Make Your Mark Chapter 2 Review – "Portrait of a Princess" & "Ali-Conned" – Episodes 3 & 4

Zipp: "Okay, so here's how you practise using a tranquilliser. You find an easily-distracted target – I recommend diva sisters, though crafts-obsessed ditzy unicorns work equally well – make up some excuse for them to pose, and then, let them have it!
"They'll be too in their own space to realise it was you when they come to. Served me well for years."

I wouldn’t say the first two episodes of Chapter 2 of Make Your Mark disappointed me, they were more or less exactly what I expected off of Chapter 1 (sans getting the colour relativity for the texture and lighting under significantly better control, that was very much appreciated). So basically kids’ pap with some mild aberrations in either direction, which sometimes dropped to insufferable character writing, and sometimes didn’t. That said, if it can drop a bit within that range, it can rise too, and if there’s one universal truth about television of all shapes and sizes, it’s that they often get more consistent and uptick a bit after the first few learning curve episodes. Perhaps we’ll get that here, no?

It’s still too early to talk about the whole eight-episode drop, nor make grander predictions and statements. As even for an overarching plot “season”, for a kids’ show, we’re still at the stage of mostly-isolated episodes that also feed the plot on the side. Let’s jump on in! Now that we have more of this CG G5 show than of the film that kicked things off last year…

Episode 3 – Portrait of a Princess

Pipp: "So, Zipp, what do you think? Do I rock the scattered petal look, or what?"
Zipp: "Mm… yeah, I'd keep searching, sis. You look more like a weed desperate for carbon dioxide than anything."

If you’d told me, going into Chapter 2, that the episode starring Zipp and Pipp would not only be the best of the first three episodes, not only a significant leap over the prior two, but actually diverting enough in the moment on its own terms, I’d have branded you a Party of One Pinkie. And yet, here we are. I certainly wouldn’t want to go too far in praising this episode, for many of the same scripting woes that have plagued the character writing thus far remain present, among other things. But it is enough of a leap that, if every episode hit this quality, I’d totally understand all those viewers with mixed-to-positive reception. Not the same thing as agreeing with them, mind, and the particular strengths here do not establish a reliable fallback for future ones to mimic. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Certainly, this is not evident right away, with Pipp, being Pipp, livestreaming adjacent to Zipp privately trying to puzzle out the glitchy hologram from last episode, which ends up providing Opaline a means to spy, however briefly, inside the Brighthouse. And, indeed, for a lot of the episode, Pipp being a social media addict at every moment, plus the show refusing to ever paint such a thing as wrong, with that even being what saves them, isn’t a favourable point. Yet the main idea of Royal Portrait Day, I kind of like – it straddles a line between being a unique event, one with meaning, and a way to facilitate a legitimate character relationship that’s more idiot-proof to write than prior episodes. Oh, and while the episode doesn’t come out and say it, it implies a portrait is far more meaningful a keepsake of the royal family than a photo. That earns my thumb mitt of approval!

Misty: "Wait, so, where do I put this flower you're after conjuring from the depths or Taratrus whatever we're calling Pony Hell this generation?
Opaline: "I'll tell you where to put it, you little gremlin."

A few minutes into the royal sisters getting prepped for the portrait at Pipp’s mane salon with Queen Haven, despite Sunny’s presence, it becomes clear that’s it for the main cast – Izzy, Hitch and Sparky aren’t in this episode. Which is another point in the episode’s favour (and no, not just because they’re the worst written and acted of the main cast); it feels far more focused and contained as a result, with the mechanical cross-cutting almost completely dispelled. It feels sufficient as a standalone rather than just advancing the main plot by a few steps. And while it does feel a little padded as a result, it’s only by a little, and it starts to get at some of the some strengths FiM did with episodes containing only some of the main cast. It’s only as I was typing this that I realised this episode is to this show as Look Before You Sleep was to that show. And, you know, that’s not not true…

Still some rickety writing to get through; Zipp is so bored by preparation she eggs Pipp to finally play hooky this year and sneak off, but gets no support. Zipp’s so desperate she doesn’t think about who sends the picture of a rare flower by the beach to her phone, one they used to wear in these portraits, and lures Pipp away with the promise of it being a Ponygram boost, leaving Sunny to stall Haven. Haven herself is better handled in this episode, at least; you have to roll with her being easily distracted, Kids Writing 101 Style, but she respects Zipp’s new role and title of Detective, she’s sharp enough to see through Sunny’s first excuse of the pair being in a messy room (“I can handle it, I’m a mom”), and she belts it out like a pro when Sunny stalls by asking for a private song. Not a complete airhead! And then there’s the moment where Sunny enquiries about what Zipp and Pipp were like as kids, and Haven gets all melancholy as she reflects on how they used to be so close despite having nothing in common, and it’s never been the same once they grew older, and thus how she’s kind of happy their migration to the Brighthouse has them closer again.

Yeah, don't think it's much of a mystery where Pipp got her ability to carry a tune from! I would not be surprised to see a fanfic on Haven being a former pop star before she became queen, either as a plot or a side detail. You know what this fandom is like.

Of course, Zipp eventually loses it with Pipp recording everything they’re doing in their search even after reluctantly turning off mobile data (Geo-Tech, they called it; least it’s not a Pony Pun. Unless it is, and I’m a doof. Again.), and lets out that she doesn’t even care about the flower, she just used it to finally get Pipp to go with her. Meaning they’re distracted enough bickering at one another that, when they find the flower in a cave, the cave-in Misty triggers entraps them. It’s here we get the episode’s best scene, and the first time anything in Make Your Mark has emotional resonance. Off of Pipp being properly sad she’ll miss the portrait, Zipp fully admits she wanted to have fun with Pipp like they once did, but she shouldn’t have selfishly tricked her into coming out. The two sing a slow ballad of a cheer-up song from their childhood (one mentioned earlier, there was some setup), and despite being way too short, fifty-odd seconds (is there a viewer who wouldn’t have preferred streamlining the earlier bickering to have a FiM-length ballad here?), it actually works. Even when the rest of the episode is a convenient wrap-up of conventional material in Pipp getting a signal, Pippsqueaks breaking them out, and them barely making it to Zephyr Heights for the portrait, there’s enough grace notes to not fumble it up too much (and the song’s brief reprise while the camera pans along a happy early portrait, one of Zipp as a sullen teen, and the new one of them smiling and covered in seaweed, it earns a lot of that).

It would be very easy to overpraise this episode, for the script still has plenty of things daring the viewer to pick them apart – why travel to Maretime Bay to prep when the painting’s back home; Zephyr Heights is apparently only a few blocks from Maretime Bay now; Zipp brushing off the source of every anonymous photo she gets – and being very nearly a filler episode, it’ll feel properly disposable if the sisters’ relationship regresses going forward. Yet the mere fact of being able to sell the sisters’ relationship and past with some actual nuance, and it not being the cliché of them never having gotten along, is worthy of note. Compared to the complete non-entity that was Sunny and Hitch’s interactions last episode, which invalidated their past, this implies it and is clear enough about Zipp’s desire to just have fun with her sister again that her selfishness isn’t painful to watch. Do I still wish for a script without all those writing shortcuts and fallbacks? Like I wish for a corporeal form. Yet it’s prudent to deny the smaller focus of a sibling character story, and willingness to only include aspects of the show that fed into it (give or take the social media), brought out the better in this one.

Zipp: "Listen, sis, I… I shouldn't lash out at you. It's not your fault you're a desperate sop to appeal to Generation Z's social media obsession, that's a few years older than our target demographic anyway. Sometimes I forget you're not to blame, but the writers are. I'll… I'll try to remember that better."
Pipp: "Oh… apology accepted, Zipp. And I suppose you always have good intentions behind being serious. I should have more faith that you do everything you do for a reason –
"Wait – what do you mean, 'writers'? And… 'desperate sop'?!?"

And that extends to the visuals too; the almost complete lack of background extras, and most shots only having two or three ponies to animate, means an almost full absence not just of stiff movement, but far less movement not properly synced to the onscreen actions. Not completely, and the badly-proportioned-and-voiced trio of foals sit alongside Opaline as a magnet for bad character animation. But in many moments with Zipp and Pipp, and especially in the cave, the handling and grace of their movements actually plusses the script’s effect, making it stronger. I was legit impressed, and not just there; the rendering continues to increment upwards, and while feeling very physically constrained like every set in this show, the luminescent cave is properly lovely and soothing. This visual uptick can only be a rarity, for most episodes will necessitate far more characters onscreen and won’t be confined to largely small sets. But, praise where praise is due, folks.

Let’s not mince words, this can’t be called better than adequate, isn’t anything to watch again in full, and still trafficks in constraining lore, social media, and character flanderization (at least in part). And Sunny, when not the lead character, continues to be so bland she’s invisible. But a mix of the common pratfalls being mitigated or sidelined, and having actual character relationships and interiority (minimal, but it’s there), and a story with mostly logical progression, makes this a tolerable, even serviceable, divertissement. And this is from someone who didn’t like either Zipp or Pipp even for the film! Viewers who like them, and especially those who treasure their relationship, will probably really like this.

And you know? More power to ’em. It’s… it’s nice.

Neither screenshots nor gifs can really capture the song scene in motion. No rendering slips, the character animation all fits, the camera swoops around with legit cinematography – for streaming toyetic CG animation, it's exquisite. Mitt-to-heart, folks. This scene probably had a bit of the Money Shot principle in effect, that being where key scenes in animated movies, like the songs in a Disney musical, get afforded more time because them being done right affects the whole product’s quality and effect on the viewer.

Episode 4 – Ali-Conned

Most of the townsponies, all of the Mane 5… yep, that didn't take long! Perhaps it would be wise to not hold one's breath for a nuanced depiction of the townsponies…

The bad news – this episode predictably drops from the quality of Portrait of a Princess, though it at least avoids the abysmal character writing of Growing Pains, and neither does it become a cross-cutting nightmare like Izzy Does It. On the other hand, this rendition of “Sparky Mugs For The Camera” has even less connection to the episode; Sunny’s dilemma are sharing space with rote activist material and a terrible influential Girl Group; Pipp’s social media desperation irritates heavily through repetitive attrition; and even apart from visual dips due to the plot requirements, the animation and rendering let several key moments down.

This does, at least, prove again that Sunny, at least as written thus far, only really works as an investable character in the lead role. It takes shifting out all her laughable activist causes for healthy eating and the like (you can feel the writer’s typing screech to a halt when Sunny proclaims what her really important announcement is for), but there’s enough desperation and genuine interest in being liked for her, not for being an alicorn to make her plight sympathetic in principle. Make no mistake, it’s a weak version even of that, with the moment of being reminded of when she had no friends falling back, and her being curled up in bed until Izzy cheers her up on writing autopilot, and let down terribly by badly synced character animation and visual timing. But it is there. And while it does peter out into much of nothing, Opaline trying to manipulate Sunny via her compact mirror does give us some actually effective villain hamminess on her end. Not gonna hold my breath for anything close to a dynamic hero-villain relationship, even if this wasn’t clearly a one-off, but it’s not nothing.

Pipp: "Okay Hitch, this is how it's going to work. You're going to give me that dragon, I'm going to use him to climb back to the top of the social media leaderboard, and then you're going to forget everything I told you about running a Clip Trot account so I remain unopposed until the end of time. Sound like a plan?"
Hitch: "Will you dragonsit Sparky again weekly?"
Pipp: "Monthly."
Hitch: "Deal."

That’s kind of it, though, the rest of the episode is just dreary and lethargic once again. Pipp dragonsitting Sparky did get more of a reaction out of me than when Izzy did the same, in the few moments of her getting humiliated, though well more screentime is devoted there this episode, so it’s even more of a nothing subplot. If it deserves that label, given they don’t even bother to incorporate its plot or moral into that of the main episode. Nope, Pipp just threw a fit at being upstaged on social media, and it’s nigh-impossible to care except when they do a fake-out of her packing it being a content creator. And then you feel duped for getting your hopes up.

The Filly Four subplot, I grant they’re supposed to be annoying and shallow ditzes. But that can be accomplished without writing them like that, nor by casting valley girl voices that would make a 90’s anime dub feel restrained. This applies to the rest of the town too. I can forgive the rough animation on them in some shots, but they’re characterised as dumb vegetables in only following what Alicorn Sunny does and booing her otherwise. Many of which are characters who have known her for years (and the replacement voices on Toots and Sweets, as well as giving Sugar Moonlight the full ditzy diva personality… kill me find a way to kill me). Apart from being infuriating in the moment, it undermines any of Sunny’s activities or the fallout. There’s ways to show that the general populace won’t care about you or your goals, but this ain’t it. The episode rebounds a little by the end, with her friends making a garden for her, and an acceptable resolution that she alicorns up when feeling like she’s helping others/will help others. So it comes out a little better than the mass amount of screentime of the above material makes it sound.

Evidently, I must be getting numb to this series’ shortcomings, for this episode should by all rights infuriate me as much as Ep. 2. Yet it hasn’t. Is that a sign that, despite a script consisting of absolute scattershot scraps haphazardly assembled, this one isn’t terrible? Maybe. I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt and not place it dead last thus far, but if this isn’t a melting pot of a hamstrung-yet-functionally-interesting character dilemma (it’s an intriguing contrast to when Twilight became an alicorn, who was already a very important and respected pony with massive influence, whereas Sunny was a social pariah) sharing space with dreary material that doesn’t even pretend to be anything other than a time-waster, and hinders the main character story, I don’t know what is.

Opaline: "I've got 17.5 minutes to convert this bozo to the ways of alicornhood, or this whole episode will be a case of wheel-spinning. And you. Are Drinking. HER. WARES!"
Misty: "Um, I think the script said 'merchandise', not 'wares', and… wait, you weren't deliberately quoting Disney's Hercules?"

---

Despite Ep. 3 benefitting hugely from being a mostly-filler episode, it’s feeling more and more like the villain segments are coming as an obligation separate from whatever “vague character dilemma of the week” is in play. Ep. 4 certainly does integrate Opaline into the proceedings more, no denying that. But the end result of no change to her villain plan, with her getting the desire to convert Sunny to her side at the episode’s start and dismissing it at the end to continue with her goal as planned, doesn’t feel organic, does it? Especially as Misty’s infiltration of the Filly Four never amounted to anything, even in the moment, bar a few pratfalls. Pretending you’re advancing your overarching plot when you’re not irritates more than straight up having a filler episode, frankly. And that’s just looking at the matter in principle; Opaline still has yet to win us over as an antagonist (I will grant she is better than a few select FiM villains), pulling this trick isn’t going to help.

And yeah, otherwise, I’m grateful for Ep. 3, but it proved to be a one-off anomaly, so I doubt we’ll see a bump like it again soon. Not unlike FiM, the more this series tries to do plot heavy stuff, the more it makes a hash of things, at least thus far. Perhaps that will change as Misty gets more involved, still far and away the most interesting element of the villain plotline. And not just because we’ve never had a villain with a not-really-evil sidekick before (Grubber doesn’t count). Let’s see where the wavy-haired pony takes us…

It’s been present in all episodes, but Ep. 4’s focus on Sunny really throws the yellow outlines around her eyes into focus. What even is this? It’s just the worst kind of distracting – very off-putting, frankly – and feels like a lighting diffusion gone wrong, even though it being consistently there means it’s almost certainly intended.

Stray Observations

• Even-numbered episodes being weaker than the odd-numbered ones… it’s like the old adage about the quality of Star Trek films, except inverted. Will it continue for the rest of Chapter 2? Hm.
• I forgot every episode opened on the “A Netflix Series” title card with Sparky gurgling. His voice and its acting has… not been charming, feeling like a mix-up between a baby and Yoda speak. Gone wrong. Not remotely charming, and certainly not helping his case.
• Yeah, Zipp was right not to place faith in Sunny’s impression of her. It sounded just like a young female voice actor making their first stab at a boy’s voice. And, well, Jenna Warden’s resume is minimal…
• The Portrait Day song scene reminded me of nothing so much as the True Colors scene in Trolls, and of course we’re nowhere near that level of artistry or resonance, but we’re not as far off as you might think.
• Ep. 3 does showcase how the Twilight hologram wasn’t needed this early; the bit of Opaline wanting Zipp out of the picture only needed her general detective nature as a catalyst.
• Like many of the best ponies, Misty can’t help but be cute even when doing villainous tasks like trapping others in a cave.
• Like Izzy’s horn being rendered in Ep. 2 after being missing from the trailer, Sugar Moonlight’s missing phone during her selfie with Sunny got restored here. Aw, they do care…!
• Ep. 4 doubled the number of credited Lighting & Composition Artists, from twenty to forty. I didn’t feel any notable bump – point of fact, the harsh sunlight of most of the episode made the models feel rather overbaked at times – but I’ll certainly be keeping an eye on that aspect going forward.

Comments

[iisaw]

...yellow outlines around her eyes...

This color shift isn't shouldn't be random. Thin skin produces different colors because the red of the blood beneath shows through (or doesn't) in certain places. This is true of lips and the skin of the cheeks (exaggerated when blushing) and the eye sockets, usually darker and closer to purple for reasons. (It's a different deal with the translucency of the thin parts of their ears, but there is still should be a red shift because of the blood.)

I think this sort of thing is because the character designers wanted this sort of subsurface scattering in order to make the ponies feel more real/less flat, but found out that red doesn't work for a lot of coat colors, so they started trying different colors, seemingly at random. Extra weird in that red should work for Sunny's color. In any case, these areas should be darker no matter what color they are. Also see Opaline's muzzle and lips, though the skin color beneath the extremely thin fur there probably would have a dominant effect.

I don't remember noticing this in the original movie, but I'd go back and check if I had any time to spare.

TL:DR You're right it's weird.