S02:E03 - Lesson Zero

[EcoType 1]

Just saying best episode ever!

[Jokuc 8,173]

Just saying best episode ever!

 

Yes, indeed! And

 

 

more psycho pony episodes has been confirmed for season 3!

 

 

[BaBaBrony 111]

Is there anypony in Ponyville who isn't prone to spells of batshit insanity?

[EcoType 1]

Yes, indeed! And

 

 

more psycho pony episodes has been confirmed for season 3!

 

 

 

Can't wait!

 

Is there anypony in Ponyville who isn't prone to spells of batshit insanity?

 

No I don't think there is, but this there anyone on earth who is not the same?

[XUNUSEDXXX 3,459]

Twilight's pedophile mode definitely made me go crazy with laughter. Like seriously. "Hi girrllssss!"

[Le Kvlt Dawn 2,364]

I just watched this episode, Twilight went full blown OCD. I mean she went crazy. And let's not forget about her paranoia.

[Sky Blaze 28]

I showed a clip from this episode to my sister (the part where she goes, "Hi, giiirls!"), and she was genuinely creeped out.

Her face:

[Clarity 3,094]

Applejack kind of got neglected here again. Rainbow did this explosion, Rarity was drama queening, Pinkie was Pinkie, Twi was insane, and Fluttershy fought a bear. The best AJ did was to wear a biking helmet for no reason.

[HomuraBL 851]

AMAZING EPISODE!

 

Perfect to start out with on the more slice of life episodes.

 

Some people say it's too over the top, but I love the show a lot for it's humor. Everything was just perfect in this and it's one of my top 5 favorite episodes. Wish Pinkie did more though.

[Lightning Fluttershy 1,844]

Perfect to start out with on the more slice of life episodes.

I thought it was a bit creepy at times... Dat smile haunted mah dreams for weeks... And the doll? Perfect for a horror movie. I think they could have started with something a little gentler.

[HomuraBL 851]

I thought it was a bit creepy at times... Dat smile haunted mah dreams for weeks... And the doll? Perfect for a horror movie. I think they could have started with something a little gentler.

 

It wasn't too bad. Different strokes for different people I guess. I just found those scenes incredibly funny. They didn't seem that scary. *shrugs*

[AegisReflector 886]

I loved the whole "Twilight going psycho" scenario the writers wrote. This episode obviously satirizes the "weekly episodic moral" aspect of the show, and so to put a "gentle" note into the episode would lose all meaning to the point the episode is trying to parody. I truly think that this is the real turning point of the show, in that it shows that even the generic protagonist who seems to just be your typical hero can have a very great episode detailing their fall from grace. Plus, I think the humor is a lot more darker than in previous episodes, which I adore since I, admitting it, get tired of just seeing light jokes every episode, even in a children's show.

[Monstermistress 8]

I really loved this episode, especially since Twilight was acting very Discord-y, as if he hadn't left her mind entierely. What freaks me out is what would happen if Twilight casted the spell on say herself or another Pony.

[Areoshock 20]

First episode I ever saw, Perhaps why Twilight's my favorite pony (Not just because she went all ocd like I had done the previous day, then went into a mental breakdown like I had the same day...) Mostly just because we have too much in common, considering how I basically live in a house with my room modifyed into a library xD

[spacestorm 183]

I like this episode, It was very funny to watch Twilight going crazy. However, in my opinion at the end animators gone overboard too much with her ​​appearance, she looked too strange and too creepy at her final psychotic stage.

 

This episode shows how much harmful can be OCD disorder (checklist of making checklist). Twilight wasn't go insane because of fear of displeasing her mentor - this was clearly shown at the beginning that a departure from a strictly defined plan was what definitively broke her. She said that sending letter to Celestia is so important because she can't be late because she is always so very well organized - she always so tightly stick to the schedule in her calendar.

 

The lesson was very good, I've learned myself how little things can become serious problems when I had to deal with it alone for longer time.

[Batbrony 16,053]

Welcome back everypony for another Batbrony review of "My Little Pony: OCD is Magic"!!! ?  Oh wait... that's not the name of the show.  Well, given how this episode plays out, it might as well be. 

 

Alrighty, "Lesson Zero", the first standard, one-shot episode of Season 2!  So, just how does this episode hold up?  Well, I'll start by saying something I meant to say in the last review; Season 2 got off to about the most fantastic start it possibly could have.  Similar to how I said at the end of my Season 1 reviews that 3 of the last 4 episodes in Season 1 were some of the finest in all of MLP, the same holds for the first five episodes of Season 2.  They are all fantastic in their own way, and really proved that not only had Lauren Faust and the folks at Studio B maintained their stride from last season, but had also begun improving on it.  So, what place in these five gems does "Lesson Zero" hold?  Honestly... for me, this is hands down the funniest one-shot episode in all of MLP!!!   Now, before I get into my review, I'll explain why it's funnier than probably the two closest contenders: "A Dog and Pony Show" and "Party of One".  Both of those episodes are flat out hilarious, but the reason that "Lesson Zero", for me at least, surpasses them in the laughs is quite simple: the humor in the latter is simply so much more unexpected.  Yes, there are some insane shenanigans in "A Dog and Pony Show" and "Party of One", but when you think about it, the behavior exhibited by both Rarity and Pinkie Pie in those episodes really isn't all that surprising.  I mean, yeah, Pinkie had certainly never lost it that hard before, but she was so random and kooky all the time throughout Season 1 that her losing it like that wasn't all that surprising.  Point is, "Lesson Zero"... it's just in a league of its own in how simply unexpected it was.  So, without further ado, let's begin.

 

The laughs are obviously what really make this episode stand out.  Heck, even BOTH of the episodes of "The Return of Harmony" combined are at the very least rivalled in the jokes department by this single episode.  If I were to sum up the center of all the comedy in "Lesson Zero" in one word, it'd be this: Twilight.  Plain and simple, she pretty much steals the show with one of the most insane, out-of-left-field breakdowns I've ever seen any character have!  Since there's simply too many laughs to cover in this episode, I'm just going to post some images from it to give you an idea of how completely insane of an episode "Lesson Zero" really is (not that I have to tell most of you seeing as I'm sure you've all seen it at least 10 times ).

 

 

TELL ME WITH A STRAIGHT FACE THAT THAT DOESN'T LOOK BAT S*** INSANE?!?!   Oh, that's right, YOU CAN'T!!!  This episode from the very first minute after the opening credits spirals out of control into a frenzied hysteria (as does its lead, Twilight Sparkle ).  In hindsight, yes, we'd had evidence in Season 1 that pointed to the potential for something like this to happen.  There were a few moments where Twilight's OCD almost got the better of her.  However, that said, unlike Pinkie Pie, who has always been random, zany, and completely over-the-top, Twilight still for the most part had always kept this pretty much under control.  AND THAT is what makes this such a brilliant, terrifyingly hilarious episode; nobody, I mean NOBODY could've seen this coming.  Start to finish, it is simply laugh, after laugh, after laugh, after laugh, each one bigger and better than the next.  Simply put, the comedy is just on in this episode, reaching a level of perfection and consistency that I have yet to see repeated so wonderfully as in "Lesson Zero".  That is why, for me, it is at the moment the funniest episode of MLP.

 

But what else makes this episode stand out?  Well, for one, the story itself, and the theme/lesson contained.  Two lessons are learned actually, both very important: (1) don't make a mountain out of a mole hill, and (2) don't ignore your friend's troubles even if they seem insignificant.  Very good lessons, very good indeed, and the Mane 6 are nicely invested in this episode even though Twilight pretty much steals the show.  But it's the events that had a really lasting impact, particularly the end.  Princess Celestia in the end, in the FIRST normal episode of Season 2, ordains that from this point on any pony may write her letter about a lesson learned about friendship, and only when they learn it.  That right there changed the format of the show majorly, and showed in a big way that Faust and Studio B were looking to progress the overall story of the show at a good, steady pace.  It was the exact type of evolution the overall plot needed and couldn't have come at a better time, and so I have to give "Lesson Zero" major kudos for this awesome plot development.

 

Finally, the animation is spot on as usual.  The many crazed faces of Twilight Sparkle are particularly delightful, but sequences such as the Atomic Rainboom, Fluttershy vs. Harry the bear, or Ponyville going crazy over Smarty Pants were all rather impressive sequences.  Overall, "Lesson Zero" is one of the finest episodes of MLP of all time: easily in my top 5, hands down the funniest episode in my book, and containing a very, very important plot development that has stuck with the show to this day.  If there were more episodes that got as many things right as "Lesson Zero", well, that'd be just fine with me. 

[Adrien Brony 21]

A personal favorite episode of mine. I love how Twilight went full blown OCD XD

[Hreter 9]

This is my very favorite episode. It's pacing, it's subject, the nightmare material... It all could even surpass the Season Premiere epicness. 

[Life Giver 1,063]

Oh lesson zero.... this one really got me to start liking the show a lot. 

 

I never seen anyone act how Twilight did in this one.

[Will Guide 21,360]

Before I watched MLP, my favorite cartoon character was Candace Flynn from Phineas and Ferb. While she does care for her titular younger, less than 15-years-old brothers, she constantly tries to get them busted for building impossibly fast projects of stuff making summer fun that could potentially be dangerous (rollercoasters, 10 stories forts of many rooms imaginable, a indoor, gravitational soccer field that allows players to run up and down the walls too, even fixing an old car). Her constant failures to bust them lead her to such memorable faces of insanity. 

 

So when I first saw Lesson Zero, I quickly connected my two favorite cartoon characters together in their funny, (and sometimes scary) faces!

 

 

[Rhodeana 17]

This episode was pretty crazy, I was distancing myself from the screen when Twilight was losing it and I think my jaw almost fell off when it looked like Fluttershy broke that bear's neck...

Edited April 14, 2014 by Mister Facepalm

[Pastel 7,630]

In my opinion, this is maybe the first episode which doesn't target directly little girls.

Twilight is hilarious, she has many great lines:

- Hi giiiiirls!

- Clock is ticking Twilight, clock-is-ticking!

 

And another line less famous, from Bon-bon:

- That incredible, amazing doll!

 

Classic episode. XD

Edited April 14, 2014 by Blobulle

[Captain MacMillian 28]

Whenever I hear "Hi giiiiirls!", I can't help but think about The Shining...there's just too much of a resemblence.... D:

 

 

          

Edited May 26, 2014 by Captain MacMillian

[Death Javelin 12]

Twilight makes the most entertaining faces in that episode! ^^

 

The notion that twilight would be willing to go so far as to make problems for other ponies just to be able to write about solving them made the episode very entertaining to me. There was something very twisted with the way in which she would start to get delighted when she thought one of her friends was in peril and I absolutely loved every minute of it! XD

Before I watched MLP, my favorite cartoon character was Candace Flynn from Phineas and Ferb. While she does care for her titular younger, less than 15-years-old brothers, she constantly tries to get them busted for building impossibly fast projects of stuff making summer fun that could potentially be dangerous (rollercoasters, 10 stories forts of many rooms imaginable, a indoor, gravitational soccer field that allows players to run up and down the walls too, even fixing an old car). Her constant failures to bust them lead her to such memorable faces of insanity. 

 

So when I first saw Lesson Zero, I quickly connected my two favorite cartoon characters together in their funny, (and sometimes scary) faces!

 

Definitely an interesting parallel. Both characters have that sort of obsessive compulsion to abide by principles of order and can come undone very quickly when that order isn't properly adhered to. The thing most remarkable about the two characters is that they can go bananas and make trouble for innocent bystanders in their pursuit of order yet still come across as very endearing and likable; regardless of their missteps. When Twilight and Candace cause trouble both still come across as morally outstanding individuals rather then villains; only made more relatable in the very human way in which they are flawed. In short, I can definitely see why you would like the two characters, they are both certainly something special! 

[kelseymarie805 301]

I thought it was pretty good, although Twilight got way too worried over that paper. You know I just thought of this but she could've just written Celestia a quick note telling her that her assignment would be a little late and that she would need more time b/c she was busy. But all in all, everyone learned their lessons so, that was good. Great episode as usual!