Episode Re-Review: The Hooffields and McColts · 3:12pm May 9th, 2021
So right after an insult of a Discord episode, and with all eyes slowly drifting towards what was now on the horizon for the Season 5 finale, it was time for the third and final map mission of the season. And by process of elimination it was going to involve Twilight and Fluttershy who had last truly worked together in "A Bird in the Hoof", not a very memorable episode. Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco were going solo this time, after their last writing endevor had been a collab with Meghan McCarthy and M. A. Larson. So, were they able to do a good job with no one else around to help them out? Or did they only prove that they're better off working with more experienced writers? Well, let's find out.
The episode begins with Fluttershy hosting a book club for all her animal friends, and they're going to be reading a ponyfied version of the novel Wuthering Heights. It's actually kind of relevant to what this map mission will involve. Anyway, Fluttershy's cutie mark starts glowing and because she's a bit slow on the uptake a projection of her cutie mark has to show up to get her to go out the door. It's actually an improvement over Angel Bunny forcing her to go out and do things, or Fluttershy saying she'd rather be brave at home. This is what character progression looks like. This is how you handle reluctant heroes, not the way "Scare Master" did it. Anyway, Fluttershy comes to the castle and finds Twilight excited to take on her first map mission. In fact, every map mission so far has paired up one excited member with one not so excited member (Pinkie Pie for Griffonstone and Rarity for Manehattan against Rainbow Dash for Griffonstone and Applejack for Manehattan). Twilight is rather concerned though, because she wonders what it would say about her status as the princess of friendship if she couldn't solve a friendship problem. Seems kind of odd that between this and "What About Discord?" that Twilight is suddenly full on embracing her title, whereas for Season 4 it was almost never a plot point. But hey, better to see it acknowledged rather than just continue to treat Twilight the same.
In fact, Twilight is so fixated on what kind of problem she'll have to solve that she's prepared saddlebags loaded with books. Fortunately, she does let Fluttershy know that they're going to the Smokey Mountains, which are an actual real life landmark (weird they didn't ponyfy it). Twilight basically takes the lead on this mission while Fluttershy try to suggest they'll tackle whatever problem it is when they get there. When they arrive, they find the mountains aren't quite as picturesque as they were led to believe (seems like a lot of Equestria's knowledge about the outside world needs updating), right before pumpkins are hurled through the air.
This turns out to be the work of a group of ponies called the Hooffields, led by Mama Hoofffield. She mentions that the Hooffields are having a dispute with their neighbors on the other hill, the McColts. The Hooffields are farmers by trade, so they're good at growing crops but they're pretty bad at building. So the McColts sabotaged them by messing up one of their wheelbarrows and causing it to tip over. As this is going on, Fluttershy notices that some of the animals are in danger of being used as live cannon fodder and has to step in to save them while everyone else is distracted. Twilight then gets it in her head that maybe if she can talk to the McColts, she can get the two sides to come to an understanding. It's worth mentioning that this is based on an infamous feud between two families that stretched on for well over a century. But even while it was still ongoing it was mocked and made fun of, even by Looney Tunes and old Disney cartoons. Of course, by the time this episode entered production the feud had been over for at least half a decade.
So Twilight and Fluttershy head over to the McColts' base on top of the other hill, and at first the McColts think the two have come as Hooffield spies. But upon noticing that Twilight is an alicorn, they decide to throw open the gates. And Twilight and Fluttershy meet the leader of the McColts, Big Daddy McColt who seems to have a bit of a Papa Smurf kind of vibe going for him.
The McColts are pretty good builders but they're not so good at growing their own food. But they're just as involved in this feud as the Hooffields. Heck, Big Daddy McColt delivers a shout so powerful it knocks down one of the Hooffields' poorly constructed barns.
Twilight suggests pretty obvious common sense solutions, which the McColts reject. Then she decides that the only way to get the fighting to stop is to declare aloud that she's a neutral third party, utilizing a spell to give herself what I guess is her answer to the Royal Canterlot Voice.
It doesn't work though, the Hooffields launch an attack and the McColts counter attack, prompting Twilight to rip out a page from her book. Later on, she tries talking to both sides to get some understanding of what's behind the feud, but neither side can actually recall the original injustice. They just claim that the other side knows "What they did" and now it's basically just trying to win a fight, neither side is willing to back down. Except why continue fighting if you can't remember why you're fighting?
Ultimately, Twilight proposes that the Hooffields make peace with the McColts by delivering a cake to them, ceasing their fighting. Fluttershy mentions helping out, though I have to ask how it was possible for them to bake a cake in the first place since I doubt the Hooffields had much flour or sugar and I doubt the McColts would let anyone go get more. The cake is delivered to the McColts' base, only for it be a Trojan Horse ploy as several Hooffields burst out of it.
This leads into an all out brawl across the hillside as Twilight is convinced she failed. However, Fluttershy convinces her that it might be time to consider a more real world approach. And then it just so happens that because she can talk to the animals, she knows how this blood feud got started. Twilight goes back to try to break the news to both sides but neither will listen, prompting her to unleash her freeze spell on them all.
Twilight is actually visibly straining as a result of this, even mentioning to Fluttershy how difficult it is for her this time compared to last time.
Fluttershy then explains how the original Mr. Hooffield and Mr. McColt arrived in the Smokey Mountains together as friends. They were inspired by the land and wanted to protect it and the animals that lived there, but they disagreed over how best to do so. Mr. Hooffield wanted to establish a garden and a farm to feed the animals, while Mr. McColt preferred building a shelter. Both ended up sabotaging each other and stealing each other's resources, leading to the feud as they settled into bases on the two hills (the Hooffields on the left and the McColts on the right).
Now realizing what they've allowed to happen, the Hooffields and the McColts apologize and agree to put an end to the feud (after some pressure from Twilight and Fluttershy to not start arguing over who was sorry first). As a result they are able to slowly restore the Smokey Mountains to its original beauty.
And with that the map mission is over, but Twilight is already anticipating what will happen next. Interestingly, her predictions end up coming true: The map will call others (Starlight, Spike and the CMC), summon all the mane six again (against the Pony of Shadows) and even stretch the definition of what counts as a friendship problem (stuff involving families and friends). No word on if that was intentional or not. However, Fluttershy is left having to carry the heavy saddlebags again.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, this really is more of a Twilight episode that Fluttershy comes to play a central role in towards the end. It's not that Fluttershy doesn't have a presence before, but Twilight takes up center stage for most of the episode and is more proactive in trying to solve the problem. Some complain that there's no real dynamic between Twilight and Fluttershy, which I disagree with: It's more of an anylitic versus a social approach. Anylisits believe you can boil anything down to a basic idea or concept and propose solutions based around those ideas and concepts, while socialists believe you need real world data and real world experience to determine what works and what doesn't. But I think it does say something when Twilight and Fluttershy tend to more often get paired up with others and seem to do better because of that (at least in this season, the only time either truly shone in a focus episode this season was in "Amending Fences"). The Hooffields and the McColts are nice, though I do question why they keep fighting if no one remembers why they're doing so. If they were refusing to say why that would be different, that would at least convey that they still know but they're not willing to talk about it to others. None of this really detracts from the episode though, it's fine for what it is. So I give it a B-, largely because Twilight took a little too long to get her nose out of the books and as a result she can come across as a bit flanderized here.
Now it's on to the penultimate episode of Season 5 and Amy Keating Rogers' swan song in "The Mane Attraction".
In terms of the Season 5 map mission episodes, I'd say most of the fandom agrees that this is better than Made in Manehattan, but not as good as The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone.
I like this episode since we don't really see that many Twilight and Fluttershy episodes and if I has to rank this in my Cutie Map Mission, it's up there after The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone
Discounting the premiere and finale, this is my favorite map episode of the season.
5515578 I don't know if you can really call "The Cutie Re-Mark" a map episode.
5515744
Not by the usual standards, but since the map is kinda what kicks off the main plot, it technically is.
Here's what I immediately thought of when Big Daddy McColt said "Well, if you ain't fer us, you're agin' us."