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S8E07: "Horse Play"
28 Apr 2018
My original rating: ★★★★
IMDb score: 8.1
Thoughts: Fluttershy is an alicorn princess? Five stars, next question. Ahem... this episode gets plenty of love from me for being one of the very rare Celestia-heavy eps out there. It is somewhat uneven, with some characterisation that really doesn't belong this far into the show, but it's also lots of fun. Applejack trying repeatedly to convince Twilight to be honest really tickled me for some reason. I can well believe Trixie selling dodgy back-street fireworks, though Pinkie's line about it is very clunky. Celestia herself is of course a bad actor,¹ though her (fortunately brief) anger with Twilight is real and of course in the actual crisis late on she demonstrates immense calmness and competence. The Student Six play nice little supporting roles on stage,² and Luna's late grumpiness at Tia's Sun-raising had me in stitches, brief as it was. This is far from a faultless episode, but I can forgive most of its faults as it's just so watchable. As such, though I'm nudging it down to three stars, I consider it really quite high in that band.
¹ Not in that sense. I hope.
² Though having six characters play unicorns, none of whom actually are unicorns? Tsk, I say.
Choice quote: Spike: "Now that's the best acting we've seen all day."
New rating: ★★★
The next episode on the list is "The Parent Map", which as I recall is an ep I found okay but no better, whereas I know some people greatly appreciated it. Who knows which category I will fall into on a repeat viewing?
I had about the same reaction, that it's not an amazing concept, but so many little details work about it that it's a fun watch. Celestia's situation was very relatable. It's been long enough since I've seen it that I don't remember Pinkie's or Trixie's gags. Really, the only thing that made me uncomfortable about it is the student six. They're all visiting Equestria, so they're all going to be assimilated into the culture. It wouldn't have taken much to lampshade that (they all want to experience the culture and are happy to portray ponies, for instance), or otherwise, maybe have them ad lib the story so those other races are part of it, too. Still, only one not so good thing about it for me, and it was an enjoyable episode.
ReplyDeleteThinking about it again, I just wonder whether the animators had that thought about the students as well. It's noticeable that very prominent in the play's audience, right at the front next to Luna, are Fancy Pants and Fleur, two extremely notable... unicorns.
DeleteEasily my favorite episode from the first half of season eight; no doubt about it. Nicole Oliver must've had tons of fun in the recording studio, hamming it up as Celestia (the other time I can think of in which she did just that was when she did Daybreaker in A Royal Problem last season), and her relationship with Twilight, even if it's evolved a lot from the early days, remains strong as ever.
ReplyDeleteThere's... not much else I can say here, really. It's just 22 minutes of unabashed entertainment.
Pretty much, yes. Nicole Oliver still does cons, so I wonder if there's a recording out there somewhere in which she's asked about this episode. I'm sure there is, I just don't know where.
DeleteI must be the odd one out in not liking this. o_o The only reason it's not, like, absolutely rage-inducing is because the Celestia/Luna episode in season 9 exists. Or does not.
ReplyDeleteone thing I was thinking about earlier: unless I miss my mark, the play says that the unicorns all lost their magic when raising the sun <_< not temporarily, gone
Star Swirl the Bearded was one of those unicorns, apparently
so why's he got his magic in the present day?
the boring answer, of course, is that the play is not historically accurate :P give me something else!
"Between Dark and Dawn" is a strange one. It happens that I managed to do a Text Review Roundup for that episode, and people's views were all over the place. People who hated it (you, the Railfan Brony) and people who loved it (Dark Qiviut, TheDragonWarlock) and people who had mixed feelings (me, Ghost Mike). I honestly have no idea how I'll feel when I eventually get there again.
DeleteYeah, I'll admit it: I included your name in that list for fun, since I'm well aware that you despise "Between Dark and Dawn" these days. I was actually surprised to discover looking back that you hadn't been as straight-negative about it on first viewing.
DeleteAs for "Horse Play", I actually thought this might be one of those episodes where I like it and then the comments section consists entirely of everyone else saying they don't. So Pascoite and Zack finding it fun as well made me feel a little less isolated!
Mind you, the usual IMDb caveat applies, but if you ignore the finale (since those always score very highly) this is the third highest rated ep in the season, below only "What Lies Beneath" and the inevitable "Sounds of Silence". Going on that and some very unscientific chats about it (eg in Worcester) over the years, I'm fairly confident in saying those of us who like "Horse Play" are in a majority. Doesn't give us any special status over those of you who don't, obviously.
I'm not a big fan either. Mostly because I really hate "cringe" comedy. The one thing I remember and loved from the episode was Luna's eye-roll. I'm betting that went in from the boards, not the script.
Delete@iisaw: The strange thing is that I'm generally not a fan of cringe comedy either, yet I still really like this...
Delete@Logan: Yeah, there are always exceptions. I am mostly completely bored by horror stories, but every once in a while one story or novel comes along that I really enjoy. T. Kingfisher's stuff comes to mind.
Delete