S05:E22 - What About Discord

[qwerE 96]

Not so bad. Seeing Twilight being jealous at her friends was quite fun to watch. Discord was too irritating, though. Not much to say.

[Thrond 3,263]

Why did Spike join Twilight on the booksortcation, again? 

"I'm the Princess of Friendship. I don't get jealous." - First time the show suggested the whole princess thing might be going to Twilight's head. 

I dunno, this is just really boring. What made the entire crew decide that a whole episode where all of the jokes are incomplete would be watchable? And then Twilight starts acting nonsensically. They take the genuinely interesting idea of Twilight expecting too much of herself as a princess, and then turn it into something stupid and annoying. And what is this episode even about? If it's about how jealousy is bad, well, that doesn't track, because Discord's clearly intentionally trying to make Twilight unhappy the entire time. He's not teaching her a lesson, he's just a jerk. And if he's still this much of a selfish bully, then why should Twilight expect that he's changed at all? The moral is just diluted so much by Discord's part in it, and this whole premise was wrongheaded to begin with. Possibly my least favourite episode of the show. 

Is it even part of the continuity anymore? Rainbow Dash doesn't seem so chummy with him in "Best Gift Ever," for example, so I guess this bonding stuff just didn't happen? Or maybe it's just that all of his misdeeds since have weakened that friendship. I mean, he hasn't interacted very much with the rest of the six since... which is kind of a bummer, admittedly. I wish this show would use unusual character groupings more often. The over-reliance on Discord+Fluttershy, Spike+Twilight, Applejack+Rarity, etc. just seems like some kind of laziness to me. 

Score:
Entertainment: 2/10
Characters: 1/10
Themes: 3/10
Story: 1/10
Overall: 18/100

[Meushell 52]

I can’t even be annoyed with Discord at this point because he acts like a horrible friend (at best), and they keep forgiving him. Maybe Twilight needs to learn that some people just can’t be friends. I realize that isn’t the point of the show, but if we are to be getting lessons from this...should we really be teaching kids to stay friends with someone who bullies them?

As for the episode itself, this had great potential, but it was crushed under running jokes that quickly got old, and Discord being misused.

[bigbertha 415]

This has a lot of problems. First of all, it's boring. The entire thing is based on jokes that we don't see. Inside jokes are only funny to people who were to there for them. I know we're supposed to sympathize with Twilight, but it doesn't make for entertaining television. 

And the moral is a mess. The moral is supposed to be that Twilight learns she can be jealous despite being a princess. This is brought down by the fact that Twilight is proven right in her delusions of Discord manipulating the others. This puts Discord in the wrong by the end of the episode instead of Twilight and makes the lesson weaker. If Twilight was wrong the entire time and the others just had a good time together, she would be able to learn a lesson, but having Twilight be proven right overshadows her jealousy. It doesn't matter that she's jealous, Discord is the one who manipulated the others to not tell Twilight to join them. Why is it that Twilight keeps being proven right in situations where she should be learning a lesson? And why is Discord still tolerated? Make New Friend But Keep Discord did a good job at making him more enjoyable, but then this episode happens and we're back to square one. 

Also the second act is complete filler and it drags on and on. This sucks.

Score: 1/10

Edited May 31, 2019 by bigbertha

[Totally_Not_A_Dragon 2]

Has anypony else noticed that Discord was discussing quantum theory? He basically explained the quantum observation effect a la the Weizmann experiment!

[Gale Wind 82]

I wasn’t too thrilled with this one either, for basically the same reasons as everyone else.

[Iforgotmybrain 5,950]

Mediocre episode, feels like a filler episode from a Shounen anime. First half is eh and then then the second half just drags on too long. If I had to get rid of one episode from this season it'd easily be this one.

[Night Sky 376]

Glad to see the Mane 6 beginning to warm to Discord as a group and it was nice to have a stress free episode where they're just interacting in a non dramatic situation without the fate of Equestria at stake.

[Dawnshine Wonder 1,357]

On 2025-04-21 at 9:29 AM, Night Sky said:

Glad to see the Mane 6 beginning to warm to Discord as a group and it was nice to have a stress free episode where they're just interacting in a non dramatic situation without the fate of Equestria at stake.

Doesn't look like there was much to learn from this episode though, yeah Twilight Sparkle had a reason to be jealous, but if Discord had not been separating them this would not have happened. Discord has an odd way of showing his reform sometimes, and the writing of his characterization appears to have gotten worse after season 4.

I would not say Discord was evil in this episode, but his lack of tact in this episode can be considered annoying. When friends miss out on the fun, for no reason other than they're not invited, then are laughed at for a joke they were not a part of, then told they were left out on purpose, it can hurt their feelings. Honestly that is not how I would treat Twilight Sparkle if I were in that fictional world as a Pony and her friend, but then I am not Discord. I make mistakes sometimes, but I am not that messed up that I would deliberately make somebody jealous.