Thursday 23 March 2017

Quick thoughts on the S7E03 and S7E04 synopses

This is a fairly short post, but I'm adding the break because spoilers. As I've said before, I don't really consider synopses to be spoilers, but over a month out is a different proposition from a few days beforehand. So, break added! To pad this intro out a bit, I'll mention that "chatted up" in BrEng almost always means something like "hit on". It's a nice source of low-level amusement for we UK-based readers. :P

Episode 3: "A Flurry of Emotions"
After planning a jam-packed day, Twilight Sparkle also agrees to babysit her niece, Flurry Heart. But with Flurry Heart along for the ride, Twilight Sparkle struggles to maintain her title as 'The Best Aunt Ever' while keeping Flurry Heart out of trouble!

Oh no, please not a rehash of "Baby Cakes". That's among my least favourite episodes ever, so I'm wary of anything that looks like being similar. I'm actually okay with seeing Flurry a bit more, since it'd be nice to have something better than the S6 premiere. (I like that less now than I did then.) As for Twilight, I doubt she'd go all "Lesson Zero" these days, so where's her share of the interest going to come from?

Episode 4: "Rock Solid Friendship"
When Pinkie Pie learns that Maud might move to Ponyville, she does everything she can to make sure her sister sees that it has more to offer than just rocks.

This, on the other hoof, is an episode that could go either way. My concern is that Maud is a one-joke character, and that said joke might not be able to carry a full episode more than once. The good option would be for this ep to be hilarious throughout, like Maud's first focus episode. The bad option would be for it to be tedious, like (most of) Maud's second focus episode.

Neither of these episodes make me squee with excitement at the thought of what might be to come, especially since both look as if they've been at least partially done before. I'm hopeful that I'll be pleasantly surprised, and I remind myself that there have been stretches of meh episodes in every season thus far. But I also hope that S7 will provide something more interesting than this later on.

11 comments:

  1. I anticipate tedium for that Maud episode, because anything with her is tedious if it contains her in more than small doses.

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    1. I fear you may be right. I did love "Maud Pie", but they can only really do that once.

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  2. Oh gosh no, I like "Baby Cakes". Pinkie wanting to be a responsible adult basically addresses most of what I disliked about her character by that point, and there is a vaguely Kafka-esque pleasure in watching her get put through the ringer despite her attempts at babysitting becoming more and more serious. Also, I'm a sucker for the sweet ending. And more Mr and Mrs Cake is fine by me, though I haven't entirely warmed to Pound and Pumpkin Cake yet. Still, it puts me in a cheerful mood.

    No, if you want a Pinkie episode I dislike, look no further than a few episodes later in that same season. "A Friend In Deed" has one spectacular song and a good new character. Then it squanders both with some deeply unsympathetic moves on Pinkie's part, notably in the second half, and one irritatingly contrived ending to sidestep any actual responsibility for her actions. It's so maddening.

    "A Flurry of Emotions" I will probably skip, though, unless I hear it's really good. Flurry combines the irritations of Pound and Pumpkin Cake with the awkwardness surrounding alicornification. And honestly, if Twilight does go all "Lesson Zero", there's no hope for this one in my book.

    As for "Rock Solid Friendship", you almost certainly know by now what I thought about "Gift of the Maud Pie", and therefore can figure out that I'm quite interested in this one.

    Although her moving to Ponyville seems a shame. Not everybody has to move there, after all, and it's in some ways more satisfying and interesting to go out and about in a larger social network than to bunch it all up in one place. Besides, she seems more the type to live on a rock farm, i.e. in Maud Heaven.

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    1. I've tried to like "Baby Cakes", I really have, and I just can't. Most of it bores me to tears. As xjuggernaughtx pointed out a while back, the creepy segment where Pinkie can't find the foals stands out, but feels very different from the rest of the episode.

      I completely share your view of "A Friend in Deed", though. I know I'd have been pretty upset if Pinkie had treated me as she treated Cranky. She was a bit of a jerk to him, quite frankly. He asked her reasonably politely (for him) to stop messing with her stuff and she simply ignored him. If it weren't for "Smile" it would be down there with my least favourites in the show's run.

      The thing is, I like "Lesson Zero", and I still don't have much optimism for episode three. I really hope it's not an episode to be endured rather than enjoyed, but I have my doubts.

      As for Maud, I'm hoping she doesn't end up moving to Ponyville after all – though again I'm not optimistic. Though if we somehow get a bit of Marble Pie, that will count in the ep's favour!

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    2. "Though if we somehow get a bit of Marble Pie, that will count in the ep's favour!"

      Oh, Mumble Pie's all right, I guess. But she's got nothing on Limestone "Get off Holder's Boulder!" Pie. ;D

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    3. Why people hate Baby Cake and A Friend in Deed? I have so much fun watching those two ;3 Pinkie's cartoonish torture porns are amusing to watch and Cranky is the most tragic ass in Equestria ;) I love cartoon violence in S2, we dont see them anymore nowaday, which make me sad, because slapstick humor is what i love about western kids cartoon ;(

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    4. I like well-done cartoon torment as much as the next person - I love the Wile E. Coyote shorts, for instance - but I don't go to MLP for that, and sometimes it's too edgy and cynical to mesh well with the show's sweeter tone.

      I can't speak for Logan(berry), but I dislike "A Friend in Deed" mostly because Cranky struck me as far too sympathetic for me to enjoy watching him get the Pinkie treatment over and over. Pinkie by contrast came across as too selfish, destructive, and intrusive to really root for. Special mention must go to the "Pinkie tries to apologize" segment, which happens right after Cranky loses his cherished memories and ends with Cranky boarding up his house in utter fear. It was gimmicky and unnecessary to make that scene look as horrific as it does. And the fact that Pinkie's smiling while trying to deliver this "apology" - along with her general "my ulterior motive is to add another friend to the list" schtick - is downright repulsive to me.

      Granted, it's a bit fun at first in a "haha, Pinkie has no clue how to deal with a recluse" sense, but that more than wears out its goodwill over the course of the episode.

      TL, DR: It's a matter of taste, and I don't have the taste for that kind of thing.

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  3. Those 2 episodes synopsis didnt interest me. 3rd and 4th are supposed to be interesting episodes following the premiere, but it look like it isnt a case anymore (S6 only started interesting until Gauntlet of Fire). I REALLY hope the writers can prove me wrong again, Buckball and Saddle Row synopsis are uninteresting but turn out they are best episodes of season, Dungeon and Discord has good premise but turned out disappointing.

    Sadly, when i think about which episodes i can take episodes to rewatch from time to time in S6, i can only take 9 out of 26, not good at all.

    S7 MUST be better than S6 at least, that all i ask for...

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    1. I enjoyed "On Your Marks" last time round – I'd like to have seen Tender Taps make a proper return. But who knows? I liked more than nine episodes in S6, so we'll see.

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  4. Well, I LOVE Maud, so I'm hopefully about the second one. Pinkie is Best Pony and Maud makes everything better.

    The first one? Not so much. Baby Cakes isn't my favorite episode, even with Pinkie in it. Taking her out will just make it worse. Of course, maybe they'll surprise me. That would be nice.

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    1. I think Maud's great in small doses ("You're the most basic of jokes") but I'm less convinced by a full episode of her.

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