Thoughts on "The Hearth's Warming Club" · 5:19pm Aug 10th, 2018
Come on, a fourth Hearth's Warming episode? Dude, give me that third Nightmare Night episode!
And also, stop showing your holiday specials months before December. It's annoying.
Okay, despite my issues with the scheduling, this is a pretty good episode.
It actually threw me for a loop on who did it; and I'm usually pretty savvy to plot twists in movies or TV (save when they come completely out of nowhere a la Hans from Frozen). I fully expected it to be some third party, because when that goo dust was sprinkled on the Fire of Friendship, the can looked like it was floating, hence I thought "it's some unicorn!". But nope, turns out it was Gallus.
And you know, after the dumpster fire that was Yakity-Sax and the mixed bag that was A Matter of Principals, this one managed to make a character pull off a selfish move and yet make me sympathize with them. For the former two, it was a matter of making the selfish party (Pinkie and Discord) come off like spoiled children, with YS completely glossing over the damage Pinkie was doing and making her happiness dependent on some stupid instrument, and in AMoP Discord going too far and just getting a slap on the wrist for his actions. Meanwhile, Gallus comes off more of a desperate and lonely griffon who wants to spend a little more time with his friends, because he doesn't have a family at home. It also helps that he recognized that what he did was wrong and how it negatively affected his friends.
Yeesh, those puppy eyes he gave Grampa Gruff in School Daze take on a whole new meaning after this episode.
Are there any Orphan Gallus fics yet? Because having something canon to replace the stupid Orphan Scootaloo memes would be nice.
On another note, it was sweet to see how Yona and Silverstream celebrate the holidays with their kind, and utterly hilarious how the Changelings took the instructions for celebration Hearth's Warming so literally (especially the build the fire thing and singing "Carols" over and over). And while the dragons telling stories thing is a neat tradition, I'm not so fond of Smolder's story. I mean, sheesh, the Dragon Lord is kind enough to let a homeless dragon join into a feast... and then the homeless dragon takes over and kicks the guy out. And I know Sandbar's is supposed to be funny with him making a big deal of something so mundane, but it just fell flat on its face like his Hearth's Warming doll did. Hey, at least his sister's adorable!
Also, another note on Ocellus' story, you know what the "dive into the punch" part reminded me of?
Hey, if there's an opportunity to mention Cheese Sandwich, I WILL TAKE IT.
Anyway, this was a heartwarming episode. 
More like a Hearthwarming episode, amirite?
4917799
Yak Song best song. And yeah, I too thought of the fruit lunch lake.
I'd never considered how Gallus might finally purge us of Orphanloo, and I don't see it as terribly likely, but now I have hope.
"... and then the homeless dragon takes over and kicks the guy out" you forget that kindness and friendship are looked down by dragons as a weakness. Spike is the expection because he was raised by Twilight. So of coarse Smolter's story would be like that.
4917843
Just because I didn't like the story doesn't mean I forgot how dragons are in this show. Even keeping cultural differences in mind, I still don't like it because it's utterly ridiculous that the noticeably larger Dragon Lord didn't even fight back when the little dragon pulled her crap.
4917996
good point