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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Review
Season 5, Episode 4: “Bloom and Gloom”
At this stage it seems overly optimistic to expect the Cutie Mark Crusader
characters in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic to do anything but worry
about getting their cutie marks. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo
have one character trait that seems to serve as the fulcrum of just about every
episode that focuses on them – that is, their desire to work out what they need
to do with their lives by sussing out what their special talent is.
“Bloom and Gloom” isn't the first time that Friendship is Magic has tackled the
'it was all a dream' story and it probably won't be the last. Setting an episode
of a show in a dream is a sure-fire way of making an audience question what is
going on due to the potential for surrealism. In “Bloom and Gloom” things start
to get a little bit weird when Apple Bloom falls into a coma and all of the fears
she has about how getting her cutie mark might cause her to become isolated
from her friends, or that she may end up doing something with her life that
she doesn't enjoy, begin to surface.
The problem with these sorts of episodes is that by making it so that nothing is
real, the unfortunate outcome is that nothing really matters. Rather than
showing Apple Bloom actually getting her cutie mark, which may have allowed
for some degree of character development, the episode is content to tease its
audience with smoke and mirrors. The conclusion of “Bloom and Gloom” - that
Apple Bloom should finally stop worrying about getting her cutie mark - is only
meaningful if it actually changes how her character behaves in the show from
this point, which remains to be seen. If the next Apple Bloom-focused episode
is some more prepubescent angst about her future, it will render “Bloom” an
almost pointless affair.
At its core, the episode is a repetitive look into Apple Bloom's psyche, which
would perhaps be more interesting if we hadn't already seen this side of her
before many, many times. A few interesting elements of the episode do exist,
including a new species being revealed – twitter mites – but the fact that these
creatures exist only in Apple Bloom's dream could suggest that they aren't real
either. It is true that many people on Twitter are mites, though, so there may
be some truth in the identify of these monsters after all.
Princess Luna also shows up at one point to stalk little children, like a creepy
Santa or omniscient god. She seems to get her sick kicks out of invading the
dreams of youngsters and giving them restless nights. This can be forgiven by
the inclusion of the Monsters Inc. doors that her carnival of cruelty is built
from, with scream power probably serving as the twisted energy fuelling her
enterprise. Princess Luna has an efficient mind for business and has perfected
the art of manipulating kids for her own personal gain.
The big revelation in “Bloom and Gloom” is that Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle
are also worried about getting their cutie marks and that Apple Bloom is
therefore not alone in her concerns. While it is possible to sympathise with
what her character is going through, given that cutie marks are essentially the
Equestrian equivalent of employment contracts, it would be nice to see an
episode of Friendship is Magic that spends a little more time showing Apple
Bloom proactively doing things to gain her cutie mark and a little less time
showing her worrying about it.
If Apple Bloom is guilty of anything, it is Sloth – her laziness and penchant for
anxiety makes me wonder if her cutie mark will end up being a generous
serving of Prozac.
C-