S05:E22 - What About Discord

[EVBP 94]

This was a strange episode. Strange, but not bad. I think it's amusing, the references to What About Bob? and how both Dischord and Twilight learned a lesson in this episode. Twilight learning that it is okay to feel jealous about missing out on things as long as you can be honest about your feelings, and Dischord learning that feeling the way Twilight did is no fun, and maybe he should be more considerate of the effect his actions can have on others.

 

It kind of makes me wish they would make an episode depicting all of these scenarios that Twilight missed out on, kind of like they did in Made in Manehatten and Sisterhooves Social, but that seems highly unlikely.

 

Not my favorite episode, but I will gladly watch it again.

[Side Bird 565]

One of my favorites out of the season for sure! 

I loved the Bob Ross reference too, I remember watching him last Thursday on twitch during that marathon. 

[Misty Shadow 7,065]

I wouldn't go as far to call it better than the other Discord episode we got this season, but I still loved it. I'm surprised a lot of people are saying they thought it was boring, I think it's a lot more entertaining when you've been in a situation like Twilight's like I have. Seriously, I can't even count how many times I've seen my e-friends making these in-jokes about something that happened in a chat I wasn't at that I just don't get or find funny at all, but I've had to accept in the end to just let them have their fun. 

[Wonderbolt 68]

Punny Episode

A nice easy watch of an episode, I enjoyed Discord in this episode as he was slightly less of a jerk than he has previously been. Twilight as her over worried self was fun to. Loved Pinkies Back to the future nod.
So all the mane six and Discord are now properly friends rather than just Discord and Fluttershy.

 

[AmberDust 1,116]

It was...good. There was nothing particularly wrong with this episode, but like Twilight, I feel like I missed out on something that I would really have liked to see, that being the dveelopment of each of the mane 6's friendships with Discord.

 

I really like the premise of this episode, but I would have liked it better if they had taken their time with developing these friendships. Like, I wish each member of the mane six got an episode where, for some reason (like in "Three's a Crowd"), they had to spend time with Discord, and they gradually grew to like each other.

 

I feel like this episode kind of eliminates that chance of that happening, which upsets me a bit. I mean, could you imagine the possibilities? Watching characters like AppleJack or Rarity slowly warming up to him (and vice versa) could be awesome.

 

Ah well. Que sera sera. At least we got a Bob Ross cameo and some suspicious binoculars staring from the bushes.

 

Edited November 7, 2015 by AmberDust

[TePineer 82]

It was...good. There was nothing particularly wrong with this episode, but like Twilight, I feel like I missed out on something that I would really have liked to see, that being the dveelopment of each of the mane 6's friendships with Discord.

 

I really like the premise of this episode, but I would have liked it better if they had taken their time with developing these friendships. Like, I wish each member of the mane six got an episode where, for some reason (like in "Three's a Crowd"), they had to spend time with Discord, and they gradually grew to like each other.

 

I feel like this episode kind of eliminates that chance of that happening, which upsets me a bit. I mean, could you imagine the possibilities? Watching characters like AppleJack or Rarity slowly warming up to him (and vice versa) could be awesome.

 

Ah well. Que sera sera. At least we got a Bob Ross cameo and some suspicious binoculars staring from the bushes.

When was the part with the binoculars? I never noticed anything.

 

EDIT: Scratch that, just checked Equestria daily.

Edited November 7, 2015 by TePineer

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

I liked this episode. Twilight was perfectly in character in this one with her book organizing,inability to admit she is jealous, and her guardedness around Discord. It was nice to have another Twilight episode. Spike was a really cute side character in this one! I liked how Twilight's jealously turned into a scientific study of friendship even if that scene wasn't my total favorite. I loved at the end where Twilight was almost to the point of tears about not being included and finally had to admit she is not a perfect pony just because she is a princess because I have had moments like that. I just knew Discord had been trying to upset Twilight on purpose so I felt sad for Twilight and wanted to tell Discord to stop being a jerk to her. However I like that the writers are using Discord's naughty side to allow Twilight to grow as a character and show us Twilight is still not perfect. It's sad that Twilight kind of expects herself to be perfect. Perhaps Discord remembered when he was jealous of Treehugger and wanted to help Twilight get over a similar insecurity but that's probably wishful thinking. I guess my issues with this episode would be that it felt to short and there was something about the "recreating events for science" scene that was a tad annoying and maybe seemed to drag on a bit. The Fluttershy as an orange scene was really disturbing yet funny. Zecora admitting that the witch's brew thing was for aesthetics was funny and cool.

[colt .45 259]

Someone else pointed this out actually. I doubt I would've ever noticed it myself. But yeah, she's there. I think she appears in the background in Amending Fences too.

Yes, right there.

 

Someone had to point that out to me too.

I would have never noticed her in either episode.

[Princess Book Horse 350]

"This is heavy Doc."

So, it's been 2 weeks (for me,) since a new episode aired. Time to react.

- How does a Princess lock herself inside for 3 straight days? Didn't anypony come to her for anything during that time period?

- Good job syncronizing your words and movements Rainbow and Discord. You two should form a traveling circus act.

- Hmm, I don't think I've ever seen anypony donate books to Twilight before. Well, other than Princess Celestia.

- OMG! DAT DISCORD-JACK FACE!!

- Bob Ross reference! XD

- Nice to see Spike return to his S1 personality a bit.

- Marty MCPie and Doctor Emmet Discord!

- Yeah Pinkie, time travel is bad and OH MY CELESTIA! It's another Starlight cameo!

- I-Is that.... Zecora? Do I see Zecora in a somewhat major speaking role for the first time in 34 episodes? I DO!

- Isn't it a bit out of character for Rarity to intentionally spill potion juice all over a beautiful castle floor? Maybe there was a trash can near her. That's my head cannon.

- Twilight feels left out. THE FEELS!

- I'm glad they were still able to laugh together at the end, despite the fact that Discord kinda caused all this.

- Also, I'm glad Discord did this to teach Twilight a lesson, rather than to be mischievous.

Overrall, enjoyable episode. The moral was: "Sometmes, you don't understand something unless you're there and no amount of recreating will make you figure it out."

Edited November 7, 2015 by Princess Book Horse

[colt .45 259]

This was a strange episode. Strange, but not bad. I think it's amusing, the references to What About Bob?

 

 

We appear to be the only two people in the forum that have seen this movie and caught the reference.

[EVBP 94]

Oh man! So many Starlight Glimmer sightings. I cannot wait for this season to come out on DVD so I can spot them all for myself!

We appear to be the only two people in the forum that have seen this movie and caught the reference.

 

I kept waiting for Twilight to have a "You think he's gone?! He's never gone!" moment, but alas. It was not to be.

[NeonCobalt 256]

This was a decent epsiode. Not great, but not terrible either. It was so obvious that Discord was up to something, and while Twilight's theory wasn't true, he was still up to no good, in purposely trying to make her jealous. Now granted, I thought the moral was pretty good, that you shouldn't try and ignore your feelings, and there were a few funny moments her and there. Plus, it was nice to FIANLLY see Zecora again (I was wondering if the writers had somehow forgotten about her). Also, CONFIRMED STARLIGHT GLIMMER SIGHTING #2 (unless I missed any others). Anyway, I'd probably rate this 7/10.

[EquestriaGuy 1,074]

Not much of a fan of the episode, but at least we got these faces out of it.

 

I suppose if I had to say something else good about it, Discord was VERY Q-like in this one, which is somethng I appreciate a lot. Q was always teaching Picard tough lessons which ended up benefitting him or humanity. In that respect, it did have some value in teaching Twilight she's allowed to have flaws, such as jealousy, and to not hold herself up on a pedestal where she could never live up to standards she couldn't maintain. 

[InfectedPone 1,548]

Woah woah woah who do we have here? You've still got 3 weeks before your episode missy.

 

[Glaive9Gko 82]

Well I generally dislike "I'mma be nice to their friends to piss'em off" plots, so lets see if the pony version can subver...
> Discord gives the snake-eyes before the 4 minute mark
...*sigh*

[Mr Unknown 132]

I thought it was good, but I kind of expected something a little better with Discord in it...

What can I say, the first Discord episode this season was GREAT 

Edited November 7, 2015 by Mr Unknown

[Antidaeophobia 299]

I know know, this is actually my least favorite Discord episode. I felt like it was just a bit awkward. I get that Discord is needy. He may be ancient, but he's really just a petulant child on the inside. I guess through the episode I felt like the audience was with Twilight, and because they didn't show us what happened, we couldn't find any of the jokes funny, so it just came off as annoying. I think if they'd included us on knowing the inside jokes, it would have made the episode more enjoyable, and also would have given us some funny scenes. You can also tell that Discord really wants Twilight's friendship and wants her to feel left out. Maybe they'll give us an episode where Twilight and Discord actually do something fun together. 
It's good to see that Discord is still an asshole as always. I doubt/hope that never changes.

[Glike 487]

You know, I've tried really hard to really enjoy this episode. I've even been using my bias for Discord to try and motivate me to like this episode. But I just can't convince myself. Don't get me wrong, it was a decent episode, but it did not live up to my expectations at all.

 

I really liked the direction the episode was going, but then they had to ruin it by giving Discord an ulterior motive. I mean, I get that he's not 100% reformed, but is it too much to ask to have him act unselfishly at least once? This was a great opportunity to have Discord finally legitimately bond with the Mane Six, but they had to do a complete 180 at the end there.

 

If I'm not mistaken, this was written by the same guy who wrote Princess Spike, right? Yeah, I think we need to keep him away from the show scripts...

[Antidaeophobia 299]

Not much of a fan of the episode, but at least we got these faces out of it.

 

I suppose if I had to say something else good about it, Discord was VERY Q-like in this one, which is somethng I appreciate a lot. Q was always teaching Picard tough lessons which ended up benefitting him or humanity. In that respect, it did have some value in teaching Twilight she's allowed to have flaws, such as jealousy, and to not hold herself up on a pedestal where she could never live up to standards she couldn't maintain. 

I agree. It's nice to see that Twilight isn't flawless, and I think Discord helped her see that. In his own messed up way, he's teaching Twilight some of the lessons that Celestia was too nice, or unable to teach- such as, the worst aspects of ourselves. I love Q, and I guess that's why I love Discord so much. It wasn't a great episode, I think making the audience part of the out crowd instead of in on the jokes really made this episode difficult to enjoy, and also, missed a great opportunity to animate some fun scenes- which Discord is perfect for. Discord is one of the few characters that dominates, and uses every element of the environment. They really short changed his character this time, and the episode could have been handled better even though the lesson was solid. 

[Cloud Strife 928]

It's so strange to be taking the dissenting opinion for once. Despite everyone saying it wasn't a good episode, I actually found it great and I find it a little puzzling that everyone hated it. I mean, sure, I wasn't fond of the fact that Discord still had malevolent intentions even though he was supposed to be reformed; it's easy to make him a goofy guy without making him an asshole, writers. But I really liked Twilight's struggle here and it weirds me out that everyone says that she "shouldn't" have been jealous, that she "wouldn't" have been.

 

Here's the issue: emotions do not work that way. They don't work the way of a certain personality type being unable to have them. Maybe in one situation you'd be totally fine with the inside joke, but in another it really, really bothers you. Hell, people in this thread seem to be getting a different moral from the episode than the one presented; the moral wasn't that Twilight isn't allowed to be jealous, nor that friends are allowed to have inside jokes. The moral was that you're allowed to feel a certain emotion, despite your position, and you're entitled to those feelings, and that you shouldn't bottle them up or try to justify them or run away from your emotions. You're allowed to feel jealous.

 

And how could she not be? They kept mentioning the joke constantly around her. Maybe once, and she would've been weirded out but let it go; hell, that's exactly what happened in the case of Rainbow Dash. She was all, "Since when did they become chummy?" but shrugged it off. It was when the joke persisted and it seemed like everyone was in on it but her that she started becoming obsessed with it. It didn't make sense to her, so she started to come up with conclusions, especially when they recreated it and she still didn't get the joke. She thought that Discord had to have cast a spell on them because there was no way that they would universally find him funny, and to be honest, was that really an off-the-wall conclusion for her to draw? I bet some of you were drawing it yourselves when watching the episode. It might've been a cover up for her jealousy, but it was a reasonable idea after what Discord has done to them. After all, nearly every instance we've seen him he's been a control freak. While I knew that he hadn't brainwashed them, that's only because I'm genre savvy and I've watched this kind of plot multiple times, and kids, the target demographic of this show, wouldn't know that for themselves, and at the end of the day that's who the episode is supposed to teach.

 

Also for everyone who's saying we should've been let in on the joke ourselves, I actually disagree. If we were, we wouldn't relate to Twilight. We'd feel guilty for laughing with everyone else, and we'd automatically be siding with them. But this isn't about their emotions or the joke, this is about Twilight and how she feels about the fact that they have an inside joke about them. If anything it'd muddy up the focus of the episode. The other characters were not the focus, Twilight was. They didn't have a lesson to learn or an experience to go through because by all means, they didn't do anything wrong. (Neither did Twilight, but she did learn a lesson in the end.)

 

Maybe some wording was a little off but to be honest I barely noticed it. And that last rant of Twilight's hit me pretty hard, because I know how it feels to be left out. Not just on an inside joke, but in a group setting where everyone has taken a character in a RP. It feels terrible, and you don't want to say you're jealous because you want to assert yourself as a good friend who'd be beyond something petty like that (just as Twilight does in the episode!). You don't want to admit it, to yourself or to others, because you think you're beyond that. And according to this thread, apparently everyone else does, too.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

That was awesome! The humor in this episode was amazing!

 

And...Discord teaching Twilight a lesson again...priceless. 

 

And...Discord gets burned once again...

[Pinkiebow 47]

Spike here is the Lesson Zero and EG Spike. Nice! I liked the episode... it was kinda boring at times, and i'm sorry, but the humor was really awkward and made me cringe at times. All the mane 6 had their adorable moments (especially Twily), the ending is sweet and Discord is awesome, but it's not on my top 10 of the season by any means. Not a bad episode at all.

[Rainbowdash_82 404]

Yes another twilight/discord episode

 

Tbh, I wanted to see twilight blow her fuse in the almost ending of the episode 

 

I think that twilight was pretty upset/jealous that she missed the weekend, but its her fault for organising her library for three straight days

 

The episode was pretty good

My rating 8.5/10

[best poni 1,518]

Wow, we're almost done with season 5 already. I enjoyed this episode and I loved the fact that discord is becoming better friends with the rest of the mane 6 and not just fluttershy.

[immblueversion 331]

It's so strange to be taking the dissenting opinion for once. Despite everyone saying it wasn't a good episode, I actually found it great and I find it a little puzzling that everyone hated it. I mean, sure, I wasn't fond of the fact that Discord still had malevolent intentions even though he was supposed to be reformed; it's easy to make him a goofy guy without making him an asshole, writers. But I really liked Twilight's struggle here and it weirds me out that everyone says that she "shouldn't" have been jealous, that she "wouldn't" have been.

 

You know something? That's exactly what Twilight was telling herself in the episode, and what drove the conflict forward. It's something we all go through at least once in our lives. No matter how much we tell ourselves we should know better than to feel unpleasant or even problematic emotions; not just jealousy, but also anger and sadness.

 

"My friends had fun without me? Why do I feel so upset? Stop being such a sourpuss and be happy for them, me!"

 

But that doesn't stop us from feeling them. Feeling bad emotions does not make us bad people. There's always a reason for every emotion we feel, and we shouldn't feel sorry about it, even when we tell ourselves otherwise. And in an age where more media is more accepting of the fact that sometimes, we need to take some bitter pills to lead happier lives, I'm glad we had a message like this.