Thoughts on "The Break Up Breakdown" · 12:16am May 21st, 2018
Oh, joy, we're looking at SugarMac again. Yippee. 
But, hey, maybe if giving Maud Pie a boyfriend made her more tolerable for me, maybe this episode could give us some development on Sugar Belle and show us why she and Big Mac like each other and what the real foundation of their relationship is instead of providing cheap lip service and presenting them as a generic couple that like each other because... reasons that the fandom has to work on themselves.
First things first, I was at a cousin's wedding yesterday, so I find it funny that the episode was about romance (doubly funny considering the royal wedding that also happened over the weekend). Twas a lot of fun, there was a luncheon full of hilarious stories about the couple (especially my Dad's stories, he's a great storyteller that'll have an entire room rolling on the floor laughing), there was chocolate fondue at the reception, and we sent the couple off with sparklers. There was an incident with the bouquet toss where the groom's sister and the bride's sister collided and the latter hurt her leg... that part was really a downer. Hope she's all right.
Okay, I'm getting sidetracked, imma talk about the ep.
...all right, let's get the good out of the way for the episode, because it's not a total trainwreck. I can certainly say that it's better than "Hard to Say Anything". Discord and Spike really made this episode, especially the former. Dissy's snark meshed with his usual shenanigans made for some truly hilarious moments, and Spike's earnestness in both his attempts to get Discord to see the value in love and to console Big Mac is really endearing. I wish the episode was just about their little side plot, but, alas, I'm not sure how that would stretch to 22 minutes without getting boring.
The CMC's side plot was just... eh? It just felt like a pointless waste of time that was just there to pad out the episode. We could really do without that whole silly "secret admirer" plot that turned out to be just a big misunderstanding. And speaking of misunderstandings...
Uuuuuuggghhhh... hooray for the ever-annoying cliche of "eavesdropping on part of a conversation without context". It's a trope I really hate to see because it almost always leads to contrived conflict. Contrived conflict that makes Big Mac cry, which I can't feel sorry for him because the whole thing is stupid, nor can I laugh because I don't find a man crying funny--I just cringe because I don't like laughing at people who cry. And this conflict holds no weight, because A) we know that it's all going to be revealed as a misunderstanding, and B) I don't even give a crap about this relationship.
You know, it's one thing to be bitter about your ship is sunk; I still think Sugar Belle and Party Favor are a better ship. But it's another thing for canon, after they sail their new ship, to not actually develop on the why of the relationship, the dynamic of the couple, or, heck, even give the girl any personality beyond being some generic nice girl who likes to bake!
Seriously, Sugar Belle has pretty much nothing that sticks out about her. She's cute? So are the Mane Six, Cheerilee, Coco Pommel, Marble Pie, and many other mares. She's a baker? So are Pinkie, the Cakes, and Donut Joe, and they each have their own distinct traits that make them stick out. She's nice? That's the majority of the characters on this show! I suppose I could give her taking pride in her work, but is there anything to her that doesn't involve her special talent? Doesn't she have any other hobbies? Anything else she's good at? Any negative traits? Rarity takes pride in her work, but her character is more than just the fashionista--heck, it's why she's loved by so many.
Meanwhile, Sugar Belle seems to be merely a checklist for "generic girlfriend material" when she's not talking about baking. I checked TV tropes and the wiki to see what I was missing, because I see people say that "Big Mac and Sugar Belle go well together" and stuff like that, but they barely give me anything on who Sugar Belle is besides "sweet baker". People give Flash Sentry flak for being so bland, but Sugar Belle gets a pass?
And that ticks me off because the current Sugar Belle is a step down from the one we saw in "The Cutie Map". Between seeing her suffer under Starlight's tyranny, have an apparent friendship with Party Favor and Night Glider, and be one of the four to chase her down (and be the one to actually break the cart by throwing a "snow pie"; that's hardcore!), despite Starlight being far more powerful and dangerous than they, she had potential to be a great character.
Somehow, making her Big Mac's love interest and sticking her in rom-com/sitcom cliches just wasted all of that potential, including seeing any personality traits that could hint to her motivations for joining Starlight's cult. And not to mention that her relationship with the other Our Townies is thrown by the wayside, when her interactions with them could give her better development as a real pony. Heck, her roles in the SugarMac episodes thus far are fairly minor, where it's all about Big Mac and his reaction to stupid romantic situations while she's just an object on wheels rolled onto the scene for him to focus on and be completely stupid over (ironic, considering the moral of HtSA!).
I know, it's weird. The girl whose bread-and-butter is hyperfocusing on the potential of minor characters and developing stories for them, whether in her head or writing them out (I really should do more of the latter), is complaining about an underdeveloped minor character? Well, the difference is this ship is canon, while the things I focus on as a fanfic author are not, and thus it is the show staff's responsibility to flesh out this relationship in the few episodes that Big Mac has, considering he's not a main character. If I have to do all the work in making a canon ship work when the show makes the ship completely one-sided in the development department, that's a problem. If most of the relationship and what Mac learns about Sugar Belle is offscreen, then I'm even more frustrated that we don't get the meat of it so that I can at least tolerate it and only be sour on it for more personal reasons. I still don't understand what the foundation of Big Mac and Sugar Belle's relationship is... I mean, there's a lot of "kind, hard-working" mares out there, I'm having trouble seeing what makes Sugar Belle so special beyond Mac's lip service.
There's a reason when creating Flora Peace that I decided not to immediately make her Tomato's love interest; she needed development on her own terms and her relationships with friends and family, and from there, I could decide whether she was a good match for Tommy or not.
Sure, one could argue that the couple needs more than two episodes to sell it, but let me just say that Maud and Mudbriar just took one conversation, having deadpan, yet playful banter over petrified wood, for me to be sold on that ship. Heck, Mudbriar even seems to have more personality than Sugar Belle does.
All I've learned about her this episode is that she has a wacky cousin (could I work a way around and keep my headcanon intact? Maybe?), and that her nose wrinkles when she laughs. Otherwise, she's still just a plot device to wring out a stupid conflict for another character.
At least I can rank this above "Non-Compete Clause", only because Discord and Spike were so great here.
One's opinion of this episode really seems to hinge on how much one can forgive the sitcom staple that forms its spine. Definitely agreed on Sugar Belle's woeful lack of development, but the side antics still ended up a net positive for me. Sorry the same couldn't be said for you. I certainly can't fault you for your reasons.
Perhaps the fact that her special talent appears to make up every facet of her life is what lead her to Starlight?
Completely agreed with you. The only thing I liked about the episode was the discord and spike interactions (and also the line about the tea
)