S8E22: What Lies Beneath - Quick Discussion · 10:30pm Aug 27th, 2018
Now then, first off, can we all agree that Ocellus needs to die for stating that Chrysalis's look makes her hideous? Chrysalis is the undoubtedly the hottest most attractive creature in the universe! And that's mathematically provable as well.
Gallus almost got squished to death by rocks. Sounds like the EEA should have more than enough reason to shut the school down for that.
The episode also seems to be skirting closer to a racism theme by saying to the other creatures "friendship is not in their nature". The pony race is superior above all else. Though that seems kind of dark for a kid's show.
But mostly I wanted to talk about Cozy Glow. In this episode, she seemed highly manipulative in how she talked for some reason. Some people think she might be Chrysalis herself in disguise, but I don't think Chrysalis would be acting like that or even doing stuff like volunteering to help sort the library just to keep her cover. Or she could be an agent of Neighsay and is there to investigate the school's creatures as a well meaning racist.
But really I'm kind of at a loss at which direction it could go. Did she just say those things because this kid's show need a plot device to move it along? Or is she actually evil?
And the music at the end of the episode... It seemed ominous but there was no evil smirk or whatnot on Cozy Glow that really said something was fishy.
So yeah, I really can't decide. But I'm thinking that's probably for the best in terms of good writing. A decent amount of mystery is always good for a great story.
Could be she was testing them and their friendship as well to see if it really is worth going for. Someone else thinks she's part of the Tree of Harmony given we have confirmation that the Tree is not only sapient alive but able to make avatars. Cozy could be an emissary of the Tree testing others to see if they truly believe in friendship or not. Like how an object or power will test you before allowing you to use it to see if you're worthy or not.
Still Neighsay is a possibility.
The whole point of their ordeal was to prove this sentiment wrong. Not really sure what the problem is. I mean, Tree of Harmony's pony OC, Treelight Sparklebark, came into being just to smack that idea down hard.
Cozy Glow is highly manipulative. In fact, I believe one of her issues is that she tends only to see things in terms of who is manipulating whom. Remember her words to the Crusaders when they agreed to help her? "What's in it for you?"
That's why she schemed to fail her own test so the CMC would look bad enough at friendship to be allowed into the school, instead of just asking Twilight if maybe they can come too, please? It's also strongly implied she was the one who gave Flim and Flam Twilight's book so they could run their scam university with Neighsay's blessing(!). And her words to the non-pony students dripped with assumptions about what their racial and cultural backgrounds said about them, even as she masterfully preyed on their insecurities. It wasn't like she didn't have a point, which is why it struck home.
So, my current vote is her being an agent for Neighsay... but actually a well-meaning one.
The scheme with the crusaders, spreading Twilight's intellectual property in secret, even what she said to the other students' faces—all of that either did or could come from a place of actually wanting to help them. When the Student Six joked about the test they had so much trouble studying for, this is the face she made:
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I think she was genuinely trying to help them. In the only way she knows how: Manipulating their emotions and insecurities.
Chrysalis is ugly and you know it. Fight me, lol. Is it just me or is anyone else coming to get the creeping feeling that faulty writing is starting to set in what the actual show?
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I certainly wasn't expecting something so interesting coming from another seemingly run-of-the-mill background pony in a kid's show. She certainly would make a great changeling! But at the same time, seems like she needs to be kept on a shorter leash.
But, on another note, at the end of the episode she was looking at the hole with the tree of harmony while the ominous music played. The tree of harmony being that thing Chrysalis was focused the last time we saw her. Neighsay hasn't really mentioned the tree at all to show his concern for it. Still a chance Cozy Glow is somehow with Chrysalis.
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It's possible he doesn't know where it is, so he didn't plan around it. Now Cozy Glow knows there is a direct connection under the school via the roots growing there—the Student Six told her that—and knowing this, he could order her to mess with it.
Or she could decide to mess with it by herself. Like you said, she could do with a tighter leash. If what I think of her is true, then she could do all sorts of things in a misguided attempt to please her mentor/uncle/master/pony sith lord, Neighsay, without him knowing about it before it all comes crashing down on them.
The thing with Chrysalis is, she's not a great actor. She's prone to letting her grudges and her ego shine through her disguises. There have been zero hints that she is a shapeshifted Chrysalis so far. Never mind that Chrysalis knows where the actual Tree of Harmony is, she doesn't really need to go for its roots.
On a personal note, I like Cozy Glow's character a lot. The series never had an antagonist like her; the closest is Starlight, and even then she had some considerable magical tricks to fall back on. Cozy Glow, for all we know, is just a filly. A devious, two-faced filly with a keen understanding of weaknesses and how to exploit them, as well as a warped idea of what it means to do good.
On an unrelated note... Smolder's makeup made her look like a dragon hooker.
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Smolder has always been in the same camp for me as Babs. I keep thinking they are guys from the sound of their voice. But that scene was still good to see!