S09:E05 - The Point of No Return

[Fluttershutter 2,118]

On 4/23/2019 at 5:03 PM, Brandywine said:

I haven't watched this last season yet and it's going to take forever to show up on Netflix oh well hopefully it is worth the wait

I don't understand why people insist on depending on crap like netflix. You can find most things online with a simple search. Go to www.equestriadaily.com and look up the episode. There will be a link.

[Brandywine 8]

Thanks I will go look truth is I have used YouTube before but sometimes that is a hassle too.. So thanks for the link

 

 

 

[PacificGreen 1,163]

I haven't seen the episode yet, and I'm probably the only one who cares, but...

OMG THIS BACKGROUND PONY IS BACK!

 

(If you know me at all, you know this is like a prayer answered for me. XD It's like the show artists read my mind)

 

Edited April 30, 2019 by PacificGreen

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

What's poning, ponles?

What a great, classic, fun, cute, olde timey episode!  It felt like a throwback to season 1.  I really liked it.  The simple episodes are usually my favorites (probably because they're the hardest to screw up), and they're often the most relatable.  A simple premise, an old-fashioned Twilight, and a good, usable moral made for a solid episode.

I saw at least one member (who shall remain nameless) complaining that Twilight was written like an idiot, and while I can understand that point of view, that's not the only way to look at it.  Did she act silly?  Yeah.  Was it ridiculous to get that upset about a stupid old library book that was obviously long since forgotten?  Sure.  But it's also very human, in my opinion.  I have a tendency to beat myself up a lot over the smallest of mistakes.  Things that I instantly forgive others for, I never forgive myself for.  I hold myself to ridiculous standards, and I tend to think that any mistake, no matter how small, proves that I can never be trusted again, and shouldn't be allowed to do that thing ever again.  I could well see myself feeling like I should never be allowed to check out a library book ever again for the rest of my life if I ever failed to return one, because I'd feel like I had proved that I can never be trusted.  My mind floods itself with irrational, self-hating thoughts in these instances.  I've needed therapy to get [sort of] over it.  My point is, everybody has something--something stupid that they tend to do or say or think, something that they would instantly recognize as completely irrational, stupid, and counterproductive behavior in someone else.  We all struggle with something.  I'm 33, and I still do this stupid kind of self-perfectionist stuff.  The only character writing that really grinds my gears is when characters act extremely immature, and start hating each other and name-calling like 5-year olds, as in Non-Compete Clause.  Twilight wasn't acting immature, nor was she "backsliding" and forgetting all that she's learned.  She was just being human.

In some ways, the whole episode reminded me a bit of The Big Bang Theory's The Itchy Brain Simulation.    AWW!!  That'd be so funny if they did a straight-up parody of that with Twilight & Starlight!

I will say that hiding in the bush and trying to hide her face with the vase was just a wee little bit too much.  But, meh.  I'll also say that it was kinda BS for that new employee to be so hard on Twilight and send her to the dungeon of shame and all.  What the hell, man?  I wouldn't be surprised if that employee be all:

Spoiler

 

Y'know, just the stone of shame part, not the rest.

I absolutely loved all the little past continuity references and nods.  The tie-in to the pilot was brilliant.  It reminded me of Nibbler pushing Fry into the cryo pod.  I loved seeing the Dream Café and Moondancer again.  I only wish we could have another whole spotlight of Moondancer again.  But it's great to see that she's made another friend!  Looks like she's doing okay.  (Definitely better than me, that's for dang sure.  )

Did she say her "G1 Starswirl?"  Is that what I heard?  That was funny.  I love that she has a Starswirl toy.

Derpy got to speak!    If it's not Slice of Life or some unusual bonus holiday special, they usually forbid her to speak for some odd reason.  She only smiles and waves and nods.  In fact, they tend to go out of their way to point out her silence, as if it's a running gag like Maris Crane or Al Borland's mom.  But she finally spoke!!  Me so happy!    Me could cry tears of joy! 

Ha ha ha!  Dusty Pages moved to Del Boca Vista!

Spoiler

 

  Okay, keep it pony, ponles.

[Truffles 2,033]

On 4/28/2019 at 8:04 PM, Ganondox said:

I know, and that's what makes it even worse - it was never even plausible in the world of the show, yet we were expected to take the possibility seriously for the sake of drama. That's what I meant when I said the episode wasn't silly enough for it's premise. 

I must think anything is possible in their world, then, because as I was live commenting on the episode I basically said someone needs to look into how that library is run if it turned out to be true that she was fired because of the missing book.

 

On 4/28/2019 at 9:30 PM, Music Chart Fan said:

To start off, there's a flashback to the very first episode of the show, depicting Twilight haphazardly pushing aside a couple of books in a stack on the floor, and this particular library book then sliding under the bookcase after Twilight pushes it aside. But if we go back and watch the first episode, that doesn't appear to be what happens.

Heh, I went and watched that scene as well to check for continuity and you're right the book in question appears to land beside her. However there's no actual historical footage of where the book lands - only a shot of a book on the floor - so I'm willing to give the show some wiggle room to tell a story. In fact, I was impressed there was a scene of her tossing books aside at all because I thought that part was where the new animation started - I didn't realize she actually did that.

Also of note is she conveniently only remembers from when Spike is coming up the stairs and not the scene the moment before where she smacks him to the floor with the door.

On 4/28/2019 at 9:30 PM, Music Chart Fan said:

Twilight frets about potentially having her Canterlot library card revoked, or even being banned from the building. But, for one thing, I don't know if Twilight has even used her Canterlot library card since moving to Ponyville.

Knowing her personality, I could see her fretting. Being banned from a library (even if she could ask for special permission to get back in) would be a terrible black mark on her record, especially because research is one of her true joys in life. The same is true for her Best Borrower pic - it's a matter of pride and losing that cuts to her soul.

On 4/28/2019 at 9:30 PM, Music Chart Fan said:

The next thing Twilight needlessly frets about is the overdue book fine. At the libraries I've used, the fines for overdue books or materials don't just continue to accumulate in perpetuity with no limit; they have maximum fines set at some relatively low amoun

It's funny, because seeing Twilight and Spike here took me back to me childhood. When I was young, I worried like Twilight that some book I returned would somehow not get reshelved and I'd end up with a huge fine I'd have to pay as an adult. (Yes I was in general a big worrywart, and still am to some extent today, lol.) Of course, Twilight and Spike are much older, and should know better. But since the episode made a point of the library seemingly going out of its way to remain mum on the fact that there's a cap, perhaps instilling some of that worry in patrons was intentional in order to keep their books from being taken or lost?

On 4/28/2019 at 9:30 PM, Music Chart Fan said:

Ultimately, whatever calculations Twilight and Spike were making about the overdue fines were way off, because Twilight's total late fees - capped at a month - were 28 bits. Compare that to how Twilight believed earlier in the episode that she had accumulated an additional 44 bits in late fees in just a 1-or-2-hour time period.

It seems almost like the fines they were calculating were mistakenly including interest or something, because it ultimately capped at such a low level it seems like the fine was really only 1 bit a day. (Which in itself is interesting because it means at least some Equestrian months only have 28 days in them.)

Having said that, I very much want to believe Spike was calculating based on some simple fixed-accumulative factor, because it would allow us to determine the number of years which have passed since episode 1.

On 4/28/2019 at 9:30 PM, Music Chart Fan said:

Are Canterlot librarians fired for having anything less than a perfect record of having books returned? Once again, would the librarians, library patrons, and the community think that that kind of zero-tolerance policy is reasonable?

Like I said to @Ganondox above, because I wasn't sure how Equestria society works, I wasn't sure if this was possible or not. If it were true, then it would be an outrageous situation for librarians to never lose a single book to a patron. And the only way such an arrangement could work is if librarians had the power to deny book loans to an individual if said creature looked suspicious and unlikely to return a book (which would also be outrageous). But I was willing to give the story a chance to play out to see if and how Twilight misunderstood what had happened. (As it turned out, it was Folio who was at fault.)

On 4/28/2019 at 9:30 PM, Music Chart Fan said:

Did the Canterlot library make cutie mark stamps for every patron who checked materials out?

Perhaps. One interesting possibility is instead of a library card, the library creates a stamp based on your cutie mark and gives the stamp it to you? Thus the creature in question is responsible for bringing their stamp with them when they want to check out a book and that stamp is used in the ledger.

On 4/28/2019 at 9:30 PM, Music Chart Fan said:

Spike tried to say earlier that it's pointless for Twilight to attempt to keep the returning of the book a secret, but it's especially pointless for Twilight to try to conceal her face and her voice from the librarian at the desk when actually making the return. The librarian is almost certainly going to see that it was Twilight who had checked the book out when the librarian goes to mark the return date and note that the book was returned.

I think that was just a reflex to the shame of having to return a book so late. I don't think she really expected anyone to not know it was her since a record lookup would need to be done.

On 4/28/2019 at 9:30 PM, Music Chart Fan said:

I'm not sure why the two ponies at the Tasty Treat just think that Spike is a waiter. Does he particularly look like one? And I'm also not sure why Spike just goes with it, after an initial attempt to say that he's not a waiter there.

Racist ponies think dragons are only there to serve them! :O XD

Actually, that may not be that far from the truth after learning there's an undercurrent of xenophobia going on in Equestria last season. Though in reality it's probably more about him looking like a busboy than him being a dragon. Maybe they figure a bipedal creature with digits makes sense to hire as a waiter instead of a quadruped, digitless pony.

As for why he goes along with it, he's already at wits end with Twilight so he didn't have anything left to argue with the diners that he wasn't employed there. Or maybe there's some past explanation from when he lived in Canterlot and came to expect this kind of treatment because ponies thought he was someone's pet?

On 4/28/2019 at 9:30 PM, Music Chart Fan said:

And who threw that, anyway? "Time out" was clearly called.

Another instance of ponies not taking young dragons seriously. Or maybe they were just angry at them for interrupting their game?

On 4/28/2019 at 9:30 PM, Music Chart Fan said:

Because otherwise, I might wonder if there would be legal issues with the library's attempting to enforce a policy that patrons have no means of knowing about because the library deliberately didn't inform them.

I think they intentionally fail to mention that, but I can't say how it would work out legally since we don't know much about their legal system; though I would think in Canterlot it would mean appealing to Celestia and Luna directly.

 

On 4/28/2019 at 11:18 PM, Dark Qiviut said:

In AF, Twi offered MD her dorm key in exchange for joining her and company to dinner. Moondancer initially declines, so she returned home with it that night.

I never even caught that detail. I think because of the way the episode ended, I just assumed she took the room because of her reminding Twilight about teaching her Haycarte's method. But you're right the episode doesn't actually answer that question definitively.

 

 

[Music Chart Fan 818]

38 minutes ago, Truffles said:

It seems almost like the fines they were calculating were mistakenly including interest or something, because it ultimately capped at such a low level it seems like the fine was really only 1 bit a day. (Which in itself is interesting because it means at least some Equestrian months only have 28 days in them.)

The funny thing about the overdue fine being only 28 bits is that, if bits are made of gold, then even 28 bits would be pretty valuable to us. When I saw 28 bits stacked on the desk at the end of the episode, it made me think that that's a decent chunk of metal. But it's possible that bits aren't actually made of gold, or that gold is more abundant in Equestria than it is on Earth.

38 minutes ago, Truffles said:

Having said that, I very much want to believe Spike was calculating based on some simple fixed-accumulative factor, because it would allow us to determine the number of years which have passed since episode 1.

I hadn't thought of that! I guess we don't necessarily know what numbers the beads on Spike's abacus were representing, and apparently there are different methods of doing calculations on an abacus, which I'm not familiar with. But that's an interesting point.

[Truffles 2,033]

1 hour ago, Music Chart Fan said:

The funny thing about the overdue fine being only 28 bits is that, if bits are made of gold, then even 28 bits would be pretty valuable to us. When I saw 28 bits stacked on the desk at the end of the episode, it made me think that that's a decent chunk of metal. But it's possible that bits aren't actually made of gold, or that gold is more abundant in Equestria than it is on Earth.

It wouldn't surprise me if bits are solid gold. Reason being that in a world where anyone can apparently dig almost anywhere and find rare gems, the same it likely true for gold. XD

1 hour ago, Music Chart Fan said:

I hadn't thought of that! I guess we don't necessarily know what numbers the beads on Spike's abacus were representing, and apparently there are different methods of doing calculations on an abacus, which I'm not familiar with. But that's an interesting point.

Twilight speculated she owed around 1000 bits. Someone else already did the math and calculated with 28 days per month, and 12 months in a year, then it's been at least 3 years. But since Twilight was only speculating and Spike later said "You don't want to know" when he used the abacus, it's hard to say whether there's any useful details we can use. It's probably better to continue using the number of holidays that pass in the show to indicate passage of time.

Even if the Cake twins seemingly never age. XD

[Violet Bookish 349]

I really enjoyed this one, though I will admit I am a bit biased. I feel like a lot of people won't enjoy Twilight's freakouts, we've seen them already and I feel like some viewers think she should be over those kinds of things at this point. However, as someone who highly relates to them (I over think things a lot), I didn't mind it. But that's not the only thing I could relate to in this episode, in fact, I'd say this episode is highly relatable.

The message really touched me as well. As someone who holds my self to higher standards than I hold everyone else (as in I am more forgiving with others than I am myself), I found the lesson to be very helpful. Too many times I seek perfection in the things I do, which causes a lot of unnecessary stress. Like Twilight, I need to step back, take a breath, and realize that, as a flawed person, I can't be perfect all the time and I need to be forgiving of my failures. I think this message is a really good one to adults and kids alike and it's executed in a way that both parties can understand.

Add in some funny moments and returning characters and you've got yourself a pretty good episode. Overall I really enjoyed it and would give it a B+.

[Rushing cash 824]

https://derpibooru.org/2026996?q=the+point+of+no+return

For some reason, I cant look at that face for more then a few seconds, I dont know why but its a weird combination of cuteness and a little disturbing...

[Light Blade 8,658]

As somepony who is a big fan of Twilie, I have come here to say very calmly:

Spoiler

THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO WORDS TO DESCRIBE HOW MUCH I ADORED THIS EPISODE! IT HAD TWILIEDORBS, AND TWILIENANAS, AND TWILIGHTING, AND ADORKABLENESS, AND MOONDANCER, AND G1 META STUFF!

It was a pretty neat episode about my favorite character...being my favorite character that I love so much with her trusty little dragon boy Spike. A cute little story about unreturned book and how it changed somepony's life for the better. Major thank you for everything, Gillian M. Berrow. I give it a solid 9/10 with

Edited May 1, 2019 by Light Blade

[RDDash 18,866]

It's funny how the picture of perfect borrower is dirty and dusted, while at the same time the same perfect borrower failed to bring a book back awhile back. Probably explains why that picture was dusted in the first place, and librarians were just screwing around with Twilight.

[CastletonSnob 3,025]

 

 

What are we gonna call this pony?

I got some ideas:

Slab Bulkhead

Butch Deadlift

Bolt Vanderhuge

(Brohoof to anyone who gets the reference).

Edited May 3, 2019 by VG_Addict

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

Well then...decent episode overall. 

[RDDash 18,866]

I am probably repeating myself at this point but I just found that this episode moral doesn't really work in a context of episode. 

Oh well, can't change my vote now.

Edited May 4, 2019 by R.D.Dash

[Celli 4,332]

Loved it, especially Twi's freakouts and all the adorkable Twiabetes faces.

[Venomous 18,813]

I have always wondered how Twilight Sparkle would react if she knew she had an overdue book. I’m glad that this idea was finally explored. This episode was okay. I wasn’t expecting the late book to be the reason that Dusty Pages resigned from the library.... I thought the lesson for Twilight Sparkle was going to be her accepting the fact that Dusty Pages was simply too old to be working at the library.

[Sh Pie 65]

This was an entertaining Twilight focus episode. The flashback scene was unexpected. I think this is the first original flashback to show Twilight as a unicorn. It's cool how the show hasn't changed much regarding the aesthetics. This kind of animation always looks very contemporary and clean whether it's 2010 or 2019. Twilight has come a long way since then and the Twilight from that time was less developed than former despot Starlight is now.

Even more unexpected was the concept of our usually reliable book pony forgetting a return a library book. The time reference for events in this show are vague but considering a year had passed by Season 5 episode 7, then by now at least 2 years must have passed since she left Canterlot. A book overdue by that long would certainly warrant the librarian's expression of horror.

Spike's behavior was great in this episode, from his witty commentary on the Twilighting to his surprising knowledge of Saddle Arabian cuisine. He could probably get some part time there if he wanted. Twilight smelling books is yet another humorous and typical Twilight quirk. She really loves books.

Overall, it was very enjoyable to watch and I thought the moral was important. It's natural to strive for perfection but nopony can be perfect all the time and to set unrealistic expectations for yourself can result in disappointment. Fortunately for Twilight, there were no hard feelings from Dusty whose streak she inadvertently ended as it opened her eyes to the opportunities she was missing. And now Twilight has also found closure, despite reluctantly surrendering her prestige as the perfect book borrower. It was admirable though that she was willing to give it up anyway to help Dusty get her job back.

[Monsoon 1,648]

Eh, it was kinda mediocre, it got boring quickly in my opinion and was generally lacking in terms of entertainment 

[Allen 1,371]

Twilight, should you return the book to the library on time? You should return that book before it was due. Keeping her job at the library is her primary objective in this episode when she got that urgent mail from Derpy, she should have a perfect stats there. I'm very surprised that Derpy have a voice act in this episode too! 

[Senko 459]

8 hours ago, Allen said:

Twilight, should you return the book to the library on time? You should return that book before it was due. Keeping her job at the library is her primary objective in this episode when she got that urgent mail from Derpy, she should have a perfect stats there. I'm very surprised that Derpy have a voice act in this episode too! 

Are you suggesting Twilight use the table and Starswirls spell to go back in time and return the book before its due date?

[bigbertha 410]

The comedy is better here than I remember. Sure, there are still a good number of tired "Twilight freaking out" jokes, but a lot of the gags surrounding that are good. I like a lot of Spike's one liners and there are some actually creative ideas that I appreciate. I like the basement only for ponies with super late book fees and I like the fruit-style paintball fight. 

But sadly I don't think it's quite consistent enough. Twilight freaking out does take up too much of the episode and the story is a bit too reminiscent of Amending Fences, despite going in a different and better direction. And the moral is a bit heavy handed. It's a good message, but the ending pushes it a bit too hard.

Consider this to be on the upper end of Okay.

Score: 6/10

[Cash In 21,510]

I really enjoyed this episode, beginning to end. it was pretty humorous and reminded me a lot of some of the episodes from Season 1 and 2. I felt pretty sorry for Twilight at certain points, as things really didn't seem to be looking positive for her, despite being pretty harmless in retrospect.  While there were a lot of cases of "Twilighting", it really didn't bother me all that much. I really couldn't blame her for it, considering some of the stressful situations that she was thrown into - the Office of Overdue Return  seemed quite sinister at first. I liked Spike's quips throughout the episode, in addition to the moments where he comforted Twilight when he needed her. It really made the episode feel both more humorous and wholesome. I'll admit it was pretty cool to see The Tasty Treat and Moon Dancer after so much time and I really liked the small references to older episodes. I felt that it added to it, even though they were both present for a very short time - you know, it's the little things. Dusty Pages was a pretty wacky pony and I liked how she was invested in chaotic things, yet was rather wise. I really liked the overall message, though it was pretty stagnant until the very end, when Dusty had explained it and had Twilight read the title of her overdue book. I find it funny that I somehow predicted that the episode would revolve around an overdue book, after I saw Spike hold it at the beginning. Nothing to the due with the episode - I just find it a bit amusing. I would say that this was my second favourite episode of the season thus far, though it may be too early to judge.

[Here No Longer 5,270]

"I promise I won't let you down!" - Famous last words.

Anyways... In and of itself, the episode was... decent. I expected it to be a better episode based on the comments I've seen on it.

 

Good:

Moondancer had her first non-background role since "Amending Fences..." And it was everything I had hoped.

I really like the premise. Though I think the execution could still have been better, the premise of Twilight panicking over an overdue library book is a premise for an episode that in and of itself is much overdue (I'd say a good few seasons or so to be honest).

Spike was written fairly well for this episode I think. He served as a pretty good balance to Twilight's anxiety, though as you'll see in the "Bad" section, it couldn't have been enough and that it wasn't.

 

Bad:

The moral was actually pretty terrible (Concerning yourself about your responsibilities is not important, just f*** it and never return that book! Who cares anyways?).

They overdid the "Twilighting". It worked for "Lesson Zero" to do this, because the episode's premise was wholly based around her going bonkers. This on the other hand just feels like they way overdid it to sell her anxiety about the consequences she never really had to face (but should have in some way at least).

The ending in and of itself is totally ridiculous... Couldn't she just... I don't know... CLEAN the stain off of the book with her magic? If she really didn't want to, that would be totally and utterly out of character for Twilight.

 

Overall, I give this episode a 7.25/10.

Edited June 10, 2019 by DusksuD
:huh:

[cuteycindyhoney 13,283]

The best part was Twilight's G1 Starswirl figure. That was cute! I get her about late books. When I was little, I thought it was a mark of shame to return a book late!

[Props Valroa 26,040]

It made me feel really sad when Twilight basically said "Unimportant" when she got a gift from Moon dancer that was damaged. She obsesses over books wayyyy too much but its so cute and hilarious at the same time. That pony with the no sales signs and all that really reminds me of me. It feels weird seeing Twi visiting a nursing home of all things. Good moral, I like it.