S09:E03 - Uprooted

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

"and Sombras not coming back"
"I wish that Sombra guy was still around"

/suspicious 
Grogar revived him and has him locked in his torture chamber of course.

[Truffles 2,033]

Some additional thoughts after seeing it again:

• Really loving the surprise that Silverstream has dreams of becoming the first non-pony Wonderbolt ever. Unless they do a time-jump, it's unlikely to happen before the series ends, however. But perhaps it will be a motivating factor for her character as the rest of the season progresses?
• That nightmare of graduating but not being prepared for finals is something I can relate to with Ocellus.
• Well, if Smolder's secret desire was still a secret with some of her friends, that is pretty much out the window now, lol.
• Yona and Gallus' fears make perfect sense.
• And Sandbar's biggest problems continue to be First World Issues times 1000. =)
• The scene with Twilight freaking out over not having multicolored highlighters was hilarious. Also, existence of highlighters confirmed. XD
• The phrase "Truth bombs" is now going to be a thing with me, Thanks, Spike! XD
• Additionally, that whole scene with Twilight accidentally blurting out the tree was destroyed was surprising (and maybe unintentionally funny?), and helped make this feel like a part 3 to the premiere.
• It turns out there was no indication as to how long the students were away. Spike was interrupted before he could finish his comment on how long before the school reopened.

 

1 hour ago, Dark Qiviut said:

Not me for the same reasons as @Zestanor. The School's still closed, and the Y6 departed to the Tree without permission. The last time that happened, their tribes' leaders blamed each other. Easy to understand Thorax's severity to Ocellus in hindsight, but it also helped transition to that wonderful montage. (Yona clearing the snow for her grandma was my fav. )

I thought that was sweet, and Silverstream's was the funniest. The student's to which I had the most visceral reaction to, however, was Gallus. While it was meant to be funny, it was also  heartbreaking to see Gruff not even care enough to read the permission slip before signing it, and then finishing things off by slamming it on his beak. For all he knew he could have been sending Gallus off to the Flamecano to participate in a new Gauntlet. It seems even after his returning home for the holidays in "Best Gift Ever," things haven't changed much for him at home.

58 minutes ago, Dark Qiviut said:

Been thinking about the plot. Yeah, the inspirations to Castle Sweet Castle are obvious, thanks to its similar structure and ideas, but the plots aren't the same. In fact, there's one gigantic difference between them:

1. In CSC, the RM5 wanted to make Twilight's castle feel more like home. Twilight stayed away from it because she found it to not feel as homey as the Golden Oak Library. None of them were able to think of a cohesive solution until late, which was to use its roots as a tribute to her old home to connect her old home with her new one.
2. Here, the episode's about memorializing the Tree only, but none of the Y6 could come up with a proper solution without desecrating its legacy. Until Yona reminded them of how they became friends and became closer as a result of the Tree's test. So they used the Tree's old branches, trunk, and Elements to build a treehouse, and the Tree used its powers to create a temple.

THANK YOU! I've been seeing these statements that this episode is a retread of "C,SC", but for the reason you gave above that's not the case. This episode focused much more on the eulogy aspects whereas that only happened during the scenes of Twilight and Spike confronting the remains of the Golden Oak library, and the very end with the roots installed in the map room in the S5 counterpart.

Edited April 13, 2019 by Truffles

[gingerninja666 487]

I'd just like to say that i love Sandbar. He's the world's biggest idiot and it's great. His "nightmare" actually got me.

[BornAgainBrony 2,397]

4 minutes ago, Truffles said:

I thought that was sweet, and Silverstream's was the funniest. The student's to which I had the most visceral reaction to, however, was Gallus. While it was meant to be funny, it was also  heartbreaking to see Gruff not even care enough to read the permission slip before signing it, and then finishing things off by slamming it on his beak. For all he knew he could have been sending Gallus off to the Flamecano to participate in a new Gauntlet. It seems even after his returning home for the holidays in "Best Gift Ever," things haven't changed much for him at home.

It fits in well with the "Breakfast Club" episode where they all get tossed in detention. He has no reason to want to go home. It's not his home. Home is where the heart is, and all that. I hope he finds someplace else to live so he doesn't have to go back to what is quite clearly an unhealthy environment.

[Truffles 2,033]

2 minutes ago, BornAgainBrony said:

It fits in well with the "Breakfast Club" episode where they all get tossed in detention. He has no reason to want to go home. It's not his home. Home is where the heart is, and all that. I hope he finds someplace else to live so he doesn't have to go back to what is quite clearly an unhealthy environment.

Indeed, though a part of me still wishes he, Gabby, Gilda, Greta, and that little griff from "THC" last season could somehow manage to scrounge together enough bits to buy a treehouse and form a family unit that has some love in it - right in their hometown. It would set a nice example for the other griffons to follow, even if changing hearts and minds is a slow process.

Of course, the way DHX seems to be hinting at a Gallus-Silverstream relationship, for all we know he could be spending the holidays with her family by now....

[RaphLuna 306]

Yawn. Boring. The reason for this episode is to sell a Crystal tree house Playsets.  since we saw the grogar ruins. does this mean we will get a playset from that too. 

This is no different than the time when the library was destroyed. They all wanted to style the new crystal friendship castle their way. The 6 done the same. Wash rinse repeat.

Talky about repeats just tweaked. Looking forward to Sombra return.

He's not coming back.

Sssshhhhhhhh. Don't spoil it for me.

I girl can dream.

[Jeric 46,851]

1 hour ago, BornAgainBrony said:

It had been bugging me constantly about where he had put the remains. I kept thinking they must have been nearby. I can kind of understand his logic in moving them. I mean... we don't build monuments to commemorate the dead by using their bones as building material.

Scattering ashes has that effect of creating a memorial. Also some use an urn with cremains (crushed bone fragments) as a memorial as well. Jewelry that houses cremains as well as tattoos with ink made from them are not unheard of. 

[Jeric 46,851]

10 minutes ago, RaphLuna said:

Yawn. Boring. The reason for this episode is to sell a Crystal tree house Playsets.  since we saw the grogar ruins. does this mean we will get a playset from that too. 

Eh, not with Hasbro’s pathetic production and distribution channel. If it hasn’t already been announced they aren’t making it. Typically, you already have toys announced to represent the current season before it airs. It looks like the School may be the last playset distributed. I could be wrong since I mostly pay attention to their licensed lines and not their owned IP lines. 

[RulesofRarity 493]

Even if the tree house does become another toy set, why does it matter? This show has always existed as medium to sell toys and I don't see the problem with that as long as they aren't excessively introducing stuff just to sell toys.

[Ganondorf8 11,303]

Well that was an episode. It's pretty obvious that the new form of the Tree of Harmony was designed to sell the eventual playset that will be released--assuming Hasbro has already gone ahead with plans for that. I agree that the similarities with 'Castle Sweet Castle' are evident throughout this episode but then we shouldn't really be surprised by it. Rehashing old ideas is something cartoons do quite often and MLP is no exception.

There were some good moments but these were counteracted by cringe-inducing ones that reduced the overall effect of the episode. Did I like the song? It was okay but nothing really memorable. A truly positive note for me is seeing the Student Six--or whatever you prefer to refer to them as--growing closer as friends. There's no doubt that we will be seeing this new location again and relatively soon as why else go to so much trouble making it happen only to abandon it afterwards.

I don't have much else to say other than it did what it needed to do to promote a new location whilst keeping the memories of the old one alive. I'll give this episode a 65%.

[gingerninja666 487]

The more I see of Ocellus' adorable dragon form, the more I want an episode with her stuck in the dragon lands for a while.

[Zestanor 98]

1 hour ago, Truffles said:

It seems even after his returning home for the holidays in "Best Gift Ever," 

It’s not really confirmed that he went home. He just got on a train with everyone else, so I took it that he was visiting Mt. Aeris for the holiday or something. Either way, I think this episode is supposed to happen before BGE, unless we skipped a year.

[Oleks 1,993]

The Tree isn’t dead after all. Good.

For me, the episode felt a lot like Castle Sweet Castle, but with some exploration of the Student Six personalities. Yona still best student, by the way. Also, if I was a Star Wars fan, I’d talk about the disturbances in the Force and other parallels, but I’ll pass.

Gallus: How did that happen?
Tree: This happened because buy our toys!

But this has a positive side too. I like that now in Equestria, apart from the old and abandoned mysterious grand structures, there are many new and useful ones. It’s a nice difference from many fantasy settings where all great buildings were created “in the great old times” and now are mostly deserted or ruined.

[BornAgainBrony 2,397]

23 minutes ago, Oleks said:

Also, if I was a Star Wars fan, I’d talk about the disturbances in the Force and other parallels, but I’ll pass.

Gallus: How did that happen?
Tree: This happened because buy our toys!

Ugh... I really wish I was into video blogging. I really feel a need to speak out about this. For all the things to complain about being contrived for the sake of making new toys, this event feels much more importantly symbolic. Yona's words in this episode may be one of the most important messages across 9 seasons worth of content. Unlike, say... Twilight's crystal castle, the Student 6 were intentionally out to build something grand, and didn't figure something out until they analyzed what the Tree of Harmony really meant to them, and what it gave them. It doesn't explain it outright, but we're learning that Harmony isn't limited to a particular object. It was demonstrated in the premiere and we saw it again here. We're being shown that the magic of friendship doesn't rely on a god, or a specific entity backing it. I suspect, any group of friends can create it. This is a major shift from how things were shown in previous seasons. And the creation of a temple that is a testament to all of this, is unique because it's actually what the Student 6 wanted. It didn't come by accident or, "Well, you did a good job, you deserve this random thing." They build their vision, and the spirit simply enhanced it, and by their efforts, it was rejuvenated. The basic idea may feel cliche, but there's a subtlety here that is important. Possibly one of the most important lessons of the show that separates it from some of the dogma that has been established previously.

And there's no evidence that we're even getting a playset of it, so it's a bit of a kneejerk reaction. I wasn't here for a lot of the drama, but now I'm beginning to understand what some people have told me about, with regards to things like Twilicorn, or the Element "forms" of the Mane 6 that in the end really never caught on.

And... heh. I hadn't thought of it that way, but there may be a Force parallel, though it deviates from how Star Wars says it works. In MLP, this power can only be harnessed through teamwork. I gotta say I do love the moment where they all meditated around the remains in an attempt to will it back to life.

[Misty Shadow 7,866]

Ha! Even Spike and The Student 6 still want Sombra around.  I love how Spike was like "King Sombra's not coming back!"...right after he assumed that the Crystal Empire was under attack. He totally wants to get even after he was powerless in the premiere.  They had me going just a bit at the beginning of the episode, playing along like the tree was really dead, but we all knew it was coming back, albeit in a different form. And if the tree can come back, do I even need to say it. Discounting that, I like how this episode played out slightly different than how I thought it would, emphasizing the importance of the acceptance of loss while making fun of The Student 6 thinking they could bring the tree back just by holding hands and singing Kumbaya. It felt weird having Yona steal the show by being the only one who wasn't fighting with anyone and saving Sandbar, the second best of The Student 6 in this one with the funniest lines and the most rational, realistic solution to the problem, from the clutches of death, but I guess it's compensation for the show always trying to kill her as well as realizing that she's growing on us. The ending did feel like sort of a cop-out, but again...do I even need to say it.    

Edited April 14, 2019 by CloudMistDragon

[ImpctR 155]

Welcome back School Six! How was your summer vacation (still going) while away from the stormy dark clouds and green pony eyes weather?

Well, they did take part in stopping Cozy Glow not long ago, so they needed the break (and for us to see the Mane 6 activity again).

 

Let's start with the voting then.. OK, I had absolutely no idea what the episode was going to be about, would it follow the villains' plans immediately after the premiere or continue with single episodes (slice of life). Of course it had to make a followup of The Beginning of The End. I would give it a 5/5 but more like 4.75/5, so 5. I see this is not so highly related, if it didn't end the way it did it would be rather a 4/5 for me.

 

Firstly, Silver Stream a Wonderbolt? Wow who better from the Student Six, I like her the most! And she seems to be best flier like most hyppogryphs. It came too sudden but it's not something I would have cared to see how it develops, or that she became one, perhaps the pressure of having diversity has pushed the WB to get one sooner if someone matched the criteria? Perhaps Silver Stream is a fast learner? But now that it happened put on the blue uniform dear! I did mention last season I like Hyppogryphs the most of the creatures, maybe, as of lately when it comes to other characters.

 

Then we see my next fave of the students, Smoulder doing her cute things, the others fighting their fears like Gallus claustrophobia. Now.... about the plot... We all thought the Tree of Harmony was dead, but one would suspect the Spirit was not. And im OK with that, I suspected it a little.

 

Spoiler

 

Good to see Princess Ember for a while, as well as Mount Eris. The next is a part I liked a bit less, if not for the end, it turned into a rather pointless row over what the place should look and how to commemorate the Tree. Gallus' approach was least favorable to me, it more like made the who idea look like a joke. I didn't even see the point of the whole idea in t he episode, like Is The Tree really in need of getting its Memorial? is this what this is about? 

 

I really like the art of Silver Stream, it looks so pretty, I love that scene! And Smoulder is the best at carving stone after the Pie famlity huh? 

 

Spoiler

 

So to get back to the point of the episode, I knew something was going to happen, I thought the Tree was going to resurrect and the only meh about this part was when I said in previous episodes 'sometimes in some shows, some characters or the Tree in this case fall' to make it a bit more touching. The Tree is still around, oh well. And instead of resurrecting it turns into this, I did not like the idea.

 

Spoiler

 

Then it turns into this:

 

Spoiler

 

I will accept it as I've seen in such worlds magic happens, apparently Castles grow like grass  and I am not sure the Student Six having their own Castle are now going to compete with Twi's Castle or Canterlots?

I would have rather the Student 6 took the thrones of Twi's Castle when Twi and the Mane 6 took over Canterlot, and that all in the end of the season. Mixed feelings, but I do not want to care much, I am not sure they needed that thing... like wow, Castles grow everywhere. 

 

I know where some critics could lie and I will agree, the hidden mechanism to instantly turn things and solve problems is still there, perhaps the Tree was better off living just as a Spirit giving advice than a tool that still has force and uses magic to make things.

 

[BornAgainBrony 2,397]

6 minutes ago, ImpctR said:

I will accept it as I've seen in such worlds magic happens, apparently Castles grow like grass  and I am not sure the Student Six having their own Castle are now going to compete with Twi's Castle or Canterlots?

That's not what the spirit said. It said this place was for EVERYONE to come to for reflection. It's not a castle. It's more akin to a spiritual retreat.

[Sonic5421 423]

First episode of the season with the Student Six, and I gotta admit, I do like how the Tree of Harmony still contacted them through its Twilight avatar to let them know it needed them. Also, glad to see cameos from Ember, Thorax, Sky Beak, Ocean Flow, Terramar, Grandpa Gruff, and Yona's parents as they got the okay to come to Ponyville to focus on the Tree of Harmony. True, each one had their own idea for honoring the Tree, but once Yona explained her idea to them, not only did they use the remains of the Tree of Harmony to rebuild it in some way, but it also allowed the Tree to be reborn in a new form, indicating that you can't truly destroy the Tree and the Elements of Harmony. Even if the physical versions are gone, the other versions still exist and keep the magic alive.

This was a great episode, so I'll give it a rating of 9, 9.5 out of 10 as my review score.

[ImpctR 155]

18 minutes ago, BornAgainBrony said:

That's not what the spirit said. It said this place was for EVERYONE to come to for reflection. It's not a castle. It's more akin to a spiritual retreat.

OK call it a Temple, to me it looks like Twi's castle a Tree-Castle. It grew after an event in a similar way and grew tall. It is for everyone, OK, I just have the feeling the School Six would have their thrones now which would be way early.

Yes by beauty it looks better than Twi's Castle, which is why I was confused what the School Six earned now

[BornAgainBrony 2,397]

3 minutes ago, ImpctR said:

OK call it a Temple, to me it looks like Twi's castle a Tree-Castle. It grew after an event in a similar way and grew tall. It is for everyone, OK, I just have the feeling the School Six would have their thrones now which would be way early.

Yes by beauty it looks better than Twi's Castle, which is why I was confused what the School Six earned now

I guess we'll see what happens with it next week. It's a bit confusing at this point then too though (unless as I wondered before... did Twi's castle crumble when Sombra attacked the tree?)

If we treat the new structure as a castle for the Student 6, and they get their own round table or whatever, what will become of Twilight's castle? The Mane 6 are scheduled to move into Canterlot.

[Dynamo Pad 11,305]

I just finished the newest episode and I thought it was pretty good. I liked how each member of the Young Six were having their own dream/nightmare. Only to have them have a connected dream for the spirit of the tree to contact them. I found it interesting how this episode felt like a sort of continuation towards the season premiere. We were able to get an episode that focused on the mane 6. Now, we got a focus on the young 6. It's like seeing the sides of view between the old and the new generations that we've watched along with on the show. It still felt disheartening to see the tree had been destroyed. I would have expected the students to have gone to where they were tested in the episode, 'What Lies Beneath.' I wonder if the roots had were still under the school after the tree's destruction.

As the students were giving their ideas on how to remember the tree, it felt familiar to the episode, 'Castle Sweet Castle.' I liked how each student wanted to contribute in their own way, but I liked how Yona wanted to have everyone work together. It was odd seeing how the other students just dismissed the idea like it didn't matter. They all seem to work really well together and bounce ideas off each other. It almost seems strange to see them go off and do things in their own point of view. Either way, some of the ideas were pretty interesting. Sandbar's idea reminded me of the Charlie Brown Christmas. I liked how Smolder was able to sculpt a sort of statue that looked like the original tree of harmony. Sort of like a statue to pay respects and remember the good times. I really liked Ocellus's and Silverstream's ideas. The element statues from the feeling forums looked both cool and the abstract art was pretty beautiful. I liked how Yona was able to remind the others of how the tree of harmony had brought them together. Which allowed them to work together and build a tree house.

It's great to hear the first song of the season and I really enjoyed it. I admit that I felt emotional when I listened to it. It felt symbolic that this is the final season, but it felt like it had so much meaning towards it. With each verse, it felt like the song and the characters were telling us something important. That even when things are gone, it's never truly gone or lost forever. That when you say goodbye, it's never truly a farewell. More along the lines of seeing that person or the show again someday. It was as if the song was directed at the fans. That we all grew up watching the show and planted the roots in our hearts. To help build up what the show was truly all about. How we made memories, made long lasting friendship and relationship and forged bonds that can last a lifetime. It was surprising to see that the tree house had grown and made it's way into the castle of the two sisters. I didn't expect to see the castle again, or for it to have relevance. The only thing I wasn't really a fan of was what was inside the tree house. I thought we would get to see what the tree house had created. It made me wonder if the tree house was sort of like the castle of friendship. How there would be seats for the students to let them know that they are the new elements of harmony. I thought we'd get an answer towards that. Seeing how the corresponding harmony light had shined on each of the students when the spirit visited them. I also was surprised to see that the elements have returned. Given how Twilight had told the students that the tree and elements are evolving and changing. I thought the tree and elements would have stayed gone and that the elements and strength was from within themselves. Regardless, I really found this episode to be very enjoyable overall. I'm looking forward to seeing what the student 6 have to offer in this season. I'm also definitely looking forward to next week's episode.  

[Truffles 2,033]

2 hours ago, ImpctR said:

Then it turns into this:

  Hide contents

 

Thanks for posting that screenshot. That brings up another point that deserves some clarification: In a few posts I've seen complaints about this new structure being responsible for the destruction of the Castle of the Two Sisters. But the moss on the walls tells a different story - the castle was already lying in ruin long before the events of this episode since there was time for moss to grow all over the place.

In "School Daze," the castle had lost its roof but the inner walls were still standing. Here, even the inner walls have crumbled. It's interesting that the castle has continued to deteriorate over time, though I'm surprised it's happening so rapidly since this kind of structure usually takes decades if not hundreds of years to go from having a roof to being nothing but a few walls.

I want to say something may have actively destroyed it during S8, but I can't think of anything that could have done that. Certainly Cozy Glow's attempts at ruling had nothing to do with this castle. And Sombra's attack happened too recently for moss to grow. One possibility is the tree caused further damage last season if it in fact grew its roots out to the school during that time. The upheaval of earth may have made the castle's foundation unstable and it fell in on itself.

 

2 hours ago, Zestanor said:

It’s not really confirmed that he went home. He just got on a train with everyone else, so I took it that he was visiting Mt. Aeris for the holiday or something. Either way, I think this episode is supposed to happen before BGE, unless we skipped a year.

That's a good point. That's another reason why I was hoping Spike or Twilight or even the students would mention what school year they were in, or how much time had passed since the school first opened. DHX has included the "Best Gift Ever" special as part of the numbered episodes, and before the start of season nine (which is why 200 is next week). But that's production order, and production order doesn't necessarily indicate what order it takes place in the show's timeline. So you're right - it could be either during S9 or before if they skipped an entire year of showing us events at the school. (Or even after, I suppose - depending on whether anything at the end of S9 (like Starlight running the school) happens that would affect the continuity in "BGE".)

If S9 doesn't have its own holiday episode, then it does seem very likely "BGE" takes place in the middle of S9 somewhere, and this episode is indeed before it. But we won't know until we get a full list of all the S9 episodes, and the leaks have fortunately been squelched at last.

[Steve Piranha 29,424]

4 hours ago, Jeric said:

Eh, not with Hasbro’s pathetic production and distribution channel. If it hasn’t already been announced they aren’t making it. Typically, you already have toys announced to represent the current season before it airs. It looks like the School may be the last playset distributed. I could be wrong since I mostly pay attention to their licensed lines and not their owned IP lines. 

It may be true. They would have definitely announced a play set of this BEFORE the season began, but there’s hardly any new toys announced this toy fair. It’s obvious Hasbro is preparing to pass the torch to their new horses

 

it’s me, or the song is speaking to us about the show ending ?

[Brainstorm 4,108]

It was cool seeing all the Kingdom Leaders, Ocellus's Dragon Form again, and knowing the Tree of Harmony and the Elements are still alive. The Treehouse kinda reminds me of Twilight's Castle cause they're both crystal.

[SharpWit 2,647]

It'd be strange to have a member of the Hippogriff Royal Family to become a member of a foriegn military body. It makes one wonder, why aren't there any Griffons among Equestria's ranks if the only criteria for the Wonderbolts other than successfully going through the academy might be a part time residency and ability to fly.

The episode was ok, felt mostly like a filler one, though I suppose it's good to calm things down before the storm. Ooh! Imagine if the Storm King were brought back by Grogar! 

I did get really tense towards the end, worried that the Castle of the Royal Sisters was about to be destroyed by a Harmonious Tree House 

As far as locations of historical importance go, that one is at the top of the list for me, and it's preservation is far more important than a memorialization for the Tree. Sure Equestria has been forever changed and saved thanks to the pillars, the tree, and elements, but beyond holding back the Everfree Forest, Equestria has mostly relied on itself thanks to Luna choosing a different path.