S03:E05 - Magic Duel

[Thrond 3,257]

There's a surprising darkness to this one. All of the stuff Trixie does to ponies' bodies is kinda horrifying, plus her entire motivation comes from Twilight ruining her career so badly that she couldn't find work outside of farm labour. Apparently Twilight can literally conjure parasprites - living beings - at will. All of that is kinda interesting to me, and there's a creativity to this which keeps it entertaining, but it's kinda superficial. There's no emotional core here. Plus, it zips forward so fast that there's not a whole lot of suspense. Nonetheless, I dug stuff like Twilight's magical training, Trixie's extreme boasting, and the duels themselves. It's just that, even beyond the fact that this is completely empty spectacle, it's also a really rote plot structure. On a moment-to-moment basis, this is charming, and the ending is kinda sweet, but it also doesn't offer much we haven't seen in the show before. And Trixie is set up to have genuinely understandable motivations, but the episode does nothing with her aside from have her grandstand, do a few neat magical tricks, and then apologize at the end, just because. We don't see how she gets her bearings back, we don't see any resentment from her, she's just... apologetic now. It continues to feel like kinda half-hearted fan service to me. 

Score:

Entertainment: 7/10

Characters: 5/10

Themes: 6/10

Story: 6/10

Overall: 60/100

[Meushell 52]

I mostly enjoyed this episode. I like that Trixie was corrupted rather than just being evil. The episode could have gone there easily given her last episode, where she was the “bad guy” for doing her job.

I loved that “Applejack” as a stallion spoke like her brother. I thought it was just a funny joke, but it was actually a clue! 

My only issue was that Trixie’s career was ruined for no good reason, and no one seemed to care. Sure, at the beginning, she started problems right away. Of course, they aren’t going to sympathize with her then. At the end though, no one thinks to say something like, “Er, sorry for bullying you during your own show that one time. I guess we got carried away there. Never imagined it would ruin your career. From now on, we’re going to tell people how fun and exciting it is to watch.”

[bigbertha 410]

This episode has surprisingly high stakes for a regular episode. That definitely makes it stick out. It's also very entertaining. It may not be some of the best of the show, but a lot of the jokes work and the story was still pretty engaging.

The biggest problem is most likely Fluttershy. She feels a bit flanderized.

Score: 8/10

[qwerE 95]

I love this episode! The plot just felt really brilliant. Using beavers to sneak out Fluttershy in a tree, preparing a fake amulet to make Trixie get hers off by herself, and using actual magic 'tricks'(tricks that only fool the eyes) to win aginst an impossible duel? They were just all so clever! It really felt like a lot of thought was put into the story.

[bigbertha 410]

This episode is okay. It's much more story driven than many others and while it's not too bad, there are some issues. For one, there's very little tension in the middle of the episode. There's good buildup in the cold open and both of the duels, but the middle parts are split between everyone back at town and Twilight at Zecroa's. These parts aren't bad, but they aren't given enough time to be fleshed out and interesting. In fact, nothing is allowed to be fleshed out. Trixie is fun as the antagonist, but there's nothing beyond her being corrupted by the Alicorn Amulet and apologizing at the end. The conflict feels shallow.

But for a shallow conflict, it's still enjoyable. I like that the episode goes for some really high stakes with Twilight being sent out of Ponyville. While Twilight's training with Zecora is mostly made pointless, I do like how Twilight ends up beating Trixie. It makes sense and the final duel is pretty fun. And so's the first duel. And while not a lot is allowed to be fleshed out, the stuff we do get is still fun to watch for what it is.

The jokes take a backseat here, but there are some good ones. Many of them feel like repeats from old episodes, but many of them are executed better than in their previous appearances. The jokes can sometimes clash with the more dramatic tone, but it's not too bad. 

This is a fine episode. It tries to be different, and while it doesn't completely succeed, it's still not too bad.

Score: 6/10

 

[Rushing cash 824]

It was a great episode, seeing trixie again was great. I liked the interactions between the characters, although some thing felt off, especially zecora teaching twilight, the way they interacted felt unlikely and weird. And why trixie dont trust wheels? She had wheels on her wagon before...   Out side of those, the episode was fun, and the way they defeated  trixie was very clever and I didn't see it coming.

8.5/10, I am dissspointed however they never explained more about the amulat and where it came for, after all its a powerful source of power.

[Cash In 21,505]

Re-using Trixie was a genius move. She was a neat character in her first appearance, but the story behind that wasn't all that interesting. This episode puts her to far better use.

Speaking of Trixie, I was a big fan of her portrayal here. I liked the idea of the amulet increasing your magic power, but also corrupting you in the process. I think that was executed very well.

I loved the more dramatic plot here. Twilight being exiled from Ponyville and being trained by Zecora was a great concept. I do kinda wish they did a bit more with it though. They could build an entire episode from that, if they wanted to. :p

I thought the final battle with Trixie was really well done. It was really cool to see Twilight not rely on magic, but rather her wits. That was definitely the highlight of the episode for me.

Really enjoyed this episode. One of my favourites from this season.

[Props Valroa 26,028]

Trixie is my favorite MLP character for years and has been for years due to this episode, so this episode easily ranks highly compared to others. Trixie was great and powerful as always - and it would have been funny if she took Twilight's amulet and added it along with the Alicorn Amulet, I wonder why she removed her Alicorn Amulet, when she could have had both of the amulet's power, in her eyes, then? But Twilight's wits definitely outsmarted her.

[Hadrien 937]

Trixie isn't one of my favorite character, but I really liked her in this episode. She finally achieved her status as Twilight's Rival, even if it was short lived. I really hoped that she would keep the Alicorn Amulet, or find something else to defeat Twilight (maybe Sombra fear magic could've corrupted her) and be the recurring villain of this season. They really did try to make Trixie be Twilight's foil for the early seasons, but being a simple stage unicorn, she doesn't have real big stakes unless you give her more power like in this episode.

The first magic duel was really interesting, give a little power to Trixie and she becomes the ultimate petty villain (her stealing Pinkie's mouth was 10/10 funny) How Twilight stuggled against the power of the Alicorn Amulet really makes it feel like an old and powerful artifact.

Zecora makes her comeback, which I really appreciate since I find her very interesting and entertaining. She teaches Twilight that sometimes, the right way to win is to change the rules of the game and think outside the box, which is a really good thing for Twilight to learn.

9/10, it's one episode I never mind to go back to and watch.