MLP EPISODE REVIEW #4: Swarm of the Century · 7:17pm Dec 17th, 2020
Well, here we are. The very first episode written by arguably the most controversial member of the MLP writing staff:
MITCHELL AARON LARSON
While the majority of his episodes were really great (in fact, a few of them are among my top 10 favorite episodes of all time), there is no denying the fact that some of those episodes have caused huge divides among the fandom over the years. The most notable examples of those controversial episodes are Magical Mystery Cure and Fame and Misfortune. Even though I think the fans have unfairly criticized them, I also believe that these episodes are far from flawless. With that said, I will talk about their issues at a later date. Right now, it's time to discuss the first MLP episode that Larson has ever written and, quite frankly, I think it's also his worst one.
Oh, yes. I do have the opinion that it is much worse than both Magical Mystery Cure and Fame and Misfortune. How so? Let's talk about it.
The episode begins in a field near the Everfree Forest, where Fluttershy is gathering flowers for Princess Celestia’s visit to Ponyville the next day. A small creature that Fluttershy has never seen before appears. She offers it an apple, but it devours a bucketful of apples despite its small size. Fluttershy is surprised, but she adopts the creature and plans on introducing it to her friends.
She then goes to Sugarcube Corner to show the creature to Twilight and Pinkie Pie, but inexplicably, two more of the same creatures pop out. Twilight adopts one of them so Spike can have a companion. Pinkie Pie, however, reacts in disgust, calling them "parasprites." She says that she needs a trombone and leaves the bakery.
Then, Twilight pays a visit to Carousel Boutique, where Rarity is putting the finishing touches on Rainbow Dash's elaborate dress and has designed special dresses for the royal visit. When Twilight takes out her parasprite, she discovers that she is carrying not one, but three of them. Rarity and Rainbow Dash gladly adopt the extra parasprites.
However, the very next day, parasprites cause all sorts of trouble for the Mane Six. Not only do they multiply exponentially in a rather disgusting way whenever they eat food, but they also mess up their homes, drive them mad by clinging on to them, and tend to eat every single food they find, which could very well ruin Celestia's visit that day. The ponies try everything they can to get rid of them before the princess arrives (including herding them back to the Everfree Forest in the form of a giant ball and creating a tornado with the help of Rainbow Dash), but their efforts are ultimately made pointless by Pinkie's unexplained quest to gather musical instruments and Fluttershy inability to resist to the creatures' cuteness. As a last ditch effort, Twilight performs a spell that makes them despise food, but it horribly backfires and instead, causes the parasprites to eat everything else.
Then, just when all hope seems lost, Pinkie appears as a one-pony band and herds the parasprites away from the town with her music, just like the Pied Piper. Although Celestia witnesses the parasprites following Pinkie, she admires them as a parade and postpones her visit so that she could deal with an "infestation" in Fillydelphia. Before she leaves, Twilight gives her the friendship lesson she has learned that day:
"Sometimes the solution to your problems can come from where you least expect it. It's a good idea to stop and listen to your friends' opinions and perspectives even when they don't always seem to make sense."
Alright, if you haven't guessed it yet, let me clarify it for you. The plot is indeed a throwback to films and TV shows where seemingly adorable creatures cause all sorts of chaos and destruction by exponentially growing in numbers, such as Gremlins and Star Trek episodes involving Tribbles. Heck, there is even a reference to Gremlins when Twilight first notices the exponentially grown number of parasprites in the morning and Spike admits that he gave one of them a snack during night.
So, yeah, this kind of plot has potential of bringing some great dark humor with it and, in some scenes, it definitely does. While most of the jokes done with the parasprites are mostly tame, they go to some truly dark places as soon as Twilight casts her spell. The fact that parasprites eat anything but food implies that they can potentially eat ponies as well and even though the episode never shows this happening, there is a brief moment when several parasprites are chasing after Rainbow after being hit with Twilight's spell, quite possibly with the intention of feeding on her flesh. The very thought of them eating her is both horrifying and kinda hilarious at the same time.
Unfortunately, this is pretty much where the positive stuff ends for me. Even though the overall message of the episode is a really good one, its execution was pretty clumsy. For one, every single one of the problems would've been solved if the Mane Six had communicated with each other in a clear way. I know Pinkie has trouble conveying her thoughts to her friends in a way that they can easily understand, but that does not excuse her friends from never once asking why is she collecting instruments in the first place. If they had just asked one simple question, they could've saved the entire town from an insane amount of destruction and utter chaos.
Seriously, not only did they almost cause the lives of dozens of ponies, but they also made the MCU Drax look like a certified genius.
Also, the episode never explains the reason for Pinkie knowing so much about the parasprites in the first place. Did she encounter them often during her youth? Were they common pests in the area where she grow up? Did her parents teach her how to deal with them or did she learn it by herself?
THESE QUESTIONS ARE NEVER EXPLAINED AND IT'S DRIVEN ME CRAZY EVER SINCE I FIRST WATCHED THE EPISODE ALL THOSE YEARS AGO!
Furthermore, even if we forgive Pinkie's friends for never questioning her about the instruments, we sure can't forgive Fluttershy for keeping a single parasprite. I mean, she did see how chaotic and out of control they are, and she was warned that they could cause a disaster for Ponyville. Yet, she still kept one and it multiplied into a huge swarm that did cause a disaster for Ponyville.
Congratulations, Fluttershy! Your stupidity doomed your fellow townsfolk to a fate nearly as cruel as the one delivered to Ancient Egyptians during the Ten Plagues!
So, yeah, I don't really like this episode and it's my least favorite of all the ones that Larson has written for the show. Thankfully, he wrote much better stories in both this season and the later seasons until his departure, and even managed to put together a decent episode during his brief return.
As for this one, though, it's a giant mess with a forced conflict, clumsily executed moral, and infuriating character choices. There are some great examples of dark humor, the parasprites provide decent worldbuilding, and even the return of Trollestia is pretty funny. Oh, yeah, I have never believed for a second that she had no idea what was going on. I think she figured out everything as soon as she laid eyes on the parasprites following Pinkie Pied Piper.
Unfortunately, aside from those neat elements, this is not an episode I would consider watching any time soon.
FINAL SCORE: 5 out of 10.
I wonder if this episode would have been better if Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy's roles had been switched.
Pinkie Pie doesn't always think things through, so keeping a Parasprite while believing she could handle it would make sense. Plus, when it all blew out of proportion again, she could have had a moment where she realizes that she needs to be more responsible in her actions, adding more weight to moments like in Pinkie Pride, when she gives up being Rainbow's party planner.
And Fluttershy's whole "Job" is being an animal caretaker, so naturally she could have known about Parasprites, the danger the pose, and how to get rid of them. Plus, since this is the earlier seasons, it would make perfect sense that she would try to explain the dangers only for Twilight and the others to ignore her 'cause she - I don't know - spoke too quietly or not assertively enough.
To be honest, the only reason why I think Pinkie Pie was the one to solve the Parasprite conflict was because they wanted that one-mare band joke which would only work with Pinkie.
It's even worse when you take into consideration Fluttershy's musical skills in the show. She easily could have sung a melody to accomplish the same thing. They could even have used it as a chance to give her a musical number!
Yeah, she's still burdened with her social anxiety at this point in time, but that could have been used to justify why she wouldn't lead the Parasprites until the end of the episode! And when she finally did do it, they could have tied it into the Dragonshy moral!
Admittedly, it would have been a bit redundant had that moral been repeated. But considering how often the whole "Fluttershy needs to relearn lessons" complaint is thrown around, it might have been beneficial to establish that her anxiety is just THAT bad early on. At least then, maybe most of her detractors would be a little more lenient on the "Relearning lessons" thing.
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Actually, now that I think about it, you're absolutely right. This writing decision would have indeed solve all the major problems of the episode and the main conflict would not have felt so forced in the first place.