Episode review: S5E10: "Princess Spike"

Maybe that's Special Agent Not Actually Twist

After last week's general insanity, the 101st episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic returns to whatever passes for normality in Equestria. There's a new writer in Neal Dusedau, while the story itself is credited to Jayson Thiessen and Jim Miller. It has to be said that the hit rate of episodes with multiple writing credits is not particularly good, and that neither is that of Spike episodes in general, but maybe "Princess Spike" will be an exception. We'll find out past the break.

The problem with Spike episodes seems often to be that, enjoyable supporting character as he is, the little dragon simply isn't a strong enough character to carry an episode on his own. There's just not enough for the writers to do with him, and that seems to be the problem this time round as well. This ep didn't actively repel me or anything, but it was another in the long line of Spikesodes that brought a "meh" reaction.

There was some enjoyable world-building in the Great Equestrian Pony Summit (GEPS), what with all the delegates from various parts of the world. I'm at a disadvantage to North American viewers in that I have no idea whether the "Whinnyapolis" delegate, say, has an accent that's a good approximation to our world's Minneapolis sound, but never mind. It was nice to see the odd crystal pony and griffon, but almost everyone was a pony.

Note Katie Cook's OC on the far right

The only Mane Sixer to be seen this time was Twilight, though she spent a good part of the episode snoring her head off after her exhausting summit preparations. As we saw in "Castle, Sweet Castle", tired!Twi is adorable, and the highlight this time came near the beginning, when she could only sleep properly after cuddling a pile of books close. Once she'd woken up properly later on, she (believably) instantly realised that Spike was up to something.

I thought it was a very good move to make Cadance the princess who had the most to do with Spike this time. We know the dragon has special status in the Crystal Empire, so it makes perfect sense for their ruler to be the one who takes him under her wing. She was clearly suspicious of Spike's motives, but perhaps because she doesn't know him quite as well as Twilight does, she didn't quite have Twi's ability (or confidence?) to call him out on it.

There were some little touches I wasn't that happy with: the chainsaw in particular seemed out of place, especially as there was no magical aura to be seen. (The drill didn't have this problem; after all, one appeared in "Sonic Rainboom" way back in S1!) I also felt Fancy Pants was slightly out of character in terms of his deviousness. On the other hand, it was fun to note Gustav Le Grand's cameo, and the OCs of IDW comic team Katie Cook and Andy Price.

A nice callback to "A Dog and Pony Show"

As so often in Equestria, everything was sorted out almost at once when the wrongdoer confessed his "crimes". This is overly convenient of course, but we mustn't forget the target audience here! Still, let's not get carried away: this was indeed another in the long line of mediocre Spike episodes, and the wait goes on for a truly great one. I actually quite like Spike and would love to see one, but this wasn't really it.

Best quote: Twilight: "Just put the hay in the apple and eat the candle, hmm?"

Yays

• Tired Twilight is absurdly cute
• Some nice little world-building touches
• Cadance's interactions with Spike
• Good to see Canterlot for a while again

Neighs

• Yet another "Spike does something stupid" episode
• Fancy Pants wasn't nearly as pleasant as last time round
• That chainsaw just felt wrong for the setting
• Why is the place filled with "dragon-sneeze trees" anyway?

★★