember and Thorax wouldn't have gotten along in a regular meeting. I don't think Spike was really wrong about the both of them; Ember had some respect for Thorax after she saw him defend Spike and Thorax was frustrated enough to open up to someone other than Spike about his personal issues. If they just sat down from the start...
Although, Spike was completely blowing things out of proportion. At least if you ignore the IDW comic Wings Over Yakyakistan. Which you should. It's rather silly.
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I've seen lots of people jump on the Thorax/Ember ship. In particular Sparity shippers, it seems to me. And it makes sense. It frees up Spike if the other likely love interest is no longer available.
Plus, the bonding between Ember and Thorax stands in stark contrast to Spike's frantic looking for the Friendship Problem to fix and keeping the two of them apart, where he ends up not connecting with either of them (not liking how the map moves further away from the Elements by the way, but at least Spike had his own throne from the start so it's not as much as it was with Starlight)
There just wasn't much shipping fuel between them, there was more between Thorax and Ember and Spike and Thorax. I mean, look at this:
derpicdn.net/img/view/2017/8/21/1516438__safe_screencap_spike_thorax_triple+threat_spoiler-colon-s07e15_changedling_changeling_cup_king+thorax_table_teacup.png
I know Spike's straight, but... come on. That looks very much like a date. Just look at those cups. That's nearing quote unquote"Best Friend!!" territory.