S8E10 The Break Up Break Down · 5:45pm May 19th, 2018
Didn't we just establish this ship a season ago and never discuss it again up until now? Either the synopsis is a lie or I am gonna be upset.
Also different format for this review, since I didn't watch the stream and can pause this one to do my thoughts on it in sequence. I was waiting to watch it at EFN but the commentary panel is an older episode (and on "Stranger Than Fanfiction" of all eps, blegh).
I love the continuity on the opening with Spike and Big Mac summoning Discord via Ogres and Oubliettes, didn't expect Discord and Spike to be part of things but that's cool, as long as Discord doesn't steal the show. And Discord-cane is canon.
Why is Big Mac mailing a pie to Sugar Belle? Wouldn't he just deliver it?
Yeah baking a card into a pie isn't clever. It's messy and counterintuitive and ruins both the objects in question.
FlutterCord teas intensifies. And then... SpikeCord? Well that's a pairing I never thought I'd do.
Mailmare Derpy canonized even deeper.
The CMC upset they don't have special someponies? Well, there's Pipsqueak, Rumble, and Tender Taps. I'm sure this could work if they asked.
Oh boy. Oooooooh boooooooy...... So on the CMC point, major credit to this episode for throwing me a fastball. I had no idea what was gonna happen from here on.
"Love is about spying in the bushes".... I'll let that speak for itself.
Button Mash cameo!
I love how Sweetie Belle hopes the package wasn't from Snips or Snails.
Spike and Big Mac hide in hay, Discord just turns into hay. Nice.
Ya know, I like Discord's showing in this episode. Normally Discord just acts like a jerk in his episodes until he realizes acting like a jerk is wrong, but here he really seems to want to cheer up Big Mac and is willing to listen to Spike aaaand there's the jerk Discord, we had a good thing going too.
So all this confusion was caused by Sugar Bell just now knowing what emotion to use when telling someone they have to talk. Okey dokey...
"This is why I don't like talking. Words hurt!" That's a good bit.
LyraBon is so obviously canon, creators should stop teasing.
The Sweetie board has Snips, Snails, Button Mash, Rumble, Pipsqueak, and... Chipcutter? Who the hay is that? Why no Tender Taps? Or Featherweight? I actually had to find out who this was by the derpibooru tags.
Spike's half-assed convoluted explanation for Sweetie Belle's talk with Mrs. Cake turns out to be 100% accurate, down to the correction of days. Glorious.
Sweetie Belle illustrates the problem with the pie invitation I summed up earlier.
....did they just canonized CMC OT3?
And yup, Discord was the one who got them back together.
This was an enjoyable episode with some surprising twists. I didn't expect Discord or Spike to be a big part of things but they made big foils, Spike as a hopeless romantic fits him perfect, as does Discord's cynicism. Equally unexpected was the CMC B-plot, but it helped move things along and had some good moments. I also really appreciate that Discord realizes on his own what he has to do to make things right and then does so, usually it takes a lecture from the others to get him to own up to his mistakes. Surprisingly, where the episode is weakest is the Sugar Bell stuff. She didn't do much on her own, was just there to be Big Mac's girlfriend that he's having problems with. But she was fine otherwise, just not as strong as the rest.
Overall just a great ep with lots of unique things going for it that worked.
Chipcutter is the colt from the opening of Forever Filly, who the CMC bring a giant stone slab and have him make a statue (which he turns into being of the CMC), which in turn helps him get his cutie mark.
Ughughugh.
All I can say is it's better than Hard to Say Anything, but that's not a difficult bar to clear. :|