So after this season having our first episodes blatantly based off of real-life holidays, here we have our obligatory Christmas episode! Technically it's set up as decidedly ambiguous like the Halloween episode was earlier, so you could call it a "winter holiday" episode, but let's be honest: the episode's filled with decorated trees and wreaths and the like. It's a Christmas episode.
Although admittedly I would've liked to see a pony menorah. Menorahs are kiiiind of awesome.
Spoilers after the break!
Hearth's Warming Eve is quickly explained to be a pony holiday in celebration of the founding of Equestria, and the Mane 6 are heading off to Canterlot to play characters in the annual pageant to celebrate said founding. They are all way too excited to be going to Canterlot, since they've been there many times before, but whatever. Also, they use the train from the season two opening, which is especially nice since I don't think we've actually seen the train in the episodes before now.
So as it turns out, before Equestria was founded the earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi all lived in roughly the same area but had very a strained relationship - the earth ponies provided the food, the pegasi worked on the weather, and the unicorns moved the sun and the moon, which is apparently a job that is easy enough for a bunch of unicorns to do. Which is odd, but okay.
Anyway, they all basically hated each other. But then a massive blizzard covered the land, and none of the ponies could do anything about it! They tried to work out something together, but instead the three tribes opt to part ways and look for new lands.
All of this is narrated by Spike, with Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie playing the roles of the three tribes' leaders and the other three playing the roles of their respective tribes' assistants. The actual story is presented as a play, but we see most of it as "actual" events, with the Mane 6 standing in for the specific characters. Frankly, it's a great setup: the little transitions out of the story serve to remind us that it is, in fact, still a pretty normal play, while the actual sequences let us see more than what the play setup would otherwise provide. My only concern is that it's a tiny bit confusing, as I initially wondered if what we were seeing actually was the play, supplemented by magic or something along those lines.
So the three tribes all end up finding the same land, and fight over it more. Unfortunately, as they fight the blizzard rematerializes and the ponies are forced to seek refuge in a nearby cavern. They continue to fight over territory and the likes, and the blizzard begins to freeze the cavern, as well as the three tribe leaders! Twilight (as Clover the Clever) realizes the cause - Windigos (named after the real life myth of Wendigos, with apparently a different spelling according the the MLP wiki), malevolent ice spirits that feed on hatred and are also pretty cool looking (no pun intended). The three assistants huddle together, noting that they don't really dislike each other at all, and end up accidentally calling upon the powers of harmony in their time of need to scare off the Windigos and defrost the cavern and other ponies. The six, now realizing the error of their hatred, form together to found Equestria!
It's a very fun story, helped along by the sheer character of the Mane 6. In particular, Pinkie and Fluttershy get some great screentime that they've been missing since Discord's episodes! It helps that the pony pairs are played excellently as foils to each other, especially with Applejack and Pinkie. The actual setting is great, too: the three tribes take influence from our own ancient cultures, and the areas they go to are both very fun in design and even have some tiny easter eggs that hint at additional backstory, such as a carving of what appears to be a Draconequus.
My only concern about the story is that it seems to be a little bit trite to me. The lesson is relatively basic stuff that we've seen before even in MLP:FiM. Obviously a show subtitled "Friendship is Magic" is going to have its fair share of episodes that remind the audience of the importance of harmony, but it still counts against the episode a bit. On the other hand, the actual plot hints very strongly at the origin of the Elements of Harmony, so the triteness was practically necessary for that piece of backstory...
Did I mention that I love backstory? This episode is great for it, and I love it for that. I only wish that Celestia and Luna had been explained somewhat... the flag for Equestria put up at the end features two alicorns that may be Celestia and Luna, but they are never mentioned in the pageant itself. Oh well, I suppose it just leaves more holes for the fandom to fill in!
The episode ends off with a brief song that appears to be an Equestrian national anthem or something similar. As I've established, songs make everything better, but I didn't like this one all that much. It was a tad bit cheesy even for, well, being a song in MLP, and it was sung by a lot of ponies at the same time, so you couldn't really hear any of the Mane 6 (or Spike, who hasn't been heard singing before) over the collective voices.
...if you haven't noticed by now, all of my complaints have been very minor. I liked this episode. I liked it a lot. Enough to give it a
9/10
Pros:
-Lots of awesome backstory
-Filled with new locations and little visual easter eggs
-The Mane 6's personalities shine incredibly brightly
-Episode set up is brilliant, although maybe the tiniest bit confusing
Cons:
-The plot may seem a tiny bit trite
-The song isn't one of the better ones
---
When I first saw this episode, I didn't think much of how I was going to rate it, which I think speaks tons for how much I liked it. Usually when I go out of an episode, especially the second time, I'm thinking of bits and pieces of what worked and what didn't work, putting together a general idea of a rating in my head. When I finished this episode the first time, though, I just wanted to look up Wendigos to remind myself what they were. When I went through the episode the second time, it became more and more apparent as the episode went on that I had very few complaints.
I'm still not sure if I liked Hearth's Warming Eve as much as Lesson Zero, and it's gonna take even more than that to dethrone my favorite episode, Cutie Mark Chronicles, but darn if I didn't like this episode a lot.
If only poor Ditzy had been allowed to take a part in the play... poor Ditzy, being ruthlessly kicked off stage.
So now I suppose we have a bit of a break! No more MLP:FiM episodes until January 7th... well, you all have a great holiday, and I'll see you again then! I might even see if I can't get something else up between then and now... I do have a few ideas of things to write about, and a winter break from school!
~ C.O
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