My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic: Episode 307 - Wonderbolts Academy

 

Rating:

Merriwether Williams only has vague surface-level ideas of the characters and goes off on tangents that are unlikely to be ex­plored

Even though I wrote this in the week before the debut of Wonderbolts Academy, it serves as a fairly accurate review despite not having watched the episode yet.  If M.A. Larson is on another level from the other writers, Merriwether Williams is on a completely different planet.  If it wasn’t clear earlier, Wonderbolts Academy confirms that Williams’ epi­sodes take place in a parallel universe to the actual show.  The characters may look the same but never act like it, while the plot progressions are strange without coming close to fitting in with the rest of the series.  I’m all for not fitting in, but Williams doesn’t have enough skill as a writer to pull what she wants to off.  Coming after the previous two episodes, it is es­pecially shocking to find a show full of clichés (“what are you saying?”) and standard plot developments (of course the most talented pony does something that almost kills everyone, leading to her demotion after the “good” Rainbow Dash won’t stand for it).  Even worse is the necessity of a B story, which is much more common in hour-long shows due to them being twice the length.  Fortunately most of the time is spent on the A story, which is unspectacular but at least watchable.  Williams is unable to find any great moments to rival the previous two episodes, and the story seems designed to be forgotten by the other writers.  While certainly far from the disaster of certain earlier Williams episodes (most of the time), Won­derbolts Academy doesn’t have much to offer My Little Pony’s third season.

My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic: Episode 224 - MMMystery On The Friendship Express

 

Rating:

Celestia: What the holy hell is this?

Pinkie: It’s the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness with éclairs and donuts and chocolate mousse moose.  Isn’t it marvelous?

Celestia: Why is there a disembodied moose head on top of this cake?

My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic: Episode 306 - Sleepless In Ponyville

Rating:

Hoo-ah.  No doubt taking my recommendation to heart, My Little Pony found at least one badly needed new writer for the third season.  While the characterization is suspect in places and there were probably a few too many clichés, Sleepless In Pony­ville is as strong a debut from anyone on the writing staff.  Outside of Rarity being way too over the top (even if hilariously so), Corey Powell seems to have had little trouble fitting into things.  Her debut episode is some­thing of an extension on the themes of Luna Eclipsed, while she hap­pily references the events of Sonic Rainboom as well.  Good choices in my opinion, but Powell’s tone is obviously quite different from M.A. Larson’s, which doesn’t end up being a bad thing.  Powell found ways to make funny moments out of clichés (“are we there yet?” well, yes actually), and yet turned in some epic and almost cinematic scenes near the end.  The episode is a bit uneven overall, but the refreshing new voice Powell brings is exactly what a floundering season needed.  She might not be approaching Larson’s levels for a while, but this is the second consecutive episode that pushes the third season toward being better than the first two.