Episode Re-Review: What About Discord? · 4:33pm May 8th, 2021
Right as Season 5 was at last hitting some consistency of quality, we had a Discord episode. Granted, he'd been pretty good in "Make New Friends, But Keep Discord" so maybe that wasn't automatically a death sentence despite the synopsis. However, the one writing it was Neal Dusedau, now on his own after he had previously been "helped" on "Princess Spike" by Jayson Thiesen and Jim Miller. But hey, Nick Confalone was able to do well enough on his own (even going on to last until the end of the show). So maybe Neal could do the same? Well, let's find out.
The episode begins with Twilight deciding out of the blue that she's going to spend an entire weekend reorganizing and reshelving the entire castle library. Weird how she doesn't think to maybe invite Moondancer over, I'm sure Moondancer would love it.
So Twilight does it, the entire weekend passes by and soon after she emerges from the castle she finds Rainbow Dash hanging out with Discord. They even seem to be in on a little secret involving a snake. But when Twilight asks, Discord insists it's a "You had to be there" kind of situation. This is repeated with Rarity and Fluttershy at Carousel Boutique involving oranges (though Discord kind of ends up explaining the joke anyway) and Applejack and Pinkie Pie at Sugarcube Corner. So what does Twilight do? She demands that her friends recreate their entire experience that weekend for her so she can be in on the joke. Yes, that's right, after Twilight willingly chose to isolate herself for a weekend, she's upset at the end that her friends might have had fun without her by hanging out with another friend.
Interestingly, we do get a call back to "It's About Time" when Twilight rules out time travel, though not without throwing in a Back to the Future reference when Pinkie Pie dresses up like Marty McFly.
Of course, trying to recreate the experience goes about as well as you think it does. Discord even points out the obvious flaw in that since Twilight wasn't part of the experience that weekend, a truly faithful recreation is impossible from a data gathering stand point. Her very presence as an observer taints the recreation. Then, at her castle, Twilight claims that her friends must be under some kind of spell from Discord. And she also insists that she doesn't get jealous because she's a princess, as if somehow that's supposed to make her above it all (even though she's already definitely acted in very un-princess like fashion by this point).
So Twilight and Spike go to see Zecora for a plot device, and she admits that her bubbling cauldron is merely for show. Interestingly, we only see the interior of it and not the exterior. This will become important in the next season though. Anyway, Twilight invites her friends to the castle and stupidly tells them outright that she needs them to drink a potion to break whatever spell Discord placed them under. Applejack immediately snaps and remarks "What kind of fertilizer do you have your nose in?", and considering they're horses fertilizer takes on an entirely new meaning.
The rest of the mane six rightfully berate Twilight for thinking they wouldn't know if Discord had them under some kind of spell, right before Discord shows up to more or less rub it in Twilight's face that he had fun with her friends while she didn't.
So Twilight breaks down and complains, finally admitting her jealousy. The rest of the mane six do realize their mistake here and apologize to Twilight, but then the episode claims that it's okay if Twilight feels jealous as long as she admits it openly. That's a terrible moral to send! Did something get lost in translation?! Admitting to jealousy is a start but NOT an end! Jealousy can lead to terrible things, and just because you admit you're jealous doesn't give you a license to do whatever your jealousy may drive you to do!
But just when you think the episode couldn't get any worse, it does! Discord admits out of the blue that he intentionally excluded Twilight from that weekend of fun by encouraging her friends not to tell her what they were going to do. And not only did they do as he told them without asking why, but they assumed that Twilight already knew. Of course, Discord is the one rightfully scorned over this. He claims that he did it on purpose to teach Twilight a "lesson" about jealousy, claiming that the "old me" would've just excluded her to be a jerk. But it's painfully obvious that he's just trying to hide his intentions in plain sight, almost gaslighting the mane six and Spike into thinking that he did what he did for reasons other than because he wanted to mess with Twilight. Once again, no one made Discord the judge of when Twilight needed to learn "lessons" and if he were truly concerned about her jealousy, he could've tried to teach her this "lesson" at any point without the need for such a set-up. Plus, if the lesson was supposed to be on jealousy, why would he want to make it worse for Twilight by rubbing in her exclusion? Just like in "Three's A Crowd" it's clear that he did it solely because he wanted to mess with Twilight, which you think he would know better than to do after his last attempt backfired!
And then the episode ends with the mane six and Spike deciding to turn Discord's antics back on him and make him feel excluded from a joke for a change. Spike even tells Discord that he "Had to be there" even when Discord is confused. So it's okay if the mane six exclude Discord because they're the good guys, but Discord doing the same to Twilight isn't okay because he's not a good guy? What does this do other than confuse the moral and make the mane six and Spike look like hypocrites?
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, it commits one of the biggest sins I think I've ever seen an episode commit: It makes Discord not funny. His entire character in this episode boils down to the whole "Don't explain the joke" mentality, which is what most of the episode is focused on.
There's also the fact that Twilight feels jealous over what for most of the episode we're led to believe was her willing choosing to self-isolate for a weekend. This isn't like when Moondancer was only leaving her home to go to the library, ignoring the friends she still had and even neglecting her appearance. What Twilight did was not unhealthy, there is nothing wrong with doing something you like to do every now and then. And if you do your friends are not obligated to do nothing at all with each other, your friends can have other friends and can have fun without you. They're not obligated to share in all their fun with you all the time. Even Pinkie Pie learned this lesson about how you can't be everywhere at once, you'll miss out on some fun no matter what but good friends will give you opportunities to have fun with or without them. I don't even know where Twilight goes off thinking that because she's a princess she doesn't get jealous. Jealousy is very much a part of Luna's downfall, so princesses can get jealous. However, when it all turns out to be a "lesson" from Discord it only serves to make Discord look like a jerk and makes it look like he's regressing back to his old ways. While it is interesting to note that this is after he himself experienced jealousy and what felt like exclusion to him, he is now trying to teach Twilight a "lesson" about jealousy himself. Except if he knows what it's like to be on the receiving end he has no right to inflict that intentionally onto others. This episode is a waste and an insult, and it gets an F as a result. Only the rest of the mane six realizing their mistake and listening to Twilight (an improvement from "A Canterlot Wedding") saves this episode from the absolute bottom of the barrel.
Well, up next is the third and final map mission for Season 5 in "The Hooffields and McColts" and it involves a plot of two feuding families based on a real life feud.
To be honest, I dislike this episode
Despite its issues, I can't really dislike this episode.
It's definitely among the weakest of season 5, but I'd still watch it over Griffonstone or Appleoosa's Most Wanted.
This episode is a mean-spirited mess, and definitely the second worst Discord episode after A Matter of Principals!
5515046
Agreed, this is one of the episodes that makes me hate Discord.
5515182
Agree