Saturday, May 4, 2019

MLP Episode 906: Common Ground

Well, this is a nice surprise!

Common Ground
Written by Josh Haber

As good a show as My Little Pony has been, let's not act as if it never had any bad episodes. My revisits of the first three seasons and the first half of season four so far prove that it was never going to be a perfect show. Nor will it be all things to all people. Heck, as much as I liked seasons seven and eight (from which the reviews I am happy with as they are), they had their share of duds. And the less said about The Point of No Return, the better.

Then comes Common Ground to turn things around. I'm not pulling any punches here; this is the best episode since What Lies Beneath (Uprooted came close, but even that was held back by a blatant lack of originality). Admittedly, this episode shouldn't be as great as it is given that the bar for season nine wasn't that high to begin with, but still.

It was so nice seeing Quibble Pants again, and unlike Moon Dancer who felt shoehorned for the sake of shoehorning (i.e. fanservice), we get to see what Quibble is like outside of his interest in Daring Do.

Although we never see what became of Clear Sky's first husband, it's pretty clear that Quibble Pants is sympathetic towards her plight of being a single parent to Wind Sprint, who doesn't even like her mom's new coltfriend. So Quibble does everything he can to impress Wind, even if it means making a horse's ass of himself in front of thousands of ponies. If there was any episode of the show that could appeal to both children and adults, this is it.

Children can relate to Wind Sprint either when the parents divorce or one of them dies, and adults can relate to Quibble Pants when their partner's child or children don't care for them that much.

In fact, in real life, Patton Oswalt lost his first wife from an undiagnosed heart condition (tragically, it was the same year that Stranger Than Fan Fiction aired), and he later re-married to Meredith Salenger in late 2017. It's as if the episode was made with Patton in mind.

(Fun fact: In one of his specials, Talking for Clapping, he talks about My Little Pony. Check it out whilst you can; it's really funny.)

Back to this episode, and it looks as though Rainbow Dash is back in good graces once again after Non-Compete Clause. She knows Quibble needs help in bonding with Wind and does everything she can to make it happen, despite that he isn't the most athletic pony around; he's all brain and no brawn (not a knock on him, just describing his character there).

But for all of Rainbow's efforts, it's fruitless when Quibble makes a fool of himself at a buckball game, and even gets called out by Wind for not being a true sports pony. It gets even worse when he thinks Clear Sky is going to break up with him.

The moral about being yourself here is okay, but it's been taught so often in children's media (My Little Pony included) that it's almost become meaningless. However, they do make up for that by teaching the audience about bonding with people despite your differences, so I can let this slide.

Final Thoughts
It might not be saying much, but this is so far one of season nine's best episodes. It's got the right mix of comedy, charm and heartwarming moments, and a good moral to boot. Common Bond does everything a great episode should do. Oh, and well done to Alice Oswalt for her first ever acting performance in media; it looks as though she has a bright future ahead of her.

Rating: Excellent (10/10)

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