My On-Demand Cable is still a week behind (an still no Miraculous!) so I’ve not been current on this season. However, I did sit down recently and watch three episodes and I think I’m almost caught up.
“Gauntlet of Fire”: Wow. Actually a very good Spike episode, perhaps the best Spike episode ever. Despite having to add in a bunch of new characters, this ep hit all the right notes. The only thing that rubbed me the wrong way was Twilight’s passivity. I don’t mean that she should have helped Spike with the competition, but the Princess of Friendship shouldn’t allow herself to be menaced by the likes of Garble. I did like how Spike kept laying on the sarcasm even after it was obvious that it was going over Garble’s head. Will Spikey-Wikey transfer his crush from Rarity to Ember?
“No Second Prances”: I like this one, but I can guess that a lot of bronies didn’t. None of the three mains (Twilight, Starlight, Trixie) came off very well in this episode, although they all had a point. Lots of awkward moments played for comedy. ( I would have loved to see the closed scene with Celestia stretched out some more). While “reformed”, both Starlight and Trixie have a ways to go. Boy did Applejack look peeved. This ep also served as a showcase for most of Twilight’s worst traits: Her obsessive need to organize and control, her trying to force a round peg into a square hole once she decides on a course of action, and her cringe-worthy need for Celestia’s approval. Still, friendship wins out in the end.
“Newbie Dash”: And she’s officially a full-fledged Wondebolt, embarassing call-sgin and all. And it’s finally acknowledged that the Mane Six do indeed have a rep for saving Equestria several times. Ashleigh Ball does a good job handling Rainbow Dash doing impressions of her friends.
Comments on Newbie Dash:
Rainbow Dash should get a job as an impersonator.
Rainbow Dash impersonating Fluttershy… LOL
Rainbow Dash impersonating Applejack, my mind is blown.
A lot of negative comments on another MLP forum about the Wonderbolts behaviour. Having been in the Navy, I found it to be all too accurate. Unfortunate but accurate.
“A Hearthswarming Tale”: Odd that they would do this in May, and that they would make Hearthswarming much more explicitly Christmas-like. I don’t remember an episode with this many songs, either. (Five, by my count, including a first song for Luna).
“Saddle Row Review”: Kind of an inverse of “Castle, Sweet, Castle”, where her friends try to help Rarity to solve her problems for the Manehattan boutique opening by doing what they think Rarity would do, when solving the problems in their own way ended up being much more effective, although if not what Rarity expected. Lots of callbacks to previous episodes (Coco Pommel, Pinkie duplicates). IMHO, the highlights were the cutaways to the interview sequences in the diner. Lots of comedy gold there.
The BBC Sherlock, Holmes, and Moriarty that appeared in Rarity Investigates can also be seen in A Hearthwarming Tale, but in period-appropriate clothing.
I think a prefer Starlight’s mane with the bangs rather than the style she uses now.
I’m still a week behind, so I just saw “Applejack’s Day Off”. It’s a laid back, low-key episode reminiscent of the first few seasons when one of the Mane Six would have a problem revolving around their character flaw and need help from a friend or two. This ep features Applejack and Rarity, with some Twilight and Spike and a cameo from Rainbow Dash.
The premise is that Rarity is getting frustrated because Applejack keeps canceling their spa days because her chores are taking up all of her time. Twilight and Spike offer to cover for Applejack at the farm to give AJ some time off. AJ is doubtful, but gives a long list of exactly how she wants the chores done.
The spa awaits! Unfortunately, there’s a big line for the steam room because there is a problem with the hot water supply. Luckily, it’s tool-belt wearin’ Applejack to the rescue, with a handy supply of duck tape to patch things up. She lectures the spa ponies because their efforts to fix the problem (handing out an unending supply of hot towels to waiting ponies) only made things worse, even though that’s the way things have always been done at the spa.
Rarity and Applejack had back to the farm and find that AJ’s overly complicated directions have stymied Twilight and Spike. AJ shows them how it’s done by going through a Rube Goldberg-like process while ironically going on about how the spa ponies unnecessarily complicated things. She added each extra step to the process to deal with problem or situation that had long been dealt with, but she never removed the extra steps. Once this is pointed out to her, she lets Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Efficiency, help her streamline all her chores so she finally has time to go to the spa.
-Dash is there for sports injury treatment! She’s not going to the spa for pampering at all!
-Did the spa ponies always have that odd Euro-accent?
-Spa cameos for Spoiled Rich, Bulk Biceps, and the Cakes
-We get to see AJ cluck and walk like a chicken
-What did Spike and Twilight need all those pies for?
-Why have pigs on a farm in Equestria? The ponies make a lot of (presumably non-vegan) baked goods, so I see the need for milk and eggs, but I doubt they’re eating ham or bacon.
-Rarity and AJ are starting to act like an old married couple, with Rarity coming across as griping about her workaholic spouse never has time for her.
I sometimes think that the writers of this show are secretly lesbian ship fic fans. Rarity and Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are both fairly obvious couples.
Just caught up to the mid-way point of the season.
“Flutter Brutter”: The writers went about as far as they could go in making Zephyr Breeze a dislikable character without making him hostile, mean, nasty, or sullen. Instead, he’s a lazy, obnoxious, , manipulative, self-absorbed slacker with deep-seated insecurities. I don’t know how much re-use value he will have. It was worth it to see Rainbow Dash’ reactions to him, though.
Notes:
-Fluttershy is older than I thought, if she has parents who are retired and she has a younger brother who has been expected to be out of the house and on his own several years ago.
-I found it odd that Fluttershy’s whole family lives in Ponyville. I had the impression she was from Cloudsdale and came to Ponyville to be with critters.
-Fluttershy had the god sense not to try to get her brother a job at Sweet Appl.e Acres.
-That said, it’s kind of ironic that we’re not entirely sure what Fluttershy’s job is.
“Spice Up Your Life”: The Cutie Map is back! Apparently, Starlight Glimmer’s messing around with in last season’s finale knocked it out of whack, but Twilight and Starlight fix it up and it sends Rarity and Pinkie to Canterlot, where Pinkie’s growling stomach and need for eat something besides the bland, tiny-portioned food found in Canterlot’s Restaurant Row, leads them to the Tasty Treat, where they find their friendship problem in the form of the daughter-father duo of Saffron Masala and Coriander Cumin.
The restaurant is failing. The food is wonderful, but they can’t get anyone to try it without a review from super-snob Zesty Gourmand, who demands that every top restaurant have the same food, presentation, and decor. Rarity and Pinkie divide their labors and almost put the place out of business until they switch roles and agree that NOT turning the Tasty Treat into a carbon-copy of the other restaurants is the way to go.
-A pony version of India exists in Equestria.
-So we get a Bollywood number, natch.
-Elephants exist, too.
-I’m guessing most of the chef ponies were modeled after real chefs, but I would need to watch again to make the connection.
-I like that Zesty didn’t do a face-heel turn by trying and liking the Tasty Treat