Looks like we have another of those divisive episodes to discuss. It’s time to say how I feel on it.

What About Discord is an episode that’s gotting very mixed responses. There are those who love it because they love any new episode that contains any antics from Discord, but there are also those who because of how the episode is set up is kinda boring since most of the “jokes” are stuff you don’t get because we’re kept in the dark just like Twilight was, or some people have even said the way they deliver the ending flubbed up the moral that could be considered for being as messed up as previous episodes that got flack for mixing up the moral like Mare-Do-Well and Somepony Watching Over Me did.

Personally this is where I stand: I don’t think the episode is terrible by any means, but at the same it is probably one of the weaker episodes of Season 5 and probably the weakest Discord related episode. Part of the reasons is some theme’s are kinda repeated from previous episodes, Discord messing with Twilight like this harkens back to Three’s a Crowd. Some people who were hoping Twilight and Discord got along better after the Season 4 Finale might be kinda miffed that they had Discord troll Twilight again. In both Three’s a Crowd and this one, Discord messes with Twilight on the excuse that she’s trying to give Twilight a lesson. Albeit he also gets some out of personal kick out of embarrassing Twilight in front of those she knows best. And when that’s found out Discord gets his comeuppance, like Discord getting sick for real in Three’s a Crowd. And of course in this episode where the Mane 6 turn on him with their very own in-jokes that Discord does not understand. Also as much as it’s nice to see some progress between the Mane 6 and Discord, it still seems a little much that aside from Fluttershy the others are this chummy with Discord. That to be honest when watching it for the first time watch it’s not farfetched to actually agree with Twilight that Discord might of done something strange for some odd reason. Heck when Applejack and Fluttershy were saying that the Snake might of been actually a hose or a stick I thought maybe where they were going is that Discord put them in some weird trance where each of them was experiencing a different version of the same moment. And the Apple family member might of been different in each one too, like it’d be Granny Smith in Rainbow’s like Discord was saying when reflecting on what happened with the Snake, but Apple Bloom showed up in Applejack’s version of the events. It just stood out to me as very odd and of course we’re not exactly given an explanation for why they remembered it differently cause it’s apparently part of the joke that both Twilight and the viewer are supposed to relate and not quite get it.

I suppose the issue is though that with no context of the joke, aside from Discord’s very funny visual gags such as dressing up as Bob Ross (Which came at interesting timing considering there was that Livestream event) that the episode kinda is awkward to watch and for a show that in most slice of life episodes tries to make you laugh in several moments it sticks out. So the entertainment value is lessened by a lot especially if you compare it to every previous Discord episode that was full of crazy shenanigans happening on-screen. Aside from the Bob Ross jokes and maybe the Orange stuff you’re not thinking how crazy fun this episode was as with most Discord episodes.

Now I’m not saying it’s all bad though. While some don’t like how the ending played out because they think the Mane 6 returning the favor makes the moral look bad. However like I said before, it’s just pretty much what happened in Three’s a Crowd just with a different moral. Even if Discord’s giving Twilight a legitimately good moral for her to learn, Discord still does it in a way that’s quite jerkish and he just comes off as a Karma Houdini if he isn’t punished in some way for those actions. Besides, all it takes for Discord to forgive them is Twilight giving a small orange and they all just hug it out. So even if you think Discord shouldn’t have been punished, it’s not like he took it that hard and the episode just ends on him like that. Aside from that there were still fun moments of course with the aforementioned Bob Ross reference, Fluttershy in an Orange costume, Pinkie mentioning Time Travel while costumed as Marty McFly (Which while to a lesser extent then the Bob Ross thing, came with pretty convenient timing too) with foreshadowing to the Finale with Twilight refusing to even consider doing Time Travel which is good since she basically learned her lesson from It’s About Time and shows Twilight’s genre savvy enough to know that Time Travel’s not a good idea. No doubt whatever happens in the Finale, we’ll see why Time Travel is a bad idea in the FiM universe. Oh one last thing I liked was how Applejack basically had a G-Rated “What t’ shit you talking about?” when she mentioned fertilizer heh heh.

But that’s about all. I’d say this is probably the weakest episode in the 2nd half of Season 5 so far. But I do give props to this season being consistent enough to have no episodes that I have a hard time liking something about it when I’ve had one of those in every season even in my favorite season (Season 4 with Rainbow Falls). Tanks for the Memories is still my least favorite of Season 5 but for me it’s much better then Look Before You Sleep, Mare-Do-Well, Spike At Your Service, and Rainbow Falls.

Next week will be interesting as it’s the final of the map duo episodes. Between Twilight and Fluttershy. A duo we actually may have never gotten a pure episode between them yet. The closest we got to a TwiShy episode was Bird in a Hoof. But even then Twilight didn’t come in with a major role until about past halfway through. Also should be glad to see Twilight finally happy to see herself chosen by the map to go somewhere for once after she complained in both the Griffonstone and the Manehatten episodes.