My Review of MLP Season Eight, Episodes One and Two, "School Daze" (Contains Spoilers) · 9:03pm Mar 26th, 2018
The greatly coveted time has come at last. The next season of MLP:FiM begins. And now, with its premier, we have two new episodes. Enter School Daze, Part One and Part Two. If you read the title, then you clearly know this is a review. Let's get on with it, then...
Episode one opens... honestly not the way I thought it would. Welcomed with opened arms, yes, but... still. The moment we see our main characters, they're each entering Twilight's castle, talking all about their latest venture -- the events that occurred in the movie. The movie, it seems, is canon -- and Tempest Shadow, sadly but not too unexpectedly, has "gone off to spread the word of the Storm King's defeat and her lessons learned on friendship," and whatnot. Either way, that means she won't appear in the show. Then Twilight, for reasons that seem rash, hasty, and plum out of left field, decides she wants ta start a friendship school.
After a small chat with Celestia and entertaining her idea to her old mentor, Twilight meets the chancellor of Equestrian school matters, the EEA, and gets her idea approved of -- so long as she follows their guidelines. The chancellor is named Chancellor the Brain, and right off we see that Chancellor the Brain is two dried beef shanks short of a stick of jerky; the kind of character who probably kicks stray puppies in his spare time and spits on passing orphans for a good laugh. And yes, I know his real name is Chancellor punny-horse-name-on-naysaying, but I'm just gonna call him the Brain. If you don't know why I chose that, then GET OUT OF MY FACE!
The first musical number we got, the one about the school opening, sounded like, no lie, something straight out of a Disney film for me. Not grade-A Disney quality for sure, but it rocked the same rhythm quite well. A good song too, giving us some exposition for what major flaw in the school system was without wasting valuable time on such issues as that. Catchy!
Well, either way, the group of named students who became fast friends with one another -- including not only a single pony, but all of the foreign students made up of a dragon, a griffon, a hippogriff, a changeling and a yak -- sneak out due to the boredom they feel. And lack of actually good friendship lessons brought on by Twilight attempting to follow the rules. To make it short, the students bond with one another, return just in time to accidentally ruin the family-related day that Twilight had planned that included Chancellor the Brain's inspection visit, probably kill some pedestrians in the ensuing collateral damage, and everything goes right down the crapper from there. Chancellor the Brain's harsh words aid in sparking the outrage of the other creature representatives who sent the foreign students there, and due to his , the school is closed, ending the episode on a -- and who would have honestly guessed from an MLP two-parter -- a cliffhanger.
Some valuable things learned by the first episode's end:
1. Ocellus is adorable.
2. Rainbow Dash has officially become an egghead.
3. I cannot wait to see how they apply the goings-on from the movie over the course of the season.
Alright, we've passed the intermission. On to episode two. Huzzah!
Episode two starts off with Twilight sulking in her room in a manner akin to what Rarity would do over her complete and utter, soul-crushing, hope-destroying failure to run a school by the standards of the racist (or is it speciesist?) chancellor of the EEA. Her friends come to pull her out of the funk with little success, but after a quick pep talk from Starlight Glimmer, Twilight is back in business -- and just in time too, it would seem.
Reason being? All five of the foreign students have gone missing from their homelands. Needless to say, this has caused a hefty ruckus among the Equestrian community.
We can tell this matter is a serious one, for their respective nations have gone all shades of ornery over the situation. As a matter of fact, some of the national rulers and representatives even mentioned the prospect of waging war over their missing comrades. A little extreme it may be, but with the upgrade the Equestrian army is sorely needing, it could help to spur some sort of inspiration...
Trotting off to Ponyville, Twilight and her friends group up to think of where the five brats scampered off to. Don't worry; it doesn't take them long. They quickly discover who may lead them to the lost students, unwittingly as it is -- that one pony who they remember befriended them. As it turns out, the kids are hiding in the ruins of the old castle Celestia and Luna used to live in before the latter went mad with power and envy. Hmmm.
Just as the kiddos are getting comfortable in the fort and bonding even more, the students/New Mane Six almost get got by a sudden incursion of pukwudgies. Before they can become a bunch of pincushions that would indubitably start some national mishap with their spike-stuck demises, the main ponies (and dragon) of the show come a-swooping in to save the day. A one-sided beatdown of pukwudgies ensues, the students are saved, Twilight reopens her school after verbally kicking Chancellor the Brain in the metaphorical testicles and telling him she's running the school her way, and we get another song. Things look bright, and the season is kicked off in earnest. Yay. Beer for everyone.
Fun and informative stuff learned by the second episode's end:
1. I'm really liking the New Mane Six. Especially Ocellus.
2. The EEA suck at their jobs and should feel bad. Also, they have a shadowy court-type of air hanging around them.
3. Pukwudgies are crude little things. Quick to temper. Reminds me of echidnas mixed with porcupines and goblins. Ech.
4. Rarity torturing said pukwudgies with her make-up and dress-up lady stuff is horrifying. But oddly fashionable!
5. Ocellus is still the most adorable thing this side of Sweetie Belle's sad face. Don't believe me? Just remember that scene where she dives into that cart full of pillows. She's a changeling, possessed a cute design, a voice that compliments it well, is shy, and is brainy. What more cuteness could one troll ask for? I fail to see why Thorax wasn't willing to go to war over her disappearance...
6. I feel that Chancellor the Brain is going to work alongside/be strung like a puppet alongside Chrysalis' next plot against the denizens of Equestria.
7. Ending song was fantasmilly delicious.
8. Grandpa Gruff is easily swayed by the charms of the Chicken's puppy eyes.
9. Ten big ones say that when Chryssie comes into the picture sometime later this season, it'll be up to the students to save the day.
Final Thoughts
I really liked these two episodes. The characters were all good, including, if not especially some of the new/newer additions. Starlight's "cheering up" (read, berating) of Twilight gives more brownie points toward her character for me. Say what you will about her, I still like where she's going. And while you may complain all you will about Twilight's own mucking up of things, I can actually see it as it happened due to her OCD-esque nature and love of following things neatly.
The New Mane Six were a bunch of bright and colorful characters I can't wait to get to know better. The dragon Smolder, the hippogriff Silverstream (her obsession with stairs is an absolute gem), the adorable changeling Ocellus, and that wonderfully burly yak girl Yona especially stood out for me. The griffon Chicken and the pony Sandbar are good, too.
Final score: 8/10 -- A GOOD EPISODE. Not "totally, tubulary terrific" or "phenomenally, transcendentally amazing", but GOOD. Very good.
Not the absolute, top-five best beginner episodes to a season when compared to the other ones, but it was more than satisfying enough to sate my interests. I'll bet the rest of the season will live up to the rest of my hype. It certainly built it up a lot more now that it has tickled my taste buds.
Farewell.
I f**king love you and this review is 10/10