Episode review: S9E04: "Sparkle's Seven"

Don't tell me you wouldn't watch this series

NB: this episode was originally advertised as "Twilight's Seven".

Fourscore and seven years ago, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic reached episode one hundred with the wildly over-the-top "Slice of Life". Here we are in 2019 and it's time for episode two hundred. While E100 was a thank you to the fans, E200 was trailed as being a thank you to the main voice actors, and indeed the Mane Six's and Spike's VAs were given "Story by" credits for this episode. How did it fare? Past the break, I'll have a look at just that.

I thought "Sparkle's Seven" was very good indeed. The writers wisely didn't try to outdo "Slice of Life", as I'm really not sure that's possible. Instead, you might say that they went back to basics, concentrating on the central cast and providing a domestically-focused episode that in some ways harked back to earlier times. Take out some of the flash Flash and this episode wouldn't have seemed entirely out of place five years ago.

The sudden introduction of the story of the Sibling Supreme crown was a little on the rickety side, and you have to be fairly forgiving to reconcile it with "We never had a single fight", but I think it did its job in setting up the episode. The theme of the episode was certainly "siblings", centring on Spike's insecurity about his place in Twilight's family. I was delighted by how this was resolved, and I found the ending entirely satisfying.

"I've taught you to love geese, to love their flesh, their voice."

We also saw several other siblings make appearances. Maud turned up in a silent (even for her) cameo, Apple Bloom and Big Mac appeared in flashback and the Royal Sisters bickered good-naturedly. Rather more surprising was the return of Zephyr Breeze, much to Rainbow Dash's dismay. There were some nice touches with his brief Royal Guard career, such as the obviously ill-fitting armour he wore, and Zephyr does seem slightly less obnoxious these days.

Naturally, the Mane Six all got moments to shine, though Twilight's was more of an episode-long thing involving her rivalry with her brother. Rarity probably came out of the episode best, semi-reprising her Shadow Spade role from "Rarity Investigates!" – the episode even included a brief b/w noir sequence. She was also the pony who dreamt up the idea of having Rainbow Dash dress in style for Zephyr's benefit – much to Dash's disgust.

Pinkie going to space (at least in her dreams) was the oddest sequence in the episode, and I'm not sure it entirely worked; seeing her moonwalking around a planet's rings didn't really seem very MLP. Fluttershy, on the other hand, was perhaps slightly short-changed (what else is new?) but the stuff she did get was a lot of fun. There was also a really good conversation with Spike about sibling dynamics. I actually wish that had been a bit longer.

Notice Rarity's cutie mark represented on the dress

Which leaves us with Applejack, or "Apple Chord" as she claimed once to have been. I'm fairly sure that she was making the whole story up – if it had been true, she wouldn't have hesitated when challenged – but it was fun nevertheless and allowed us a brief glimpse of Baby Apple Bloom. AJ does have a previously established interest in music ("The Mane Attraction"), which I strongly suspect she inherited from her late mother.

This was something of a parody of Ocean's Eleven, but I'm not much of a film person and have never actually seen either version (pause for gasps of horror from some of you), so I probably missed some references that were staring everyone else in the face. What I didn't miss were the meme faces, which I think can be overdone in Josh Haber (and co) episodes. I wasn't a fan of the re-use of Twilight's "Pudding!" face for "Forever" – the expression really didn't fit the word.

The pacing of the episode seemed very good, with a lot going on but events still having room to breathe. It was nice to see some of Canterlot Castle's depths in detail again, with one or two callbacks to "Castle Mane-ia" – Haber's first episode. There was some excellent dialogue; I didn't notice anything that sounded out of place, which might have something to do with the extra input in the writing process this time from the VAs.

"Change of plan, Twily. I'll be the one taking over when Celestia retires"

In the end, though, "Sparkle's Seven" was Spike's triumph. He played a key role throughout the episode and ended up with what he'd always so much wanted: explicit acknowledgement of his status as a part of Twilight's family. This may not have been an episode that made me convulse with laughter in the way "Slice of Life" did, and it did have just enough faults to prevent a five-star rating. Overall, though, this was a very solid, very entertaining story and a fitting E200.

Best line: Fluttershy to Spike: "Sibling dynamics are hard. Trust me."
Best moment: Spike's moment of double triumph
Worst moment: Pinkie's helmet filling with saliva. Yuk

Yays

• All the Mane Seven (inc Spike) were used well
• Heartwarming ending
• Very well paced
• Attractive visuals
• Excellent dialogue

Neighs

• Pinkie's sequence didn't quite work
• A few too many meme faces
• Twilight had yet another mini-freakout

★★★★