s09e02 comments, spoilers · 9:33am Apr 7th, 2019
So we're seemingly stuck with the same opening. Hopefully they'll fix things up by the third episode, if not, then that's that.
Ya know... the Ponyville group shot had more memorable characters.
Discord, "The Evil Murder Tree dead? Yeah, I'm not buying it. No way would my life EVER be that easy! Let's see how long it takes for it to turn out to still be alive and give the replacement six new powers!"
And I see Twilight isn't remembering she just needed to give a brave speech and remind the girls what their virtues are to restore the Elements against Nightmare Moon.
At least the series is finally ending and they can't ruin the good work they DID DO in the early seasons for much longer.
"How can we defeat him." Uh, the crystal heart? Come up with a clever plan to lure him back to the Crystal Empire he still wants back and blast him to bits when he least suspects it?
How does Sombra even know where they live? How? HOW?!
At least his 'already your greatest fear' isn't wrong from the times he's looked in Twilight's head.
'Kept the Everfree Forest under control' uh, then what kept it under control before the pillars? Since it obviously didn't before. And they didn't even plant it to 'control the Everfree' they instead did the biggest BS vague garbage about planting seeds of the future *insert expletive here.*
3:17
This is standard hero work, this doesn't have to do with ruling a kingdom. Moron.
Rainbow doesn't even mention Scootaloo? Blah.
(18 minutes to go)
At least Pinkie digging good is logica being a rock farmer.
Okay... And again we have ... vague evil.
Sombra has made a lot of black crystals rise up and destroy some parts of buildings.
And has mind zapped innocent ponies, including foals, subverting the usual 'children never get hurt in these stories' since mind magic isn't listed under the PTA I guessing...
But WTF is Sombra having them ya know... ACTUALLY DO? Just wander around in circles?
... Uh, the crystal heart undid Sombra's magic before... when did Twilight ever use the Elements to undo Sombra's magic?
"We must lay siege to Canterlot."
Okay, that would make logical sense... if Sombra hadn't already shown that his mind control magic is an game breaking mess that he doesn't really NEED an army!
Uh... why don't you ... ya know, try, I dunno, restraining them in any one of a bajillion possible ways? UGH!
Okay, Sombra had them make a cake to his tastes? ... Okay, that is actually something.
Now now Pinkie Pie, you should know better than judge other people's tastes. Hell, this finally gives Sombra at least some traits other than 'evil conquerer' even if it's just him liking a particular type of cake.
Uhhhhhhh. Retcon.
Before it wasn't any part of the Everfree Forest that was growing, it was Discord's plunder vines.
Discord, "And now we know the Evil Murder Tree is gonna come back, since the plot calls for it since Ponyville being wiped from the map and dealing with several ponies being displaced is all too grown up for this show."
6:32
About 16 minutes to go.
Yeah, Sombra is just being lazy, having Big Mac tear down the door rather than just having his crystals smash through it himself.
Ya know, people laughed when Sunset Shimmer did this exact same scheme of an army of brainwashed civilians. Nobody seems to be laughing now.
It... is kinda stupid, and hideously OOC for Lulu and Celly to run for it. If they bring them back with an oblivious 'did I miss anything?' I'm gonna scream.
Sombra... you marched into the castle and took the throne room. This is what I mean by the show trying to show things that are beyond its ability to show. There's an entire kingdom of beings out there who aren't brainwashed. And aren't likely to just go 'okay' when they learn their capital has been taken. Sombra would spend a long time sweeping around Equestria enslaving everyone if his only method of having a kingdom is brainwashing victims.
It's sad the only thing the girls are really allowed to fight are vines.
And they should know they're fighting a mindless and meaningless battle since the forest will just keep growing and Sombra will dig himself in more and more. A real leader would know to make the hard decision of some houses over the freedom of the entire kingdom, but this is a kid's show, so sacrifices aren't allowed to exist.
Makes me imagine a game breaking Yugioh Card, called 'Kid's Show'
"I can summon tribute monsters without sacrifice, which we know in kids' shows there are no such things. We want kids to think they can ALWAYS get the EXACT desire outcome WITHOUT having to sacrifice ANYTHING to get there!"
And yep. At least Lulu and Celly aren't swept under the rug for once. That is a good thing!
But the same time the sacrifice Kid's Show rule dictates "No ACTUAL sacrifices are allowed to happen for the sake of the best outcome."
Oh yeah. The left over talking plot devices from the previous seasons. Since we're not shilling the school right now, they're allowed to do stuff now. I wonder where his buddies are.
Uh. So who kept it under control before you dude?
I reminded of a question from Bright Eyes of MLPTs to Twilight in a crossover fic when Twilight explained the moving of the sun in their world, "So wait... so did MICROBES move the sun or something before ponies evolved?"
Since the moving sun thing happened BEFORE Discord.
Again, sad the only things these ponies are allowed to use their full power against is vines.
"Sombra's going to force us to fight our way through our friends?"
In this show? Not a chance. Sorry. I don't feel tension knowing I'm up against a false premise.
And... they just RUN PAST THE PONIES THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO ATTACK?
10:32
Just 12 more minutes to go. And the pain is over for another week.
-NOW- THEY THINK TO TIE THEM UP!?
10:54
When did Sombra get around to re-re-reconquering the Crystal Empire?
"We can't just leave them here!"
WHY?!??!?!??!?!?!??!?!?!
It's not like Sombra is ordering them to jump off cliffs or something!!!!!!
They've already shown they have the upper cognitive functions of rocks!
11:35
YOU ARE HELPING THEM YOU IDIOT!! TAKE OUT SOMBRA, HIS MAGIC GOES BYE-BYE! THAT'S STANDARD ISSUES in any badly defined magic system! (Along with bad science, like when Batman BROKE the banana ray gun in Brave and the Bold, and that of course restored everyone who had been turned into bananas.)
Why isn't FLUTTERSHY asking Discord to help?! Ya know, the one being in the universe that Discord places her happiness above his own!?
12:39
What the hell is Discord even doing? If this teasing is part of one of his hidden agendas (that he tends to have) I don't get it.
"I don't know what we'd do without you!"
See Discord? There's the praise you wanted from these ponies saying they needed you.
If that was his agenda all along, it's not quite as well written as his usual games.
What did Sombra even do with that cake?
Okay. Why the frick was Discord so obviously scared of Sombra before... when it's painfully obvious that Sombra is no threat to him what-so-ever? If Discord was just holding out on helping until the girls were almost begging him for help, he could have just given his 'sorry, I'm busy' BS.
So Discord couldn't snap his fingers to save Fluttershy like he kept saving them all that time?
I swear Discord if this is another of your 'fishing for sympathy' gags...
14:58
The 'you don't need' speech. Go to Hell.
No. Seriously. Just go to Hell.
I feel like someone telling a fire fighter they don't need a hose to put out a house fire.
Or telling a surgeon they don't need a scalpel to do a open heart surgery.
And it also implies that Lulu, Celly, and Discord, AREN'T PART OF THE TEAM! THEY AREN'T PART OF THE FAMILY! AREN'T PART OF THE GROUP! That they're all OUTSIDERS rather than FRIENDS!
If it was 'we're doing our part, now you do yours' it would be different, but it isn't.
So yeah. Go to Hell. Just. Go. To. HELL!!!!
-
Except you did Discord. IF CELESTIA hadn't given Twilight a wake up call, YOU WOULD HAVE WON!
Not being afraid of the enemy isn't heroic, it's foolish.
16:26
Twilight's speech about getting back up again and again is much better written.
Wait... so the first Rainbow blast didn't kill him, but the second one did?
And again, the mane six, being so resistant to kill even the worst bad guys or mindless and dangerous beasts... kill Sombra tra-la-la. Bad writing. If he was really 'that bad' that they HAD TO put him down, THAT would have been a nice bit of drama, the heroes having to actually kill a bad guy? When before they were so eager to REFORM every bad guy left and right and offer the chance of friendship to friggin' CHRYSALIS... A bit of internal conflict on having to do the deed. Instead nothing. (The Crystal Ponies were from a 1000 years ago with different morals and beliefs and standards... like Starswirl, and from the mane six's POV Sombra there might not have been considered even sapient! But here that is obviously not the case.). Yeah. Boo. Bad writing.
17:55 YES A GOOD LEADER DOES KNOW WHEN TO ASK FOR HELP AND TO USE ALL THE RESOURCES IN THEIR ARSENAL TO PROTECT THOSE THEY CARE ABOUT!
18:19 AND AS NORMAL. Things are twisted around so because Twilight admits she made a mistake, that means the mistake wasn't a mistake but proof she is good at the job! I give up.
Let us all bow before the all mighty narrative.
18:45 And we see Discord's manipulative side is alive and well. This actually makes me smile.
And Celestia ADMITS SHE MADE A MISTAKE, by dumping her responsibilities on Twilight on absurdly short notice!
And someone else made a good point. Why the Hell didn't the first harmony blast kill him?
And couldn't the girls have gone Rainbow Power that whole time? Yeah, it's GS ball. 100% GS Ball.
BTW: How much money you wanna bet that Gusty is alive, in suspended animation, gonna be time traveled to the future, etc. No seriously, I'm taking bets!
Again, at least the way the girls talk about Discord's twisted attitude at least makes me smile.
Also, why did Grogar NOT save Sombra's ass? Wasn't the whole point of Grogar letting him fail spectacularly so he'd have no choice but to admit that Grogar's scheme of an Alliance of Evil was the only way to pull off a win?
It would be fun if the alliance of evil DID pull off a win, FORCING Twilight to use Starlight's version of the time travel spell to alter the flow of events in the hero's favor. Or have her find out those other timelines still exist, and decides NOT to abandon this timeline.
And THANK GOD, Twilight is allowed to actually ease into this! Unless Celly and Lulu drop dead, there is no reason for Twilight to take up the mantle until her mane starts moving on its own with sparkles in it!
Again, the villains scenes manage to be better written than most of the heroes' scenes! It's nuts!
And I still don't get why Grogar didn't bring back Sombra, humiliated and humbled, and now ready to play ball.
This was better than the previous episode, but it's still a mess in a lot of places. And that's all I have to say about that.
-
Meanwhile in the Ponies and Dragons universe.
Tirek, "Where's your spawn by the way?"
Chrysalis, "Making friends with your brat."
Cozy Glow in a corner with Chrysalis' hatchlings, "Pattycake! Pattycake! Baker's mare! Strangle Crusaders in their sleep as fast as we can!"
Also, why did Grogar NOT save Sombra's ass? Wasn't the whole point of Grogar letting him fail spectacularly so he'd have no choice but to admit that Grogar's scheme of an Alliance of Evil was the only way to pull off a win?
And I still don't get why Grogar didn't bring back Sombra, humiliated and humbled, and now ready to play ball.
Grogar brought him back once already, why not do it again?
Which could lead to a running joke of Sombra dying in ever more humiliating ways until finally Grogar says 'The Tartarus with it' and stops resurrecting him.
One current theory that explains a fraction of this episode's plot holes is, Grogar never could actually resurrect Sombra. So instead he created a powerful duplicate (that was using up most of his magic the entire time it was active) as an object lesson to Tirek and Chrysalis on why they should team up with him, as well as a chance to destroy the Tree of Harmony.
That's why Sombra had weird new powers and personality, and why his actions didn't make sense. His real purpose was to destroy the Elements, than lose so the other villains agree to be Grogar's minions.
I've also heard the theory that the Sisters knew Grogar was active and the whole "retirement" thing was a ploy to trick him, but I'm not sure about that.
5040754
THAT would have been a cool bait and switch, with Celly admitting she DOES intend to give over the reigns, but not until Twilight's had the POLITICAL EXPERIENCE to lead.
5040755 I mean, Twilight has basically been their Secretary of State for 4 years now.
I just hope "someday" means "20 years from now after the show is over and I have you craft a bunch of laws and manage the court and stuff, not "the end of this season."
I just want Chrysalis reformed. It's all I ask.
5041866
Reforms have gotten kinda banal. Though them killing Sombra when they showed such insane reluctance before takes me right out of the story.
I think after each episode, I'm gonna read your commentary. You bring up valid points as well as entertainment.
5063074
Actually. Sadly. I'm likely done. I thought I could last till the end of the series. But no. :-( Sadly, I think I've just had enough. I was already disillusioned with the show since the ending of season 6's finale... But I don't think I can really take it anymore.
5063682
Understandable.