It's time to find out What Lies Beneath the next episode of season eight!
This review contains spoilers; viewer discretion is advised.
What Lies Beneath
Written by Michael Vogel
Mike Vogel's last script, The Mean 6, was a major catastrophe in which literally nothing happened. Honestly, you could skip that episode and lose nothing. So imagine how surprising it was that the next episode he wrote turned out to be another season eight's best.
Even more so that it was the Young Six getting the main spotlight focus like in The Hearth's Warming Club. Most of the time, they're practically secondary characters, reacting to what's happening and/or driving the story in which they aren't the main focus, like Molt Down.
Here, we get to see a little more of what they're like individually. Gallus is claustrophobic, Silverstream has fears of the Storm King returning, Yona doesn't like spiders until she befriends the group, Smolder doesn't want to be mocked for liking tea parties, and Ocellus is unable to escape her tribe's terrible past.
And this may sound contentious, but the Young Six as a group have become more relatable characters than the Mane Six have as of late; not that they're bad characters, but lately, the writers have had a tendency not to write for the Mane Six very well. Whilst they write Fluttershy and (for the most part) Rarity really well, the others tend to suffer from solely having a few traits flanderized or being put in situations that no longer fit their current characters.
With the Young Six, they've only been around for one season, and yet despite being different, they still care for one another, and it proves in the third act that Sandbar would rather be with his friends than follow illusions of Rarity and Rainbow Dash to "save" Equestria. And the ending with Cozy Glow implies there's something sinister going on.
If there was an issue I had, it's that they didn't really put any emphasis on Yona's fear of water as shown in Non-Compete Clause. It would've been nice to call back on that, even if the earlier episode was terrible, but then again, it might not have worked with the episode as it stands.
Even more so that it was the Young Six getting the main spotlight focus like in The Hearth's Warming Club. Most of the time, they're practically secondary characters, reacting to what's happening and/or driving the story in which they aren't the main focus, like Molt Down.
Here, we get to see a little more of what they're like individually. Gallus is claustrophobic, Silverstream has fears of the Storm King returning, Yona doesn't like spiders until she befriends the group, Smolder doesn't want to be mocked for liking tea parties, and Ocellus is unable to escape her tribe's terrible past.
And this may sound contentious, but the Young Six as a group have become more relatable characters than the Mane Six have as of late; not that they're bad characters, but lately, the writers have had a tendency not to write for the Mane Six very well. Whilst they write Fluttershy and (for the most part) Rarity really well, the others tend to suffer from solely having a few traits flanderized or being put in situations that no longer fit their current characters.
With the Young Six, they've only been around for one season, and yet despite being different, they still care for one another, and it proves in the third act that Sandbar would rather be with his friends than follow illusions of Rarity and Rainbow Dash to "save" Equestria. And the ending with Cozy Glow implies there's something sinister going on.
If there was an issue I had, it's that they didn't really put any emphasis on Yona's fear of water as shown in Non-Compete Clause. It would've been nice to call back on that, even if the earlier episode was terrible, but then again, it might not have worked with the episode as it stands.
Final Thoughts
This was a great Young Six focused episode, and surprising considering Mike Vogel wrote this. Whilst this might rank among his best, it's also ironic that it came right after his worst script. Again, this could be down to the fact that the Mane Six are characters we've known for eight years and the Young Six we've known for a little over half a year. However, if this episode and Friendship University are anything to go by, it's almost as if the writers are building up to something great (as long as they don't use that Villain Redemption Trope)...
Rating: Excellent
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