Mini Re-Reviews: "Lesson Zero" - Season 2 Episode 3

DISCORD: "Oh Twilight, you are a card! Why is it that you're always so glum and serious whenever I'm around, when you had this level of chaos in you? Oh, the things I missed in nearly 1.5 seasons of being in stone!"
TWILIGHT: "Discord... would you like to find out whether the 'Want It, Need It' spell works on draconequi?"
DISCORD: "...You know what, Twilight? I think you have this one in hand. I'll sit a few of these intros out, it'll make you long for my brand of chaos more. Have fun!"

"Lesson Zero" may well be the most meta and self-aware episode of the 29 in the series to this point. This fan-favourite episode is chocker-block full of moments that either directly or indirectly comment on varying aspects of the characters or the show itself. And not just in the script either; Spike in particular delivers tons of unexpected visual "gotcha" moments throughout the episode, especially in the first half. And on the visuals, I was also flabbergasted on rewatching this. We all know how great watching Twilight going insane is in this episode, and we all know as much of that is down to the facial expression as with the script or Tara Strong's acting (never before or since did she clearly have so much joy in a character that, by later seasons, had lost almost all space for her to ham it up), but just as much of that, and the episode's final effect, comes down to creative storyboarding.
As I watched this one, I was flabbergasted at how many creativity there was in gags, layout, camera position and so on. I'd gotten so used to the creatively stifled storyboarding and layout of the later series (lacking as they do a lot of inspired comedy to work off of doesn't help, of course), that it was already quite enlightening to be watching that in play in Season 1 again. But here we witness the show's storyboarders contributing in crucial, obvious ways to an episode's effect. Obviously the fandom was so huge back in the day that the storyboard artists did receive some attention, but it was but a mere fraction of that the writers got, as storyboarding is, for the most part, only something professional or aspiring animators can really read and appreciate. Except when its effect on the episode is as obvious beneficial as it is here.

Ah, but this review's getting heavily technical for such a crazy, off-the-walls episode. Really, I stuck with the above angle for a spell because every other angle about Lesson Zero has been dissected to death by this point, and as my take on the episode isn't different from most people's, I have little else fresh to say. Regardless, I'll do as I always do.

"Lesson Zero" is the episode where, after watching Twilight's OCD tendencies appear here and there at the margins of problems in gradually less subtle ways throughout the latter half of Season 1, said tendencies come out in full force. It's harmless at first, just being her having enough checklists to drown in and items on said checklists for more checklists, but befitting a crazy script that is still structured well, things escalate proportionally with Twilight's mane getting more and more dishevelled. Things don't truly start to unravel until Spike remarks that they don't have to send a friendship report to Celestia this week, so the checklists are done. Once Twilight realises she's only got until sundown until it's been a week since her last letter, she's darting all over the place around Spike, in the first instance where the creative storyboarding really grabs the viewer. Not just Twilight either; part of it is Spike dismissing whatever backdrop appears behind Twilight as she exposits her worries, in the visual self-aware moments. Because she of course doesn't listen to her faithful baby dragon friend, she sets off to fix whatever friendship problem must surely be happening around Ponyville instead.

From there until the halfway point, we follow Twilight as she happens upon what she presumes is problems with her friends, but turn out to not be at all. Said sequences, by the way all provide both fan meme fuel while poking fun at each of the characters' usual issues - Rarity making drama out of nothing while devouring the scenery, Applejack and Rainbow Dash fighting, and Fluttershy's fear issues (Pinkie is absent, presumably because Twilight presumes she's too happy to have a problem going on right now). Rarity's fainting couch and repeated motif of "This is the. Worst. Possible! THING!" is the standout, but Fluttershy presumably wrestling a bear to the ground is very nearly as good. Twilight's therapist getup to a confused Rainbow Dash caught me off guard in the best possible way, it was something I'd forgotten. Now properly worried about her, Spike tries to calm her down but only serves to remind her of the picnic with all of the others. When they all take her problem as seriously as Spike did earlier on, she stampedes off, and we're off to the races.

You all know the final third of the episode: now sporting Nightmare Faces galore, Twilight hits upon the notion of artificially creating a friendship problem instead. When the CMC instead fight over who should take the fall and play with her old worn-down dorky doll, Twilight goes a continent past the bridge too far and enchants the doll to be desired by them, but casts the obsessive love spell so powerful that soon half the town in ensnared in it. If Pinkie losing her marbles is unsettling, Twilight doing so is far more nerve-wracking, given ever pre-ascension she was one of the most powerful unicorns around. The episode has been so meta and zany to this point that it's not off-putting of course, which is perhaps for the best, as it's easy to imagine Twilight going this far just being annoying to watch (hell, forget imagining it, just recall that Season 9 exists for a second. You know the episode).

Celestia arrives before things get too out of hand and reverses the spell. Thankfully, the ReMane 5 come to Twilight's defence and say they should have taken her worries more seriously. Only now does the true agenda of the episode become clear, with Celestia altering the status quo to any of them should send her friendship reports, but only when there's something to report. We also learn that it was Spike who alerted Celestia of what was happening, one of the first and best early instances of him being treated as less of a buttmonkey (though the letter-writing denouement still gets in a sideways pass in that direction).

This is one of the best status quo changes the series made, and I think one of the few that pretty much everyone can agree was unanimously positive. Up to now, the end-of-show reports meant Twilight was always in an episode, even when she had little to do with either the lesson or the episode itself. It's a minor issue, as things go, but one that could have gotten stale with that formula fast. With this change, the show shifts from Twilight being the main character to being the main face of the leading ensemble (and it also allows for more episodes focused on characters outside of the Mane 6). At this stage, the show is so excellent at subverting formulas ever so slightly or just pulling them off so well, that doing what it can to avoid staleness in the morals and their delivery is unquestionably a good decision.

Back on the episode as a whole, it's easy to compare this to 'Party of One', but where that revealed much we hadn't seen before of Pinkie, this one simply expands greatly on aspects of Twilight we hadn't seen before. It is thus, perhaps, not as surprising an episode, but I think I prefer it; the storyboarding creativity may make me biased, but I feel the evidence is there to see in the episode (Rarity's two further "Worst. Possible! THING!" gags and the fainting couch are of course gold). If I had any doubts about the early streak of hits in Season 2 not holding up, they were quenched here. With a 9.5/10 on this one, Season 2 is off to a phenomenal start.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS
- I've decided to split future reviews into their own separate blogs. Won't affect them otherwise, it'll just mean no extra scrolling for the second in a pair. And that the captioned header images get more visual exposure, being at the top now, ha. Only exception will be two-parters, they'll stick to a single post, though they will still be covered as two separate episodes altogether.
- Between this and "Party of One", it's an even small wonder Meghan McCarthy wondered if others viewed her as a "crazy episodes" writer, given you usually get assigned episodes based on your writing strengths.
- Some of the background info on the show's storyboarders comes from this interview by Everfree Northwest. There's a whole hour before the two interviewees show up, those just as good, but even these 20 minutes alone made for enlightening background listening, like one artists there inserting the gag of Twilight expanding out of the ball to startle the CMC. Yes, I do often dig around old convention and podcast interviews for as much behind-the-scenes info as I can dig up, why do you ask?
- The sound effects to enhance the craziness were top-notch too - the sound used for the sun jerking closer to sundown is an obvious winner, and much of the SFX accompanying Twilight's Nightmare Faces are winners too.
- I'd like to think that Big Mac still making off with the Smarty Pants doll even after the spell was lifted, rather then any of the mares, might be the first case of the staff giving a direct "I see you lot" nod towards all the adult males out there absorbing and loving this show.
- Oh, and the nature of Twilight having to write a report every week (the show's airing schedule) and her dilemma of having nothing to report on (calling into question why there should be an episode) is another layer to the self aware meta commentary that I couldn't find an organic spot for in the review. Here it is anyway. Enjoy.