Frenemies Review · 4:36pm May 18th, 2019
Well, Italy basically aired this and the next two episodes early but in Italian. And now supposedly Canada is going to start doing double episodes each week, meaning they could potentially overtake the U.S. in airing new episodes. I doubt it will happen, but at this point Hasbro might actually not care, they might just think "It's the last season, the sooner we can dump it the sooner we can move on" (I hope that's not their mentality). Anyway, with an episode focused solely on the villains, we have Michael Vogel returning to write. Michael's been pretty good, his most recent endeavor included the popular special "The Best Gift Ever" (now treated as an episode despite being double the length of one). He's penned pretty solid episodes and apparently Brian Hohlfeld is on close terms with him despite Michael not running the show (kind of wish he was since he's not VP of Hasbro anymore and Meghan McCarthy isn't coming back). So, was Michael able to continue his writing streak, or did he somehow finally crank out a dud? Well, let's find out.
We begin with Grogar stewing over his mystical ball and having to put up with complaints from the three villains about how the others are telling lies and can't be trusted. He quickly loses his patience and silences them all, ordering them to start working together. Cozy Glow takes the idea to heart, trying to bring Chrysalis and Tirek together, but the both of them don't trust each other and only seem to be united on the fact that they both can't stand Cozy Glow at all (I get Tirek since he was trapped in Tartarus, but I'm not exactly sure why Chrysalis hates Cozy). This leads into the song "Better Way to be Bad" sung by Cozy, then by Chrysalis and Tirek as they bond over not liking Cozy. It's sort of like a reverse friendship song.
Grogar is less than pleased that they're still not working together, so he demonstrates his power and then orders them all on a team building exercise. Long ago, Gusty the Great stole his bewitching bell and hid it high atop Mount Everhoof where it was impossible for anypony to reach it. Now, Grogar has located it, but insists the villains won't reach it if they all go it alone. Despite this, and despite Cozy hoping for them to work together, Tirek and Chrysalis split up and leave Cozy behind. So Cozy decides to do it alone as well.
Tirek sets to work on making camp while Chrysalis and Cozy both try to tackle the slopes by themselves. Chrysalis manages to get quite a ways up using her natural shapeshifting abilities, but has trouble making it across a chasm with super strong wind gusts. Meanwhile, Cozy attempts to pull the cute and innocent routine on a lone pony guarding the path up to the top, but he insists that it's his job to keep ponies off the slopes. When he pulls out the friendship journal, Cozy loses it and snaps.
Undeterred, Cozy tries again and again, but each time she is stopped by the mountain. Then she shouts so loud that she triggers an avalanche and gets swept down the slope. Covered in snow and freezing, she makes her way to Tirek's campfire where he delights in her misfortune.
Cozy gets into an argument with him that attracts a weird bull/snake like creature. But Chrysalis comes to the rescue, posing as a female version of the creature and draining its love. Cozy apparently is disgusted by this.
That night, the villains find something to all bond over, their mutual hatred of Twilight and her friends. They even swap stories about how they almost won, and Chrysalis impersonates Twilight (rather poorly I might add). Then the next day they all work together to make it up the slope and to the summit. However, the bell is protected by a magical barrier. Cozy devises a plan whereby Tirek steals Chrysalis' magic to open a hole to retrieve the bell, then he gives it back afterward. Reluctantly, Chrysalis and Tirek agree and Tirek uses Chrysalis' magic to beef himself up. Even then, he can only open a hole small enough for Cozy to fit through, and only for a little bit. Fortunately, Cozy is able to retrieve it.
Tirek gives Chrysalis back her magic and the villains seem poised to become friends, until Chrysalis sees what's happening and basically snaps them out of it.
Tirek and Cozy point out how Grogar wanted them to work together, and Chrysalis mentions how Grogar is too powerful. She plots for them to become Starscreams to Grogar, pretending to be loyal to him while they hatch their own plan to backstab him. They pretend they couldn't retrieve the bell despite working together, and Grogar shows off more of his power as he storms off. It's then revealed that Chrysalis hid the bell nearby but out of sight. Probably not a good hiding spot, Grogar's bound to notice it or stumble over it before long. And then he's probably going to react as well as Megatron always reacts to Starscream's attempts to betray him.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? It's hilarious, and also surprisingly enjoyable. An episode of the villains just trying to outdo each other and refusing to work together shouldn't be enjoyable, but it is. I think it helps that most of the misfortune falls on Cozy Glow, as if they're admitting she was a really weak villain. Heck, in a way, it's like these three have become the Team Rocket of FiM (Chrysalis is Jessie, Tirek is James, and Cozy Glow is Meowth).
We finally get to see more of Grogar and why the other villains would ever listen to him, besides just their respect of him. He's powerful, and has a very short temper and tolerance. I find it interesting he mentions how Gusty the Great couldn't defeat him directly and that in his mind she was self righteous. I have to wonder if that's true, Gusty was only interested in stopping Grogar for her own reasons, not necessarily for the good of all Equestria (probably not, but you never know). I find it especially interesting that Chrysalis was the one to stop them from becoming friends, I suspected Cozy was going to be the sabotager acting on Grogar's orders. Though that does make you wonder why Grogar picked Cozy Glow in the first place since he couldn't have known she would be the one to retrieve the bell. Still, it's interesting to see how the villains play off each other and it's very good at doing that. In the end I easily give an A+, putting it above even "Common Ground" for the best episode of Season 9 so far.
Well, next week is going to be interesting. We have the episode "Sweet and Smoky" where Fluttershy accompanies Spike and Smolder to the dragon lands to see the new baby dragons hatch, only to find out they're not hatching and that Smolder is hoping to patch things up with her brother. However, I also know who will be writing it, Kim Beyer Johnson, the same writer who gave us the disastorus "Non-Compete Clause", so any hope I have of the episode being good is all but out the window. Who knows though, Brian's first episode this season was his weakest episode so far, so maybe Kim will somehow surprise me?
Not only is this my second favorite episode of the series (behind only Crusaders of the Lost Mark), but it also made me slightly open to the idea of Cozy Glow reforming.
As for next week's episode, as someone who's already seen it, I can sum it up best: "pleasantly surprising".
5060479 I hope I'll be the same, especially since it seems like after that the chances of getting an episode anywhere as strong as this one won't be until the mid-season finale, which doesn't bode well for the overall season unless they're saving the best for last.
5060488
I'm actually kind of looking forward to Student Council and Last Crusade
This was an amazing episode!
I mean, I do love myself a good villain team-up, but the way they interacted in this episode was incredible!
I'm not going to lie, I honestly thought that Grogar would wise up and do something to trick them into betraying each other so they didn't get too smart and rise up against him, but the episode left it open for them to start plotting on their own. I love it!
9/10
Not going to lie though, I did not expect the new musical number between these three to be anything like what we got. I enjoyed it don't get me wrong, but I thought it was going to be something like this:
Sombra: "...I don't sing."
5060500 I'm looking forward to the former, even if it sounds like a hold over from Season 8. The latter though, the synopsis alone has me worried. There is no way they can possibly expect me to believe they'll break up the CMC after all this time, just because it's the last season. And if the speculation is true and we do see Scootaloo's parents (not holding my breath on that one) I'm worried they're gonna take the easy route and just make them like Spoiled Rich to explain why Scootaloo never brings them up.
5060513
Fair enough
Yeah. Thanks for sharing the info on this episode. And, yeah, this episode, while definitely sounds enjoyable, shows a good reason WHY Grogar's Legion of Doom idea is doomed to failure. Either Grogar is going to find out about the others' scheming to backstab him and beat them to the punch (which I find to be the most likely outcome) or Tirek, Cozy and Chrysalis will pull a Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work and succeed in taking down Grogar JUST as he is about to finish off Twilight and her friends (though the Mane Six will trick the three villains into turning against each other before they have a chance to do anything else). Or, alternatively, Grogar's plan will come so close to succeeding that Twilight is only able to stop it by pulling off a Heroic Sacrifice (VERY akin to Superman's now-classic fight with Doomsday) - in other words, the good guys are only able to win because the main hero literally gives her life to save her friends and world.
Either way, it makes the season/series finale kind of predictable.
5060536 I can't forsee the latter happening.
So now, it seems there will be a contest of who surrenders to the ways of friendship first.
Now I kind of wonder if the 3 will try and summon Nightmare Moon to help them take on Grogar and the Elements of Harmony, but fail because something goes wrong in the attempt.
And I'm not sure if I heard it correctly, but did Chrysalis call Starlight Glimmer a sheep?
Also you said:
Chrysalis despises all ponies in general, only using them as means to consume love, and I have a feeling we may get a back story on why she became the ways she did, but I may be wrong.
Now, to be honest. I see why Grogar brought in Tirek, his brute strength will come in handy. I understand bring in Chrysalis. She's a tactical genius, granted, she's gone a little loopy since the loss of her hive.
But Cozy Glow?
She's got noting unique except a thirst for power. Any pony can be cute and lovable. Even Bulk Biceps, who "is" a bit of a longshot.
I'm just waiting for next weekend's episode at this point.
5060536
https://m.To be honest, I can see something more like the Superman vs Darkseid scenario they had in the end of Justice League Unlimited, where either Discord, both of the Royal sisters, Starlight, or Twilight herself cut loose, cause Grogar can take it.
For the next episode, I can just tell you're praying Kim Beyer-Johnson doesn't regress Fluttershy's character like she did with Applejack and Rainbow Dash in Non-Compete Clause, and make this into another "Fluttershy learns to stand up for herself" plot.
5060543
Yeah. I have to admit, that last one seems like one of the least likely to me too. And, aside from a flat out The Bad Guy Wins ending, that is the one I would want to see THE LEAST. Still, considering this IS the final season, it stands to reason that things like Contractual Immortality will be right out the window when the finale comes around.
As I said though, I DESPERATELY hope the writers don't go in the direction of having any of the main heroes die in the final battle, but depending on the writers, you never know.
5060602
Yeah. That might be really good to see.
I believe that the episode was good as it was an update on how the legion of doom are doing. The song fit well with the idea of working together and I liked the part when Chysalis and Tirek argued to show that they still have a long way to go before they get along. Another part I liked was when Rusty Bucket mentioned a past friendship lesson and Cozy got angry as friendship was used against her once again. I especially liked the part when the villains all learned friendship lessons and then got grossed out. Just goes to show that the villains don’t change in a full 180. What got me surprised was when the villains hid the bell from Grogar instead of giving it to him. I’m getting the feeling that Grogar will make an alternative plan that will make the bell obsolete.
5060667
I saw a lot of youtube reviewers bring up the "Chrysalis talks to a log piece" bit, and there were a few things going through my head about that.
Firstly, she's not the only one who talks to an inanimate object. We also got Maud who talks to Boulder, and Cheese Sandwich who talks to a rubber chicken. And perhaps there's more merit to Chrysalis rambling to the log. One thing that caught my attention was that the log was Twilight's color scheme for her fur. Also, Disney has a walking talking tree named Groot. In Avatar, the souls live within the trees of their planet, and in Ferngully, the Trees feel pain, and humans can't feel it, they're numb from the brain down.
So yeah. I can actually see Chrysalis able to understand a log, when no one else can.
Still trying to figure out this Gusty the Great Character though. Were they a G1 pony?
-sigh- I just want one thing for Chrysalis: Have her be reformed once and for all. Please..... it's all I ask for her! ;-;
5060551 Yeah, I still don't know what exactly Grogar has in Cozy Glow. I think he accidentally grabbed her, and doesn't know what to do with her. Ironically, she seems to have some use for the friendship lessons, so it might be that she is more misguided than outright evil but unlike others she lacks the desire or ability to see that.
It was at this point the Legion of Doom realized they’re only pawns in Grogar’s plan. They want him to do something he can’t do himself: retrieve his Bell. When he gets what he wants, he’ll have no further use for them, and he’ll destroy them without a second thought.
It was an awesome villain episode with a lot of good parts. They better hope that Grogar doesn't find out, because otherwise...