S4 Episode 23 - Inspiration Manifestation

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!
*breathing exercises*
Now that I've gotten that partially out of my system. This episode provoked a reaction from me. That's actually quite nice and better than meh. But still.
Ok let's start of with what I liked. Spike finally figures out you can like someone and not be a suck up / yes dragon. Owlowiscious forcing him to do so rather than get Twilight so that he could learn a lesson was also great, though the town had to suffer inconvenience for his sake. Meh, they can walk it off. As easy as it would be, Spike wouldn't have learned anything, and there could've been a fight Rarity vs. Twi. Actually that would've been cool.

Now for what I didn't like. Let's start with the blame chain. First is Spike, who should've not been such a suck up to Rarity. He did learn though, so I'm not counting that against him. Completely ignoring what Owlowiscious saying to stop trying to fix everything with magic is another issue. Moving up the chain, we get to Tia and Lulu. Seriously? A reality warping tome being highlighted in a relatively lax location? REALITY WARPING ITEM is apparently less dangerous than having the Elements on standby? I have no idea where to put Rarity in the chain though. What is it with magical boosting items powered by dark magic that drives ponies to insanity? This is pretty much Magic Duel except from the POV of a friend, rather than an antagonist. For once I would like to see 'dark magic' being used often without being evil. This point really bothers me. SO APPARENTLY IT'S NOT ANY OF RARITY'S FAULT BECAUSE SHE WAS POSSESSED? ARE YOU FRIGGIN' KIDDING ME? AND SHE AND SPIKE GET AWAY WITH IT TOO? OH COME ON!

*breathing exercises*

I really hate it when the writers decide to cop out responsibility by using this. Apparently Rarity cannot be at fault because she was under the influence. I could be biased against this after discussing demonic possessions in the bible. And what I mean is that they didn't even need to try to remedy the situation at the town. Eating the book was I guess supposed to be a comedic thing, but I'd rather he have burned it, i.e. sent it to Tia. Yes I liked seeing Octavia in the episode, but that just brings up horrible implications. Did the ponies just get displaced, as in 'Tavi was performing and then got warped there and had some kind of perception filter to make them still believe they were performing in the prior location, or did the ponies get polymorphed? I'd really like to think the former. Also kinda hoped that De Lancie would've made a quip about all the chaos she's inadvertently causing.

Also, Rarity getting a tome of dark magicks. Huh, are you sure the writers haven't heard of FoE?

I actually thought this was a good episode. While I think Rarity was written as a bit too frail, she took her career nearly being destroyed by theft better than this, and her not remembering is kind of a cop out Spike is actually in good form for once.

Hes treated like a character this time around instead of something to be kicked around for entertainment. He fixes the problem by himself and doesn't need anyone else to do the heavy lifting. Yeah he makes a boneheaded mistake, but he does so for well intentioned reasons. He catches on pretty quickly that things are going south, but hes hesitant to take action because he doesn't want to ruin his relationship. It's a selfish, but relatable motivation. He tries to fix his mistake indirectly by gently guiding Rarity down other paths and then by stealing the book, but then goes for broke when he realizes hes out of options.  I found this to be very realistic since most people, that I know at least, really don't want to lay down the hard truths to their friends, more so to people they have a romantic interest in. The exact nature of their relationship continues to be danced around and not given anything concrete which is annoying, but I doubt we'll get any resolution there.

It's amazing how a few more hours of sleep can change perspective a tad. I was a bit ranty on the subject due to the aforementioned discussion on possession but I stand by my words. It is a good episode, enough to provoke my on the details. I kinda just missed the fact that Spike is focused; dude deserves a bit more respect and screentime.