FiM Season 8: The Maud Couple Discussion

[Zapper]

The opening enraged me though.  It’s now “My Little Forced Diversity”.

Never thought I would encounter someone complaining about "forced diverse" cartoon animals in here
You sound like that Snape pony from the season opener, hahah! Also, everything is forced in FiM because it is a cartoon and cartoons are products. So yeah, someone literally made them be there

[otocolobus_manul]

When the show doesn’t work so hard on “the magic of friendship” (I wish they’d just get rid of the whole concept, but whatever...friendship is the “in” thing, apparently....*GAG*) , it’s actially a fun thing to watch!

I mean, to be fair, the title of the show is Friendship is Magic.

[CloudyGlow]

I thought it was a pretty good episode. Even though I do not like Mud Briar. He's annoying and I'm going to be honest; I wanted a good looking stallion because Maud is so pretty. But I get what they were going for with the rock metaphor. I love Limestone's lines about jealousy and being miserable.  so relatable.

Did anyone else think that the solution to Pinkie's "Maud doesn't like surprises" problem was that Maud was never surprised by Pinkie's "surprise" parties because Pinkie was so obvious about it.  For a second there, I thought that maybe that was why Pinkie was so obvious about it so that Maud wouldn't be caught off guard.  That would have been really touching, imo.  Sadly, it seems that Pinkie really is that oblivious.

I took it to be she actually does not like surprises. I don't like surprises either so I can totally relate.

[Sunset]

I thought it was a pretty good episode. Even though I do not like Mud Briar. He's annoying and I'm going to be honest; I wanted a good looking stallion because Maud is so pretty. But I get what they were going for with the rock metaphor. I love Limestone's lines about jealousy and being miserable.  so relatable.

Did anyone else think that the solution to Pinkie's "Maud doesn't like surprises" problem was that Maud was never surprised by Pinkie's "surprise" parties because Pinkie was so obvious about it.  For a second there, I thought that maybe that was why Pinkie was so obvious about it so that Maud wouldn't be caught off guard.  That would have been really touching, imo.  Sadly, it seems that Pinkie really is that oblivious.

I took it to be she actually does not like surprises. I don't like surprises either so I can totally relate.

What I meant was that Maude might not like surprises but how could she *be* surprised by Pinkie's party when Pinkie is being sooo obvious about throwing one, even going so far as to want to take her "birthday cake shopping ". 

[Ponyfan]

I don't think anyone was actually supposed to think that the cardboard cutout was actually Maud.  It's just Pinkie's wacky way of still throwing a Maud surprise party that Maud didn't have to go to.

That makes sense.   I agree that Maud wasn't surprised by Pinkie's surprise birthday parties but was acting surprised to please Pinkie because she knows how much it means to her.


Ponyfan

[Luxrayx]

Interesting choice to redo Griffon the brush off, but with the opposite friendship lesson ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
It was a weird episode. I can't help but get the feeling that no one actually likes being around Pinkie Pie, which also contradicts the earlier seasons... Is it opposite day?

[CherryTreats]

I loved it! All of the episodes with Maud Pie are my favorites though! I love Maud!  I love that Maud smiled in this episode. The cardboard cutout was funny and made me think of how in that one pony set there is a cardboard cutout of Maud.

[WaterDraw]

Spoiler

In my humble opinion, I was not a big fan of this episode. I myself have personally been in the position of Maude, but I had a hard time sympathizing with her and ended up sympathizing with Pinkie instead. I appreciate the moments with Pinkie's other sisters though, and will definitely be showing some people in my life that message. 
I'm not that big of a fan of Maude, but I did really like her in this episode. I think she might be a more of "less is better" pony for me. I really wish that it was another one of Pinkie's sisters getting the starring role here as I feel they are often pushed to the sidelines in favor of the fan favorite Maude. It makes sense from a marketing perspective, but if they flesh out her sisters more than maybe you can have more fan favorites.
On that note, I don't really like Pinkie too much either. She was okay in this episode, but I found her constant yelling to be ear-grating.

Now, moving onto the biggest problem of this episode in my opinion; Mud Briar. Mud Briar is very interesting to me as I know someone in life who is actually really similar to him and my friends often gave me the Pinkie treatment because they didn't really understand him.  Knowing this, you'd think I'd be able to give Mud Briar some sympathy and have a high-tolerance for his constant correcting, but he really got on my nerves. I feel like the crew tried too hard to make him annoying, yet not hard enough to make him likable. To me, his only redeeming trait is that it seems that he cares about Maude. His voice to me was annoying and his design is just really...unappealing to me. I think it's something with the sort of eyeshadow thing he has going on? I'm not sure...
I liked the visual gag of his cutie mark, but, and correct me if I'm wrong, it doesn't make too much sense in term of his name and what he know of his talent. The stick makes sense but the mud really doesn't? It felt like they sacrificed a sensable cutie mark for the sake of a joke. Again, correct me if I'm wrong though.

[Khoufu]

When imaginary Twilight said "I NEVER LEARNED TO READ!" That cracked me up irl!

[TJgamer]

This episode took me a lot of thought to really form any strong opinion given its strange execution.
I think for now I can safely say that I have mixed feelings towards this episode.

Okay, if Rock Solid Friendship didn't convince you that Pinkie needs to get out of Maud's hair, this episode will. I know she loves her sister, but Pinkie just comes off as kinda greedy this time around.

I don't get Pinkie's reasoning for not liking Mudbriar. She says it's because he's so "weird, strange, and quiet", which is meant to sound like Maud. However the problem is that he comes off as an annoying smart aleck towards Pinkie, and that's actually a more legit reason not to like him.

Maud herself is still great. She's just so wise and has the patience of a saint to put up with Pinkie's antics (and constantly cutting her off). Seeing her smile this much really stands out too. 

Overall, there's stuff to like in this episode, but I think the motivations are either confused, clichéd, or just a tad mean-spirited. Plus the first third has a lot of padding, if you get what I mean. Not a great episode, but nothing horrendous either.