It's time to head down to Friendship University for the next review!
This review contains spoilers; viewer discretion is advised.
Friendship University
Written by Chris "Doc" Wyatt & Kevin Burke
Star Swirl the Bearded has gained a rather mixed reputation among fans given his portrayal in Shadow Play, but I didn't have any issues with it. If anything, I like how it made him a more interesting character; he's stubborn, proud, and doesn't know when he makes a mistake. So I was hoping season eight would further develop him as a character.
Well... this episode did to some extent, but this was mostly a Twilight/Rarity episode - perhaps the first ever in the entire series. (Look Before You Sleep isn't counted since Applejack was thrown into the mix.) Not only that, it's the first Flim and Flam episode without Applejack appearing in any capacity, though she is mentioned indirectly.
That being said, Twilight holding a grudge against Flim and Flam is perfectly justified considering she witnessed the events of The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, but their other appearances? Most likely Applejack told her about these. Despite having a solid reason to hold a grudge, again, this still doesn't excuse Twilight's character in previous episodes like Marks for Effort.
Still, this plays really well into Star Swirl's character. He's learning about the new Equestria around him, and is still learning about friendship along the way. Him not knowing Flim and Flam as well as Twilight does also worked really well, showing that despite his wisdom, Star Swirl is not a perfect character; even he can be gullible at times. If that's what they were trying to portray with Edward, they messed it up badly.
And that leads me onto the theme; yeah, it is obvious that Flim and Flam have still learned nothing from past experiences, but I do think it's a relevant theme considering the controversy surrounding Butch Hartman and his Kickstarter campaign for the OAXIS streaming service, describing it as a Christain network. Not to mention the political scandals regarding... you know who.
Now, if I may go off on a tangent for a bit; several months prior to the episode airing, the Restore the Magic campaign gave big news that the Lady prop featured in Thomas and the Magic Railroad had been found and there was a GoFundMe campaign to buy the model and restore it to its former glory. But it turned out that the buyers of the model had run off with the money, leaving the prop to potentially be scrapped when they could've simply built a new model from the ground up with less money than it took to build it. I know it's old news, but I wanted to bring it up because of how it relates to the episode's theme.
Back to Friendship University as an episode; if there was something disappointing about it, it was Chancellor Neighsay disappearing after he approves of Friendship University. Don't get me wrong; his role in their was really good, and it further proves my point that not all antagonists are meant to be redeemed. But when Friendship University was revealed to be a scam, we don't know how he would've reacted to that. Maybe they're setting something up for the finale...?
Another complaint I have has nothing to do with the episode, but I'll mention it anyway. In Shadow Play, we see the Pillars and Stygian return from limbo, but between that episode and Friendship University, we don't really see how they handle modern-day Equestria, almost making their return feel like an afterthought, Yeah, this has happened in past seasons, but with season eight, it's honestly rather jarring.
Well... this episode did to some extent, but this was mostly a Twilight/Rarity episode - perhaps the first ever in the entire series. (Look Before You Sleep isn't counted since Applejack was thrown into the mix.) Not only that, it's the first Flim and Flam episode without Applejack appearing in any capacity, though she is mentioned indirectly.
That being said, Twilight holding a grudge against Flim and Flam is perfectly justified considering she witnessed the events of The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, but their other appearances? Most likely Applejack told her about these. Despite having a solid reason to hold a grudge, again, this still doesn't excuse Twilight's character in previous episodes like Marks for Effort.
Still, this plays really well into Star Swirl's character. He's learning about the new Equestria around him, and is still learning about friendship along the way. Him not knowing Flim and Flam as well as Twilight does also worked really well, showing that despite his wisdom, Star Swirl is not a perfect character; even he can be gullible at times. If that's what they were trying to portray with Edward, they messed it up badly.
And that leads me onto the theme; yeah, it is obvious that Flim and Flam have still learned nothing from past experiences, but I do think it's a relevant theme considering the controversy surrounding Butch Hartman and his Kickstarter campaign for the OAXIS streaming service, describing it as a Christain network. Not to mention the political scandals regarding... you know who.
Now, if I may go off on a tangent for a bit; several months prior to the episode airing, the Restore the Magic campaign gave big news that the Lady prop featured in Thomas and the Magic Railroad had been found and there was a GoFundMe campaign to buy the model and restore it to its former glory. But it turned out that the buyers of the model had run off with the money, leaving the prop to potentially be scrapped when they could've simply built a new model from the ground up with less money than it took to build it. I know it's old news, but I wanted to bring it up because of how it relates to the episode's theme.
Back to Friendship University as an episode; if there was something disappointing about it, it was Chancellor Neighsay disappearing after he approves of Friendship University. Don't get me wrong; his role in their was really good, and it further proves my point that not all antagonists are meant to be redeemed. But when Friendship University was revealed to be a scam, we don't know how he would've reacted to that. Maybe they're setting something up for the finale...?
Another complaint I have has nothing to do with the episode, but I'll mention it anyway. In Shadow Play, we see the Pillars and Stygian return from limbo, but between that episode and Friendship University, we don't really see how they handle modern-day Equestria, almost making their return feel like an afterthought, Yeah, this has happened in past seasons, but with season eight, it's honestly rather jarring.
Final Thoughts
This is the third episode in a row that even for a show that's almost eight years old, Friendship is Magic can still learn new tricks. Where else do you see an episode with Flim and Flam featuring Twilight and Rarity working against them? Add Star Swirl to the mix, it almost looks as though they're building up to something grand for the finale.
Rating: Excellent
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