She's All Yak S9E7 Review · 5:05am May 12th, 2019
Oh goodie, an episode focusing on the worst two of the Student Six...
Before this episode even goes back the intro, I wanna admit I have mixed feelings. Sandbar really is worst pony after the Tree incident, and Yona has never had much to her but "I'm a yak, but cute", and neither of them has had any screentime with the other. So on the one hand I am so disinterested in an episode that tries to ship these two. On the other hand, it means we get a chance to develop these things, so hopefully this episode wins me over and proves me wrong. I don't like disliking the Student Six, I just wish more effort could be made to make them interesting!
They do not. SPOILER ALERT - THE JOKE IS THAT YONA IS A YAK. That means she's a destructive idiot. Like, seriously, the whole first episode is basically another round of "the yaks are destructive idiots, and that's funny". Actually, in Yona's defense, she gets a third word - she's a slob. And I'm sighing because I fear this is gonna go the "I asked Yona to the dance, you're not the Yona I love anymore!" route.
So it's dance time and OH GOD YONA. Like, seriously, what the hell? Rarity must have been drunk because Yona looks awful, seriously. Yona may not be an interesting character, but she does have a cutesy charm to her in a yak way as her normal design, that dress and make-up are hideous. I'll give this scene credit to a few things like Yona making a good joke out of pouring punch on her head, and the fact she actually knows how to dance is appreciated by Sandbar. But then it's time to play round two of "the yaks are destructive idiots, and that's funny". SPOILER ALERT - it isn't funny. It never was. The yaks are not funny. Yaks acting like yaks is not funny. Yona acting like a yak is not funny. Stop trying to make yaks happen, they're not gonna happen. Yona's eyebrow raise in the treehouse scene was funnier than everything else she's done in this episode.
Oh good, here comes the "be yourself" moral. Called it, I win, and the prize I win is the episode is over. Yay. Oh, wait, first let's have an asinine scene of the Mane Six apologizing to Yona, because they didn't mean to turn her into something she's not, nevermind that A) they totally meant to do that, and B) Yona has always been a destructive klutz, you did not make her do anything.
This episode sucked and Yona and Sandbar still suck. I take no joy in saying that. Little would make me happier than to type 'okay, I was wrong, this episode did a great job with them and was a lot of fun to watch' and mean it. I hate having to pause an episode to just recover from the episode, but I had to here, several times. When MLP makes itself a chore to watch, it's a bad sign.
Is it any surprise that the other four of the Student Six are more interesting than Sandbar and Yona? They get the funniest lines, best faces, and a cute gag of them sitting on the floor playing cards while the ponies are dancing.
Yona has more to her character then just being a yak. It's not much, but she is very clearly the heart of the group. She fought against Gallus on the insistence she wasn't mean, I suspect her fear of spiders had more to do with being alone and vulnerable than truly being afraid of creatures that most likely wouldn't exist in a cold climate like Yakyakistan, she was the one who held out that Sandbar wasn't betraying her friends, and she was the one who cared about preserving the memories of the tree, regardless of what that meant.
Sandbar though, I still don't get what the point of him is other than they needed a sixth member. At least if they made him a pegasus or a unicorn he'd be somewhat unique. But he still feels like a poorly made self insert with no personality beyond that. I was hoping this episode would do even just a little bit to try and flesh him out, but it didn't. The ending in particular sort of sunk the episode, it undercut any kind of special connection Sandbar finding Yona had if the mane six were going to go after her but didn't because the plot said so.
From what I saw on streams, this episode looked pretty flat. Not to mention Yona is my least favourite of the Young 6, anyway, as I simply find her irritating.
Why not an identity story with a Changeling (nudge, nudge, hint, hint?)?
This, so much. The best part of this episode is when the pain stops.
I thought there were enough good jokes and sweet moments to make up for the clicheness. And just because something's been done a lot before doesn't mean it's bad.
But I guess it's like DRWolf001 said in his review, how much you like this episode depends on how much you like Yona.
Don't you think you're being a little too mean-spirited?
5057679
No.
5057680
It's just the way you phrase it, it feels like you're saying these characters are an afront MLP in general.
5057681
And if the writers did a better job with them, I wouldn't feel that way.
5057685
Like I said, kind of feels mean-spirited.
It's one thing to not like a character, but to act like they shouldn't exist in general when they show up on screen is just spiteful.
5057688
If they don't add anything meaningful and interesting to the show, then no, they shouldn't exist. The Student Six are a very poorly written, poorly utilized group, Yona and Sandbar are the worst of them in those respects, and this episode was boring and annoying.
5057689
That sounds wrong on several levels.
The student six were brought together in order to showcase how the ideal of friendship can reach all races, not just different Pony tribes, which is why Twilight's school was founded in the first place.
Seeing them interact and work off of each other is what makes them interesting as a group. And their unity is exactly why they work as a team.
Yona and Sandbar aren't the pinnacle of greatly-written characters, but they're certainly not as bad as you're making it out to be. They have their quirks and their flaws like any other characters.
Claiming that they don't deserve to exist is remarkably petty.
5057693
The other races already have friendship, as do several individual members of the Student Six. And it's extremely uncomfortable with racist undertones to think the ponies have to "teach" them how to be friends, as I've discussed in the past.
Yona, maybe. Sandbar does not have a personality, at least not a consistent one, the writers seem to assign him superficial character traits from episode to episode.
No, I'm claiming that if the writers aren't going to do anything with them to make them worth watching, they shouldn't have been brought back for Season 9.
If you disagree with me, fine, I know some people like the Student Six and I won't say they're stupid or wrong or anything for that perspective. But I do not. Aside from What Lies Beneath, I have only ever tolerated the Six, and occasionally one of them (usually Silverstream, Gallus, or Ember) says or does something that makes me laugh. But overall they possess, at best, characterization on-par with a background pony like Lyra or Derpy.
5057697
The problem with that statement is that most of them have only recently been willing to consider the ideal in certain ways:
The changelings have been under a cruel Queen until they were shown a different way. Yeah, they managed to completely reform, but not all ponies realize this. If anything, them having representation is a way of them wanting to have stronger ties with their new allies.
Both the griffins and dragons were stubborn and greedy and had a more "might makes right" mentality. Heck, Dragons are typically aggressive and some can even be bullies. Ember is trying to prove that they're more than just that, and them sending Smolder in is a way of showing they can be capable of learning friendship as well. And the griffons are straight-up hostile for the most part. But what race wouldn't be after losing their prosperity? Gilda's learning friendship clearly inspired some to do much the same.
The same could be said about the yaks. They're often destructive, but still have a sense of comraderie to them. Sending in one of their own is Rutherford's way of saying he realizes that his decisions aren't beneficial.
Lastly, the hippogriffs. Trapped underwater for what seems like several years, hiding from a tyrant who could wipe them all out in an instant, and being completely unaware of the outside world? Yeah, no wonder they need someone attending school! It's like if cavemen were defrosted and needed to adjust to a new society entirely! And that's not even an insult; cavemen were still somewhat smart.
(The above sections were contributed by my friend link)
There are no racist undertones in the ponies trying to reach out to them with nothing but good intentions. It's not just about teaching them friendship, it's about teaching them different aspects of camaraderie, nothing racist about that.
It would be racist if Twilight forced them to come to the school against their wishes, it says a lot when all six of them willingly came in order to give it a try.
You mean Smolder, Ember is the dragon Queen.
They've got more personality than that, their episodes have shown as much.