What Lies Beneath Review · 4:35pm Sep 22nd, 2018
So at long last we have an episode actually focused on the student six without any of the mane six also being involved, and it's only a few episodes away from the finale. Well, I guess better late than never. Michael Vogel came back to write this episode, but considering his last writing endevor was the disappointing mid-season finale "The Mean Six" which squandered the concept of Chrysalis' revenge with the cliche "Evil Clone is mistaken for the real thing" trope that we've seen done to death already, was he able to improve or like so many other once promising writers, has this season caused him to lose his touch? Well, let's find out.
We begin with the student six and Cozy Glow attending Twilight's class on the history of friendship, and only Sandbar (because he's a pony) and Ocellus (because she's a bookworm) at all understand the material Twilight is trying to teach them. Gallus even expresses his frustration that he can't understand anything. The class ends with Twilight announcing a test the next day, and suggests the students form study groups. Kind of surprised she didn't take them to see the Tree of Harmony directly on a field trip or something.
The study group goes about as well as you'd expect, and Cozy Glow doesn't help matters by implying all the other creatures don't have in their nature to understand friendship. Drawing parallels to Neighsay.
That night, while still in the library, the students find a grate of some sort that appears to be glowing. With Smolder leading the charge, they go down it and find themselves in a series of caves. They're met by a projection of Twilight, who informs them that they'll be tested and if they pass they're free to go back up to the surface. But if they fail they'll remain in the caves forever. Then, one by one each of the students are teleported away. Silverstream finds herself back on Mount Aris briefly, before she ends up in another part of the caves and is tormented by shadows of the Storm King and his army.
Sandbar encounters Rainbow Dash and Rarity, who tell him that his help is needed on a friendship quest. And he goes along with them without question. Ocellus encounters some changelings and finds herself stuck in the image of Queen Chrysalis. Yona finds herself alone in the caves, facing an army of spiders. And Smolder keeps running into ponies who want her to join their tea party. As for Gallus, he finds himself enclosed within a shrinking crystal prison with seemingly no way out. That is, until he discovers that the different colored lights control the opening. He manages to escape despite making a ton of mistakes. Meanwhile, Smolder reluctantly accepts that just for this once she'll be a part of a tea party and that she actually does like girly things. It's a lot better than her story during Hearth's Warming Eve.
Gallus and Smolder meet back up and deduce that the others need to solve their tests in order for the group to open the vent and allow them to escape. Gallus goes to find Silverstream, and Smolder goes to find Ocellus. Sandbar briefly hesitates joining Rarity and Rainbow Dash without his friends, but still goes along when they tell him they need him specifically. Meanwhile, Yona is surrounded by the spiders and freaks out. But it turns out that the spiders are actually friendly and one of them is willing to befriend her. I might actually have liked it if Yona adopted it and took it home as a pet, we even see later that she gave it a name (Spindel). Maybe she could ask Fluttershy for a similar type of spider?
Gallus finds Silverstream, terrified and clearly suffering from PTSD involving the Storm King. She's all but curling up in a ball, mumbling to herself. Sounds like someone needs to pay a visit to Starlight, she could most certainly relate.
But Gallus convinces Silverstream it isn't real, and to stand up to the Storm King. She does so, and the two leave. Meanwhile, Smolder gives Ocellus some tough love and convinces her that she has changed and that she and the other changelings aren't like they used to be. They meet back up as Yona arrives with her army of spiders.
Sandbar finally puts his hoof down and insists he won't go anywhere without his friends, and the projections of Rarity and Rainbow Dash disappear. The student six, now reunited, return to the entrance of the cave and are met by the projection of Twilight. It turns out that the projection is actually the Tree of Harmony itself, intended to test them for an unspecified reason (the actual reason is to foreshadow what happens to them in the finale, but a real in-universe explanation would've been nice). Having seen them pass their tests, it allows them to return to the library as dawn breaks. They're met by Cozy Glow, who insists it was her fault because she made them all doubt themselves, and fears she'll be expelled if they tell Twilight about it. The student six are too exhausted to protest, especially since Cozy offers to tell Twilight they were helping her stack books in the library and thus give them an extension on their test. When they're all asleep she looks down at the grate and smiles.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, even though it's clearly supposed to be foreshadowing the season finale and doesn't seem to be much beyond that, I think much like "Horse Play" this episode succeeds more on the substance than the overall story. Silverstream in particularly really shines here, because she finally has something that makes her stand out and not just seem like the show's replacement for Princess Skystar. Ocellus being fearful that she really hasn't changed, Yona having to confront her fear of being vulnerable and alone, and even Smolder having to admit she actually doesn't mind being girly sometimes, are all nice details that we really should've gotten much earlier in the season. Sandbar remains a waste of character though, even with the idea that he admires the mane six and wants to be like them. Those traits aren't bad, but they're about as generic and self-inserting as you can get, and like with "The Hearth's Warming Club" they don't go into more detail on that. He's only there because the group needed six. Cozy Glow's behavior is a little too on the nose as to her real intentions (it's obvious she's up to no good and wants the power the Tree of Harmony posses, though her motives remain unclear), she even pulls the crocodile tears routine. I do have to question how that grate in the library went unnoticed for all this time, but if the glow could only be seen by night I suppose it's not too much of a stretch to assume everyone only thought it was a regular air vent. I honestly wish this episode could've been expanded, because there's so much I'm sure it would've added had it been a two parter (heck, why not make this the premiere, tying into the students struggles to accomadate to school life). In the end, despite a few minor complaints (largely on Sandbar and even sort of Yona and Smolder), I gladly give this episode an A+, putting it above even "Horse Play" for the best episode of Season 8. It's really too bad we haven't got more episodes like this, it would really help boost Season 8's reputation.
Next week is an interesting episode featuring a guest star, it's called "The Sound of Silence" and it's a map mission involving Applejack and Fluttershy visiting a village where the residents have sworn an oath of silence. I'd probably be more excited if not for the fact that Season 8 has in essence reduced the map to a cheap plot device.
I didn't like the way the episode idea played out, it just felt like the Scarecrow from Batman, trying to induce fear into MLP characters, and it wasn't interesting in my opinion XD
For me, it's the fifth best episode of the season and the seventh best of the series.
Which says more about the episodes above it than the episode itself, since I love it.
I now ship Gallus x Silverstream because of this episode.
As for the map, I've always seen it as more of a plot device than anything else, even during season 5.
(Plus, I love this season's other map episodes more than any of the ones that had come before
I still am baffled that you didn't like last week's terrific episode, but I'm glad that we agree on this week's episode being stellar.
BTW, the shipping is strong with this episode.
4941943
Well, how would you have done it?
4941956
I wouldn't make this season at all.
4942013
Well then in that case, I'm glad it's not up to you.
The friendship map has been a macguffin ever since its inception.
In fact, this episode is the very first bit of personalization we've gotten off the Tree.
4941955 I can see some shipping with Gallus and Silverstream now, don't know about Ocellus and Smolder.
4941950
WHAT!? So you're saying 5 of your 7 favourite episodes are from this season, and 2 of them are from the 7 other seasons!? That's ridiculous! I wouldn't even say there are 5 really great episodes this season. What are the 7?
4942239
Crusaders of the Lost Mark
The Parent Map
Road to Friendship
School Raze
The Perfect Pear
The Washouts
What Lies Beneath
4942203
I was mostly referring to Gallus and Siverstream. But, an argument could theoretically be made for Smolder and Ocellus if you wanted to.
BTW, I'm officially calling the ship "Lovebirds".
4942025
This season was so f-king shitty, it's quite impressive actually.
4942252
...wow, you must not like the other seasons much. What about the season 2,4,5, and 7 finale? Lesson Zero, Hurricane Fluttershy, The Crystal Empire, Pinkie Pride, It Ain't Easy Being Breezies, Tanks For The Memories, Amending Fences, Rarity Investigates, The Times They Are a Changeling, Buckball Season, P.P.O.V, and Fluttershy Leans In? Pretty much all of them are objectively better than any one of those episodes (except maybe What Lies Beneath and School Raze), and there are many others that are better than a lot of those. I thought 2 was actually a pretty bad episode.
4942602
It's not that I don't love the other seasons.
I adore seasons 4-7, and the first 3 are still pretty good.
I just think that season 8 is the best one overall.
(Though, funnily enough, It Ain't Easy Being Breezies and Fluttershy Leans In are among the Fluttershy episodes I enjoy the least)