MLP Review: Winter Wrap Up (Season 1, Episode 11)

The plot of this episode follows Twilight Sparkle (Tara Strong), who is celebrating Winter Wrap-Up for the first up. Basically, Ponyville welcomes spring by clearing the skies, the snow, and in general preparing for spring without the use of any magic. However, that last part causes issues, as Twilight finds it hard to find a place to help out without her magic, bringing the source of the conflict for this episode as Twilight tries to find a way to help out.

This episode's plot is...not that unique, unfortunately. The plot of "someone tries to find a place to fit in/tries to find a way to use their talents" has been done quite a lot. However, the way it is presented is pretty interesting, holding my interest even as I could guess where the episode would end up.

The characterization is good in some parts...and not so good in others. Twilight's character development is part of the former. Here, she shows some vulnerability, which hasn't really been seen in her character. She's had some shaky moments, but she is usually pretty confident. This does not happen here, showing that without her magic, she feels pretty helpless and useless, which is something she does get over at the end of the episode. As for the latter...Spike does not act as a good friend this episode. It can partially be explained by him being tired, but some of the tendencies he shows in this episode, such as laughing at Twilight when she is in trouble and selling her out for protecting himself from criticism, do show up later on.

She looks pretty cute in that outfit. In a non-sexy way.

Speaking of Spike, this is the first episode where he has a relatively large part, which allows Cathy Weseluck to show off her vocal talent for him, something she does a really good job of. If I didn't know it was a female voicing him, I wouldn't be able to tell just from listening, as she has a fairly deep voice when voicing male characters, unlike the feminine voice she uses for the mayor (Mayor Mare?). Overall, a fairly impressive performance for a part that isn't exactly important in the overall scheme of things. Yet.

This episode is the first one that has a real musical number. There were a couple of other episodes that had songs, but they were treated as being just another sign of silly Pinkie Pie, even in universe. This time, however, it is treated as songs in most musicals are, as just part of the viewing experience. I have to sacrifice my man card for good at this point, because I really enjoyed the song sequence in this one. Basically used as a method to explain to the audience what Winter Wrap Up is all about, the song is catchy, has a nice rhythm, and most importantly, does a good job of pairing up singing voices for the characters.

Granted, Andrea Libman provides the singing voice for Fluttershy, and Ashleigh Ball provides the singing voice for Applejack and Rainbow Dash. However, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie all get different voice actresses to do their singing. Despite this, all the singing voices do match up well to the normal speaking voices, making it hard to tell that they are different people, a tricky thing to do.

                         But hey, you judge for yourself. Good luck getting it out of your head, though.

Overall, this episode is not without its problems, but leaves me with an overall good impression. The song is very well-done, the characterization is pretty nice, and despite the cliche plot, it still holds my interest. However, where the episode really works is on an emotional level. I really felt for Twilight through the episode, as she found herself struggling to find a place to fit in, and eventually driven to tears by her failures. In the end, this is an episode that shows that just because it is more light-hearted doesn't mean it can't have some serious character moments, and that is what the show is about.

Overall: 8/10