Rating:
What was the point
of this episode again? Discord joins in
on Spike and Big Mac’s Dungeons & Dragons game (retitled Ogres &
Oubliettes after the comics. Oh wow,
that’s awesome! 10/10!), and they make some references to The Mask and that one Star
Trek: TNG episode where Riker becomes a Q.
Does any of this somehow turn into a good outing? Most fans think so, but again they must have
watched a different show. Discord does
his annoying loser antics, which are no better than his similar behavior from
season five. Then the “big reveal” has
Spike only inviting Discord because he felt sorry for him, despite the teaser
making perfectly clear that Discord participates because Fluttershy is busy
elsewhere. Or the reviews go on about
how much development Discord received.
But what did he learn exactly?
Find creatures who feel sorry for you and take advantage of them? Because you know he’s not going to change at
all after this. And what did this
episode say about Dungeons & Dragons?
That it’s super boring and would be much better in a real life video
game setting? The whole point of
Dungeons & Dragons is that you’re basically participating in an epic
fantasy novel, which Dungeons & Discords just shits all over. Nick Confalone’s script has severe pacing
problems when it’s not being incredibly boring.
Getting to playing this silly game takes forever, and then there’s
barely enough time left for learning about the story. Confalone also unnecessarily brings back
gender issues, which mostly stem from repeatedly referring to their gathering
as “guys’ night”. Remember that one
episode where Big Mac was a princess?
Yeah, fuck that. He’s a man’s
man. And guess who’s the first mane six
member to join in later? When an episode
creates two separate stories (the mane six travel with Celestia to visit
Yakyakistan), we shouldn’t be stuck seeing the more boring of them. And yet we do, since Confalone’s script does
nothing right. Discord’s antics still
aren’t funny, and he only “succeeds” in making Dungeons & Dragons look like
the geeky snooze-fest everyone imagines it is.
Maybe just mentioning the game is enough for any fan to award a high
rating, but Confalone’s take ends up being more trash for season six’s landfill.
“Teeeeeaaaaa?!” Discord foolishly thinks Fluttershy is
packing for a vacation that he will be part of.
She’s stuck going on that made-up train trip to Yakyakistan, so he’ll be
alone tonight. Isn’t he alone every
night, especially considering Dungeons is his first season six appearance? Shh, then the plot won’t make any sense. Fluttershy suggests Discord hang out with Spike
and Big Mac instead (“they have a top secret thing they do whenever [the mane
six] leave Ponyville, although every pony knows about it so it’s not a very
good secret”), which prompts absurd demonstrations as to how against this idea
he is.
The mane six finally
depart around four minutes in. Instead
of just saying “hey, we’re playing D&D tonight, wanna join?”, Confalone
spends another four minutes dragging their “secret” out. Should we ask him, I guess so, naw, I don’t
really want to, wait, guys’ night, I’m totally in, are you clubbing, no, we’re
staying in and playing games, oh what kind.
Christ, get on with it already.
This first act ends
on 8:31 flat, by which time we learn what the title already spoiled for
us. Dungeons is more than a third over
and no one has even started playing yet.
But now they still don’t because Discord must be convinced to join and
create a character while Spike goes through their specific backstory (they
laugh way too much over “Squizard”).
Discord makes several displays about how bored he feels. Now almost 12 minutes in, they finally begin,
but a minute later Spike and Big Mac start making fun of Discord over his poor
game choices. Act surprised that the
all-powerful being next to them doesn’t take this well.
Since we haven’t
wasted enough time, Discord teleports everyone to an actual club which
apparently exists in the past. He tries
getting them a “drink” (chocolate shake) or to dance, but Spike only muses how
the restaurant table would be perfect for their game (not even a much-talked
about but completely superfluous Josephine Baker-pony cameo distracts
him). Since they won’t shut up about it,
Discord transports them into a real-life version instead.
(We’re at about 15
minutes right now and they’ve played for maybe one.) At first Spike and Big Mac think their
dice-filled world looks pretty cool, but an advancing Squizard card and his
army almost kill them. Practically
shitting themselves, Discord saves Spike and Big Mac after being informed they
felt sorry for him always being alone.
Discord excuses himself, but now they don’t want to continue on without
him. Quickly inviting him back once he
leaves, they suggest returning to a less certain-death-filled live action
version. Discord obliges, although everyone
gets “caught” once the mane six return home.
No matter, Rainbow Dash (natch) and Pinkie Pie happily join in on “guys’
night”, while Twilight “totally has no idea what this is”.
Discord’s antics
became quite tiresome during season five, and that really never changed. Granted he doesn’t reach those lows here, but
neither is his continued existence justified either. When not expressing complete contempt with
the plot, Discord participates in strange references (a deadly live-action
“game” also occurred during Star Trek TNG’s
Hide And Q, while there’s little explanation for the Mask diversion outside of Confalone apparently being a fan) which
don’t really add any original elements.
Thankfully John de Lancie gives a strong performance despite another
awful script, as his Discord navigates dialogue none of the other characters
would be asked to. He avoids being too
overbearing once Fluttershy leaves (more or less), but also starts accurately
criticizing the episode (“curse myself for attending this infernal evening”,
“this game is insufferable”, “how embarrassing”). The Discord as devil (or evil) trope also
feels overused, as does his unconscionably large ego. Even with some decent parts, Discord’s
“performance” still comes off as tiresome.
No one else has much
chance for characterization. Spike seems
like a capable dungeon master, but his devotion to a game we’ve never seen him
play before (in the face of better entertainment options) seems awkward. As usual, Big Mac shows little personality
and cannot counter being referred to as “Applejack’s monosyllabic
brother”. Peter New’s “guest”
performance as the Squizard fares much better despite vastly less screen time
(“…I mean Schmarity”). The mane six’s
cameos are nothing special, unless you count making us wish we were following
them instead.
These scripts were obviously
written before Brotherhooves Social aired, but I’m starting to wonder what that
episode’s point was. Big Mac’s princess
dream and time as “cousin Orchard Blossom” highly suggested he’s trans (as did
Dave Polsky and Peter New’s tweets after the show aired), but this was completely
forgotten with his season six appearances.
Now Big Mac’s fantasy character is a strong knight, and acts really
excited about guys’ night. Maybe people
would argue neither of those things counts as proof, but Confalone again
reinstates an unnecessary gender binary here (until the end, I guess). He probably didn’t realize what would happen
with Big Mac in season five, but that just demonstrates the incompetence of My Little Pony’s staff. Story editors and show runners exist to solve
these potential series continuity problems, but Josh Haber made no such
effort. Whatever your opinion, this was
a sloppy oversight.
Although the main
problem is when did Spike and Big Mac become friends? The mane six talk like they’re both trans and
will be dressing up as girls once they leave, and honestly even that probably
would have made for a better episode.
But this odd pairing only happened because there just aren’t any other
guys in Ponyville. And maybe the
resulting show isn’t completely awful to watch, but its problems are so deep
that they can’t be forgiven. A filler
episode shouldn’t consist of mostly filler, but Confalone’s pacing was
horrendous. The entire first act could
have been condensed into the teaser so that more time would be left for
actually exploring Ogres & Oubliettes.
Then Confalone got bored and added another filler scene (the nightclub)
before we finally jump into the game 15 minutes in. And when Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie want to
join? That’s when it ends.
Mostly though, incorporating
Dungeons & Dragons into My Little
Pony had no purpose. Was this
supposed to be a commercial or critique of the game? And why was either necessary in a series
which has nothing in common with it?
Confalone’s efforts don’t make Discord any more tolerable, they set Spike
and (especially) Big Mac back, and he produces an episode as boring as he
apparently finds Dungeons & Dragons.
Nothing happens for far too long, and Confalone ignores Spike’s
insistence about the game existing in your “imagination” by having every character
prefer Discord’s live-action version. Dungeons
& Discords should have been killed long before getting produced, as Confalone
failed in every facet and few episodes are just so utterly pointless.
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