MLP:FIM No Second Prances

This was the third episode written by Nick Confalone, who has proven himself to be a really good writer already. His previous episodes were Party Pooped and Hearthbreakers. This episode was storyboarded by Ed Baker and Mincheul Park (who started boarding for the show last season).

Ok I can't fully talk about this episode without mentioning a certain spoiler (sorry I usually try to avoid that). Anyway this episode is about Starlight Glimmer becoming good friends with the great and powerful Trixie. This episode is easily my personal favorite Trixie episode (it is probably also my favorite episode of the season so far), which is saying much with how much I love Magic Duel. This two characters are just written very well here. Their friendship is very believable, and the two have great chemistry. Again I just love how well written and likable Starlight Glimmer has been so far this season. Her stress about her past is extremely relatable. I notice a lot of similarities between her and Twilight, but the writers make that work to their advantage and they are still clearly different characters. Also Twilight's feelings about this friendship are very well handled. Even though we disagree with what she does in this episode, we really like her because we can see where she is coming from. Speaking of Twilight her facial expressions are perfect in this episode.

The humor in this episode is spot on. Their is not one joke in here that doesn't work. Some of the jokes just raise a smile, while others are laugh out loud funny, but it all works perfectly.

This episode was originally going to be called Old Dog New Trixie (according to writer Nick Confalone on twitter)but the name was changed to No Second Prances to keep the revel of the character a secret. Also the scene where Derpy hits the sign was just written as "Derpy waves" in the script but was changed by supervising director Jim Miller, and the storyboard artists (this information again comes from Nick Confalone's twitter).

Anyway fantastic episode and probably my favorite of the season so far.

-Michael J. Ruhland

MLP:FIM Gauntlet of Fire

This episode was written by the writing team of Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco. They started writing for the show last season. This is the fourth episode of the show these two have written (the other three being Castle Sweet Castle, Rarity Investigates, and The Hooffeilds and McColts). Both have worked together on every episode they have written. They have already proven themselves quite good writers for the show, especially with this episode and Rarity Investigates. They had already proven that they are very good at writing for Twilight and Rarity, not only do they still show that talent very well here, but they also show they are just as good at writing for Spike, in fact this might be my favorite Spike episode. This episode was storyboarded by Michelle Ku and Tim Maltby.

Also of very important to the success of this episode is the fantastic background work. Having an episode take place in the dragon world allows for some fantastic artwork that you could not see in every episode. This is heavily due to the layout and background artists, who are two many to list here, but all did an amazing job. This is probably one of the best visually looking episodes of the show.

Also in this episode we get quite a good new character Ember. She is very likable and personally I want to see her again. She is also very well voiced by Ali Milner.

-Michael J. Ruhland

MLP:FIM On Your Marks

Note: This picture is from the wrong episode, but it is Scootaloo. Therefore awesome

This is an episode I've been wanting to see since I started watching. That is an episode involving what happens after the CMC get there cutie marks, and it is handled quite well. It was written by Dave Polsky and Josh Harber. I personally really like the idea of a writer from the first season, Dave Polsky being a writer for such a big episode, like how Amy Keaton Rodgers wrote Crusaders of the Lost Mark.

While this may not be the funniest episode of the show as some of the jokes are quite predictable, it still has some good laughs like Applebloom learning to dance and Scootaloo teaching her friends to scooter. However what really makes this episode work is it follows through with a great idea and treats it very well and quite maturely. It doesn't hurt that I love these characters and always wanted to see them do more such things in the future. The message here is quite great and come naturally from the characters. Again it works because these are such great characters. What also helps here is just little character moments that didn't need to be there but help so much, such as the improvement of Sweetie Belle's magic and Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle being caught up in looking at their own cutie marks. This was also our first song for the season and it is quite good.

This morning's storyboard artist were Hanna Lee (who has worked for the show since Season 2) and Ward Jenkins.

-Michael J. Ruhland

MLP:FIM The Gift of Maud Pie

This episode introduced us to two new writers, Mike P. Fox and his brother Will Fox. Both of whom make a very impressive debut at writer for this show. I am quite excited to see what they write in the future. The co-wrote this episode with Josh Harber, who has been a writer for the show since the 4th season, and is now also the shows story editor. This episode is still directed by Jim Miller, Denny Lu, and Tim Stuby, who do just as fine of a job here. This episode was storyboarded by Cory Toomley (who has been one of the shows storyboard artists since season 2) and Elie Kilmos.

What really make this episode is Maud. I just love this character so much, and Ingrid Nilson's vocal delivery just enhances every joke that comes out of her mouth. Of course the other Pinkie Pie and Rarity are just as great as ever as well. Pinkie's overreactions and Rarity's imitations of Pinkie are just perfect.

This episode is also a very clever take on the O. Henry story that inspired the title. Speaking of that the title alone is very clever and one of my favorite episode titles.

-Michael J. Ruhland