MLP Episode 706: Forever Filly

So far, we got two amazing episodes, a premiere that borders on okay, and a decent Maud Pie episode. But how will Forever Filly stack up?

When was the last time Rarity and Sweetie Belle had an episode together? Season four? (Yes, they were seen together during seasons five and six, but they weren't the main focus.) If that's the case, then this feels a lot more special than Maud Pie appearances, where she seems to show up at least once a season.

Rarity and Sweetie Belle have the best of the Mane Six/Crusader dynamics. Applejack and Apple Bloom very much interact on a near daily basis under the same roof, and Scootaloo basically feels a miniaturized Rainbow Dash who can't fly... only less jerkish. Rarity and Sweetie Belle, on the other hoof, have differing personalities, and the latter lives with their parents and often visits the former.

Here, both sisters are relatable and sympathetic; you feel for Sweetie Belle when she doesn't want to hurt her big sister's feelings, and you feel for Rarity when she wants to please her little sister but forgets how much she's grown in the past few seasons.

The theme is further strengthened by the subplot with Zipporwhill (that Latin-accented filly from Filli Vanilli) and her dog Ripley; she wonders why he won't play with the toys he did as a puppy. He's grown up, as did his owner, and just doesn't care for the toys anymore. When a stick stuck in Rarity's mane gets thrown to the ground, suddenly he gains interest in it and wants to play fetch.

It's not just the sisters, Zipporwhill and Ripley; every character in the episode is brilliant, even those who appear for a few gags like the stallion with the afro manecut and the pony holding a heart-shaped balloon. Those little moments were great! Also, is it just me, or does Chip Cutter feel reminiscent of people with autism?

But the thing I love most about this episode is how much the Crusaders have grown in the last seven years. Not just in the series itself, but their voice actors have also grown with them. I mean, compare this to Call of the Cutie in season one; you can hear how much Michelle, Madeleine and Claire have grown in the last six years.

And of course, the ending is one of the show's sweetest; even if Rarity and Sweetie Belle have grown up, there's still a little filly within them, which is another fantastic theme.

Final Thoughts

There were really no problems with the episode at all; it was beautiful and heartwarming from beginning to end, and it presents some of the most mature themes in a kids' show. I could say more, but there's so much you can praise an episode before it becomes old.

Rating: 10 out of 10

MLP Episode 705: Fluttershy Leans In

Okay, I'm sorry this wasn't posted earlier; mostly, my time was spent on school work and the review for Journey Beyond Sodor, which is now out on YouTube. Now that I've got it done, let's go back into MLP season seven, resuming with Fluttershy Leans In.

As much as I hated season six of MLP, even I will admit there are some good things about it. The best part about it was, in my opinion, Fluttershy. Following Scare Master, I felt that she was going to backpedal in terms of development like Percy now has done with The Great Race and especially Three Steam Engines Gruff. It's also frustrating when you consider it was in the same season as The Cutie Map. Fortunately, however, Flutter Brutter brought Fluttershy back to form, and it carried over onto Buckball Season, Viva Las Pegasus, and now, this episode.

I'm gonna say it right now; the themes displayed here are amongst the best of the entire of the show. One of them involving Wrangler, Hard Hat and Dandy Grandeur is the theme of communication. Their ideas contrasted sharply with Fluttershy's, and of course, they thought they knew better when it came to animals' needs, but didn't bother listening to Fluttershy.

That being said, I feel there was a bit of missed opportunity for them to stay around and see the animals try out their creations. However, it backfires in their faces and then they realize the error of their ways and apologize, promising to listen to her ideas this time. As it is though, Big Daddy McColt's role was fine.

The other big theme of the episode is one I can personally relate to; don't give up if you don't succeed first time around. I think that's a theme anybody can relate to. After the first attempt failed, Fluttershy tried again with Big Daddy McColt - someone who also understood animals' needs - and succeeded.

Now some of you may be thinking the solution was way too simple and... I partially agree. But I guess it's possible Big Daddy McColt didn't cross Fluttershy's mind the first time around and contacted him when coming up with ideas. There's also a more subtle message within the episode; it's not the destination, it's the journey that really counts.

Which brings me onto Fluttershy herself. I don't think the episode would've been as strong if it took place during the earlier seasons, especially if they contrasted very sharply against Dragonshy and Hurricane Fluttershy. So really, I feel this episode was perfectly timed within the show. Oh, and Rupert the snake butler deserves his own mention.

Final Thoughts

It's very easy to dismiss this episode; the story isn't a whole lot to write home about, but the themes are amongst the best of the show, and Fluttershy's character is at her peak that continues in this season alone, so I feel this episode deserves more love. Well done, Gillian Berrow, for a fantastic Fluttershy episode.

Rating: 10 out of 10

MLP Episode 704: Rock Solid Friendship

Another episode, another review. Here are my thoughts on Rock Solid Friendship.

Can I be the first to say that Maud Pie-centric episodes are feeling a bit overused by now? This isn't necessarily me hating Maud as a character, but rather, I'm noticing a trend since her debut episode in season four in which she's had at least one starring role. She's made three appearances in season five (speaking in Make New Friends But Keep Discord and Hearthbreakers, and non-speaking in the first part of The Cutie Re-Mark) as well as season six's The Gift of the Maud Pie and in season seven? It's this episode.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this episode is bad because it feels like one character is being overused, but my main issue with Maud is that Pinkie has two other sisters which are barely given any time or thought for character development. I mean, can't we have an episode where they react to a new environment like Ponyville with Pinkie guiding them around? Would make for an interesting story, really.

As for the episode the way it is? Generally, I think it's good, but not quite as good as some people thought it was when it first came out. For one thing, the humor is on the hit or miss spectrum. The graduation ceremony in the cold open is one of the funniest in the show, and the bad timing with the door joke and Starlight was also chuckle-worthy.

However, Pinkie was rather obnoxious, perhaps more so than Filli Vanilli. There is a line between helping your friends and acting like an idiot, and she breaches it altogether. Thinking Tank and Lyra were rocks, and then straight up stalking her sister and friend? That cannot be defended, and she doesn't suffer as a consequence. Maybe if she got injured in the Ghastly Gorge when she and Maud were running from the giant eel, I could probably forgive Pinkie's behavior beforehand, but the ending did imply the message didn't penetrate hard enough. Sure, she realized how annoying she was, but still.

And then there's Starlight. I like seeing her interact with Maud despite the pink elep... pony in the room, and the lesson Maud taught Starlight was actually a very good one; it's what's inside that's really important. The flashback was also quite nice, but it does bring up another problem - continuity.

You see, My Little Pony usually has a strong continuity, and the writers (as well as the script editors) try to keep things consistent. But in this episode, Pinkie acts like she did from A Friend in Deed, Luna Eclipsed, and the aforementioned Filli Vanilli. That's a prime example of cherry picking your continuity, a problem which also plagues Journey Beyond Sodor as well as Thomas' 21st season (in the case of the latter, it's visual continuity which throws me off). You'd think Pinkie would've learned from those episodes but... nope. They made her an idiot because they thought it'd be funny.

That being said, I think the episode's moral was very strong, even if the buildup was a little frustrating. Not everybody thinks the same way. And considering the drama on Twitter from so-called Thomas "fans" over Big World! Big Adventures! (both movie and season 22), as well as a few select liberals myself, I think that's something we should all take seriously.

Final Thoughts

I've got problems with Pinkie's IQ in this episode, but I don't want to be too harsh since it was so early in the season, even if All Bottled Up ended up with a 3/10. Rock Solid Friendship, however, does provide a very strong lesson many should take seriously, the moments with Starlight and Maud were nice to see, and the continuity nods (despite being cherry picked at stupid moments) are also pretty good. I think that's enough to rank this episode a good one. Not one of the greatest, but still good.

Rating: 7 out of 10

MLP Episode 703: A Flurry of Emotions

So, my reviews for the season premiere episodes actually went down pretty well. There's still many more episodes to cover, so let's continue with A Flurry of Emotions.

In season six, I felt that Flurry Heart had a lot of untapped potential, but the episodes she appeared in were either boring or frustrating to sit through. The fact that she was in the middle of a pointless story arc revolving around Starlight didn't really do the baby much favors. This episode, I thought, did do Flurry justice.

I feel much of it lies down to her bond with Twilight and how the latter is written; she wants to spend time with her niece, but at the same time, she's got a schedule to stick to, but ends up getting distracted. Good thing she's got Spike to help keep her check.

Shining Armor and Cadance's subplot doesn't have much screentime, but I'm not bothered. The past incidents they mentioned with Flurry's cheekiness, I think, could be great stories on their own, as well as adorable. Actually, that word is perhaps the best to describe this episode, along with heartwarming, especially when Shining and Cadance were close to crying thinking about their daughter.

All that said, I only have two complaints. For one, Spearhead doesn't have much depth apart from knowing Shining and Cadance when they were younger. Sure, he's an artist in his own right, but that's pretty much it, really.

The second one is a problem which has been bugging me since The Crystalling - Equestrian babies are inconsistent. What I mean is that the designs of Pound and Pumpkin Cake clash against Flurry's. Flurry has eyes like the older foals and adult ponies, but the Cake twins simply have colored irises with white shine and no eye white. I know animation doesn't affect the story, but can't we have visual consistency with the younger ponies? This episode (as well as Once Upon a Zeppelin) made that issue obvious.

Final Thoughts

Other than my complaint with the designs of baby ponies (it doesn't affect how I feel about the episode, but it was worth noting), there's not a whole lot I can say about this episode. Sammie and Whitney did an excellent job for their first script, and I think they have potential for MLP. If they were this good here, then I wonder what their writing is like on The Loud House.

Rating: 10 out of 10

MLP Episode 702: All Bottled Up

So Celestial Advice actually went down very well; heck, better than I thought it'd be! But how does its sister episode, All Bottled Up, stack up?

Honestly? Not that well. For me, the majority of the problems lie with Trixie. I don't like her at all; she constantly brags about how "great and powerful" she is, when she's simply just a real pain in the ass. And the Trixie we see in this episode practically backpedaled in terms of development from season six (much as I don't like it all that much) and reverted to being a one-note annoyance that it makes you wonder why Starlight puts up with her in the first place.

Speaking of whom, yes, I do actually relate to her in this episode. I constantly put up with stupid people online, and with the Thomas fandom being as toxic as it is right now, I certainly relate to Starlight more than I initially realized. However, her friendship with Trixie made me realize the problem with her backstory; Sunburst barely has any character to speak of, and he has little to no effect on Starlight as a character. It's further emphasized by the fact that Starlight seems to see Trixie, a pony she's met some months ago (in universe, at least), to be her best friend over a character who barely had substance from the get go that she's known for years.

I mean, if you got rid of Sunburst altogether and that Starlight became resentful that she didn't get her cutie mark in her youth (and ponies constantly bullied her for it) and when she eventually got hers and hated herself for getting it so late, perhaps her motivations in season five would've made sense to a degree. Sure, you'd still have problems, but at least she wouldn't have suffered during season six.

By now, you're thinking that I haven't talked about the story yet. Well, it's a story of two parts - the A-plot is fairly good for the most part. Much as Trixie was annoying as hell, Starlight's frustration was, again, relatable for me personally, and it got to the point where Granny Smith, Bulk Biceps, and... the jeweler mare (I don't know her name either; let's go with that, shall we?) end up being controlled by Starlight's anger. We'll come back to that in a bit.

And that brings me onto the B-plot with the Mane Six. It's pointless. It feels like a half-baked excuse to get them away from Ponyville to allow the A-plot to take place. Not only that, they feel like one-note stereotypes of themselves.

Forgive me for a second digression, but that's also the biggest problem the Human Five have. More often than not, they have very few distinct traits and often act alike, neglecting anything that made their pony counterparts complex and individual. Rainbow Dash is an over the top jerk, Rarity constantly preaches fashion, Pinkie becomes a joke that gets tired after the third time, and Applejack and Fluttershy are just... there. And don't get me started on Sci-Twi.

And to end my thoughts on the B-plot, the song is downright terrible. We got the message after The Cutie Re-Mark; the Mane Six have an unbreakable best friendship. We don't need a song to shove it down our throats. Hell, even newcomers of the show will understand that they're best friends, and it just treats fans as if they're stupid. And no, lamp-shading it doesn't make it any less preachy.

The best thing about the episode (other than Starlight actually feeling relatable for the audience) was the moral - bottling anger can actually do more hurt than good. I think it's a lesson kids and older fans should take to heart, especially if their friends act like Trixie. That being said, the moral does write Trixie's character to suit it, which isn't exactly the best way to teach lessons for children.

Final Thoughts

I'm not a fan of this episode. The pacing felt rather slow at points (Celestial Advice had a similar problem, but it did try making up for that), Trixie was a nuisance in the first two acts, and the B-plot feels like it was there to pad out the episode to 22 minutes. However, it did feel like the first step for Starlight to get some character development (gotta start somewhere, I suppose), and the moral - despite writing Trixie's character in order to teach it - is a strong lesson to learn, so it's only fair I give All Bottled Up a rating based on those factors.

Rating: 3 out of 10