S07:E01+02 - Celestial Advice/All Bottled Up

[Malcontent 196]

and my thoughts are up and ready for destruction or shunning

 

 

[Dark Qiviut 22,173]

Well, finished All Bottled Up.

Honestly, I take back what I previously thought. This was much better watching it a second time.

Strengths:

1. Starlight. She needed a really strong performance after poor outings in Every Little Thing and To Where. ABU is her best outing since The Crystalling. She was strong when she needed to, angry when he needed to, tired when she needed to, and sad when she needed to. Her characterization was a row of colors (and, no, not just red). She felt like a character that people can empathize to.
   
   While past episodes sometimes told us she grew, we get to SEE it very clearly. If you recall Every Little Thing She Does, she controlled her friends against their will as the first resort; in what was trying to replicate Lesson Zero's success, that didn't work. Here, she literally bottled up her anger as a last resort. Every time Trixie did something that made her angry, her anger became more and more uncontrollable. Starlight knows this, but feared getting mad at her would fracture their bond. Considering what happened in the past (both with each other in NSP and herself in ELTSD), it's understandable. She couldn't risk that.
   
   Even though it was wrong for her to bottle up her anger, you can see where she's coming from, and there are actual consequence to hr choice. Every time she got mad, her expression, personality, and facial expression changed. Her hair frayed and wilted. Her eyes drooped. Overall, there was no life into her personality. To keep her temper under control emotionally and physically drained her. In other words, her character growth from ELTSD was used to the Sister Writers' advantage, not ignored.
   
   She and Celestia were the best characterized in these two episodes, but I'm more impressed by Starlight's for the reasons above. And Starlight's hairdo wilting at the jewelry store is my favorite moment of both eps.
2. The pacing here is much more improved over CA, too. With one exception midway, everything flowed from one point to the next much better. The ending didn't feel rushed, cramped, slow, or nonsensical. Everything, including the Friendship Retreat, mattered.
3. The Friendship Retreat broke away from the moody A-plot. Yeah, the B-plot had some humor, but it was also quite serious and heavy. Sometimes when you have a plot this heavy, you need something to occasionally break away to relax the plot a bit. The B-plot is very relaxed and tenseless.
4. On top of that, fantastic moral. Sometimes when you bottle up your anger, that anger can manifest itself into making you do things that'll you'll regret. A big strength in maintaining a healthy friendship is the ability to be honest, yet constructive with those you care for.

Weaknesses:

1. The B-plot, while counterbalancing the A-plot, is contrived. Twilight's mildly flanderized here, and you have a stereotypical-looking and sounding stallion who acted like he couldn't care less about his job. Secondly, it kept interrupting the A-plot, which slowed the pace and put it at a standstill. You can maybe relax the tension in the A-plot without stopping it to complete the B-plot.
2. Trixie becomes flanderized. After she accidentally teleported the Cutie Map, she stopped caring about that, was so oblivious to Starlight's anxiety until late in Act 2, and cared more about other things immediately. Her change in personality feels too sudden and implausible. If there was a conflict between trying to find the map and slowly becoming too mesmerized on extracurricular things, then it could work a little better. Like an improved Cart Before the Ponies.

Nevertheless, a really great episode that I grew to appreciate more the second time. Originally, I thought Celestial Advice was better. Now I believe the opposite.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,151]

Finally added the writers for both episodes, and I seriously hope they contributed more for the season.

With that said I must say that both episodes were strong overall with some minor quips here and there. "Celestial Advice" was amazing with it's show of character from Twilight, Celestia, and Spike, and I enjoy the interactions between all the characters, though Discord was a tad...much, if you will. However, I think I preferred "All Bottled Up" for the dynamic of Trixie and Starlight, as well as the VERY strong moral at the end.

Plus; I just LOVE the attention Trixie and Starlight have received thus far, and hope to see more of it in the future. 

[Nerdy Luigi 2,064]

Celestial Advice: (I give this episode a solid B+)

Pros: Premise (Interesting concept for Twilight to have to make a decision with such impact), Twilight (Reminded me of Season 1!), Celestia (What was that laugh? ACTUAL PERSONALITY!), Discord (most of the time I found his antics pretty funny...).

Cons: Discord (Though sometimes he went overboard. Seriously, The way he put Twilight in the spotlight drove me crazy), Mediocre pacing (At some points, it felt like I would have missed nothing important if I simply skipped a whole of 2 or 3 minutes of the episode...)

 

All Bottled Up: (I give this episode a C)

Pros: Starlight (She's still got flaws!), Good moral (Anyone can learn from it, probably.)

Cons: Trixie (She was AGGRIVATING.), Premise (Plot was yawn-worthy and felt like filler)

Edited April 16, 2017 by Nerdy Luigi
Moved All Bottled Up's rating down a little.

[Batbrony 15,994]

Good evening everypony, and welcome back to another edition (and a brand new MLP:FiM season) of "Batbrony Reviews"!!!  Tonight, for the season premiere, I'm in the unusual position of having to review two episodes that were not a part of a single story arc.  Yes, for the first time in the entire running of MLP:FiM, DHX decided not to have the opening be a massive two-parter where the girls had to battle some threat to all of Equestria and... frankly, this change was probably a season overdue considering that last season's opener (while delightful) involved the Crystal Empire being threatened by a newborn alicorn.  Yeah, it's not easy coming up with new threats to all of Equestria on a seasonal basis (especially seven seasons in), much less twice a season, so frankly I'm quite happy they finally decided to do this.  And it worked really well since the first episode pretty much picked up immediately from where the last episode in Season 6 left off (and the closure it brought to such a momentous event in Equestria as relations getting normalized with the Changelings was very gratifying to see).  But enough of my introductory ramblings, let's get to the real meat of my review... which is mostly me rambling.  This is "Celestial Advice" and "All Bottled Up"!!!

Awwwwwwwwww, giant wing hug, EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! 

So starting with "Celestial Advice," this episode was important and needed for a number of reasons.  As I said, we got really good closure following the Season 6 finale, in particular seeing Starlight and her band of friends hailed as heroes (in many ways it was a fun and silly contrast to the Season 2 "Star Wars" celebration for the Mane 6 in the season opener, particularly because Starlight's group is nowhere nearly as tight as the Mane 6 were by that point and probably never will be since the only two who see each other on a regular basis are Starlight and Trixie).  That entire scene was executed very nicely; I was particularly pleased to see such a wide array of Equestrian citizens and their closest friends and allies mingling in the same spot, including the reformed Changelings and Crystal Ponies (though it was odd that neither Princess Cadance nor Shining Armor were there, though I'm guessing that's going to be explained in next week's episode based on the preview for it).  But it was also important because Twili- ah screw it, no more beating around the bush, CELESTIA GOT SOME DAMN MEANINGFUL SCREENTIME!!!

Wowwwwwwwwwwww, you have no idea how great it was to write that.  And seriously, I'm holding off talking about anything else good about this episode until I get this spiel about of the way.  First of all, this is what I had to say about Celestia's treatment in Season 6 (and pretty much since Season 4) in my Season 6 review:

Oh me oh my, why can't poor Celly get any love on this show it seems? Between time and time again being incapable of actually solving a national crisis (a plot device that seems a bit tired at this point, I mean, it was ridiculously easy for the Changelings to capture both her and Princess Luna, buck, all of Equestria's royalty was bucking useless in that so I can only hope that that was one bucking stealthy operation the Changelings launched) and just disappearing for stretches at a time, this character just can't catch a break these days. Let's not forget that there was a time in this show where pretty much EVERY MAJOR EVENT revolved around Celestia to some extent. She was the main catalyst in sending Twilight to Ponyville and getting her to regularly learn lessons of friendship and report them to her, she bucking made Twilight a princess for crying out loud, and she's supposed to be her dearest mentor, and a mentor and leader to all ponies. Needless to say, since the end of Season 4, that has not been the case and it is NOTICEABLE!!! This is a character who is simply too big in her importance to both the show's setting and main characters to be ignored the way she has the last two seasons by the writers without it coming off as ridiculous. SHE CONTROLS THE BUCKING SUN FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, AND YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT THE HIGH POINT OF HER SEASON WAS A GAG ABOUT HER BEING UNAMUSED IN "No Second Prances" IN WHICH SHE DIDN'T EVEN SAY A BUCKING WORD?!?! It's too much, at this point, it's simply too much. Many of us in the fandom have long been asking for more Celestia, going all the way back to the early seasons, but instead she just had her worst season ever and this NEEDS TO CHANGE!!! She needs an episode next season, to put it mildly, she simply does. Nicole Oliver for one is too good in this role to ignore, but back to the character herself, this is a character that deserves better! Princess Luna has rightfully had a character arc across all six of these seasons, Princess Cadance has even had a character arc and sometimes major appearances in episodes (even if she maybe hasn't ever faced a friendship problem, unless you count "The Times They Are a Changeling"), but Princess Celestia, the sole ruler of Equestria for 1000 years, STILL DOESN'T HAVE A SOLO EPISODE?!?!? BUCKING RIDICULOUS!!! Writers, at this point I'm just begging for anything, anything at all. A fun little slice-of-life episode, maybe about a day in the life of Celestia or a romp with some other character on some random adventure, more about her and Twilight's relationship, maybe a look into her own mind and what her own fears and insecurities are, SOMETHING, ANYTHING!!! But the show simply can't keep ignoring such a big character without it coming off as a major flaw, and until that changes, until Princess Celestia finally gets the proper attention she deserves in the show, even in just one episode focused on her as an actual main character, it will remain quite possibly the biggest long-standing flaw of the show, and it's a shame that a season that was so strong for the most part in its handling of new and old supporting characters was so marred by such a glaring absence.

Andddddddddddd... exhale.  OK, it appears that the show runners at DHX have taken note of this... GLARING problem, to say the least.  As you can see, Celestia's been getting the shaft, and the entire show was going to keep getting brought down for it if such an important character was continually treated so poorly.  NOW, I am not yet letting them entirely off the hook because this was NOT a solo-Celestia episode.  BUT she was more or less the season opener's deuteragonist, and that is much more than she has been in any single episode for a long, long, long, long, long, long, long time.  So for that, major props DHX, I can only hope you're going to build off of this solid foundation of Celly-love and not just let it be a single bone thrown her way.  Anyways, yeah, Celestia was great here (and it should be obvious from the title alone that she'd be a major character, I mean, ya know, "Celestial Advice" and all).  This is a Celestia I've wanted to see in the show for a long time, with a combination of new character elements we learned about her along with old staples about her that we already loved.  The second Twilight asked her for help, I already felt like the show had entered a comfort zone it hadn't been in in a longggggggggg time, too long, in fact.  Frankly, it was just nice seeing the show do something it doesn't do enough anymore; have the main characters go to their elders for help.  I know some people may be like, "Well, it's cliche or old fashioned," but come on, the main character of this show has a mentor who's over a thousand years old and has ruled Equestria, the greatest country in the entire show, most of her life in relative peace and harmony.  The fact that she had barely sought her advice for any major decisions or friendship problems, onscreen, since pretty much becoming the Princess of Friendship (there were exceptions, but not enough), was not just criminal from a storytelling point of view, but stupid, ridiculously stupid.  Too often for some time now either the characters have easily learned most lessons on their own, OR Twilight has taught them; I know the former is easy enough to accept for most friendship problems in this show (especially for the veteran members of the Mane 6), and that the latter makes sense in establishing Twilight as the Princess of Friendship in actions and not just in title, BUT come on, surely they could have found more for Celestia to do before now.  Anyways, yes, Twilight asking Celestia for help and advice not only made sense, but was great to see, especially in getting to contrast how Celestia is as a teacher to Twilight vs. Twilight as a teacher to Starlight.

"I was not aware that I was an expression."

Best bucking line in the entire premiere!!! 

She really just forgot which kitchen her cake was in that day 

Most of the time Celestia was just calmly listening to Twilight, and when she spoke, it was only because she knew exactly what she needed to say, no more, no less (aside from an innocent joke here or there).  Considering how many ponies she's ruled and helped in all her years, this makes a lot of sense; it's probably hard to phase Celestia with much at this point, and she knows the value of hearing all that you need to know before speaking one word.  Twilight on the other hoof, when it comes to Starlight, is always either worried that she's not doing enough to mentor Starlight or doing too little.  She's not the OCD wreck she used to be, but she will always have a natural inclination to have all her ducks in a row in any professional activity as Princess of Friendship, that's just who she is.  An interesting Star Wars analogy occurred to me in thinking of this trio of ponies today: Celestia is very much a Yoda to Twilight's Obi Wan, the former serene and having the utmost confidence in both her students and how she teaches them, while the latter is obsessed with mastering and practicing and perfecting every last bit of whatever it is she's invested herself in to the fullest, and then again, and again, and again.  Twilight too is Obi Wan to Starlight's Anakin, but that analogy works in a different way that I'll discuss later.  Besides of course knowing exactly what Twilight needed to be told, Celestia gave us some wonderful backstory on both her buildup to sending Twilight to Ponyville (a decision that evidently took her quite some time, most likely months given both the obviously difficulty with which she made her decision as well as the fact that getting the library secured for Twilight must've involved at least some paperwork) and what she was experiencing emotionally in making that decision.  She was as afraid for Twilight as she was herself, because it was clear that at that point, Twilight was one of her closest friends (though I got the feeling that Twilight probably didn't think of it in the same way at the time, more like at best a maternal, but first and foremost regal, mentor considering how little she understood about friendship at the time), and she had no way of knowing if somepony as close to her as her sister could truly be saved even after she returned.  She had big plans for Twilight already, and unfortunately for her, those plans meant letting the wonderful status quo of having such a wonderful, dear friend by her side almost constantly come to an end.  It was great seeing how painful and hard that was for Celestia, and added a level of vulnerability to her we've only rarely gotten to see.  And of course, the experience allowed her to tell Twilight with the utmost confidence that part of being a great mentor in anything is knowing when your students are ready to cut loose on their own, no matter in what or how painful it may be for the mentor or student, or even downright scary.  All around, I couldn't have asked for a more solid start to the season for Celestia, but that said, she still needs a solo episode at some point, so stick to it DHX, and hopefully you'll deliver just that this season.

AHA!  BEHOLD, THE RETURN OF TROLLESTIA, BOW BEFORE HER, MORTALS!!!

As for the rest of the episode, it was all good stuff.  Twilight's increasing, OCD paranoia about what could happen to Starlight on her own was hilarious, and the lesson she learned and actions she took as a result was great too.  As far as I can tell, Starlight (while still living in Ponyville, which, given how quickly she decided to do that after they set up so much her getting sent away, felt like a bit of a cop out, even if I was happy for it) is no longer directly being mentored by Twilight about friendship.  She'll still live in the castle for the time being, but there appears to be no fixed agenda for her, she's just going about learning how to be a better friend and maybe helping teach others along the way in her day-to-day business.  Hopefully this means she might get paired with other members of the Mane 6 besides Twilight, because I would like to see her grow closer to the other Mane 6 individually, though I get the feeling that a huge portion of her adventures this season will be with Trixie.  Basically she's kind of where Twilight was at somewhere around middle-to-end of Season 2 or Season 3, at least I think she is.

Dat's racist

Dat's... also racist.  Man, Twilight has some deep-seeded racial insecurities, doesn't she? 

Discord, while hardly a villain, was quite a good troll here in setting off Twilight's latest freaking-out episode, and it was kinda nice seeing him for the most part just lightheartedly screwing around rather than making himself constantly the center of attention.  He felt, oddly enough, like a more normal member of that crowd.  The reformed Changelings were adorable and hilarious (though Thorax's voice really doesn't work with that beefed up new look, just doesn't sound right coming out of him), the Mane 6 had some OK bits, the animation was just lovely, Starlight and her friends were great, Spike was once again a low key voice of reason, and all in all everything here just worked.  Very solid opening episode, I very much enjoyed watching how everything played out in this one.

Moving on to "All Bottled Up," the lesser of the two episodes, but not by much.  I still thoroughly loved it very much, and for good reason.  It still felt very much connected to the first episode in that here, we got to see what kind of life Starlight is beginning to make for herself now that she's no longer directly reporting to Twilight on a regular basis.  It seems she's starting by trying to teach her best friend, Trixie, how to be better at magic in general (since, to be honest, Trixie could stand to improve by quite a bit).  This actually presented quite a few contrasts between Starlight and Twilight that I rather enjoyed and which fit very much into how we've seen both of them develop as characters.  Going back to the Star Wars analogies, Twilight is the Obi-Wan to Starlight's Anakin in the magical department in the sense that, as far as we know, Starlight's the more powerful of the two when it comes to raw power.  Let's keep in mind that when Twilight battled her in Season 5, Twilight was an alicorn and had (and probably still has) more book-learning about magic than Starlight did, and yet somehow Starlight stayed on par with her.  Twilight is the learning obsessed master of technique who's greatest skill in mastering anything magical is doing so by practicing it 200 times a day and just getting it down to a T.  Hence, Obi-Wan.  Starlight, on the other hand, seems to have greater raw power and while she is still probably even in power with Twilight, the fact that she is as a unicorn is ridiculous to say the least and goes to show just what kind of stuff she's made of.  While Twilight's calling is clearly as the Princess of Friendship (and that certainly involves plenty of magic, especially since friendship is probably the most powerful magic in Equestria, literally), Starlight, I get the feeling, may eventually go into a more explicitly magical field.  I just don't see her being a friendship teacher in the same way Twilight is.  As far as friends go, Twilight was not a natural leader to begin with.  She was a recluse and anti-social, so it makes sense that like everything else, she taught friendship when she got into it like a project that she had to master through as much study and repetition as possible.  Don't get me wrong, she's a great friend, but there are many ways in which she still approaches friendship as she has from the beginning, and it's for those reasons that she's the glue that holds together a group like the Mane 6.  Starlight, on the other hoof, IS a natural leader it seems, or at least we have seen that she possesses the will to be.  Her problem with friendship was insecurity, not disinterest, and there will probably always be a part of her that fears that she could hurt others if she isn't careful because of her past mistakes.  Hence, I foresee her never having a Mane 6 group like Twilight, and frankly I'm OK with that.  The show really doesn't need such an arrangement for any reason, it would come off as tired and lazy, and it just doesn't fit Starlight.  She will have friends, but unlike Twilight, her closest friends won't be a big group that all are dear to each other as well; her friendships are going to be fewer and far more personal to Starlight, one-on-one so to speak.  I mean, to date, it seems that her three truly closest friends are Trixie, Sunburst, and Spike, none of whom are friends with each other in particular (not in the same way at least).  Trixie is her best friend, Sunburst is more of a very close childhood friend, and Spike is like a combination of mentor and little brother.  Twilight is a super close friend too, but more as a mentor, and to this day you always get the sense that ever since the end of Season 5 Starlight's been kind of in awe of Twilight and in no way considers herself to be on the same level as her as a friend.  What I like about this is that it highlights that there are all kinds of different ways to have friends in one's life (something the show has highlighted many times, but this is particularly noteworthy since it's main characters we're talking about).  Some people have a solid group like Twilight and the Mane 6, others have few friends but super close ones like Starlight and Trixie.  Valuable lesson to be taught, even if it was only in the background here.

So the actual lesson was pretty great too (if a bit obvious).  Starlight was literally bottling her anger at Trixie because she feared that if she blew her top at her, Trixie wouldn't want to be her friend anymore.  This was a little confusing because I'm pretty sure they've had spats before of some kind, but it largely worked because, just like some of Twilight's early friendship problems in Season 1 when she knew little about friendship, Starlight too is still super cautious when it comes to aspects of friendship that she doesn't understand.  The idea that getting into a fight with your best friend is OK was clearly bizarre to her, and Trixie's ego probably didn't help convince her she'd take Starlight being angry at her OK.  But in the end, doing so only made things worse, and Starlight and Trixie were able to come to an understanding that sometimes, friends need to be brutally honest with each other, and even if they fight as a result, that doesn't mean things won't be OK between them in the end.  A good, if simple, lesson, but it got the job done.

The real highlights of this episode were the entertaining bits, and boy were there a lot.  Trixie was insufferable (even more than usual) in this episode, but hilariously so (her predilection for junkfood seems to be becoming something of a running gag, and I nearly fell out of my seat when she birthed an Eldritch horror in that teacup poodle and insisted that a bag of pretzels were a suitable replacement for homemade teacupcakes... twice).  It's nice to see that certain aspects of her personality haven't changed, that her magic is getting better (though there are still things she just bucks up for the strangest of reasons... I think she might be a magical klutz), and hopefully she might even start embarking on more of a character arc than she has to date as, possibly, a developing main character!

Pffftttt, OK, in all honesty, she kind of needed a nut cart to be thrown on top of her at some point in this episode... which thankfully happened.  Cheeky little bastard used up about 50 too many of her Get Out of Jail Free cards.  Also...

DAT'S A LOTTA NUTS!!! 

Spike was very solid here; I love seeing him as now the most low key member of the main characters, and his rapport with Starlight remains fun to watch as he throws out good advice to her here and there, but nowhere near as pushy as Twilight would.  Also, his terror of Trixie's magic and her wanting to use him as a teleportation guinea pig was hilarious.  The Mane 6's subplot (while largely pointless) was pretty funny.  I loved their assistant who clearly knew who they were and just didn't give a buck because he most likely gets paid two bits an hour to do this s*** all day for whoever comes through, and his pleasure at their two second failure at the end was amazing.  The song they sang was pretty standard, but was amazing payoff as a joke set up earlier by Starlight that they'd most likely sing a song at some point; really, it was just that standard because the show was being self aware in that moment how cliche this is (there really was no good reason that the girls would sing a song about something so banal as beating a fun puzzle game), and the best part of all was the fact that they sung that song in real time is what kept them from beating the course record.  Amazing payoff to a greatly set up joke, and it's great to see that the show runner's still have no problem poking fun at themselves and their beloved show now and then when it's warranted or just in harmless fun.

 

And finally, Bulk Biceps, Granny Smith, and that... new townspony, whoever she was, were all hilarious, both before and when they got possessed by Starlight's bottled up anger.  If I had any complaints, it was simply that we've never seen Starlight's anger manifest as a magical entity, and probably won't ever again, so where the buck did that actually come from here?  But other than that, this was a pair of lovely episodes to kick off what will hopefully prove to be another wonderful season of MLP:FiM.  Join me again next week everypony when I review the next new episode of Season 7.  Until then, this is Batbrony signing off.  I'm off!!! *cue dramatic exit*

[Truffles 2,033]

1 hour ago, Batbrony said:

though it was odd that neither Princess Cadance nor Shining Armor were there

They were there, though if you blinked you might have missed them, lol:

 

[Redhatbrony 59]

I have finished my Review,

Enjoy my work.

Redhatbrony, On second look Celestial Advice.

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

So....  Twilight's horn is now a holodeck, too...  huh.

 

Hi, everypony!  Justin Case has returned from the Nether for more pony reviews!

So, why are the first two episodes crammed into one topic, here?  Two completely separate episodes...  Oh well, whatever.  I'll review them both here.

I'm very happy with the season's start.  Very happy indeed.  Celestial Advice was excellent.  I loved it.  First off, it was very refreshing to have a premiere that wasn't a two-parter, and was a lighter, simpler story with no calamity.  There still had to be some type of conflict, but there was no villain.  After all, how many times can we have back to back two-parters with global catastrophes?  That formula needed to be broken up, and this was a very welcome change of pace.  It was a throwback to The Best Night Ever, in my opinion, which is something I have seen on many fans' wish lists, so this should make some folks happy.  It certainly made me happy.

I like how they're developing Starlight, and I like how the episode turned out.  I really have no quibbles at all.  I'm glad to see Discord still being a troublemaker.  You don't want him being sweet and genuine and perfectly behaved.  That would be terrible.

Of course, what thrilled me about Celestial Advice was the fact that frigging Celestia was in it!  Holy crap!  Finally!  Now, it's not the Celestia spotlight I want, but hell, dude, I'll take it!  It's better than nothing.  She appeared on screen!  For more than 0.68 seconds!  She had a SPEAKING ROLE!  More than just a throwaway line!  Like, WOW, man.  I'm blown away.  (Can you smell the sarcasm, here?)  But no, seriously, given how Tia's been treated for the longest time now, I was genuinely surprised and ecstatic to actually see her in front of the camera and connecting with Sparkle.  (Heh, Sparkle...  I love when Spike called her that, and I loved her reaction to it.  It was just....cute.)  Tia's role in the show and treatment by the writers has damaged her, perhaps beyond repair, and made her a joke in the fandom's eyes.  I can't deny that she has been portrayed as inept and useless.  But I love her, and the show makes no sense without her and her backstory.  I am thrilled to see the first step in turning her character around.  She offered helpful wisdom, and most importantly, showed some real emotional connection with Twilight.  For a long time now, it has felt like Twilight just forgot that Tia existed.  This episode really needed to happen, and I'm glad the writers agreed.  I especially loved the flashback sequence.  I mean, holy crap, we got to see some backstory that built up to the opening of the show, and we got to see Tia being a REAL character, with emotions.  It wasn't a whole lot, and I want more, but I'll take what I can get.  And Tia was really cracking up there, wasn't she?  I mean she was, like, cackling over there!  I'm surprised they didn't just make it a little polite chuckle.  It came off a bit weird to me, honestly.  When she started laughing, I seriously thought it was Discord just f*cking with Twi.  But hey, I applaud them for trying to give Celestia some more down to earth character and show more sides to her.

For sure, the highlight of the episode was, "I was not aware that I was an expression." 

 

Moving on to....y'know....that other episode....whatever it was called....the bottle one, that's it.  I definitely enjoyed it.  It didn't thrill me quite as much as the premier, but it was very solid.

I definitely welcome the development of Starlight and Trixie.  My Spidey-sense tells me that some ponies may already be miffed at the lack of Mane 6 screen time, but this development was badly needed.  If they were going to make Starlight a permanent cast member and introduce a friend for her, then they needed to have enough development to make this character and this friendship mean something.  I personally think that this episode should have happened before To Where and Back Again, but once again, I'll take what I can get.  And heck, I'd rather see them develop new characters than rehash old lessons with the mane 6.  Now, obviously, there's still plenty you can do with the mane 6, and I want them to get proper attention, too, but all I'm saying is that I'd rather have a fresh, meaningful episode with Starlight and Trixie than some throwaway episode with the mane 6 where they come off as dumbed down stereotypes of themselves, as in The Cart Before the Ponies.

So, I liked the premise of Bottle, and it filled a developmental gap.  What I especially liked about it was the character maturity displayed by Starlight.  (Just, stick with me for a second, here.)  After those three ponies became infected with Starlight's anger, I totally expected the entire town to become infected, and then Starlight would go way overboard trying to fix it, or maybe even cover it up or something, and then Twilight would come home to a horrendous mess to clean up.  That's what Starlight would have done in the past.  Instead, she fixed those three ponies with little more than a thought, and then simply told the truth, owned up, and fixed it.  That was definitely personal growth.  It didn't blow up way out of proportion, and it was way more interesting than if it had.

The scenes with the six in the puzzle room were okay, if a wee bit contrived.  The song was forgettable.  When they first said that they were going to a friendship retreat, I was picturing a legit wilderness retreat where they attend friendship seminars and workshops and have all these deep discussions and bond and sh*t like that.  That would have been so friggin' awesome.  That sounds like paradise to me.  I want to go on a friendship retreat with the mane 6....

Oh, almost forgot--I like that we got some lore explanation surrounding magic.  E.g. Stuff can't just disappear, but can only move.  Also, we got a bit of an explanation as to why Starlight is so powerful.  Many fans have long been irked at Starlight's power level, wanting an explanation for it.  I have always defended her, saying that her power needs no explanation other than natural born talent.  But today, she explained how her magic is tied to her emotions.  It isn't much, and it doesn't explain why she has so much magical power to begin with, but it's better than nothing.  (An explanation of why she's so powerful to begin with could be, say, that she's the ancestor of Starswirl, as is my headcanon.)  At least her explanation gives a bit of insight into why she was more than a match for Twi when they fought.  If Starlight's magic is fueled by emotion, then she would have obviously been extremely potent during that fight with Twi, as she was basically a frothing mass of hate and fury--a Kratos level of anger.  I also think this opens the door for more lessons that Starlight could learn.  She needs to learn emotional control to stabilize her magic.  I'm not sure who would be best to teach that, though.  We need a Vulcan pony.  Perhaps Luna could do the job.  She seems well suited.  She'd have a lot to say about letting anger consume oneself.

Best line: "Mini Twilight."

Really good start.  Really happy so far.

And the logo is now the movie color. 

[JH24 385]

The episodes were enjoyable but not really the best. I don't know what it was but something felt a little off. The pacing, the dialogue, some of the characters, but both episodes did have their good moments. I found Trixie's portrayal in the second episode over the top though. With everything Trixie and Starlight have gone through you would expect her to be at least somewhat "less indifferent."

The song in the second episode really felt like padding and over the top. Too cliché and without a real good reason. Though I appreciate the joke at the end. Also Pinkie seems back to her hyperactive self, I hope that was just one time. 

Edited April 16, 2017 by JH24

[Batbrony 15,994]

7 hours ago, Truffles said:

They were there, though if you blinked you might have missed them, lol:

 

That is honestly the laziest I've ever seen them animated and included in any scene, it's like, what's even the point of including them at that point??? 

[BloodDrops 762]

On 10/04/2017 at 4:44 PM, PathfinderCS said:

Title: Celestial Advice
Air Date: April 15, 2017
Written by: Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco
Synopsis: Twilight Sparkle agonizes over Starlight Glimmer’s future and receives some much-needed advice from her very own mentor – Princess Celestia.

Title: All Bottled Up
Air Date: April 15, 2017
Written by: Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco
Synopsis: While the Mane 6 are on a friendship retreat, Starlight Glimmer loses Twilight Sparkle’s friendship map. Afraid her anger might get out of control, Starlight Glimmer casts a calming spell while the ponies search for the lost map.

Of course remember to join us at the CMC Clubhouse on Equestria.tv!

You know, I had this same feeling of House MD after the 5th series. Nothing really happened and it all was done before,

6+7th season was just made as a cash cow.

8th season was just to tie everything up, though that could have happened in season 6.

song in All Bottled Up was most cringe song ever in MLP. Was even worse then 'help twilight win the crown'

If I wanted to cringe I would watch 'first dates' instead, because that's got a better story line then MLP now. 

[Truffles 2,033]

56 minutes ago, Batbrony said:

That is honestly the laziest I've ever seen them animated and included in any scene, it's like, what's even the point of including them at that point??? 

Shining Armor does look extra basic here, doesn't he? I'd have to go through the whole episode again to see if they appear anywhere else, but this might be it.

Heh, I didn't even notice them here at first, either. I was paying more attention to Spike's reaction to Luna trying to get the medal over Thorax's antlers, anyway. XD

 

[Thaliel 116]

A more than decent start into the new season.The only points of critique I would have are

1. the two episodes have no real connectiing storyline

2. Trixie's change in perspective in the 2nd part came somewhat abrupt

[Krashface 534]

 wait wait wait, what-how... the hell I've lost till now, my friends ?

[VengefulStrudel 1,486]

I thought both were very enjoyable episodes. Normally, I'd rather a Season Premiere (and Finale) be more adventurous, with a big bad villain posing a major threat, but I am a-okay with these two being Slices of Life.

Both episodes had their funny moments and were all-around enjoyable for me. Plus, Celestia got some screentime, yay! I liked that they portrayed her as less-than-perfect as well in the flashback. We all have our panicky moments, even sun-raising princesses!
I swear though, that Ember/Starlight fantasy was a Predator reference.

 

As for the second episode, I didn't expect the title to be so literal. x) I really enjoyed the Starlight/Trixie dynamic though, and hope to see more of 'em in the future! I also liked how Spike was so blunt in both episodes. ("Are you guys sure you don't wanna come?" "Yeah, I got comics to read." Lol'd.)
Also, I swear I love Bulk Biceps more than the last time everytime he's on screen. xD

 

A good start in my book - I look forward to the rest of the season!

[BloodDrops 762]

17 minutes ago, VengefulStrudel said:

big bad villain posing a major threat

fresh out of those

you just need a herd of zombies to come from ever tree forest and cause trouble.

 

[Wind Chaser 4,767]

I'm much more a fan of "All Bottled Up" than "Celestial Advice". Both back-to-back episodes by the same writing team (Lewis & Songco) show some consistent tendencies and where these writers seem to put in their best work. The second episode seemed to put them more in their element; the narrative's use of fourth wall humor (foreshadowing the song) and the comedic editing (using Ironic Echo Cuts almost to the edge of their capacity) bolstered what Trixie could do on her own by messing everything up. It fits better for writers whose background comes from animated genre comedies like TUFF Puppy. In the first one, you could tell they had much more fun writing Spike (the snarky version decided to show up for this one while the helpful one did the second) and Discord than most of the other characters.

The first episode really felt more like a cap on what Season 6 was doing with its Starlight appearances, mainly setting up her new role alongside Twilight. The second one really felt different from a Season 6 episode and I hope it sets the tone for this season. It really proved to me that Starlight and Trixie can continue to carry episodes and that Starlight's comparisons to young Twilight aren't just blowing steam. The best thing she could have going forward, however, would be a more regular supporting cast beyond Discord and Thorax, who are unlikely to be any more than recurring characters. It will give her more of an independent identity, rather than keeping her as the Sixth Ranger of the main group, and will reduce their reliance on the same character pairings multiple times over.

Other things of note: it's great to see Celestia be a bit more of herself, but an abundance of expository dialogue early and an overall slow progression show that Songco/Lewis' talents lie more with exploiting the self-awareness of the episodes themselves than the continuity. While it's still a bit of a bummer that none of the original writers from the first two seasons are around anymore, promoting Songco/Lewis into the story editor role gives hope that some things will change from Season 6.

[The Nth Doctor 652]

Oh boy, we get to learn more about Starlight's friendsh-

Aaand she's already graduated 

*sighs*

The writers keep dropping the ball hard

My hopes for this season are not high

 

[JH24 385]

Wow, I'm slow. I only now realized that in "Bottled Up" Spike was washing all the cups Trixie had made earlier. Poor guy.

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

I love both of them, they have relatable morals and some good humors. All the characters works here, nothing out of place. 

Two Lady Writers made me disappointed with their Legend of Everfree, but these eps are their best, i enjoyed them so much even i am sick , they are deserved to be story editor of this season and i want to see more of their episodes.

Celestial Advice: 9/10

What i like:

Celestia's characterization is fantastic.

All fantasy scenerios are funny to watch.

The transition between scenes are good.

Discord still troll Twilight.

Funny scenes are amusing to watch.

What i dont like: I cant think of any bad to say about this ep...

All Bottled Up: 9.5/10

What i like:

It good to see her "QUIET!!!" face again.

Trixie is so annoyingly cute.

Starlight and Trixie friendship is getting stronger and stronger. That is a true friendship.

Starlight really learn her lesson. Her reasons to bottle up her anger are understandable, like me.

I like how they switched the scene between StarlightxTrixie and the mane 6 like:

Trixie: Starlight, can you help me, please?!

Applejack: Uh, Twilight, can you help me, please?

 

 Escape Room is kinda interesting, even i dont know anything about them 

Spike is awesome again.

What i dont like: I cant think of any bad to say about this ep... again 

 

[Eggy0 101]

So in the second episode the whole table did disappear... I'm eating my hat. I thought it would only be the top part. But that being said... It was actually Trixie who lost it and because she tried to teleport the apple but missed and hit the table instead, as opposed to what the synopsis said. And the table was actually just that: a table, not connected to the rest of the infrastructure. And from what I saw previously, people left and right were going "How can Starlight lose an entire table that's part of the floor"!

Anyhow, both episodes were... enjoyable. Not quite energetic or interesting as a premiere, but I think that's a nice change of pace as we've always been getting two-part adventure-filled episodes as premieres. Seeing how Celestia had the same fears as Twilight really adds to her character as well; it shows that even a wise old ruler like her is not perfect and can be just as clueless as a normal pony sometimes. And after watching the second episode, now I know that ponies (and maybe other creatures but I'm not sure) can see and acknowledge the magic aura that appears whenever somepony uses magic. Not certain on color visibility though, but they can see the aura itself.

Also I really liked the part where the Mane 6 missed the record by 2 seconds because they sung a song.

[Thrond 3,257]

2 hours ago, The Nth Doctor said:

Oh boy, we get to learn more about Starlight's friendsh-

Aaand she's already graduated 

 

2

Well... except for the part where she didn't graduate after all. 

Edited April 16, 2017 by AlexanderThrond

[Thrond 3,257]

Also, my first thought when Trixie made the map disappear was that she deserves another medal for it. But then they had to go and get it back. 

A proper ranking of the season premieres, for me:

1. "The Crystalling"
2. "Friendship is Magic"
3. "The Return of Harmony"
4. "The Cutie Map"
5. "The Crystal Empire"
6. "Celestial Advice"
7. "Princess Twilight Sparkle"

Edited April 16, 2017 by AlexanderThrond

[Baykush 328]

Wow, I wasn't really expecting that there wouldn't be a two-parter this time, but I think it paid off for the most part. I've been wanting a season premiere that isn't a two-parter for a long time, specially because The Return Of Harmony was initially written as the finale of season 1, so technically Lesson Zero could be considered the actual start of season 2 (it even set up the formula of that season and everything), and imo it works much better that way.

Now, about the episodes themselves: 

Celestial Advice:

I'll have to wait until I watch it again to make a definitive judgement, but so far I think Celestial Advice might be one of the best episodes of the show.

Positives.

• It's a direct continuation of the events of last season.
• Twilight was great in this episode, the perfect reminder she's still a fun and interesting character. 
• The spell to see one's fantasies was a very interesting concept, and it was used perfectly. How sometimes fantasies become completely ridiculous when you apply them to real life but still show valid fears and concerns, how other people would react if they saw them, and of course how hilarious they were.
• I kind of already said this but the fantasies were great and hilarious, specially because of the dialog. How the changeling attempts to make Starlight look bad, how Twilight pictured Ember and Starlight together, how Sunburst and Starlight tried to create a transmutation circle to resurrect their dead mother spell that backfired, etc.
• "I wasn't aware that was an expression, and appropiate one at least, for even I don't know the answer". 
• This is also Celestia's best appearance since Celestia's Ballad, and the more "human" one (yeah, she's a pony but you get me right?). How she guided Twilight but let her take her own decisions, the comments she made, and how she related Twilight's struggles to her own, it was specially heartbreaking to see her looking at Luna in the moon and deciding she had to send Twilight away, and very sweet how long it took her to do so.
• The gag with Pinkie Pie setting up the party and then literally vacuuming it.
• I actually wanted to see Starlight graduating and Twilight sending her away to live her life, it felt a little too soon to do it though (I think the finale would be a good time for that), so I was glad when they decided it still wasn't time.

Negatives

• I guess Discord was kind of mean to Twilight, but to be fair hadn't it been for that Twilight wouldn't have figured it out, so I'll let it slide and just take it as Discord helping in his own way, and he does like to mess with Twilight to do so.

All Bottled-Up

Oh look, it's a metaphor but it's also a literal title, how meta... just like the rest of the episode! Tbh I have some mixed feelings about this one, but it was actually very enjoyable regardless, I do need to see this one again to see what I think about it.

Positives

• It kind of follows the last episode but it can be watched on its own as a normal episode.
• Starlight was great this episode. Sure, she still messes up using magic when she shouldn't but this time it wasn't for her own benefit, and it was a very understandable problem that I guess I can relate to.
• I liked the idea of Starlight teaching Trixie magic
• It was very funny.
• How the mane 6 lost because they were singing was hilarious.
• The song is great if you see it as a parody. It's kind of cringe-worthy but the contrast with what was going on in the episode was kind of funny. 
• I loved how Trixie said that if they never messed up how would they have more episodes fun.

Negatives

• The Trixie and Starlight plot could've been its own eleven minute episode. The other plot was just filler and a build-up to the song joke, which was hilarious but wasted a lot of time, and it probably would've been a good episode if it was its own episode.
• The song sucks if you don't see it as a parody. 
• The transitions between the two plots having one character say something related to what the other character had just said was fun at first but got old pretty quickly.
• The mane-6 felt like backgroud ponies this episode.
• Spike stayed in the castle but didn't do almost anything this episode.
• The "angry magic" thing came out of nowhere.

[JH24 385]

1 hour ago, Baykush said:

 

Negatives

• I guess Discord was kind of mean to Twilight, but to be fair hadn't it been for that Twilight wouldn't have figured it out, so I'll let it slide and just take it as Discord helping in his own way, and he does like to mess with Twilight to do so.

 

Yeah, I felt the same way. I liked how they let Discord take on a mentor role once again with Twilight. (He did the same in the premiere and finale of season 4 and in "What about Discord?")

In a way his approach, giving Twilight a push in the right direction, is exactly what she needs at times. It really felt he was serious about helping both Twilight and Starlight, but he wouldn't be Discord if he hadn't some fun doing so. He always seems to enjoy messing with Twilight.

Edited April 16, 2017 by JH24