This review will contain spoilers for those who have not seen the latest episode of MLP.
The premise of this episode is that Twilight and her friends are preparing for a visit by Princess Cadence. Unfortunately for them, Discord, who has fallen ill, tries to get them to take care of him instead.
Right from the start, I knew this was going to be a difficult episode for me to sit through. I've made it no secret in the past that I bear no love for Discord, either for the things he's done or for him as a character. When he first arrived on the scene way back in season two, he was, without a doubt, the first character on this show I ever truly hated, and that bitterness has never gone away for me. At best, I'm willing to tolerate him because he's become an ally of sorts to the main cast. But even in spite of his new status he still finds a way to get under my skin a great deal, much like he does with the cast themselves.
In addition to that, having an episode where he's basically craving attention from everyone just adds insult to injury for me, and the reason for that is that like the main cast I too have been in situations where my attention was required by those in a similar situation like Discord. I don't begrudge those people for it, but it does make me empathise with the main cast of this episode, as well as making it difficult for me to like Discord, even the tiniest bit. Now, before anyone asks, I don't have anything against his voice actor, John De Lancie. Quite the opposite in fact, I think he's a great actor and I can always tell that he's giving his all in his performances. But that can only go so far and this episode was pretty much shot in the foot before it even began the race with it's central premise.
Even by the end of it, I didn't warm up to Discord in the slightest. I knew the moment I saw that look on his face when the elements of harmony were given up in the season premiere that he'd be causing trouble for the main cast, and I was right. Having him disrupt Twilight's day with Cadence the way he did, knowing how important it was, was just as selfish as things could get. Now I know he gave an explanation for it at the end, but I didn't buy a word of it. Sure, Cadence might have been fine with how everything turned out, but you can tell from his gestures and expressions that all he wanted out of this was to mess with Twilight. The only solace I was able to take in all that was that his plan didn't turn out like he wanted, which is always nice.
There is also the issue of this episode that Discord is apparently supposed to be friends with all of the main cast now, which I just don't get. I?m willing to accept that the group have accepted that he's reformed, but only because of their own friendship with Fluttershy and her willingness to give him the benefit of the doubt about it. But having them be his friend now? That's a step too far for me. And just from looking at them it's as plain as day that none of them really want him around. They'd probably be fine if they never saw him again. So in spite of all his declarations that they, Twilight especially, are his friends, I just don?t see any reason why any of those girls should have been humouring him like this.
Also, this episode seemed to miss a prime opportunity to develop the one real friendship Discord has made in this series, that being the one he made with Fluttershy. She's the only one out of all of them that seems to like having him around and cares about him, and likewise she's the only one he seems to genuinely like. But in spite of that, Fluttershy's absence means that this relationship only gets mentioned here and there throughout the episode, with the only time we see it in full is right at the tail end of the story. It could have been an interesting angle for the episode to go, to have Fluttershy genuinely want him well in spite of him faking the whole time while the others are taking it badly. As things stand, it just seems like a wasted opportunity.
However, there was one really strong element of this episode for me, and that was Twilight and her relationship to Princess Cadence. Firstly, I want to say how great it is that the show actually acknowledges that the two have never interacted at a time when there wasn't anything major going on that needed resolving. That means this is the first time they've had any real interaction or development of their relationship outside of solving whatever threat was happening. So it was nice to see what the two Princesses are like together in such calm times. And the episode does a great job of showing that, as you can really see how the two of them do indeed seem like old friends at this point, very much like how they might have been back when Cadence was Twilight's foal-sitter. Although I did spend a great deal of time wondering where Twilight's brother, Shining Armour, was during all of this.
The episode also showed itself to be far more action-heavy than I was expecting, especially in the final act. The sudden appearance of the creature from beneath the giant flower was unexpected and led to a truly enjoyable action sequence featuring both Twilight and Cadence. But in spite of how great that creature was designed, I was curious was to what it was exactly, or why it was underneath the flower they were after. It's one of those things I?m sure I'll be pondering for some time, though my working theory is that it was something that was just some way for Discord to harm them without doing it himself. My guess is that he knew of the creature sleeping under that flower and that it would be disturbed by it's removal, leading to Twilight and Cadence being at risk from it. But that's just a theory on my part.
Time to talk about the humour now and this week it seems to be that most of the episode's funny moments stem from Discord and his antics. This, as you can imagine by now, is not something I generally like. His humour is all about random and chaotic things. Now, some may ask why I like random humour from a character like Pinkie Pie, but not from Discord, and that's a fair comment. The reason why is that Pinkie's humour, while certainly random and sometimes a little annoying, is never done in any malicious way, and is always done with the intent of putting a smile on others' faces. When Discord tries his hand at it however, it's pretty much always to serve his own interests, to amuse himself. This has the effect of making the humour as a whole far more difficult to swallow for me, as there's nothing but selfishness behind it.
Onto the songs now and this week we get an unexpected number from Discord. I say unexpected because of all the characters I thought would give a song, Discord would have been near the bottom of the list, if only because I'd have thought it impossible for anyone to convince John De Lancie to go along with it. Still, having said that, the song itself is actually rather catchy to listen to, with the kinds of lyrics you know are going to be stuck in your head for a while. I wouldn't call it a great song, especially when you compare it to the other ones we've had so far this season, but at the very least it was an upbeat and energetic one that was probably the first time anything related to Discord has managed to make me smile, which is no small feat.
The moral of the week this time seems to be that even when things don't always go the way you planned, having it happen when you're with a good friend can still make it an enjoyable or memorable occasion. I don't really have much to say about this lesson other than it doesn't seem particularly deep or effective as some of the other lessons we've had this season. But even so I can't say it's a bad lesson per se, as there is value in it, especially considering how easy it can be when plans going wrong can frustrate people.
So, how did the episode fare overall? Well, like last week's episode, it's a mixed bag for me, though for different reasons. The episode seems to be continuing to show Discord's new role as a character who enables development of the main cast without being an outright antagonist. But my lingering dislike of his character makes it hard for me to enjoy seeing him in any episode, which hurt this episode considerably. All of the character moments of the rest of the cast however was great to watch, from Pinkie's usual antics to Twilight's genuine struggle with trying to connect to her sister-in-law. So, from my perspective, I would say that this was a good episode with a consistently frustrating element to it. Take that for what you will.
The premise of this episode is that Twilight and her friends are preparing for a visit by Princess Cadence. Unfortunately for them, Discord, who has fallen ill, tries to get them to take care of him instead.
Right from the start, I knew this was going to be a difficult episode for me to sit through. I've made it no secret in the past that I bear no love for Discord, either for the things he's done or for him as a character. When he first arrived on the scene way back in season two, he was, without a doubt, the first character on this show I ever truly hated, and that bitterness has never gone away for me. At best, I'm willing to tolerate him because he's become an ally of sorts to the main cast. But even in spite of his new status he still finds a way to get under my skin a great deal, much like he does with the cast themselves.
In addition to that, having an episode where he's basically craving attention from everyone just adds insult to injury for me, and the reason for that is that like the main cast I too have been in situations where my attention was required by those in a similar situation like Discord. I don't begrudge those people for it, but it does make me empathise with the main cast of this episode, as well as making it difficult for me to like Discord, even the tiniest bit. Now, before anyone asks, I don't have anything against his voice actor, John De Lancie. Quite the opposite in fact, I think he's a great actor and I can always tell that he's giving his all in his performances. But that can only go so far and this episode was pretty much shot in the foot before it even began the race with it's central premise.
Even by the end of it, I didn't warm up to Discord in the slightest. I knew the moment I saw that look on his face when the elements of harmony were given up in the season premiere that he'd be causing trouble for the main cast, and I was right. Having him disrupt Twilight's day with Cadence the way he did, knowing how important it was, was just as selfish as things could get. Now I know he gave an explanation for it at the end, but I didn't buy a word of it. Sure, Cadence might have been fine with how everything turned out, but you can tell from his gestures and expressions that all he wanted out of this was to mess with Twilight. The only solace I was able to take in all that was that his plan didn't turn out like he wanted, which is always nice.
There is also the issue of this episode that Discord is apparently supposed to be friends with all of the main cast now, which I just don't get. I?m willing to accept that the group have accepted that he's reformed, but only because of their own friendship with Fluttershy and her willingness to give him the benefit of the doubt about it. But having them be his friend now? That's a step too far for me. And just from looking at them it's as plain as day that none of them really want him around. They'd probably be fine if they never saw him again. So in spite of all his declarations that they, Twilight especially, are his friends, I just don?t see any reason why any of those girls should have been humouring him like this.
Also, this episode seemed to miss a prime opportunity to develop the one real friendship Discord has made in this series, that being the one he made with Fluttershy. She's the only one out of all of them that seems to like having him around and cares about him, and likewise she's the only one he seems to genuinely like. But in spite of that, Fluttershy's absence means that this relationship only gets mentioned here and there throughout the episode, with the only time we see it in full is right at the tail end of the story. It could have been an interesting angle for the episode to go, to have Fluttershy genuinely want him well in spite of him faking the whole time while the others are taking it badly. As things stand, it just seems like a wasted opportunity.
However, there was one really strong element of this episode for me, and that was Twilight and her relationship to Princess Cadence. Firstly, I want to say how great it is that the show actually acknowledges that the two have never interacted at a time when there wasn't anything major going on that needed resolving. That means this is the first time they've had any real interaction or development of their relationship outside of solving whatever threat was happening. So it was nice to see what the two Princesses are like together in such calm times. And the episode does a great job of showing that, as you can really see how the two of them do indeed seem like old friends at this point, very much like how they might have been back when Cadence was Twilight's foal-sitter. Although I did spend a great deal of time wondering where Twilight's brother, Shining Armour, was during all of this.
The episode also showed itself to be far more action-heavy than I was expecting, especially in the final act. The sudden appearance of the creature from beneath the giant flower was unexpected and led to a truly enjoyable action sequence featuring both Twilight and Cadence. But in spite of how great that creature was designed, I was curious was to what it was exactly, or why it was underneath the flower they were after. It's one of those things I?m sure I'll be pondering for some time, though my working theory is that it was something that was just some way for Discord to harm them without doing it himself. My guess is that he knew of the creature sleeping under that flower and that it would be disturbed by it's removal, leading to Twilight and Cadence being at risk from it. But that's just a theory on my part.
Time to talk about the humour now and this week it seems to be that most of the episode's funny moments stem from Discord and his antics. This, as you can imagine by now, is not something I generally like. His humour is all about random and chaotic things. Now, some may ask why I like random humour from a character like Pinkie Pie, but not from Discord, and that's a fair comment. The reason why is that Pinkie's humour, while certainly random and sometimes a little annoying, is never done in any malicious way, and is always done with the intent of putting a smile on others' faces. When Discord tries his hand at it however, it's pretty much always to serve his own interests, to amuse himself. This has the effect of making the humour as a whole far more difficult to swallow for me, as there's nothing but selfishness behind it.
Onto the songs now and this week we get an unexpected number from Discord. I say unexpected because of all the characters I thought would give a song, Discord would have been near the bottom of the list, if only because I'd have thought it impossible for anyone to convince John De Lancie to go along with it. Still, having said that, the song itself is actually rather catchy to listen to, with the kinds of lyrics you know are going to be stuck in your head for a while. I wouldn't call it a great song, especially when you compare it to the other ones we've had so far this season, but at the very least it was an upbeat and energetic one that was probably the first time anything related to Discord has managed to make me smile, which is no small feat.
The moral of the week this time seems to be that even when things don't always go the way you planned, having it happen when you're with a good friend can still make it an enjoyable or memorable occasion. I don't really have much to say about this lesson other than it doesn't seem particularly deep or effective as some of the other lessons we've had this season. But even so I can't say it's a bad lesson per se, as there is value in it, especially considering how easy it can be when plans going wrong can frustrate people.
So, how did the episode fare overall? Well, like last week's episode, it's a mixed bag for me, though for different reasons. The episode seems to be continuing to show Discord's new role as a character who enables development of the main cast without being an outright antagonist. But my lingering dislike of his character makes it hard for me to enjoy seeing him in any episode, which hurt this episode considerably. All of the character moments of the rest of the cast however was great to watch, from Pinkie's usual antics to Twilight's genuine struggle with trying to connect to her sister-in-law. So, from my perspective, I would say that this was a good episode with a consistently frustrating element to it. Take that for what you will.
