Talk:Sleepless in Ponyville/@comment-27578467-20170709065940/@comment-27578467-20180228091049

I've decided the episode is in fact worthy of at least honorary 5/5 status. Watched it for the first time in a while just now and was moved to tears. Each character motivation and reaction feels very natural and believable to me, and as a result the emotionally laden moments hit dead on; striking is how efficiently they present such complex mental processes (psychology of fears and coping mechanisms) in so effective a shorthand in the animation and script. Also impressive is how the comedy is just as spot on as the tragedy... even in the scene I criticize in my original comment here, I felt the music made up for the seeming break in tone. Pacing, camera work, use of perspective (this especially hit me watching this time around), all superb.

Also, in a similar vein as a comment I made recently about how in For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils Luna seems to let Sweetie Belle continue to witness distressing scenes of Rarity potential future even after she asks to see no more, it's interesting to me that the writers specifically show Luna in Scootaloo's first dream, present but apparently choosing to allow the nightmare to continue. To me this is underlies a somewhat profound concept of allowing someone to be pushed just beyond what they think they're capable of as part of an ultimately beneficial and important process of personal growth.