S05:E07 - Make New Friends But Keep Discord

[Buck Testa 5,503]

Not understanding the hate for Tree Hugger.

 

Free your chakras, dudes. 

Like, lighten up and mellow.

I know right?! Treesy, Maud and Flutters need to have a poetry reading Session

[FlutterDash4072 189]

I was pretty disappointed with this episode. Discord episodes are usually some of the funniest but this one failed horribly. There were a couple of good gags, but that was about it. The Smooze and Tree Hugger are probably the lamest characters to be introduced in a long time.

[Alex Z 848]

My favorite episode so far this season.

[MLPFanatic34 3,234]

To those who responded to my mane 6 being mean to Discord comment, yeah that is true, and it definitely makes sense Fluttershy was telling Discord to stop what he was doing because it was uncalled for. I can relate to Discord in this episode though, because I've had instances where I have one friend who hangs out with another and I sometimes feel jealous because I feel ignored. Also was waiting for The Smooze to make a Gak reference. 

[J.R. 3,182]

SOLID SNAKE REFERENCE!

MLP references Snake.

Snake is from M rated series.

Who else would get that besides dudes?

MLP = Boy Show

^ Headcanon accepted.

Edited May 17, 2015 by Ice Blizzard

[Kyralina 97]

What does shipping mean?

[GuillermoGage 246]

I can tell that this will be an episode that people will not like and will consider an "inevitable seasonal rot" episode or an episode where the writers were having an "off-day" or a "dud episode". The humor and plot of this episode is quite different from what we usually see on the show, and this episode is really not an episode you should show to people to give them a first impression of what FiM is like.


A few minutes into the episode, I was wondering if the odd, extra-cartoony vibes would indicate that it would be an out-there, seasonal rot episode, but when it got to the Gala, despite getting even more out-there, I realized that this episode does a good job of showing how adults can be childish/immature. This episode's plot was more like a live-action sitcom than a cartoon targeted toward little kids. I think the message was more aimed at the grownup fans than the little kids.

Discord very much reminded me of some sort of male sitcom character.

They even managed to get some level of characterization out of the Smooze. (I indeed am aware of the G1 character... have been for at least a few months, via stumbling upon screenshots and such, and no, I don't know much about the G1 character, nor did I know that anything called Smooze was appearing in MLP:FiM)

I like how they didn't go the route that is often made with nonspeaking, vaguely sentient characters (especially ones that don't look like organic creatures), such as the Carpet from Disney Pictures Aladdin...

characters such as that often have too many cutesy animal-like gestures...
or have that that trope where the audience finds out what the character is thinking via the other characters inherently understanding what they are saying, Lassie-style.

A good deal of the characterization of the Smooze was in Discord's treatment of the Smooze, especially him being sorry to him.. or it.. this was an indication that the Smooze has feelings and a personal history with Discord.

[Music Chart Fan 818]

Overall, this episode was okay. There isn't a whole lot going on in the episode plotwise, so the episode relies more on jokes/gags/references to be entertaining, and for me, those were kind of a mixed bag; for example, I found Maud's "You're the most basic of jokes" funny, while I found Pinkie's shaking the "camera" and speaking directly to the audience unfunny. I did like that there's a little more fleshing out of Fluttershy and Discord as characters. Discord's conflict is understandable, and it's nice to see (rather than just hear about) his friendship with Fluttershy, even though Fluttershy does seem a little too oblivious of Discord's jealousy and desperate attempts to get her attention.

 

Tree Hugger's unerringly one-note shtick did grow tiresome rather quickly, and The Smooze seemed a little underwhelming, mostly acting more like a nuisance rather than a genuine threat, although I guess Discord is supposed to be more of the focus of the episode anyway.

 

I'll admit that it's rather cute to see Rarity, Applejack, and (especially) Rainbow Dash take their CMC sisters to the Gala as their "+1s". It's nice to see Rainbow acting in her role as big sister by taking Scootaloo to the Gala and hanging out with her while there; we haven't seen too much of that since "Sleepless in Ponyville". And it's kind of funny to see Applejack use Rainbow's tail as a tissue; Applejack's reaction there is a bit eyeroll-inducing, although I suppose it's not that implausible.

 

While I think that the moral of the episode, as phrased by Discord - you can have different friends for different things - is true, at least to some extent, I can see how it might be viewed as rather dehumanizing, as though one's friends may be thought of as mere tools to serve only certain specific purposes. I'm not particularly upset or anything about it, though.

 

Now for just a few more miscellaneous observations:

 

What card game are Applejack and Rainbow Dash playing where the Mane Six's cutie marks are on the cards?

 

Pinkie says to Discord that she can give him a list of all the cake flavors in order of "most delicious" to "incredibly, unbelievably delicious". But wouldn't such a ranking be dependent on an individual's subjective tastes? Or did Pinkie compile such a list from, e.g., sales numbers or customer reviews?

 

Why does Pinkie instantly take Discord seriously when he says he'll take "all the cakes"? Wouldn't such a big order (especially from Discord) normally warrant a couple of follow-up questions?

 

Celestia says it's nice that Twilight took over some of the planning responsibilities for the Gala, but what Gala planning responsibilities does Celestia actually have? If she finds these responsibilities tiresome or unenjoyable, couldn't she ask some servants/bureaucrats/underlings to do them for her? After all, she is a ruler of Equestria.

 

Why is there a room full of gold and jewel objects just off the main floor of the castle? And why is that room apparently unlocked and unguarded?

[ManaMinori 4,143]

It's only just now dawning on me, but is anyone else a little let down that the Mane 6's 'plus one' invites to the Gala weren't the ponies they interacted with and who had helped them get their keys, in season 4? Rarity- Coco Pommel, Apple Jack- Silver Shill, Pinkie- Cheese Sandwich, Fluttershy- (ugh) Seabreeze, Rainbow dash- Spitfire or Soarin, And Twilight having Discord as her invite- seeing as how they became friends in the s4 finale, would've been interesting dynamic, what with Discord continuing to adjust to somepony other than Fluttershy being his friend, and also trying to ditch Twilight to hang out with Fluttershy, instead.

 

I would've liked to see how Twi would've reacted to this, perhaps facing a bit of jealousy, herself, along with Discord? Like: "Hey! I invited you so we could spend time together! As friends! Friends don't ditch friends to go party with their friends friends!!" or something.

[Kyralina 97]

I love the moral of the episode. I mean seriously am I the only pony who has felt jealous of a friendship every now and then? It really helps put things in perspective.

[Silanda 23]

Metal Gear Discord, return of The Smooze, Trollestia, sock puppet alternate dimension, camera shaking Pinkie, Maud cracking a joke, and Tree Hugger sounding like a stoner. Best episode of the season so far!

Edited May 17, 2015 by Silanda

[Coco before Pommel 678]

Oh that ep was beautiful c': might be my fave of the season so far, or tied with the premiere...

 

The Fluttercord friendship continues to be one of my favourite things ever <33 we finally got to see them having tea together, instead of just talking about it! And just Discord in general - I know there's some debate about whether his reformation was legit/ruined his character, etc, but for me this ep totally confirmed that I love him even more as a trying-to-be-good-and-kinda-failing guy than as a villain - seeing him all jealous was just adorable, how he tried to pretend he didn't care and then interrogating the rest of the M6 about it (him popping up in Spike's bed was amazing XD). And we even got to see his house!!! Awesome to have that surreal humour back, especially when the mailpony came (how he even got there is another story, but eh, cartoon logic ) - but at the same time there were still hints of villain!Discord, seeing as how his response to Fluttershy having another friend was to banish her to another dimension. Oh Discord - he's kinda like S1 Twilight, except 1000x worse at expressing this friendship thing in non-completely insane ways. I could watch it all day - and Flutters was amazing too, when she rightfully laid into him at the end there, it says such a lot about their friendship and how both that she has no problem telling him off and that he actually listens to her. I love them so much and this is pretty much exactly how I wanted their friendship to develop post-S4 finale <3__<3 (headcanon territory, but I can totally imagine that Discord thought he was making it up to Fluttershy, in a weird way, by showing how much she means to him...by sabotaging her other friendships and totally ruining everything, of course XD)

 

Also Tree Hugger! I love the uniqueness of her design (dreadlocks pony!), and though she was a pretty obvious stoner hippie archetype, she was cute with how chill she was about everything, and had some great lines. I can totally see why she and Flutters are friends, and her interactions with Discord were great - how he tried to wind her up by getting her name wrong, and she was just totally cool with it (Maybe I should change it!" XD) I also really liked that she was one to solve the Smooze problem - all her mumbo-jumbo actually meant something in the end! She and Discord sorta reminded me of Gilda and Pinkie in Griffon The Brush Off, except this time it was nice to see the other friend not being secretly awful all along - the jealousy plot's been done many times before, but the "we can have different friends for different things" angle was done pretty well I thought, and definitely rang true for me having friends with different interests. I hope we see her again sometime c:

 

I loved that we got to see another Gala, and so many great little moments - the CMC, d'awww!! Applejack blowing her nose on Dashie's tail - what happened to crying on the inside, AJ? Everypony's new dresses, so pretty, so much cosplay inspiration (especially Fluttershy's) *___* Maud!!!! Even with her, like, three lines, she totally stole the show X3 And Celestia was wonderful - loved the callback to the first Gala and it just shows how much her relationship with Twilight has evolved - they're so much more like friends/equals now, rather than mentor/student, and it's really sweet :3 But nothing tops her being the only one to laugh at Discord's joke about Twilight's flying skills XD DISLESTIA IS REAL

 

Wasn't sure what to think about the Smooze at first - I know it's a G1 thing, but haven't seen it - but it was weirdly adorable! Like a big gooey puppy X3 I liked how it wasn't a monster, just... a thing that obviously did not belong at this particular event. But when it kissed Discord at the end, awww! ^.^ he should totally bring it to the next pony-pet play date thing

 

I'll definitely need to rewatch to pick up on all the references, as is usual with Discord eps - the only one I got was the Metal Gear Solid one, but as a random aside it'll be kind of amusing if the people that complained so loudly about that one GoT references had no problem with this one but yeah, really enjoyed this episode

Edited May 17, 2015 by Coco before Pommel

[tygerdan 4]

I think Treehugger is the first mare where you can see their eyebrows?

[roptiriolg 49]

Not only because it is a Fluttershy episode (or she was the second on focus after Discord), when combined with her friend Discord, this raises the episode to a whole new level! I loved it! In fact, it is one of the best episodes that really entertained me, while watching all the funny things going on there!

 

In the beginning Fluttershy called Discord a pony, right? lol

btw Tree Hugger is quite cute, but err the yoga theme, she's like 'Indian' pony? I like her staying cool all the time.

I also find Discord's house interesting, for the first time they show it. And the sky is like .. chaotic.

 

 

When I heard Pinkie was gonna bring Maud I heard 'mom' - was like ' Pinkie's mom? xD

 

 

Did anyone else hear Discord say "Sluttershy"??

 

 

YESS I thought I was mishearing LOOL !

 

 

Discord really does sound like he might have an actual crush on Fluttershy here.

 

 

 

I think he really has a crush, kind of felt it from the beginning of this episode. - I wonder if they develop things in this direction - maybe not, some fans may be crushed if such happened - I personally don't mind it would be just very interesting 

 

--

 

I think when a pony changes their behavior in an episode, like Fluttershy paying less attention to Discord, makes it only more interesting.

[TwistedGear 27]

SOLID SNAKE REFERENCE!

MLP references Snake.

Snake is from M rated series.

Who else would get that besides dudes?

MLP = Boy Show

^ Headcanon accepted.

That was not a reference, that was a brick with the words Metal Gear etched into it.

Best I could say is some kids would know it from smash bros if they're parents are gamers.

 

 

What does shipping mean?

Pushing or supporting a romantic pairing that you feel makes sense. Like if you think Spike  and Rarity should get together someday.

Edited May 17, 2015 by TwistedGear

[JanisJopleyBird 22]

Very fun episode. Packed a lot in there without feeling overstuffed.

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

Ah, being jealous of other's friends. I've been there a lot. Jealousy is a difficult thing to keep bottled up. I've often felt jealous of my friend's friends because I was the unusual one in a group, and I remember trying to fake myself to impress those I were around to gain acceptance. Misunderstandings happen with jealousy and sometimes friendship can be cut off completely because of it.

 

I'm glad Discord and Shy (mainly) were able to make up quickly and still remain friends. It seems Discord has come a long way and the comical powers he has is always funny to see.

Cutting off friendships is right. My friend cut off our friendship due to a similar circumstance to the episode. She thought I had abandoned her for some crazy reason even though we talked twice a week. 

[SteveMorison 404]

I can tell that this will be an episode that people will not like and will consider an "inevitable seasonal rot" episode or an episode where the writers were having an "off-day" or a "dud episode".

The humor and plot of this episode is quite different from what we usually see on the show, and this episode is really not an episode you should show to people to give them a first impression of what FiM is like.

 

 

A few minutes into the episode, I was wondering if the odd, extra-cartoony vibes would indicate that it would be an out-there, seasonal rot episode, but when it got to the Gala, despite getting even more out-there, I realized that this episode does a good job of showing how adults can be childish/immature. This episode's plot was more like a live-action sitcom than a cartoon targeted toward little kids. I think the message was more aimed at the grownup fans than the little kids.

 

Discord very much reminded me of some sort of male sitcom character.

 

They even managed to get some level of characterization out of the Smooze. (I indeed am aware of the G1 character... have been for at least a few months, via stumbling upon screenshots and such, and no, I don't know much about the G1 character, nor did I know that anything called Smooze was appearing in MLP:FiM)

 

I like how they didn't go the route that is often made with nonspeaking, vaguely sentient characters (especially ones that don't look like organic creatures), such as the Carpet from Disney Pictures Aladdin...

 

characters such as that often have too many cutesy animal-like gestures...

or have that that trope where the audience finds out what the character is thinking via the other characters inherently understanding what they are saying, Lassie-style.

 

A good deal of the characterization of the Smooze was in Discord's treatment of the Smooze, especially him being sorry to him.. or it.. this was an indication that the Smooze has feelings and a personal history with Discord.

The poll suggests a great majority do like this episode. I can see why this episode wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, the story is probably average overall. But after a few deep episodes this season I think the staff just wanted to write a really fun episode and that's what we got. Fan-pandering? Yes but fan-pandering done well.

[Casbyness 48]

Hmm, I think a lot of people are not getting that Tree Hugger was deliberately made to be slightly annoying and oblivious so that Discord wouldn't come across as a complete jerk. The target of his rage needed to be a little "off" and "out there" to keep the audience vaguely sympathetic to Discord and not paint him as a complete monster who would be wholly despised by the end.

 

Replace Tree Hugger with (say for example) Sweetie Belle and I think you'll see what I mean.

 

The only way this episode could have been improved would be if the alternate dimension Discord almost threw Tree Hugger into was the universe of Star Trek: TNG.

Edited May 17, 2015 by Casbyness

[SteveMorison 404]

"Dude, my hooves are huge, they can touch anything but themselves, oh wait"

[AspenSwift 153]

This episode was definitely my favorite this season.  It wasn't too strong in character development, plot, or anything like that, but I know that I was laughing my flank off for 90% of the episode.  It's weird, it's like everybody either loved it or hated it.  It also seemed the style of humor had different effects on people, either they didn't laugh at all, or was rolling the entire time.  See, this is how references should be made in MLP; random, awkward references that didn't blend well like in Fall Weather Friends with the Doctor and Rose?  Not funny at all.  It made me cringe.  Playing the Metal Gear Solid sound as a quick, funny reference that doesn't stand out too much?  Hilarious.  Perfect, even.  Anyway, best episode of the season, dare I say the show?  Call me crazy.

[Fawkes The Phoenix 737]

I'm not seeing enough love for the alternate dimension sock puppet. The creators also named him Señor Huevos which roughly translates to Mr Balls.

Screen Shot 2015-05-17 at 7.21.58 pm.png

It actually translates to "Mr eggs", bit it'd be "Mr Balls" in another context.

[GuillermoGage 246]

The poll suggests a great majority do like this episode. I can see why this episode wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, the story is probably average overall. But after a few deep episodes this season I think the staff just wanted to write a really fun episode and that's what we got. Fan-pandering? Yes but fan-pandering done well.

I moreso meant SOME people.

 

This particular forum community only represents a small sample size of MLPFiM fans, and the community here is probably less critical of the show in general compared to a lot of other places. So...the poll here just indicates a majority here. There's plenty of neighsayers for nearly every episode.

 

Of whatever people whom it shall rub the wrong way, it's quite plausibly for the reasons I described.

 

Also... I guess... pandering. I guess that would be another thing that would turn off some people.

 

But then again, pandering only bothers the major fans of the series who know when pandering is happening because of their inside knowledge of the fandom and other popular-culture-type things.

 

EDIT: several minutes later:

 

I finished watching this: It looks like someone on YouTube does a CinemaSins-style thing for this episode really fast, on the same day even. This seems to be an impressive fandom.

 

I don't agree with every criticism however.

Edited May 18, 2015 by GuillermoGage

[ManaMinori 4,143]

did Discord really need to learn the lesson of it being ok to have multiple friends? I'm starting to wonder, what with his calling Twilight his friend, in "Three's a crowd", truly gaining her (and the other mane 6's) friendship in the s4 finale, also thinking that he had Tirek's friendship, and above all, Fluttershy's.  He seems to be acquiring more friends, but yet he needed to be taught that Fluttershy can have more friends than him? (and why doesn't he get jealous when Fluttershy is with the rest of the mane 6, who are also her friends? or her animal friends?)

 

seems backwards, to me.

[Thaliel 116]

it seems that the series is not (yeat) keeping in mind what happened in the comics, at least the cMC and discord are still on unfreindly terms