S07:E24 - Uncommon Bond

[Dark Qiviut 22,173]

Note: This episode's scheduled to air on Treehouse TV (Canada) the morning of Sunday, October 15 at 10:55am EST. It'll air on Discovery Family October 21 at 11:30am EST.

Additionally, this was one of the last four of the season to be leaked. If you watched it and want to post comments, please be courteous and contain it within the "spoiler" tag. (For those who don't know what it is, it's the human eye icon in the text toolbar; click it to initiate it.

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Title: Uncommon Bond

TV release (U.S./Disc. Fam.): 10/21/2017, 11:30am EST
TV release (Canada/Treehouse): 10/15/2017, 10:55am EST

Writer(s): Kevin Lappin & Josh Haber

Summary: "When Starlight gets a visit from Sunburst, she discovers that he has tons in common with her friends and starts to wonder if he still has anything in common with her."

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The pirated version won't be linked here, but the TH TV one (or Discovery Family version, whichever comes first) will be when published. A poll will come up either Saturday night or Sunday afternoon.

Edited October 15, 2017 by Dark Qiviut
Fixed the times.

[Pastel 7,627]

Good episode overall, I was very surprised at Starlight's spell, she can do almost anything with magic!

I didn't really expect that last scene (the "improved" Dragon Pit), it didn't feel like it was actually concluding the episode, I thought Starlight was going to move on from this game or something.

Edited January 31, 2018 by Pastel

[Sly 236]

Pretty good episode, althought I preferred Secret And Pies more.

[ShootingStar159 2,155]

1 hour ago, Blobulle said:

Good episode overall, I was very surprised at Starlight's spell, she can do almost anything with magic!

I didn't really expected that last scene (the "improved" Dragon Pit), it didn't feel like it was actually concluding the episode, I thought Starlight was going to move on from this game or something.

Yeah, moving on isn’t something Starlight’s really good at.

[Tacodidra 59,791]

Spoiler

Not a bad episode but I didn't find it as good as the previous two.

The episode had quite a slow start but picked up when Trixie and Maud appeared (I was especially happy to see the former). I really liked Twilight in this episode, she was so cute and enthusiastic. It was also good to see Sunburst again and explore his friendship with Starlight. I noticed an animation error in the scene with Sunburst and Trixie near the end, as the stripe on Sunburst's face disappeared for a couple of seconds.

The episode was quite average to me – enjoyable but not a particular standout. I rate it 8/10. The idea of the episode was good, but somehow I feel they could have got even more out of it.

 

[Bricks_Ahoy 860]

Spoiler

Tricky Episode. I knew this episode was going to aggrivate me, from the time I read the synopsis. Sunburst is currently one of my least favourite characters this series has produced [I tend to like characters who I find more relatable (reason I like Starlight and don't like RD). Sunburst isn't really relatable to me]

Sunburst is shown to be quite a jerk the whole episode. He visited Ponyville to spend some time with Starlight, yet he does everything except spend time with Starlight. Also liking everything Starlight's friends like COME ON! This is ridiculous!

Now, I found Starlight turning herself and mr. Orangeade to foals, kind of creepy, especially without his permission. So, his reaction was fair. 

The filler, oh the filler so so much filler! All the small montages to show the things he did with Glim's friends got repetitive, so fast. It reminded me of The Show Stoppers when I saw them. I think that inatead of the small montages, they could perhaps have a song? Maybe, Starlight could sing one after she runs off crying because of Star's betrayal?

Last thing, I want to rant about is the ending. No, not the group hug ending the close-up to the shady looking book. Now, I am sure this has something to do with the finale. But, he got that from a store? What kind of shop would sell magical mumbo jumbo yo random strang- Oh... so that's the place Trixie got the Alicorn alAmulet from it all makes sense now. It just came full circle.

 

[Peter16373 103]

1 hour ago, SpiBaz said:

  Hide contents

Tricky Episode. I knew this episode was going to aggrivate me, from the time I read the synopsis. Sunburst is currently one of my least favourite characters this series has produced [I tend to like characters who I find more relatable (reason I like Starlight and don't like RD). Sunburst isn't really relatable to me]

Sunburst is shown to be quite a jerk the whole episode. He visited Ponyville to spend some time with Starlight, yet he does everything except spend time with Starlight. Also liking everything Starlight's friends like COME ON! This is ridiculous!

Now, I found Starlight turning herself and mr. Orangeade to foals, kind of creepy, especially without his permission. So, his reaction was fair. 

The filler, oh the filler so so much filler! All the small montages to show the things he did with Glim's friends got repetitive, so fast. It reminded me of The Show Stoppers when I saw them. I think that inatead of the small montages, they could perhaps have a song? Maybe, Starlight could sing one after she runs off crying because of Star's betrayal?

Last thing, I want to rant about is the ending. No, not the group hug ending the close-up to the shady looking book. Now, I am sure this has something to do with the finale. But, he got that from a store? What kind of shop would sell magical mumbo jumbo yo random strang- Oh... so that's the place Trixie got the Alicorn alAmulet from it all makes sense now. It just came full circle.

 

Spoiler

I’m pretty sure the book that they found in this episode is the same book from end of MLP FIM Issue #53 From the Shadows Pt.3 which gave us our first glimpse of the villain of season 7 Pony of Shadows. 

 

[DonMaguz 1,023]

Hello everyone.

I loved this episode! First of all, Sunburst grew a lot on me, his nerdiness is only matched by Twilight's and having them sharing it on screen was hugely funny. His years of hard study definitely paid off when meeting Trixie and Maud, they both are extremely specialized ponies and I can relate to them on meeting someone who knows the basics and shows real interest in your area of expertise.

Now, about Starlight... Wow, she's one messed up pony and I love her for it. Her level of excitement on sharing with Sunburst their childhood friendship amazed me. This is the pony she shut herself off for, his friendship remained at pause for her and while he moved on from it, she didn't. She was willing to resume their friendship as she remembered it, but things don't work like that, both of them changed a lot and are different ponies now. The only way to resume an old/lost friendship is to build a new one on top of the first one, shared memories can help the new friendship grow stronger, but things won't be the same because people (ponies in this case) change as life goes on. I also liked how the episode shows clearly which ponies are Staright's closest friends.

The episode had a few moments that made me grin wide, the most memorable ones for me were:

- Trixie presenting herself to "Starlight's friend from her past" as "Starlight's current best friend". (Delimiting your territory Trixie?)
- Sunburst: "And if we can't connect over, then maybe we're not even friends!"
  Maud: "Well, at least it's not serious... THAT was a joke." 
- Trixie pulling Maud into the group hug. (You're part of this group too Maud, don't fall behind!)

Overall, this was a solid 9/10 episode for me, it started a bit slow but started to grow from the antique shop and went smoothly until the end.

This left me fired up for the season finale!

Edited October 15, 2017 by DonMaguz

[Thrond 3,257]

I confess that I'm starting to feel like there's a low ceiling for my enjoyment of Starlight episodes. I still find her behaviour objectionable from time to time, and I still don't feel like she has all that many unique charms to counterbalance that. Further, her appearances so often seem to just be checking off boxes that I still don't feel like I know anything about her. Aside from that, I just found this episode kinda forgettable. This style isn't for me, and I thought it had too much exposition, but at least the moral's nice. 

Full review at my blog, where I try to explain in particular detail why Starlight is bothering me this time. 

[Randimaxis 8,633]

Pssssssst...

Hey, I moved this over to Season 7 discussion for you... just don't tell anyone, 'kay?

Thankies!

[Violet Bookish 349]

I thought this episode was okay but found it actually very relatable. I know how it feels to turn into the third wheel and just sit there as two friends hit it off and or seemingly be the pony they talk highly about each other to which... can sting a little. Because of this, I could really relate to Starlight. So... I really liked that aspect of this episode. The episode did have some other good aspects as well. Overall I liked that It was relatable, had good scenes for a lot of background characters, and introduced old ponish which was amazing! However... it still had it's flaws.

I wasn't a huge fan of Sunburst's presentation in this episode. He goes to see Starlight yet barely includes her and later mentions wanting to spend more time with her friends rather than her. I get that these situations happen but in this context, he just seemed inconsiderate. You don't come to see someone just to basically ditch them and hang out with their friends or somepony else instead. That's just rude. It seems like it's been a long time since they've been able to hang out but Sunburst doesn't seem to take this into consideration and has no issue with the fact they've barely spent any quality time together, which to me just made it seem like he didn't care that much about Starlight. He goes to see her yet rarely includes her and later mentions wanting to spend more time with Starlight's friends rather than her. We literally see him get ready to go back to sleep once he sees Starlight is awake but not Twilight. I find it nice he told Starlight she didn't need to pretend she liked the antiques back at the antique store, but other than that we don't see Sunburst be caring for Starlight until around the end of the episode. I also really wish they had a heart to heart talk after Starlight undid her spell. It would have been a great moment for Sunburst and a great bonding scene for both of them.

I'm honestly rather peeved that Sunburst didn't see the issues with some of his actions and how he was being rather rude to Starlight. I think she should have communicated her feelings to Sunburst but at the same time I can't get mad at her for being so peeved considering, in this context, Sunburst just seemed to be being extremely inconsiderate. The biggest issue is, in the end, Sunburst doesn't learn how his actions could be hurtful and there was no real heartfelt talk between him and Starlight. I'm glad they compromise in the end but the message "you don't have to have things in common to be friends, you just have to enjoy each others company" didn't seem like the right message for this episode/situation, and I don't like the fact the message didn't point out Sunburst's rudeness nor does he seem to learn from his behavior. I would have liked to see Sunburst explain his actions and show he cared about Starlight and didn't mean to make her feel left out. However, that wasn't there and it just made all the scenes were Sunburst went off with her friends and especially the scenes were he wanted to spend more time with her friends rather than Starlight herself look even more distasteful.

So, overall it was an okay episode. I liked the return of Sunburst, the use of background characters, the introduction of old ponish, and Starlight's struggle. However, I was not a huge fan of Sunburst's presentations, there were a lot of missed opportunities, the moral seemed forced and didn't feel like it fit the episode, and the episode felt like it needed to be a little more heartfelt. But I didn't hate it and it wasn't the worst, however, it wasn't the best either so for me, it was just alright. I'd give it a 6/10.

 

Edited October 21, 2017 by Kreamer
Spelling and Grammar Errors

[Denim&Venöm 16,498]

Gonna be watching this with a few hundred other people live at #Ponyville Oktoberfest. 

[CypherHoof 26,479]

1 minute ago, Denim&Venom said:

Gonna be watching this with a few hundred other people live at #Ponyville Oktoberfest. 

The Envy level, it's over 9000.....

[Will Guide 21,325]

I saw this episode before during the leak a few weeks ago. 

I especially like the lesson that as time goes on, even the best of friends can lose what they have in common, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. After all, Sunburst and Starlight may not have as much in common as they used to, but they still found a compromise. 

[PoisonClaw 8,153]

Here we go, folks! 

A suitcase full of books = light reading? Oh, he'll get along with Twilight perfectly.

[FlareGun45 2,221]

They should've squeezed in a Spike/Sunburst friendship scene. A scene where Sunburst plays O&O with Spike and Big Mac.

[cmarston1 5,951]

So here we are the last episode before the finale.

I thought Uncommon Bond was pretty relatable and cute.

There were a few amusing moments of comedy, it's always nice to see Sunburst, the dragon costumes were cute and overall I liked the episode. 

Also, cool finale build up at the end there.

[CypherHoof 26,479]

What I want to see is Trixie finding out that, if she wants to become Sunburst's Waifu, she is competing with Twi for it

More seriously though, it does highlight a factor for starlight - She really doesn't have much in her life outside of her status as Twi's pupil. She has her kites, but you never really see her doing kite-related activities (building, designing, repairing or decorating) some of which would help her to bond with Rarity more; she is much like the S1 Twi in that respect.

[Buttonmash1973 1,024]

Not bad of a laid back episode before the epic s7 ending.

[PoisonClaw 8,153]

That was a pretty cute episode. It was fun seeing Maud, Trixie, Starlight and Sunburst together and it was pretty inventive making a larger version of the game at the end. A ton of funny moments too, like Starburst being embarrassed about Starlight seeing him naked despite the fact that, again, ponies don't normally wear clothes. Nice bit of foreshadowing at the end too for the finale. Overall, a pretty solid episode.  

[CypherHoof 26,479]

1 minute ago, PoisonClaw said:

That was a pretty cute episode. It was fun seeing Maud, Trixie, Starlight and Sunburst together and it was pretty inventive making a larger version of the game at the end. A ton of funny moments too, like Starburst being embarrassed about Starlight seeing him naked despite the fact that, again, ponies don't normally wear clothes. Nice bit of foreshadowing at the end too for the finale. Overall, a pretty solid episode.  

Oddly enough though, he usually DOES wear clothes. Was more surprising that Fluttershy had a similar reaction, when obviously she doesn't.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

Ok, first off, Twilight was beyond adorkable in episode. Fun seeing only one of the Mane 6 (Twilight) in an episode for once. This was a really great episode, but the only thing I didn't like about it was that Starlight retorted to using magic and spells to try to solve problems yet again. It's like she didn't learn from "Every Little Thing She Does". Twilight's laughter during the Dragon game was the most adorable part for me. Anyway, great episode that teaches us that as time passes, people will start to try and discover new things, which doesn't mean that they can't be friends anymore. 

[Misty Shadow 7,083]

I did like this episode a lot, just not as much as last week's. I wanted more out of Trixie and Maud Pie, even knowing that the reason they didn't get to shine much was because of time constraints. I hate how that scene with Starlight actually turning Sunburst and herself into kids goes by so quickly. It's disturbingly awesome.

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

Not much to say about this one except it''s really sweet and I love that all of Starlight's pony friends were in this one. Its a nice lesson. People change and saying someone has "changed" or "is different" seems so taboo these days but the fact is people grow and like Starlight people need to accept that. 

[CypherHoof 26,479]

1 minute ago, StitchandMLPlover said:

Not much to say about this one except it''s really sweet and I love that all of Starlight's pony friends were in this one. Its a nice lesson. People change and saying someone has "changed" or "is different" seems so taboo these days but the fact is people grow and like Starlight people need to accept that. 

+1 for ironic avatar