AWGear 
The Devil's Advocate
Welp, I guess we are back to bad episodes... sadly. :c
This episode has alot in common with "Hard to say Anything". Probably the most annoying of those things is that we (again) bring back a minor character from the past, who ethier has an annoying personaliy (Gabby) or had no original personality at all (Sugar Belle), and have them interact as ethier a close friend (Gabby) or a lover (Sugar Belle) with one of the main characters of the show. There is another thing that connects those female characters, and that is a complete lack of negative traits. They are characters destined to be perfect, because the only thing you can "accuse them" of is a lack of inteligence in thier inicial appearance (Gabby thinking that a Gryphon can have cutie mark; Sugar Belle beliving in Starlight's ideals without questioning it). Just as much as it was a mistake to bring back Sugar Belle and not do anything with them, it's as bad with Gabby, if not even worse due to her overly excited personality, which comes of as obnoxious. They could at least make her somewhat flawed, because the story now comes out as biased.
It's supposed to make Rarity as the "evil one" for making Spike spend all his time with her, making him have no energy to hang out with Gabby. This makes it feel tough, like the writters have double standards against her, because when Gabby does litterally the same thing at the beguin of the episode, it's concidered to be fine. Actually, an idea from "Hard to say anything" would work much better with this episode, if you had Gabby and Rarity trying to win over Spike's time, just to see in the end how much are they hurting him. Instead, this is the second time of the season (first time was "She's All Yak") when Rarity comes off as the Bad Guy. She didn't have a single, positive appearance this season (because for some reason, the only Dragon centred episode went to Fluttershy, instead of sticking with the Twilight-Rarity duo, as it always used to) which makes it come out as even worse of an episode.
Another, relationship related thing I have to mentoin, is that I'm getting sick of LyraBon. Thier moments together in the show were always adorable just because they seem to happen rarely and always carried some "meaning" with them (like the scene on Hearts and Hooves day, where they give eachother gifts). Nowdays tough, I'm pretty sure that they have appeared together in almost **every episode of the season**. This rubbs those scenes out of thier charm, making them feel less as a "nod" towards the fandom, and more like obnoxious fanservice. It's kinda like when Game developers are trying to make Easter Eggs as obvious as it's possible, instead of doing the normal thing and keeping them as "gentle" as it can get.
Last thing that has become a staple of this season are the horribly unfitting faces. This episode is probably the worst offender in that category due to one scene.!https://You can find it herpibooru.org/e: 2096236!. Instead of looking "cute" or anything, it looks like Twilight has a toothache and her face got swollen. Those kind of faces don't fit the show and should be rammed into every episode.
Now, to the positives of this one. Spike was as cool as he always is, which is a good thing. I loved the reference to Power Ponies during the episode, since it feels like that "series" was completly abandoned after it's inicial episode. Seeing how other M6 act while helping Rarity was also a nice touch, since we rarely see them alone.
In the end, it wasn't a good episode, but wasn't at least as bad as "Hard to say anything". I wouldn't say that this is a re-watchable episode, but i wouldn't mind seeing it once again, just for the laughs. I kinda wish it wouldn't air just after such fantastic episode as last weeks, since it pales in comparasing.
Hope that next week's episode will be better.
This episode has alot in common with "Hard to say Anything". Probably the most annoying of those things is that we (again) bring back a minor character from the past, who ethier has an annoying personaliy (Gabby) or had no original personality at all (Sugar Belle), and have them interact as ethier a close friend (Gabby) or a lover (Sugar Belle) with one of the main characters of the show. There is another thing that connects those female characters, and that is a complete lack of negative traits. They are characters destined to be perfect, because the only thing you can "accuse them" of is a lack of inteligence in thier inicial appearance (Gabby thinking that a Gryphon can have cutie mark; Sugar Belle beliving in Starlight's ideals without questioning it). Just as much as it was a mistake to bring back Sugar Belle and not do anything with them, it's as bad with Gabby, if not even worse due to her overly excited personality, which comes of as obnoxious. They could at least make her somewhat flawed, because the story now comes out as biased.
It's supposed to make Rarity as the "evil one" for making Spike spend all his time with her, making him have no energy to hang out with Gabby. This makes it feel tough, like the writters have double standards against her, because when Gabby does litterally the same thing at the beguin of the episode, it's concidered to be fine. Actually, an idea from "Hard to say anything" would work much better with this episode, if you had Gabby and Rarity trying to win over Spike's time, just to see in the end how much are they hurting him. Instead, this is the second time of the season (first time was "She's All Yak") when Rarity comes off as the Bad Guy. She didn't have a single, positive appearance this season (because for some reason, the only Dragon centred episode went to Fluttershy, instead of sticking with the Twilight-Rarity duo, as it always used to) which makes it come out as even worse of an episode.
Another, relationship related thing I have to mentoin, is that I'm getting sick of LyraBon. Thier moments together in the show were always adorable just because they seem to happen rarely and always carried some "meaning" with them (like the scene on Hearts and Hooves day, where they give eachother gifts). Nowdays tough, I'm pretty sure that they have appeared together in almost **every episode of the season**. This rubbs those scenes out of thier charm, making them feel less as a "nod" towards the fandom, and more like obnoxious fanservice. It's kinda like when Game developers are trying to make Easter Eggs as obvious as it's possible, instead of doing the normal thing and keeping them as "gentle" as it can get.
Last thing that has become a staple of this season are the horribly unfitting faces. This episode is probably the worst offender in that category due to one scene.
Now, to the positives of this one. Spike was as cool as he always is, which is a good thing. I loved the reference to Power Ponies during the episode, since it feels like that "series" was completly abandoned after it's inicial episode. Seeing how other M6 act while helping Rarity was also a nice touch, since we rarely see them alone.
In the end, it wasn't a good episode, but wasn't at least as bad as "Hard to say anything". I wouldn't say that this is a re-watchable episode, but i wouldn't mind seeing it once again, just for the laughs. I kinda wish it wouldn't air just after such fantastic episode as last weeks, since it pales in comparasing.
Hope that next week's episode will be better.