My Review of MLP: FIM season 9 episode 6 Common Ground

Grading Scale:

A (fantastic episode)
A- (an excellent episode with at least one flaw)
B+ (a great episode with a couple of flaws)
B (a good episode which still could have been better)
B- (a good episode with numerous flaws but still rewatchable)
C+ (a decent episode)
C (eh... it’s not terrible but not good either)
C- (it’s not worth rewatching although it does have good elements)
D+ (a bad episode with a few good things in it)
D (a really bad episode with wasted potential)
D- (a terrible episode with badly written characters and butchered moral)
F (horrible and unwatchable)

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Good evening! Here is my review of MLP: FIM season 9 episode 6 Common Ground. This is one of those Buckball themed episodes which usually are uninteresting at best since I’m not much of a sports person (although I do have a thing for Tennis). However, this episode was quite... surprising and very interesting. Mainly because Quibble Pants returned for the final season in this episode along with two new characters. According to this source , Patton Oswalt’s wife Meredith Salenger first teased this episode in an Instagram post on March 16, 2018, saying she, Oswalt, and their daughter Alice Rigney Oswalt recorded an episode of My Little Pony that is "all about family".[2] I got to say that I was really happy to see his character come back again since he was quite intriguing for me in the episode Stranger than Fanfiction. After watching the episode, I felt that these new characters were relatable in some way. I think that it’s really important to remind the audience about family and how family is to cope with stressful challenges, hardships, and emotions. Admittedly, this episode was good.

The episode opens with Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Snails being recognized as Buckball’s current champions as they have been experts in this game for a long time. After walking out of the theater, the three ponies decide to prepare for the Buckball Game Tournament; meanwhile, Rainbow Dash wants to go to the museum nearby as she wanted to check the exhibits as a favor to Applejack. However, she discovers a tent encamped in front of it. She was confused as to why somepony would want to place a tent near a museum. To her surprise, Quibble Pants exits the tent and meets with her again. Heh, I bet so many QuibbleDash shippers went insane with joy to see them together again. But then...

TWO NEW CHARACTERS! YAYY!! We don’t see them again until the epilogue episode for a cameo but... HOORAY STILL!!

Anyway, Quibble has a new special somepony in his life. (Glass breaks) Sorry, QuibbleDash shippers... your ship has sunk. His girlfriend’s name is Clear Sky. Her daughter’s name is Wind Sprint. Umm... is it me or does her color and mane look similar to Twilight’s? As for her character and personality, you can clearly (pun intended) see that she doesn’t like Quibble being around as a new “dad” so to speak and him acting so ridiculous. For those of us who have stepparents, you can relate to what she thinks and how she feels. When we go through some family issues like loss of a parent through death or divorce, we feel as if no one else can replace them and give us the same love and tenderness that we had from our parents. So this episode handled the topic of “family” very well in my opinion.

I apologize if I jerked a tear from your eyes after I typed those words. That’s just what I took from this episode and how it is so relatable in that aspect alone.

Throughout the episode, Quibble Pants tried so hard to win the approval of Wind Sprint by attempting to prove his knowledge and skill of ball-bucking which he severely lacks in both departments. So Rainbow Dash tries to help him by training him to buck properly. Unfortunately, many of his attempts to succeed failed. He lacked the stamina and the knowledge of the sport which he claimed to be a huge fan of. After he embarrassed himself before the stadium as he failed to buck the ball to score for his team, Wind Sprint gets fed up with him and leaves.

Later, Clear Sky reasons with her daughter about acceptance and patience. Once Quibble apologizes and asks her to teach him about the sport, she accepts him and happily lectured him about the sport and bucking the ball.

So, yeah, this episode was really good; it taught an unforgettable lesson about family relationships and how to properly deal with those new to our family circle. Wow, this was a relatable one. However, it still could’ve been much better by taking out the Buckball theme. It’s boring and lame. Episodes that feature Buckball with no intriguing and challenging concepts like this episode had are a snore fest. Therefore, I give it a B.

Peace.

Comments

[Darth Wrex]

Personally, I found it slightly ridicules.

[A Man Undercover]

I thought this was a great episode, really. I used to not care too much for Quibble, but this episode helped the character showcase a heart that I never expected.