(Spoiler review) What Lies Beneath

Still need to catch up on season 8. Don't worry. I won't be out of the loop once season 9 ends. I plan on binging the show until then. So hopefully I'll get a review done a day. So let's start with this one.

So it's a Student six episode. My least favorite grouping of the show thus far. I never would have thought I'd find something to beat out the CMC or Spike for this position but here it is. Perhaps the show runners aren't as good with kid focused episodes instead of their adult counterparts. This isn't to say there haven't been Student Six episodes I've liked. I think... one? So far that I really did enjoy. Still this episode wasn't bad but it had its problems.

So the episode opens up with Twilight giving a seminar about the Tree of Harmony and its special properties before the class bell stops the class. It's interesting to see the ponies relaying their history to others. History is honestly my favorite subject or in this case it was more the 'properties' of the tree itself but it is tied to their history quite closely. So they go on, Gallus makes a tree joke about helping with the test and then something magical happens in a grate.

We'll get to that.

So they started studying and then Cozy Glow comes along. She asks them how they are doing and they lament how they're having trouble studying and such about friendship and pony history. (During which Ocellus turns into AJ and Twilight for a few jokes. I guess the others have influenced her at this point.) To which then Cozy starts to get under their skin by basically telling them that since they aren't ponies, friendship just isn't in their nature. Whelp, at this point it's obvious Cozy's this season's villain. Other times you could play it off as one thing or another. Here though? No denying it. She's evil. So they listen to her since they have no reason not to and start to doubt themselves.

Then they hear strange noises inside a grate nearby and decide the best course of action is to go inside it. I guess none of these kids have ever seen a horror film. This is a bad idea. And it turns out, it is one since they are almost immediately greeted by a shining image of Twilight Sparkle. Said image is slow in her speaking and other little mannerisms and while they are creeped out, it's Ocellus who says they should head back. She isn't the best of the lot for nothing.

But low and behold, said image gets angry when the six doubt that friendship is in their blood. So it traps them down there to test them.... I'm going to be brief. The tests vary for me and how they are solved.

Most of them completed their tasks on their own. Ocellus and Silverstream didn't. They needed help and while these were good moments, they seemed incredibly out of place when a majority of the group did so on their own. This was not about friends helping others. I guess it's to show that not all problems can be solved by themselves but...

1. Gallus's problems had nothing to do with friendship! He was stuck in an ever inclosing space that could literally kill him if he did wrong. (Like seriously tree, what the buck?!!) He just had to solve a puzzle and he did so on his own. This test had nothing to do with friendship.

2. And Smolder's was the same way. It had nothing to do with friendship. All Smolder had to do was admit something to herself. This does come back later to help another friend but the test itself isn't about friendship. It's about yourself. While Gallus's was still just a bloody puzzle.

3. Yona just had to shout for help, I guess? Well she had to admit that she needed help and that she couldn't do it on her own but... I dunno, seemed lazy, this test. She's scared of spiders which is honestly understandable given how poisonous some can be. She does befriend them after she shouts for a friend but... still.

4. Ocellus was about her own nature. I liked this one the most given how it ties both Smolder and Ocellus together in a meaningful way about how one sees themselves and their inner self. Still a bit out of place since she didn't do it on her own but still.

5. Silverstream. Facing your fears. It was a cute moment between her and Gallus and honestly, felt it did it better then what Yona had to do but still. She didn't do it on her own.

6. Sandbar is an idiot. He does not notice how Rarity and Rainbow Dash were acting for that long? Didn't question them immediately if they had seen his friends? He just goes along with them. I know it's because of how he looked up to them but given how we've not seen this level of blind devotion in previous episodes, it comes out of nowhere and just makes Sandbar look kind of dumb. He does call them out later but it's the third time. All of the others completed their tasks much earlier.

So yeah, the tests were a mixed bag with one or two not really having much to do with friendships. So the tree says they all pass and let's them go. Then they meet Cozy Glow and...

She convinces them not to tell the professors about this incident. Okay, look. She 'might' have a point about her own actions but they could EASILY tell the professors about the magic they found WITHOUT telling on Cozy. So yeah, the Student Six are idiots here because that and then they all go to see because.... I guess they are tired? It's still in the middle of the day and they didn't do a ton of excercize. Ugh. Well Cozy gets her way because she's obviously smarter then most anyone her age apparently.

So overall this is an alright episode with some good moments and some idiot moments. Nothing too shocking since it is a Student Six one. I didn't even have much to say about it.

Well apart from WHY THE HECK DOES THE TREE OF HARMONY NOT CONTACT TWILIGHT AND THE OTHERS?!! It's content to just lounge around and help out random students? Why? It should be going upside and telling Twilight, the bleeding Element of Magic, it is fine. That' it's evolving. This makes no damn sense and feels like its only done to allow a certain villain an opportunity later or some stupid reason. Ugh, it's just so stupid I can't think on it properly.

So still, overall okay with some problems.