Fillies, gentlecolts, and foals of all ages, welcome once again to another edition of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Recap/Review. well, it’s been quite a long time since our show’s main protagonist Twilight Sparkle has taken center stage in an episode. So, when you look at this episode, all you can really say is “It’s About Time”. Well, since I’m reviewing this episode, I definitely have a lot more things to say than just that. Ponies and time travel. Do they mix well? Let’s find out with this week’s episode.
My future self and me
We open the episode with Spike dreaming of showing Rarity an ice cream house he made for her. However, he’s awakened in the middle of the night (3AM to be precise) to the sound of Twilight pacing back and forth. She’s in a panic over the fact that she did such a good job scheduling for this month, that she didn’t pencil in any time to schedule for next month. Yep, Twilight is once again having a crisis with keeping things on schedule. Spike shrugs at her insanity and goes back to bed. Early in the next day, Twilight is still in the middle of working on her schedule, when all of a sudden a burst of energy hits the library, and Twilight is suddenly visited by… Herself?
The future Twilight has come from next Tuesday morning in the future in order to give Twilight a warning. However, Twilight from the present is too excited and inquisitive over the fact that time travel exists to let her answer. Future Twilight ends up unable to give her past self the warning before she is zapped away. With the worry of something bad happening in the future, she sends a warning to all the citizens of Ponyville to make the town disaster proof. And all seems to be going well until Cerberus attacks the town. Fluttershy quickly subdues the beast (because Fluttershy is just that awesome).
A visit to Madam Pinkie has a painful ending
Believing that this was the disaster she was warned about, Twilight takes Cerberus back to Tartarus where he came from (That’s right kids, Hell is sorta canon in My Little Pony). After returning home, Twilight notices a scar on her face, just like the one on her future self. This means that the disaster is still going to happen.
Twilight tries to stand perfectly still until Tuesday morning, but ends up being mocked by Rainbow Dash and Spike for her paranoia. However, Spike accidentally hits Twilight with a fireball, which burns her mane exactly like her future self. This now makes Twilight even more concerned about the future. Spike tells her that he knows of a pony who can predict the future, and takes her to see Madam Pinkie.
Stealthiness makes it all complete
But Pinkie turns out to be a bust, and the only thing Twilight leaves with is an injured head, which she bandages up just like her future self. With her past plans a failure, her next plan is to monitor everything around her to make sure nothing happens. But when she looks into one of her telescopes, she accidentally looks into the sun, blinding her in one eye, which is how she ends up with an eye patch. And this, just like the last several events makes her even more paranoid. So, with no other options left, Twilight decides that the only thing left to do is to stop time completely.
Later that night, Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike sneak into the Canterlot archives to try and find the Starswirl the Bearded wing. That’s where the time spells are located. However, their sneaking into the building proves to be pointless as Twilight has always been welcomed in the archives. The three enter the wing, and Twilight notices her outfit is ripped exactly like her future self. The three search frantically for any time stopping spell, but it’s too late. Tuesday morning arrives, and the big disaster is… Absolutely nothing.
Oh Hi Princess Celestia.
Twilight realizes that there was no disaster, and she was making herself go crazy over absolutely nothing. Pinkie finds Twilight a spell that could makes her go back time for a couple of minutes, which brings us full circle in the episode as we once again get the warning scene from the beginning of the episode. Twilight finally realizes that the big warning from the previous week was just herself warning herself not to worry so much. The episode ends with Twilight learning that you shouldn’t dwell in the past, and Spike suffering from a bad stomach ache from eating so much Ice cream.
This episode was certainly focused a lot on time, but was it a good time? Let’s break it down with the Pros and Cons.
PRO
The design of “Future Twilight” was really nicely done. Kind of what you would imagine someone would look like in a bleaker future. And seeing stuff like scars and eye patches in a cartoon that is supposedly catered to little girls is pretty epic to see.
Once again MLP continues to show its love of mythology with the addition of Cerberus, as well as mentioning Tartarus. I love seeing the ever growing bestiary in this show, so this was a great moment for the episode. Hopefully we have more to come.
I enjoyed the running gag of Spike eating ice cream, even if there wasn’t a really satisfying outcome in the end, it was at least something added for him to do other than chew out Twilight on her paranoia.
Pinkie Pie was the perfect choice to be the sidekick in this episode, especially since the last time Twilight and Pinkie were paired in a major capacity was so entertaining (season 1’s “Feeling Pinkie Keen”). I’ve said it countless times in the last few reviews, but it’s good to see Pinkie in top form after a lull early this season.
CON
I would say one big issue with this episode was that the outcome was pretty predictable. Granted, it’s a kids show, so having plots that aren’t exactly the most in depth ever aren’t a bad thing. But the fact that you could see where this was going so early on hurt the episode quite a lot.
I don’t think we needed to see the whole “Twilight warning herself” scene again. A cliff notes version would have worked so much better.
This episode seemed lacking in major comedic moments again, just like the episode prior. There were fun moments, but unlike episodes that preceded it this season, there just seemed to be something major that wasn’t existent throughout.
But my biggest issue with this episode is that in the end it’s just “Lesson Zero” all over again. Twilight going crazy with worry over something that might happen to her. Considering how well it was handled the first time this season, I don’t think we were really asking for the idea to be rehashed again later on. Twilight is a character who has enough strong traits to her that you can make plenty of strong stories focusing on some of her other flaws. Retreading old territory just feels very tired at this point, and that’s what hurts this the most. Though this seems to be a problem that most episodes this season are suffering from. Too much focus on flaws we already know of (Fluttershy’s fears, Rainbow Dash’s ego, Applejack’s Pride, Twilight’s paranoia) and not enough discovering what other major issues lay within each pony. Hopefully we see more of those in the future other than the same situations ad nauseum.
“It’s About Time” is a strong episode on paper, but really lacking in execution. it lacks the major comedy and strong story elements that previous episodes have, and in the end there just feels like a major hole that hurts this from being one of the top episodes of the season in my opinion. There could have been so much more done, but in the end what we got wasn’t exactly strong enough. Sorry Twi, maybe next time.
RATING: 6.5 out of 10
Next week, it’s time we embark on a “Dragon Quest”. Spike heads off to the great dragon migration to find out more about himself. But will an encounter with some teenage dragons give him the answers he seeks? Or is our favorite little dragon in serious trouble? The answer in seven days.
See you next week bronies and pegasisters.