S8E8 The Parent Map Review · 4:09pm May 5th, 2018
MLP examines the issue of gentrification.
So yeah the first half of this episode was kinda uncomfortable. Gentrification is a complicated hot-button issue that pony, to be nice, has no business talking about. It's like if the next episode looked at abortion rights or gay marriage. Just, no, keep your topical politically charged morally complex stuff away from my cute pastel ponies. That said the episode seems to realize this is a bad idea and totally abandons this subplot without resolution at the end of the first act, so it was all just a waste of time.
The fun of this episode is how Starlight and Sunburst are treated as kids by their parents and have to confront them about treating them as adults. Which is fine, but, this isn't really a friendship problem as the map does them, this is years in the making. Did the map just run out of ideas and had a backlog of lame friendship problems it decided to start on? What's particularly strange is that the episode opens with Sunburst getting a letter from his mother, which would have been a perfectly fine plot device to get him involved, he gets invited by his mom and Starlight by her dad and they want help with their sides of the gentrification stuff. The map was totally unnecessary here.
The plot of the episode falls apart when you give it even a moment's thought. And it's a shame because the moments are good. There's good comedy with Starlight and Sunburst, their parents are entertaining, the supporting ponies are fine, and the issue it tackles is good. I live with my parents and I turn 30 later this year, but I unironically say I consider them friends. Getting along with your parents into adulthood is very important and the step from child to friend is a difficult one sometimes. Individual funnehs include Starlight's bedroom, the mailpony with Sunburst, the reveal of Starlight's dad in the bookstore, and just Starlight and Sunburst in general being annoyed by their parents.
Episode has enough humor and character bits to entertain, just try not to think too much about the story wrapped around them.
PS - I just know that in less than 48 hours there'll be a fic about their parents hooking up. The chat I was on kept making incest jokes with Starlight and just, fuck no, ew.
I sincerely doubt they were trying to tackle Gentrification as very few kids would even know what that is, heck I barely understand what that is.
4854130
half the town is old and protected as historical sites, while the other half is being renovated with hip new trendy stores. Just type gentrification into Google for this definition:
It's an even more obvious allegory than the interracial/divorce stuff the CMC dealt with with the hippogriffs and seaponies.
There actually is an issue that required them to solve it, though. The whole first part seems like it's going to be one of those "two people have different opinions and need to learn to get along" things that we've seen again and again, but then that's solved and the real problem comes to light, and I thought that was clever. It's not "go fix a problem that's been an issue for years", it's "Go stop your parents from fucking up your hometown, and also start getting along with them again." Without that initial impetus putting them in that situation, there would have been no reason for the map to call them.
Also, I'll bet Starlight's mom has been dead since she was little, but Sunburst's dad died sometime between when he went off to school and now. <.<
4854137
Hm, so it was merely a two-part friendship problem? Interestin interpretation.
I too fail to understand why they had to make this a map mission. It feels like the writers are trying desperately to plug the map again, after Season 7 practically forgot about it. But with all they're doing with it this season, they're only undermining what was previously established about the map. The map shouldn't be the only motivator for big events.
4854141
And they're continuing the do the map episodes when the School of Friendship is still there. We've had two map episodes so far and one episode beyond the premiere the had the school.
Didn’t season 1 have an episode about racism? And one about how someone can present as really girly and feminine but still take care of herself (though that one was handled pretty badly in my opinion).
Haven’t a bunch of rarity episodes been about artistic vision versus selling out, the client/expert and employer/employee relationships, etc.?
And what about the fluttershy episodes about how to be supportive but firm to a deadbeat brother who keeps failing out of college and trying to mooch off family?
EDIT: starlight wrote a “manifesto”, and called it as such in the show! Cults and communism, oh my!
I haven’t seen this latest episode so you may very well be right to say that they handled the issue badly, but to dismiss children’s cartoons as an inappropriate place to tackle these topics seems arbitrary.
4854179
And I would acquiesce to you, if the show proved me wrong. But it backed off after the first act and offered no meaningful commentary or insight but for the two sides agreeing to tone it down and be more moderate, a very simple way to deal with this.
It's like Zecora ep casually mentioning a Zebra Lives Matter movement is response to mistreatment of zebras in Equestrian territory. Like, whoa, dangerous ground show, tread lightly and go somewhere meaningful.
4854139
I just don't want to be cursed to like yet another episode that everyone hates. D:
4854184
Did this episode allude to any real life movements or even mention gentrification by name? If not then I dont think thats a fair comparison
4854226
No but it was very, very obviously gentrification. Half the town is old and rundown and protected by being declaring historical landmarks, the other half has been renovated to be hip and trendy.
4854226
It did to me, but I'm not much a reviewer and more a ranter, but... MLP doesn't exactly do too good a job reflecting on how to solve problems in real life (That's just me)
At first I thought large portions of this episode were inspired by the writers watching Portlandia. Then I remembered: "Oh yeah, DHX is filmed in Vancouver, the only town more Portland than Portland."
At this point, I'm really disliking the idea of the Cutie Map now. Like you said, it didn't need to be used to get the plot started and could've just started with that letter. But BECAUSE it was the map that called them, the only thing on their mind with going on this trip is to solve a friendship problem. The issue with the Cutie Map has made something very clear to me now.
Remember way back in the first episode of MLP? Princess Celestia tasked Twilight into making friends. The biggest reason for why that was was because Friendship was the only way to activate the Elements of Harmony that would defeat the evil. Why didn't Celestia tell her that? Because then Twilight would only be trying to make friends because it was a mission to her, rather than develop friendships naturally.
That's what the Cutie Map feels like now. It's just constantly telling these characters that they need to make friends in these far away areas now. Because of the Cutie Map, their mindset is only on the friendship problem. And I feel that making friends that way is the wrong way to go about all this.
Besides the Cutie Map and all its influences though, I did enjoy this episode.
4868388
A very fair point
4868391
Well, I can't find a good video that shows the next episode. But based on the title and the short clips I'm seeing, it's looks like the premise is something I really wanted to see since the start of this season, but unfortunately has a conflict I REALLY DON'T want to see...
4868413
Ppl have said ep 9 is one of the worst of the franchise. I wouldn't argue that point
4868419
Well then... For me, that episode is Daring Done. I wonder if this one could be any worse, if I can ever find it.