Here we are at the final episode before we hit the mid-season break. A bit weird we’re breaking off after 12 episodes as opposed to 13. But there’s probably going to be a special reason for that one way or another. My guess is a spoopy episode for Halloween perhaps that was bumped up even if they didn’t exactly do that for the Christmas episode this season…

Regardless, the episode starts off with this actually being a map episode. This is the first time an arc of some kind could be seen as going more then one season. Turns out we weren’t done with the Map episodes. However I know some of you may know that for the exception of Griffonstone I found the Map episodes last season pretty average with usually not a lot of things interesting going on. I think at the very least Spice Up Your Life has something more to it then both Made in Manehattan and Hooffields and McColts but it also doesn’t quite change my feelings about the map episodes that for such promise of having two particular ponies go on an adventure to fix a friendship problem in Equestria just aren’t the most exciting episodes you’ll see again for the exception of the Griffonstone because the return of Gilda alone was interesting, and it had interesting lore behind a new location.

I did get a chuckle out of “Twilight and Twilight at Twilight’s Castle” though. Could there be a changeling running amuck disguised as Twilight?! Or it could just be a map glitch.

While again the episode is still ok one problem I could have is you can very well see where the episode is going from the very moment they mention the food critic and when they express distaste when they try all the different restaurants that are rated with 3 hooves that all are pretty much the same until they find an unrated restaurant. There was just no doubt from the moment of Pinkie and Rarity’s distaste that we knew this critic probably was one of those acquired taste-esque snobs and lo and behold when she arrives that’s exactly what she is. The synopsis for the episode didn’t actually even mention a critic at all and just mentioned helping a father and daughter out. Which is still a significant part of the episode, but it seems a little hijacked by the food critic plot because maybe some were thinking there was just an issue between the father and daughter that Pinkie and Rarity had to resolve.

BTW the song is ok, but it’s a little weird how they play the “It’s Gonna Work” chorus animation with the exact same loop with no variation. Now the animators have done a fantastic job over the course of the show. But this is one case where it seems like they got lazy and just copied the frames. I did like they put a bit of an indian style into the song though.

Zesty herself as I mentioned before is indeed the snob that the start of the episode indicate. Two episodes in a row with characters you hardly want to root for at all. Though I suppose with Zesty at least they don’t attempt a rushed redemption by having her taste the food and suddenly change her views. She just walks out in defeat like the snob she is. But it hasn’t been a good outing for Ponies with Z as their first letter in their names.

But yeah Food tastes do get very diverse. Some people are more picky then others. The same goes for other things that are almost never the exact same like tastes in Music, Comedy, or heck cartoon episodes/shows in general. I do think it’s important to judge for yourselves, even when I’m giving my thoughts on episodes I don’t wish to change your opinions if you don’t like an episode I do like, or do like an episode that I don’t as much. And going back to food tastes, there’s always been the silly debate on whether pineapples on a pizza is delicious or gross as an example of how food tastes can get varied. Now that’s of course not saying there’s a problem with having a critic to get some information on something. It’s just good to keep in mind that sometimes you’ll like something that the critic doesn’t even if you’ve agreed with them a lot up to a point and thus you may feel that when that happens you get sad because perhaps it makes you feel like you have bad taste or something like that. But to me, if you enjoy it, enjoy it. If it’s something I’m not into, that’s more power to you because you find joy in something I don’t whether that’s food, music, comedy, etc. it’s a message I can certainly respect for this episode.

Now that we’ve reached the mid-season hiatus what are my thoughts on Season 6 so far? Well it’s been interesting to say the least. However once concern I do kinda have is that unless the 13th episode when the break is that good this could perhaps be my least favorite 13 episode stretch of the show. If you don’t know what I mean by that, I mean if you split all 26 episode seasons into 13 episode halves. My previous least favorite was the first half of Season 1, but even then that had beloved classics like Applebuck Season, Dragonshy, and Winter Wrap-Up. While my favorites of Season 6 are good (That’d be Gauntlet of Fire followed by Saddle Row Review) they still don’t quite reach that special level. Just put this in perspective at each of the seasons beyond the already mentioned Season 1

By 12 episodes:

Season 2 had… Return of Harmony, Lesson Zero, and Sisterhooves Social

Season 3 had… Magic Duel, Sleepless in Ponyville, and Wonderbolt Academy,

Season 4 had… Princess Twilight Sparkle, Flight to the Finish, Bats!, and Pinkie Pride

Season 5 had… Make New Friends But Keep DIscord, Slice of Life, and Amending Fences

Each of these seasons had at least three amazing episodes (IMO) at this point. But Season 6 has not hit that bar yet for me with any of the episodes. Again I just want to say Gauntlet of Fire and Saddle Row Review were really good episodes. But I don’t think they quite match up with some of the episodes I mentioned that were in the first 12 episodes of previous seasons. Also if you’re curious how I’m thinking some Season 6 episodes would be in my Top 100 list. Gauntlet of Fire and Saddle Row Review would probably be somewhere around the 30’s or 40’s. Many of the episodes there are episodes that are really good but don’t quite have the extra edge for me to consider it a true great. And as for the opposite end of the spectrum there’s already three episodes I’m thinking probably aren’t making it in the Top 100. And that would be No Second Prances, Applejack’s Day Off, and Flutter Brutter. So while in that way that make it feel I’ve been a bit disappointed with Season 6, I do hope that things ultimately improve when we get back. But I think it should be a nice time and relax and let things settle a bit till’ Fall. No doubt we’ll also have EQG4 arrive at around the time the season starts up again just like with Friendship Games too. So I certainly look forward to all of that. Seeya all then!