So, the last two episodes were either horrendously cruel or painfully dull, and given Josh Haber's reputation with two-part episodes, this episode left me feeling both eager and nervous (but mostly nervous). So... could Shadow Play end the season on a high?
This post contains spoilers for My Little Pony: The Movie, as well as Disney/Pixar's Coco. Reader discretion is advised.
It would be safe to say that a lot could've worked against the finale, given what I've covered in the past two years. Starlight, once again, could've ended up being the creator's pet and saved the day single-hoofedly. We could've been given yet another bad guy redemption that ends up ruining an otherwise good story. Heck, we could also have ended up with a story that had been hyped up and we were left in disappointment because it wasn't what we expected...!
And yet... the episode still managed to pull it off. And the negatives I mentioned were, actually, not too bad.
I'm gonna start with Starlight Glimmer. I was particularly hard on her throughout season six, but really, I was doing it cause I was sure she could be a good character if given the proper chance. Thankfully, beginning with All Bottled Up, she showed signs of improvement (unless you consider Mirror Magic, but more on that later) and I feel that if season eight continues this development, she may end up back in my favorites. Fingers crossed...!
A lot of people were saying they made her "the big hero" of the story, and you know what? I call that a load of rubbish. If she was "the big hero", she could've found all the artifacts herself, she could've saved Stygian by herself, and she could've done all the research on her own.
The point I'm making is that Starlight wasn't the only pony involved. Everypony had their own part to play; the Mane Six (barring Twilight, who already had Star Swirl's journal) and Spike found the rest of the artifacts, and the Pillars were involved in Stygian becoming the bad guy (which I'll get to in a bit). So yes; everypony had their part... except Sunburst, who felt pretty useless. Yeah, he got the journal, but so could've Twilight and/or Starlight.
Then there's the villain redemption arc; how it appears to work is that the supposed bad guy's reasoning for being the way they were is either non-existent or flat out stupid (Mirror Magic, again, was the nadir for that cliche). Here? Stygian became the Pony of Shadows because he wanted to be respected by the Pillars; he was the guy who brought them together, damn it! Where's his respect?
However, after they saved a village from the sirens (again, more on that later), Stygian felt ignored; to the village ponies, he was just another face in the crowd. So he stole the Pillars' respective artifacts - at least, it's what they thought at first - just so he wanted to create copies and join them in battle, but he was misguided and ended up becoming one with the Pony of Shadows. Because of this turn of events, Star Swirl led the others to believe that Stygian was the one in the wrong... except they were also in the wrong without realizing it.
Is Star Swirl a mean-spirited pony with a good reputation? Not really; he does not have the best judgement, and can be rather stubborn and stuck in his own ways. We've all known at least a few people like that, I'm sure, but he does acknowledge in the end how foolish and petty he was, opening up the chance of redemption for him. In a way, Star Swirl was the subtle (unintentional) antagonist of the story... though I don't know if that's what they went for or it's just how I'm interpreting it.
I know I kind of sound repetitive at this point, but the themes for Shadow Play are really good; there are two sides in every story (especially with Star Swirl and Stygian), your idols may not be who you think they are (Ernesto de la Cruz will show you why; heck, this episode contains a lot of similarities to Coco), don't let your anger cloud your judgement (for Star Swirl), and nobody's perfect (yeah, any show could say that as well, but still). Those are perhaps some of the best themes Josh Haber has displayed as of yet, though it could be because he got help from Nicole Dubuc.
But of course, the script isn't perfect. What got fans excited was the presence of the Dazzlings (in their siren forms) in the Pillars' story. I was surprised to see them too... but at the same time, rather annoyed. Lately, it feels as if Hasbro, DHX, the writers, or a combination of the three believe Equestria Girls can stand up on its own without relying on Friendship is Magic. Based on what I have seen thus far, it clearly cannot, even with the same writers.
What makes it more baffling is that they brought in Flash Sentry's pony counterpart to cameo in a couple of season four episodes (Three's a Crowd, the first part of Twilight's Kingdom), and yet Sunset Shimmer - the staple of Equestria Girls - is not referred to or even mentioned once by Twilight in episodes? Heck, there isn't even an implication if the likes of the Shadowbolts, Cinch, etc. have pony counterparts, especially if several background ponies are given human counterparts!
My point is, all three parties need to make a decision; either Equestria Girls is part of the same universe as Friendship is Magic, or they are separate entities altogether. You can't have it both ways! Trying to do so is just going to make things confusing for your audience!
Back to Shadow Play; perhaps the biggest issue I personally have isn't within the episode, but it's more of an annoyance with the fact that it came out three weeks after My Little Pony: The Movie. They actually have similar themes if you think about it, especially with Tempest Shadow. The bad guy redemption cliche, as I mentioned earlier, is getting tiresome, but having two within the same month feels extremely overkill.
To be fair, however, My Little Pony: The Movie was actually being produced as far back as 2014 (maybe earlier), and films take months, sometimes years, to produce (unless it's a crapshack like The Emoji Movie), so none of us had any idea as to what would happen in seasons five through seven at the time. Most likely this was a freak occurrence, though the film being set after season seven does raise questions in regards to Twilight's role...
I haven't yet talked about how unexpected the story was, and it was in a good way. I mean, I don't think any one of us would've predicted all five of the pony legends being allied with Star Swirl, nor that they're actually still alive; they were just in limbo for over a millennia. It really feels a like a genuine surprise... or it would be if it wasn't leaked three weeks before its proper airdate.
Yeah, this will be my last rant for the review; some fans have leaked information about season eight, and I don't know why they did it, nor do I care. I won't get bogged down about how stupid that is, but this is my message to the "fans" for leaking this information; shame on you for potentially ruining income for both Hasbro and DHX, as well as spoiling unfinished episodes for everyone to see! I don't think you people deserve to be called "fans" if you're posting bootlegged animation on YouTube and spreading it across the internet! Actually wait like everybody else (you know, people who have better things to do than steal from companies) and watch the episodes when they properly air! How can those people wait if you outright post an episode before said airdates?!
And yet... the episode still managed to pull it off. And the negatives I mentioned were, actually, not too bad.
I'm gonna start with Starlight Glimmer. I was particularly hard on her throughout season six, but really, I was doing it cause I was sure she could be a good character if given the proper chance. Thankfully, beginning with All Bottled Up, she showed signs of improvement (unless you consider Mirror Magic, but more on that later) and I feel that if season eight continues this development, she may end up back in my favorites. Fingers crossed...!
A lot of people were saying they made her "the big hero" of the story, and you know what? I call that a load of rubbish. If she was "the big hero", she could've found all the artifacts herself, she could've saved Stygian by herself, and she could've done all the research on her own.
The point I'm making is that Starlight wasn't the only pony involved. Everypony had their own part to play; the Mane Six (barring Twilight, who already had Star Swirl's journal) and Spike found the rest of the artifacts, and the Pillars were involved in Stygian becoming the bad guy (which I'll get to in a bit). So yes; everypony had their part... except Sunburst, who felt pretty useless. Yeah, he got the journal, but so could've Twilight and/or Starlight.
Then there's the villain redemption arc; how it appears to work is that the supposed bad guy's reasoning for being the way they were is either non-existent or flat out stupid (Mirror Magic, again, was the nadir for that cliche). Here? Stygian became the Pony of Shadows because he wanted to be respected by the Pillars; he was the guy who brought them together, damn it! Where's his respect?
However, after they saved a village from the sirens (again, more on that later), Stygian felt ignored; to the village ponies, he was just another face in the crowd. So he stole the Pillars' respective artifacts - at least, it's what they thought at first - just so he wanted to create copies and join them in battle, but he was misguided and ended up becoming one with the Pony of Shadows. Because of this turn of events, Star Swirl led the others to believe that Stygian was the one in the wrong... except they were also in the wrong without realizing it.
Is Star Swirl a mean-spirited pony with a good reputation? Not really; he does not have the best judgement, and can be rather stubborn and stuck in his own ways. We've all known at least a few people like that, I'm sure, but he does acknowledge in the end how foolish and petty he was, opening up the chance of redemption for him. In a way, Star Swirl was the subtle (unintentional) antagonist of the story... though I don't know if that's what they went for or it's just how I'm interpreting it.
I know I kind of sound repetitive at this point, but the themes for Shadow Play are really good; there are two sides in every story (especially with Star Swirl and Stygian), your idols may not be who you think they are (Ernesto de la Cruz will show you why; heck, this episode contains a lot of similarities to Coco), don't let your anger cloud your judgement (for Star Swirl), and nobody's perfect (yeah, any show could say that as well, but still). Those are perhaps some of the best themes Josh Haber has displayed as of yet, though it could be because he got help from Nicole Dubuc.
But of course, the script isn't perfect. What got fans excited was the presence of the Dazzlings (in their siren forms) in the Pillars' story. I was surprised to see them too... but at the same time, rather annoyed. Lately, it feels as if Hasbro, DHX, the writers, or a combination of the three believe Equestria Girls can stand up on its own without relying on Friendship is Magic. Based on what I have seen thus far, it clearly cannot, even with the same writers.
What makes it more baffling is that they brought in Flash Sentry's pony counterpart to cameo in a couple of season four episodes (Three's a Crowd, the first part of Twilight's Kingdom), and yet Sunset Shimmer - the staple of Equestria Girls - is not referred to or even mentioned once by Twilight in episodes? Heck, there isn't even an implication if the likes of the Shadowbolts, Cinch, etc. have pony counterparts, especially if several background ponies are given human counterparts!
My point is, all three parties need to make a decision; either Equestria Girls is part of the same universe as Friendship is Magic, or they are separate entities altogether. You can't have it both ways! Trying to do so is just going to make things confusing for your audience!
Back to Shadow Play; perhaps the biggest issue I personally have isn't within the episode, but it's more of an annoyance with the fact that it came out three weeks after My Little Pony: The Movie. They actually have similar themes if you think about it, especially with Tempest Shadow. The bad guy redemption cliche, as I mentioned earlier, is getting tiresome, but having two within the same month feels extremely overkill.
To be fair, however, My Little Pony: The Movie was actually being produced as far back as 2014 (maybe earlier), and films take months, sometimes years, to produce (unless it's a crapshack like The Emoji Movie), so none of us had any idea as to what would happen in seasons five through seven at the time. Most likely this was a freak occurrence, though the film being set after season seven does raise questions in regards to Twilight's role...
I haven't yet talked about how unexpected the story was, and it was in a good way. I mean, I don't think any one of us would've predicted all five of the pony legends being allied with Star Swirl, nor that they're actually still alive; they were just in limbo for over a millennia. It really feels a like a genuine surprise... or it would be if it wasn't leaked three weeks before its proper airdate.
Yeah, this will be my last rant for the review; some fans have leaked information about season eight, and I don't know why they did it, nor do I care. I won't get bogged down about how stupid that is, but this is my message to the "fans" for leaking this information; shame on you for potentially ruining income for both Hasbro and DHX, as well as spoiling unfinished episodes for everyone to see! I don't think you people deserve to be called "fans" if you're posting bootlegged animation on YouTube and spreading it across the internet! Actually wait like everybody else (you know, people who have better things to do than steal from companies) and watch the episodes when they properly air! How can those people wait if you outright post an episode before said airdates?!
Final Thoughts
Well... that went on longer than I figured! And it was a tricky review to write up as well. It could be down to how the year was personally exhausting for me; moving to a new house, the news about the changes to Thomas and Friends, the recent season eight leaks, writer's block, or simply disinterest in writing twenty-five reviews. Either way, I was very much emotionally drained, but I pulled through as best as I could to get my thoughts down for all of season seven.
Getting onto my final thoughts on Shadow Play; has Josh Haber gotten the hang of writing a two-parter? Honestly, it's hard to say right now, but it is better than his previous three efforts, and one of them was a co-write with Mike Vogel, and I've seen Vogel mess up on occasion. With Nicole Dubuc, I hear she will be writing for season eight, so it'll be interesting to see how well she can write an episode on her own.
The episode on its own merit is great. There's the right mix of comedy and drama, the storytelling is really strong, and the characters all felt genuine. Plus, the fact that Haber called back to his very first script - Castle Mane-ia - was a nice touch. Sure, the Pony of Shadows may not have gotten as much screentime as people would've liked, but I suppose, like Sombra before him, it's what makes him a mysterious character. Onwards and upwards to season eight, we go... spoiler-free, that is!
Getting onto my final thoughts on Shadow Play; has Josh Haber gotten the hang of writing a two-parter? Honestly, it's hard to say right now, but it is better than his previous three efforts, and one of them was a co-write with Mike Vogel, and I've seen Vogel mess up on occasion. With Nicole Dubuc, I hear she will be writing for season eight, so it'll be interesting to see how well she can write an episode on her own.
The episode on its own merit is great. There's the right mix of comedy and drama, the storytelling is really strong, and the characters all felt genuine. Plus, the fact that Haber called back to his very first script - Castle Mane-ia - was a nice touch. Sure, the Pony of Shadows may not have gotten as much screentime as people would've liked, but I suppose, like Sombra before him, it's what makes him a mysterious character. Onwards and upwards to season eight, we go... spoiler-free, that is!
Rating: 10 out of 10
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