Talk:The Mean 6/@comment-4066758-20180610205051

I get the feeling that the writer's were trying for clever misdirection what with the promotions for this episode giving an impression that the episode would be different than what we got. If that's what they were going for, though, they failed. I know I can only really speak for myself on this one, but it felt more like false advertising to me.

As for the episode itself? Well, credit where it's due, the comedy generally made me laugh. And evil Twilight easily steals the show whenever she's on screen. Unfortunately, both of those things are overshadowed by several things. Before I get into that, though, let me get this out of the way right now:

'''If you can personally like this episode, I'm glad you can enjoy it when I can't. I also do not intend to ruin your enjoyment of this episode; if you truly enjoy this episode, then what I say really shouldn't bother you. That being said, if what I say does ruin your enjoyment of this episode, then I can only offer my sincerest apologies in advance.'''

Now that we've gotten that little disclaimer out of the way, here's why this episode really doesn't do much for me:


 * There's very little of a plot here, and what little plot there is felt disjointed and unfocused. I had to actually read the plot summary here to understand what happened; as a general rule of thumb, that's usually a bad sign.
 * I can only really speak for myself, but the tone of this episode felt like it should've been an action-adventure episode rather than the comedy one we got. There's nothing wrong with comedy, obviously, but, with the out-of-place tone, it comes off as rather jarring.
 * The characters are written especially poorly here. I'm not even gonna beat around the bush here; the mane 6 are just stupid in this episode. Whenever they see their evil counterparts, they don't immediately get suspicious of their behavior. Why not? They've known each other for 7 and a half seasons by now; they should know when one of their friends is acting strangely. For example; when the real Rainbow and AJ see fake Rarity stealing things, neither of them realize that's not the real Rarity and later accuse her of stealing things despite them knowing that Rarity would never do something like that. Later, when they all meet up and explain what happened, they don't immediately put two and two together and realize there was an outside force fooling all of them. Their fake counterparts are all discolored too, so how did they not realize something wasn't right? I know I've complained about how, ever since Shadow Play, Twilight's been holding the idiot ball and almost never passed it to anypony else, but at least that was just one character; not half the main cast. As an aspiring writer myself, it really irks me to see characters written this poorly when they've never been this stupid before - as far as I can remember, at least.
 * Even with how little of a plot there is, Starlight contributes very little to it. If there was a reason for her being in this episode, I don't see it.
 * Chrysalis is at her very lowest in this episode. I'm fully aware that she's supposed to be threatening while being a very weak planner, but she's especially inept here; her plan was way more complex than it needed to be. She could've easily diguised herself as one of the mane 6 and asked where the Elements were and saved herself a lot of trouble, especially since Pinkie blurted out their location earlier. On top of that, she just leaves without confronting the mane 6 and just vows revenge on Starlight, like she's Dr. Claw.

This episode isn't terrible by any means - like I said, its comedy really did make me laugh - and it's certainly not as bad Non-Compete Clause, but it's a complete mess. I wanted to love this episode because it sounded so good on paper. I heard about this episode and I was excited for it... and MAN was I let down. When it comes to storytelling, one of the things I hate most is wasted potential. This episode had so much going for it, and ran such a great concept into the ground.

That's what really stings the most for me. I mean, most of FIM's bad episodes can be described as good ideas marred by lackluster execution. I can't think any episodes that can be described as wasted potential. Even my most hated episodes - Mysterious Mare Do Well, A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1, Winter Wrap Up - I'll admit that they did something with their premises. I can't say the same thing about this.

TL;DR: Between an unfocused and disjointed plot that's barely even there, poorly written characters, a tone that doesn't match the story, and a complete squandering of a greate premise, The Mean 6 is a complete disappontment. It was funny, but that's not enough to save it.