Holy shit, when did I get this far behind?

So, apparently I hadn't noticed that the haitus officially ended a few weeks ago. I thought the stuff was just being leaked here and there early but no, it's back up and running. I have yet to see the Trixie/Starlight and episode as well as Yakkity Sax, yet I just finished watching the RD/Scoots/Lightning Dust episode. Guess work and now the new WoW expansion AND The Walking Dead: The Final Season Episode 1 have me all distracted. So far, the WoW expansion is pretty good and TWD was fucking amazing. I'm so glad the original writers for Season 1 returned for one last hurrah (FUCKERS HAD BETTER NOT KILL CLEMENTINE!!!!!!), and if any of you following me have played the TWD games, you'll know what I'm talking about (but we don't talk about the steaming pile that was The New Frontier). Anyway, I'll be super quick with the reviews since I'm hungry as I'm typing this and tired as hell. I need to stop staying up so damn late WoWing it up.

A Matter of Principals. Was alright. Still kind of ridiculous how insanely OP Starlight is that she can blast Discord's physical being away, but let's be honest, he kind of had it coming. Sometimes his antics can be fun, but in this one, he was a major piece of shit. Don't really know how he thought putting kids in mortal danger was a good way to get noticed and get accepted. Iron Will must be hard for up for money if he's doing a random substitute teaching gig. So must Trixie. Why can't she just ask her dad for some money? He does a show in Vegas! He's gotta be doing comfortably! Eh, then again, her ego probably wouldn't allow it.

This episode also seriously begs the question as to why the M6 are teaching here. They can get pulled away for any reason at the drop of a hat, and a few of them have full time jobs and responsibilities. Seriously, AJ has the farm, Rares has her shops, Pinkie has Sugarcube Corner, Twilight probably has a bunch of royal obligations, RD does Wonderbolt related stuff fairly frequently I'd wager, and Flutters....maintains her sanctuary? Still can't figure out where she gets her money. It also begs the question just how powerful Discord is again when he can fuck with the pagers and the map. You'd think the map would have some kind of instinctive GTFO-style magic so it's not really fucked with from outside sources, but then again, Glimmer did just that in the S5 finale. The tree must not be as powerful as we thought, I dunno.

Anyway, some decent gags here and there but it was also stuffed with Discord assholery. Discord was a real turn-off in this one and it hurt the grade for me. 6/10.

The Hearth's Warming Club. Got to see some more lore from the other races, which is always nice. Changelings are now kind of...well, dumb. Shouldn't matter that they never 'passed around presents', you kind of have to be an idiot not to know what to do. The stories the kids told weren't too bad, but Gallus got some pretty good depth compared to the others. Was still a dick move he pulled. Could have always just told his story, that griffins doesn't celebrate Hearth's Warming in any respect and feels left out, so could he hang with someone there. Not sure why this episode came out in July when Christmas is now 4 months away, but eh. Timelines have always been really wonky in this show. Anyway, not terribly much really 'happened' in this episode, so it was a bit dull despite the nice world building. 5/10.

Friendship University. Flim and Flam return! ....Why? Sorry, but I always thought these guys were boring as fuck for antagonists, and they're insanely one-note, not to mention they're probably wildly rich now that they own and operate a damn casino. They're con artists, yes, we get it. How EVERYONE ELSE IN EQUESTRIA OTHER THAN THE M6 DON'T is beyond me. They've been exposed in like, 3 different places, for God's sake! Chancellor Neighsay making an appearance, as well as Starswirl, though, was definitely a huge plus. Always so awesome hearing Maurice LaMarche, I don't care what anyone says. They certainly did make a modern university though the way their scam played out though, complete with just as worthless degrees! Seriously, I still don't get the idea that you need these characters to go to school to learn 'friendship'. Just...don't be dumb and talk to people politely? Is the entire world of....whatever that world is called...completely inept? What are the princesses doing? Certainly they must have a hand in keeping everyone so mind-blowingly dumb for some reason. Guess it's easier to control the masses when they're pants-on-head stupid? Where are their degrees going to be useful? It's like Gender Studies for ponies!

Aaaaanyway, Rarity was a delight as she typically is and looked damn cute as a 'teenager'. Can we get a Rarity-only prequel show? I'd love to see her going through her rebellious years and shit. Would make for quality entertainment! As far as Neighsay goes, yeah, he's working with Cozy Glow, no doubt. NEVER trust anything that tries to act that 'adowabwe'. Fuck. That. That's the reddest of flags that they're up to something. Anyway, this one was alright, not much terribly memorable for me. 7/10.

The End in Friend. This episode had needed to happen for a while. There's quite a few pairings we rarely see, and RD and Rares is certainly one of them. It's nearly as rare as AJ and Flutters. Maybe they should have some more where there's 3 of them hanging out at once like way back in Season 1 like in...Look Before You Sleep...except that the episode would have to be leaps and bounds better. God, that episode was cancer. Anyway, despite being best pone, Rares...doesn't have much in common with nearly anyone in the group when you think about it. She and Flutters like to sew and are girly, she and AJ can share experiences with family members and can connect that way, she and Twi are hornheads and....that's really about it really. Twi's kind of girly but not as much as Flutters or Rares herself. They're both also more intelligent than the rest I believe. I can't think of anything she and Pinkie really like to do together or have in common nor can I with RD other than having a fondness for a particular book series, just not the same one. Now, I'm not saying anyone needs to be chummy with their practical clone, but, let's be honest, Rarity is the odd one out of the group, but she still can connect to the others in her own ways. It works, because that's how people work.

Anyway, some of the jokes were good and the bickering was amusing enough. You knew right off the bat that Rares didn't open the Daring Do stuff just like RD didn't open the Shadow Spade, so they both have stubbornness in common, hah! Though I have to agree with RD that Rarity really has no business nagging on about DD since, yeah, they know she's real, so if it's in the book, she probably did it.

Knew right away that they stole the relic themselves to get them working together to find it. Who didn't? I know. Still was kind of a razor thin thing if you ask me to get them to connect on. Like I said, some folks just like hanging out with each other, commonalities or not, and if they give a shit about the other person, they'll be respectful to their wishes or requests, like how Rares wasn't even bothering to play buckball being rude as shit. Just say that it's not really your thing but you'll cheer them on in the stands like at the end, holy shit. It's not that hard. Hell, I went shopping with some girl I used to know back when she was alive and I wasn't a fan of it, but we spent time together bullshitting and eventually getting it on here and there, so that was alright. Sacrifices aren't hard to make when it comes to trivial shit. However, Rarity's boots crapping glitter everywhere the entire time was kind of funny.

Overall, another middle of the road episode for me. Believable conflict, but the solution was pretty damn contrived. Nothing wrong with agreeing that they share few likes, if any at all, but still can hang out and chat it up and be cool with it. Decent jokes here and there, but nothing terribly special again for me. 6/10.

I think I'll stop here for now. Like I said, I have a couple episodes to still check out. Hopefully they'll be better than these last few, because...damn. Seasonal rot? I dunno. Though The Washouts was pretty good. I'll babble about it once I've seen the yak shenanigans and the sass of an illusionist. I also need to get off my ass and get to the last (I think it'll be last) chapter of I, Spy and get going with its side story. But, like I said, lots of distractions recently. Until then.