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5 Aug 2017
My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 8.4
Thoughts: Season 7 picked up after its (fairly short) mid-season hiatus with this episode, one which was quite popular even among those strange people who don't think Fluttershy is Best Pony. This ep isn't one where I've really changed my opinion in six and a bit years: it's a good deal of fun, and it's probably my favourite extended look at Fluttershy and Discord's friendship.¹ There are plenty of amusing jokes, and I like how it's 'Shy who takes the initiative – by now she's comfortable with Discord in a way few ponies are, and she steals the show in the third act. The moral is solid and MLP-appropriate, too. Pinkie has a nice cameo, and this could have been a four-star episode. It's a notch lower because of its uneven pacing, spending significantly too much of the running time on the setup. Even so, a clear high three and still a good watch.
¹ I'm generally not a great fan of actual FlutterCord as heavily hinted in S9E26.
Choice quote: Discord: "And although we've never discussed it, I'm pretty sure Fluttershy likes gravity."
New rating: ★★★
Next up, we'll move on to one of the most beloved (by the fandom as a whole) episodes of the entire series, let alone of the last three seasons: "The Perfect Pear". I did not give it five stars in 2017, rating it a "mere" four, but will it make the leap this time around? We shall see.
It's funny, I remember the singing teabags being enjoyable, but I can't bring much of the rest of the episode to mind. <_< I really wish I had decided to do this rewatch alongside you.
ReplyDeleteUnquestionably one of Season Seven's best episodes, both thus far (only "Parental Gildance" and "Honest Apple") and when the seasons wraps. There basically isn't a single objectionable thing in the story, a rarity for this Season. A perfectly functional script. The voice cast are clearly having a ball. The moral is not overtly syrupy as some FiM ones can be, due to the character it's expressed through and how it's resolved. And after many Discord episodes where his intense care for Fluttershy was always referred to, but purely as a plot point, it's nice to have one again actually about their friendship. Plus one where he does take his reform seriously enough, after basically nothing on that front since "Twilight's Kingdom".
ReplyDeleteAlso, eat your heart out, Gillian Berrow. "A Friend in Deed" trying to break apart Rarity and Rainbow Dash's friendship because they're so different, my butt. Objectionable to begin with, and then we have an episode from the season prior preaching the exact opposite, and what friends can gain from each other off their differences.
All that said, Present Perfect is quite right to point out that not that much of the actual moments in-between the story beats stick in the mind. The general sentiments, yes, and that Discord fades away due to not being chaotic and Fluttershy gets a stellar showing putting this right and saving him. But little of the actual dialogue or jokes. It's the same issue Forever Filly faced, and for what I suspect is a similar reason: it's written by the Fox Brothers.
Now, this is far and away their best ep, no question. But it is still rather slow, and unlively, and uninventive. Take Discord's use of chaos magic throughout – it's all rather pedestrian, to the point Fluttershy correctly guesses exactly the things his home used to have at the end. I wonder if this was because so many of the gags would have been in the writing due to getting dialogue-discussed, and not visual additions by the board artists, is to blame. This same thing rears its head in other aspects too; Discord talking and working with himself is funny at first, but gets rather overplayed by the end.
Also, the Season Seven issue of scripts barely long enough that have to cut nothing, or protract visual beats, also rears its head. Surely we didn't need that long on Discord buying things for the tea party, as you note with the early pacing.
Now, it is all still fun, don't get me wrong, just more in a mildly amused way. That there are basically no other problems with the episode leads to the best kind of "yeah, I liked it" reaction where you remember liking it, but not much about the episode. That just still has a bit of a ceiling, enough that I'd have liked to know what the more cartoon-y early seasons might have done with it, or even one of the writers we had in Season Five. Even others here now, besides the Fox brothers.
Also, amazingly, the episode makes the low-cozy stakes and tone about Discord changing himself and nearly fading not feel like a missed opportunity either (though future episode not capitalising on it, yeah…). Props for that.
I like the idea behind this episode, but in execution I just found it boring. I haven't seen it much past the initial viewing and have no real desire to. As nice as the message is, it's just a single plot point stretched out far too long. I'd probably give it a high 2.
ReplyDeleteLoved this one. How the hell the double Foxes managed to put out an episode this lovely I'll never understand, given their propensity for snoozers*, d.o.a.'s, and whatever the hell "Yakity-Sax" was supposed to be. This feels like a mini-miracle in its own right, even with "The Perfect Pear" barely one ep down the road.
ReplyDelete* And I say this as someone who unironically likes "The Gift of the Maud Pie" and "Applejack's Day Off". I mean, I'm not holding them up as all-time classics. Also, for the record: I thought "Forever Filly" was a dead and dreary snoozer even by snoozer standards.
It's not that I don't notice the slow pacing, but I think this is one of the rare occasions where it overall works to the story's benefit. This is very much a "cosy immersion" ep for me, where we're not asked to chase improbable plot points or pretend to like certain characters, but just have a couple of charming protagonists be themselves for twenty minutes.
If I had to sum up why it works so well here when e.g. other Fox eps feel so tediously chore-like, it'd have to be the personal appeal of mixing the ordinary with the extraordinary.
At heart, this is just an ep about someone getting nervous over throwing a tea party. Pick Maud or Applejack for this, and it'd be as boring as watching a wall erode. But pick a reformed chaos spirit with an existential need to be as nonsensical as possible (nice use of literal metaphor, and a welcome bit of darkness, by the way), and we've got a kind of ironic twist to the whole affair.
What it reminds me of is the old Mister Men and Little Miss series, specifically the ones like Mr Silly and Little Miss Dotty who just have all sorts of childishly nonsensical concepts around them, but in a pleasingly cosy way. That's Discord in this episode for me, and if it's simpler and less sophisticated (and, to an extent, overplayed) than the better range of MLP:FiM eps, then I at least find it more immediately smile-inducing. Plus, it's the only time when Discord, you know, acts like someone worried about his own reputation and not like a passive-aggressive, morally ambiguous troublemaker. It does his character a tremendous service, even if it softens the edges a bit.
It's easily the most endearing thing about Fluttershy as well, who not only cheerfully takes Discord's sneezing pinata, go-nowhere staircase, and dislike of gravity in stride, but encourages him all the way. When I think of the ordinary in the extraordinary, I quintessentially tend to think of Fluttershy sipping tea in the middle of a chaotic madhouse. It's delightful! n.n
I know this episode's flawed, and not lightly flawed at that, but stuff it. Discord and Fluttershy are insanely likeable, and that makes it for me. As far as I'm concerned, it's unambiguously the best episode so far this season.
So imagine my delight when we get to the next episode! :D
And funnily enough, I liked Forever Filly but not the other two, so there's a little bit of something out there for everyone, innit? :)
DeleteAlso, more people need to casually mention Mr. Men and Little Miss, now there's some kids' books. :D
Ah yes, the next episode. I can't say right now exactly when the post will go up, but I'm certainly looking forward to writing it! That ep should see a reasonably high level of agreement around here, since I don't know anyone who doesn't at least like it -- I'm sure such people exist, I just don't know of one.
DeleteYeah, I'm in the same boat with you that FlutterCord sucks. I just don't see Discord being the type of person who'd pursue romance, and I feel that Fluttershy would be better off with Timber Spruce... but that's a whole other kettle of fish.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I don't really have a lot to say about Discordant Harmony. The story and message are both solid, it's easily Discord's best starring role (shame that he fell off hard after this one) and it's another example of Fluttershy's character growth since the show started. But still, the best for her is yet to come...
...Timber Spruce?? :O
DeleteI have to admit, I am intrigued.
But still, the best for her is yet to come...
DeleteLike PP, I am intrigued! "A Health of Information" is one I really like, and I'd love "She Talks to Angel" were it not for one scene. I have a soft spot for "Sweet and Smoky" too, though I may be in the minority there!