MLP Episode 724: Uncommon Bond

Well, here we go with the season's penultimate episode. Honestly, I didn't care much for it before it came out because I find Sunburst to be a boring, uninteresting character. He always felt like he was just there to give Starlight some sort of backstory. Can Uncommon Bond change my views on him?

Well... no. I mean, I'm not saying they didn't try, but Sunburst's character was so flat and uninteresting beforehand that it was difficult for me to even get a feel for him. Sure, Flash Sentry may not have gotten the best reception in the first Equestria Girls film, but Flash had more impact in that film than Sunburst ever did in two seasons. (Okay, three seasons if you include the flashback in The Cutie Re-Mark, but still.)

Not only that, Sunburst is in an episode with Twilight, Trixie, and Maud Pie, and all three of them - even separately - have far more character and charisma (not so much in Trixie's case, but still more than Sunburst ever had), meaning that Sunburst is constantly overshadowed.

Sure, Starlight feels relatable for those who feel like they're being left out, but the montages drag on for too long. Sure, they try giving Sunburst character, but he's as appealing as a scrap of cardboard - if you put them side by side, can you see any difference? Sure, the theme is good, but it's become incredibly stock by this point and the story is so thin you could shoot peas through it.

Also, what reason do I need to care for Starlight and Sunburst's friendship? All I've gotten thus far is that they were foalhood friends and when they were apart, they've had diverging interests, and... that's very much it. There needed to be more development given to Sunburst's character prior to this episode, but instead, he feels like an afterthought of a character.

Final Thoughts

I'm sorry that the review is incredibly short, but there was very little I could come up with. I could watch this episode ten times over and still have little to say. As a story, it offered nothing in terms of originality, and as a result, it came off as painfully dull; heck, even the humor in the episode didn't really make me laugh. If it wasn't for the foreshadowing of the next episode, I would probably dismiss Uncommon Bond as a filler episode...

Rating: 2 out of 10