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| I love how Rainbow gets more and more annoyed during the picnic scenes |
Written by Meghan McCarthy
15 Oct 2011
My original rating: N/A
IMDB score: 9.0
The one with Princess Erroria.
Thoughts: We really are in Season 2 now, aren't we? An updated intro, Twilight's new magic colour and – at the end – friendship letters spreading beyond just Twi. Anyway, this is a hugely entertaining episode, probably one of the funniest in the entire show's run. Whether it's Twilight's Gollum act, Rarity's "Worst Possible Thing" sequence or little touches like Pinkie's balloon basket, I was grinning throughout. On the downside, it's not that believable at times. Rainbow Dash being employed by Applejack to smash up an old barn doesn't make a whole lot of sense, Fluttershy's memorable massage moment isn't something we've had any clue she could do, and Tardy Twi herself freaks out beyond even some of her late-series performances. There's also a slightly disturbing line – "works every time!" – regarding the Want it, Need it spell. Still, the town riot over Smarty Pants is great fun, and I love Big Mac grabbing the doll afterwards. For me, this episode has aged a bit – but it's merely gone from spectacular to very good. I would probably once have given this five stars. No longer – but it still cruises to a very easy four.
Choice quote: Rarity: "Ugh, what a drama queen! ... relatively speaking."
New rating: ★★★★
Next up is "Luna Eclipsed", an episode adored by vast swathes of the fandom but which I've only ever liked, not loved. Let's see if I change my tune this time around.
I've always hated this episode. The only time Twilight's behavior has been worse is in A Trivial Pursuit. :| Rarity's "worst possible thing" joke always drove me up the wall, but to add to your list of things that don't make sense: Twilight being afraid of Princess Celestia when she's spent the majority of her life around her? Anyone? Has it always just been me? This gave us a good status quo shakeup at the end, to expand the idea of friendship letters, but there was a better way to get there.
ReplyDeleteThe way I see it, Twilight is afraid of Princess Celestia precisely because she has spent most her life around her. It is kinda like being afraid of disappointing your parents.
DeleteThat's not the way it's portrayed, though. This isn't "I'm afraid Princess Celestia will be disappointed in me," it's, "if I don't follow her edicts to the letter, there will be horrible punishments in store for me." And while I'm perfectly willing to believe said threats are entirely made up in Twilight's head, i.e. not derived from any actual punishment she ever underwent herself... they're not derived from any actual punishment she ever underwent herself.
DeleteCompare to A Bird in the Hoof, where it's you did this bad thing, Celestia might punish you. Twilight should know exactly what level of trouble she's in. Of course, maybe that episode is the basis for her freakout here.
Point is, if the whole thing had been "I am afraid of being late because it means I will have been late", no threat of punishment, maybe a little fear of disappointing Celestia, it would have been an excellent portrayal of anxiety. Instead, this just added fuel to the early fandom's Tyrantlestia fire. :|
While I can understand why some fans think Twilight Sparkle kind of overreacted especially with this freak out, in a way I kind of relate to her predicament (But by a lesser extent). Growing up, I've never liked being late over 'anything' which didn't help considering that when I was a kid I was often scolded for showing up late for class. Which is why I typically would come to work at the office earlier than the appointed time because in my head it's better to be early and settle in, rather than enduring the stress of trying to make it to work by the skin of my teeth. Her friends in this case are not exactly fault-less either, as while missing turning in a friendship note to the Princess may be peanuts to the group it means something to Twilight.
ReplyDeleteBut otherwise, this was a fun episode from start to finish. An episode most notable for it's comedic moments, even though some bits may not make as much sense. While I can understand as to why Applejack would ask Rainbow Dash to smash the old barn and not some other pony like Big Mac or even herself, let's face it. That scene was made for comedic purposes, especially to see something close as a nuclear bomb and for some fans it just works. As for Fluttershy's massage ordeal, again for comedic timing this is just to demonstrate how even a timid Pegasus can do an action that makes it seem like she's doing something extensive but really it's much simpler. Why in this crossover series group, we'd deploy this same tactic for a story and even bringing up that Twilight was the one lassie who knew about it while it would be a surprise to her friends.
Is it a perfect episode overall? Maybe not. I admit there are some hiccups compared to later episodes it barely holds up. But as I said, if we think Twilight's freak out was bad in this episode, just wait until later seasons (ESPECIALLY the very last one). Eventually, her freak outs become so frequent and expected, it's practically turned into a meme curtesy of the FIM Universe.
I liked this episode in spirit, but it was always a bit too over the top for me. Still a good one, and I did like the humor in it, plus the way the jokes were evenly spread around to the different characters. It did bug me that the girls were so insensitive to Twilight. That goes back to being over the top. Of course, that's precisely the message of the episode, that they'd been dismissive of her, but it's a bit much when she's freaking out that severely about it, and is obviously very distressed, prompting them to laugh at her. If she'd been trying to hid it from them, too, I wold have found it more believable.
ReplyDeleteEven better than Bag Mac in the tussle for Smarty Pants was Derpy! She briefly had possession, then wrestled Mayor Mare a bit.