Episode 3 Uprooted reaction · 4:27am Apr 19th, 2019
Uprooted shares a lot of similarities thematically with Castle Sweet Castle, which is among one of my favorite Season 5 episodes. In many ways it's also quite different, which is nice.
Before I begin, this coming episode on Saturday is episode 200, slice of life 2.0. It seems way too early for a special celebration, but I look forward to what the staff at DHX gives us.
So! Uprooted episode opens with a dream sequence that isn't at first noticably a dream, but it's pretty quickly established -- Rainbow Dash flying along with Silver Stream. When they land Rainbow hands her a medal and congratulates her... she is the first non-pegasus Wonderbolt. The background colors are a bit washed out, and soon enough it becomes a sort of nightmare... very common theme of unrealistic expectations after earning a spot Silver Stream is not entirely prepared for. The whole sequence is very well paced and each of the six get involved in a way that would be unsettling to them -- Ocellus runs up, panicked, as she missed an important class for the final exam... which is happening the same day. Yona falls from the sky (seriously, Yak suffered enough near-death trama) only to stop inches from hitting the ground. The ground, however, has become a confection as the friends all find Smoulder in her pretty party dress and make-up drinking tea. Then of course, possibly my favorite of the student 6, is down trying to escape a small space which is the door closing in on him... with an infinite spiral staircase behind him. And as for Sandbar's greatest fear? He can't decide on desert. But before we're fully introduced to Sandbar's conundrum shiny tree Twilight shows up.
Turns out she brought them all together to let them know that the Tree of Harmony needs them, then stamps her hoof, projecting magic their way in different colored lines, and... opening credits. Quickest establishment of the plot I think has been in MLP yet.
Upon return to the episode Twilight is revealed to be panicking, showing up to tell Spike she's quite distraught. Despite initial appearances it's not a real emergency, she only Twilighting and didn't order enough variety of supplies for her students. Spike reminds Twilight the students won't be back from their break for a bit yet (explaining why they weren't in the opening). They all come in at once, Yona toddling and falling forward on her head... good thing Yak skull pretty hard. They all say why they're there -- the Tree of Harmony called them, and Twilight's shocked. Of course they think she might jealous of the Tree calling them, but then she says that it's impossible for the tree to call them since Sombra destroyed it. Take it Sandbar went somewhere on vacation. Anywho, they're all shocked, they ask the questions the audience would ask in their place, and the whole "having the Everfree forest under control" thing is kind of fudged through, as it's not explained how. They can go see the rubble, however, provides they stay together... the Castle of the Two Sisters isn't exactly safe with technicolor critters running around, launching their spinies.
So when they're there, looking at the tree's remnants under the ground... they feel remorse for leaving for Summer break. Seriously, that's sad, but understandable. Others want to hurt Sombra for what he's done, but as Yona points out... the Tree would still be gone. Silver Stream has an idea -- the Tree could not reach out to them if it was dead, so maybe if they think powerful friendship thoughts it can come back. Ee-nope. Reality is reality... the Tree isn't coming back like this. The next idea is making a memorial and they're all down with it. However, not everyone has told their guardians what they're up to... Thorax shows up to take Ocellus away, despite her connection with the ruined tree, it takes all of her friends to convince him to allow her to stay, but only with a permission slip, per Twilight.
Each of them is shown doing something to get the slip signed -- Smoulder, arm-wrestling back in the dragonlands; Yona, a whole bunch of chores for her mom; Gallus, shows up at home and gets slip signed without a question or care in the world from Grampa Gruff; Ocellus gets her whole family to sign, as they're all one in a way; Silver Stream explains the importance of the signature via pictures. It's a neat sequence, though it seems.... I don't know, strange and unnecessary, like after having the importance of the Tree explained it would be a gimme, since they all just helped save Equestria and all and the tree is stressed as being important.
Because he lives in Ponyville Sandbar doesn't need permission, so he works in the puckwudgie-infested Everfree Forest by himself and for some reason isn't impaled, eaten, or turned to stone when his friends get back. What has he done while his friends were gone? Why, he removed all pieces of the broken Tree of Harmony to make room for the memorial, without any guidance from even one teacher. Of course his friends are pissed, but fear not... he's planted a sapling. It's not the same thing, but it's, like, totally a symbol... right? Yona understand, Sandbar idea not perfect, but yak not smash as pony heart totally in the right place. All of the Student 5 agree Sandbar's idea wasn't the greatest. They talk about what they want to represent the tree.
Here's the introduction of the main conflict -- all of the student 6 have different ideas of what to do:
Gallus -- meusiem
Silver Stream -- abstract art
Yona -- not clear yet
Ocellus -- garden for reflection
Smoulder -- monument
Sandbar -- the tree is fine?
Gallus calls on Yona to speak, and Yona says friends not fighting is what she wants... just come together with a plan. Nope, that's not happening.
Like with Castle Sweet Castle, individually their ideas are incompatible and create a train wreck first thing... but they continue on either building or touring outside ponies through their vision of what would honor the tree the best. Gallus seems the most together and elaborate with his idea, and it's one of the few times he's heard sounding really enthusiastic. It's kind of adorable, and it's as elaborate as something Pinkie Pie would put together, but his facts about the tree are more than a little screwy. Smoulder attempts to shape a rock, angrily, admitting to Yona she can't really remember what the Tree looked like, while Silver Stream is painting swirls and abstract imagery in the caverns. They're a tiny crude (but in an endearing way), and it's a personal take on what the tree was to her. Ocellus, without meaning to, in taking in a fountain washes away a bit of Silver Stream's still drying work, but Yona is there to help keep her from dropping the whole thing. Yona's been there, watching and listening to everyone. Ocellus's idea is basically Zen, quiet reflection. Around the time we discover this, Gallus is starting to creep the tourist ponies out, Smoulder is fighting with him to get her idea into the cavern (which does look a lot like a sinister, simplified version of the Tree of Harmony). Her memorial snaps destroying Occellus's fountain and Silver's work, and because Sandbar's wearing earmuffs to tune everyone's fighting out... the trunk of her tree nearly flattens him, and would have if Yona wasn't alert enough to get him out of the way. Everything is destroyed and they're all angered by each other's actions.
Yona points out that they're thinking of the tree at something that's gone, not something that still exists in some form... in the heart. It's not as sappy as that sounds, because I think it's making a pretty strong point... why remember things the way they were if they can still affect you and others even after they're gone? Huh, I wonder what idea might've inspired this thread in the episode. Either way it's quite sentimental and quite welcome ^^
Yona shows her idea -- to use the remnants of the tree she found in the cave to build the memorial. Again, the five aren't exactly happy with Sandbar... because he didn't move the tree too far, as it's heavy, and he could've said something. No time to be too angry, as they all agree it's time to build a tree house, and soon enough a song starts.
The song is nice and is played as they're shown working together to build the tree house. It has a gentle tone and that's complimented by what sounds like autotune in places. Given the pipes on Vincent Tong, who played Feather Bangs plays Sandbar, it's probably a stylistic choice on the part of DHX. I personally don't care for auto tune, but it's possible since Ashleigh Ball sang a line in Castle Sweet Castle soundinga bit like autotune was used (but I'm pretty sure it wasn't), and it might be being used to replicate that sound. Despite some stylistic similarities to Make this Castle a Home, instead of being about having visions that get in the way of each other it's about sharing a vision and honoring something that's special to you personally. I like that I can hear the individual voices of each cast member... with male and deeper female voices in the student 6 it's a lot easier to make them out. It's also fricken adorable. Probably my favorite voice in the bunch is Silverstream. Some of the visual singing assets, the way the lips move, look a little odd in certain positions, particularly Yona, but it's very minor and passing.
They succeed in making the Tree House and they end up with something that looks like a crystal gingerbread tree house. Things're very mismatched, but it's kinda cute. Of course they give going inside a try first thing, but soon everything shakes... it's not falling apart, but magic causing the tree to grow bigger and bigger. They all get out and run outside to see the new thing that just sprouted from the earth.
The Tree of Harmony is reborn above at the Castle of the Two Sisters. It's bright blue and purple, with pink and yellow, much more vibrant than Twilight's Kingdom. On top the blue branches come together with the pink crystals like leaves. It's striking. I've read a lot of people say this is one of the more aesthetically pleasing toy designs in the series recently with the Ponyville crystal theme, and yeah, it's all kinda of awesome. However, when I first saw it I couldn't help laughing -- on top it's bald , with blue, beneath that looks to be some eyebrows of pink, and beneath that a beard. It looks like a clown or old man to me with yellow eyes... I can't unsee that, and it's kind of funny ^^.
Before they can ask anything other than "what the heck?" Tree of Harmony Twilight shows up and tells them it was the strength of their friendship that saved the tree, and they can come to the new tree house, as it's there as their pillar of friendship and will help future generations with their friendships. She then disappears and the real Twilight shows up via a teleport spell having felt a burst of magic at the school. No pony really knows where the tree came from, not even Twilight, but they can guess it's part of the Tree of Harmony, as, it followed their attempts to repair it and their teamwork. Twilight simply says the tree has evolved , and they all decide to go in... together.
So, that was Uprooted! It's got a few flaws and plotholes, but honestly... it's kind of a cool episode. It borrows a bit from Castle Sweet Castle, but works in a completely different message. I feel, in part, it might've been inspired by the end of MLP being on the horizon, but maybe also the idea that you can't always put into words or to form necessarily what makes something special to you, and for everybody it's going to be different.
All in all quite awesome, though I found it a bit more enjoyable on a second viewing. Totally worth a rewatch later on.
Hope everyone's well.
Peace! 
-Wayward Pony
As ever always, I thank you for these. The montages with no speaking are murder for visualizing what is going on. Seeing how each of the School six gets their permission slips signed is great. My favorite being Gallus and Silver Stream. :)
Thanks also for sharing what Silver Stream was drawing in the cave. I knew the others were doing what they were doing as, well, a statue is a statue and a tree is a tree. Gallus was more than enthusiastic about his museum and Ocellus' Zen garden was easy to imagine when you heard the description and fountain sound. Silver Stream, though, I was lost. *Shrugs*
This episode is really a good one to show how the spirit of the show will go past Season 9. I've actually been doing some writing on it and posted three of my entries over on Facebook. Hopefully episodes, like this one, will help the fandom realize what we gained over the past decade is far from gone when the canon show is over.
something I thought on was how the, uh, "Treehouse Of Harmony" was kind of a way to set up for G5. It could also be a way to keep fan fictions running as it did refer to how it would be used by future generations. This means the world does not end with Twilight and pals' story arc. :)
Kazootles! Episode 200 is coming? It's astounding to think of how much has changed between Episode 1 and now. This applies not only for the show, but also our own lives.