The Second Opinion

And Starlight couldn't have just visited Sunburst in Canterlot because...?

 

After all, she clearly got her own Cutie Mark in magical talent at some point.

 

Personally, I would've written her backstory like this: She was once a Blank Flank misfit just like how the CMC used to be, complete with bullies just like how DT and SS used to be. But unlike the CMC, she ultimately got her Mark when she finally snapped and swore revenge against all Marks, and her special talent happened to be enough magical talent to accomplish just that.

 

 

When he reclaimed the Empire, he presumably absorbed enough fear from the Crystal Ponies to turn the other villains to stone (not unlike in the comics) or something.

Actually, that is kinda clever. I could've been happy with that.

As for reasons why each villain come out on top, one possibility I remember coming up with is that Celestia could've not lost control of the elements at the time she did in the show, with no main 6 to replace her, so she could've defeated some of the villains with them before it happened. (Discord never would've been freed without the posession change, for one.)

Pretty much nailed it. It was entertaining and all but it couldn't hold up if you filter out the fan pandering and visuals. First time I saw the finale, it left a bad taste in my mouth. In the end, it's what got me thinking about the show at length again.

 

As for Starlight's backstory, reading between the lines, there's something really strange about her. Moondancer was already grown up when this turning point happened but Starlight was but a small filly. Are we really to believe that Starlight grew up lonely and bitter? That she had nobody to turn to at such a tender age? That is very unnatural. Children tend to turn to their parents or guardians when in distress. Did she really have no family to turn to? Or maybe she did have a family but they were neglectful of her, not giving her any outlet whatsoever? You'd think that a proper education and upbringing would help prevent someone from growing up with ideas as crazy and off the wall as Starlight's.

 

It would seem as though she grew up alone, pretty much without guidance... What could possibly go wrong?

 

I think it may have made more sense had they included a history of neglect and/or abuse but this is a children's show so let's omit all that psychological nonsense and hope the audience picks up on it from the get-go somehow.

 

You know, it really would have been interesting had Starlight and Twilight had to explore the rewritten history and get to understand the effects of her tampering first-hand. Not only would we have gotten a proper exploration of whatever alternate timeline but maybe learn something about Equestria that had been taken for granted. With the King Sombra timeline for example, whatever happened to Nightmare Moon, Discord and Queen Chrysalis? Of course, that would have made Starlight's change of heart that much more convincing.

Glad you liked it. I had some of the same thoughts on Starlight Glimmer, hence the "and then...?" part. If that's really the only thing that went wrong in this scenario, there should've been parents encouraging her to get back out there, and life should've kept going until it didn't seem like that big a deal anymore. It wouldn't have been much trouble to show how something else wrong with Starlight's life prevented her from coping with that properly, which makes me especially cynical towards this.

You're not the first one I've heard wondering how some of the alternate futures were possible, actually. While I get that the point was to have fun with the butterfly effect, I do agree that exploring what led to what could have been interesting. And I definitely agree that doing it with Starlight would've added some much-needed time to convince us of her redemption.

I had similar feelings after watching the last episode. I felt a sense of being underwhelmed when the episode ended. It might just be my personal tastes, but I usually don't like shows that use constant time jumps in the same episode. Especially, since you pointed out, how some of the time-jumps were done as montage scenes. I also rolled my eyes at Starlight's backstory and was ready for this scene to get backlash for being a sob story. I gave this episode a 3 out of 5.

Yeah, it seems we pretty much agree across the board. I do think that both the time jump story and Starlight's backstory could have worked better (though they would've had to acknowledge that Starlight reacting like that to losing a childhood friend makes her a borderline sociopath), but it just seemed more concerned with making these apocalyptic futures seem cool. I'd probably would've scored it a little higher than that - though I'm starting to wonder if I was actually too easy on the ending - but like I said, it's still quite possibly the weakest 2 parter.

Lena Hall's singing really delivered. It really did.

 

Heh, that you can relate these things with your own experience as a creative worker does say quite a lot. That does seem to be quite the dilemma in such professions. It's a very careful balance between success and authenticity.

 

Svengallop... Honestly, to me it looks like it was for the best that he was the stereotypical insensitive, overbearing and entitled, high-horse, classist douchebag snob. Clearly he's only there to deliver on the conflict and that does seem to have been delivered well. The story really was about Rara making this choice. Speaking of which...

 

Yeah, it is pretty open-ended. Something I've said before is that maybe she and AJ will be writing wo each other again. There she could tell AJ about how she's been managing things. I could imagine her settling for a more modest lifestyle with the perk to that being a more whole-hearted way of life.

 

Amy Keating Rogers. This is what she wanted and now she has the chance to go work for Disney. May she succeed in her endeavors but not lose sight of herself.

 

With another writer moving on, there's definitely going to be change to the series down the road. Who is to say what season 6 will bring.

Agreed. You can just tell that she's practically on a whole other level (at least, when it comes to the types of songs she's singing).

I only hope most of the things it says are good XD But yeah, productivity and personal investment can be a tricky think to balance. One can often make you lose sight of the other.

I'm definitely curious as to what they'll do with Rara after this. She could just go the way of Cheese Sandwich, but while Weird Al was certainly game, Lena Hall definitely sounded more enthusiastic, of the two. I could see an episode about the difficulty in maintaining long distance friendships, especially when one of you is a celebrity with more prestigious figures in your life. There might, say, come a point where they'd have to crack and admit that they worry about the other one feeling awkward about on the whole thing.

As long as Meghan McCarthy's the director, the direction and tone of the series will probably not change too much (unless she starts really feeling the pressure to come up with new things for the gang to do). We might get a few new, slightly different styles in there, but I think it's more just the general quality of the episodes hinging on this. Although, if we have Amy Keating Rogers on her way out and Neal Dusedau, Nick Confalone, and Gillian Berrow on their way in, I might be just a tad nervous...

I think Castle Sweet Castle still the best episode written by them, Rarity Investigates comes second. This episode lacks of creativity writting, these Family Feud plots are as old as the earth =.=. 

Perhaps, but I do think the execution matters. Castle Sweet Castle was kinda wooden in how it went out of it's way to linger on the parts where the friends all want to contribute and add (wait for it) too much, before trying to back peddle and taking out everything - which, in case you don't get it yet, means there's not enough. And Rarity Investigates seemed like it was going through the motions a lot with its noir parody, with some scenes that didn't do any thing all that funny, clever, or interesting, as though just resembling a noir scene was supposed to be oh-so entertaining. 

Despite a familiar plot layout, this one felt like it was having fun with almost all of its scenes, and it didn't dedicate great lengths of time to hammering in the obvious. Still not a great one, but I would argue that it's a case of having to see the forest through the trees.

Sadly though, this episode brought back some pretty unpleasant memories which was quite distracting and the lackluster ending really didn't help there. Not only have I been caught up in an internet feud myself, which I feel quite ashamed of as you can imagine, but I've also attempted to act as mediator for mutual friends that didn't want to be wrong. Suffice it to say I have no success stories to speak of.

 

Not a good reason not to enjoy an episode, I know.

Well, at least you had the maturity to see it as a bad decision and that your friends should've been calm about it. Sometimes seeing how things go wrong really is the best way to learn how to work past them. (Heck, I used to barely be able to talk to anyone at all, let alone rant to an opinionated fanbase.)

Sigh... this half of the season is not going great. These episodes struggle over simply getting a "good" rating.

 

Canterlot boutique: I liked it but it felt like they regressed Rarity's business savvy. The "if your hearts not in it" moral was decent, but felt preachy and too idealistic.

 

Rarity Investigates: Moderately funny, could have been funnier... and better paced. But hey RariDash

 

Maid in Manehatten: The moral stands out... and its the only thing that stands out.

 

Brotherhooves Social: Again the ending is really the only part people seem to love about this episode, and I agree but the rest of the episode was a bunch of dressed in drag jokes and plot points that I didn't care for.

 

Crusaders of the Lost Opportunity... I mean Mark: This episodes was amazing... if you ignore the fact that Diamond Tiara's development was forced, laden with cliched, solved with cliche, and undeserved because she is a little shit. Oh also cutie marks earned through the cliched and forced plot... so much contempt. So basically if you ignore every single quality of the episode, it's amazing.

 

The One Where I Don't Care: repetitive and worthless.

 

Hearthbreakers: This one is actually good. I like how Pinkie Pie interacted with her family.

 

Scare Master: I was angry about this episode initially, but do see its better qualities now. It actually might be on of the better episodes in this half, I'm shocked to say. But seriously, stop with the Fearful Fluttershy episodes.

 

What About Discord?: What the fuck was this episode going for?

 

Next episode pairs up my 2 favourite ponies, Twilight and Fluttershy, so I really hope its good, for my sake and for the season's sake.

I might disagree with you on two of those. I thought Made in Manehattan was refreshingly understated, after all the episodes that tried to dramatize plots like this more than they deserved, and in addition to the moral, I thought it managed to shine in many of the "little" moments, like the facial expression punch lines and Rarity's attempt to borrow from The Peanuts. And I liked Brotherhooves Social even more. Seeing Big Mac finally break out of his shell was a blast, and having it happen through the opportunity to play an entirely different character (which is indeed known to be liberating for many shy actors) was absolutely brilliant.

But otherwise, unfortunately, I have to agree almost entirely. Altogether, this half almost feels deflated. It's is like a reverse Season 4, starting strong and getting weaker, instead of the other way around. Except season 4 showed signs of stepping it up before it was even done with the first ten episodes. There were signs that this was going to happen to season 5 before we even before we got to this half...

This episode was my least favorite Discord episode.

No arguments here.

From what I can tell, the whole thing about keeping you in the dark was an attempt to get you invested in the episode. The point was to get you screaming internally (or externally) to want to know what this is all about. All that just to build up for the pay-off near the end with the "haha joke's on you" moment that Discord went through and concluded with the warm and fuzzy happy ending. That appears to be what the writer tried to craft with this episode. You could say that was the "joke" of the entire episode.

 

Anyway, I was happy to see and hear from Zecora again even though it was short but sweet.

 

Maybe I'm a lot more patient than I give myself credit for since I didn't find the shenanigans to be that grating. I knew that this was leading to something so just sit still and wait for everything to come together.

 

Your rant was also fun to watch

In that case, I guess it was successful on me, anyway. I've had a few people tell me that they were more bored or annoyed by this episode than any other this season, but I spent way too much time scratching my head to get to that point. It seemed a little too awkward for me personally to be glad I was along for the trip, but I never thought about jumping ship, at least.

Zecora was probably overdue for another turn in the spotlight, and the scene was perfectly fine, but there wasn't really much to talk about, so I didn't.

And thank you. I had to film each rant a couple times over before I was satisfied XD

Yeah, no, the screamer didn't work on me XP

 

The moral of the story pretty much made the episode for me. The message itself is pretty good and the delivery also worked very well, I feel.

 

Now for that burning question I've had since this review came out...

Have anything in particular planned for your review of Hearthbreakers?

You're not the first one to say that to me about the screamer...

While I also thought the moral was pretty good, I thought the episode already did enough to be in my good graces before that. I still don't think it's a great one, but there's a lot to appreciate here.

As for Heathbreakers, I am reviewing it, if that's what you mean. I don't know if it's going to be that different from my other reviews, but in many ways, I do think it'll be a particularly interesting one. 

I was pretty angry at this episode because it was a Fluttershy-overcoming-her-fears episode in a season that actually had her having charater development out side those kinds of plots, so this one felt like a regression. After thinking it over, I am far better predisposed to it, but I still feel disappointed in it. It's not the regression I initially thought it was and it manages to do some cool things with Fluttershy's character, and the moral of "not my cup of tea" is a pretty decent one, but I still feel like we should move past this formula and her fear and paranoia of halloween began to grate on my nerves. 

 

One of the things about the tea party shows that from, Fluttershy perspective, being an unkind, unsupportive and rude friend/host is one the most horrible things in the world. Really says something about her, y'know.

Not the first time I've heard that, actually. It just didn't hit me the same way. If it were about Fluttershy being cripplingly shy around strangers, the way she was when she first met Twilight, then I would've objected. But I didn't really see this as a conflict dealing with "greater insecurities" again. It's just one of those specific anxieties (a pretty tough one, as we saw last Nightmare Night) that she still has to sort out, due to her timid and meek disposition.

And yes, it definitely speaks to her character that those were the most horrifying things she could imagine.

Gave this review a second watch. Yeah, you very much nailed it when you described it as "sugar-flavored corn syrup doused in honey less healthy for you than a twinkie". Which got me thinking. I'll admit, all that sugar got me to eat it straight up but I'm hoping there'll be enough space in between this sugar bomb and the next one.

 

Something I've been wondering. Do you think that the episodes over a season should pace themselves carefully much like an individual episode or movie? With the rough understanding I have on the matter, it would seem like a good idea for far less dramatic episodes to rear their heads right about now. What are your thoughts on that notion?

Granted, the generally disconnected nature of the episodes (compared to shows with ongoing story arcs, anyway) probably lets the show to get away without worrying too much about how they pace it from episode to episode. But yeah, the rules of pacing in your video are probably the ideal model for when it plays its aces. Last season, for example, it seems like Simple Ways was buried a little by Pinkie Pride, despite still being one of the funniest episodes of the season itself, imho. The One Where Pinkie Knows seemed like the ideal follow up to this episode, since it was just a modest little attempt at comedy, but it revealed something important enough so that it doesn't feel like a jump from "significant" to "pointless filler."   

Ah yes, this episode. Not much to say other than there wasn't that much to this episode. A bit empty I might say.

 

Totally recognized that theme from Ghost Fighters Yu Yu Hakusho

 

Personally, I did enjoy watching last week's episode. Will be looking forward to your next review, whatever your stance on it ultimately will be.

Kinda, yeah. I did find it more entertaining than some of the other episodes from debuting writers this season though.

I don't know why that track has never been released with an official title. It's one of the saddest anime tunes out there...

I appreciate the support, and I'll be looking forward to giving that review. Who knows? Maybe Mr. Confalone will surprise me.

Honestly, I was too swept away by the heart-wrenching feel-good drama to even think about anything. By the end of the episode I was just euphoric. 

 

If there's one thing that I've decided in the wake of the explosion that was the Analysis group, it's that I'd be better off if I enjoy whatever I get. It's why you rarely find me doing any speculation or theorizing or any harping whatsoever on this thing people call "potential". It just seems to set you up for disappointment if you get too invested. 

 

I would say go with the flow but you're a reviewer. Getting easily swept up by drama is very much the opposite of what you have to do.

 

As for the episode itself, given just how many things happened, this episode may have been eligible to be a two-parter. Think about it. Given how many steps there would have needed to be taken, do you believe that everything could have been executed and delivered in just 22 minutes of screen time? It's an honest question that I would like you to answer.

 

On a final note, I won't defend the episode at all if someone thinks it to be lacking. I loved it, yes, but seeing your take on it, I can understand your perspective on it and that's good enough for me.

I'm glad it gave you that much joy, and I appreciate your understanding. Your take on the analysis community, though, reminds me of when I first saw Pirates of the Caribbean 3, before I was any kind of critic. I really wanted it to be good, and right up to the credits, I kept trying to put a good face on everything that happened. But after years of never going out of my way to watch it and turning glum every time I did, I wasn't sorry to start considering the idea that it's okay to want for better, that you could instead cope with disappointment by thinking about what could/should have been improved. It's great to be able to enjoy something, even with its flaws. But if everything's "great," then basically, nothing is. With everything there is to see, I'd rather not be watching something just because it's on.

I get that deliberately stepping back to think about something while you're watching it can hurt the experience, and I get that some critics come across as though that's exactly what happened. Personally, I think the way to go is to react first and analyze that reaction after. (I'm sure I seemed like a guy out for blood in this one, but even now, after 4 1/2 seasons, I still haven't given enough flat-out negative reviews to fill up a "10 worst" list.) But even critics you don't agree with can have value, helping you think out why you liked something they didn't or vice-versa. It's all a way to explore something you're interested in a little more.

To answer your question, yes, I do think that having to fit stories like these into 1 part episodes can make it harder for the writers. But any story can be done well. Editing, compressing, and reworking are also skills that go into being a writer, and it wouldn't be fair to the episodes that have pulled off larger scale stories to say that it somehow can't be messed up anyway, because it's "too hard." I do think it means trade-offs, like higher risk and higher reward when you succeed or some of the blame going to whoever decided the story only warranted 1 episode. But I don't think that means anything they come up with is okay.

The episode was so... painful. It was empty, bland. Sure the songs were good and made you have feelings... but it was still a huge disappointment. It felt forced right from the beginning.

 

One thing I briefly considered was "maybe Diamond Tiara's mother gave in to her because she never thought Diamond Tiara would stand up to her, and she's only bullying Diamond Tiara because she herself is pushed around" but for the love of GOD, I should NOT be thinking so deeply about her mother when the episode is suppose to be focused on HER! And to add to that, Diamond Tiara just turns around and goes "it's my CUTIE MARK that allows me to make people do what I want" - and then that whole spinoff spiel in my head is made null anyway.

 

Good for Diamond Tiara for turning around and "being the pony she wants to be", I guess... but it just feels so fake, as in, I wouldn't be surprised if the next episode is how all of that was just a dream one of the crusaders had because they wanted their bully to turn good.

That was pretty much how I felt, for the most part. And now that you mention it, it did feel dream sequence-like, but I highly doubt that's what it's supposed to be. After MMC, I find it entirely believable that the writers would resolve a plot this way.

And I guess it's believable that Diamond Tiara's mother is just that much of a wimp, but either way, she's just as detrimental a parent at the end of the episode as she was at the beginning.

LOL That was pretty fun to watch.

 

Ehh. Personally, it's unamusing that people are getting offended with the whole trans thing and hopefully it won't find its way to me. 

Thank you! And yeah, the mandatory backlash this stuff has to go through gets old fast. Right now, I just hope it helps put this episode over (the whole mentality on how anything getting backlash must be good).

I'm not in a place where I can watch this video right now, but can I say the thumbnail picture is adorable?

The picture from the episode, or the whole thumbnail? (I do agree that Apple Bloom and Big Mac are cute together.)

"Orchard Blossom" = Pony!AuntMadea.

All except the fact that it's been proven possible to tell good stories about her XD

Sorry to hear it didn't work out like you wanted. Here's wishing both of you the best.

Loved that dance scene you did at the end!

Thanks, it's been awhile since I threw in one of those. (I'm sure it's hard to tell why )

A meme already found my my way before I even found out about this short:

 

 

 

 

Hmm... Who knows if these shorts are any indication of the route the movie will take to entertain the audience.

That's pretty funny, to be sure. "You just projectile scienced all over my chorus" is almost too easy, so I wouldn't be surprised if people pass on it.

So that's two in a row now with being entertaining by being over the top and crazy. Don't get me wrong, I found it pretty funny but it's just something that's been on my mind. Perhaps this will be a running theme until it wears out its welcome as you've said on the previous blog.

Come to think of it, all of them were kind of going for Looney Tunes silliness or slapstick on one level or another. These last two just did the best job of it. It seems like they're starting to see new possibilities in that direction that they can explore with the Equestria Girls concept, so more power to them, as long as they can make it work.

You know, I do have to ask myself... Is entertaining by being crazy and over the top becoming a thing now? We got quite a bit of that in Slice of Life and to a lesser, better contextualized extent in Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep. Now we see it here as well. Could this be some kind of trend?

 

Who knows.

I will say that, generally, whatever manages to make an impact tends to gets exploited and reused afterwards, until it starts to wear out its welcome.

Nice. I like Tarzan, Dumbo, Pinocchio, and Beauty and the Beast too. I'm also a major Peter Pan fan, but that's not quite as common as a favorite.

ironic how Sunset is in a lab coat but she probably  bullied nerds... irony

Nerds and everyone else, lol.

Come to think of it, I'm betting she wasn't doing much scientific research while she was worming her way into the spotlight at the high school. The idea might be that this is her starting to settle back into being herself, now that the bids for power and then redemption are both behind her.