The Chinese early releases continue, so greetings from 6 weeks in the past! Tell me, what's the world like in 6 weeks in the future? Do we have flying cars yet? Hoverboards? Real hoverboards not segways without the sticks. Anyhoo, now that it's the future, gonna get started on writing the review post for The Summer Sun Setback, 43 days before its scheduled release on Discovery!
Twilight Sparkle! Look at you girl! You're really improving, especially after last episode, so that's really surprising! This is basically what the episode is mostly about, how much Twilight has improved and her freakouts are becoming less and less! Not only that, but she's getting better at planning! So she gave the Mane 5, Spike, and even Discord something to do (even though Discord's was more of a joke) - most of them played a decent role in helping getting the Summer Sun Celebration organized, and that conflict on keeping Twilight from knowing the chaos outside in fears of freaking her out was understandable! Just goes to show how much she's improved! Applejack even snapped when Twilight found out saying that nopony ever listens to her! XD True, so true! Her anger is justified! Rainbow Dash actually said "screw it up", words I didn't expect to hear in this show! Though what kinda bothered me some of the pairings Twilight chose - overused pairings. Rainbow and Fluttershy are together quite alot, and Rarity and Spike too - however, with the latter, I was so glad that the crush wasn't brought up again! Did it happen? Is Spike's crush on her finally gone? Please let it be gone! At least AJ and Pinkie Pie don't get paired that often - though Pinkie wasn't much help lol! XD Even impersonating a doctor, that could get her arrested! I gotta say, Braeburn had a surprising appearance on here, good to see him again! Didn't expect Discord here either! Plus, Merry May had a big part in helping to contain the weather - I'm brought oh m'girl! :D I'm also proud of Twilight with that fantastic speech and making a new holiday dedicated to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna! Though... I kinda question... what's gonna happen to them once they retire?
Oh ya didn't know? We have a subplot focusing on the Legion of Doom! Yes, a surprising appearance of them, and continuing from Frenemies, the Legion is having troubles with the bell they're hiding from Grogar. Does he even know they have it - you'd think he'd be a bit more clever than that. Then again, maybe he is, and just outsmarting the Legion! What if this is all part of his plan? He wanted his Legion to hide the bell from him so they can move forward with their own plan to take over Equestria, but only as a distraction so Grogar can work on his plan with... whatever he's using. We dunno what it is, so if they're keeping it a secret, it must be pretty big, and perhaps maybe even something recognizable! So basically the subplot is the Legion of Doom stealthly going into Canterlot on a heist to steal the documents of Grogar's bell - and nice use of the new security from Sparkle's Seven! I figured they'd play on something major in the story arc! To be honest, their of the story was more interesting than the Mane 5, Spike, and Discord's part the story. However, this makes me wonder how the Legion is gonna fall through on their plan - try to get the pony races apart so the Windigos can come back? I dunno how I feel about that story actually for a series finale. Even if that is part of the Legion's plan, I'm hoping for something bigger coming from Grogar's end that will require even Equestria's allies! One more thing to add about the Legion: who knew Tirek had a sensitive side to birds? XD Also we can add "lockpicking with paper clips" to the list of Cozy's skills - and using a key book to break another lock! :P
With all the goods outta the episode there were some spots that were negative. For example: that weather pony saw Cozy Glow - y'think that maybe he woulda reported something about a filly offering help before the storm clouds came. Plus a royal guard saw all 3 of them just as Tirek sucked out his magic. Tirek mighta returned the magic, but he doesn't have brain-washing powers - he coulda reported it, Tirek is easily recognizable, Chrysalis too; and that hug in the end - Spike was left out again... is he even part of the group? I really don't understand Spike's purpose within the Mane 6, which I really hope gets solved soon, cause there's only 9 episodes left to solve Spike's issues! Luckily, the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Pinkie look like they finished their story arcs, and this looks like a good enough end to Twilight's story arc before the finale. Though I did love Spike's quote yelling, "What are you doing here?!" That's something I say to my buddy Rick every time I see them! Toldja Spike and I had a connection! ;) One more problem about the episode - Discord felt pretty useless in here, I don't really understand his role other than being there for a misunderstanding. Though I can tell Discord's gonna have some kinda role in the finale after seeing his surprising appearance here! Though because of this, Discord's most likely not gonna have his own episode this season. I could be wrong though! So pretty good episode - I really liked it!
What is taking so long to get a bingo slot done?! For Wizard of Hope's sake! >:(
