Frenemies Season 9 Episode 8 · 5:46pm May 18th, 2019
MEANWHILE, at the Legion of Doom...
Like, right off the bat, I love how dysfunctional the villains are. Tirek lifting weights as framed by the pic is just hilarious to me, and Chrysalis just wants to maim something, only Cozy recognizes they should work together but she's so annoying the others ignore her. The meeting, the weights, the cupcakes, Tirek draining Chryssy and then denying it... it's wonderful. I expect fanart of Chrysalis fawning over her log to be incoming. SONG. Oh this is glorious. Seriously, every single scene is funny, I kept having to rewind to catch the song because I was laughing over it.
Grogar sends the trio to retrieve his bell from an enchanted mountain, and of course each of the three goes it alone. We get a chance to appreciate all the villains here, as Chrysalis just heads in not letting anything stop her and using her shapeshifting to surmount obstacles, Tirek surveils things and decides to relax while the others scout the area for him, and Cozy tries to manipulate the mountain's keeper to get him to help her one way or the other.
While the three camp out they share stories of their villainous golden days, particularly how much they hate Twilight and enjoyed seeing her squirm and wanna do it again. While the three each want to be leader in their own way, they realize it's better to put aside their differences and work towards Twilight's defeat. Working together the three scale the mountain and make it to the cave holding Grogar's bell, but find it shielded. Cozy suggests Tirek absorb Chrysalis' magic to be strong enough to break the barrier, and though she's of course hesitant, she agrees. Tirek regrows to his final form and blasts the shield, creating a small hole that Cozy slips through to get the bell, and Tirek then returns Chrysalis' magic to her.
The three realize Good Feels Good, but Chrysalis rejects the idea of embracing friendship on account of what it did to their hive. The three agree to not turn good, but also make a pact to turn on Grogar together, so they can get back to working alone. The three return to Grogar and claim they failed their mission, and Grogar storms off, unaware they're just keeping the bell for themselves.
This is a fantastic episode, one of the best of the season easily. The first half is plain comedy gold with the villains playing off each other, then the second half showcases how their individual talents can all be useful. The only weakness of the episode is Cozy Glow in this part - while it perfects fits Tirek to let the others brave the danger while he relaxes, and Chrysalis using her shapeshifting to help her is great, Cozy's manipulations of the mountain keeper fail miserably and she gets nothing valuable from her interactions. She ought to have gained some benefit, like information or a key they need, or something. But that is balanced out with how Cozy is the quickest of the three to embrace teamwork and recognize its benefits, so she still shows her intelligence and pragmatism.
And then there's Grogar, who understands teamwork only on a fundamental level - yes, the Mane Six always win because they work together, but while he wants to do the same, he has no real ideas of how. It helps a lot that he's totally hypocritical in his rule, giving the trio orders to stop squabbling and work together, while he uses his power to push them around and demands unquestioned loyalty. I like that the episode hints the trio may perform a good turn eventually, but doesn't telegraph it in a way that it'll be obvious, they still may not and it'll fit. And their scheming to betray Grogar is delicious and I'm eager to see how this develops.
Overall just a great episode for comedy and character.
That log Chrysalis had?
It's what became of evil clone Twilight.
Yeah, this was a fun episode. :D I wasn't sure how much I would like Tirek being a recurring character, but I really appreciate his role in this. He had the best plan!
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Oh yes, she absolutely wants to "defeat" Twilight and carries it around as a "reminder" of her "desire".
There's a reason everyone said it looked like a dildo. :V
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What was that cow-like snake thing that Chrysalis turned into to seduce the male bull-snake thing?
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Lamia, I think?
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That would be a Ophiotaurus
It’s a creature from Greek mythology, creatures of chaos and it said that their skin could burn whoever touched it. Even an immortal.
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Wow, they have centaurs, Changelings, Manticores, griffons, hippogryphs, Dragons, Sirens, and Yaks.
This was an absolutely amazing episode, and for me the very best this season.
I admit thats because I have difficulty enjoying cringe humor that made the 200th so great, and thus writing wise, 200 probably beats this one.
But every single joke hit home, it hints at the future while giving them the option to bait and switch in the season final, and all the characters are well written and enjoyable in how they bounce off each other.
It also makes sense that Chrysalis is used to Team Work a bit, given she was a Queen. But its also good that she creates an artificial difference between a team of family/minions like her changlings were, and friends. It shows more then any of them, how much of a selfish hypocrite she is....but also that she maybe the first to find true Friendship of the evil team.
My ONLY complaint with this episode is the missed opportunity when Chrysalis was imitating Twilight. Given Changelings can imitate voices perfectly, we could have had Tara putting on a sarcastic and evil voice as she mocked Twilight. Instead we got something that felt slightly forced, and didn't make sense given Chrysalis could literally perfectly imitate Twilight and then make the "Derrrr, I am Twilight, and I have made a list of how many reasons why I failed" tone of voice.