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| "Can we tell her this thing is a mess?" |
My original rating: ★★★ (for both parts)
IMDb score: 7.7
Thoughts: Quite honestly, the best thing about this episode is that it introduces the Young Six, who in my book are the highlights of S8. As for the rest, though: Twilight says there's a difference between being a student and being a teacher, then ignores that. Cheerilee, the actual professional teacher in Ponyville – you know, the one who's been there since S1 – isn't even granted a name-check, let alone an actual appearance. At the start we get a few rather forced movie references – okay, fair enough. The racist Chancellor Neighsay (voiced by Maurice LaMarche, no less) could have sparked a very interesting storyline about how unpleasant people can sometimes nevertheless be right – a message very relevant to these days of social media. But no. Instead he turns out to be massively powerful (portals, magic chains, etc) with no explanation and none of Starlight's relatability to soften it. The students are entertaining, and I look forward to seeing more of them this season. The School of Friendship itself is ridiculous. The episode falls to two stars, and with quite a thump.
Choice quote: Fluttershy: "I've had quite enough of life-threatening adventures, thank you."
New rating: ★★
Having covered part one of the premiere, you'll never guess what's coming next in this series. What's that you say? A purple parakeet? The Box of Delights? A train bound for Morningtown, many miles away? No, no and thrice no. It's part two of the premiere!
uuuuuuuggggggghhhhhhhh D:
ReplyDeleteI deduce that this is not your favourite episode. Don't worry, "Non-Compete Clause" is only eight eps away now... ;)
DeleteYeah, this was not great, and I'm not really a fan of the new students anyway, so there wasn't much to offer here. I get that elevating friendship as a subject worthy of study all the way back to S1 is a conceit for the show, but it was charming back then institutionalizing it takes away that charm, for all that I can at least say it'd be like Twilight to do that.
ReplyDeleteI suppose yeah, you can consider it fairly in-character for Twilight. Everything else, though...
DeleteI like the Student 6 a lot, but the Friendship School is a triumph of labeling over function.
ReplyDeleteHaving other races coming as exchange students to Equestria is a great idea and opens up the possibilities to lots of different YT lessons about culture and race. But just like everything else in life, it depends on the execution, and... Yeah, sticking the writers with a clunky, ill-defined structure was not helpful. Some writers overcame it, but most did not.
I love that the Tree of Harmony turned out to be a creepy merciless AI thing that wore Twilight's form as a mask, though. Best bit of lore to come out of the School of Friendship episodes, IMHO.
Oh yeah, the Tree is scary as all hay. I've always thought "What Lies Beneath" was in the top tier of S8 episodes, but it's hard to like some of it. (The bit with Gallus...)
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