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| Feelings... nothing more than feelings |
S7E17: "To Change a Changeling"
2 Sep 2017
My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 7.5
Thoughts:
The IMDb ratings for the last few episodes are similarly middling, but I rather like this one. Kevin Lappin's second and last Friendship is Magic ep (after "Honest Apple") is a rare episode (the first in the show's run?) with none of the Mane Six even on screen. It's enjoyable, and Pharynx is an interesting character. I've seen it mentioned by a few people that he's somewhat in the role of a demobbed soldier who finds adjusting to civilian life hard. This is one of Thorax's best episodes, especially when he shows the assertiveness he learnt from Ember. Trixie and Starlight are really getting into the groove now as a team, and they have some fun, snappy dialogue. The Feelings Forum is amusing, especially the bit with the soup. It's a shame that the Maulwurf is such an uninteresting monster, otherwise this might just have had a shot at a four-star rating. Even as it is, it retains its 2017 three-star score with ease and is on the high side of that band.
Choice quote: Pharynx: "I look better with holes."
New rating: ★★★
Next
time around, it'll be "Daring Done?", an episode which prompted mixed reactions from both me and the fandom on first appearance. Now? Well, you know the form... we'll see!
For what it was -- giving us a look at the reformed changelings' new lives, essentially justifying having done that in the first place -- it was fine. I always found it funny how they just turned them into hippies, for all that much of this is likely exaggerated for comedy's sake. It's fine, Pharynx is whatever, it's fine. :B
ReplyDeleteI thought it was fine too, but I suspect my fine was a little finer than your fine. Which is fine. :P
DeleteThank goodness for those comments I found from those military bronies about how the character of Pharynx hit hard and echoes the feeling of being back in peaceful times/off-duty after a period on the front line. It really gives the character even more sympathy than he already has (trust me, we’ll get there), and an added layer of depth to the episode that holds up. Because that aside, this episode is a frustrating, aggrevating pile-up.
ReplyDeleteSetting aside the maulwurf in the room (no, not that one), and taking the episode’s events at face value without consideration of the changelings before this, the ostensible point is about reaching compromise between the other changelings new ways and Pharynx’s old ones. It’s kind of ruined by how passive-aggressive and dismissive the changelings are, painting them as not only dumb, but not upholding the values they now preach. It’s almost like a prelude of the dark cynical edges we get in the last two seasons that make Equestria out to be a meaner place than intended, present here as there due to slipshod writing. And, that the episode has to end with Pharynx transforming too (into less of an eyesore than the others, granted), rather than the writes-itself notion of him getting to stay in his form, totally flies in the face of the compromise of fitting into the new norm without having to become someone else.
And that’s without considering the changelings prior to this episode. Once you do that, it’s just a grab-bag of frustration and wasted potential, seeing fierce warriors go to colourful new age hippies incapable of fending off a goofy giant mole. How many would have expected a stop that low even with the sudden change at the end of “To Where and Back Again?”
The renegade ‘lings Thorax mentioned two episodes ago are reformed between episodes, Thorax is back to being an ineffectual weakling unfit to be king without the adorkable moments in “Triple Threat” (all of Ember’s advice takes place in offscreen scenes). The feelings forum is the kind of thing Discord would make a joke about, except now it’s real. And building off the above point, it’s basically advocating that creatures have to look like ponies to be good and not be “ugly”, which is problematic even without the higher nuance possible from ponies learning to associate with creatures that still look the same as those which once terrorised them. My experience watching the episode this time, I sided with Pharynx in literally every moment of opposition he had.
In the micro writing, the dialogue is also rather cyclical in that “novice late season writer” manner, the sass and gumption of Starlight and Trixie are on autopilot, and the maulwurf is far too goofily designed and named to work as the threat the script wants it to (a preview of the lame cartoony hodgepodge one-off creatures we’d get in the last two seasons – bufogren, aka the large frog with halitosis, anyone?). Leaving the episode both frustrating to think about and mildewy to watch on a beat-by-beat basis. Pharynx is enough that I don’t hate it, but everything else here makes me glad we never got another episode focused on the changelings.
is a rare episode (the first in the show's run?) with none of the Mane Six even on screen.
To absolutely no one’s surprise, I crunched the numbers on this: the first episode with none of the Mane 7 onscreen at all is “On Your Marks” (Season Six, Episode Four). Kind of fitting the first episode with them having marks, and where they commit to helping other ponies’ with their marks, thus stepping into adults, has none of their sisters present, doesn’t it? Sweetie Belle does mention Rarity teaching her to do crotchet (and she was horrible at it, but had fun anyway).
In my case, it was actually Oilyvalves from whom I got the "military guy adjusting to civilian life" thing -- he mentioned it in the comments back on my original review post in 2017. It's possible someone else said something on UK of E, but sadly that's not something I can check these days.
DeleteI'm much less harsh than you on Starlight and Trixie here. I hugely enjoyed them for the most part, and it was a significant reason why I rated this as I did. I'd actually not been expecting to see it as more than middling, but I had far more fun than I had with "Campfire Tales" (admittedly a low bar) and a better monster plus one or two other minor things could indeed have got a four out of me on this.
the first episode with none of the Mane 7 onscreen at all is “On Your Marks”
Ah, of course. "To Change a Changeling" does share that episode's feature of a Mane Sixer being mentioned (Twilight in this case). I'm not sure if there are any where even that doesn't happen, intro sequence apart.
By autopilot, I don't mean that they were bad. On the contrary, this is one of the few Starlight/Trixie showcases that has no real, obvious problems. See, writers, you don't need to repeat Trixie being insensitive over and over with them, or even give them a friendship arc every time! And even as someone who is hard to get onboard with these two together or apart, I appreciate and enjoy them when they are done well.
DeleteBy autopilot, I only mean that actively funny lines and wit that sticks from them is rather light on the ground, and what points do hit that threshold tend to get repeated to the point that they're not (hence cyclical). Heck, even in the awful "To Where and Back Again", Discord and Trixie's interactions are elevating the episode. Here, these two are largely caught up in the machinations of the plot. It's a pity, because better material for them could have really elevated the episode.
Of course, I very much get the impression you do find the material they have here grand and it does elevate the material. So, taste, always taste.
In any case, as harsh as I may have come across on this episode, I meant it when I said it's merely just mildewy to watch. Which is a negative, but not too harsh one. Next episode, though, which has so much plot holes and writing cheats it makes my story structure and writer muscles have an aneurysm… on boy!
Well, yeah, we don't exactly see eye to eye on some of these things! ;) I really like "To Where and Back Again" (four stars first time around, still four stars on rewatch) whereas you... don't. :P So as you say, personal taste comes into it a lot. Probably more so by this stage in the series, since even in 2017 by now I was mostly in "sit back and have fun, and don't sweat the small stuff" mode. Of course, there are certain late episodes which I can't be having with even on that basis (*coughYakity-Saxcough*) but that mostly hits in S8 rather than just yet. For me at least, as I say.
DeleteAnother really good episode for the second half of season seven; I like how it continues the development of the changeling kingdom following the aftermath of To Where and Back Again, and Starlight and Trixie (although the latter felt more like deadweight at points) felt like natural choices to see how Thorax is handling things.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of whom, I don't think Pharynx gets enough credit as a character, but I could be wrong. The dynamic he and Thorax have isn't anything new, even for MLP, but it's pretty obvious Thorax cares for his brother, despite what the majority thinks. Even with his gruff outlook, Pharynx too cares for the well-being of his kind. Shame he wasn't featured again after this episode.
Overall, good episode, but not Top 10 material for me. That's gonna come for the next few episodes.
I'm glad someone out there as well as me likes this one! I enjoyed how Thorax led his hive this time.
DeleteI actually like the Maulwurf, though that might just be my inner Fluttershy talking. But I do like the refreshing change of pace with a new monster design, this one being a dangerous tunneler with a particular ecological tie to the changeling hive (besides, it's a neat worldbuilding note to see changelings traditionally had problems beyond those of pony prey, kinda like how hive insects often have to fend off nest invaders).
ReplyDeleteWhat bugs me, though, is that it kicks off a short run of eps where "X is immune to magic!" becomes a poorly integrated lazy writing crutch to force a particular conclusion to happen. This is hardly the worst of it, but it's obvious how the Maulwurf's immunity here exists just to nerf Starlight so the brothers can have a fair shot. I never liked the "Cutie Re-Mark" idea of her being OP to begin with, and beyond being cheap storytelling regardless, this sort of thing shows one reason why.
Anyway, Pharynx is THE highlight of this one, no question. Not only does he get the funniest "nuts to you!" material, but (until the climax upends the message) he's basically a walking, talking stand-in for all those people who disliked the nu-Changeling design (and I'm putting my hand up there too), plus has the pathos of someone who hasn't caught up with these newfangled changes. Not just the military parallel, but the general sense that he was committed to a cool culture that became a subculture and now is (almost) completely alienated for it.
Otherwise, I admit I liked Trixie being the comedic, cowardly commentator throughout (Starlight Milquetoast Glimmer I still can't stand, especially not when she's still dangerously messing stuff up). Canon Trixie is weird for an early-seasons fan like me, in that I was never a particular fan of her during her "classic" appearances, and yet since Season Six she's generally been a welcome element in episodes I otherwise heartily dislike.
(Course, there's always EqG Trixie, who's pretty great from day one).
Still not a fan of the nu-Changelings. The ability to just transform into anything they want now takes a lot of the fun out of their abilities, and their colour-vomit redesigns coming with an atrocious drop in competence and open-mindedness continues their trend for finding terrible ways to handle their reformation arc.
So my overall verdict is... mixed.
I'd actually agree on most of those points on the maulwurf. I like its design from a conceptual standpoint, it just wasn't executed well on a visual level (those large buck teeth just look goofy).
DeleteFor me, it comes back to the script insisting "it's a threat! It's a threat!" all throughout since the writers clearly lack the talent or effort to show that instead. That and a goofy-sounding name (these things matter), and the weird thing of calling it a "dread maulwurf" tend to do it in and leave it resolutely "eh". But in isolation, I like aspects of it.
Also, I hadn't even made the connection of the "x is immune to magic run" episodes. Though next to how "Daring Done?" and "It Isn't the Mane Thing About You" use that writing "shortcut", that trope's usage here is barely a sin at all. Those next two have it present all throughout and key to the whole plot…
Canon Trixie is weird for an early-seasons fan like me, in that I was never a particular fan of her during her "classic" appearances, and yet since Season Six she's generally been a welcome element in episodes I otherwise heartily dislike.
It's such a weird thing about Trixie, isn't it? I guess when there are episodes centred around characters or aspects that are consistently DOA for folks like you or me, a side snarky commentator alongside all the props taking it seriously is something to provide amusement. And as Trixie is tethered to Starlight since her return (I don't think she gets a single appearance not alongside GlimGlam), that's pretty common.
Aside from liking Pharynx, and getting some amusement from Trixie, I don't remember much about this, except that it was the dumbest-looking monster after the bunyip.. I guess it's... fine. But I don't feel like rushing out and rewatching it.
ReplyDeleteI do remember thinking that Starlight had solidly settled into the "suburban divorcee" sort of vibe that she'd never escape from.
"suburban divorcee"!!!
Deletegot me wheeze-laughing and choking on my own spit, truer words have never been spoken XD
I don't even really know what a "suburban divorcee" vibe could be, much less how one would go about defining it, beyond a vague notion of one being a cynical grump with a snarky side who has seen and done some bleak and tough stuff, and has now settled into a quieter life. But I do know that Present Perfect is right: it just fits Starlight at this point in the show perfectly.
DeleteLike a lot of episodes right about here, I just found this unmemorable. Even more so since I can barely remember anything in it past "the one with Pharynx." I'd be surprised if I've seen it at all since it premiered, and I've had no desire to, for all that Trixie/Starlight banter is always welcome.
ReplyDelete