Sorry for the delay with these reviews! Work really piled on the hours lately, and it’s hard sometimes to actually sit down, watch the new episodes, and jot down my thoughts. Nevermind fighting that dreaded art block and drawing up decent covers! So thank you for anyone who’s actually keeping track of my reviews and being so patient, you guys are lovely. ;u;

Speaking of, trying something new with my covers and using canon backgrounds! I think it really makes them pop now!

💘 SYNOPSIS 💘
The Cutie Mark Crusaders notice that Big McIntosh has been acting strange lately. Curious, they follow the stallion all the way to Starlight’s old village, where they’re shocked to discover he’s developed a huge crush on Sugar Belle! The girls urge Big Mac to confess his feelings, but he’s soon intercepted by a love rival in the form of Feather Bangs, who is smoothly attempting to woo her as well. Unwilling to see Big Mac heartbroken, the CMC decide to help him win Sugar Belle’s heart.

💘 IMPRESSIONS AND STUFF 💘
Could the writers please give “Starlight’s old village” an actual name? Even if she founded it, I’m sure it had a legitimate name. Plus, I’m pretty sure the ponies who were left picking up the pieces don’t appreciate having Starlight constantly mentioned when referencing their home. :’D

I’m sorry, but Apple Bloom’s “spyrate” line was so cute. And of course Scootaloo would opt for a rainbow wig. These dorky kids.

Woah, did you see the serious longing looks between Sugar Belle and Big Mac in the beginning? I mean, she’s making absolutely no secret of liking him. It’s really no wonder Big Mac got so tongue-tied and flustered! They’re little awkward lovey-dovey interactions near the beginning were pretty cute. :3c

And the CMC are nosy as HECK, haha! It’s cute that they’re so intrigued with Big Mac being lovestruck, but the poor guy seemed to be doing okay until they decided to tag along. Apple Bloom’s reaction was especially cute, with her bouncing around happily announcing to everyone in the vicinity that her big brother had his first crush.

Yeah, I appreciated the CMC putting the whole Cheerimac thing to rest. Not that I have a problem with the pairing or its supporters! It’s harmless. But as far as canon goes, there was no real indication that the two had romantic feelings for each other. All of their “love” was a direct result of being under the affects of a mind-altering love potion. Doubly good on Mac for firmly agreeing that that incident doesn’t count either.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually liked Big McIntosh in this episode – at least before the later parts. He was very honest about his crush for Sugar Belle (they could have easily drawn that out with him denying it), and he was agreeable to the idea that Sugar Belle could reciprocate. I admire that he quickly pumped himself up to confess his feelings to her! I’m so used to characters waffling when it comes to romance that it was a real breath of fresh air for a him to just admit it. I also sympathized with Mac when Feather Bangs showed up and seemed to have just as good a chance of charming Sugar Belle. Poor thing! D:

That moment where Sweetie Belle was embarrassed to admit that she still loved fairy tale stories was adorable. Hey, no shame in that! It’s nice to know not everything’s changed with the CMC.

That being said, though, I feel like the CMC as a whole backslid into old habits. Sure, it’s a relief that they’re not resorting to what could basically be called a date-rape drug again. But the reason they got the idea for love potions in “Hearts and Hooves Day” was because they stupidly applied logic from a fairy tale to real life. And here they are, doing it again. They really didn’t learn their lesson. Trust me, I’m the first to defend the CMC whenever their flaws are on display: if the Mane6 can be forgiven for their dumb decisions, then actual children should be given even more slack. But considering how much they’ve matured as young fillies, and being shown as well on their way to becoming competent life coaches… it’s pretty jarring to see them act this way.

But even worse is that Big McIntosh was silly enough to be pressured into going along with this plan. Yeah, I know he’s unsure of how to express his love for Sugar Belle. But letting three kids talk you into trying to KISS HER WHILE SHE’S SLEEPING? Sugar Belle should have been creeped out by that. At least Feather Bangs never pulled something so creepy. :/

But the songs were great, even if for reasons you wouldn’t expect. Not too big on country music, but who would have guessed that Big Mac could carry a tune? As someone who’s not a very big fan of him, I did enjoy that he spoke a fair bit more than he usually does (the simple “eeyups” got old even in the first season). You could say his determination to be with Sugar Belle pushed him out of his quiet, shy personality. And Feather Bang’s song was GLORIOUS and you can’t tell me anything different. The irritatingly catchy music, the autotune that got so bad you could hardly tell what he was saying anymore, his backup dancers, the light effects. It all had me dying. Especially when both songs started derailing and meshing together. One of the funniest scenes in MLP, hands down!

Er… did Mac say “when the heifers’ milked a fed?” WHAT? Considering past episodes, cows are a confirmed sentient species, right? That’s racist and confusing on a lot of levels. o_o

Okay. I know I’m going to be judged A LOT for this, but… I absolutely loved Feather Bangs. Yes, it’s obvious he’s supposed to be a Justin Beiber parody, but I found him genuinely lovable and amusing. His cheesy one-liners and constant mane-flipping was so humorous and oddly charming that I couldn’t actually blame Sugar Belle for considering him a potential boyfriend. He only truly messed up when it came to that song near the end. But otherwise, he stood a good chance of winning Sugar Belle over. The fact that a lot of his grand gestures were over-compensating for the fact that he’s actually extremely shy and inexperienced at actually communicating with girls he likes made him even more sympathetic to me. Even the CMC couldn’t bring themselves to hate the guy! They seemed somewhat charmed by him as well, and were more than happy to help him with getting to know his trio of fangirls. I also felt pretty bad when he lost to Big Mac for Sugar Belle’s affections, as he was clearly into her and was left hurt. But even then, he gracefully bowed out instead of butting heads with Mac any further. Please, give him all the credit for knowing when to fold ‘em. Feather Bangs is now one of my favorite side-characters, and I wouldn’t complain if he made future cameos. He’s so dreamy~! 🎵

And I can’t mention Feather Bangs without mentioning his little group of smitten fangirls! I honestly can’t blame them for being so into him, haha. He’s corny as HECK but it oddly works in his favor, what can I say? They were all adorable and just as silly as he was. They’re always there when Feather Bangs appearx, and I just about died laughing when they randomly appeared in his musical number. Not only that, I’m very happy I’m not the only one who noticed they were a reference to the three Gaston fangirls from “Beauty and the Beast”! It’s very clever too: both of the guys were vying for love from a Belle. I see you, writers. ;3

Sugar Belle reappearing brought on mixed emotions. On one hand, she was my favorite of the Mane4 of Starlight’s old village, and I was excited for more insight into her personality. Plus she’s cute as a button (love poofy-hair characters!) with a sweet voice to boot. But they really didn’t do anything with her: she was just an object of affection for both of the guys. Sure, she was cute and whatnot, but the only thing I got from her was that she was obsessed with baking. Which, considering her not being able to do what she truly loved when her cutie mark was stripped away, makes a fair amount of sense. But they didn’t go beyond that, making Sugar Belle into a pretty flat character. Plus, she made the moral of “grand gestures aren’t necessary to win someone over” a very shaky one. I can’t be the only one who noticed she was seriously into Feather Bangs before he and Big Mac ruined her display shelf. Had it not been for Big Mac building her a bigger one, he very well could have won her over. She only really snapped at them when they went overboard and caused a huge mess in her shop, and rightfully so. But she didn’t seem to mind all the attention until that point, sooooo…??? Not that it’s necessarily a bad thing to like all the attention someone is willing to give you, but it helped make the moral rather murky in the end.

The ending was… EHHH. I can understand what they were trying to convey: that doing something meaningful for someone you like is more important than huge, showy gestures. Even small, but thoughtful things can mean the world to someone. Big McIntosh building a bigger, brand new display case for Sugar Belle was sweet. But I can’t help but feel like him breaking into her shop and not actually apologizing for all the stupid stunts he pulled earlier hurt this ending a lot. I ended up respecting the CMC more than I did Big Mac – they at least owned up to all the trouble they caused Sugar Belle, and apologized in a genuine manner. I don’t appreciate that Big Mac seemed to be absolved of all responsibility. Again, he’s the adult in this situation and should have known better than to follow their ridiculous ideas. It’s just unsatisfying. Leagues better than “Heart and Hooves”, but still with a ton of its own issues.

ONTO THE SHIPPING THOUGHTS. You all knew it was coming. ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Honestly, I’m completely fine with Big Mac having a crush on Sugar Belle. At least, at it’s core premise. Never cared for Fluttermac much, felt Cheerimac didn’t have much canon basis beyond friendship, and the MarbleMac ship was hinted at but had no real draw to it (seriously, just a bunch of “mm-hms” and “eeyups” do not make for interesting interactions). Don’t get me wrong, they’re all completely harmless ships and have potential in their own right! Nor do I have anything against those who enjoy/support them. The alternatives are rather cute, in all honesty. But I wasn’t wary of this episode for those reasons, as I do not ship Mac with… anyone. ＼| ￣ヘ￣|／

That being said… I can’t say I care for the SugarMac pairing too much at this point. As I said above, their resolution was a bit of a mess, and I couldn’t really connect with what made them hooking up all that… meaningful, I suppose? Don’t get me wrong, their ending was somewhat sweet (especially how Sugar understood his feelings without him outright saying anything), but it’s gonna need a lot more fleshing out before I consider it more than a plot device. Can’t blame fans for assuming they’ll be forgotten as a couple by the show. I mean, it’s happened before… e_e

Now I did feel a bit of ship-sadness because I heavily support Sugar Belle with Party Favor. But with the show (as brief as it was) hinting at him going with Wind Glider, I guess it’s not gonna happen. Add this with Sugar returning Mac’s feelings in the end. Not only that, I shipped Wind Glider with Double Diamond. Two of my ships were shot down, RIP. But that’s okay, that’s what fanon is for, and I have no trouble separating that from canon. I think a lot of fans should to chill out on it, as it’s all just cartoon ponies at the end of the day.

Again, I know I might get hate… but I also rather like the shipping of Feather Bangs and Sugar Belle (SugarBangs or FeatherBelle!). Seriously, Sugar was obviously into him throughout most of this episode. It could have easily swung into that direction, and I wonder what might have been. The episode could have even done a lesson on unrequited love and how to properly deal with it! But I guess that ’s a bit too complicated a topic, and not really a happy ending. I dunno, there’s some wasted potential there.

And this show may have just given me my first polyamorous ship. Never thought that would ever happen! Feather Bangs hooking up with his fangirls is a very cute idea. You can’t tell me those three mares would be complaining. Feather deserves some love!

💘 OVERALL/SCORING 💘
🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

Man, it’s a real mixed bag with this one. Completely ignoring the potential shipping drama, I liked the idea of Big Mac dealing with his first significant crush. The beginning started out strong, with him realistically at a loss on how to confess to Sugar Belle, and the CMC becoming determined to nudge him in the right direction. That was fine. What was NOT so great was how Big McIntosh just went along with whatever silly (or even creepy) thing they encouraged him to do – not to mention breaking and entering into her shop with the excuse of building her that shelf she was weirdly obsessed with, to the point of ignoring the concerning fact of him being there in the first place.

And the aesop was really broken: Sugar Belle did not look at all bothered by the attention from Feather Bangs until it got to be too ridiculous and destructive. Big Mac just kinda honed in on her baking fixation. The CMC regressing into their more immature personalities and taking notes from a fictional book once again certainly didn’t help matters either.

But what really saved this episode from just being a rehashed “Hearts and Hooves Day” was FEATHER BANGS. He was highly entertaining and just made this episode a joy to watch. I actually watched it more than once mostly due to him being a character that left me in stitches, as well as showing more character depth than I expected from your typical love rival. Can’t forget his fanclub either! They made this episode and saved it from being three stars, in all honesty.

So, a fun watch! There are arguably a lot of issues, but if you’re open to the premise and don’t mind the cringe-inducing moments too much, I think you’re in for a treat! XD