MLP FiM S5 E22 What About Discord

Fenris Rose · Nov 15, 2015

Dulset Tarn said: ↑

So the two friends I've watched this episode with both agree, this episode isn't just an ordinary bad, unfunny, unentertaining episode. What makes this one special is that instead of trying and failing to be funny and entertaining, it actively tries not to be. It's the first episode specifically written to make the viewer uncomfortable instead of amused.

It goes without saying that the jokes weren't funny, they were deliberately meant to leave the audience feeling excluded and uncomfortable. If the audience found the jokes funny, the episode would fall apart. So it's not funny, but it's not meant to be funny. It's outright stated to the audience that you won't find this funny because "you had to be there".

Similarly, every scene of the episode is intentionally trying to make the viewer feel confused and discomforted by what's happening. For the first half, the viewer only knows what Twilight knows, so she's naturally the one we're expected to empathize with when she spends the whole time feeling excluded, desperately trying to see the humor and sense in what's happening only to come up short. It doesn't help when she starts acting insane, as we're then forced to empathize with Spike and the mane six, who at the time are also feeling... baffled and uncomfortable. Not once is the audience offered an opportunity to share in the joy of what's happening, instead the episode is intended to make the viewers feel like they had a bad time.

Heck, the episode even indirectly insults the viewer by the end. Partway through, Twilight brings up how unusual and out of character it is for her friends to be so chummy and amused by Discord, particularly Applejack and Rarity. Considering how actually weird that is and how it's presented, the audience is naturally meant to agree with her. And yet, during the conclusion the events are stated to be completely normal, and Twilight's suspicion is now presented as being entirely due to her jealousy over not having been there. Twilight agrees and the strangeness of the events is considered nonexistent. So where does that leave the audience who agreed with her logical suspicions when the ponies begin to joke about how stupid and silly it was to think something weird was going on?

I certainly wouldn't call this the worst episode or anything, in the end it's more or less harmless. But it's certainly a milestone to say the least, the first episode of the series entirely intended to not be enjoyed, to make the audience feel excluded, and to deliberately act in opposition to entertainment.
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Appledash2012 · Jul 19, 2016

So the two friends I've watched this episode with both agree, this episode isn't just an ordinary bad, unfunny, unentertaining episode.
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Well said.

CloudMistDragon · Jul 20, 2016

I honestly really like this one. The point of it is not to "be unfunny", it's to tell a relatable story. If you've been in Twilight's situation before, watching your friends laugh at in-jokes you don't find funny in the least, you'll get it. The in-jokes themselves are not the comedy that holds the episode, the comedy is in Twilight's struggle to uncover why something she doesn't find funny has brought her friends close to Discord.

Like, you guys can find whatever you want funny or unfunny, but...I hope you and so many other people I see talk about this episode don't really think the entire episode was meant to be unfunny.

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