Alright… I didn’t expected new episode so start out well, become a bit blad in the middle and end in a ridiculously idiotic way.
Before I start complaining though, there is one thing I need to call out. There seems to be some kind of favoritism in Hasbro right now. This season only, Fluttershy had at least 3 episodes (This one, “Sweet and Smokey” and “She talks to Angel”) where she is the character who is nothing but good and will solve the episode’s problem. During the same season, Rarity had 2 episodes (“She’s All Yak” and the one with Spike and Gabby) where in both of them she was the villian of the episode. In first one she came out as slightly racist and in the other one she came out as a jelous attention seeker. With this being the final season, I would expect all of the main characters being treated equally, instead of one being treated as always a hero, and the other main character (Element of GENOROUSITY) being treated as the jelous villian.
Now, to the episode at hand. I think that I can only describe it as a ton of Wasted Potential. It started out as a fantastic idea for a story that the “perspective” of the one telling it is what can change the whole meaning of the events. Going by the old saying that the “History is written by those who are victorious”.
Then, that idea is thrown into dirt when it comes out that Cabbaleron is really useing Fluttershy, which makes him look just like another “typical villian”. And ofcourse, because the staff writters are biased towards Fluttershy, she has to be the one to redeem him, because she is apparently the only one able to redeem characters that weren’t more than the antagonists (Garble and Angel) untill now. Seriously, Fluttershy is the only character, who only in one season managed to Redeem 4 villians (not counting the 3 stallions in Cabbaleron’s group), which is insane. If they wouldn’t wirtten Rarity and Twilight out of the “Sweet and Smokey” (which made no sense, since up untill now, they were the duo that always went with spike to the Dragon Lands) it would be much more bearable. Now, it’s just ridiculous.
Then, for most part the episode follows a pretty basic story, that wasn’t too bad untill the Auizothl ( or however you spell his name) appeared and well… He was himself. He’s not a really a deep villian, but he was never supposed to be one. But now, apparently he’s getting a “Redemption story”.
Yes, that concept makes no sense what-so-ever, especially since, might I remind you:
Daring Do: So let me guess: Ahuizotl has put you up to this? You're stealing the ring to give to him so his hold on the Fortress of Talacon will be good for eight centuries as foretold by prophecy!
Dr. Caballeron: Close, but... no. I'm going to sell this to him, make a bundle, and retire from archaeology in splendor.
Daring Do: [grunting] Caballeron, you fool! You're dooming the valley to eight centuries of unrelenting heat!
HE WANTED TO BURN DOWN THE VALLEY FULL OF INNOCENT ANIMALS, ONES WHO FLUTTERSHY SHOULD WANT TO PROTECT
This is the issue with redeemind characters which never were supposed to get an redemption arc. It can go a few ways. Ethier:
A) It works out pretty well (Angel)
B) The arc is a bit forced since it never was hinted at (Garble)
C) The arc makes no sense based on character’s previous actions (Auizothl)
Was it a bad episode? Not really. What it tried to do, it did pretty well. What I take issue with, is what it tried to do. It wasted a perfectly good chance to tell the story about how perspective matters in the story, and then it tried to force something much wierder at the end of the episode.
So, in the end. Would I recomend it to someone? No. Will I rewatch it? Probably not. Was it a bad episode? Not really.
If I were to put it on a 1 - 10 scale, i’d go about it like this:
Based on the flow of the episode: 8/10
Based on the idea for the episode: 2/10
5 episodes to go. Can’t wait to the next week ^^