MLP:FIM Hard to Say Anything

This episode introduces us to a new writer for the show, Becky Wangberg. It was storyboarded by Cory Toomey (who has been boarding for the show since the 2nd season) and Thalia Tomlinson (who has been barding for the show since the 5th season).

This episode may be nothing spectacular, but not every episode of a show needs to be. This is instead just a nice enjoyable episode. The best thing about this episode is the humor. If Scootaloo got to shine last week than Sweetie Belle gets to shine this week. Her love of fairytales was charming and her line about growing older because it was a long ride there was quite funny. I also love how when she tries to pass it off as she used to love fairytales, she just happens to have the book with her (also in the illustrations why do the princesses not have wings?). Also helping the episode out is Big Mac's song. Again Daniel Ingram can really write a country song and I love whenever a song from this show is in that genre. Even though that ends up leading into a comedy sequence, the song before than is actually quite good. Though I know it is part of the story, I was kind of disappointed when Feather Bangs interrupted it. The relationship between Big Mac and Sugar Belle is fully believable and charming.  My fellow Disney fans should also enjoy a great Beauty and the Beast reference in this episode.

However this episode does have its flaws as well. Feather Bangs, is kind of a bland character and feels like he was made for plot convince. The story also feels like it has been done before, with little new added. However the episode is certainty fun enough to make up for these faults.  

-Michael J. Ruhland   

MLP:FIM Parental Glideance

This episode was the first episode written by Josh Hamilton and was storyboarded by Jae Harm and Kaylea Chard. This is the first episode Jae Harm storyboarded for, and Kaylea Chard has been boarding for the show since season 3.

Ok usual I avoid any spoilers, but there is simply no way to talk about this episode without mentioning this. We meet Rainbow Dash's parents, and get much more confused about Scootaloo's parents. Since I already reveled that simply don't read any of this if you do not want more spoiled, because more spoilers make this episode much easier to talk about.

First off yes it is really cool to see Rainbow Dash's parents, but I am here to talk about the episode itself, and to be honest this episode is............ really good. While the whole being embarrassed by your parents plot has been done so many times in cinema and TV, it usual doesn't feel this real (yeah I know I am calling an episode about a talking Pegasus real). However it is. Image someone you loved achieved their lifelong dream, would you not be attempted to react like they did? I know I would, and if I were Rainbow Dash I would be embarrassed to. The scene where Rainbow Dash yells at her parents and immediately feels terrible afterwards is almost heartbreaking, because these ponies simply feel so unbelievably real.

However what really makes this a great episode is so great is Scootaloo. While she is funny, she is far from comedy relief here. She is not only important to the story because of telling Rainbow's parents that their daughter is a wonderbolt, but she is essentially the heart of the episode. Her pride in Rainbow Dash, her longing to have parents like Rainbow Dash does (does she have neglectful parents, no parents or what? This needs to be explained in a future episode). and the heartbreak she has when Rainbow yells at her parents are so utterly believable and some of the most moving scenes in this show's history.

Wow this is such a great episode. I am excited to see what Josh Hamilton writes for this show in the future, he had a fantastic start here.

-Michael J. Ruhland  

MLP:FIM Forever Filly

This episode was written by Michael P. Fox and Wil Fox. This is the fourth episode written by them as they previously had written The Gift of Maud Pie, Applejack's Day Off, and P.P.O.V.. The episode was storyboarded by Marta Demong and Desirae Salmark. This seems to be the first episode for both of them, though Desirae Salmark has storyboarded on the feature film, My Little Pony Equestra Girls: Legend of the Everfree.

This is a quite enjoyable episode with a good lesson. What makes the episode work is the characters (though this can be said of so many episodes of this show). These characters feel real to us and because of that we believe what is happening to them. We understand Rarity wanting to hold onto the past and we also understand Sweetie wanting to be treated as an adult, without hurting her sister's feelings. Along with this there is also some good humor, such as the photoshoot and the scene before the theme song.

On the downside, while the side story about the dog is enjoyable, it does feel kind of tacked on to drive the lesson further home, and we have seen this story done elsewhere before. There is still more good in this episode than faults and these good points easily overcome the faults.

Overall this is definitely a good episode, even if it isn't one of the show's best.

-Michael J. Ruhland

MLP:FIM Fluttershy Leans In

This marks the second episode of the show to be written by Gillian Berrow (the first was the excellent The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows). The episode is storyboarded by Carrie Mombourquette (who started boarding for the show in season four), and Megan Willis

(who started boarding for the show last season). Dave Wiebe (who has boarded for the show since the first episode) provided some assisted with some of the storyboarding.

This is an excellent episode even if in many ways it differs from the average episode of this show. This is a much more slow paced episode, and there is less humor or action compared with the average episode. However this works to the episodes advantage making it feel more unique in the show's line-up. The whole episode sort of has a relaxed feel that just makes it quite enjoyable. Also really helping this episode is the writing of Fluttershy. I really appreciate that this show allows one of its main characters to grow this way. She has learned from previous episodes to be more assertive, yet through all this there is never a second of this episode where she does not feel like the Fluttershy we know and love.

Overall a great episode.

-Michael J. Ruhland
  

MLP:FIM Rock Soild Friendship

This episode was written by Nick Confalone, who wrote what is my favorite episode of last season, The Saddle Row Review. This is his sixth episode, his previous ones were Party Pooped, Hearthbreakers, No Second Prances, The Saddle Row Review and Dudgeons and Discords. He is currently one of my favorite writers on the show. The storyboard artists are Sherann Johnson (who has been working on the show since the first episode) and Ward Jenkins (who started on the show last season).

This is an excellent episode that brings together my two favorite ponies besides the mane six or the CMC. This is Starlight Glimmer and Maud Pie. Luckily these two characters have great chemistry. You really believe their friendship and it feels so natural. It is just a joy watching these two work together.

There is much more than this to recommend the episode though. Pinkie, while she annoys the characters, never comes off as annoying to the audience. This is something that is done all together wrong too often in cinema and TV, and it is great to see it done so well here. She is actually funny and gets some good laughs and we can always see her heart is in the right place. On top of all this the humor in this episode is fantastic, Maud's delivery of comic lines has lost none of what makes it so great. A flashback scene (which I will not give away here) gets very huge laughs.

In other words this is just a great episode.

-Michael J. Ruhland   

MLP:FIM Flurry of Emotions

This episode introduces us to two new writers for the show, Sammie Crawley and Whitney Wetta, who do a fantastic job on their first episode. This episode is storyboarded by Elise Stevens (who as far as I can tell is another newcomer) and Tim Maltby (who started boarding for the show last season).

This is an excellent episode that manages to be adorable without ever feeling forced. Much of this is achieved through Flurry Heart. I know there have been many baby characters in many shows over the years, but this one works better than so many others I have seen. This is because so many of those characters are either trying too hard to be cute or can be more annoying to the audience than to the characters. Flurry works so well because she just seems so natural. She is cute and the episode lets us get into her mind enough (without the use of dialogue I may add) that when she does misbehave we understand and aren't annoyed by her doing so. As well as Flurry all the other characters are great. Twilight seems to be back to her worried freaking out adorkable self and the episode is all the better for it, Pinkie only gets a brief appearance but it is delightful and Spike is proving that he is a truly great straight man to Twilight's freak-outs, and on top of this is given time to shine as a comic at the episode's end and does a great job.

-Michael J. Ruhland

MLP:FIM All Bottled Up

This episode was written by Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco (who have been writing for the show since season five). The episode was storyboarded by Steve Lecoulliard and Kelli Bort.

This episode is not as good as the season premiere and definitely has its share of problems but it is not a bad episode just below par for the show.

The problem with this episode is simply that Trixie is not that well written here, and she feels out of character. While Trixie did first appear in my least favorite episode of the show (Boast Busters), I have grown to like her a lot. So it is disappointing how not well she is written here. She seems more like a plot device to make Starlight angry than really a real character. Also her obliviousness to doing anything wrong simply isn't believable, because it doesn't quite mesh with her previously set personality. However there is enough good humor in this story to keep this from being too distracting, and the idea of Trixie trying to learn real magic is a very good one that I hope they expand on in a more fulfilling episode in the future. Also Starlight remains very likable through this whole episode and also keeps a poorly written Trixie from ruining the episode.

The subplot however is near perfect. It is such a small story and doesn't need much time devoted to it. Therefore it works great as a subplot as it is given exactly as much time as the plot needs. It also has the best humor of the episode and the joke about the song number is fantastic. All the Mane Six are perfectly within character and joy to watch even if this is only a very brief subplot.

-Michael J. Ruhland