Welcome back! It's Saturday again. Time for another episode of our favourite show!
This week, we see the pet shop gang help give a peacock some confidence!
Remember writers: only the boy peacocks look fabulous!
Stream (@ 9:30am EST)
The Brony Network
On-Demand
HD release from Discovery Channel
As always, any additional sources can be sent to me on Twitter @theblackwidower, or by email at theblackwidower@noprestige.com, and I'll post them as soon as I am able.
At first I thought this episode would be just another generic episode, but the more I watched it, the more points it got~
ReplyDeleteThere are only a couple of small problems with this episode, and I want to get this out of the way from now because this is otherwise an excellent episode. One of them is pretty much a nitpick I have with the entire series where the writers overthink what's "in" with today's generation of youths. This is unfortunate since that one bit of dialogue from Blythe was the only thing that kept this otherwise great episode from getting a perfect score. DISCS ARE NOT OUTDATED, WRITERS! PEOPLE STILL USE THEM! It was especially weird hearing that from Blythe considering she was just using a book (Oh no! Archaic media!) for her algebra studying. The other negative I have is rather forgivable. Youngmee was a little obnoxious about the whole "benefit to humanity" concept and some of her ideas were not as interesting as I hoped they would be. Thankfully the ending and its setup makes up for this.
Now with that out of the way, let's get to the positives~ In no particular order:
The pets - We see all of the pets give enough of a reason to show they're more than just alive and they all pitch in to help the guest pet, a nervous and allergic peacock named Basil, overcome his stage fright. Pepper was especially great here and it was nice to see her venture outside of her usual comedy schtick and actually help someone overcome their problems. Speaking of whom, Basil at first comes off a bit annoying with his oversensitive nature, but boy does he grow throughout the episode.
Fantasy scenes - Although Youngmee's ideas for Blythe's gift were kinda silly, we still get plenty of cool fantasy scenes in the Blythe/Youngmee plot and it's thanks to these scenes where we get to see the pets in this plot too. We also get to see Blythe and Youngmee's take on SCI (Super Cute Investigators). I don't think much of this gag to be honest, but it's nice to see it done by someone other than the Biskits this time.
Continuity - We get plenty of throwbacks to previous episodes. We see Webber, Old Bananas, and, as mentioned earlier, a revisit to SCI. I'm probably missing a few other bits here. Let's also not forget this is another episode that delves further into Youngmee's knowledge of Blythe's gift of animal speak, and it gets more and more obvious that she's really taking an interest in it which I think makes the show more interesting.
Foretelling - This episode is obviously setting the stage for a future episode, possibly the finale of this season, and unlike season 2 it's brought up at a more appropriate point in the season. This episode may not have satisfied my interest in how Blythe's gift will relate to any other human characters in the show like I had hoped, but at least it gives me a reason to keep staying in my seat for this possibility.
Lots of pets, some character growth, some continuity done right, Pepper was fantastic and we get cool fantasy scenes. All in all, this was a REALLY strong episode in my book despite a couple of nitpicks. I can't wait to see what we have in store in future episodes~
Okay this might be the best episode of the second half of season three, at least it up there in the top 3.
ReplyDeleteThe pet plot with the guest day camper Basil was alright, a lot of it was predictable but for the story it was telling it was okay. I love all the callbacks, from Bananas to Scout to Weber, etc. This was like Where's Waldo edition of LPS. I liked how Pepper, Zoey, Russell and the rest of them tried to help Basil and his anxieties, only problem was Vinnie and to a lesser extent Minka being idiots.
Now as for Blythe plot, this is what made the episode, Youngmee who originally was the most forgettable of Blythe's human friends, she continues to be awesome, and is probably my second or third favorite human in the series except for Blythe of course and maybe Roger. I really wanted Youngmee to learn Blythe's secret, I was so happy when she did, and we saw some great follow up in "Pet Sounds", but this totally validates that decision for a story telling prospective, I love how excited and enthusiastic Youngmee is about Blythe's gifts, it remind me of the rest o the mane 6 excitement to Twilight becoming a princess Allicorn.
Poor Blythe just wants to do algebra, but instead we get some human fantasies and skits that we normally see with the pets, and thanks to someone knowing Blythe's secret, we can actually do that, it is no longer a pets or Blythe and the pets exclusive, which gives them more opportunity to do stuff like that, and I love the skits, the old school infomercials, Blythe the weather reporter and I love how Blythe looks as a grownup weather girl maybe her mom looks like that, and SCI callbacks, showing the Biskits how it is done, also Blythe and Youngmee they have great chemistry, they play off each other well, since "Books and Covers", I thought the two of them make a great team. Youngmee is on a way higher par than any of Blythe's other human friends.
I love that what this could set up, this could be for shadowing for the season finale, maybe Blythe's secret will be revealed to the world. I think perhaps episode 25 cliffhanger will be everyone finding out Blythe's secret, and episode 26 they will have to deal with that and maybe have to convince the world what they saw is a mistake, and perhaps Youngmee could be the one to do that. If Youngmee gets to be the big hero and save the day, I am all for it.
The pet plot was okay I give is a 8 / 10, the Blythe plot was excellent I give it a 10 / 10, so I guess is even outs to a 9 / 10.
I consider this to be a God Tier effort, IMHO - despite that stupid-ass "discs are outdated" line, mostly because I don't use discs myself...
ReplyDeleteMajor:
ReplyDelete-Vinnie's fantasy. Just all of that is a pretty big major.
-Hey, folks! Have you always wanted to laugh at Kyle's cousin on South Park but couldn't because he's a Jewish caricature and that offends you, even though you're still watching South Park? Well, you're in luck!
-Surprise Youngmee.
-Luckily, this is a cartoon or else I'd have to wonder where Basil is keeping all this medication.
-I appreciate the 90's infomercial look. It's nice they'd include stuff for fans who are older than about 15.
-Pepper being the one to get Basil ready for the stage makes sense.
-Weber is gone. I wasn't a fan.
-Sugar Sprinkles cameo.
-Sort-of return of SCI. And I guess only Shannon Chan-Kent is allowed to say that title.
-The SCI bit was pretty good. I liked the tune and different line deliveries.
-In a world where "You're the Best Around" and "Eye of the Tiger" exist, this montage song holds up okay.
-Zoe's "You all see this yarn, right!?" face.
-Some people see that bow tie as a trick that'll seem kind of mean in retrospect. I prefer to think of it as like Spider-Man giving that kid his mask to make him climb out of the car. I always look on the bright side!
-Pepper has a photo of Old Bananas wearing this bow tie. Since the idea of her using Photoshop for this is implausible and dumb, that implies that not only is the picture legit, but that he gave that bow tie to her at some point. She's really willing to part with it, just for Basil? That's...awww!
-Several of the pets' owners in the crowd. Which I'm going to assume means they know their pets are backstage and therefore, mrs. Twombly isn't being irresponsible with them. Also, comb-over guy's grin.
-Vinnie belching up a butterfly. Ha ha, he eats possibly sentient beings!
-"PET-FEST!" Ohai, season finale plot.
Meh:
Delete-Always check your props before you use them, Pepper. That's basic stuff.
-Seems odd they would keep such an important animal at LPS. Yeah, we know LEPS sucks and might not be set up to handle him, but what about keeping him in some unoccupied spot at the zoo or the gardens? Or if he's that special, what about the Pawza?
-Minka's assumptions about peacocks. That's racist.
-Reminders of the existence of algebra. (shiver!)
-Where would he plug in a dehumidifier? Outlets are generally near the floor and there are only four walls to check. Look around.
-Putting math before the good of humanity? I know she's a mathelete (or was), but dang, Blythe!
-You'd think Russel would have already organized everything.
-Something tells me Basil hasn't given his business venture a lot of thought. How is a peacock going to get the money and backers to open a business? Who would hire a bird and how would he communicate with clients?
-"Televised debut!" I guess Minka is on jerk duty this week.
-That's a lot of coverage and hype for a peacock. You'd think Downtown City would have more going on.
-"Who uses discs these days?" One, people and computers. Two, 'Barks on MP3'. Solved.
-Obsession with algebra. Yup, that's how teenagers act!
-Maybe it's just because I know what glasses are for, but it seems weird to me to expect removing Basil's to make him walk more confidently. Also, how did he get glasses?
-So, Youngmee's plan is for her and Blythe to walk into crime scenes, talk to animals in public and try to prosecute people based on the testimony...of a snail? That's...there's so much wrong with that.
-Pepper's props include insects, perishable foodstuffs and friggin' DYNAMITE! Not to get all un-fun Russel here, but isn't that stuff mildly dangerous? Also, her props only go up to R.
-"...like, a lucky charm!" Pepper said it best. "Ooohh, you want us to lie!"
-Nobody comes to check on a clearly-sick Basil.
-All of Downtown City watched Basil animal-talk to a skunk in a rose bush, who then put glasses on him. Not one of them cared.
-Once again, it's just a peacock!
-Okay, let's pretend that list of crimes doesn't include the big offenses. I don't know how in a city this size, but fine. Even if it's nothing but vandalism and car theft, Blythe and Youngmee end the episode laughing at people's misfortunes. Also, let's stop pretending major offenses don't exist in Downtown City because that's dumb. Youngmee handed Blythe a list of people's names and terrible things that happened to them, and they have a pals-laugh like it's an episode of Johnny Quest! People are missing and/or dead and the ones who did it to them are loose, you harpies!
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