I have to agree with Ziel's first impressions about this episode-- it was definitely not one of my favorites, but it had its moments.
Probably the primary reason why I didn't enjoy this episode more than I did is because Twilight Sparkle is usually my least favorite member of the Mane 6. Sometimes Twilight Sparkle can be hilarious, such as when she did the whole "Here comes Tom!" line and her calling her Element of Harmony the ""big crown thingy" in the episode "The Return of Harmony Part 2". But in this episode I just found her obsessive compulsiveness a little too annoying to me personally. Flustered that a 13th cupcake could rub frosting on the other 12? Really? She'd probably ought to start looking into seeking medical attention if she is letting herself get all bent out of shape over such a non-consequential detail like that. She was extremely quick to allow herself to go into a mental downward spiral, and too quick to start hatching an overly zany scheme. I don't mind the fact that Twilight Sparkle got bent out of shape by the fact that she was running the risk of being late with an assignment because that is in-character, but she mentally devolved so completely over it that she did things that I don't think her friends, Princess Celestia, or the townsfolk of Ponyville would be able to forgive her for so easily. In fact, she allowed herself to become a kind of character that TVTropes would call
"The Unfettered," which in a nutshell is:
"This is the character who can commit themselves to a single goal completely, absolutely, and unflinchingly. In pursuit of a goal they have no limits, inhibitions, or fear. Nothing chains them or holds them back (thus the name). You cannot make them flinch or falter. They cannot be intimidated, blackmailed, coerced, or otherwise convinced to back off from achieving their goal. There is no sacrifice they are unwilling to make or principle they are unwilling to compromise."In other words, Twilight Sparkle, who is
supposed to be one of the main heroes of the series, became so single-mindedly obsessed with reaching her goal of finding a conflict to resolve that she abandoned her own moral code and conscience and decided to create a problem to resolve. She did this by trying to use magic to coerce three innocent children (the Cutie Mark Crusaders) into turning on one another just so that she could then break up the fight. Targeting small children like that is a pretty horrible thing to do once you think really about it. And the chaos that Twilight Sparkle's spell eventually caused once it spread through the townsfolk caused more calamity and disruption than many of the show's actual antagonists have been able to achieve! Secretly creating a problem only to then act like the hero and try to save the day sounds like something "Syndrome," the super-villain from Pixar's
The Incredibles would do-- not a hero like Twilight Sparkle!
While this time Twilight's actions didn't seem to do any permanent harm, it should make the rest of the ponies worry that she will be capable of throwing out conscience in order to obsessively achieve a goal again. It also makes you pause and wonder just how dangerous Twilight Sparkle could actually be if she ever truly turned evil-- if she caused all of this disruption over turning a letter in on time, imagine what a complete monster she could become if her obsessive goals were far more self-serving and insidious! I am almost surprised that she wasn't arrested by those flying pegasus royal guard stallions and thrown into pony juvenile hall for using her magic for a selfish end like that! I mean, if a villain did that sort of thing he/ she probably would have been turned to stone and become yet another lawn-ornament in Princess Celestia's garden of vanquished foes! By making all of the townsfolk turn on one another and having them fight over "Mr. Smartypants," Twilight Sparkle created far more "discord" than "harmony" in this episode, right? I was waiting for the visibly upset Celestia to really lay down the law on her!
Unfortunately, I think that this episode might be an example of what TVTropes would call handing a character the
"Idiot Ball." Giving a character the "Idiot Ball" means that the story's plot only works because the main character is frankly acting like an idiot. These kinds of plots can be quickly resolved simply by the main character asking a single intelligent question or performing one rational action, but instead the plot is fueled by the character acting too stupid or obtuse to come up with that reasonable action or question. For example, the plot for this whole episode could have been resolved quickly at the beginning of the episode if Twilight Sparkle had just written Princess Celestia a letter explaining her situation and asking for a time extension for that week's assignment. Or Twilight could have directly asked her friends to help her with her assignment. Instead, Twilight Sparkle makes a whole bunch of crazy assumptions about what punishments will happen to her if her letter to the princess is late, she doesn't
directly ask her friends for help, and she ends up causing half the townspeople to tackle each other over an enchanted stuffed animal in a hair-brained attempt to reach her goal herself.
Anyway, enough with my overly thorough analysis of the show's writing, and on to a few things that I liked about the episode:
- As a computer programmer, I like how the first item on Twilight Sparkle's giant checklist was to create the giant checklist. That makes her checklist recursive! Thinking that her checklist is recursive is probably something that would only make me laugh, but it did make me laugh none-the-less!
- It was neat seeing Rainbow Dash sonic (or atomic?) rainboom the barn. Considering how she can seemingly "hulk out" and kick, punch, and head-ram her way through thick wood beams with no apparent injury, perhaps "Rainbow Smash" might be a more accurate name for her now!
- Big Mac running off with the stuffed animal in the end was pretty funny. It's cute to see that the big strong and silent type character has a secret hidden more vulnerable side!
- I thought it was funny how the sun jerked its way through the sky like a giant clock hand!
There were definitely some chuckles to be had in this episode, and the moral presented at the end was a good one. I can't even tell you how many times I have personally had a problem that was extremely important to me only to have friends, family members, etc. tell me that I was wasting my time over something that they deemed to be unimportant. That can be a miserable situation to have to deal with because you're forced to deal with it alone without any kind of support from others, and I am sure that I am not the only person here who has ever themselves in that situation. I only wish that they first didn't have to make Twilight Sparkle do something questionable and was deemed punishable by Celestia, and then too-easily forgive her afterward so that the series could return to its status quo at the end. The writers probably could have found a way to achieve their moral message that was less damaging to Twilight's character than what they ended up doing.
