Episode Re-Review: Road to Friendship · 4:03pm Jul 1st, 2021
So after we finally got a good episode focused on the School of Friendship, we had three episodes in a row that either barely focused on it or not at all, and wasted our time with plots that were either cliche, annoying or just not interesting. And by now leaks were a plenty for what was to come at the end of Season 8, so people were already not looking forward to what was in store later on. And this episode tends to be regarded as another bad episode of Season 8. It certainly doesn't have the best track record considering it's another StarTrix episode, which always seems to bring out the worst in both characters. Yet it was written by Josh Haber who seemed to have a relatively solid track record this season. But has this episode deserved the reputation it's gotten? Well, let's find out.
The episode begins with an interesting development, Trixie can now apparently teleport considering she can do this "Terrifying Trunk Escape". And even more interesting, Princess Cadence and Flurry Heart are in attendance. Twilight and Cadence soon comment afterwards how Starlight and Trixie's friendship seems to be so tightly knit, even suggesting that maybe they could do a secret chant like Twilight and Cadence do (with Flurry Heart watching and looking embarrassed). Trixie insists that she'll never do that, before she goes to check on her wagon and is greeted by a unicorn stallion from Saddle Arabia named Hoo'Far. Apparently, he's a big fan of Trixie's.
Hoo'Far's design is quite interesting, it's nice to see a Saddle Arabian unicorn. Anyway, he notices Trixie is having wagon trouble and offers to trade his wagon for hers. But Trixie turns down the offer by insisting her wagon is "Shelter", "Transportation" and "My only friend". Kind of odd they don't include the obvious "Home away from home" when Trixie has admitted to spending a lot of time on the road with her wagon. She also walks backward briefly when mentioning "Transportation", owing to her full name being Trixie Lulamoon, meaning she's moonwalking.
Hoo'Far then proposes that Trixie come to see him in Saddle Arabia, which gets Trixie thinking. She talks it over with Starlight, wanting a companion for the long road trip. And Starlight agrees, though she first has to find a substitute to take her place as a guidance counselor. Weird how she didn't think of that when she was the one who thought to hire substitutes in "A Matter of Principals", and it will only be once she graduates to being headmare that she'll think to look for a permanent successor.
Starlight shows up later to find that Trixie's wagon is rather cramped and full of stuff, and Starlight overpacked for the trip. To that end, she decides to walk along outside the wagon with Trixie instead of riding inside. Trixie and Starlight mention how it's a good thing they're not like Twilight and the others since they would sing a song about it, right before we cut to them doing just that in "We're Friendship Bound". And yeah, I get that that's the joke but it comes on so abruptly. I don't think it would've hurt to transition into it with a line or two from Starlight asking if Trixie wanted to sing a song anyway. As for the song itself, it's bouncy and catchy but seems to be channeling "Morning in Ponyville" for a case of "What could possibly go wrong?".
Eventually, the two reach Somnambula's village right as it's hosting a glowpaz festival. And Starlight goes off and blows her bits on a snack, while Trixie insists on getting her supplies from a local stand that's got a long line. As a result, there's no room at any of the inns or hotels. Trixie complains about this to Starlight while stating that Starlight wasn't "as great and powerful an assistant" as Trixie hoped. But when pressed on this Trixie apologizes and says that she's just frustrated, the first sign of character growth for her in quite a while. I mean, it's a whole lot better than her being completely oblivious to Starlight's misery.
Yet from here the episode opts for the typical road trip comedy antics, including struggling to find sleep in a cramped space and dealing with snoring and sleeptalking. Yet neither of them think that maybe one of them should take a sleeping bag and go sleep outside. So it is that the two wake up the next morning, grumbling at each other as they hog the last of the food and drinks to each other. And thus they can't perform their routine as well in front of the audience in the village. Trixie then decides that she'll sleep under the stars, and while she's gone Starlight gets an idea after learning about Hoo'Far's offer to trade wagons. The next morning, Trixie finds out that Starlight traded away Trixie's wagon for Hoo'Far's more spacious and luxurious one, somehow without consulting Trixie even though the wagon was hers.
Trixie is rightfully furious with Starlight for doing this. And how does Starlight react? She claims that Trixie is being ridiculous, completely unconcerned about her friend's rightious fury.
As a result, Trixie storms off to go after Hoo'Far and make him undo the trade while Starlight has to haul the heavy wagon back along the path she and Trixe took together. Trixie soon finds Hoo'Far and throws herself down in front of him to keep him from leaving, apparently laying there all day and night without ever needing to move or use the bathroom. And Hoo'Far just sits there the whole time, watching.
Meanwhile, Starlight comes to the realization all by herself (albeit largely due to the heavy wagon being difficult to transport solo) about how she was wrong to trade away Trixie's wagon. So to that end she comes back and asks Hoo'Far to undo the trade. But Hoo'Far indicates that he's not interested unless the two can prove their friendship. That prompts Starlight to work with Trixie on an improtu chant that looks like it resembles the fusion dance at one point.
Naturally, it's quite bad and Hoo'Far sees through it in an instant. But since he claims that only true friends would be willing to be publicly embarrass themselves the way Starlight and Trixie just did, the trade is off. However, he also suggests that they go back home because Saddle Arabia isn't ready for them yet. And that means this entire road trip was pointless.
The episode ends with Starlight and Trixie saying that they're glad they went on the trip if only so as to learn not to do it again, before discovering that the apple cart merchant from "Daring Done?" has been stowed away in the trunk all this time, apparently napping.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Quite honestly, I must ask why they felt the need to lie to us about this episode. Why did they tease us with a trip to Saddle Arabia only to turn around and say they weren't going to do that? Did they think we wouldn't be interested in the episode otherwise? Why not just have it be a trip to someplace like Las Pegasus and give the road trip some actual merit behind it? At least that's what they did with "Pinkie Apple Pie" despite ultimately having the resolution to the question be: No one knows. Yes, sometimes it's more about the journey than the destination but that doesn't mean the destination should just be completely ignored. And what we do get out of the trip isn't the greatest. Trixie actually looks really good here, arguably at her best in a long time. You can tell she's used to living life on the road and does her best to put up with Starlight's behavior. But Starlight is just really whiny. Even if she's never been on a road trip before you'd think she could make more of an effort to try to get used to it. And what Starlight does with the wagon crosses a huge line that makes her lose any previous sympathy we might have had for her. However, at least compared to all the times Trixie screws up and has to be flat out told what she did wrong, Starlight at least comes to the realization all on her own. She subsequently apologizes and tries to make up for her mistake, which is more than what Trixie ever does in the times when she is wrong.
Yet it really seems like we only ever see these two when they're bringing out the worst in each other, which makes you wonder why they bother to stay friends if it only ever makes things worse for themselves. This is as bad as Beth and Jerry staying together throughout Season 2 of Rick and Morty even when all they do is argue and fight with each other.
The song is really good, and there are some good moments sprinkled throughout. However, this episode is insanely rough around the edges. It was likely a backburner episode that was not a high priority, but even so that doesn't justify the need to hype up the episode under false pretenses. And I still have to wonder how Starlight could even have the authority to trade away Trixie's wagon without ever consulting Trixie. It just doesn't make sense, I'm pretty sure Hoo'Far would not assume Starlight had that authority just because she said so. Ultimately, I give this episode a borderline B-/B. Some good comedy and a good song, as well as some nice character growth for Trixie can only do so much to make up for the unpleasantness surrounding the story or them teasing us with a location that we weren't going to visit.
Now it's on to "The Washouts", an episode that dropped a bombshell for Scootaloo and marked the long awaited return of Lightning Dust, but most people seem to regard this episode as a failure for how it turned out.
This is honestly my second favorite episode of the season, and has one of my favorite songs of the entire series.
When Josh Haber was writing this episode, he might've thought to himself 'Well we've had Trixie screw over Starlight last season, so why don't we have Starlight screw over Trixie this time?" which led to him coming up with the idea of having Starlight sell Trixie's wagon for the climax.
Don't hate me for this but this episode made my eyes hurt by watching this
5549071 How did it do that? I can't think of anything that would be particular hard on the eyes.
5549359
Well, I not a fan of Starlight and Trixie episode so that why
-sigh- Sometimes I still wish that Saddle Arabia at least got the chance to appear in the show though.
Yet this episode had to rob us of it so badly. :/