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S9E05: "The Point of No Return"
27 April 2019My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 7.7
The one with the G1 Star Swirl figureThoughts: The highish IMDb rating for what Wikipedia – and basically nobody else – insists is the 200th episode of FiM does rather baffle me. It's not a total basket case, but I don't see how it can be said to be really good, even if it does open with a Derpy speaking role. Still, I'm sure someone out there loves it! The whole "Overdue!" thing is just a rehash of "Tardy!" from way back in "Lesson Zero", just not as smoothly executed. The episode is pretty much a one-joke affair, and not a particularly diverting one at that. Nice to see Moondancer again. Dusty Pages is probably the most entertaining character in the ep, and Twilight's sudden realisation about imperfection doesn't convince. Going down to two stars, I'm afraid!
Choice quote: Spike: "You realise that [smelling books] might be a you thing?"
New rating: ★★
Next on the list is "Common Ground". This episode has a reasonable reputation with friends who've seen it, and I recall finding it fairly good, although not amazing. We'll see whether I still do.
This was just thoroughly average to me. Fine in places, boring in others, but nothing notable either way. Not bad as filler, but it didn't accomplish anything. I probably only ever rewatched it once, and not long after it originally aired.
ReplyDeleteYeah, this was where Season 9 really began to stumble and never recovered. This is so boring, I honestly don't see what the point of it was, even with the moral clearly stated. You could teach that moral in literally any other episode and the result would probably be far more interesting than whatever this episode was doing.
ReplyDeleteWhich was nothing.
Didn't rewatch it, but this episode is kinda a good showcase of G.M. Berrow's limitations as a writer. All those years writing chapter books causes her to write rather more juvenile in her writing, with the kind of basic moral and over-fretting on the characters' part that only really flies for very young kids constantly filled with anxiety. That and more casual rejections of logic that a little kid won't question. It's a plot approach that only allows for a few plot bats, hence all the padding (two musical montages, geez…). And on top of that, she keeps continuity, but only with her past works.
ReplyDeleteI've read of how much excitement there was in the fandom when she graduated from chapter books to the show, but being honest, I think she's only produced two good works in all that time: her debut, "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows" (thanks to the leak, we know Meghan McCarthy gave her a detailed outline that she basically didn't deviate from due to a cramped schedule, so no real space to put a personal stamp on) and the Movie, which had another dedicated writer plus the directors being involved enough to be credited for the Story. Basically, her best works are ones where she wasn't the chief architect.
Everything else? Eh. Especially with the G5 shows now with us, we have a clear demonstration of how she writes for MLP when no one is paying attention, and the results, while not disastrous like the Story Editors often wrought around this time, are just indifferent and lethargic.
First off, smelling books is not just a her thing! Seriously, while the scent of books can be a comfort thing, smells can tell you a lot about the age and quality of individual books. (Forgeries have been detected that way.) And assuming ponies have a much better sense of smell...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it's a shame about this episode being so mid, because the premise could have evolved into a really fun comedy. Looking at the books as well as her episodes, McCarthy seems to be really good at set-ups.
ah! the return of no point! :')
ReplyDelete