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| "Anyone, and I mean anyone, who quotes Friendship is Witchcraft at me is going to regret it." |
Written by Meghan McCarthy
21 Apr 2012
My original rating: N/A
IMDb score: 9.0
The one with Pinkie sneezing confetti
Thoughts: This was my first watched-as-aired episode after joining the fandom, and I remember plenty of people whinging that a wedding episode meant a reversion to G3-ness – especially since a Miss America was co-hosting The Hub's coverage. Didn't work out quite like that! Anyway, this is where the break was finally and decisively made with Lauren Faust's plans, with the appearance of a third alicorn in Cadance. Strange now to think how controversial that was in the fandom at the time. Twi's "Oh yeah, I have a brother" bit was mild by comparison, as was the continuing diminution of the sonic rainboom's specialness. I loved this ep, though, especially the way Twilight's belief in Cadance's evilness – which turns out to be right, but for the wrong reasons – leads to her being shunned by her brother, and her best friends, and Princess Celestia. Watch Twi's face after "You have a lot to think about" and you can see her heart breaking. There are so many great touches here: Spike's brony act with the cake figurines, the talking sandwich spell, the introduction of "Twily", the "ladybugs awake" cuteness, Shining Armor and "Cadance" having their muttered argument, you name it. Lyra even got her first speaking line – that was quite a big deal in the fandom at the time. Add to that an excellent cliffhanger, with Twilight not only in great peril but seemingly without anyone left on her side to help her, and part two couldn't come soon enough for most of us. This episode isn't perfect, but you can't take your eyes off it – and it still works wonderfully even though we know what's coming next. I still love this ep. If there's such a thing as a low-end five, this is it.
Choice quote: Applejack: "Why the long face, sugar cube?" Yep, they went there...
New rating: ★★★★★
Next up is "A Canterlot Wedding, part 2, startling as this may seem. I remember adoring it. Will I adore it again? Join me, some time or other, probably same channel.
This is the weirdest two-parter, being both a fantastic episode and terribly stupid episode at the same time. :V But it definitely had the best reveal of the entire show's run, they kept that shit locked down so tight! A shame they couldn't have continued that...
ReplyDeleteThe reveal is amazing, and certainly the biggest reveal I ever saw live. Derpy's name becoming (temporarily) canon was before my time, we were almost all spoiled on Twilicorn, I was spoiled on Twi's tree being blown up, etc etc. In the later seasons, I think the only thing they really managed to keep under wraps was Iron Will's return.
DeleteAgreed that I found this episode simultaneously entertaining and dumb. There is way too much retconning going on for me to take it seriously, but they get enough of the little touches right to keep me happy. I never did understand Luna's "Stay indoors, Twilight Sparkle!" line, though. Every time I watch the episode, I pay attention around that part to see if I misunderstood any of the words, or if I can pick up some context I'd been missing to get what it means. But I always come up empty.
DeleteI do feel that they didn't delve enough into Twilight's concerns about Cadence. it wasn't that long ago that an episode's moral was that they were being too dismissive of her. They went right back to that. And while I certainly would have found her behavior unjustified in the same situation, nobody really tried to engage with her about it to calm her fears. They just either brushed her off or scolded her with sitting down and asking where all this was coming from. On the other side, Twilight never really engaged with them either to walk them through what had aroused her suspicions.
This is a pretty middle-of-the-road episode for me.
Between that line and "Did I miss anything?" it seems pretty obvious to me that they kind of forgot about Luna, realized late that she would be present in some capacity, and just shoved whatever two-second moments they could into the thing to satisfy that requirement.
DeleteUsually, if I like one episode of a two-parter, chances are almost certain I like the other one just as much. Same if I dislike it. There are a few wobbly differences here and there (purely a matter of degree rather than kind, as in if I hate one ep, I might merely dislike the other).
ReplyDeleteTo my mind, there is only one definite exception.
I'll gush about the changelings, Chrysalis, and the spectacular ending to the season next time. Suffice it to say that I skip this first part nowadays to get to that one, because despite the bells and whistles, this episode just isn't appealing to me at its core.
Without being anywhere near as offensive as, say, Lesson Zero, it's where Twilight started to become more a problem character than a favourite. For one thing, she tended over the seasons to receive too much "specialness".
True, we always knew she was a protege to Celestia, and prior episodes have made it clear she's magically exceptional. But usually that was countered by the whole point of Season One: Twilight may be brilliant, but she is inexperienced in friendship and social closeness generally, hasn't yet found her niche in the town's community, and still makes ill-informed judgements. In other words, she has counterbalancing flaws and quirks that kept her rich and appealing. That, in my mind, keeps her balanced as one of the Main Six.
Then the balance starts shifting too far one way, most obviously because she can only be so naive and uncertain for so long. But that could have been saved in other ways. However, this episode is where I think it started to go too far towards outright alienating.
Firstly, let's gloss over the fact that this is the first time we even learn Twilight has a brother. Who does he turn out to be? A very close best friend - which weakens the whole "Twilight is an inexperienced shut-in" angle of the series' first ever episodes - and he's Captain of the Royal Guard - which makes it seem weirdly like talent and success just runs in the family. He doesn't even seem to have any particularly noteworthy quirks or flaws, so I don't find him interesting enough to justify the more obvious weaknesses he brings to the table.
He's nothing compared to Cadence, though, who was also Twilight's friend when she was younger (so now Twilight's friendless backstory has been weakened yet again), and Twilight was babysat by a princess. It's like the staff behind the show felt her prior status wasn't enough and just wanted to scream "TWILIGHT IS SPECIAL" at the screen. And while Cadence's love magic is way too creepily close to brainwashing, Cadence is also presented as having no real flaws or quirks. If anything, she's presented as a major force for good. Nigh perfect. And I think that makes her boring.
(There's a flicker of interest when "Cadence" appears and is acting standoffish and demanding, despite Twilight's shared history with her. Maybe this is leading to a thoughtful, even emotional lesson about how friends sometimes change for the worse over time and/or your heroes aren't as perfect as you've convinced yourself they are... except that doesn't happen. "Cadence" is ultimately nothing more than a pure evil imposter, and the real Cadence brings us right back to "boringly perfect" territory.)
Basically, a large part of the appeal of this two-parter is whether or not you can invest much in two new characters, suddenly introduced, suddenly super-important, and suddenly altering the backstory of a main character. For me, it was too much to buy.
Lastly, Twilight's descent into irrationality trying to prove a pony with jerk tendencies is Evil with a capital E relies on us buying the bond between her and Shining Armor so readily, because that's supposed to be motivating her extreme behaviour. I don't come even close to seeing it as a worthwhile investment, as presented, so it just ends up making Twilight look cringeworthy and ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteEspecially coming off an episode where she's the one teaching Pinkie the value of careful deduction from evidence versus histrionic fantasies, watching her make a fool out of herself here felt way off, and not in a good way. It feels too desperate, like the writers just really want us to buy Shining Armor means this much to her (the same shilling is pulled in the next ep vis-a-vis his love for Cadence, and I found it unconvincing and cheap there too).
There are other little annoyances too, such as the vagueness of the "threat" (I just keep wondering how the hell they could get that intelligence without a lot of other intelligence riding off it, like how they knew there was a threat if they couldn't even identify it) and the first song (I just didn't like it, even putting aside the retcon subject matter), but good (even great) episodes have survived annoyances before and since. Mostly it was the bigger stuff that did it for me. But it's not like the little things helped much.
I will admit I have a lot more affection for the second half of the double-parter, which is saved largely by impressive spectacle, a bold design risk of a villain paying off handsomely, and by sticking the landing with a hell of a catchy song come the finish, capitalizing on the grander scale of the marriage as a celebratory event. It's far from flawless, but there the good points outweigh the negatives.
But as it is, this first half is the opposite to me: a direction I didn't like at all and a disappointment in execution too. In the grand scheme of things, it also marks a point where I started to find myself putting Twilight nearer the bottom of my list of favourite Main Six characters. Later episodes would do much worse, but this is roughly where I'd say it started.
We'll agree on an episode again one of these days. If nothing else, we'll always have "Hurricane Fluttershy". ;)
DeleteBut I take all the points you make here. I even agree with some of them. But for me they don't stop me loving the episode. This is one of those times where I know the ep is flawed but frankly don't care because I find it so supremely watchable. It's one I've watched many times for fun (both parts) and never seem to tire of.
There does come a time when I'm irritated by Twilight being too close to flawless, barring the increasingly repetitious freakouts -- but it's not yet. I think it probably helps that I did like Shining Armor straight away, and that I actually like the way the "threat against Canterlot" is kept vague.
It's probably also true that this being the first episode I saw as it premiered gives it a huge well of affection I can keep on going back to. So much really began for me here, things that have genuinely changed my life for the better. I don't think I could look at this episode dispassionately, perhaps more so than for any other ep in the entire series' run.
Ha, well if nothing else, we'll be pretty much on the same page again for the next episode (as in I see that one as a case "where I know the ep is flawed but frankly don't care because I find it so supremely watchable"). Chrysalis and the changelings are just that good.
DeleteAs for personal experience, that's perfectly understandable. My own experience with the show started with a massive binge of the entire first season, and (possibly not entirely by coincidence) that one still remains my favourite season of all.
This is the type of episode that made me a fan of the series. Probably my second favourite two parter overall. The only nitpick I have is that Luna feels that she was added to the episode in the last minute.
ReplyDeleteThey do at least lampshade that in the second part with Luna's "Did I miss anything?" line. But yes, Luna's really meaty roles only really begin in S3.
DeleteI think it's hard to rate the two parts separately, since the first one pretty much is acts one and two of a three act story. I'd give the whole thing five stars for many, many reasons, but mostly because it completely surprised and delighted me in the moment.
ReplyDelete