The Point of No Return Review · 5:05pm Apr 27th, 2019
So, coming off the exciting 200th episode, what does Season 9 have in store for us? Why, another Twilight Sparkle freak out episode of course. Look, alongside her obsession with books this part of her character was fine at first, but the more you keep focusing on it the more it feels like it's all her character has become: Books and freak outs. If it's getting to the point where you can lampshade it and have other characters poke fun at it in universe, that's a sign that you've become too predictable. Just off the top of your head, how many episode can you name that focused on Twilight where she freaked out about something? I guess maybe since "Lesson Zero" was so darn good and also so game changing, that they just had to keep coming back to it somehow. But when "Games Ponies Play" was all about Twilight learning to stay calm, you can't just erase that because it's easier to do stories of her freaking out. I apologize for the ranting, but at this point it's just getting really tiring to see the final season waste its time on throwaway episodes and plots. When it's your final season and you've only got so many episodes, you need to make sure every episode is important, that every episode ties up a loose end of some kind. Anyway, our writer for this episode is (perhaps fittingly enough) G. M. Berrow, and this is the last episode she's penning (and it seems she has stopped writing the chapter books as well, kind of a shame since her last one was a Twilight focused one about a lost city of books, not the best way to go out). Berrow's writing hasn't been bad, but at the same time she's never really hit it out of the park, it always seems like there's something that holds her back and I think I know what it is. She writes for the show like she would write one of her books, and I don't think she ever truly figured out that the show works differently, you need to have higher stakes to warrant investment in an episode, whereas a chapter book can be engaging even if it's just a day in the life type of story. But hey, maybe with the knowledge that this is Berrow's final writing endevaor, maybe she was able to go out on a high note? Well, let's find out.
We begin with fanservice, Derpy is delivering mail and she speaks again. It's nice, but at this point it'd be a bigger surprise if they ever referred to her by name (even just her altered name of Muffins or Bubbles and make a joke about how that's not her real name). So anyways, Princess Celestia has finally gotten around to cleaning out Twilight's old room in the tower in Canterlot (I kind of thought Moondancer would've moved into it or told Celestia it was sitting unoccupied). So she has sent over a box full of old stuff, including a macaroni framed picture of Twilight's family (including Spike), scrolls, a Starswirl plushie (referred to as a G1 figure, probably a nod to the toyline), and a long overdue library book. So Twilight naturally freaks out over this, because as it turns out it's been overdue since she left for Ponyville, and she had a perfect book borrowing record (even going so far as to have a framed picture of her in the library). It seems like the more they try to focus on Twilight's past, the more it seems she was unknowingly being messed up for life with a not so subtle emphasis on perfection. Me thinks she should seek therapy. Maybe Dr. Wolf?
So she goes to the library and it turns out that the book was the one we saw her toss aside in the pilot during her search, meaning this episode really is trying to be the poor man's "Amending Fences" (they even flashback to that scene from the pilot). She tries to return it, and the library appears to have a basement of shame for overdue returns that has never happened before (I guess that's one way to try and scare kids into returning their library books on time). Twilight and Spike head down there to pay the overdue fine, and the pony who oversees the desk is out to lunch at Restaurant Row, which is where Twilight and Spike go. They soon stop at the Tasty Treat, and in an admittedly funny scene Spike gets mistaken for a waiter and just rolls with it. After all, he's used to taking orders from others. And in the mean time, Twilight encounters Moon Dancer. It's definitely nice to see her, but at the same time it just further drives home how this episode is trying to be like "Amending Fences".
Twilight is about to have lunch when she learns that the librarian, Dusty Pages, basically left the library because that book was never returned. She tries to find Dusty only to learn that she has left Canterlot and somehow didn't change her address. Twilight goes all over Equestria to look for her, eventually finding her in a retirement community. And she does everything, except relax in her room. I have to wonder if she ever met Starswirl the Bearded.
When Twilight eventually finds Dusty, she tries to return the book so Dusty can have her job back. Except of course Dusty is retired, willingly so it would seem (despite what other ponies were saying, I think they did it just to mess with Twilight because the plot said so). And on top of that Twilight is still worrying about the overdue fine that she never payed (even though she could've easily done so before setting off to find Dusty). She tries to apologize, finding Dusty in the middle of a paint ball challenge but with fruit. I guess we found the pony equivalent to Splatoon.
It's then that Dusty explains that she left because of the book never being returned, not because it ruined her career (even the most successful of librarians wouldn't pride themselves on how many books they checked in or out, or how good their record of returns was, that's not under their control) but because it made her realize she was emphasizing perfection way too much. Now she's not afraid to try to do things even though she may fail at them, in fact she says she learns more from failure than she does success. It's not a bad moral, but didn't we already kind of get the "Try new things, even if you don't think you need to" moral with Rumble? It's not a direct rehash, but it does feels kind of like part two of that moral.
The episode ends with the late fine being more or less waived since they got a new edition of the book after Twilight left for Ponyville, and so the old version she has is no longer in demand (libraries don't usually keep outdated versions or copies, especially when they're a prime hub for research projects). Twilight then decides she'll keep the book as a reminder that perfection isn't achievable all the time. I guess that's one way to prevent her from becoming Perfect Cell.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, it's pretty much what I thought it was, another "Fluttershy Leans In" and "Grannies Gone Wild", an episode that's just trying to pad out the run time with a paper thin plot that is not very engaging. In this case it really decides to just embrace whole hog its image as a poor man's "Amending Fences" even down to Moondancer making an appearance and it all being tied to Twilight's past. It does sort of try to keep you engaged, but it changes direction so many times from Twilight trying to return the book, to trying to pay the overdue fine, to trying to find Dusty Pages, to trying to make it up to Dusty Pages, to finally learning it's okay to not be perfect. What few bits of comedy there are don't last very long, and most of it comes from Spike either trying (and failing) to be the voice of reason, or just being on the receiving end of general slapstick. At least I get why they would wanna rehash "Amending Fences", it's an episode that even those who don't like the later seasons usually tend to enjoy (not everyone does though, I know some who don't like it for valid reasons), which is more than can be said for episodes like "Uprooted" which rehash episodes that were really bad, or "Non-Compete Clause" which was a rehash that was both unwanted and unnecessary. Still, rehashing older episodes only gets you so far, especially if you're not really doing anything different or just changing direction because your plot doesn't fill up an episode. In the end, this episode gets a C, placing it above "Uprooted" which was beyond disappointing for our first student six episode of the season, but below the much stronger written "The Beginning of the End" which seems to have had the opposite problem of this episode (it throws so much at you that it can be hard to keep up).
Well, the good news is that now we've got what looks to be a promising string of episodes coming up for the month of May. First up is "Common Ground", the return of Quibble Pants who enlists Rainbow Dash's help to help him bond with his special friend's daughter (not sure why they can't call her girlfriend, especially since she's being voiced by Patton's new wife). Buckball also looks to be making a return, so it should be pretty good. Family was a strong theme in Season 7 and produced some of the best episodes of that season, so hopefully that's a recipe for success next week.
I think this is going to be a theme in season 9. Have a lot of returning characters and our episode ideas.
I think I enjoyed it more than you did, but I do agree that of the four so far, it's the second weakest.
For me, while this was definitely a filler-ish episode (insofar as that word can be applied to a show like this), it was still pretty entertaining
I thought the episode was good. To me, the episode looks more into Twilight’s habit of making assumptions before finding out what really happened. Since season 9 is the last, this episode was probably made to drive more into Twilight’s assumption and perfection habits. Even though Twilight’s assumptions don’t always come true, it was good to see that one of her assumptions was wrong for good reasons. Dusty’s retirement wasn’t as ridiculously awful as what Discord did in “What about Discord”. Thanks to Twilight, Dusty was able to retire and do things she wants. I also enjoyed the call backs to season 1 and the old animation that was added to show how different the seasons were in animations. For the next episode, it sounds to me like a good story involving a boyfriend or girlfriend getting along with a single parent’s child.
Would you say that Twilight's freak outs are about as overplayed as say Fluttershy constantly relearning to stand up for herself?
As for the next episode, I can't help but get the feeling Caballeron will make an appearance with some half-baked scheme to get revenge on Rainbow Dash and Quibble Pants for what happened in Stranger Than Fan Fiction. I don't know, maybe he kidnaps the daughter to spite them or something?
Did I call it or what of MoonDancer returning in this episode, everyone? X3
5050279 Caballeron seems primarily fixated on Daring Do. Unless Rainbow and Quibble end up somewhere close to one of her exploits I doubt he'll even appear.
5050595
Yeah, you make a good point. Not to mention it would come off as incredibly forced if they just threw him into the story for the sake of having a climax.
Anyway, as for this episode, I would say it's pretty average. Not the worst, but not one of the series' best either. Aside from a few decent jokes and the noteworthy moral about how perfection is next to impossible for anyone to achieve, the story is like you said just a rehash of Amending Fences. You know, I think this whole episode was just an excuse for the show staff to push out one more "Twilight freak out" episode before the series finale. Then again, it could simply be the fact this came right off the heels of the 200th episode that it felt so underwhelming, much like how Princess Spike aired right after the 100th episode. Of course, given the choice between the two, I would certainly take this over Princess Spike any day.
5050988 Well, we know the episodes aren't worked on in any particular order. So in both cases I don't think they ever intentionally planned certain scripts to fall after certain milestones. In both cases though, it feels like the writer or writers for the episode immediately after the milestone just weren't trying.
This pretty much sums up what I thought of the episode in general:
I liked this episode. Twilight reminds me of whenever I freakout when I mess up at work and load a customer with the wrong stuff, but I learn to accept it and move on. Twilight was in full freakout mode here.