Make Your Mark: The Cutie Mark Mix-Up Review · 4:47pm Sep 30th, 2022
So now it's onto the back half of the episodes released for Make Your Mark: Chapter 2 so far, maybe this second half can turn things around? Well, we've got a Hitch and Sunny episode, and Sunny certainly needs another focus episode, as does Hitch considering the way he was written back in "Growing Pains". Then again, the plot synopsis is one that FiM already did a couple of times, particularly in "A Royal Problem". But then again, "A Royal Problem" was controversial and remains hotly contested, so maybe this episode could be an attempted do-over? Well, let's find out.
The episode begins with the garden from the previous episode about to be officially opened to the public. Sunny and Hitch are presiding over the ceremony, with Hitch serving in the role as sheriff once again. But isn't it supposed to be the mayor of a city or town that's present for opening ceremonies of any new project, especially the ribbon cutting? Does Maretime Bay not have a mayor? Is Hitch the closest thing the town has to authority despite its development? At the very least, shouldn't Phyllis be on hoof for this?
Well, anyway, Hitch wants to say a few remarks before the ceremony officially begins, but he keeps getting interrupted and ultimately he has his big moment interrupted when the giant scissors slip out of his hooves and cut the ribbon accidentally. Hey, at least he wasn't running with them.
Ponies start flocking to the garden regardless, and the garden is also intended as a place for earth ponies to practice their magic. But is it really a good idea to have that practice field so close to the Crystal Brighthouse where Sunny lives and where her friends all hang out? Well, that aside, some critters show up and start stampeding towards the brighthouse. One of the critters is a pink mouse made of magic created by Opaline, and it's specifically intended to let her see into the brighthouse and discover what she calls "prisim magic". It makes you wonder why she didn't just do that in the first place rather than spend all her time on plots that kept failing because of a lack of planning or because she just gave up. Meanwhile, Sunny is working at her smoothy cart, which I guess she can just tow wherever she wants now. I mean, we saw her pulling a much smaller cart in "A New Generation", but this is basically a van. Maybe she inherited some of Applejack's super strength?
Hitch is hanging out by the cart as he lets Sparky run free without any supervision (parent of the year, everyone). And he and Sunny start to get into an argument about who has the harder job. If you'll pardon the obvious joke, they sound just like an old married couple.
However, we know Sunny and Hitch knew each other since childhood. I have a hard time buying that they would be having this kind of argument, they should both be familiar with each other's professions and how both are hard in their own ways. I would sooner buy that Zipp and Pipp would be having this argument, or that even Izzy might think that Hitch or Sunny's job looked easy. Anyway, they keep on arguing as Sparky suddenly sneezes, and because potatoes his magic can swap cutie marks on a dime. At least Starlight swapping cutie marks made sense since she'd demonstrated how magically powerful she was and was capable of removing cutie marks with her own power.
And I really don't see how Sunny's cutie mark pertains to her ability to do her job. Hitch's I can kind of buy since his cutie mark does look like it belongs to somepony working for law enforcement. And where are Zipp, Pipp and Izzy during all of this, you wonder? Well, they're trying and failing to corale all the critters running loose around the brighthouse, even though Zipp and Pipp can fly and Izzy has magic. I'm not saying they could take care of all the critters all on their own, but they don't seem to really be trying.
Sunny and Hitch still decide they should do each other's jobs because of the cutie mark switch though, Hitch taking over at the smoothy cart and Sunny becoming the sheriff. Interestingly, Sunny actually takes it upon herself to get rid of the critters, doing what she believes Hitch would do. And she can actually understand the animals, supposedly, but they can't understand her (or choose not to listen). Zipp actually notices this, noticing that the cutie marks were swapped but the special talents were not. Also, is it just me or does anyone else get a Sheriff Woody vibe off of Sunny acting as sheriff?
Meanwhile, Hitch is doing poorly at the smoothy cart, both because Sunny never told him how she does things and because the ponies apparently expect Hitch to be as skilled as Sunny even though he just took over from her.
Zipp then takes it upon herself to solve the problem, after having asked what caused the switch. She gets Hitch and Sunny to bump into each other, and the cutie mark switch is fixed just by them understanding each other, Sparky sneezing isn't necessary. So why was it necessary for Sparky to sneeze to switch the marks in the first place? We already had Opaline and Misty involved in the plot, why not make the switch something they cause either intentionally as a distraction, or accidentally? It's not like Sunny and Hitch swapped bodies.
Hitch and Sunny sort the messes caused by their earlier swapping of professions, and the mouse Opal was using disappears after she spots the lantern displaying the same rainbow as reflected in the brighthouse. She then decides to do what should've been obvious when she couldn't see inside, send somepony to be a mole and obtain the source. She even starts laughing about it while chiding Misty for not laughing with her properly.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, if my many arguments didn't make it clear already, this episode's concept is riddled with plot holes and things that make no sense in its decision to be a Hitch and Sunny episode. It's like they forgot that Hitch and Sunny were established as childhood friends, or that the two still knew each other during the events of "A New Generation". But that can't be since they specifically use the secret hoofshake the two showed off during the movie.
Assuming this had to be a Sunny and Hitch episode and had to involve them switching professions, why did it have to involve cutie marks? More importantly, why was it that Sparky was the plot instigator accidentally but otherwise he had no role in how the plot progressed and seemed to be forgotten? You didn't even have Sunny try to take care of him or have Hitch try to have Sparky help him with smoothies. And Izzy, Zipp and Pipp did absolutely nothing all episode, aside from when Zipp got the idea to get Hitch and Sunny to talk to each other and work things out. The sideplot of Opaline using a mouse to spy on the Crystal Brighthouse was just there, and it feels like they only used the critters running loose as a handwave for why nopony notices a pink mouse scurrying around. But it all ends with Opaline deciding to just send somepony to the brighthouse to spy on it and find out the source of the magic anyway, so why bother using the mouse at all? It feels that, much like "Izzy Does It", they just paired up Sunny and Hitch here for the sake of shippers. However, I must ask whether anyone is gonna start making PMVs of Hitch and Sunny to this song as a result of the episode.
In the end, this episode gets a borderline C/C-, our fourth straight lackluster episode of the season, meaning at least half the season so far is not very strong.
Well, hopefully things can only get better from here since next is our second Izzy focus episode and one where she is indisputiably in the focus with "The Traditional Unicorn Sleepover". Plus, it's the one where Misty officially joins the circle of friends undercover, starting her almost certain start to becoming the sixth ranger of the group.
From the looks of it, Sparky is already becoming G5 Flurry Heart (magical sneezing and all) except he’s far more contrived and shoehorned into the story.
It’s honestly surprising how an “unexplainably born an alicorn” baby is written and used more wisely than a baby dragon.
Definitely did this episode to pacify shippers. Hearing their little hoofshake again was just a ^u^ moment though
5689489 Just goes to show that adding a baby to your show is generally not a good idea. Babies in any show tend to be plot devices, motivation for other characters. And in both Flurry Heart and Sparky's cases, their existence seems to be to sell toys, even if it means contradicting or disregarding prior lore.
Ouch.
5689489
Double ouch.