My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic: Episode 103 - The Ticket Master

Rating: 

Much like Luis Buñuel’s film Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie, The Ticket Master finds Twilight Sparkle forever sitting down to lunch but never eating.  Sadly, adding a comprehensible plot weakens things greatly.  The Ticket Master is the start of the Grand Galloping Gala “arc”, but the true payoff for the episode only comes later in the season.  For now, the rest of the mane six decide to be as annoying as possible once they find out Twilight received a +1 to the event.  I remember when I received one to my uncle’s wedding.  Nobody was cleaning up my house or bringing me food.  It probably didn't end up mattering, since according to this episode I likely would've lost any friends I had.  Thankfully my brother was smart enough not to extend me the same “courtesy” to his.

The Ticket Master is ostensibly the first actual episode of the series, but the mane six seem to be more familiar with each other than they probably should be (Twilight already describes them as her “best friends” even though she apparently didn't really have any until the previous episode).  The chronological order for the first season may be up for debate, but considering that the Gala is referenced multiple times throughout the season, this episode likely takes place rather early in the year.  Of course, we can only wish the ponies were less familiar with each other at this point after watching The Ticket Master, since it probably would've spared us much of the action.

The plot is a bit strange since despite the rest of the mane six have their own reasons and personality, they end up reacting the exact same way.  Each pony discloses the reason they simply must go to the Gala, but all of them range between absurd and silly.  They start hounding Twilight incessantly to decide who she will take, but once this angers her, they decide to butter her up instead.  Suddenly each pony starts doing favors to get on Twilight’s good side, and not one of them thinks it’s going to be obvious to her why they’re doing them.  Once this angers her again, they all spontaneously decide to renounce their interest in the ticket (well, except Rainbow Dash, but the rest of the group guilts her into doing so).  Twilight returns both of the tickets to be fair, but then Celestia remembers she’s the lord of everything and sends tickets for all of the mane six and Spike.  This is a neat solution to the problem, and fortunately the successive episodes that deal with the Gala provide a better focus to make this ending worthwhile.

While the pilot made a conscious effort to establish and define each of the main characters, The Ticket Master smashes them back into one.  Yes, Flut­tershy does have some nice moments when she can’t quite ask for the ticket, but then she starts acting like everyone else.  Having the mane six behaving as a collective mind is probably supposed to be funny, but it’s rather unlikely all of them would actually wish to go to the Gala.  I can’t imagine Rainbow Dash wanting to be at a dance with a lot of upper class ponies dressing fancily, while Fluttershy would never be so forward even if she did desire the ticket.  Her reason (to see animals and plants) is by far the worst, and doesn't make much sense either.  This is the kind of thing Fluttershy should bury and discuss with no one, but she easily relates this preposterous story to all of her friends.  As we will see later, most of the other rationales aren't much better, but at least they have something to do with the Gala.

Rarity is probably the only pony for whom it actually makes sense for her to want to go, but the story she relates causes needless complications.  I do like how this prince is introduced as “Him” (which Powerpuff Girls fans will understand), but he’s then revealed to be related to Celestia.  We’re told pretty specifically that Celestia and Luna are the sisters ruling Equestria, and that Prince “Him” is Celestia’s nephew.  That suggests he’s either Luna’s son (probably not likely given the whole thousand years thing and that most ponies appear to age normally), or that Celestia killed his mother/father during her power struggle to take over the world.  Considering she imprisoned her own sister for a millennium without feeling any guilt, the latter is the more likely of the two possibilities.

Apparently Lauren Faust wanted the character to be a Duke, and made up some half-baked story that the prince is descended from one of Celestia’s cousins.  The fiasco may not be Faust’s fault, but her name is still listed as one of the writers.  Considering how little this episode resembles the pilot,  my guess is that she had the idea for the show but not much else.  Either way, the subject of how a royal family can exist when its only two members have no parents or children is never answered, and just ends up causing more unnecessary questions to arise.  This is a problem that crops up on many of the worst episodes of the series, as it’s just better for certain subjects to never be brought up.  But yet in the second season finale, we’re expected to be interested in the wedding of “Princess” Cadance without knowing her exact relation.  She looks a lot like Celestia, and even shares the supreme ruler’s love of eyeliner.  Is Cadance supposed to be Celestia’s daughter?  Does that mean her father met the same fate of anyone else who stood in Celestia’s way to the throne?  Or will the entertainment shows be covering the scandal when the paternity test for Cadance happens and all of Equestria’s sleaziest stallions throw their hats into the ring?  I guess I’m with Faust then.  If Blueblood had just been called a Duke, none of this would have mattered.  But once again, the writers bring a normal aspect into a strange society and hope nobody thinks about or questions it.  That all of this hinges on one word is what we call bad writing.

Also mystifying is Spike’s attitude in this episode.  Rarity pays him a bit of attention, but he only seems annoyed with her when he notices.  As we will see later, Spike endures physical pain for her sake, so getting a personal makeover should be an honor.  His crush was very well established in the pilot, so there’s no excuse for it not being here.  A few gender issues are also brought up with Spike being the group’s only male.  Spike won’t openly admit his desire to go to the Gala too at first, and Applejack gets halfway through taunting his reaction to the mane six’s group hug since “boys” can’t handle sentiment.  This is a kind of gender stereotyping that normally doesn't happen on the show, and there isn't any place for it either.  Applejack making such a thoughtless remark was completely uncalled for, so this is another example of a poor word choice drastically hurting the episode.

At least the message behind The Ticket Master has some merit, since some selfish kid somewhere has probably put a friend or parent in the position Twilight finds herself in.  But the execution didn't work at all.  Most of The Ticket Master is rather painful to watch, and the strange consolidation of all the characters can’t be forgiven.  There isn't much to like overall, and it’s disappointing that the great characters just introduced in the previous episode are now all shown at their worst.  The plot requires certain ponies and dragons to be completely out of character, while the writing suffers from many poor moments (including the first time ponies talk in unison).  At least My Little Pony could know it was in good company, as many series take a while to find the right rhythm.  Unfortunately, the doldrums that began here would last for the whole first half of the season.  The Ticket Master may have a scattered moment or two which saves it from ranking with the worst episodes, and at least it begins a thread that is the closest thing the show has to an arc for the first three seasons.  But it also fails mightily to deliver on the promise of the pilot, while announcing a rather tough and uninspired stretch for the burgeoning series.