Amending Fences Review

Wow, this episode set a record. Forty seconds. That was all it took for me to completely HATE this episode, and that was BEFORE the theme song rolled. The last time something like this happened was “The Last Roundup” where I figured out the ENTIRE plot before the theme song came up, and even THAT episode was at least passable, if disappointing. This episode on the other hand? Well, most everyone else seems to like it, so I’m probably going to get more than a little ire. An episode like this however, I cannot allow it to stand. Allow me to EXPLAIN my reasoning behind thinking this to be one of the worst episodes yet. Tempting as it is to yell and scream, I’m going to try and stay calm, in hopes that will make people more inclined to LISTEN to me as I discuss the facts of this episode.

The episode starts with Twilight and Spike talking, and Spike says it’s funny that all these ponies are coming to Twilight for advice on friendship, when she herself used to have a reputation for being a bad friend. That was around the 40 second mark, and I KNEW this was going to be one of the worst. You know what actually IS funny? The fact that Twilight has been an AMAZING friend for four and a half seasons and only NOW does anyone talk about how she “used to be a bad friend”. It took four and a half seasons to notice the change, when Twilight has been an incredible friend since the beginning of the first season. Remember “The Ticket Master”, which was the FIRST episode after Twilight made friends for the first time in her life. My point is, Twilight changed pretty much overnight, when realistically, change takes longer than this. Yes, I am well aware I’m talking about realism in a cartoon about talking horses who can fly or use magic, but regardless of how realistic a show is, breaking the rules the show established is bad writing because it’s inconsistent and breaks the established tone. For a cartoon about talking horses, this show has actually been pretty realistic in regards to physics and personal relationships. Again, realistic in regards to personal relationships, which sometimes requires an individual to change, and realistically change tends to be gradual.

There are…multiple problems with this one issue. Let me point out that Twilight is the Element of FRIENDSHIP, as in she is by nature a good friend. I know, I know “she changed”, but that’s not an excuse. As the Element of Friendship, Twilight was always destined to be an amazing friend, she just had to experience it to realize how great it was. Point in case? Pinkie was never boring herself, nor was she mean. She herself simply hadn’t experienced happiness before, and once she did, she was determined to spread it to others, as once would expect from the Element of Laughter. So why was Pinkie never mean or boring herself before she discovered happiness, but Twilight was a bad friend while she had friends, when it would make more sense for her to simply to not understand friendship before she made friends? Note that these two episodes were written BY THE SAME PERSON. Let me put it this way, people hate “Putting Your Hoof Down” for turning Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness, into a jerk, right? Yet it’s okay for Twilight, the Element of Friendship is be a bad friend? That’s quite the Double Standard, isn’t it? Oh wait, I forgot which fandom we’re talking about; the “Fandom of Love and Tolerance” which is disturbingly prone to spewing venomous hatred toward characters and people. I have a few characters I hate, but I at least try to exercise restraint. Shining Armor, for example, sure I hate him and think he’s a terrible character, but that doesn’t mean I want him to suffer! In fact, a sequel to “Canterlot Wedding” where he takes responsibility for how badly he treated Twilight and EXPRESSES REMORSE would do a LOT to redeem him in my eyes. See the fanfic “Post Nuptials” for remorse that was actually well done, and to a lesser degree “Canterlot Consequences”.

Yes, yes, I know “Twilight changed”, but would this fanbase accept an episode that reveals Fluttershy uses to be a jerk? Or that Applejack used to be a liar and a cheat? Or that Rarity used to be greedy and selfish? Etc, etc. You get my point, in the past or in the present, these aspects of these characters should never be violated, unless it’s due to an outside force, like Discord.

In this episode, Spike tries to justify Twilight’s neglect of Moon Dancer by saying that Twilight was on a mission for Celestia. Right there this episode shoots itself in the foot, as Twilight’s mission was to MAKE FRIENDS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HER LIFE. The whole reason she moved down to Ponyville in the first time was BECAUSE SHE MADE FRIENDS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HER LIFE HOW DO YOU MISS THAT MRRRGGGGUGGGHHH. That is pretty much the biggest plot hole in the entire series right there, and a MAJOR strike against the episode. Why is Celestia telling Twilight to make friends for once if she already had friends? Unless Celestia simply didn’t know because the writers are THAT determined to smash any competence Celestia has? At the end of the pilot, Celestia even says “I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon’s return and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her.” This means she always knew Twilight was destined to be an amazing friend, which wouldn’t make sense if Twilight was a bad friend. Celestia then goes on to say “but you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart.” which means Twilight NEVER HAD FRIENDS before the first episode, going against what THIS episode claims. In fact, let me quote Twilight at the end of the pilot: “Now that I finally know how wonderful it is to have friends…I have to leave them.”This episode failed to capture the BASIC POINT of Twilight’s character or the plot of the episode they are arrogantly claiming to pay tribute to. Point in case, when Twinkleshine invited Twilight to the party…well, why IS she inviting her and telling her now? If they were already friends, wouldn’t it be assumed she’s coming? In fact, wouldn’t she have known about it already?

In fact Twilight DID try to make friends in the pilot! With Pinkie, who ran away, and Fluttershy who wouldn’t speak above a whisper, making the whole situation very awkward.

Okay, let’s assume Twilight DID have friends, and she WAS bad at friendship before she met Applejack and the others. This has Unfortunate Implications about Twinkleshine, Lemon Drops, and Minuette. Question, if Twilight changed so quickly overnight thanks to Applejack and the others, how is it that she was friends with these three and never learned a THING about friendship? This suggests the problem actually lies with Twinkle Drops, Lemon Shine, and Minuette, for being such terrible friends that Twilight never learned a thing about Friendship before she moved to Ponyville, when AFTER moving to Ponyville, Twilight absorbed Friendship like Pinkie absorbs junk food. This means the blame actually lays with Twinkle Lemon, Shine Drops, and Minuette, since if they were the good friends, and Twilight the bad friend but changed overnight, this means that GETTING AWAY from those three made Twilight a better friend. It doesn’t help that of the three, Minuette is the only one who has anything even RESEMBLING a personality, the other two have less personality than your average self-insert. Or Trixie after your standard Trixie Redemption Story for that matter. No seriously, one of the problems I’ve run into with Trixie Redemption Stories is that the author tends to remove any aspect of Trixie’s character that actually made her INTERESTING. Of course, Minuette is only mildly better, and Twilight alone has more personality than all three of them put together. Not to mention the three of them have been in Ponyville repeatedly and never confronted Twilight, which is pretty neglectful on THEIR parts. Sure, they say they thought she’d “moved on”, but they were in the first episode, so she’s “moved on” pretty fast when they talked in that same episode, not to mention they seemed REALLY happy to have her back, making it clear that they still cared for her, yet they put no effort into reconciling with her, and heck didn’t even CONFRONT her for abandoning them. Plus, Twilight has a flashback to bowing out of the party, to make it look like she’s neglecting her friends, while ignoring the fact that the scene was about them trying to make friends with her in the first place. Heck, in the first episode SPIKE tries to get Twilight to make friends for once. The flashback tries to make Twilight look like a jerk, while showing her POLITELY turning down the invitation. You know, “Magic Duel” might have about outright lied about the events of “Boast Busters”, but at least it had the good sense not to show flashbacks Trixie being a jerk while trying to make her the victim.

So! This episode focuses on Twilight’s past as a bad friend, despite that going against the basic premise of her character AND being a double standard because we haven’t gotten the same from Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie showing the EXACT opposite of that in an episode written by the same guy who wrote THIS episode. This episode also references the first episode while ignoring the vital points OF the episode, and tries to lay the blame on Twilight, when her changing overnight suggests the problem actually lay with her original “friends” because they spent YEARS failing to change her while Applejack and the others succeeded in that overnight. Not to mention Twilight’s friends are pretty boring characters, who demonstrate double standards, seemingly caring for Twilight, but putting no effort into reconciling with them, claiming they thought she’d “moved on” while not confronting her of her treatment of them. This makes up the entire half of the first episode, and they got not a single thing right. Well, other than Twilight’s pleasant present-day attitude and Spike being a good guy even if a bit thoughtless. On the other hand, Twilight’s likability is redemption for something she shouldn’t have to redeem herself for, and Spike is more or less out of focus once Twilight’s walking talking pieces of cardboard show up.

Alright, yes, I know, fleshing out characters isn’t that easy to begin with, especially with such limited screen time to work with. The thing, this very show has done that before, Lauren did it with the Mane Six and Spike back in the pilot, and no, it doesn’t matter that they’re the main characters, Lauren gave each of them a distinct personality with only a minute or two of screen time to work with. It’s also been done with other characters, such as Trixie, Gilda, Sapphire Shores, Photo Finish, and Hoity Toity to name a few. Heck the writer of this episode, M.A. Larson has done so in the past, with Discord, Luna, and the Flim Flam Brothers. No, I’m not referring to the two-parter “Return of Harmony”, I mean his INTRODUCTION in that episode. Similar with Luna, she didn’t need an entire episode to get a distinct and memorable personality. There really is no excuse for Twilight’s “friends” to have such flat personalities.

Also, Minuette says that she tried to tell her co-workers she used to be friends with Princess Twilight, which has Unfortunate Implications as to WHY they’re so eager to make up with Twilight. Does it not look like they’re doing this because she’s Royalty?

On that note, Minuette is a fan-favorite for having the most noteworthy personality of Twilight’s old “friends”. May I remind you that this is only in COMPARISON to two completely interchangeable characters who have no personality whatsoever, so that’s not much of an accomplishment. Seriously, MAUD PIE has more personality than this, and her whole POINT is being boring. (That she supposedly does so in an entertaining fashion is why she’s popular)

The second half of the episode is about Moon Dancer. I honestly didn’t think I’d find a character I consider to be as bad as Garble or Shining Armor, but wow. She’s unpleasant for starters. I know, she “has reason to be”. Here’s the thing, while it may be understandable, in the context of this episode, that she’d be mad at Twilight, she’s unpleasant to EVERYONE. She was rude to Twilight before she realized who Twilight was, and rejected Minuette, Tweedle-bland, and Tweedle-boring as well. Minuette even remarks on how that’s Moon Dancer alright, and she always did love her books. The episode then directly compares her to Twilight, with even TWILIGHT making the connection. Umm, small problem, Twilight was NEVER this RUDE. Yes, Twilight turned down an invitation in the first episode, but she was POLITE and apologetic about it, clearly uncomfortable with the attention she was getting. She didn’t snap at anyone, groan in dismay, or slam doors in anyone’s faces. Also, Twilight has always been characterized as having a passion for learning, and loving it, a trait that Moon Dancer distinctly lacks. I’m sorry, but Twilight has about as much in common with Moon Dancer as she was with Trixie. Trixie’s arrogant, Twilight’s humble, Trixie’s mean, Twilight’s nice, Trixie has very little actual ability shown, Twilight is legitimately very talented (Or was before the writers forced her through Badass Decay). Meanwhile, this episode tries to compare these two even though they’re nothing alike.

There’s even a flashback that shows Twilight and Moon Dancer as lab partners, which I guess is supposed to showcase their friendship…? Okay, not like they came off as particularly close, heck Twilight barely paid attention to Moon Dancer, other than to arrogantly show how much more she knows. Twilight being arrogant, do I even HAVE to point out what’s wrong with that? Okay fine, I’ll spell it out. Twilight is, always has been, and always will be HUMBLE, even in the flashback from “The Cutie Mark Chronicles” where she apologized to the instructors for “wasting their time”, demonstrating her humility EVEN AS A FILLY. Character Derailment HO! Also note the same person wrote both these episodes.

Oh yes, in the flashback, it shows Lemon Drops somehow got her head stuck in a test tube, which is meant to be funny. Ha ha ha, this TOTALLY makes up for the fact that the test tube in question has more personality than the actual character, and COMPLETELY distracts from all the gaping plot holes with these characters and the episode as a whole, ha ha ha, note the clear sarcasm.

The second half of the episode focuses on the completely unlikable Moon Dancer and tries to compare her to Twilight, when even the FLASHBACKS fail to make them similar. Remember the out-of-character moment of Twilight being smug? Moon Dancer was distinctly less so AND they didn’t seem to be close. Moon Dancer also says she doesn’t want some crazy pony trying to make friends, which is meant to be a comparison to Twilight calling the ponies in Ponyville crazy. Well, the ponies in Ponyville WERE being crazy, and honestly intrusive as well. Applejack came on WAY too strong, Rarity was freaking out over a messy mane, Rainbow Dash was being boastful and reckless, and Pinkie was kept a party going even after the guest of honor left despite said party taking place where she’s STAYING. It may not have been Twilight’s home at the time, but the fact that she’s staying there during her visit means Pinkie is INTRUDING, which is why Twilight was so frustrated. Yes, they later proved to be better ponies then that, and proved to have depth, but they didn’t really make a good first impression on someone who was already uncomfortable with the situation. Twilight is trying to make amends for what she “did wrong”, so it’s not a fair comparison. Not to mention Twilight was perfectly nice up to that point, and only said it out of frustration because she’s trying to stop a Demon Queen from conquering the world, NOT because she’s trying to study. When Twilight rejected the others, “studying” was an excuse because she was clearly uncomfortable, and she was STILL POLITE.

It turns out that Moon Dancer tried friendship and it “didn’t work for her”…because Twilight didn’t show up for the party she threw. Because ONE OF HER FOUR FRIENDS didn’t show up. THREE OF HER FRIENDS DID SHOW up and yet friendship “didn’t work” for her?

Then comes the moment where Moon Dancer reveals how deeply hurt she was by Twilight not showing up to her party when they were supposed to be friends, and breaks into tears, sobbing her heart out.

I guess this was the part where I was supposed to feel bad for her? Uh, no, this is the part that ENRAGED me. Oh sorry, I should clarify. Twilight isn’t the one I was mad at, it was Moon Dancer. Why you may ask? Because Moon Dancer is quite possibly THE BIGGEST HYPOCRITE IN THE ENTIRE SHOW. SHE was hurt because Twilight didn’t show up for her party? Gee, maybe Minuette, Lemon Drops, and Twinkleshine were hurt when she turned away from them AFTER THEY SHOWED UP FOR HER PARTY. She felt like she was nothing because ONE pony didn’t turn up for the party, she felt like she was nothing even after THREE OTHER PONIES DID SHOW UP?

She lays there, crying her selfish little heart out over “how hurt” she was while IGNORING all the ponies SHE hurt? Let’s see, Minuette, Lemon Drops, Twinkleshine, the Librarian, the bookseller and…her SISTER!? I already didn’t like Moon Dancer, but that was the point where I HATED her. She sits there whining about how her friend neglected her, while IGNORING THE FACT THAT SHE ABANONDED HER OWN FREAKING SISTER!?

Twilight is an evil villain for neglecting one friend, yet Moon Dancer is a sweet, innocent victim for abandoning SEVERAL friends and EVEN A MEMBER OF HER OWN FAMILY!? She complains SHE was hurt while ignoring the hurt SHE caused?

Hey, I said I was going to TRY and stay calm, I didn’t say I was going to succeed. First Canterlot Wedding and now this, why are these writers so determined to make Twilight unlikable?

Again, I could tolerate her if it was Twilight and Twilight alone she was cold to, but this little hypocrite complains about being abandoned while taking it out on those who DIDN’T abandon her? Ugh. Her unpleasant behavior is supposed to be understandable, but she loses major sympathy points by being nasty to those who did nothing wrong, so no, it’s NOT understandable. The episode itself even points this out while treating Moon Dancer as a victim instead of a hypocrite!

Some people will try to justify how badly Moon Dancer took it by saying she had a crush on Twilight, so her feelings went deeper than mere friendship. Okay, so show me where in the actual episode it is EXPLICITLY shown? I know this fanbase loves to infer whatever they want with or without any evidence whatsoever, but if you want your characters emotions to be believable, you have to actually SHOW them. Without demonstrating an actual attachment, it just comes off as Moon Dancer overreacting and having a pity party. Plus, even if the attachment to Twilight was shown and proven, it still WOULD NOT JUSTIFY HOW SHE TREATED EVERYONE ELSE AS WELL. Not to mention it’s hardly fair to expect Twilight to recognize the crush, as it’s pretty common not to realize someone’s attraction to you if they don’t display it AND Twilight has already been characterized as being poor with social cues (Her lack of social skills. Which is not to be misinterpreted as lacking kindness or compassion, you can still be very nice even if you don’t know how to act socially.)

If Moon Dancer is angry at Twilight for not recognizing a crush, it’s unfair to expect her TO recognize it, and it doesn’t justify how she treated everyone else. If she’d mad at Twilight for neglecting their friendship, that doesn’t justify how she treated everyone else. No matter how you slice it, she is not NEARLY as deserving of sympathy as the episode would have us believe. Plus this show is about FRIENDSHIP, not everyone has a crush on their friend, so it's not a relatable scenerio.

Speaking as someone who has felt abandoned by friends before, I stayed close to the friends I still had, and did not treat like crap those who were true to me, instead, I stayed loyal to those who were loyal to me. Moon Dancer felt neglected by ONE friend, and that somehow justifies her doing the EXACT SAME THING to everyone who was faithful to her including, and I repeat, HER OWN FREAKING SISTER.

For another comparison, take a look at Twilight during “Canterlot Wedding”, when Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Spike, and Celestia all abandon Twilight after Shining Armor basically disowns her. Twilight was straight up ABANDONED by her five best friends, her little brother, her older brother, and her mentor / mother figure, and she still believes in friendship. By giving up on friendship after ONE friend let her down, and turned against the several who didn’t, Moon Dancer actually comes off as pretty pathetic in comparison.

Why am I supposed to feel bad for Moon Dancer not having friends when SHE’S THE ONE WHO CUT ALL HER FRIENDS OUT OF HER LIFE IN THE FIRST FREAKING PLACE?

To really put this in perspective, if Shining Armor had the same attitude, then after cutting Twilight out of his life, he also would have cut ties to Celestia and Cadance as well. Two-faced hypocrite he may have been at least he had the decency to ONLY be nasty to the ONE pony who displeased him, instead of taking it out on everyone who did nothing wrong, like Moon Dancer did.

The first half of this episode retcons Twilight’s past, references the first episode while getting nothing right, and introduces multiple forgettable characters while relying on double standards, and the second half expects us to sympathize with a nasty tempered hypocrite while attempting to compare her to Twilight when they are NOTHING alike, and relying on double standards. Furthermore, we have Pinkie, who causes another problem. When it turns out Twilight didn’t know Pinkie and Minuette were friends (Apparently Minuette never asked Pinkie about Twilight, some friend) Pinkie says “And you call yourself the Princess of Friendship!”

Wow, way to make ANOTHER character unlikable. First off, Twilight never called herself the Princess of Friendship, that is a title she was given when she had no input on the matter, and after getting the title, she has tried to live up to it. Just because she was unaware of ONE THING about her friend does NOT make her a bad friend, so that was just RUDE. Once again, Pinkie misbehaves and gets off scot-free for it, have I mentioned the writers come off as biased toward her?

This episode hurt me in a way that I haven’t felt since “Canterlot Wedding”, and while that one was probably the more poorly written episode, this is the one that enrages me more. The retcons and hypocrisy are pretty blatant, and look at it this way. To Fluttershy fans, how would you like it if there was an episode that reveals Fluttershy was a jerk until right before the first episode? That’s how I feel about the Element of Friendship being a bad friend until right before the first episode.

You know the really sad part? This idea actually could have worked and been a really good episode had they done things slightly different. Here’s my idea for how this could have gone: Twilight is visiting Canterlot on official business, and is accompanied by guards (And Spike, but that’s a given) when she comes across Minuette, Lemon Drops, and Twinkleshine. When they greet Twilight casually, the guards object to them being so casual toward the Princess, and they reply that to them Twilight will always be Twilight, a pony they liked for her kind nature and admired for her intelligence, even though they never won her trust. Twilight could then spend the day with them, and we delve into Twilight’s past, and find out that in addition to being bullied, Twilight TRIED making friends (Element of Friendship), but because she was Celestia’s student, many ponies pretended to be friendly to her in order to take advantage of her. This is actually how the fandom seemed to see Twilight before this episode, and it would explain a lot. By the first episode, she’s so used to be taken advantage of, she’s become hesitant, and didn’t realize that Minuette, Lemon Drops and Twinkleshine were being sincere and honestly wanted to get to know her. Heck, this could even fit Moon Dancer’s story in there, so long as they make her actually sympathetic by NOT having her be nasty and rude. This kind of story would have delved into Twilight’s motives and made her a more developed, fleshed out, and LIKABLE character, as opposed to the actual episode, which made her flatter and blander.

There, same story, but more consistent with what we know, and does more to actually flesh out one of the main characters. Heaven forbid that one of the MAIN CHARACTERS has any depth to her at all. Let’s not explore any possible reasons she may have had, let’s not explore her mindset; let’s just go against the MAIN TRAIT OF THE CHARACTER FOR NO DISCERNABLE REASON while making her completely flat and bland in the process.

M.A. Larson, what happened to you, man? You used to be my favorite writer on the show, but now you are responsible for what I consider to be not one, not two, but THREE of the WORST episodes in the series. “Magic Duel” attempts to “redeem” Trixie without having Trixie take responsibility for her own actions (What she did of her own free will, NOT what she did under the influence of the amulet) while failing to make her sympathetic in CONTEXT, while putting Twilight through Badass Decay and Fluttershy through Character Derailment WORSE than “Putting Your Hoof Down” (In the latter, at least Fluttershy had a REASON for the way she was behaving, even if it wasn’t handled well.) and to top it off, used what was essentially Child Abuse for LAUGHS. “Slice of Life” had an incoherent plot that couldn’t focus on the main story, but instead on a bunch of characters who had nothing to do with the plot while not doing anything with said characters, making some of them unlikable in the process, and meanwhile treated the Main Six as useless, and topped the whole thing off with a speech that just reeked of hypocrisy. Now we have…this.

This episode hurt me on a personal level, AND it’s outright INSULTING. EmeraldOfTheOcean on Deviantart didn’t like “Crusaders of the Lost Ark” and asked why the fanbase is buying such a weak attempt at making Diamond Tiara sympathetic. That is how I feel about this episode. It blatantly retcons what we ALREADY KNOW about the main character, as was stated in the first episode WHICH THIS EPISODE REFERENCES, and even “Canterlot Wedding” managed to get that much right. Really, if “Canterlot Wedding” did something better than you did, that’s just sad. Moon Dancer is an overreacting hypocrite who deserves NO sympathy. Granted, both of these episodes removed depth or likability for Twilight, but at least “Canterlot Wedding” acknowledged her already stated friendless background.

This episode has the gall to claim to be a “Love Letter” to Lauren Faust…while treating her source material with ZERO respect and missing THE ENTIRE POINT.

The only way I could not hate this episode is if M.A. Larson recognized the problems with the idea and deliberately wrote it badly in hopes that observant viewers would catch on. Sort of like what the writers of the Dungeons and Dragons cartoons did with Eric the Cavalier. If the higher ups demanded this episode, and it got everything wrong on purpose to draw attention to the problem…then that would explain everything.If this episode was trying to be sincere…then this was definitely an Atrocious episode, and the one that broke my faith in the series.