Matter of Principals S8E14 and Hearth's Warming Club S8E15 Reviews · 9:53pm Aug 4th, 2018
Pony is back!
So once again we prove Neighsay is absolutely right in all those criticisms he lobbed in the premiere - the Mane Six are buttdialed by the map and are worried the school will have no teachers left while they're off. Twilight's solution - dump it all on Starlight, who immediately realizes this is a bad idea.
Speaking of bad ideas - Discord. John DeLancie, I love you, man, but you gotta realizes that after five seasons, Discord's schtick is wearing thin. Is this gonna be The Discord Episode? You know, the Mad Libs-esque Discord Episode script they keep reusing? Here, I'll show you how it works:
Discord: "Ooo, [name of event] is happening? I think I'll attend and be a dick!"
[Pony]: "Discord, stop being a dick!"
Discord: "Oh dear, was I being a dick?"
[Pony]: "Yes!"
Discord "My bad! I won't be a dick next time."
[Pony]: "Yes, you will."
Discord "Yes, I will."
Seriously, Discord has no reason to be here, Starlight even questions why he's here. Discord is just here to be a dick. We're gonna spend fifteen minutes watching him be a dick. Joy.
Iron Will cameo - unexpected but not unpleasant.
Okay, not that I can't understand Spitfire's choice, but how does Starlight know her? I'd have pegged Sunburst as the third choice. Not that I dislike Spitfire but I wanna know how Starlight met her.
Great Derpy cameo and pigasus nod. 0_0 I actually exclaimed "holy shit" when the ursa major popped out. I'm sad Discord didn't prompt her to try and vanquish it. And now a bugbear, earlier we had Twittermites. We just need Ahuizotl and I have Monster Bingo.
*head desk* No, no no... why are we framing Starlight in the wrong? She's RIGHT! She hasn't been doing a bad job, we've barely seen the job she's doing because Discord has sabotaged her at every turn, he just majorly stepped out of line with that reminder of her evil past, and I don't blame Starlight in the least for blasting his ass.
Resolution is shit and so is Discord. Best parts of the episode were seeing the Tokens hang out and worldbuilding on the school. But how come we never saw Maud in class?
Oh, and it turns out the map summon was a trick by Discord to get them out of the way so he could do all this. So we end the episode with one final note on what a dick he is.
A bit of an odd framing device but I have noooo problems if this is the result. Worldbuilding for the other races and character depth for the Tokens, it's about damn time.
The changeling story is hilarious, yak story is sweet, dragon story is hilarious for the "moral", pony story is hilariously lame, hippogriff story is cool (ohhai Storm King cameo). Gallus admits he has no family to go home to and never felt like he belonged in Griffonstone, and confesses he wrecked the room so he could stay here.
Nice episode, lots of worldbuilding and character growth. These two episodes have done wonders for the Tokens in my eyes, especially the second one - why was this Episode 15 and not, like, Episode 4?
I didn't like the second episode, but that's because I don't care about the Student Six. The jokes about dragon stories being depressing and pony stories lacking teeth were amusing, also Silverstroke failing to stomp the bucket. That's about it.
But the first one. Holy shit. I think it's the closest we've gotten to an objectively bad episode in maybe ever. I really want to know what the fandom's reaction is, like, did anyone like this? And if so, how? D:
This episode taught me that I actually like Starlight, because at least she's not Discord. :| #StarlightDidNothingWrong
(Also, I seriously live for your episode blogs now. c.c You hadn't posted by 1 and I was getting antsy...)
I enjoyed the first episode, it's not the best Discord episode but it was a good Starlight episode and it's also the first time in a while that Discord is playing a purely antagonistic role so that might be why it feels so strange. Starlight blasting Discord only for him to come back as a ghost is hilariously morbid. It also pairs Starlight with Spike which has been a criminally underused pairing on the show.
The hearth's warming episode was great, nice to see more fleshing out of the students and I expect to see more of that in the back half of the season.
Matter of Principals has the honor of being the first episode I've watched this entire season. I mostly watched it because of the Trixie scene. I plan on watching the upcoming Trixie/Starlight road trip episode as well.
I'm usually lenient when it comes to Discord's behavior, but man, he was channeling The Return of Harmony levels of villainy in this one. It was like he was nostalgic or something. I'm not sure what the show runners have in store for him down the line but I'm hoping he gets a reality check sooner than later that his antics aren't appreciated. With only one season left, I suppose we'll find out.