Rating:
Season five’s airing order begins the same as season four’s;
a big two-part adventure followed by some slice of life from a new writer. Or two this time, since friendship amongst
the writing staff is also an early theme.
Instead of the spooky genre exercise Castle Mane-ia, Joanna Lewis and
Kristine Songco were tasked with cleaning up some loose threads. After living in her cramped library for the
previous four seasons, Twilight’s new home is a spacious castle. Far from accepting this huge life change with
no trepidation, Twilight is spending a bit too much time with her friends. Realizing the problem, they step in and agree
to redecorate, but their touches are slightly more personal than would be
warranted. Despite invoking that “keep
her occupied” trope, Castle Sweet Castle otherwise has a realistic feel which
is atypical of most episodes. Lewis and
Songco show strong series knowledge and find many surprisingly funny moments. They also waste some time with bickering and
two montages of the same song. While
nothing really happens, it’s refreshing to find writers who treat our ponies as
human(ish) rather than storybook heroes.
Maybe this slice of life doesn’t end up being all that compelling or
revelatory, but day-to-day existence rarely is.
Castle Sweet Castle avoids being filler by fulfilling a necessary part
of starting the new season. Lewis and
Songco are solid, and that’s more than enough given My Little Pony’s prodigious lows.
Their premiere episode may not impress much, but mostly was done about
as well as could be expected.
Twilight finishes helping Fluttershy bathe her zoo of
animals, which seems odd since she never does that. Even stranger is Twilight not wanting to
leave, as she straight up kicks Angel into the mud so they have more work (no
doubt revenge for Putting Your Hoof Down, etc.). After a spectacular cleansing almost makes up
for it, Fluttershy starts dropping hints about being tired and needing rest before
tomorrow’s pancake breakfast. Not
exactly getting them, Twilight decides Pinkie Pie needs help preparing the
food.
Now at breakfast, everyone enjoys their large stack of
assorted pancakes except for Twilight, who is just resting on hers. The other mane six members discuss how Twilight
has been a bit “too helpful” lately, or otherwise hanging out longer than
usual. Upon waking up, Twilight admits
she doesn’t feel comfortable at the castle and is too overwhelmed for redecorating. Since Twilight looks rather unkempt, Rarity
sends her off to the spa while everyone else does it. And hey look!
Spike wakes up and is actually allowed a role in the episode! He’ll act as Twilight’s chaperone, which
becomes important later.
Montaging should work for five quite different friends
decorating a castle, but it doesn’t quite pan out. They all bring things that would make them
feel at home but have no relation to Twilight.
Spike stops by while Twilight’s getting a perm and admits they’ve made an
awful mess. Grateful for some truth, the
mane five’s attempt at fixing this clutter ends with them removing everything. Spike is commanded to stall Twilight while
they try again.
With few activities around Ponyville, Spike must drag a
couple out interminably. He orders an
“extra strength” massage unfortunately delivered by Bulk Biceps, and is “never
sure” which bed he wants. In between,
they visit their charred library, and admit transitioning to a bigger home
isn’t going to be easy. And we now learn
it was totally called the Golden Oak Library.
Finally naming a building that no longer exists makes little sense, and
its overuse in the final five minutes is particularly glaring.
Thankfully, the mane five realize Twilight’s love for her
previous abode too, and decide on incorporating it into their design. This includes physically as well as memories,
with the main hall featuring Golden Oak’s uplifted roots. Various gems dangle which contain pictures
inside that remind Twilight of previous episodes’ good times (and not so good
ones, as Rarity sarcastically remembers Look Before You Sleep). Personal touches are saved for individual
rooms instead, like Rarity’s ornate dining hall or stuffed animals and Daring
Do posters courtesy of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. While slightly angry that her entrance hall
is left untouched and when Spike spills the beans, Twilight admits their
choices ended up being perfect. Of
course, those damned confetti cannons will probably still be going off
inappropriately for some time.
One might think that new writers would have a difficult time
grasping characters, but this mostly hasn’t been the case. Lewis and Songco are clearly quite familiar
with My Little Pony, and freely
reference many disparate episodes. This
doesn’t only happen in those hallway scenes, but also when Rainbow Dash perks
up upon hearing “cider” spoken. Such an
oblique reference brashly pokes fun at Larson’s folly and highlights a main
problem of that episode, much as Larson himself did with Pinkie Sense. Likewise, Lewis and Songco’s characters feel
real without being too over the top.
Pinkie Pie definitely pushes things, but at least retains some common
sense throughout much absurdity (“wait, no, that was the worst”). Everyone else is similarly thoughtful without
being too stereotypical. Even Bulk
Biceps’ cameo was probably more memorable than his previous appearances.
Twilight leads in terms of realism though, as she’s never
felt more normal. That’s usually bad in
my opinion, but not from a character who’s too nerdy around books and somehow became
royalty. Many episodes find Twilight
freaking out about stupid things, but this time her problem is
understandable. It can’t be easy moving
from cozy library to large castle, even given Twilight’s Canterlot history. Despite more crazy hairdos though, Twilight
otherwise remains calm about her situation and willingly accepts help. This demonstrates she learned not just from
Lesson Zero but Applejack’s situation in The Last Roundup, which is very rare
for television shows. Having so many
references (that are more than just a list) is an equally infrequent
occurrence.
Look Before You Sleep’s nod almost turns out to be
unfortunate though, since the mane five start fighting after messing up
Twilight’s hall. These kinds of sections
have been produced before, and none of them are funny or interesting. Showing main characters at their worst rarely
provides compelling television, and practically never with My Little Pony. Even though
they soon realize their mistakes, this part lulls the fairly realistic
narrative.
Besides that, Castle Sweet Castle is a confident debut
episode. There’s nothing really
spectacular, and the mane six are essentially relaxing after their big
adventure, but that doesn’t make it any less essential. Lewis and Songco treat our ponies like real
characters who can’t just absorb one world-deciding conflict after the
next. Every previous episode meant
something and created memories rather than having been created from the same
starting point with no other thought put in.
Describing Lewis and Songco as merely competent writers may seem like a
backhanded compliment, although so many My
Little Pony episodes have lacked this basic expectation. Whether it will age well can’t be known, but
Castle Sweet Castle moves forward just like The Cutie Map did even if in vastly
different ways. While far from the best
or being perfect, Castle Sweet Castle is unique enough to get by. That can’t be a ringing endorsement, but it’s
exactly what the show needs.
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