Episode Re-Review: Magical Mystery Cure · 6:28pm Mar 22nd, 2021
And so, Season 3 came to an end and with it the show writers were led to believe the show was wrapping up for good at 65 episodes. In fact, that was Hasbro's plan for the longest time, just hit that magic 65 number and sell the show in syndication (even though that practice had long since fallen out of style). And the one tasked with basically making Hasbro's wishes come true and turn Twilight into an alicorn princess, was none other than fan favorite writer M. A. Larson whose most recent work had been "Magic Duel". Even though the show would stretch on for many more years after this, this episode remains as polarizing and divisive now as it was when it first aired in 2013. So, is it good or bad? And would it have made for a better stopping point than "The Last Problem"? Well, let's find out.
Right off the bat we open with a song, in fact this episode probably should've been titled "Magical Musical Cure" owing to the fact that it's a musical. The very first song of the bunch is "Morning in Ponyville", which is basically a song all about tempting fate. I mean, it does have vibes similar to "Belle" from Disney's Beauty and the Beast but that song was about Belle lamenting how everything in town was the same and nothing exciting ever happened. In fact, the reprise she sang was all about her desire to have an adventure somewhere.
The song is still fine, don't get me wrong. There's some good visuals, particularly with Twilight tap dancing. And I guess Ponyville is used to ponies breaking into song and dance since no one seems surprised by what Twilight is doing. However, the song abruptly ends when a shower of rain pours down on Twilight's head. She thinks it was Rainbow Dash's doing, but actually it was Rarity and she has Rainbow Dash's cutie mark. Even stranger is that Rarity believes she's always had this cutie mark and never done anything else. As for what she's doing, she's trying to create weather patterns with her magic. Admittedly, this isn't what Rainbow Dash got her cutie mark for. Weather management is her job but it's not her destiny, her cutie mark is related to speed and performance. But admittedly that would be hard to fit into someone like Rarity without drastically warping her personality, which would defeat the purpose of this story. Anyway, Rarity is not the only one to have a different cutie mark, Rainbow Dash has Fluttershy's cutie mark and job. A part of me can't help but think this was because Ashliegh Ball was the voice of Blythe Baxter for the 2012 Littlest Pet Shop reboot (which Larson was a part of).
This in turns leads to the next song "What My Cutie Mark is Telling Me", which serves to do what any good song in a musical should do: Convey the plot and help to move it along without breaking the flow of emersion. We see that each of the mane six (except Twilight) have different cutie marks and thus different jobs: Fluttershy has Pinkie Pie's and is trying (and failing) to entertain ponies (and Spike dances to Gangam Style), Pinkie Pie is working on Sweet Apple Acres since she has Applejack's cutie mark, Applejack is doing a pretty poor job of making dresses due to having Rarity's cutie mark and of course we know about Rarity already. Again, admittedly, not all of these cutie marks and jobs match each other. Rarity's is not directly tied to her work as a fashionista and Pinkie Pie's doesn't have to involve parties to spread joy. But again, admittedly, that would require drastically warping the personalities of each of them and thus they wouldn't be unhappy. We then learn that Twilight caused all of this by casting Starswirl's incomplete master spell (given to her last night) to see what would happen. Although it's in character for Twilight it is kind of reckless of her.
Spike suggests various fixes like the mind spell Twilight used against Discord's corruption or Zecora's cure for the cutie pox, which Twilight dismisses because according to her it's her friends' memories that are the problem since they believe they've always done what they're doing. This in turn leads to the song "I Have to Find a Way" which, while it fits the mood for a sad song is among the weaker of the bunch in that it just pauses the story for Twilight to sulk. We do see things not going well for any of her friends though. But once the song ends, Twilight is encouraged by Spike to try again and upon looking at the picture of herself and her friends, she becomes inspired. She catches up to Fluttershy as she's about to leave for Cloudsdale and convinces her to help Rainbow Dash. They head over there and the animals are rioting, apparently planning to cook and eat Rainbow Dash.
But Fluttershy is able to persuade the animals not to go through with it and calms them down. Doing this restores her memories and her element as her cutie mark returns to normal. Now it's up to each mane six member to help their friends, and we get to what may be the best song of the whole bunch in "A True, True Friend". It's catchy, flows well and manages to change up the lyrics and the beat in accordance with who's singing and what the subject matter involves. When Rarity gets restored she makes it sound as if each pony only recalls it as a dream.
Rarity's verse also starts with "Pinkie Pie is in trouble" and when Applejack is helping out we see the rest of the Apple family inexplicably show up to help. Most likely, Pinkie Pie's behavior from what we saw earlier scared them all away. Pinkie Pie's does get sort of shortcutted when, rather than restore her memory by having her do what she's supposed to do, they slap her element on her and send her right out into the middle of an angry crowd. But it works, Pinkie Pie is back to normal and everything is as it should be. The chorus then really goes all out on a triumphant reprise, even complete with a big band. And it's because of all of this that Twilight now seems to know what to do to complete the spell. She has all her friends come with her and with a mighty pen stroke adds her own words. This activates the Elements of Harmony which all focus their energy on Twilight. Yet after a flash she is gone and only a crater remains.
Twilight finds herself in some kind of void/afterlife and is met by Princess Celestia who reveals that Twilight accomplished something even Starswirl the Bearded could not, creating new magic. Not sure if it counts when you were just finishing someone else's work. Anyway, Celestia says Twilight is ready and this leads into "Celestia's Ballad". It's a beautiful song accompanied by clips from the show up to that point. In a way, Princess Celestia really leans into the role of a proud parent, especially with the line about Twilight having "Grown Up". And a result, Twilight is granted alicornhood and descends to Ponyville in a star similar to the one on her cutie mark.
Her friends take the news and the new wings surprisingly well before Princess Celestia reveals that Twilight is now a princess. Soon afterward it's time for a coronation, and thankfully there's no Galvatron waiting to blast someone.
Then we get to what is unquestionably the weakest song of the entire bunch in "The Princess Twilight Cometh", where Twilight is brought in accompanied by some very obvious Fluttershy clones. It does take on a sort of religious vibe (on top of Twilight's earlier "return") and coincidentally it came not long before the Roman Catholic Church would unveil a new pope after the previous one chose to step down (becoming the first in hundreds of years to do so). But you could cut this song out and nothing would be lost. Anyway, Twilight is crowned and gives a speech, and in comparison to her second coronation years later everyone here is all dressed up (it really feels like an oversight, the animators just didn't wanna take the time to come up with dresses and didn't even think about recoloring some old ones). Shining Armor even pulls off the "I'm not crying" routine, though instead of claiming he's got something in his eye he claims it's liquid pride. And then the episode ends with "Life in Equestria", a reprise of "Morning in Ponyville". And the last thing we see is Twilight apparently flying on her own power right into the camera, which will be retconned of sorts in Season 4. But then again we never see how Twilight achieved lift off or if she was able to land. It's entirely possible she was launched and flew purely on andrenaline (kind of like how in old cartoons you can walk on thin air as long as you don't look down). Also, the original ending for this episode was going to have Twilight flying all over Equestria and then the book from the pilot would close (which is what would ultimately happen in "The Last Problem").
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, how much you enjoy this episode is likely to depend on how much you like the songs and in general how much you like a good musical. The songs are there to help the pacing flow, and with the exception of one or two they get the job done quite well. Many of the songs here remain among the show's best, proving just how much talent and effort went into it. The story itself is definitely rushed and deserved to be a two parter, but much like "Keep Calm and Flutter On" I feel like they jammed as much in as they could with the run time they had and did pretty well. Maybe they could've trimmed down "Morning in Ponyville" and "I Have to Find a Way" so as to not make the run time's fast pace so obvious and devote a little bit more time to polishing or extending certain scenes. But there's just so much going on and so many emotions that I think the story does well for what it ultimately had to be. I think the bit about new magic just feels like a bonus, Twilight's earlier heroics more than qualified her to become an alicorn princess eventually. And it was nice to see that, what little we did get of alicorn Twilight indicated she wasn't going to magically change completely. So, while I won't deny this episode could've been extended (and probably should've been), it still earns an A+ and personally I might consider it and "Keep Calm and Flutter On" to be Season 3's highlights (not knocking "Sleepless in Ponyville" but its real claim to fame would've not been exclusive to Season 3 if it had come in Season 2 or even Season 1, that being the first ever Scootaloo focus episode). As a whole, Season 3 is probably as good as I remember it being although maybe a bit worse in hindsight solely for the knowledge of what we could've gotten out of "Spike At Your Service" and the knowledge of what Trixie and Discord would ultimately become. Its lows stick out more because of it being only a half season, and if it were extended to a full season I imagine it would've done better. As for whether this or "The Last Problem" was the better stopping point, I could see a case being made either way. Both had things they did right and both had things they needed to improve on.
Well, Season 4 was confirmed before long. But before that could come around we had what was actually planned to be the last thing FiM ever did, a spin-off movie that no one wanted or asked for in the form of "Equestria Girls". And that's what we'll be looking at next, the movie that ultimately launched the spin-off that Hasbro neglected and abruptly canned.
Not only was this episode originally intended to be a two-parter, but it also had an entirely different plot. Here, I'll copy and paste the "What Could Have Been" paragraph from the Trivia section of this episode's TV Trope page that explains its original story:
Oh, and like I said back in your re-review of A Canterlot Wedding, you finished up this season on my birthday.
5481083 Are you sure it was meant to be a two parter originally? I don't know how reliable TV Tropes is when it comes to source checking.
This is definitely one of the best of season 3, but I still prefer Sleepless in Ponyville.
I also think that this would not have made for a good stopping point. Like there's so much we got after that I'm glad things went the way they did.
And it's kinda amusing to me how one of the first episodes I actually saw live was the original intended finale.
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Well there is a Youtube video where M.A. Larson discusses his original script for this episode, but there's good news and bad news. The bad news is said video is private, so you can't watch it. However, the good news is someone on Reddit managed to write down all of the dialogue from that interview. Click the link here to see the written version.
I definitely love this episode, but I wouldn't say it's an A+. The rushed pace is a big enough detriment to detract something I think. And even without that, Sleepless in Ponyville I feel is definitely better (and the crystal empire, the real best episode of the season, but I'm not convincing anyone of that).
5481103 Well, seems like history would repeat itself for "Fame and Misfortune" where his original script got completely rejected, and what ultimately came out was nowhere close to what M. A. Larson wanted. I can at least see why he was still credited here (though Meghan McCarthy really should've credited herself or whoever altered this script last minute), because it's still the basics of what he wrote for what he assumed was a series finale, whereas with "Fame and Misfortune" he was completely unhappy at what he was forced into writing, walked away and then someone else came along, tweaked it and made it an episode without ever asking him for permission.