My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic: Equestria Girls

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My expectations when the Equestria Girls project was announced were unsurprisingly low, which no doubt colors this review a bit.  Despite hoping to skip a possible spin-off series, the movie that ended up coming out unfortunately features the entire My Little Pony crew and takes place directly after the third season finale.  That means it’s canon even if the series proper doesn't reference any events.  Professional retconner Meghan McCarthy took charge of the scripts herself, and at least she’s more competent than certain other writers on the staff.  With a plethora of unnecessary archetype characters and incredibly easy plot resolutions again on tap, this new movie was not likely a worthwhile use of my apparently dirt cheap time.

Naturally then, Equestria Girls is surprisingly enjoyable and easily better than most of McCarthy’s two-parters for the series.  Unfortunately, the same problems found in A Canterlot Wedding and The Crystal Empire are still present, which includes yet another retconned character and a dire situation that just works itself out somehow.  However, these are eased by scenes of Twilight actually having to deal her recent addition of wings and royal duties along with the dynamics of the Equestria Girls high school being in a parallel dimension.  Not that they solve everything (and the bland songs add nothing to what’s going on), but Equestria Girls has a depth that was missing from McCarthy’s earlier work.

My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic: Episode 420 - Leap Of Faith

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Faith was already tackled as a subject by Dave Polsky in the first season, and those results were rather dreadful.  Josh Haber’s second go around succeeds by generalizing it more, and with no less than the Apple Family and Flim Flam Brothers for characters.  The former much maligned stars get a decent episode by just being themselves and finally feeling like a family.  Haber keeps Applejack and Apple Bloom under control, while treating Granny Smith as much more than comic relief.  She ends up experiencing youth again thanks to the returning brothers, who have appropriately moved into selling a cure-all tonic.  Although the family is a bit dense throughout, Applejack soon discovers it’s a fake and must decide whether to ruin Granny Smith’s rejuvenation.  This simple tale straight out of the old west is an accurate metaphor for religion, since what’s the harm if it makes you feel better to believe?  Rather than insisting that unexplainable things must mean the existence of a higher power, Haber asks how important the quest for truth is.  Perhaps Applejack has to find as she does, even if her character not being religious is doubtful.  Still, instead of pushing one side or the other, Haber explores the philosophical aspect without needing either to be true.  Combine this with a reasonable Apple Family portrayal, and Leap Of Faith is easily the best episode focusing on them even despite a few suspect moments.

My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic: Episode 422 - Trade Ya

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I’ll trade ya Scott Sonneborn, Natasha Levinger, and Merriwether Williams for M.A. Larson.  Sound fair?  Obviously not, but I hope to god that’s the plan.  Sonneborn’s Trade Ya finds our ponies attending a swap meet because…well I really don’t know why.  They sort of trade their junk for more junk, and then everyone can forget this ever occurred.  While not as painful as other bad episodes, Trade Ya is nevertheless fairly dull.  Nothing really happens, and it’s impossible to find anything good to say about the outing.  These kind of filler half-hours are apparently always going to exist in 26-episode seasons, but that doesn’t stop them from being disappointing.  I’d rather have less if so, but better writers can elevate bad premises into something at least decent.  Sonneborn has not shown that ability, although this one was tougher than usual.  Still, Trade Ya does nothing to justify Sonneborn remaining on the staff, and like Twilight and her books, there are clearly too many and someone has to go.

My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic: Episode 423 - Inspiration Manifestation

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Well, it was only a matter of time before My Little Pony tackled drug addiction, I guess.  There’s not much other way to see Inspiration Manifestation, which finds Rarity taking some crystal meth and not sleeping for days on end while she improves the fashion quality of Ponyville.  I mean, it was the book that did it.  Corey Powell and Meghan McCarthy combine to produce an episode that is far below either of their standards, as IM (like Trade Ya before it) goes nowhere and has little plot.  Knowing who to blame is again difficult, but I can guess where the that-was-easy plot solutions come from!  Rarity finishes her story early and has two acts to roam around town creating havoc and looking crazy, but then time runs out so Spike quickly puts an end to everything.  There is no fun from Rarity’s actions, and drug addiction can apparently be cured by one intervention and a snap of the fingers.  By the way, Meghan McCarthy is also the story editor tasked with overseeing every single episode of the series.  M.A. Larson sadly remains Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Season.

My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic: Episode 421 - Testing, Testing 1, 2, 3

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Testing, who wants to learn how to take a test?  Not me, and certainly not Rainbow Dash either.  Fortunately I’m long out of school, but Dash isn’t so lucky even though she probably is too.  There’s a test coming up as part of some Wonderbolts initiation, and Twilight is only too happy to help Dash study.  Yay!  Amy Keating Rogers takes an idea it feels like she had from the first season, and fleshes out the final two acts to make a decent episode.  It starts off as a Rainbow vs. Twilight funfest, with the second fastest pony goofing off in extremely ADD fashion during class.  Thankfully much of this actually is funny.  Then the rest of the mane six get involved, trying other unsuccessful ways to learn Dash the material.  Testing, Testing metamorphosizes here into an honest look at how some students may need a different method from the usual highlighting and flash card cramming.  Dash’s preferred choice is a little unorthodox, and telegraphed early enough that the reveal isn’t surprising at all.  Despite a heavy dose of Twilight flying, the character interactions feel like we jumped into a time machine.  Testing, Testing doesn’t really have a place in the fourth season, since its lesson is vastly different from the surrounding episodes.  But it also wouldn’t have been as good either, because some of the best moments come from Pinkie’s early ‘90s rap video and Rarity’s flamboyantly retro costumes; touches that probably don’t come off any earlier.  Even though it congeals into a nice effort, Testing, Testing is a bit too much dumbed-down educational video to count as a good episode.  That Rogers could find something from a silly premise though proves that her return to the writing staff is most welcome.

My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic: Episode 419 - For Whom The Sweetie Belle Toils

 

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Rarely does a character in a show agree with me about how poorly it is going and then step in to do something.  Luna has enough of another dreadful first act featuring Rarity and Sweetie Belle, and with one pronouncement changes the episode’s course.  Not that it’s drastic enough to make for a good outing, but Luna does save For Whom The Sweetie Belle Toils from the dire fate to which it was headed.  Dave Polsky’s second straight Cutie Mark Crusader episode is surprisingly unoriginal, and fails to improve on the horrid sisters dynamic between the two stars.  But growth is a major theme for season four, and hopefully Sweetie Belle finally learns the error of her disastrous ways regarding her big sis.