S02:E01 - Izzy Does It

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,160]

Title: Izzy Does It
Release Date: September 26, 2022
Written By: Jim Martin
Synopsis: Thanks to Pipp, a colorful birthday gift Izzy made for Sunny has gone viral. Everypony wants one — but poor Izzy's creativity can't keep up!

NOTE: Episode is only available on NetFlix for the foreseeable future. Please keep that in mind! Please refer to the post below; episode is on YouTube!

Edited September 27, 2022 by Ashen Pathfinder

[twilightlicious69 629]

Netflix After School's channel has released this ep.

 

[Rushing cash 835]

The animation was better than in the special but there is certainly room for improvement, but at least it did not really take me out of the story. 

The episode was alright, it did develop the plot with the villains, we learned that Misty is still cutie markless at her age, which is a concept I wish was explored at FIM. She will definitely redeem herself. I am glad that the villains are getting explored more here. The characters are much more rounded then in TYT series, as expected. 

[Silly Druid 6,707]

I've only seen this one episode so far (I'm going to watch one per day), and I wouldn't say I like it that much. The main 'conflict' seems kind of 'artificial' to me, and also there is something in the way the characters talk to each other that seems a little 'off' to me. In the movie, the dialogue is very well done, and it makes it clear what the intentions of the characters are. Here, it seems like they communicate using 'half-baked' sentences, if you know what I mean.

The interesting part for me is what happens on the villain side, but I still don't like how Opaline speaks, she doesn't sound like a believable villain to me. I like Misty much more though, I think she's going to be one of my favorite characters. Also, Misty wanting to get her cutie mark reminds me of Tempest Shadow wanting to get her horn back.

(I also posted this comment on Equestria Daily, but it got 'detected as spam' for some reason.)

[flutterJackdash 218]

I'm beginning to come around to liking Izzy, even if at times it feels like they're trying too hard to make her like Pinkie when she should be herself. I do love her crafting glasses, those are cute.

[Misty Shadow 7,731]

This is a good first episode of Chapter 2 that did not take time to sink in like the pilot for the show. I love how Izzy felt much more like a real person in this episode rather than a cartoon character like in Tell Your Tale, and I'm actually normally amused by Izzy's antics in TYT. It also explains how Izzy got her moped, which surprised me. And of course, it's Pipp's fault that the ponies can be spied on now to an extent, just because she can't admit that she forgot to get Sunny a gift. XD I did enjoy Pipp's plot too, finding it to just be as relatable as Izzy's, but the most interesting parts of the episode are the villain scenes. Misty is getting redeemed, no questions. Opaline, in contrast to Izzy, does feel much more like a cartoon character rather than a real person right now, but at least there's something interesting to note with her saying that she rescued Misty as a filly. I really hope that builds to something that makes the conflict more engaging. 

[Orchid_Fiore 199]

In order to avoid more misunderstandings: This is a discussion about "Izzy does it", so it's only my opinion on this episode, not the entire show.

Worldbuilding: I have some complaints with the worldbuilding. Sometimes looks nice, sometimes bad. Although, since the especial, they only stay in Maretime Bay instead of showing us more from Zephyr Heights or Bridlewood: about this one I'm very disappointed, because when Izzy was ready to go, she conveniently found the inspiration needed on a random motorcycle placed around the poorly designed forest.

About the plot: it was ok, not very surpising. I can't deny I expected something more serious, but I'll give it time to expand the plot/important lore elements. I liked the "relationship" between Opaline and Misty, that makes you sympathize with her problems (blank flank and the abuse she obviously suffers from the alicorn). The mane five's dinamic fits well and doesn't feel too forced, was "organic".

Humor: I enjoyed this, especially Hitch's jokes.

Character development in the episode.

Sunny: In the episode, everypony had their own problems except Sunny, she seems very "perfect and nice" for my taste. I hate that kind of protagonist cliché.

Pipp: Still having an undeveloped personality centered in her addicition to social networks and singing in random situations, AND solving issues about those songs. In my opinion, she's the most beautiful pony of the group, but is just that, her personality doesn't tell me anything interesting.

Zipp: Is not far behind, I didn't like she didn't have more protagonism, her attitude is very passive and a bit boring, too mature. I prefer an active and enthusiastic Detective Zipp.

Hitch: He was OK. He's by far, one of the best. But is my opinion or he's ignoring his child? Lol 

Izzy: I really loved her! She wasn't one of my favorites (and I used to dislike her extremely long hair, however, in the series looks shorter), but now definitely she does! The VA did a fantastic work!

 

Ok, that's all for me, I won't watch all episodes in one day, so I'll try to avoid spoilers!

Edited September 26, 2022 by Orchid_Fiore
Quick notice

[flutterJackdash 218]

11 minutes ago, Orchid_Fiore said:

Worldbuilding: I have some complaints with the worldbuilding. Sometimes looks nice, sometimes bad. Although, since the especial, they only stay in Maretime Bay instead of showing us more from Zephyr Heights or Bridlewood: about this one I'm very disappointed, because when Izzy was ready to go, she conveniently found the inspiration needed on a random motorcycle placed around the poorly designed forest.

About the plot: it was ok, not very surpising. I can't deny I expected something more serious, but I'll give it time to expand the plot/important lore elements. I liked the "relationship" between Opaline and Misty, that makes you sympathize with her problems (blank flank and the abuse she obviously suffers from the alicorn). The mane five's dinamic fits well and doesn't feel too forced, was "organic".

Humor: I enjoyed this, especially Hitch's jokes.

Character development in the episode.

Sunny: In the episode, everypony had their own problems except Sunny, she seems very "perfect and nice" for my taste. I hate that kind of protagonist cliché.

Pipp: Still having an undeveloped personality centered in her addicition to social networks and singing in random situations, AND solving issues about those songs. In my opinion, she's the most beautiful pony of the group, but is just that, her personality doesn't tell me anything interesting.

Zipp: Is not far behind, I didn't like she didn't have more protagonism, her attitude is very passive and a bit boring, too mature. I prefer an active and enthusiastic Detective Zipp.

Hitch: He was OK. He's by far, one of the best. But is my opinion or he's ignoring his child? Lol 

Izzy: I really loved her! She wasn't one of my favorites (and I used to dislike her extremely long hair, however, in the series looks shorter), but now definitely she does! The VA did a fantastic work!

 

Ok, that's all for me, I won't watch all episodes in one day, so I'll try to avoid spoilers!

Okay, I see what you mean about the World Building bit, but hopefully they'll expand as times goes on.

As for the characters? It's only one episode, 21-23 minutes in length, not enough time to flesh out and development wholly new traits for 5 unique characters plus add a plot and conclusion, so give it time. Be patient.

Izzy was a gem in this episode, and I love how she rolls with just about everything.

As for the rest, like I said, give it time, okay? I'm not spoiling anything, I don't think, by saying they all get their chance and all of your issues will be addressed.

[Orchid_Fiore 199]

Moments ago, flutterJackdash said:

As for the rest, like I said, give it time, okay? 

Yes, I knew someone would say this, but I'm just criticizing this especific episode. I don't mean to judge the entire series based on this.

[flutterJackdash 218]

1 minute ago, Orchid_Fiore said:

Yes, I knew someone would say this, but I'm just criticizing this especific episode. I don't mean to judge the entire series based on this.

Understood, so note that I don't actually disagree any part of your assessment of the specific episode. I'm actually surprised more wasn't said about Twilight.

[Orchid_Fiore 199]

1 minute ago, flutterJackdash said:

I'm actually surprised more wasn't said about Twilight.

I only see her as the "hype stuff" for the older fans.

[flutterJackdash 218]

2 minutes ago, Orchid_Fiore said:

I only see her as the "hype stuff" for the older fans.

Oh surely so, but designing her that poorly? It's a miss, even with Tara Strong reprising the role. She looks so awkward to me.

[Orchid_Fiore 199]

1 minute ago, flutterJackdash said:

Oh surely so, but designing her that poorly? It's a miss, even with Tara Strong reprising the role. She looks so awkward to me.

I agree, her design looks mediocre even compared with background Ponies. If this continues, will disappoint the fans instead of hype them.

[RDDash 19,130]

"Yes, so kind of you to do that, now pay me a real salary or I quit" a unicorn minion in the new Netflix show. I am glad thati got to watch the first episode was on YouTube and my hanch was correct the ponies found an old holographic recording from Twilight Sparkle 

[Splashee 28,559]

Upbeat and catchy song. Cute 3D animation. Definitely worth watching!

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,160]

A good start! Definitely feels like how a proper season 1 story would start and develop. Izzy was the star and thankfully she's not a Pinkie clone!

Not much I can really say as the main conflict was kinda meh, but it fit. Good stuff so far.

[Cheerilee 26,577]

Much better than anything TYT related. I enjoyed Izzy a lot in this episode - a stark contrast to my opinions of her in TYT. Izzy in TYT is relatively annoying, but this Izzy was very enjoyable. The dialog felt off to me, and felt quite artificial. The visual style was subject to many strange things in my opinion. Pipp however, has easily become my least favorite of the Mane 5. I find myself annoyed by the social media aspect of her character. I wish they just made her a singer, instead of a social media / streamer type personality which I find to be flying in the face of MLP's escapism. 

Opaline and Misty interest me a lot. Misty has obviously been subject to abuse and control by Opaline, but who really is Opaline? Misty not having a cutie mark was unexpected. I look forward to see where this goes. Zipp was enjoyable for sure - the rest of the characters felt average to me.

[Evil Pink One 13,505]

The only thing I can say is.... The opening is good! It felt animeish? No.. no... Maybe not?.... It's good though... That's it.... 

[Fluttershutter 2,365]

This was pretty disappointing. The story was decent, the animation was okay. But the dialogue was REALLY clunky. Really "kids show" and I don't mean that in a good way. And the characters just seem really shallow. Izzy was the best. Hopefully it will get better.

Opaline is interesting. Her dialogue is as bad as the rest but her and Misty seem interesting. The way she treats Misty gives me major Gothel and Rapunzel vibes.

[AlbaTross 1,586]

Ok, for the good, this episode avoided the route of trying to be yet another pilot, and yet it somehow gave me a much clearer impression of what to expect from the series going forward than anything we've seen so far.  This episode isn't my favourite though.  I've only seen up to the second episode so far, but this one is just super cliche, and not really all that interesting IMHO.  Izzy is moderate annoying in this one.  I've seen much worse from her though, so I'll let it slide.  I think the series lays it on too thick with her forced quirky side, and although I think she wears it better than Hitch, she's practically the forced quirky character, and...yeah, it's more miss than hit for me. 

Speaking of Hitch, we get forced quirky Hitch here too.  Also, Sparky is somehow the most annoying of the demon babies I've seen in a MLP property, and that's saying a lot considering he had to dethrone the likes of Flurry Heart.  I really hope that appearances from Hitch and Sparky don't bring out the worst in one another going forward, as I think it's a detriment to both characters.  With that said, my impression for the next episode might be surprising.  In this episode though, I really can't help but feel that Sparky is a waste of animation and thought.  The writers didn't really try that hard with his name either.  MLP's latest demon baby practically intros every episode too, so that's a great sign.

Pipp is alright in this episode, though is once again the center of what should be a meme highlighting how vapid and shallow the thought process behind this series seems to be (the other being "*squee* Ponies!" from one of my least favourite TYT episodes).  Her arc here isn't all that special though IMHO, and neither she nor Izzy really get that much development here.  It's probably not a good sign that Pipp is still my second favourite.

Sunny is the everypony/friendship pony/voice of reason, but she still comes across as the blandest character of the bunch.  Zipp is once again proving to be the least annoying and closest this series gets to a decent character, so I have no issue with her appearance here.  Heck, because we got forced quirky Hitch, she ends up doing more investigation than the actual cop, go figure.  

Discount Queen Beryl and her henchpony only serve to further highlight that being more slice of life was never actually G5's flaw.  I really don't feel like they add much, if anything, to the story here, and it feels like they're just biding their time for payoff later.  I'll have more to say about them later.  

All in all, there's nothing here that lowers my opinion of G5 as a whole, but there's nothing here that changes my mind about it either.  It just comes across as a sterilized show for kids.  To be fair, a lot of modern media just comes across as sanitized follow-ups to what came before; MLP's latest series is just carrying on that tradition.  A lot of people seem to like that sort of thing, so all the power to them, but while it entertains for a while, which probably means it does its job, I really don't see much of it sticking with me long-term like much of FiM has.  

[North Star 4,998]

so I watched this a few days ago, but was worried about talking on the forums because I'm watching it in sequence in a Discord group. It is hard to give this a completely neutral review since there were two huge comparisons being made when I watched it: 1) the terrible pilot which it was infinitely better than by simply being watchable; 2) FiM, which most kiddie media will struggle to compare to, since that managed to hit that weird sweet spot where adults can get into. I will say that G5 seems to be intentionally much softer than G4 though, which will always hinder its appeal relative to FiM for me (and, probably most older audiences who haven't come through FiM). With that said I'm gonna stop myself comparing and try to consider it in its own right. 

the good

the characterisation were fun, they popped, I knew who everypony was and I liked them, just like for the movie. Gillian Berrow is clearly good at writing for these characters and believes in them, and I love that. I know I said I won't do comparisons, but TyT's treatment of Sunny in particular was often iffy, so it was great to see the star of the show really shine (alongside her constellation, as good little ponies should).   

the intro song! I loved FiM's songs and the songs in the movie, and I thought this intro ep did capture some of that magic. 

the meh

so the pony world was sometimes cute and fun - the rainbow trees for instance were memorable. However, when I think of Maretime Bay, Bridlewood or Zephyr Heights... nothing strongly comes to mind from the eps really. 

the character models, like the world, were decent (vast difference to pilot here), but other than some notable exceptions for Misty and Opaline, and the occasional closeup of Sunny, I didn't find myself all that wowed by the character models (unlike in the Movie where I wanted to hug them).

the pacing/message. From memory, this ep was basically Izzy trotting about and introducing things? Now I have a bit of a bad memory, but I'd prefer each of these eps to have a stronger message or theme. 

the bad

honestly nothing jumped out at me as bad. @PawelSmentions the delivery of the lines, but I have to admit I did not notice that too much. Some of the mouth movements were a little off though. A few people like @AlbaTrossmention the spike baby. Spike is usually a weakness of MLP (G1 spike takes the crown I think, but early FiM Spike was bad too), but by keeping him a genuine baby, making it do sort of interesting things (which seem atm to be connected to the plot - bear in mind I have not seen the rest of the eps though) and by giving it to a character who is shown to have paternal instincts and thus has a proper role, I didn't mind this Spike at all.

[Skylight Scintillate 1,933]

Let's see, where do I even begin? So earth pony plant magic causes hitch to shoot forward? What xactly does "big flavors" mean? Can ponies taste sizes now? And what exactly is it with Pipp lying about giving the mirror as a present?

Izzy finds the motorcycle thing she uses in TYT, but that creates plot and timeline inconsistences with TYT. 

I'm really starting to like Zipp, especially the investigation part of her. Izzy feels a bit too random and like Pinkie Pie to me. Sunny didn't really do much, which was kind of disappointing. I found Pipp really weird, with the way the lied about the mirror and the advice she gave. Like I get the feeling that the idea is that both Izzy and Pipp have creative block, and that the advice they offer each other is supposed to help each other get over that block, but it just felt very convoluted for me. Like, the dialogue and plot just felt so unnatural and hard to understand. 

In summery, I think that this was a pretty bland episode.

[Finding_Marty 645]

Oppeing = pure gem!

I like this feeling you get about how big the world is when they show Maretime Bay, Briddlewood and Zephyr Heights.

The dialogues and characters development are getting better but...

Sunny is still a dummy (but cuter)  and Izzy is so random... 

I have a feeling that Sunny and Pipp are the only ones who have real jobs. The rest is just having a good time.

Annoying baby dragon...

Pipp's songs are less catchy.

When Gamora... I mean Misty spies Sunny from the bridge, the pony next to her has no cutie mark (double agent)

Pip lies she has given a gift to Sunny, yh seriously? 

Opaline treats Misty like a slave and Misty looks very cute and innocent. We already know how this will end.

It's getting better... 6/10

E: nevermind, just dicovered they got their marks only on the right side 

Edited August 9 by Finding_Marty