Half Way Through Season 8 · 11:59am Jun 14th, 2018
Now we’re at the half way point, I thought I’d post a few thoughts about each episode.
School Daze
This one had a lot to set up, so the episode itself didn’t get much focus. I still can’t say I’m sold on the friendship school when half the teachers have full-time careers anyway, but sure. And while half the young six are forgettable, the other half are great. And we now have a yak regularly on the show, and she’s the best thing. I do wish the episode hadn’t make Princess Celestia out to be completely useless when faced with a diplomatic crisis, though.
The Maud Couple
I didn’t mind the idea behind the episode, of setting Maud up with a boyfriend Pinkie couldn’t stand, but wasn’t so fond of the execution. It’s a realistic situation – Pinkie is fine with Maud’s weird quirks, because she’s grown up with Maud. But when a new pony enters out of the blue, very similar quirks get on her nerves, even if it’s just a slight variation on what Maud has. I just wish he hadn’t been a copy of an irritating character from another TV show. It was worth it, though, for the scene on the rock farm. We need more Limestone Pie.
Fake It Til You Make It
I loved this one! Fluttershy and Rarity interactions are always great, even if this premise was rather contrived. But then Fluttershy’s characters came into the picture, and everything was so good. All three were fantastic, but Fluttergoth is the best character of the season. Fluttershy is strange as a character because we all adore her just as she is, but when she’s completely different, she’s even better. See episode 13 for confirmation.
Grannies Gone Wild
That this episode contained one of the happiest moments of just a few frames has been addressed elsewhere. The Wonderbolts at the beginning were a highlight as always, Granny Smith with a sense of mischief was great fun, I liked seeing how Flim & Flam had taken over the hotel, and that glimpse of Trixie’s dad was an excellent touch. Ghostly Applejack was funny, and, in something I’d never have thought twice about last year, yay for Cherry Berry as the aviatrix! The main plot, though, could have been done better.
Surf and/or Turf
I’m fairly certain this was a parental divorce allegory? And that it fell a bit flat by the end? A bit like the movie, so much time was spent exploring the spectacle that there wasn’t much time for substance. I liked how ambitious the song was, I just wish it had a tune I could remember now. A forgettable episode for me.
Horse Play
Wonderful! Happy Celestia, angry Celestia, bad acting Celestia, funny Celestia… This was a joy! And the supporting cast were great, and there was the giant marshmallow sun, Fancy Pants and Fleur De Lis with Luna in the audience, and Fluttershy reprising her charming Princess Celestia role from Testing, Testing 1, 2, 3. This is the kind of hero worship from Twilight that I’m fine with, because it doesn’t have any stakes attached to getting it wrong (unlike Shadow Play). The acting lessons, in particular, were probably the funniest bit of the season.
The Parent Map
Starlight, as ever, was great. I don’t actually remember the last time Starlight was bad in an episode. Sunburst was… well, he was a step up from Uncommon Bond, that’s for sure. Both their parents were charming, and of course Sunburst’s mother badgers him to make something of his life, and of course it’s that overbearingness which is why he lacks the spine to do so. The debate about gentrification got a little lost towards the end, but I’d gladly give it up for that shot of Starlight’s bedroom.
Non-Compete Clause
What was that? I liked that the students either thought it was an exercise or demonstration all along, or at least presented it that way to Twilight, but that was one of the few things to like here. The plot should have been resolved in five minutes. It wasn’t.
The Break Up Break Down
Much more like it! The main comment I saw from this episode was amazement at how well three different plotlines were fitted into 22 minutes, and how well-developed each felt despite that runtime. I can’t say I was invested in SugarMac before, but it was so much better here than in Hard To Say Anything! And we got the return of the zoot suits, more words from Big Mac, cool leaning, a really nice turn from the CMCs (Sweetie Belle asking Snips and Snails if they’d sent her a pie was the highlight), a great side of Spike, and a not-annoying Discord. In most other episodes, the best moment would have been Derpy and inside the mail room, but this episode included an even better one. They did it! They actually did it!
Molt Down
Middling Spike episode. Not Gauntlet Of Fire, by any means, but not some of the others either. The saving grace was mostly the last five minutes, especially the roc chase going on in the background. Also, we finally get to see one of the young six on her own, with the chance to really get to know who she is, and… nothing much to see here, is there, Smoulder?
Marks For Effort
Five turtlenecks and a cheese grater! Not to mention, Repeatie Belle, which was an ad-lib from Tabitha St. Germain, who doesn’t know how not to be amazing. And then Bon Bon needed help carrying a cactus, which was very funny in itself, but becomes a lot more meaningful as a reference to totally canonical confirmation of another thing. Which makes Lyra Heartstrings a very lucky pony. I found Cozy Glow annoying. Twilight was a bit quick to throw the CMCs out. Starlight as guidance counselor with cocoa I would love to see more of.
The Mean Six
Wandering through the Everfree Forest, something weird happens to the mane six – their forms are copied, and doubles spring to life! But, because the doubles are mirror images, their elemental virtues are the wrong way around. Rarity becomes a crazed, Gollum-like hoarder, Fluttershy takes delight in tormenting others, especially birds who’ve fallen from their nests, Rainbow is indifferent to anypony else’s suffering and Pinkie’s really bored. Applejack spins a web of cunning lies, luring the others in with her deceptions, and keeping the falsehoods brief to make them as unsuspicious as she can. Twilight gets it into her head that if she gets to the Tree of Harmony, the Elements will turn the duplicates into real ponies, and the actual mane six will fade away.
That’s what this episode could have been. Instead we got some crap about Chrysalis.
People have mentioned how unusual it was to have an episode focusing on the villain’s perspective. But was she even really a villain here? The real threat came from Mean Twilight, as did most of the conniving and backstabbing. The mean six could have been created by anything – there’ve been plenty of weird things in the Everfree before, most never seen again. Many have noted its similarity to when the mane cast were Discorded, so what if Discord did it again? A fun game to see how ponies dealt with ponies so different to themselves, especially among a group who claim to be stronger because of their differences. There was really no need for Chrysalis to be there.
The mean-six-side of the episode was great. Rarity and Fluttershy in particular were spectacular. The downside was Applejack’s lies going on ridiculously long and serving no purpose, where the others tended to be more manipulative. But among the proper mane cast, there were some great moments too. Rarity packing light only to admit at the end that she couldn’t handle the result was lovely. Starlight hating camping was sorely needed.
But any good thoughts I have about the episode were mercilessly drowned out by how the script handled Chrysalis.
Here’s the thing: Chrysalis’ first appearance, in A Canterlot Wedding, is a tour-de-force. She’s revealed eight minutes into the second episode, and another eight minutes later is gone. She crams a reprise of her song into that time, too, and strikes down Princess Celestia. And before that, during her time disguised, she turned Twilight’s friends, family and mentor against her, wrapped the pony maintaining Canterlot’s defences around her hoof, and did so in the midst of the enemy stronghold, right under Celestia’s nose. And she sang the best song Equestria has ever had. Six seasons later, the real Princess Cadence is still disappointing by comparison.
Perhaps more importantly, though, Chrysalis also in her eight minutes on screen came out with some interesting, unusual and perhaps even altruistic motives. She was a proud queen who put herself in harm’s way leading the charge. A mother figure looking to feed her children. A devious schemer. A charismatic, singing centre
-of-everyone’s-attention. A sadist who tormented those she’d beaten long after it stopped serving and practical purpose. She was all of these things.
She was not just a cackling, megalomaniacal tyrant.
She was the most nuanced, three-dimensional villain we could possibly hope for, given the restrictions of the runtime, the plot and the target demographics. And her successive appearances don’t seem to have noticed that. They know she’s popular, but don’t seem to understand why. To Where And Back Again got it completely wrong, but even that was a dozen times better than this. At least there she was still scary and threatening; something you’d take seriously. At least then she was still tough enough to drag herself up from the ruins of her throne. They even had her enter upside down, and then spin her head around, for added unease.
None of that here. No, here she gets a minute of competence when disguised, and then she’s a laughing idiot in the forest for twenty minutes. She didn’t spot that her creations might betray her, despite still being cut up about her hive doing exactly the same. A pony should not be able to steal the spotlight from Queen Chrysalis. Here, at least three did. As Naiad pointed out, Chrysalis was defeated by her own creations, without her targets even realising that she was there. There is literally nothing you could do, plot-wise, to make a villain seem less of a threat than that.
What was the end goal here? To remind us that Chrysalis was still around? The whole point of her continuing to be popular enough that you think she’s worth bringing back is that we haven’t forgotten her. To set her up for the season finale, or a later episode? Well, did she need setting up before? She’s the only character with two season finales under her belt already. And now, when she does return, she’ll seem even less scary as an enemy to face, because she was just defeated by a tree. It’s like the writers looked up the TV trope Villain Decay and thought to themselves, ‘Hmmm, this is a serious risk, but how can we guarantee it?’
If you can’t improve on the original, don’t bring something back. Otherwise you’re just trading on existing goodwill, which will be steadily used up. Especially when Chrysalis has already come back once! Aim to leave a character better than you found her. And make sure you understand the reasons we liked her in the first place.
If you still think the sirens should come back in canon, this episode is why you’re wrong.
W-what?
4882612 Bugger, thanks for catching this! I wrote it in a document a couple of days ago, and then went back to put the links in when I uploaded it here. I knew I’d forgotten one somewhere, but it looks like there was a strikethrough omitted too. Fixed now!
Why Bon Bon carrying a cactus suggests Lyra is a very lucky mare.