For once, we have an episode that wasn't leaked in December! Okay, technically, it aired in Finland early, but that's beside the point. And it's Nicole Dubuc's first solo episode as well! Can Marks for Effort prove that she's a good writer, or were her collaborations on Shadow Play and School Daze pure luck?
One of the things which struck me was the synopsis; why would the Crusaders want to attend the School of Friendship when they're already at Cheerilee's school? Thankfully, they didn't have to deal with going to two different schools at once, and they become tutors at the School of Friendship in the end.
And then there's Cozy Glow. I don't really have too much to say about her at this point, but she looks cute and charming. Some are saying that she might be Queen Chrysalis in disguise, and whilst I don't usually comment on fandom speculation, that may actually be something the show never tackled before. Usually, when we meet an antagonist, we get the impression that they may not be one we want to mess with.
However, a downside to that is... Well, look at recent Disney villains like Hans from Frozen and Bellwether from Zootopia; their villainy comes out of nowhere and it raises questions as to how we - the audience and film's characters - were able to trust them at all.
And then we come to the comments that Diamond Tiara wasn't used in place of Cozy Glow. I genuinely believe that in Crusaders of the Lost Mark, Diamond Tiara was deliberately given a redemption just so they could write her out of future stories and push her into the background, likely because of how much the fandom hated her at the time. Considering what happened to Flash Sentry (someone who's never done anything bad), that's a possibility.
Back to the episode; this kind of raises questions in-universe as to how old the Crusaders are. We know Flurry Heart is a baby and that the Mane Six and Starlight are adults, but the Crusaders? They're still in school, and yet they act and sound like teenagers.
Also, Twilight's characterization this season is becoming more gratuitous. Why would she jump to the conclusion that the Crusaders deliberately caused Cozy Glow to fail? Yes, I get that she cares for her students having a good performance, but banning the Crusaders for a lie seems like overreaction on Twilight's end.
Getting back to Cozy Glow apparently being a secret antagonist, maybe lying about the Crusaders seems like the first sign? This should be interesting as the season progresses.
Final Thoughts
So far, this is probably Nicole Dubuc's weakest script, much of it is down to a thin plot and predictable outcome (I'm sensing a trend this season), but I'm hoping she comes to her own and improves as season eight carries on. It's nice to see a little more growth being implanted for the Crusaders, and this may be the first episode to hint at what's to come for the finale in autumn. Also, can we stop making Twilight look like an incompetent idiot when there's a serious issue at hand? Familiarity breeds contempt, and it already looks like she'll be worse than she was in season six.
Rating: Okay
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