S1E21 Over a Barrel

When I was young, you could still find old black-and-white shows like The Lone Ranger and westerns on TV. Plus, all the classic Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry cartoons still played. So I saw "cowboys and Indians" plots all the time growing up.

But it's a rather risky idea for writers in 2010 to recycle the trope.

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S2E5 Sisterhooves Social

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In general, there’s not as much to say on the individual episodes, simply because a lot of them are situation-based, rather than character or world-based. For shorter stories, that can be enough, but the downside is it doesn’t do much in terms of worldbuilding.

Season 3 was the first season I followed completely as it came out, so it’s the first time I started blogging shortly after episodes came out. It was also the last season I followed as it came out.

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Again, for those who aren't aware: the following was written during the viewing, and usually pausing the videos. It was also written without prior knowledge of Season 5, some spoilers notwithstanding.

Enjoy!

I’m not going to do an episode-by-episode talk on this one, simply for the sake of saving time.

Edit: at the time of writing, I'd missed a few days in my schedule, and come to the realisation that stopping and writing down thoughts really slowed down the viewing process.

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S2E13 Baby Cakes

So this was an episode that came completely out of the blue. There was no indication of Cup Cake being pregnant, let alone with twins. I'm assuming there was a toy involved.

"That makes sense, right?" Sure, but if you're a pegasus stallion with a beige coat or a unicorn stallion with a yellow coat, I wouldn't recommend dining at Sugarcube Corner.

Of all the things I would hate about being a non-unicorn pony, changing diapers by mouth is #1 on the list.

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S1E7 Dragonshy

What can I say about this episode that's good?

Okay, I think that Fluttershy finding her courage when it means helping her friends is a powerful message and important definition for her character that fits the future, particularly her reforming Discord.

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(There's a difference between the episode order in the Wiki and on iTunes, so I'll use the Wiki order here.)

S2E11 Hearth's Warming Eve

It's a Christmas episode. When I was young, it was pretty common for Saturday morning cartoons to have a Christmas episode some week in December. (Which would be horribly out of place when it was rerun in April.) Obviously, the ponies don't have Christmas, but the secular trappings of the holidays makes it clear that's what it is.

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S1E25 Party of One

I have a feeling this episode would have been largely forgotten were it not for a particular fanfic that built off of it.

Pinkie Pie wisely decides to give up on the idea of singing telegrams.

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S2E17 Hearts and Hooves Day

The writers have chosen, once again, to feature a holiday or celebration in this episode. Arguably, this is the seventh time (Summer Sun Celebration, Winter Wrap Up, Running of the Leaves, Grand Galloping Gala, Nightmare Night, Hearth's Warming, Hearts and Hooves Day), and the third time directly referencing a major American holiday.

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S1E15 Feeling Pinkie Keen

Here's another Pinkie Pie-focused episode, one that helped define the character of Pinkie Pie. It increased the number of ways in which Pinkie Pie is portrayed as the zany character, making any weird thing, including breaking the fourth wall, seem just fine. The fandom really developed the idea of Pinkie Sense, but did it ever come up again in the series?

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S1E23 The Cutie Mark Chronicles

Fans really seized on the idea of the Cutie Mark Crusaders and tree sap.

I have to think that, by a certain point, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were deliberately not naming Rainbow Dash to mess with Scootaloo.

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And so Bronycon comes to an end. A lot went well, a lot went poorly. All told, this last visit to Baltimare can be summarized in four words:

It went horribly right.

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S2E3 Lesson Zero

In this episode, we get the first change in the opening sequence.

You know how in A Bird in the Hoof, Twilight Sparkle worries about being banished and thrown in a dungeon in the place where she's banished? Well, this episode is a logical continuation of that same ability to not understand rational consequences.

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S2E19 Putting Your Hoof Down

Watching this episode as part of the whole series is jarring. You have episode after episode of ponies being kind and friendly, then a whole bunch of rude ponies all at once.

I hate Angel Bunny in this episode. I want to turn him into hasenpfeffer.

I'd like to know why there just happens to be a hedge maze somewhere near Ponyville.

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S1E13 Fall Weather Friends

It's another annual event that's only mentioned once!

One good thing about this series is that there are enough interactions among the ponies to justify most every ship. And this is the episode that launched AppleDash, the ship that wins out in the end. I do like the interaction and competition between Rainbow Dash and Applejack, even though I'm firmly of the belief that earth ponies have an insurmountable magical advantage in athletic competitions.

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S1E3 The Ticket Master

Oh, so many problems with this episode.

Twilight Sparkle may be sheltered, but she should at least know that she got two tickets so that she could take along a date. This could be handled by having her think she's not interested in a date, and would rather go with a friend, allowing the episode's conflict to happen.

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S1E17 Stare Master

By this point, I'm feeling the show's writers are getting the characters and are building a consistent world. We have Rarity busy with her fashion work, Twilight Sparkle going to see Zecora, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders together, ready to do the crusading they promised in their first meeting.

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S1E11 Winter Wrap Up

It took until Episode 11 to get one that I'm not going to have any big complaints about. The Mane Six finally feel like they're in character.

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Let me explain this better: Did you have that feeling when one of your favorite companies is not what it used to be or what you used to love? When was the point where everything went down? I'm going to list 4 cases when this happened to me and some of them may surprise you.

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S2E9 Sweet and Elite

I groaned when I saw this title was next in my rewatch list, because I remember not liking it. And rewatching it confirms my original assessment.

So this is another episode which uses moral lessons common to children's shows. Don't forget where you come from, don't forget who your real friends are, don't lie and pretend to be something you're not. And the episode uses a common sitcom trope, trying to attend two parties/be in two places at once.

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