Welcome once again, fillies, gentlecolts, bronies, and pegasisters to another edition of the FAN My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic recap and review. Hey, since last week’s episode focused on one of the cutie mark crusaders, then logically we need another episode involving them ASAP. But, are we in for another classic, or just a mediocre episode? We’ll find out as we experience “The Cutie Pox”.
We open the episode with the Cutie Mark Crusaders about to undergo their latest plan to try and earn their cutie marks. How? Why by bowling of course. Apple Bloom is easily the most confident of the three that this is their talent that will earn them the marks they’ve so desired. However, this of course proves to not be the case, as the three end up being abysmal at bowling.
This setback in mark earning makes Apple Bloom depressed. So much so, that neither a Pinkie Pie party, nor a fancy hat from Rarity can cheer her up. Apple Bloom walks off into the Everfree Forest by herself. However, during her funk, she trips over a root, and falls down a hill. She chips one of her teeth in the process. But before this dental emergency becomes the focal point of the episode, she is greeted by Zecora, who takes Apple Bloom to her home to remedy the broken tooth.
Zecora whips up a potion that quickly fixes Apple Bloom’s broken tooth. While at Zecora’s, Apple Bloom notices that she has potions that can do practically anything, and tries to get the zebra to make one that can finally make her cutie mark appear. Zecora tells her that there’s none that can do that, and that Apple Bloom will simply have to wait. Zecora also makes a potion for a rooster using a flower called heart’s desire, which can give whoever consumes it, well… their heart’s desire. This gives Apple Bloom an idea, as Zecora heads off to get more plants.
Later that day, Apple Bloom arrives at school, and quickly wows everybody with…
Her cutie mark!
Her cutie mark is that of a “loopty hoop”, which Apple Bloom has become a master of. She shows off for a while (Or half of act two exactly), doing several impressive tricks with the hoop. They’re so impressive, that even Cheerilee decides to cancel class so that everyone can enjoy Apple Bloom’s incredible hoop spinning. However, during her showcase of hoop tricks, a second cutie mark pops up on her flank, this time of two spinning plates. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon accuse her of having fake cutie marks, but Apple Bloom is quick to counter by suddenly becoming a plate spinning dynamo. She takes her new-found talents to Ponyville, and impresses the entire town with her incredible new talents.
The Apple Family are also proud that Apple Bloom has earned her cutie mark, but after a long day, Apple Bloom heads off to sleep. Later that night, Applejack is woken up to the sound of loud tapping. She is quick to find out that it’s coming from Apple Bloom, who is unable to stop dancing due to getting a third cutie mark.
They go to Twilight Sparkle to see if she can find out what’s wrong, and they soon learn that it’s a case known as the cutie pox. An illness that causes multiple cutie marks, and the afflicted become unable to stop performing the talents depicted on the marks. And Twilight is unsure of a cure, but believes that Zecora may have a remedy. But the problem escalates as more cuties marks begin to spring up on Apple Bloom. Now completely beyond her own control, Apple Bloom heads into Ponyville and begins to do everything from washing windows, speaking in french (Oh wait, I mean speaking in Fancy, as Applejack would put it), sweeping chimneys, sculpture building, and even lion taming. This causes the entire town to go in a state of panic, as they quickly head indoors for safety.
Zecora shows up with the only possible remedy for the cutie pox. She has the seeds of truth, that will only grow the cure once somepony tells the truth. Apple Bloom finally gives in and admits that she used the heart’s desire, and made a potion to get her cutie mark, and admitting that her cutie mark was a fake. This causes the flower to grow, which Apple Bloom quickly consumes. This does the trick, as the cutie marks all vanish. Apple Bloom apologizes to everyone for lying, and to Zecora for taking the potion. Twilight suggests that Apple Bloom should be the pony to write to Princess Celestia this week. The moral being that one shouldn’t try to take shortcuts and lie to get what they want. The episode ends with the Cutie Mark Crusaders once again trying to come up with ideas as to how to earn their marks, even suggesting that they should try potion making since Apple Bloom was so successful the last time.
So, now that we’ve recapped the episode, how did I rate it? Let’s look at the pros and cons for this episode.
PRO
Apple Bloom is a great character. Very charismatic, and quite hilarious at times. Of the three Cutie Mark Crusaders, it’s usually her plight over the mark that makes for the stronger episodes involving the three. While I didn’t think this episode showed that plight better than ones in the past, it was still another strong Apple Bloom episode.
As always, it’s great to see Zecora. She’s one of my faves, even if her rhyming at times seems a bit stretched. I also enjoyed the continuity moment involving her mentioning how she thought that everyone in Ponyville stopped hiding from her when she shows up.
And finally, three words
BIG.
LEBOWSKI.
PONIES.
Okay, a few more.
In fact, this episode seemed to be very heavy in references, more so than any episode I can recall in the past. Not that that’s a bad thing at all, just I really hope that the show doesn’t feel the need to make the show so pop culture heavy. But, this was definitely a great sight to see, and further proving my point that this show has evolved far beyond being a show for little girls.
CON
The pacing of the episode was way to slow at times, and some scenes seemed to go on for way too long. The loopty hoop scene especially. I get why they did it, since we need to establish this as Apple Bloom’s amazing new talent, but it just dragged on to the point of being annoying.
Again, a lack of a mane 6 member rankles me. This time being no Fluttershy. This wouldn’t be an issue, but this is the second episode in a row not to feature her. Again, she wasn’t needed for the plot, but she could have still been involved in the background. Hell, even Rainbow Dash was made for a quick cameo. But I can’t complain for this, knowing her upcoming future.
Big Macintosh being reduced to a simple catchphrase speaker annoys me. It wouldn’t be too bad if they had simply made “Eeyup” and “Nope” his only words in the whole series. But we know that he is capable of talking like any other pony. Hell, even Granny Smith has had more lines this season than Big Mac. I just hope that this isn’t a case of pointless dumbing down of a character with potential.
And finally, I just can’t stand Cutie Mark Crusader episodes in general. Not that the characters aren’t entertaining and cute, which they are. But my main issue is that they steal too much of the spotlight which could be used more in developing the mane six. And having two episodes in a row featuring them in a main role gets at my goat every time.
Despite my gripes, this was still a decent episode, with some great moments, and a few good laughs. However, in comparison to some of the stronger episodes we’ve seen recently, this one pales in comparison. The main factors being the pacing and the mane six taking the backseat to the Cutie Mark Crusaders two weeks in a row. While this one was not horrible, it was far from perfect, and is honestly my least favorite episode this season.
Rating: 6 out of 10.
Next week, we finally get back to the mane six, as Rainbow Dash is looking for the perfect pet. But what pet will meet the standards of a pony who’s just 20% cooler? “May The Best Pet Win”.
Until next week Bronies and Pegasisters.