Episode Re-Review: The Crystalling Parts 1 and 2 · 6:49pm May 13th, 2021
There's no denying that as envelope pushing as Season 5 was, it did not end putting its best foot forward. Starlight Glimmer's redemption and inclusion into the main cast left a lot to be desired, and the theme of "Explore Equestria" hadn't really come into play outside of three map missions (one of which was retreading familiar ground within Manehattan). The big movie that had been announced by the time Season 5 hit the airwaves was starting to draw away a lot of talent, and many other old talents that were fan favorites had left. Josh Haber was now in control, facing a seemingly impossible task of trying to keep the show going as it was clear the fandom's golden years were behind it (some were even swearing off the show again as a result of Starlight Glimmer or other developments). So, with Josh Haber penning his first two parter premiere, did he manage to get Season 6 started off on the right foot? Well, let's find out.
Part 1 begins with Starlight Glimmer apparently struggling to find her way around the castle even though she broke into it back in "The Cutie Re-Mark". She's also changed her mane style so that it has a curl to it, which is definitely a nice touch because it shows she's no longer obsessed with "equality". It even kind of reminds me of how Obi-Wan and Anakin how those little hair braids when they were padawans in the Star Wars prequels. Anyway, Starlight ends up stumbling into a broom closet and then finds Spike posing in a mirror.
It does at least show that she is at least somewhat remorseful and uncertain because of what she did in the past, even if it's not focused on for long. Starlight is eventually able to find Twilight in the library and learns that she's been working on the first friendship lesson to give to Starlight as a student. One of them involves reconnecting with her childhood friend Sunburst, who just so happens to have taken up residency within the Crystal Empire. We do hear some other suggestions from Twilight, but then Starlight appears to suffer from PTSD as a sort of buzzing sound drowns everything out. It ends abruptly as she insists that she's fine, and Twilight suspects nothing. Of course, Starlight later confesses to Spike that she would rather avoid Sunburst as we get an abrupt and abridged recap of her backstory. Starlight now thinks Sunburst has gone on to be some big, important wizard and thus will want nothing to do with her (not an unreasonable assumption, though that would probably only be if he knew the whole truth about what she did). Spike's advice to Starlight is to talk to Twilight and do something simple.
Starlight refuses, not wanting to sound ungrateful. She's then directed by Twilight to go see the others in the throne room and has to be given directions to it. In the throne room she overhears the rest of the mane six discussing something called The Crystalling.
Somehow, even after the rest of the mane six mention the Crystal Empire being gone for so long and many of their customs and traditions being lost to time, Spike brings in either a vase or an urn that shows what The Crystalling is. Oddly enough, when he mentions his heroic exploits in the empire Rarity giggles but Pinkie Pie shoots him a glare (kind of think it's supposed to be Pinkie Pie who laughs and Rainbow Dash who wants Spike to shut up). Anyway, The Crystalling is a ceremony held in front of the entire Crystal Empire to help power up the Crystal Heart via adding a new purity crystal to it. Then, sometime later (the passage of time is not conveyed the greatest here) Twilight gets a special snowflake containing a letter inside. The letter informs her that Shining Armor and Cadence's baby has been born, and since she and all her friends will go to see the new baby and attend The Crystalling, that means the first friendship lesson for Starlight will indeed involve reuniting with Sunburst.
On the train ride to the empire, Rainbow Dash and Applejack show off some gifts that they intend to give the baby while Twilight shows off a huge lesson plan with which to carry out Starlight's lesson. Upon reaching the train station, though, the gang is greeted by a rather frazzled looking Shining Armor who mentions that the new baby has kept him and Cadence very busy.
Sensing that her brother will probably need help, Twilight decides to scrub Starlight's lesson. However, Spike takes it upon himself to oversee it using the lesson plan Twilight created. So he and Starlight set off while everyone else goes to see the new baby (who has apparently not been named at all yet despite the passage of time). Starlight opts to try and stall for time by taking advantage of not knowing the story of Spike's heroism, showing that she still has some of her old manipulative ways. Meanwhile, the mane six discover that the baby is in fact an alicorn, which comes as a great shock to them all. And we get the rather infamous "explanation" from Celestia and Luna as they say that this is "Something Equestria has never seen before" and that it's "Beyond even our understanding", which just seems to be Haber admitting he has no explanation and is just doing this because Hasbro insisted Flurry be an alicorn. Except I have to ask, why did that have to be the case? Why couldn't Flurry Heart just be a super powerful unicorn like Twilight was or Starlight is? You could still do what you do with her here and in future episodes, and you wouldn't have to break the show's lore to do so. Coincidentally, this has a lot of similarities to the introduction of Poof in The Fairly Oddparents, who joined the show in its sixth season only to end up contributing nothing of substance (and just being photoshopped into the intro).
Flurry Heart (even though she hasn't been named that on-screen yet) soon demonstrates just how powerful she is when she sneezes, and her sneeze causes her horn to shoot off a powerful blast that blows a hole in the ceiling. Cadence expresses her concern about this and suggests calling off The Crystalling as a result, but Celestia and Luna insist that because ponies are gathering and the ceremony is important to the Crystal Heart (and thus the empire) it must go on. But they decide to go with Cadence to try and signify to the empire's subjects how important this crystalling will be. Except, there's never any indication a crystalling must take place within a certain period of time. And I have to agree with Cadence in that it would be best to wait until Flurry Heart's powerful magical abilities are at least better understood (and thus can better be controlled or countered). Doing it now is just setting up for disaster later on, which of course is what's going to happen.
Meanwhile, Shining Armor is now tasked with getting everything ready for The Crystalling and is completely unprepared. It really just feels like they're making jokes at his expense about how he's completely unprepared for the challenges of being a father. Maybe the first time it was kind of funny, but now it just feels like an insult to his whole character considering he's supposed to be at least the former captain of the royal guard. Yeah, military life isn't the same as being a parent but it can be just as if not more stressful. Fortunately, Twilight offers to let her and her friends help, largely by having Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy go with Shining to get things ready while she and Pinkie Pie stay behind to "keep an eye on the baby". I guess that makes sense given Pinkie's demonstrated skills with the Cake Twins.
We then cut back to Spike and Starlight as Spike shows that he's not so dumb as to let Starlight keep stroking his ego and shirk her responsibilities. He leads her to Sunburst's house (I guess Twilight found out the address) and after briefly reading over the lesson plan and following it to the letter (even though you'd think he would realize Twilight can go overboard with these things), he encourages Starlight to knock on the door. The door opens and Sunburst pokes his head out, acting unusually withdrawn. Starlight assumes that's because he's busy with wizard work, which Sunburst claims is the fact and shuts the door in her face. Starlight is ready to give up right then and there, but Spike makes her go back and more or less force her way in. The two former friends then spend time mostly just making small talk and refusing to talk about their past.
After a few more jokes at Shining Armor's expense (and a bit of time spent on Twilight and Pinkie Pie trying their best to keep Flurry Heart under control), everything seems to be ready for The Crystalling. However, when Flurry Heart is taken away from Pinkie's grasp she starts to cry. And her cries are so powerful that they shatter the Crystal Heart. As a result, the Crystal Empire is now in danger of being enveloped by the blizzards of the Frozen North. And Part 1 ends with a close up of Flurry Heart, who just smiles despite what's just happened. I know she's a baby but I'm pretty sure even babies can sense when something is truly wrong. This just makes her look like an evil baby. But she's not secretly evil or anything, even though that would probably help her stand out more.
Oddly enough, Part 1 has a unique ending music that's upbeat yet chaotic. It wouldn't be out of place if not for what just happened at the end. Anyway, Part 2 begins as usual with the recap and then gets underway proper by setting up three plots for our cast of heroes: Celestia and Luna will actually do something useful for a change and do their best to hold back the blizzards for as long as they can. Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Rarity will assist Shining Armor and Cadence in not only locating a spell to fix the Crystal Heart but also make sure Flurry Heart doesn't slip away and cause more trouble. And Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Fluttershy are tasked with persuading the citizens of the Crystal Empire to go indoors while avoiding mentioning what's happened to the Crystal Heart (so as not to cause a panic). Except the Crystal Empire's residents are suddenly "Too dumb to live" and find nothing at all unusual about the snow or the cold temperatures, and at no point do Rainbow Dash, Applejack or Fluttershy think to say that The Crystalling has been called off or postponed. I really don't see what purpose this plot serves other than to just remove them from the episode. At the least Celestia and Luna fighting against the blizzards attracts attention on account of it being the first time they take action when a threat emerges.
So with two plots that will only somewhat be focused on, we now shift to the original second plot involving Spike and Starlight with Sunburst that is still ongoing. It seems like the reunion has gone decently, but neither one is truly ready to be friends again. Not even Spike suggesting they share something from their past that they regret is able to do the trick. Starlight thus begins to doubt herself, wondering if she's worth being friends with when even Sunburst doesn't want anything to do with her. Spike insists that it was following Twilight's lesson plan to the letter that was the real problem (he burns it up with his fire breath, which I guess means he sends it to Celestia?). And he claims that if Twilight still believes Starlight is worth being friends with, then that's good enough for him.
It's only after Starlight thanks Spike for this and mentions his "Dragon Breath" (even though she saw him brushing his teeth earlier) that they realize how cold it's gotten and realize that something is up. Then we cut back to the plot of trying to find a way to fix the Crystal Heart while also trying to keep Flurry Heart under control. Cadence somehow thinks it's Shining Armor's job to keep Flurry from teleporting even though he can't fly and she can, and Rarity's efforts to help mostly just involve using a butterfly net. In fact, Rarity and Pinkie Pie seem to end up bumping into Shining Armor because Flurry keeps teleporting away before they can catch her. And at no point does Cadence join the fray even though she probably could be helpful (in fact, why not have her take over and give Shining a break to help Twilight? Or even have her take Rarity's place since it doesn't seem like Rarity would particularly care for chasing down a baby). But Twilight manages to find a book that contains a spell that looks promising, right before Starlight comes in, learns about what's happened, and then inadvertently becomes part of a chain reaction from Flurry's horn that destroys the book.
Starlight apologizes for her small part in making things worse, which Twilight quickly tells her it wasn't really her fault. Cadence then encourages Twilight to try and perform the spell just from memory. But to be safe she wants the Crystal Empire evacuated, and Shining Armor will lead it. Starlight then decides that this is a job for Sunburst and goes back with Spike to get him. She confronts Sunburst in his home, but Sunburst claims that he's too busy to help. Starlight rightfully berates him for his priorities, eventually causing Sunburst to snap and confess that he's not actually a wizard. He mentions that he did go into magic school, but although he could recite the material by heart he was incapable of putting it into practice. And when he says that "You don't know what it's like", Starlight finally snaps and chews him out by saying that he doesn't know what it was like for her. Interestingly, she doesn't blame him for what she did even though you think she would.
After a bit of initial shock, Sunburst is surprisingly okay with how much of a monster Starlight was in the past and even suggests that if he'd only been there he could've maybe prevented her from going down that dark path. This does kind of cheapen the drama since once again Starlight doesn't have to face any real consequences for her past behavior, it's just swept under the rug and not really acknowledged. One heartfelt confession/rant is enough to make Sunburst apologize and be willing to be her friend again. And somehow, he gets an idea of how to fix the Crystal Heart and Starlight opts to let him do it (I mean, it's not like they have much else to lose if he fails). This actually comes into play right as Shining Armor is leading the evacuation, having finally told the hard truth that the Crystal Heart has been destroyed and the Crystal Empire must be evacuated, leading everyone down to the train station (Celestia and Luna can hold back the blizzards no longer even though we saw them try their hardest. I do sort of question how Celestia's powers can't just melt the snow and disperse the clouds, but it's possible the blizzards will just keep spawning no matter what).
Twilight (with Cadence's help) tries to restore the Crystal Heart and it nearly works, but not quite. Celestia then mentions an "Old student of mine" as Sunburst shows up, which I guess means she briefly tutored him one on one sometime between Sunset and Twilight. Sunburst reads off a bunch of spells that will not only restore the Crystal Heart but also repel the blizzards and even curb Flurry Heart's power surges. Interestingly, some of the spells he reads off here include the names Somnambula and Mistmane, though there's also Flash Prance. I can't help but wonder if this was meant to foreshadow the pillars and what was originally planned for them in Season 7? Anyway, Sunburst mentions that he's not actually a wizard but Starlight convinces everyone gathered to give him a chance. The Crystalling is held even amidst the blizzards, and with Sunburst's help the Crystal Heart is restored, the blizzards driven away and everyone gathered has that glowing crystal form again.
Then we get to see Night Light and Twilight Velvet (only referred to in the credits as "Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle") who are oddly enough voiced by Andrew Francis and Tara Strong respectively. I will say that Andrew Francis at least tries to make his Night Light voice sound different from Shining Armor (for all of the one line he got) whereas Tara Strong really doesn't bother to change up her Twilight Sparkle voice for Twilight Velvet. Most likely this was just done last minute, but I do have to wonder if there was any thought given to them reprising their roles for Season 7's "Once Upon a Zeppelin" (though I think it was for the best the roles were recast, kind of odd they didn't go back and redub this scene but then again that would've required changing the end credits to include the new VAs). It's only now that Flurry Heart is officially given her name, which Shining Armor and Cadence claim is so as to remember the occasion. Because you know, naming your daughter after an event in which she inadvertently endangered an entire empire is the hallmark of good parenting. Then again, in this universe apparently someone named their child Filthy Rich.
We then see that Sunburst is more or less going to be in charge of keeping Flurry Heart's power surges under control since her next sneeze is nowhere near as powerful or destructive. Starlight, meanwhile, insists that he keep in touch while she goes back to Ponyville. Twilight sees this (and sees them embrace) and laments to Spike that she's a failure as a teacher because she wasn't there for her student, and because her lesson plan didn't work out. But Spike points out that in a way the victory is still hers since she was willing to give Starlight space to be herself like Celestia did with Twilight. Except that's maybe not the best comparison to make considering some of the things Twilight did on her own (and considering Starlight is arguably just as dangerous).
Part 2 ends with a blink and you'll miss it shot of a shadowy figure heading towards the empire, though we'll later learn this figure harbors no hostile intentions.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the two parter? Well, I don't know how much stock to put into some of the earliest animatics shown off, but it's possible that this whole two parter originally was written before Starlight's inclusion was known. So it's possible that they had to add Starlight Glimmer into the story late, and then some other changes needed to be made. But even assuming that's the case, this two parter really seems to borrow a lot from "The Crystal Empire", except not as good. The biggest issue is that up until near the end of Part 1, almost nothing of significance happens to the point where you could be mistaken for thinking that the "Part 1" shown is a typo and that it's actually just a stand alone episode. Starlight ends up being the least drama inducing thing about this entire two parter, if only because Flurry Heart and her being an alicorn draws more attention and controversy. Again, I don't see why Flurry couldn't just be a powerful unicorn. It wouldn't require breaking the show's lore and you could still have all that occurs within this two parter. Part 2 suffers horribly from overcrowding, it has four plots that it has to try and juggle and two of them just feel tacked on to narrow down the cast. I really don't see why we needed the plot of Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Fluttershy trying to get the Crystal Empire residents to go indoors. It just wasted time that could've gone to better plots. And I feel like they make too many jokes at Shining Armor's expense about how he's unprepared for fatherhood, eventually they just start becoming repetitive. He does start to make up for it when he leads the evacuation of the empire, though. As for Sunburst and his connection to Starlight's plot, he isn't bad but he feels like a male Moondancer here except not as three dimensional. And it does feel like it's just another case of cheapening Starlight's reformation by having yet another pony who isn't bothered by what she used to be like. Starlight isn't bad, she gets her moments to shine and I do like that we get to see her self doubts about how easily she was forgiven, about if she's really worth being a friend. Spike is definitely the one who shines through the most in this whole two parter, he's in top form and never misses a beat. Ultimately, despite what you might think I don't hate this two parter. It's alright, but it's a major step down in quality from the previous two season premieres. Part 1 gets a C and Part 2 gets a borderline C+/B-, for an overall two parter grade of C/C+. Probably not the best way to kick off a new season, but at the same time I think it did a better job than "The Return of Harmony" did kicking off Season 2 (the true Season 2 premiere for me is "Lesson Zero").
Well, Season 6 was now going to reuse Maud Pie and Manehattan for "Gift of the Maud Pie", but maybe it could do something with both that hadn't been done before?
Yeah Sunburst being okay with Starlight’s villainous past was a bit surprising but the episode was long enough.
To be honest, I didn't enjoy these episodes and I just skip them. They not bad, but it's hard for me to enjoy them
Before this two-parter premiered, some people (myself included) assumed that Sunburst would be voiced by the late Kirby Morrow due to the fact that he and Starlight's VA Kelly Sheridan have played couples in several projects together (e.g. Miroku x Sango in Inuyasha, Van x Hitomi in The Vision of Escaflowne, and Jay x Theresa in Class of the Titans). Of course, this isn't a knock against Ian Hanlin at all. He did a fine job as Sunburst. It's just a shame Kirby never got to voice anyone in Friendship is Magic, and unless he managed to record some lines of dialogue for the upcoming G5 MLP movie before his passing, he never did for any incarnation of My Little Pony in general.
Not even the references to iconic Disney films like The Lion King, Hercules, Atlantis: The Lost Empire could save this season premiere from turning into utter mess.
Honestly, I like this more than the season 1-4 premieres.
Mostly for the Starlight side of things.
Flurry being an alicorn makes sense though. An alicorn has never given birth to our knowledge, so it is new territory. And I thought the premier was really fun and cute overall, and I enjoyed Starlight trying to reconnect (and failing) with Sunburst.
Pretty forgetful season premiere if you ask me, but I do like the interaction between Spike and Starlight.
5518458
Yeah, and if the Journal of the Two Sisters book is even remotely canon, then Celestia and Luna were adopted by the Founders
5519883
wdym founders?
5519956 The founders of Equestria mentioned in "Hearth's Warming Eve".
5520083
oo interesting, I thought they came from a far off land as fully grown mares though
Yeah it seems that shining is always the butt of some jokes it gets really annoying. But then again cadence usually never does anything anyway
5520135
Well, I believe they were adopted by the founders