MLP Episode 807: Horse Play

Happy Mother's Day! To celebrate, here's my views on Horse Play.

Prior to Celestial Advice, there have been complaints that Luna had received far more screentime than Celestia did, and the latter was fairly prominent during season one whilst the former... wasn't. Even though it took them seven seasons to do it, at least the writers have addressed the issue. So how does this one stack up?

Well, it's not as good as A Royal Problem, but it is definitely within the range. Celestia is an absolute delight throughout the entire episode, especially when she has her "squee" moment over being the lead in a play, as well as her bad acting.

Twilight's role... was a mixed bag. I understand why she doesn't want to upset her former mentor, but this is the fourth time in the last year alone (the first three being Shadow Play, The Movie, and School Daze) that she ignored her friends' advice! Does she suddenly not trust her friends? You'd think after eight years she'd have learned to trust her friends by now.

Another issue was with Pinkie Pie; her antics were more annoying than funny, and she didn't get any consequences for making problems worse for Twilight. There is more to her character than the writers seem to be letting on, and you don't need to watch just The Movie to understand that!

However, everyone else in the episode more than makes up for that. Applejack being the voice of reason was nice (at least she learned something from a past experience!), the return of the Method Mares from season five was pretty serviceable, but the standout was Fluttershy, no question. She looks absolutely cute dressed as Celestia.

Besides the theme about being honest with your criticisms, there was a nice theme about working with the problems you've landed in in regards to the final play. I dunno if that was the intention or my interpretation of it, but that was a nice touch.

Final Thoughts

So far, no episode has been able to match School Daze, but Horse Play has come pretty close. It's mostly down to the issues with Twilight and Pinkie's characterization, but despite this issue, it's a solid episode featuring Celestia as a major player.

Rating: Excellent