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Honestly, that was worse than the premiere. I can't stand Mudbriar's "technically" and he should also be refraining from being so precise about things. He actually makes Maud tolerable. The dialogue was also grating as it was repeating the same lines over and over and just an overall awkward experience.
I did like the lesson though
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and how Limestone Pie was able to show Pinkie that even though she didn't feel the same way that Maud did about Mud Briar, she could learn to get along with him for the sake of Maud's happiness.
The ending was a little far fetched for me. How could anyone believe that cardboard cut out was the real Maud?
I also liked the new opening. It's nice seeing some new characters and not the same scenes of the Mane 6 we've been seeing.
Ponyfan
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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. :blush: 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.