A Series of Blogs About Leaked Season 8 Episodes and Gen 5: Part 1 · 9:19am Dec 18th, 2017
It doesn't go well.
This got longer than expected, so I am reviewing two episodes per blog.
I'm going to start with the only one I considered truly "good," Episode 8: The Parent Map.
I came out of this with a positive feeling usually only matched by those episodes that make me think of the first couple seasons. Getting something that's low-key while still managing to stir up familiar sensations, that makes me think of times I went through what the characters are going through, is no easy feat.
It also says something that a Starlight Glimmer episode is the best of the season I've seen so far, and also contains none of the other mane six. See, Starlight only ever manages to do something interesting when she actually has to do something herself. When she isn't bugging Twilight or Twilight's bugging her, when she isn't screwing around with ponies who aren't really her friends and never will be given the show's current formula, when the story isn't constantly flipping between Starlight being the hero, the villain, the student, the teacher, the replacement Spike, or the passive sponge, then she finally gets room to grow.
The episode begins with Sunburst and Starlight being summoned by the map back to their hometown to deal with a friendship problem, which they hate because they dislike their parents: Starlight's father is overbearing and protective, while Sunburst's mother is overbearing and nosy. I would like to point out that this absolutely destroys the notion that Starlight was a "latchkey kid" jokingly described by one of the show staff. Sorry guys, her reasons for going insane are still absolute bullshit.
When they arrive they find their parents arguing over whether the town should be modernized or its history preserved. Obviously they're at loggerheads and go to extremes to protect their visions, but funnily enough, the episode subverts what you might have thought was the initial issue. After showing how absolutely annoying and unnecessary their attempts to drag the town one way or the other are, their parents abruptly become friends again, but the friendship map still hasn't called them home: the problem isn't between their parents, it's between themselves and their parents. The rest of the episode deals with them hashing out how to deal with the fact that the ponies that raised them won't let them go... and that they're partly at fault for trying too hard to get away.
I loved this episode specifically because the lesson is so damn important. In fact, I went and rewatched a few scenes of The Goofy Movie after it was done! I wish more episodes in later seasons tackled issues that people actually have in real life, instead of things like, uh, "Twilight said to get chores done so I literally mindraped everyone into doing them for me." It's something I can believe Starlight had; an overbearing parent is something almost anyone would have, after all. And the way they go about handling it is actually really neat! When they snap at their parents for being too pushy, they then come back at it with sound minds and rational thinking, have a calm but charming conversation, and the problems for all parties are now over.
A lot of the humor in this episode comes from Starlight and Sunburst mostly being the straight ponies to a town full of weirdos who won't let ponies touch books in the interest of "preserving them," a guy who bakes bread hard as rock because that's how they did it in the old days, and Sunburst's mom (Stellar Flare, AWESOME NAME BY THE WAY) being commercial and crass.
It works. It all just works. It's a fine episode with a fine message and everyone is cute and lovely and I felt okay watching it.
And no, I will not accept that Starlight didn't turn to brainwashing this time because she "learned" it was wrong. That was never amusing or organic or imaginative; it was an awful arc for when she was a horrible character all through seasons 6 and 7, and I'm glad it wasn't even brought up at all this time. That's not Starlight learning, that's her writers learning.
Okay, now on to the crappy episodes.
Season 8 Episode 10 – The Break Up Breakdown
I hate Sugar Bell and Big Mac's "relationship." Sugar Bell is boring. It comes out of nowhere in a random-ass episode that was also awful (I don't care what you say, Featherbangs was literally the only good part about that one), and it's really just their secondhand attempt to put "romance" in the show where it was never necessary anyway.
There's very little to say about this one. Big Mac overhears Sugar Bell saying things like "we're finished" and "do you think he'll be okay on his own?" He immediately assumes Sugar Bell is going to break up with him, and the rest of the episode is everyone just farting around until he's proven wrong. There's a moment that can feasibly be called "conflict" where Big Mac takes Discord's advice and tries to break up with Sugar Bell first, which obviously comes to nothing. Yeah, Discord's in this one for some reason? He and Spike have a bet on whether or not love is "real" as some kind of B plot. Why, and what does this have to do with anything? There's another weird B plot where Sweetie Belle gets the gift Mac got Sugar Bell and assumes she has a secret admirer.
This goes nowhere and is pointless.
So yeah, Mac and Bell "break up" for about ten seconds, then of course it's all cleared up and they get back together. PPPPT. But there's a moment of "character development" where Discord reveals he broke Sugar Bell's wagon so Mac would have time to catch up with her... even though he knows where she lives and could just walk there anyway like he always does... so yeah. Ppppt. The lesson is supposed to be about not making assumptions, or something equally asinine. I don't need Big Mac acting like a complete tool telling me how to love.
It's so strange that Fim has dealt in every complexity and nuance of friendship at this point but most of it's romance episodes like trenderhoof and cheerimac were literally eyes turning into hearts and sitcom level plots. This was annoying but not a big deal, but the fact that they basically have a good start with a ship like starburst just makes it insulting.
The first episode brings up the worry on things, have they actually learned? Or only a few?
4752010
I always thought the potential for Starburst was more interesting than anything else the show is trying to pass off as "romantic." Heck, i just wanted Sunburst and Starlight to interact more in general; they apparently had so much to do with each other. It's kinda like how I regret Twilight and Celestia never got more episodes that were any good.
4752012
When it comes to Starlight I take what few episodes I can get where I can stand her. I just hope this isn't a fluke.
4752211
... Wasn't the third leaked episode the one with twilight and celestia? The first honest to celestia celestia episode? I'm avoiding watching the leaks (it's fun enough to read megan mccarthy's email), but the two gifs of celestia i've seen in that episode look amazing
Parent Map was surprisingly very good. I immediately loved the parent characters and the background ponies had funny jokes and even acted like audience stand ins. It was just...it all tied together really well.
Still a better episode than that "Why not BOTH!?" episode with the hippogryphs that have chosen to live as one or the other but still mingle together.
I thought it would have turned into a Scootaloo episode where she tries to live as a seapony for a bit but eh. More buildup to a Scootaloo will fly episode if ever there was one. Bleh. Now THAT episode and its song had be snoozing. Avoiding a very real topic on how some kids having to have separated parents (in this case by where they prefer to live vs custody).
Points for trying to link movie to show I guess? I'm trying to find a positive somewhere that doesn't make me roll my eyes...
And yes, Meghan totally fucked the show with that nonsense about Pies and Apples being related so now Big Mac has to be into Sugar Bell instead of the shy Pie sister despite never giving us a damn straight answer to them being related or not. I hate how they always refuse to take a solid stand on something. It's such a copout when they do these "Why not BOTH!?" or vague open-ended scenarios.