S06:E21 - Every Little Thing She Does

[Sonic5421 423]

Decent, not bad, but still pretty much a rehash of Lesson Zero. Would've been nice to see Twilight using a Canterlot voice of her own. And it's great to see more character development for Starlight, who seemingly still has trouble leaving behind her villainous past.

 

Yeah, Starlight still has some work to do. Let's see what the finale has to offer on that when she has her biggest friendship lesson/mission yet with saving the Mane Six.

[Techno Universal 2,575]

That - is a very good point. I had forgotten about the moral ramifications of Luna's dream mastery and whether her sharing the information she finds with others demonstrates a significant invasion of privacy. "FWTSBT" is the perfect example of such a privacy invasion. Even the shared dream in "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep" could be considered an invasion of privacy since everypony around could see every other pony's innermost hopes and desires on full display. While they mostly were positive desires that would not be embarrassing, Filthy Rich being in that house at night with Rainbowshine was probably not something he wanted others to know about...

 

It actually brings to mind a few other uses of magic that would raise moral issues in our world but apparently not in theirs - the creation of animal life from plants, or turning animals into plants, or even ending the lives of countless clones. Speaking of which, was Starlight's duplicate her "own pony" or was she just a reflection of the original, unable to do anything other than what the original was doing at any moment? Like you said, because the episode never followed up on that spell we don't really know. Having a duplicate that can only mimic exactly what you're doing doesn't seem that useful.

Ok maybe we should go deeper and more technical for what Starlight Glimmer's magic actually did in the epesode.

Her teleport and transfiguration spells where automatic commands that where extremely long and the same thing for her attack and Shield spells.

when she duplicated herself she was actually teleporting between two positions at a insane rate that was around over 2000 times every second.

So now let's go to the most interesting thing that is when she tried to mind-control the main 6. The spell she used was actually called: SYSTEM RAM RESET. And it basically resets the RAM items that are being used to run the operating system causing the system to crash. The system is programmed to auto-reboot if it crashes but in this case the system is unable to boot normally due to missing bootup items that where in the RAM because they where in use. So the system rebooted into maintenance mode that is like safe mode in windows. But for maintenance mode to operate there needs to be a entity signature present in the RAM. So in this mode they are completely dependent on instructions given by the assigned unit and can't start any new tasks. Including their international thought system. But they may use installed information on their system to do tasks.

I guess I'll end it here before it gets too long.

 

Note: this is just my prospective of the show but it's a way to think about it.

[Sh Pie 65]

This was the best Starlight focus episode of the season! It's great how her reformation is gradual and she still has a bit of her old self left. I enjoyed seeing how she struggled with giving orders to her brainwashed friends after the imperfect spell stripped them of their basic common sense. She's a great antivillain. Her intentions are good but she just doesn't understand the ethical issues with her actions. She failed to learn the friendship lessons assigned to her by Twilight but she learned a way more important one instead. Brainwashing your friends doesn't solve problems, it makes more.

 

How was Rainbow Dash so exhausted in the morning after? Does "chillaxing" really take a lot of effort?

[Buttonmash1973 1,024]

Another Starlight episode well done.

[Crusaders Forever 88]

I thought it was a fun episode to watch, but no where near my favorite one. It was fun seeing the five brain controlled by Starlight. I really thought it was funny when Applejack quoted the Spider-man line after everything with HORRIBLY wrong.

[Kevin Eontrainer 0]

This is an awesome episode! I'd like to vote but it says "You don't have the permission to vote" or something ike that.. I wonder why.. (I'm new to this forum btw)

[Regent 77]

You can't vote if you have a felony conviction. Sorry. 

Edited October 10, 2016 by Regent

[EmeraldStar04 250]

This episode made me hate Starlight MORE, if that's even possible.

[Saphira Rose 84]

I really enjoyed this episode and enjoyed seeing Starlight's personality being flushed out. She was trying to do the wrong thing for the right reason.

[Thrond 3,257]

I don't really understand why an episode which is clearly trying to depict its protagonist doing something awful spends most of its running time on "wacky humour" about the equivalent of robots not processing Starlight's commands exactly how she wants. When Starlight settles on the spell, there's intense background music, and Twilight shouts at her in the climax, and yet we're supposed to find this amusing? I mean, humour can be based on things which are otherwise unpleasant, but the joke needs to be based on how extreme or unpleasant what's being depicted is. Here, the context is constantly clashing with the actual jokes, and so instead of being funny, they're just disturbing, and there's the sense that the writers don't understand the implications of their own script. 

 

Except that, considering the scene where Twilight chews Starlight out, they totally do, so why all the lighthearted jokes? As with before, my problem is with the fact that the episode relies too much on shenanigans, something which I feel more ambitious episodes of this show tend to suffer from every once in a while. It's made worse by the fact that the humour here is just kinda weak, reliant on repeating jokes which were tired to begin with. At least this time it never sunk into tedium, but that's only because I was uncomfortable for the majority of the runtime. 

 

Furthermore, I continue to have issues with the climax, specifically related to Starlight. I understand that she's supposed to have realized what she did wrong, but why does this only occur to her after Twilight chews her out? She already had a lot of guilt before this episode, so why should we believe that it does any good for her? I guess psychological torture and callous spell use are different issues, but if she's done both, doesn't that speak to something much greater which Twilight & friends should be worried about? The episode either doesn't understand these concerns or is afraid to address them. 

 

I also don't really care about Starlight's magical studies, which don't seem to be grounded in anything personal. The cold open only seems to exist to show off flashy animation effects, and having Starlight's only obvious interest be "magic" just makes her feel more like a ripoff of Twilight. And yeah, this episode is a lot like "Lesson Zero," but there the joke was always about how creepy Twilight was getting, and we'd come to know her well enough to get a good feel for why Celestia and the mane five would forgive her. Here, Starlight doesn't have many characteristics beyond her apparent lack of consideration for other ponies, and the episode often seems oblivious to how dark the scenario is. 

 

With that said: Starlight's apology sounds genuine, and that she works with the mane six in the ending indicates legitimate character development. The main way to mitigate those concerns about whether she's actually learned anything is to show her having grown from the experience, and the episode does that, which I think makes it a lot easier to forgive its faults. And yes, having her retain some of her awful habits does make her a more complex character, but I'm still bothered that the episode spends so much more time on Starlight not understanding the point of friendship lessons than on the fact that she never once thought that mind controlling other ponies to solve her minor problems might be unethical and speak to greater issues.

 

It really is an interesting idea, and I appreciate the complexity it brings, but if you're going to go into such dark territory, you can't just ignore the elephant in the room most of the time. I respect what they're doing, and the ending prevents this from completely breaking her character arc, but this episode doesn't give me the strongest reasons to care about her improvement, aside from that it seems sincere and is intriguing in abstract. Of course, the finale gave me a lot more to like her for, and this episode does add depth to her internal struggle there, so I'm not one of those people who is going to hate Starlight for this one episode, which I do genuinely believe is the last we'll see of this side of her, at least to this extent. Again, the ideas are mostly good, and the episode mostly gets a pass for deepening Starlight, but the execution just isn't up to snuff. 

 

Score:

Entertainment: 4/10

Characters: 7/10

Theme: 6/10

Story: 6/10

Overall: 58/100

[Pastel 7,627]

Ok, the scene with Starlight's spell is kind of frightening and hard to watch. But that aside, I really liked this episode. Would have been better if it aired before the episode with Trixie, as it was a real starting point for Starlight.

Also, that intro with all the spells was awesome.

[Midnight Blaze 98 1,138]

I just re-watched this and I still think it's an amazing episode, although I do think Starlight should have been chewed out by Twilight a bit more- I mean, she flooded the castle, possibly burnt part of the kitchen and hypnotised the rest of the Mane 6. 

But apart from that, this was a great episode. I love the fountain thing at the end- I WANT! 

[Moony the Cat 3,697]

I loved this Episode, it was super funny! Not even sure what to say about it, it was such an interesting Idea to kinda Mind Control the Main 5, i mean it was bad sure, but also cute in a way, how they all acted. Starlight still has stuff to learn, but im happy that she is now part of the group, because she really gives the group something new.

[Nye 1,652]

Starlight learned a lot about friendship in a weird way. I guess she just can’t escape her enslaving nature.

[Ruddboy Olaf 10,627]

Pretty good episode. It was awesome to see Starlight freak out over failing, since I can relate.
Also, I wasn't expecting that Lazytown reference.

[bigbertha 410]

For not having a Starlight episode in 13 episodes, this episode did well in continuing her arc. What Starlight did here is horrible, and all of the jokes were based on how creepy and disturbing the effects of Starlight's spell were. It's slightly strange that Starlight didn't consider the fact that brainwashing her friends was bad, but I can still see where she was coming from. She just wanted to be efficient in her friendship lessons, doing them as quickly as possible to impress Twilight. That didn't justify what she did, but she did feel really guilty and learned her lesson. 

The comedy was pretty good here with just how emotionless and creepy the mane six were. It tied into the entire episode being about how badly Starlight handled the situation.

The only thing I didn't like is "chillaxing". It wasn't funny any of the times it was mentioned.

Score: 9/10

[qwerE 95]

I didn't like this episode. I would rate it as one of the worst, but I get that there are lots of people who liked it too. I don't hate Starlight, but she was too evil in this episode. How could she not think of canceling her spell even after things went wrong? If she didn't have the ability to undo the spell, did she cast a permanent spell that she cannot even cancel on her friends?

However, I won't hate Starlight for it because I consider this episode to be breaking Starlight's character. I don't think she would actually do the things she did in this episode. She is actually one of my favourite characters, and I liked her episodes with Sunburst and Trixie. I'm not saying that I only like the good side of hers, it's just that Starlight here didn't feel like the Starlight I knew from previous episodes.

Of course, it is possible that she was actually like this and the show was showing her real self. I still wouldn't consider this a good episode even if that were the case, because it just made me feel so terrible viewing it. This show is a story of fiction, made to entertain the viewers. I felt so bad for the characters, and was so upset at Starlight that I couldn't enjoy the episode. I think I wouldn't have felt as bad if there were moments Starlight showed any sign of remorse while using her friends, but there was none at all.

Edited November 12, 2018 by qwerE

[bigbertha 410]

The big problem here is that Starlight isn't forced to face her biggest fault. She's called out for brainwashing the main five, but the issue is that she doesn't feel any remorse before that point isn't mentioned. Starlight learns that she shouldn't deal with things all at once and should instead take her time with tasks, but she doesn't learn that she shouldn't go to such extremes as brainwashing ponies because she can't handle something. I'm not convinced that Starlight won't brainwash more ponies. All I know is that it won't be because she wants to do multiple tasks at once. It feels like the episode misses its point and is thus unsatisfying in the end. And it makes a likability problem with Starlight since she's brainwashing her friends and doesn't face the realization that she doesn't feel remorse for her terrible actions until she's told that what she does is terrible.

A vast majority of the episode is ruined by Starlight being really unlikable. Lesson Zero also had a character go to large extremes for a simple problem, but there was escalation in Twilight's craziness there and she recognized her screw up and felt guilty for it after everything became out of control. The situation was also treated with the seriousness it deserved with Celestia coming down from the sky and the real threat of Twilight being seriously punished. In this episode, Starlight is crazy enough to brainwash her friends from the start, doesn't feel guilty for a while, and she's punished with apologizing. All of the jokes come from how disturbingly the main five act after Starlight's spell, but because of Starlight being unlikable, it's more creepy than funny. The audience doesn't sympathize with Starlight being nervous about spending time with the mane five because that's overshadowed by how disturbing the main five act and how Starlight sees nothing wrong with it.

Also, "chillaxing" is stupid and never becomes funny.

That all said, a few jokes are able to transcend Starlight being unlikable, like many of Applejack's one sentence summaries. And Starlight does seem like she really wants to be better and is shown at least trying to make the effort at the end. This keeps her from delving into completely unsympathetic territories as I do still want to see her get better. It's just that this episode ignores Starlight's bigger problems for more small scale issues, slowing down her arc and making her unlikable for a majority of this episode.

Score: 3/10

 

[Rushing cash 824]

I really liked this one, after starlight reformed I wanted to see her struggle a little and hoped to see an episode when she slipped and fell to her old tendencies a bit, and that episode was exactly what I had hoped for. I can understand starlight here, I think mike did a great job here. I enjoyed this episode a lot, good thing she found out about this spell no and not when she was evil...  9\10

[Eniac 402]

It was okay, had to have a return to Glimmer as she is the project for this season so far. I guess the episode served it's purpose to get her onto more friendship activities and realise that friendship isn't about being perfect and that it's okay to brainwash people so long as you say 'I am sorry' and move on. Though tbf it did highlight some important facts, just felt the gravitas of the episode was taken away by the silliness of the interactions. Nice ending none-the-less and also it's a kid's show so can't be serious the whole time.

[Cloud5001 20]

On 2016-09-24 at 12:13 PM, Sidral Mundet said:

Yeah no, I'm so against Mind control

 

 

 

 

What I liked:

 

 

The hangover: Okay funny way to show the effects of the spell and nice to see how the Mane 6 would react to a night of binge drinking.

 

 

Chewing Starlight out: Not enough of it but Sweet Celestia at least they gave her some for the stunt she pulled.

 

 

The Mane 6 hypnotized retaining their personalities: At least they still had a bit of themselves in there

 

 

The conflict idea: Okay so the idea that Starlight is nervous about friendship lessons and reacts badly to them is a good idea, but the execution I'll go into later. 

 

 

The opening: Nice magic and visuals there.

 

 

 

 

 

What I didn't like:

 

 

Starlight Glimmer: YOU DON'T USE MIND CONTROL!! I don't care if it backfired on her or she felt really bad,you don't use it period! And her smug look when she first used it doesn't help matters either.

 

 

The lack of consequences: At least she did get a minor calling out but good Lord, she enslaved your minds, you took three seasons to forgive Discord for doing less! 

 

 

 

 

 

So yeah no I'm not into this episode. I know a ton of you are going to try to say "But Starlight this" and "Starlight that" but that's not going to work. I'm sorry but mind control is such a massive ethical and moral violation that I can't overlook it. That's what I think, if you think anything different fine. I'm not like Starlight and going to try to make you think anything different. 

 

Pffft yeah it's not like Twilight used a spell to make ponies obssessed with a doll or nothing, oh wait. That was pretty much brainwashing who are you trying to kid, i'm not even saying I hate that episode because i love Lesson zero but the point is Starlight always had a gun aimed at her for mistakes. Mistakes that some of the other main charachters are also guilty of doing, but like the rest of them that does'nt make her a bad charachter it gives her flaws to overcome and she did.

[Astralshy 23,558]

I can see people not liking this episode, but I really loved it. Starlights progression is not perfect and so far she has postponed the most difficult thing to her. Instead of coming approaching this now as she is asked by Twilight she does the one thing she knows - brute magic. This is so fitting and underlining her character and her development that it's mandatory and already later. This episode has also a lot of humor, but it can be overshadowed if one takes issue with the plot.

 

[JMTV99 1,348]

Ugh, this is got to be worst episode featuring Starlight. I don't like the fact that she was an basically an allegory of 'what if Starlight was like Twilight before she was a princess', and it doesn't work. As much as I was disappointed with her reformation, I want Starlight to be her own character. There are so many opportunities that the writers could've done with Starlight instead of turning her into a Twilight clone. Starlight was completely unlikable in this episode, too.

Casting a hypnotizing spell on the Main 6 was really dumb. It almost feels like padding than actual substance going on in the episode. Not to mention that Starlight didn't feel any remorse for her actions until Twilight called her out on it.

If this episode makes you want to like Starlight, this is not how you do it.

[bigbertha 410]

Yeah this episode is still trash. Starlight is overpowered, her first instinct when she gets nervous is to straight up brainwash her "friends", and she doesn't even feel bad until she's explicitly told what she did was wrong. And the fact that she gets off so easily is insane. I'm glad at least Pinkie was kinda bitter after Starlight's apology, but she still came around too soon. 

I don't understand how this can be compared to Lesson Zero, an episode where Twilight didn't immediately go for mind control when she got nervous, she understood exactly what she did wrong and tried to reverse the spell when things got out of control, and the threat of consequences felt much stronger.

[Adariousmist 124]

*wipes all the 'this is trash' commentary out of his mental receptacles*.    At no point during this did I think it was bad or trash.  I do, in fact think there are number of people who have a (whether conscious or not) bias against her, or a lingering desire to see her return back to being a villain.  I also don't believe there should have been more harsh treatment of her (consequences), as if the consequences that came were not enough to do the job, then the point is moot, and too much of a consequence is simply going to set her up to not only fail but likely lose faith that she can succeed.  Too much consequence is just as bad as none at all.

I already had a feeling I knew what the results were going to be the moment they all showed having vacant expressions.  I think the humor was on point, and aided as a partial lesson why it was a bad idea to begin with.  After the apology -was- in fact the appropriate time for all of them to come together again as well.  An unforgiving friend really isn't much of a friend to begin with.  Then, when Twilight pointed out to Star that she had, actually, just done all of the lessons without even realizing it, Star got an unexpected boost of confidence that she could actually do the lessons without having to doubt herself so much, and without having to use any crutches like spells.  It also drove the point home that she should put more trust in her friends and not think the worst (that she would be judged based on how skillful she was at each activity), rather than it being a common activity both friends could do together and bond during.

Overall, I had a great time with this episode and do think that it was well done.

Also ... Fluttershy kinda lost me at 'cute spiders'  js