S08:E12 - Marks for Effort

[RDDash 19,170]

For now Cozy Glow just feels like an extreme faker too me, and I just hope that Maine6 (Twilight included) isn't this oblivious to her behavior

[Justin_Case001 4,882]

Not bad.  Not too bad a'tall.  I was quite pleased.  Not much to say.  It was just good.

Early on, I was really worried that the CMC were going to spend the whole episode purposely screwing up and being little brats to prove they don't know enough about friendship, with the moral being, "Sorry we were idiots.  Shoulda known better."  I'm so glad that it didn't go that route, and that it was only a brief scene.

I was slightly miffed at Twilight for not giving the CMC the benefit of the doubt immediately when the said they taught Cozy the right lessons, but then again, the CMC are still kids (since time stands still for kids in animated shows...), and they proved in this very episode that they are not completely above deception, what with pretending to be bad friends and all....so....I guess I can give it a pass.

When I read the synopsis, I was very interested to see how it would turn out, because it would have been horrible to just ban the CMC from the school on grounds that they've already mastered friendship.  Twilight is surely wise enough to know that one never stops learning (particularly about friendship), no matter how old they get.  But then again, the school is for friendship beginners, so it's probably not appropriate for the CMC to take up seats there.  The solutions was perfect.  They're obviously not qualified to be professors, but being after school tutors is perfect for them, and it even plays right into the wheelhouse of their cutie marks!  I love how it turned out that way--they naturally gravitate towards helping and guiding others, whether it's related to cutie marks or not.

That gives me an idea: they should change their club name to the Cutie Mark Counselors, since that's what they do, and they could keep the same abbreviation.

Lastly, the highlight was how Starlight got excited at the deviousness of Cozy's plan.  That was priceless!  Starlight may be completely good now, but she still appreciate's a devious plot when she hears one! 

[Midnight Seashell 206]

My only real problem is with Twilight's harshness on the CMC. I mean she could have atleast tried to get their side of the story instead of jumping to conclusions. And sure, she gave them degrees and made them substitute teachers after learning the truth but l feel the CMC be reluctant to receive these as they wouldn't want to experience more "jumping to conclusions" from Twilight on future occasions in this line of work. Also, why make fillies substitute teachers?

[gingerninja666 487]

3 hours ago, Midnight Seashell said:

My only real problem is with Twilight's harshness on the CMC. I mean she could have atleast tried to get their side of the story instead of jumping to conclusions. And sure, she gave them degrees and made them substitute teachers after learning the truth but l feel the CMC be reluctant to receive these as they wouldn't want to experience more "jumping to conclusions" from Twilight on future occasions in this line of work. Also, why make fillies substitute teachers?

They're technically tutors. In my experience tutors don't teach classes, they more help students one on one or in small groups with their homework and general studies. So they'd be doing the kind of stuff they were already doing with Cozy throughout the episode. Only perhaps with more access to the School's facilities.

Edited June 5, 2018 by gingerninja666

[JH24 385]

I liked the episode. Maybe not the most exciting but overall it was cleverly written. Starlight's scene as counselor actually made me laugh.

Looking back, I'm so glad that they've made Starlight more of a separate character from the Mane 6. I love the Mane 6, but Starlight is so different from them that it is actually refreshing.

 

Edited June 5, 2018 by JH24

[Barnstormer 112]

Was there anyone else who felt they could have done the voice acting for Cozy better? The whole time I was expecting some kind of legit betrayal, based on how she sounded.

[Truffles 2,033]

On 6/4/2018 at 12:17 AM, Music Chart Fan said:

It seems like Twilight could have told the CMC that they're suspected of telling Cozy Glow the wrong answers, or just said that Cozy Glow told her that the CMC were giving Cozy Glow the wrong answers (if that was actually the case), rather than Twilight's apparently concluding that there's no question that they did it. Twilight could even have still told the CMC the line about staying away from her school and her students, with an additional "until this matter is resolved" or something like that. Was Twilight's acting as though the CMC definitely did it, and trying to shame them, actually an intentional hardball tactic on Twilight's part, in order to intimidate them into confessing? That doesn't strike me as something that Twilight would do.

These scenarios a would have worked better for me than what they did. For that matter, I would even have preferred if Twilight had simply left her suspicions ambiguous instead of  straight-out accusing the CMC of sabotage. She's known them for years, and I can't see - even with her being invested in her students or knowing about the CMC trying to get into the school - that she'd believe for one minute the CMC would suddenly turn so spiteful just because they can't attend.

Twilight simply saying, "Well, you did a poor job of helping her learn." and then telling them to stay off the premises and no more helping her students would have worked better. Thinking they were bad tutors is more credible than having her think they'd want to ruin the lives of other foals.

On 6/4/2018 at 12:17 AM, Music Chart Fan said:

The more complicated matter is the "stay away from my students" part. We see in the episode that students of the Friendship School are not restricted to staying only on the school grounds. One of Cozy Glow's homework assignments is to do something nice for three residents of Ponyville, and Cozy Glow sees the CMC to study or do homework several times without getting in any apparent trouble with the school. So would the CMC be restricted from going anywhere in Ponyville where Friendship School students are, or anywhere students could possibly go?

My thinking is she meant "no more tutoring" when she told the CMC to stay away from her students. I'm sure she knew she couldn't stop them from interacting period, but stopping them from helping with homework and test prep is a reasonable command.

On 6/4/2018 at 12:17 AM, Music Chart Fan said:

How big of a time jump is there supposed to be between those two scenes? Is the second scene supposed to be taking place hours later, after Apple Bloom had already gone to school for the day?

It would be logical if it was much later in the day during that scene - that is, after Cheerilee's school let out for the day. Knowing the CMC, they would be very anxious to put their plan in action, so maybe they worked it out during study time back at their school and executed it later that afternoon in parallel? I'm just speculating, of course, since none of that is portrayed in the episode. But it would make the most sense.

On 6/4/2018 at 12:17 AM, Music Chart Fan said:

When the CMC first see Cozy Glow crying under a tree near the clubhouse, Sweetie Belle's immediate reaction is "Aww, she looks so sad. We better go see what's wrong", whereas my first reaction would be "Who is that, and what is she doing out here on the Apple family's property?"

I don't think it was a coincidence that Cozy Glow ended up crying next to the clubhouse. I'm pretty sure she's executing some kind of plan and during some off-camera scene noticed the things the CMC were trying to get into the school - and decided to use that as an opening.... for some purpose we don't know yet.

On 6/4/2018 at 12:17 AM, Music Chart Fan said:

Also, did these pictured ponies agree to having students of the Friendship School try to do something nice for them ahead of time? I might think that not everyone in Ponyville would necessarily want socially awkward students trying to find and help them without any warning. And do these pictured ponies report back to the Friendship School on whether and how students did something nice for them? Or is this homework assignment essentially working on the honor system of students truthfully telling the teacher about the nice things they did?

I would have to assume they agreed to do this and would report to Twilight at some point. I'd find it unlikely Twilight would ask a filly or colt to help three complete strangers without the strangers being aware of it. It's odd enough that she sent a filly out into an unsupervised environment to interact with 3 adults she doesn't know. Let's put aside the obvious "stranger danger" for now and just think of the other ways this could cause a lot of trouble: If the three targets didn't know what was going on, the "help" they got could go awry and end with one or both parties getting injured. (Especially if the student had more in common with Derpy than Cozy. XD )

 

[bwrosas 252]

Okay, The fact they debut Cozy Glow before the Mid-Season Finale was a good move, I will give them that.  However. what I feel is that this is leading towards a 

Spoiler

full reformation for Cozy Glow at the of this season.  Because in case you don't know, she and tirek are the main villains of the S8 Finale.

 

[Soaring Symphony 372]

That's devious . . .

 

Oh, I mean . . . I see

 

Once a psychopath, always a psychopath.

 

[RDDash 19,170]

12 hours ago, bwrosas said:

full reformation for Cozy Glow at the of this season.  Because in case you don't know, she and tirek are the main villains of the S8 Finale.

I don't mind her being an antagonist because she is new and we don't know what she wants. Is she just mentally insane or is she just wants revenge for her family member.

But Tirek? He is kind of a boring villain, (even more boring then Sombra)he stopped being interesting when main6 blasted him with rainbow laser.

Edited June 6, 2018 by R.D.Dash

[Purple Pharaoh 23]

I liked this episode overall. It had humor, particularly from Starlight ("devious!") I find Cozy Glow kind of grating and not as cute as she is "supposed" to be, but she was an interesting character. Really though I was kind of annoyed at Twilight for coming down so hard on the CMC when she has known them for years and what kind of ponies they are. She took Cozy's word over their's without so much as a chance to truly defend themselves. I love Twi, but for The Princess of Friendship, she wasn't very friendly. I could see her writing notes to Princess Celestia back in the day about learning to listen to all sides of story, but she, at this stage should really have been more fair. She did correct the problem and everything ended well but if Cozy hadn't spoken up nothing would have been rectified. 

Spoiler

So CG is supposed to be an antagonist, huh? I'm not sure how I feel about that, relating to this episode. Her manipulation made sense at the end of this storyline, so why did she end up confessing to Starlight? What is her endgame? 

 

[bwrosas 252]

3 hours ago, Purple Pharaoh said:

I liked this episode overall. It had humor, particularly from Starlight ("devious!") I find Cozy Glow kind of grating and not as cute as she is "supposed" to be, but she was an interesting character. Really though I was kind of annoyed at Twilight for coming down so hard on the CMC when she has known them for years and what kind of ponies they are. She took Cozy's word over their's without so much as a chance to truly defend themselves. I love Twi, but for The Princess of Friendship, she wasn't very friendly. I could see her writing notes to Princess Celestia back in the day about learning to listen to all sides of story, but she, at this stage should really have been more fair. She did correct the problem and everything ended well but if Cozy hadn't spoken up nothing would have been rectified. 

  Hide contents

So CG is supposed to be an antagonist, huh? I'm not sure how I feel about that, relating to this episode. Her manipulation made sense at the end of this storyline, so why did she end up confessing to Starlight? What is her endgame? 

 

Spoiler

To gain everypony's trust, so no one will be suspicious when whatever plan she's a part comes into play in the S8 Finale. 

 

[YoshiAngemon 223]

19 hours ago, bwrosas said:

  Hide contents

To gain everypony's trust, so no one will be suspicious when whatever plan she's a part comes into play in the S8 Finale. 

 

Spoiler

Her plan might be to help get Tirek out of Tartarus, to exact revenge on Princess Twilight, and then to get her neglecting parents to pay attention to her again! Or for her to be as big of a brat as Angelica C. Pickles from Rugrats/All Grown Up, maybe even Kootie Pie Koopa (voiced by Tabitha St. Germain)

 

Edited June 8, 2018 by YoshiAngemon

[FizzyWind 64]

This episode was wasted potential in a way. I typically don’t like CMC episodes in general and this episode was pretty tame for the CMC even when they became graduates. I personally reall don’t like cozy glow as I thought she was secretly devious and she could have been a more interesting character but they ended up just making her part of the rest of the episode. This episode could have been resolved the same way without cozy glow because let’s be honest her getting educated into friendship was filler and really was just boring. I prefer episodes like surf and or turf that have something interesting going on THOSE CMC episodes I like especially ones where it has to do with sweetie belle. The only thing I like about this episode is that the CMC got what they wanted and finally moved up socially besides when they finally got their cutie marks. I think Cozy Glow just made it worse then it should have been I just don’t like her.

[Allen 1,387]

The Cutie Mark Crusaders heard a filly name of Cozy Glow crying outside of their clubhouse, so they help her how to get this work for her. That part when Bon Bon/Sweetie Drops gets that cactus bag, cactus spines are in contact with her in her face on every hoof-step, so Cozy Glow helps her by putting the helmet in place to protect her from being in contact by cactus spines, that's a good way to do that; that was Scootaloo's helmet so return it to Scootaloo when she brought that cactus plant in her house. Remember this: work as a friendship is worth it for every-pony. Cozy Glow, you failed the friendship test the first time, but you'll get better by apologizing at the ending part what the Cutie Mark Crusaders did the wrong stuff to you. You learned more about the values of friendship the right way as it was supposed— the Cutie Mark Crusaders succeeded as honorary friendship graduates by fixing this!

[gingerninja666 487]

I'm not sure who said this, but Scootaloo and Bon Bon had kinda the best friendship lesson in the episode. Because Scootaloo actually encouraged Cozy to observe what was going on and gave her the chance to figure out the solution herself. While AB and Sweetie kinda just did the work for her.

 

 

[TransitPony 238]

What an impressive episode here. I was surprised to see the CMC trying to get into the School of Friendship. I seriously thought that Cozy Glow was a form of antagonist. I think the CMC wanted to get into the school because they wanted to know more of Twilight's teaching in terms of spreading the message of friendship further; the Crusaders wanted to push their work to another level. They got it in the end through honorary degrees. 

[Dynamo Pad 11,275]

I found this episode to be pretty enjoyable. I like how the CMC are trying to get to be a part of Twilight's School of Friendship. It's great to see that Spike is still trying to get used to his wings, since he just got them from the previous episode. I'm also curious as to what Spike had done to the class while Twilight spoke the crusaders. It was pretty funny how the crusader's tried multiple ways to show that they needed to go to the school. The introduction and interaction between the crusader's and Cozy Glow was pretty interesting. I like how the crusader's tried to help their new friend into passing Twilight's class on friendship. It was also pretty interesting getting to see some interactions with some of the background characters. It was a surprise to see Twilight yelling at the crusaders for how Cozy Glow failed in her test. I could see that Cozy had good intentions on helping the crusader's, but I wonder if Cozy had failed on purpose for a specific reason. I like how Starlight had helped Cozy through her dilemma, as well as the many faces Starlight had made throughout the episode. It was awesome to see how the crusaders got their diplomas and became friendship tutors at the school. All in all, this episode was pretty interesting. I look forward to seeing how the CMC help out at the school throughout the rest of this season. 

[gingerninja666 487]

There's a thing about Twilight in this episode and who she believed. I wanna point out that I think she'd be very hesitant to blame Cozy Glow for what happened.

Cozy mentioned that she moved to Ponyville specifically to attend Twilight's school. Now, why would you move house, and travel all that way to live in a place completely alien to you, and then not even try during your lessons? Because that's what those answers look like. They aren't just wrong answers indicating that you're struggling, they were AGRESSIVELY wrong answers. Like, you'd have to be taught them. They were that wrong. Then, she had to watch her student burst into tears and then run away sobbing. It makes sense for her to be frustrated, and the CMC had been acting disruptive and obnoxious regarding the school up until this point. In their words, they were PESTERING Rarity and keeping her from doing her work. They intentionally left Sweet Apple Acres in a messed up state.

Twilight was still very harsh, but I don't think it came out of nowhere.

[bigbertha 414]

This episode is really boring. It feels like the only reason the episode exists is to set up Cozy Glow who is such an obvious villain. It's nice that the writers are trying to set up their antagonist, compared to last season, but it doesn't really help when there's such little to her. The rest of the episode doesn't hold up on its own, aside from Starlight, who steals the show with the only really entertaining scene of the episode. But that's not enough for a whole episode.

Also, this episode provides more evidence for how dumb the Friendship School is. Rainbow Dash is literally just telling stories about herself and loosely tying them to friendship. And why is Applejack playing Buckball in her class? How does that relate to honesty? The only teacher who is teaching info that doesn't fall under White Man's Burden implications is Twilight. For the rest, especially Pinkie and Fluttershy, I still have no idea why the students need to go through this school. 

Score: 4/10

Edited March 29, 2019 by bigbertha

[MLPFanatic34 3,234]

I enjoyed this episode and I see we were treated to the introduction of Cozy Glow who for some reason reminds me of Darla Dimple from Cats Don't Dance. The overall moral of this episode was well done and I loved the dialogue especially between Starlight and Cozy Glow in Starlight's office. I loved seeing the CMC become official tutors of Twilight's school as well. 9/10 episode.

[Denim&Venöm 18,782]

Sorry, but this episode was pretty cringey for me and I can't get over Twi not bothering to hear out the CMC seems a tad OOC for her and the resolution came way too fast. 

Not a passing grade in my books. 

[qwerE 96]

Not too bad. I found this episode quite enjoyable. The answer to "Who is the princess of friendship?" being "Your mom" was very unexpected. It was funny, though. 

Besides, the CMC aren't quitting cheerilee's school, right? I'd feel bad for her if they do...

Edited December 20, 2018 by qwerE

[Rushing cash 836]

A nice episode overall, twilight may have been a bit harsh on the cmc but it was kind of understandable. The interactions between cozy and the cmc was great and this episode got me intrigued in cozy glow. Starlight face was the highlight of the episode to me. Still, the episode did not really helped me understand the concept of the school, the cmc do not need to study friendship? The students seems quite friendly so why they need to study? Who can study and who can't? It just annoys me, but as the episode itself, its pretty good. 7\10  

[Senko 459]

You know on rewatching this as part of my effort to make a timeline I've just realized how many hints to Cozy Glows true personality are scattered through it like her mistaking the symbol for the magic of friendship for "control" when she's being tutored.