thedriveintheatre

~ Discord: The Biggest Troll of All. ~

I’ve been a Brony since I started watching this wonderful animated series in March, so it is with great anticipation that I finally saw the first episode of the new season about an hour ago. If you haven’t seen it yet, I suggest you check it out on Youtube or a rerun on Hub first. There will be SPOILERS ahead.

The episode starts off nicely with the Cutie Mark Crusaders on a field trip to Celestia’s garden maze. Unwittingly, the trio will be responsible for unleashing a great terror upon Equestria, in the form of a mystical Frankenstein pastiche-of-creatures monster aptly named Discord. After a series of freak natural disasters involving chocolate rain (Probably an unintended reference to an infamous Internet meme), popcorn, and bunnies with stilt-legs, the Main Cast is summoned to Princess Celestia’s Canterlot castle for an emergency meeting.

Here, she gives the ponies and the viewer some background info of her history with Discord, and how they are to stop this diabolical villain. Unfortunately, Discord has removed their only means of defeating him (leading some Livestream viewers to remark “Trollestia just got trolled”). After a great introductory sequence and much taunting of our protagonists, he invites them to play a game. No points for guessing that he will eventually lead each pony into a trap and ultimately triumph in time for a cliffhanger ending.

This episode has definitely taken a darker turn, and it remains to be seen if this tone will be kept throughout the rest of the series (although since this is a children’s show, I highly doubt it). But it is one kicker of a season debut - Discord is a much better antagonist than Nightmare Moon, because although he makes the rules, he doesn’t follow them. Whereas N.M. passively sets up a series of (relatively) easy challenges to test our heroes, Discord proactively and systematically breaks each pony’s spirit and inner strength. There is a mood of despair throughout, and it is chillingly played out with surrealistic Dali-esque landscapes and the MC Escher-like labyrinth.

There were a few unbelievable moments - Pinkie being casually flippant about the gravity of the situation (“Eternal darkness… but chocolate rain!”), Applejack and Rarity giving in so easily, and of course, the untouchable and ever-lovely Fluttershy still cracking under Discord’s powers (He essentially ‘cheated’). Perhaps this is what so terrifying about this series’ opening antagonist - that he doesn’t play by the rules so much as ignores them. I sometimes felt he was too good a villain; he basically has unlimited power - from removing the ponies’ wings and horns, to mind-control, to even changing the weather. There just doesn’t seem to be any way to beat him. His nihilistic streak reminds me a lot of the Joker from The Dark Knight (right down to his pranks and attempts at sadistic humour, although not as violent). Speaking of Batman, Discord is voiced with sardonic relish by John de Lancie of ‘Batman: The Animated Series’, ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Stargate’ fame.

This season opener is a game-changer. For once, Twilight will have to face her foe alone and without the help of her friends. I’m pretty sure she will triumph in Part 2… unless they want Discord to be a permanent feature, in which case he will probably escape with an “I’ll get you later, Twilliiiight!” But I’m really excited to see how she gets out of this jam. A job well done, and here’s to an amazing new season of one of the best all-ages show around.

NOTE: It was an interesting experience watching the premiere on a Livestream and seeing fans on the Internet’s reactions to the live broadcast. There’s the typical complaints about Hub’s ads (“This is whiiiniiing…”), but there were some very funny remarks that I wish I wrote down, and it was great to be a part of the event. Even more curiously, some of the ads were even appropriate to the show - such as Tru Moo’s chocolate milk and Applejack Cereal. What beautiful occurrences of unexpected serendipity.