Marks and Recreation

The Cutie Mark Crusaders had some great episodes throughout 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic's' run, especially Season 1's "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" and Season 5's "Crusaders of the Lost Mark". They were also a lot more interesting as characters than their character designs and names indicate and interact beautifully together. Their episodes where they interact and have dilemmas with their sisters vary in quality, especially Applejack and Applebloom, but the show saw a lot of great interaction in this regard.

"Marks and Recreation" is one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders-centric episodes, and one of the few to not feature any of the Mane 6. It has a lot of emphasis on Rumble, which is not going to be a good sign for anybody that doesn't like him. Personally do not agree with the previous reviewer, for me "Marks and Recreation" is one of the worst episodes of Season 7 (the worst up to this point of it) and one of the worst Cutie Mark Crusaders-centric episodes, being one of the few to not do much for me.

It's not all bad, it has its moments. The animation is polished and vibrant as usual. The music, on the most part, is appealing to listen to and doesn't jar in any way.

Also thought that the voice acting was good from all. The Cutie Mark Crusaders are true to character, mostly likeable and have charming character interaction and Thunderlane has promise.

However, there is one significant aspect that brings "Mark and Recreation" down badly. Usually don't think it fair to dislike an episode of the show or any other show for one thing only and while there are episodes of 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic' have more to it than just one thing they have something that leaves a bad taste in the mouth. "Marks and Recreation" is one such episode and the aspect that brings it down is Rumble. He is not a likeable, mature or rootable character at all and was quite obnoxious, the episode also does an even worse job than "Honest Apple" did with Applejack at over-emphasising negative character traits and Rumble's aggression, hostility, lack of maturity and manipulative streak are taken to extremes and he becomes intolerable. His song, in a very song-light season, is also one of the worst ones of the whole show (being one of the few to keep me completely indifferent). Not just because it is forgettable at best, shallow and not very interesting, but the lyrics never felt sincere, manipulative if anything, and came over as heavy-handed. Also didn't think he was making many points, it came over as a series of excuses and a primary example of his manipulation showing and they are also points that were addressed in other episodes and much more tactfully.

They are not the only things that didn't work for me. There was little natural, funny or moving about the writing, which did come over forced and glib while how Rumble was written made it very difficult to take it all seriously. The story was too dull and thin, meaning that there was some padding going on, also playing it too safe which has sometimes been the case with Cutie Mark Crusaders episodes. While the Cutie Mark Crusaders are good characters are mostly well done here, it was hard to buy them being fooled so easily and they play too much second fiddle to the background characters. The ending felt rushed and too abrupt and the moral is one of the most muddled and really not a good lesson to teach to younger viewers, seeming to imply that dishonesty and trickery are good things.

Overall, disappointing and one of the few Season 7 episodes to do little for me. 4/10.

I admit this wasn't one of the best episodes, but it was still good. I guess I just don't like the absence of the Mane 6, but the Cutie Mark Crusaders are still fun. Here we have them setting up a camp teaching little fillies to get their cutie marks. One of them is a kid named Rumble who doesn't want a cutie mark. Now this is actually a pretty interesting premise. We see so many little kids work so hard for their cutie marks but why not have one who just doesn't want his? It's made better by the fact that he's the brother of a Wonderbolt. That did make me miss Rainbow Dash.

You'd think with "My Little Pony: The Movie" coming out, the staff would take a break from releasing new episodes. Instead, they're coming out just as much as ever. Pipsqueak is such a cute little character and I hope he appears more. Is it just me or did he have a different voice in this episode? Anyway, he's still adorable. I praise this episode for depicting kids realistically. If there were such things as cutie marks I imagine this is how a lot of kids would react to them. ***