The preordained half order for season three prevented much
hoped-for development, but My Little Pony
was definitely in transition nonetheless.
Fortunately, no truly awful episodes were produced like in earlier seasons,
but a reduced count still didn’t prevent unnecessary filler. Even worse was both of M. A. Larson’s
episodes getting heavily cut and feeling rushed, which could have been
prevented by eliminating any show Merriwether Williams touched. Each writer found their usual spots on the
top and bottom lists, but that doesn’t mean surprises didn’t otherwise
abound. Dave Polsky returned to establish
himself as one of My Little Pony’s
better scribes, while newcomer Corey Powell fit in more than some writers who
had already worked the entire series. Many
characters’ returns were notably well done (unlike any new ones introduced),
although the most talked about development had to wait until further seasons
for exploration. That creates an
unfinished feel to season three despite tiny steps of progress being made. Even so, every episode’s relative merits are
pretty much known already. There
shouldn’t be as much fluctuation as season two’s list, although the final spots
remain open for debate. This list is of
course half-sized, since the usual top and bottom five would encompass almost
every episode.
Top 3
1. Magic Duel
You knew it was going to happen the instant I complained
about this show in my season one top five list. Despite having difficulty
selecting a best episode for the first two seasons, Magic Duel is very clearly
the third’s finest outing. Trixie had no business being given a second
episode after Boast Busters, but let M. A. Larson find a depth of character
where there previously was none. In true My Little Pony fashion, he cobbles together an adventure from many
cult favorites (Lord Of The Rings, Star Wars, Gremlins), but the episode is positively gripping despite all these
references. His beginning is slightly slow, with Fluttershy seeming much
more worried than usual. But everything
takes off after Trixie’s arrival in Ponyville, and Magic Duel remains strong
straight through to the end.
Having not overcome her first visit’s embarrassment, Trixie
purchases the mysterious Alicorn Amulet to enact her revenge. But this one ring of an item also corrupts
greatly, and her spells gradually grow weirder and more mean-spirited. Trixie easily defeats Twilight in an
impromptu duel by casting an age spell, and then banishes our beloved main
character from town. Twilight trains
hard with Zecora but has little luck, since there’s no beating that enchanted
artifact by herself. After Fluttershy
sneaks out and informs her of the dystopia Ponyville has now become, Twilight
suddenly returns and overwhelms Trixie with a surprising array of spells
allegedly produced by Zecora’s new amulet.
Twilight changes the age of both Applejack and Rarity at will, duplicates
Rainbow Dash, and turns Pinkie Pie into a one-man band. Before Twilight can claim victory, Trixie
selfishly steals the amulet for herself while simultaneously ditching her old
one. Rainbow Dash stashes it away in a
lockbox, while Twilight reveals (ironically of course) that everything she just
did was faked. Her “tricks” consisted of
excellent makeup and “magic” smoke to conceal their actions. Trixie calms down
and later apologizes, but she does at least help out the final celebration before
leaving once again.
The twist may be obvious in retrospect, but its first time
reveal is about as stunning as what Trixie herself experiences. Thankfully much more happens than just this
moment’s setup, but it works since the resolution wasn’t easy at all. Twilight needed her friends and a bit of
luck, but there probably wasn’t a better or more realistic solution. Even if Magic Duel is more of a great
adventure than an episode with purpose though, Larson’s character development
definitely sticks out. Fluttershy was
probably too scared, but she seems no different than any mother regarding her
pets. Trixie’s actions make sense given
what happened earlier, and we can see her getting worse because of the amulet’s
influence and returning once she takes it off.
Even Twilight shows the confidence that will be surprise her in later
episodes, and handling a world-deciding situation helps demonstrate her
apparent readiness for the nobility.
Fluttershy’s extreme worriedness and some plot holes created
entirely by questionable editing choices are the only negatives I can really
find, but Larson can’t be blamed for excising some clearly important material
from the second and third acts (how did Fluttershy get back into Ponyville?). But what time he did get was well used, and
once again demonstrates how much better Larson is than any other writer
currently working on My Little Pony. The characterization was excellent, there
were a number of callback threads (like Pinkie Pie or Fluttershy being ignored
in scenes but having the plot still develop naturally), the twist was
surprising and thought out, and Larson still had time for fun moments too (“but
what about the pony with the ten instruments?”). Excellent work from everyone involved makes
Magic Duel a very easy call for the top spot.
2. Sleepless In Ponyville
Just about every writer on the show penned a terrible
episode their first time out, but Corey Powell made us forget about Amy Keating
Rogers’ “vacation” with this fine debut.
Sleepless In Ponyville details a camping trip the Cutie Mark Crusaders
take with their sisters, but it focuses on Scootaloo instead of grouping her
with her friends. As an only child, she doesn’t
have a sisterly bond like the other two, but has clearly longed for one with
Rainbow Dash. The trip pretty much only
happens to bring them closer together, but Scootaloo isn’t quite as brave as
she’d like yet.
Sleepless In Ponyville is the second episode to address
irrational fear, but Powell’s interpretation deals more with an everyday
version than Larson’s dark-side Halloween take in Luna Eclipsed. Scootaloo acts rather silly after hearing a
couple of ghost stories, and the episode almost loses itself during the second
act. But everyone’s been afraid of
things they probably shouldn’t have, and Rainbow Dash’s admission that she was
once scared of those ghost stories too drives that point home. Dealing with these fears is something we all
go through, although the process doesn’t necessarily stop upon growing older.
While Scootaloo’s second act antics are hardly funny or
interesting, the unquestionable highlight remains Luna’s appearance immediately
thereafter. She interrupts Scootaloo’s
dream and quickly determines that the Cutie Mark Crusader isn’t afraid of some
ghost stories as much as disappointing her idol. Despite not lasting long, their encounter’s cinematic
feel elevates it to one of the series’ best.
Perhaps Luna’s relative lack of screen time helps this scene, but any
speech from her is riveting since she has a much different perspective from her
sister.
Powell does feel raw with some characters (specifically
Rarity, who is more absurd in her divaness than usual), but she also shows a
strong knowledge of the show’s history.
Both Rainbow Dash and Rarity make strange choices that are more sensible
when considering earlier episodes (Dash doesn’t join the initial journey after
being bored waiting for her non-flying friends in Dragonshy, and Rarity avoids
another Sisterhooves Social disaster by spending time with Sweetie Belle while significantly
easing the pain of camping), and this is one of the better portrayals of Dash
as a well-rounded character (not just actually admitting to being scared, but
also hilariously mimicking Rarity’s request).
Strong characterization, a good message, and plenty of fun details put
Sleepless In Ponyville firmly into the number two spot. Scootaloo’s second act cartoon-like escapades
contribute to an unevenness that keeps it from being rated higher, but Powell’s
first effort shows she definitely belongs on the writing staff.
3. Magical Mystery Cure
There’s still enough good for Magical Mystery Cure to eek
out a place on this list, but finding it in the mess might be rather hard. While just about everyone did well in Magic
Duel, Larson’s other episode finds the crew at their worst. No one had a good day from the director on
down, and poor decisions hurt what was clearly designed as My Little Pony’s best episode.
Magical Mystery Cure absolutely needed to be a two-parter, since every
momentous event feels rushed and Daniel Ingram created no less than seven songs
for just over 21 minutes of show time.
Technically Ingram did decently, but elevating him to co-writer status
weakened the episode’s theoretical greatest strength. Larson still found plenty of fine moments,
but there are also too many lapses with those good parts (like the mane six’s third
act behavior toward Twilight). Knowing
how much blame Larson deserves is impossible since a large chunk of his
original script was probably rewritten or cut.
Certainly Jayson Thiessen and Megan McCarthy must be called out for
planning an epic episode but cutting it down so they could air two Merriwether
Williams abominations and McCarthy’s own bloated two-parter. And putting in a season’s worth of songs meant
that the entire plot had to be montaged through. All of this stops Magical Mystery Cure from
having any chance at being great.
Having the mane six switch cutie marks is a potentially
excellent premise which only barely exploits its potential (although Rarity’s
confusion about how the weather works and Fluttershy’s cute attempts at silly
gags are solid). This calamity is
hurried to a conclusion so that some time can be saved for “the big development”. Act three shows Twilight’s ascension into the
royalty (despite prince and princess being blood-only styles) and alicorn transformation. The songs and celebration are cheesy, but
that should be expected from the country of an absolute ruler. Then Twilight quashes a possibly great
“Learning To Fly” episode by easily taking off and heading for the camera.
Despite the laundry list of things wrong with Magical
Mystery Cure, I still stand by my good rating.
The songs (besides that first one) are acceptable for Ingram, and they produce
strong emotional moments even while being quickly ignored. Larson did at least attempt writing a
series-defining episode, and some of those ambitions appeared on screen. Generally, shows where something important
happens are rated higher than filler episodes, since watching a series
potentially change direction feels more enthralling. Plus, Twilight unfurling her wings is a
landmark announcement that we’re already looking back on.
Magical Mystery Cure would have been a fitting series
finale, but only if it was given a badly needed second episode. Having Twilight become a princess would have
made more sense then, but My Little Pony
wasn’t negatively affected from this development. Judging how important Magical Mystery Cure
will seem is still difficult, but its mess cannot be ignored. Considering I’m
lukewarm at best on the other episodes though, I have little choice but to
award it a spot on my top three list, warts and all.
Honorable Mention:
Keep Calm And Flutter On
Bottom 3
3. Apple Family Reunion
The Apple Family had a rough season despite significant
attempts at development, as Cindy Morrow’s episodes focusing on them were
rather uninspired. While both are
bottom-worthy, Apple Family Reunion gets tapped since it’s much more disappointing. A good episode existed in there somewhere,
and it could have come from either the short vignettes of past reunions or
unknown Apple family members interacting.
Unfortunately, Morrow glossed over these parts in favor of having
Applejack plan pointless family activities.
She literally spent the entire reunion looking for anyone having fun and
ruining it, and then couldn’t figure out why they all looked so miserable. This leads to their barn being destroyed again,
so Applejack decides that forced manual labor will certainly bring everyone
together. Apparently this is successful
even though it would really be a bigger disaster than anything that came before,
and we’re supposed to believe that Applejack somehow discovers what every kid already
has about family gatherings.
Morrow is solid with characterization, but she lacks the
focus or desire to push an episode where it needs to go and falls back on
clichés too easily (did we really need another scene of old people “comically”
mishearing each other?). Being so
committed to her moral means she lost it through not letting the story develop
naturally, and that resulted in a painful episode with little to say. Perhaps a better moral would have been “old
people used to be young too”, which could have been accomplished by showing
parallels between Granny Smith and the younger ponies in her family. But why do that when the elderly are so
funny?
Apple Family Reunion also wasn’t helped by the confusion
over when previous reunions occurred, since one happened in the pilot but
Granny Smith quotes a time of around eight years. Applejack has certainly been to some, and
shouldn’t need Granny Smith explanations early on (nor should Apple Bloom if
the pilot counts). This is all
incidental in a better episode, but only adds more problems here. Having an episode devoted to developing
Applejack’s large family would be worthwhile, especially if it shows kids their
own family isn’t static. But instead we have
a rushed family gathering that makes us feel like any member there. Morrow seemed rather disinterested in her third
season work, and Apple Family Reunion should have been sent back for a drastic
rewrite.
Williams’ first third season episode turns a potentially
great premise into one silly and predictable cartoon. Rainbow Dash has always had interest in
joining the Wonderbolts, so maybe she’ll actually get an opportunity here. Anyone who’s watched Williams’ previous
efforts knows there was no chance for anything significant to happen. The titular academy combines space
camp and boot camp without promising a spot to the winner. Instead of learning about Rainbow Dash facing
her dream, Williams gives us a paint by numbers plot about some ultimately meaningless
ability trials and an obviously evil pony who eventually goes too far.
Creating a new character would’ve been too hard, so Williams
just cloned Rainbow Dash instead.
Lightning Dust has never been heard from before, but now she can
suddenly fly right next to Dash. Much
drama happens when Dash is named Dust’s second because the latter pushes
herself harder. So of course Dust almost
kills the mane six, although she can’t really be blamed since a completely
recast Spitfire already endorsed her doing so and Hurricane Fluttershy showed
how tornados are a good thing in Equestria.
Since Spitfire didn’t see the alleged incident and constantly praises
Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash’s records, her sudden expulsion of Dust comes
off more like a face-saving move than “doing the right thing”. This is doubly true since athletic events are
a very results-oriented business, and cheaters have often been at the top of
their respective games.
But while these events are mildly amusing, Williams’ B-plot
involving the other mane six members is much worse. Pinkie Pie has morphed from crazy to retarded
(sorry, I’m not allowed to use that word), and probably doesn’t even know what
year she’s living in. The potential
tragedy starts with her opening and closing a mailbox repeatedly while checking
if a letter has arrived (they’re not the magic kind Celestia delivers via
Spike), and continues by convincing the mane six to deliver a care package because
of distrusting this very mail system. I
guess stupid people are funny in Williams’ world, but Pinkie Pie has never
shown so little intelligence. None of
her friends notice or try doing much of anything (Applejack gives up pretty
quickly), which is strange since I thought this was supposed to be a show about
helping your friends when they need it.
Oh, and we’ll never find out what was in that stupid care package.
Wonderbolts Academy features poor characterization, a dull
plot, and is yet another example of Williams doing what she wants without any
regard to previous episodes. The new
character is a clone, an old character is completely different (but still an
army sergeant trope), and the mane six are all entirely off. Rainbow Dash gets rewarded for ratting out
her friend, Pinkie Pie acts like she had a chunk of her brain removed, and the
rest just stand around. With no
conception of character and a slapstick-fueled predictable plot which doesn’t resolve
(does Dash’s promotion actually mean anything,
or is she only going to get that worthless medallion?), Williams turned out
another stinker that deserves its spot on the bottom list. At least the other writers write for My Little Pony’s actual characters. I’m not really sure what series Williams
thought she was penning this episode for.
1. Spike At Your
Service
In another year, Spike At Your Service probably wouldn’t
have been on bottom, but it’s definitely the slightest of season three’s 13
episodes. Williams may not have come up
with this story, but she still worked it into a filler Spongebob script. Spike At Your Service is the first of two
Spike-centric episodes, but both only portray him as an incompetent dolt. Here, Spike “gets the day off” after a
contrived preposterous assignment will keep Twilight busy. He has nothing to do because filler, and then
stupids his way into hanging from a hot air balloon that drifts into the
Everfree Forest. Those dreaded
Timberwolves appear, but Applejack saves him from some shockingly flimsy
villains (they’re made of wood, which makes them about as scary as the aliens
who died from water). Spike’s hastily
made up Dragon Code (probably another Polsky creation) forces him into Applejack’s
debt forever, but he’s such a disaster that his help isn’t mildly useful.
Act three saves Spike At Your Service from an even worse
rating, as watching our ponies “act” feels mildly amusing (Rarity is naturally the
best, while Applejack falls into the “so bad it’s good” category). That their plan would subsequently just
happen to occur is also highly unlikely, and the other mane six members are
contrived away so Spike can save Applejack and end his servitude. At least some semblance of plot finally
brings focus to the episode, and Williams’ characterization is more or less
solid for her. But long stretches are
very dull, and it’s painful watching Spike do nothing but stupid things (he
counted 24 million blades of grass.
That’s hilarious!).
Once again though, we have an example of Williams equating
dragons with African-American slavery, since Spike only too happily serves his
massa Applejack (the “Southern” pony, of course). But Williams seems more intent on justifying
slavery than criticizing it, and her Spike embodies just about every Civil
War-era black stereotype (happy to serve, comic relief/incompetent, wishes he
was his master’s race). Williams might
say she’s only writing for a children’s show, but are outdated stereotypes
really what you want your kids learning, especially in the largely
multicultural U.S. (where every writer lives)?
Spike At Your Service might not match previous bottom list “winners”,
but its dull filler mess earns the spot nonetheless. Williams’ season three efforts clearly
demonstrate she never belonged writing on My
Little Pony. She thinks stereotypes
and slapstick make good episodes, and has not cared about what other writers
are doing or any previous events. Her shows
exist in a more boring parallel universe which has no bearing on the series. Every single one has been filler, and no one
would miss them were they all removed from existence. Spike At Your Service may not be Williams’
worst episode, but it demonstrates as effectively as any how far removed she is
from other writers, or from having any talent in her chosen field.
Dishonorable Mention:
One Bad Apple
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