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| "Trixie, did you even read the 'No food or drink' sign?" |
S7E02: "All Bottled Up"
My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 7.7
Thoughts: Broadcast on the same day as "Celestial Advice", both episodes had mixed receptions from the fandom. "All Bottled Up" managed the rare feat of being seriously criticised by the usually sunny reviewer MLEEP, but I was (and remain) a little more positive. Starlight and Trixie are usually fun together, and so it proves this time. Okay, parts of their story are a bit contrived (especially Starlight's "storm cloud" thing) but at least we got – for a while, at least – canon support for teleportation being hard. The secondary plot with the Mane Six doing the escape room was filler, but it was quite entertaining filler. I like the song more than I initially did, too. Bulk "I wear many hats" Biceps appealed more than sometimes. Nice dialogue, though Trixie is maybe a tad too obnoxious even for her at times. It's a few niggles away from being a really good episode, but it's entertaining and I'm happy for it to keep the solid three-star rating I originally gave it.
Choice quote: Trixie: "Teach away, mini-Twilight."
New rating: ★★★
Next
up, a Flurry Heart episode. Be still my beating heart. Okay, I'll be fair: "A Flurry of Emotions" doesn't really stick in my mind for bad reasons, though nor does it for great ones. I remember having rather mixed views on it.
I had pretty much the same reaction. Largely good overall, but Trixie was too over the top, and the side plot was nothing. Starlight and Trixie have good chemistry, and that was nice.
ReplyDeleteThe more I think about it, the more I think the StarTrix chemistry is perhaps my favourite thing about late-series Pony. At the very least, second behind the introduction of the Young Six.
DeleteIn advance of this, I rewatched this one a few days ago, so back to regular, informed comments here!
ReplyDeleteHonestly, this was both better than I remembered, and better than both the season premiere and the intro of this friendship "No Second Prances". If you squint, you can start to see the shift from Starlight being the oh-so important Creator's Pet, to a pony that doesn't have to be the focus when she shows up, and where her past and "arc" isn't always the point. Only the start of the shift – the episode has too much focus on Starlight fretting about Twilight not trusting her, and too many "bringing up Starlight's past" jokes for that (they even has the possessed anger call Trixie out for it), to not still be that. But in largely being about Starlight being irritated by her friend's quirks, its notable steps towards the Starlight easily isolatable from her past incarnation, and that's a Starlight I can get behind. Somewhat.
Also notable is that, after me not really liking Trixie in Season Six (she had an off portrayal in her debut, chiefly for her and Twilight being too antagonistic, and was bantering with characters I didn't like in the finale or dumping on those that had potential like Discord), her cadence and timing felt somewhat more agreeable here. She's still used too far into being annoying for the viewer as well as Starlight in many moments, but perhaps just due to attrition with her, she's a little more acceptable here for me.
After that – and as that is given the episode a more sturdy character base, I don't want it to come across as paying lip service – the episode kinda loses me. Weak half-apology from Trixie that actually works, repetitive dialogue with little of the flair the Lady Writers brought in their pre-Story Editor days, and a script that can't even stretch itself to episode length and thus has the sluggish visual pacing that would come to define so many Season Seven episodes. Not the first episode that would be better as an 11-min one, and the first of several this season.
And, as everyone has noted, the side plot is a very nothing Sitcom B plot with no relation to the main conflict (something FiM has hardly ever fallen into before now), and, while some of it is passable filler, none of it is memorable beyond the song (which, yes, is a contender for the season's best, give or take "You're In My Head Like a Catchy Song"), to the point of feeling like it's engineered to facilitate inserting that song. What with the clumsy cross-cutting, especially in the song itself.
Still, it's not a bad episode, and for better or for worse, it's making steps to make the newer cast being frequent mainstays a thing (something Rock Solid Friendship would extend a good bit further). Mediocre, but it's a serviceable kind of mediocrity.
…Not even 500 words on this episode? Who I am and what have I done with Ghost Mike? :P
too many "bringing up Starlight's past" jokes
DeleteI agree: that was overdone. Mind you, this won't be the last time something is run into the ground...
the song (which, yes, is a contender for the season's best, give or take "You're In My Head Like a Catchy Song")
In my book this isn't a bad season at all for songs, despite there being only five of them. Admittedly one of them is rather odd, but it's at least odd for in-universe reasons. And also admittedly, another of them is affected by being in probably the series' most controversial ever episode. But 2017 really didn't do too badly musically, especially when you factor in the film tracks!
something Rock Solid Friendship would extend a good bit further
An episode I am really looking forward to reaching. Only one more to go before I get there! Who knows, I might even take less than a month to reach episode four, too... ;)
If you ignore the stupid B-plot with the mane six (which I actually forgot was in this!), I remember this being the first episode I enjoyed not despite Starlight's presence, but because of it. Okay, well, really because of Trixie, but she wouldn't be there, being great and terrible, if not for Starlight. :P
ReplyDeleteI hadn't completely forgotten the B-plot myself, but I couldn't remember anything much about it beyond the song and its taking the Mane Six over the record time. As for Trixie... yeah, by this point I was starting to enjoy her presence, which certainly hadn't been the case back in her early appearances!
DeleteEver since this episode aired, I've noticed it getting a lot of hate from fans, with some even going so far as to call it the worst of the show, and I think to myself, "Really? In a show where the likes of 28 Pranks Later exist, All Bottled Up is really that bad?"
ReplyDeletePersonally, no. I feel like the hate was overblown. Whether it be the presence of Starlight and Trixie together, the B-plot with the Mane Six or a combination of both, I'm not sure. I do agree with some, however, that the Mane Six's subplot could've been cut and nothing would change, but other than that, All Bottled Up as a whole is... fine. Not great, not terrible, just fine. There have been way worse episodes both before and since.
Yeah, "worst of the show" would be a *real* stretch. Plenty of episodes I'd watch this in preference to. It's interesting, on this blog at least we all seem much in agreement so far. It's a decent but not amazing episode.
Delete