MLP - "Scare Master" - Review

thejboy88

New member
Aug 29, 2010
1,515
0
0
As usual with my reviews, it will contain spoilers. Those of you who have not seen the episode yet, you have been warned.

The premise of this story is that Fluttershy decides to join the rest of the mane six to confront her fears on Nightmare Night.

Okay, let me start this review off by addressing the elephant in the room. Yes, this episode was, in fact, released several weeks ahead of its intended broadcast date. And yes, I did watch it at that earlier time to write my review. However, the reason why I waited until now to post it is that I simply use pre-released episodes to get my reviews written up and done, so that I don't write them in a rush on the actual Saturday. I'm not in the habit of giving stuff away that early. So, with that addressed, onto the main episode.

Fluttershy's central issue in this episode is one that has been addressed before, all the way back in season two, when she refused to come out in "Luna Eclipsed", and since overcoming her fears is often a big part of her focus episodes, I had an inkling that, sooner or later, we'd have a story that addressed this problem of hers. As I said, overcoming fears and anxieties is something Fluttershy has struggled with right from the start of the series, and in this episode, to my delight, it's something that shows a fair amount of growth on her part, with her addressing past issues like her self-consciousness when singing. It's something I think a lot of us can relate to, that we all have some worry we need to accept and move past, and Fluttershy has often been the go-to pony when dealing with those issues in stories like these. What I like most of all throughout this premise is that the main six aren't actually encouraging her to face her fears. They've acknowledged her fear and are just letting her do her own thing. I like little touches like that, that her friends aren't shown to be constantly trying to get her out of her shell. They know what she's not comfortable doing and they're leaving her be.

As for Fluttershy herself, what I like about her here is how much she seems to come to terms with both Nightmare Night and her place in it. Starting out with her being afraid of every little thing that comes her way, it soon transitions to her realising that she has nothing to worry about,. And it isn't some grand epiphany either, just a quiet moment with her and Spike, with the latter pointing out how okay she's been with the night so far. Having her transition be such a simple thing was a decent touch to the episode, and to its credit, it doesn't stop there. You feel throughout this episode that Fluttershy really is trying to be a part of the event, to be a part of something her friends have been experiencing without her for who knows how long. It's another thing I think we can all relate to, that we know of things our friends do without us that we'd like to be a part of. And in a well-written turn, it's not something that Fluttershy is immediately good at. While she definitely tries her hardest, it's clear that scaring people isn't something that's inherently part of who she is, although in fairness, I think anybody can understand that if they knew her character.

As the episode progressed, we eventually reached a pint where, sadly, the episode strayed into the same problem that I experienced back in "Rarity Investigates". The problem in question is that we are given a mystery of what's going on that, frankly, I already knew the answer to. We know from watching this who is behind the strange goings on in the latter half of the episode, and we know that it'll just end up with a big Scooby-Doo-style reveal where everything was explained. However, if I'm being fair, that doesn't exactly diminish what the episode is at least trying to do. It was to have the main six to be scared and for us in the audience to feel the thrill of it. And in all honesty, some of the darker imagery took me very much by surprise, especially moments like the fake Granny Smith head falling off. That was NOT an image I ever expected to see in a show like this, and I give credit to the writers for even attempting to put it in here, even if we know from watching that it's not really the character being dead. So yeah, while the episode may fall somewhat flat in trying to get us to be tricked like the characters, I will give it this much, it tried it?s hardest. Kind of like Fluttershy herself when you think about it.

But now, I want to talk about what, to me, is the absolute biggest plus point in this episode's favour, the final lesson. I know I usually wait unit later in my review to talk about the morals and stuff, but here, I feel it needs to be given attention earlier. The basic lesson of this is that, while Fluttershy does succeed in doing what she sets out to do, and acknowledges that she's good at the whole Nightmare Night thing, it's not something she's actually comfortable doing. She may not fear the event anymore, but that doesn't mean it's going to be something she?ll want to participate in future. In any other kid's show, you'd have it so that, once the character gets over their fear, they spend the rest of their life looking forward to what they were afraid of and doing it all the time. But that's not what they do here. Instead, they portray the issue in a far more realistic manner. Just because someone is good at something or not afraid of it, that doesn't mean it's something they're going to enjoy doing. And Fluttershy acknowledges this. It's, as she puts it, "not her cup of tea", despite her showing clear aptitude for it. This is an exceptionally mature way of looking at things for this show and, what's more, it something her friends are totally fine with. They accept that this isn?t something Fluttershy wants to be a part of, just as they were when she was still afraid of it, and I give MAJOR credit to the writers for not taking the easy road and having it be a total shift in her character.

Unfortunately, there's no songs to discuss this week.

Onto the humour now and, being a Fluttershy episode, most of the jokes centre around her. Her various reactions of fear and worry had some great animation and facial expressions to work with, even though I'm usually not okay with making light of people who are terrified of something. However, the biggest laughs in this episode for me came from her various failed attempt to get involved with the various Nightmare Night activities in the first half of the episode. Seeing her fears break through as she tries to point out the various issues with doing certain activities, and the subsequent reactions her friends gave her, it just put a smile on my face, especially the silent and serious look Pinkie gave her at one point. And as for Fluttershy's first attempt to scare her friends, it just made me laugh to see them react to what she considers a terrifying situation, even though, to them, it just came off as boring. Aside from that, the other characters managed to get in plenty of funny moments with their various reactions and facial expressions, especially Pinkie, whose antics while trying to get around on roller blades was particularly amusing for me.

So, how did the episode fare overall? Honestly, I enjoyed it. While I'm hesitant to really call it a "great" episode exactly, it does have a lot of good things going for it. The animation and new designs works very well, the character interactions were believable and endearing, there was a great deal of humour to be had, and Fluttershy's transition from fear to acceptance felt very genuine. As I said before, the best thing about this episode is it's moral lesson, and how there are simply going to be things out there that you're just not comfortable being involved in, even if you're not actually afraid of it. It's a very adult turn for the show to take and I tip my hat to them for it. So yeah, while I can't say it's a fantastic episode, it is nevertheless a fun and heartfelt one that manages to be the absolute best example of what it's trying to be. Definitely worth a look.

Oh, and before I forget, have a very happy Halloween everyone. I hope you all have fun tonight :)
 

Scarim Coral

Jumped the ship
Legacy
Oct 29, 2010
18,157
2
3
Country
UK
I too watched the leaked version but I haven't rewatched today due to time constrain.

From what I can rememeber, I find Fluttershy reaction to the whole night somewhat irrational. Yes I know she is terrify of that event but she acted like if she was in a horror movie specifically Final Destination! Her fear on chocking on that taffy sweet is no different from eating it any other day! Still I have to give kudos to her for pointing out Rarity costume dress was too long to the point she will likely to trip over it when running.

Also I never expect them to thrown in the easter egg that Fluttershy "guest" were all iconic 80's/ 90's anime characters like Sailor Moon, Ramma and Neon Genesis Evangelion!

Lastly I surpised that the last part of the episode didn't ended with any casualty! While I get the mane 5 were simply got caught up with their emotion and situation but come on! They face Manticore, Dragon, an army of Changeling and Twilight event fought Tirek is a full on battle! Twilight could had easily zap the "ghosts" or the "monster" underground, heck even Rainbow Dash could had kicked him aswell!

Overall, I enjoyed it. I like that Fluttershy took two steps instead of an baby step showing her character growth and it felt geniune when they set it back to her status quo when she find it "not her up of tea".
 

FPLOON

Your #1 Source for the Dino Porn
Jul 10, 2013
12,531
0
0
I got more a laugh from how Fluttershy was narrating the various horrors of a failed "tea party"... mostly because I could see how they can be considered "scary" for somepony if they were thrown into that kind of situation... Although, all of the potential dangers that Fluttershy was describing about beforehand were really stretching it to the point that only one of them actually happened out of sheer "coincidence" than of the usual screenwriter-based irony that comes from the whole "warnings coming back full circle" stick, so I ended up not even laughing at the other pony's reactions to even hearing about these potential dangers...

Other than that, I really did not care about this episode getting leaked beforehand considering the concept of the episode that's suppose to come before this one... and my first thought of "tea party" went straight to politics... *shivers*