MYM - Chap6, Ep2: "Roots of All Evil - Pt. 1"...................(SPOILERS)

[Guardian Prime]

The next episode has arrived!
And this one is a 2-parter.
It appears Opaline is on...
a Cutie Mark rampage!

The episode is now available on Netflix
---------------------------

SYNOPSIS:



Roots of All Evil Pt. 1

The ponies need to figure out how Opaline
is stealing the Cutie Marks — and fast!
Luckily, Opaline isn't the only pony with dragons on her side.
​

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Roots of All Evil Part 1


Opaline is in Zephyr Heights. Unfortunately for her plan, she picked the most deserted setting in all of Make Your Mark.

Oh she's attacking everywhere.

I think I see Sprout in the distance.

Yep. It's him. Oh. Bye Sprout.

Twilight was always the pony with a plan. This group... is doing their best.

Equestria has a new sheriff. Good luck, Maretime Bay.

This isn't hiding.

Zipp is finally explaining how MYM's gazillion puzzle pieces fit together. Maybe.

"No. There is another."

Phyllis sighting. For Sprout's sake I wish we'd never seen her again, but maybe the world's most talented therapist managed to work things out.

Nope. Therapist did not succeed. I am disappointed.

Genre savvy dragon.

Opaline: "Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen. I swear it. I totally planned all this."

Misty was accidentally the perfect evil minion.

Hitch's deputies finally have their day in the limelight.

Hitch has been saving up all his dignity points this entire show and he is finally ready to spend them all at once.

 

[ZakuConvoy]

Episode 2 Roots of All Evil Part 1

Oh, is Opaline’s tree corrupting all the other trees already? I mean, I guess we only have these two episodes to finish this up. We gotta get things going.

Hmm..well, the guard was ALREADY bad at his job before losing his cutie mark, so that doesn’t really tell us anything about what happens in G5 when you lose a cutie mark.

This escalated INCREDIBLY quickly.

Dapple! And Onyx! AGAIN! She lost her cutie mark twice?

Panic and run! Panic and run!

Jazz knows what’s up. Good to know she can keep a clear head when there’s danger about.

Yeah…okay…the dragons showing up out of nowhere isn’t going to calm things down.

I KNEW that the pony who sold me those “magic sunglasses” was lying!

I don’t think anyone but Sunny remembers anything about Spike.

Well, that’s the end of Sprout. He died as he lived…moist.

Sprout LIVES! With his mother again! Oh, he was doing so...eh, this actually might be a improvement for his life, I don't know.

“She was a alicorn!” But, like, a REAL alicorn! Not like you who only uses magic to LOOK like a alicorn!

You know, you’d think Jazz and Rocky’s boss would TELL them when she’s taking time off to save the world. Just a heads up or something, you know?

*SNERK* Okay, Izzy not thinking about Opaline being the one behind all this until NOW is kind of funny.

Izzy does not trust the crab. So be it. He is destined to be evil now. The gag WILL become canon. It is nerd law.

So, wait. If you can use the trees as portals, does that mean Scaly already has a Together Tree on it? We never saw one, but…hmm.

Pipp does not pay Jazz enough for this. She out.

“Without our cutie marks, we’re not ourselves” I don’t know, you’re all acting basically the same as far as I can tell. (Yes, that IS an insult)

Awww, Misty’s the one giving an inspirational speech. Our girl’s growing up! I guess she does sort of know everyone from her time watching them all from the shadows! Helping to plot their downfall! Please, don’t tell them about that part, Misty.

I want to see Izzy’s plan.

Pipp NEEDS her cutie mark, guys! It’s part of her brand!

It’s weird that the Dragon Stone drains dragons but the Unity Crystals don’t drain ponies. If Twilight created both, why is there a difference?

*SIGH* They’re literally calling Sparky “The One”. I swear, if Sparky saves the day with a giant burp, I’m going to be SO MAD.

Awww…Hitch gave Sparky his sheriff badge. I’m so split on this plot point. And Sparky resists the urge to eat it!

Actually, you’re just a bigger, easier target if you all group together. You really should have come up with a better plan than just standing in one spot...menacingly.

Zipp’s detective skills come into play one last time. Nice.

“She’s NOT friends with Elder Flower!?” Izzy continually missing the point somehow hasn’t gotten old, yet.

You know, that artwork looks like the Unity Crystals are actually supposed to be placed under the roots of a Together Tree to fully awaken it’s power or something. Or…to recreate the Elements of Harmony, perhaps?

Okay, if Opaline’s tree ISN’T a Together Tree then…is it something else or just a corrupted Together Tree?

“MY ESSENCE!” Oh no. Sprout. How will we go on. He had SUCH talent.

*SIGH* Hitch really should feel worse about this. This really was a terrible plan.

“Did you leave a message?” “SHE DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO CHECK HER MESSAGES!” *LOL* Oh…good stuff.

Izzy’s starting to get into action movie hero mode.

I mean…I don’t think Misty is suddenly a magic expert. I don’t know how she can positively KNOW Opaline can get enough magic to break any spell. But, it is a solid guess, anyway.

How’d the dragons even get in there? They look like they’re too big to fit in any of the hallways.

“Do you know what happens to a dragon…IN A DUNGEON?” They make really bad choices and alienate their fanbase?

Wait…how has Fountain ever been chained up in a dungeon? She was asleep for the past however how long, and before that all the races were friends. Who put her in a dungeon? (Oh...the fan art...)

Well, Opaline remembers Spike.

Well, either Sparky’s immune to mind control or Opaline needs to be aware of a dragon in order to take control of it.

Oh…Misty got kidnapped so Opaline could try and grow her Together Tree. I didn’t put that one together before this. Well done, show.

Oh…this is all (very indirectly) Misty’s fault. Oh…she’s not going to take this well.

Wait…Opaline’s Infinity Mark Necklace is made out of..a pumpkin? Random.

Is this the part where the crab betrays Hitch? NO! They sacrifice themselves for Hitch! This…might be the first time they’ve been useful.

“Warriors of Equestia! Come out to Play-ay”

Somehow, all the girls just sense that something is wrong with their man.

She only has 5 spots on her necklace, so I guess Opaline isn’t planning on getting Misty’s cutie mark. Of course…I don’t think she knows she has one yet?

 

[Videomaster21XX]

Wait…Opaline’s Infinity Mark Necklace is made out of..a pumpkin? Random.

It's the golden one Hitch 'hid' in the Nightmare Night episode. Basically the thing that got Opaline to realize there was a connection to the other tree in the first place.

 

[ZakuConvoy]

Oh...I forgot about that. Yeah, the months long breaks between binges does NOT help me retain what happened.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I wish this show had been released weekly. It clearly wasn't written to be broken up the way it was. The writing is tight.

I wonder if the animation just made it too difficult to pull off a normal production schedule. I keep poking fun at the crowd sizes but that's really the only shortcut they keep taking. It's high quality stuff.

 

[Videomaster21XX]

Just re-watched this today as we streamed it for our watchers, and I sadly have to confirm a huge mistake.

Opaline talks about the Unity Trees and mentions how Misty grew one in Zephyr Heights.

I'm sorry but how the hay does she know that? Misty did that during her whole Cute-ceañera type thing. Something Opaline most certainly did NOT know she was doing. So there is just no way she should have any knowledge of this. It wouldn't even make sense that Misty told her, because why the hay would she tell Opaline that? There is just no logical way Opaline should have that information.

When I first heard her say that I though that Opaline must have caught on to what Misty was doing, and knew she had been betrayed, but then in the next episode we clearly get confirmation that Opaline had no idea.

 

[ZakuConvoy]

Hmm...okay, this is going to be a stretch, but I'm going to try my best.

Opaline didn't know what Misty was doing specifically. But, Opaline is probably still magically connected to her own corrupted Together Tree. And she could tell when it's roots connected to the roots of this new Together Tree, because she found out she could use it to teleport into Zephyr Heights. Opaline MIGHT have just assumed that Misty was trying to get back into her good graces by spreading more Together Trees around so she could eventually use them as fast-travel points in her evil plan. Opaline MIGHT have asssumed that Misty was trying to be a double agent for HER side, getting into the Manes good graces so she can eventually betray them.

The Cute-ceanera WAS a pretty widely advertised event, and Opaline could have easily found out about it off screen. Remember, Misty WAS supposed to be a double-agent gathering intelligence on Opaline for the Manes this whole time. That plot point kind of got dropped. It would have been kind of ironic if Opaline thought Misty was HER double agent, when she was really working with the Manes this whole time. But, Opaline's ego probably wouldn't have even let her consider that, she probably couldn't really wrap her head around the thought of Misty ACTUALLY betraying her. It's also possible that Opaline could tell that some trace of Misty's own magic was in that particular Together Tree because...magic, I guess.

Would it have been better if we got any of that in the show? Yes. Is this likely a error brought about by changes in the script at the last minute? Probably. But...I tried.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

That kinda works. The Cute-ceanera was attended by apparently the only news organization in Equestria, and Opaline does watch TV in TYT. It's conceivable for her to have found out Misty was there. It's also conceivable for Misty to have let it slip somehow.

MYM does give us one tool to work with here. We know for a fact that Opaline found out about Misty's fake cutie mark. Misty must have explained that as being part of her undercover act. Given that, Misty could have confessed to attending the Cute-ceanera without much explanation.

 

[Videomaster21XX]

Except there was a whole thing of Opaline asking where Misty was and she said she was in the Entertainment area. Where Opaline asked if it was the East or West one because when Misty answered Opaline admitted that the other wing was where she kept all the spiders. This was the 'cover up' Misty gave for her absence during the Cute-Ceanera so... yeah Opaline would have realized Misty was lying to her.

The best guess would be the new tree had some sort of sign that said it was dedicated to Misty. I can sorta see Opaline just rolling her eyes and thinking "At least Misty did something right for a change" Otherwise, Opaline just knows something she really shouldn't.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

That conversation happened in 'Mane Smelody', excusing an entirely different absence. That episode doesn't say what that specific absence was, so presumably it was the previous episode's fun times with Alphabittle. Misty did have a reason to keep that from Opaline.

 

[Videomaster21XX]

Ah, even I forget things between seasons it seems.

Still I don't see why Misty would tell Opaline she grew a friendship tree. Opaline knows what grows those, so that would have to lead to a ton of questions of how. It's just too implausible for me to accept.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

On the other hand, it was Misty's job to feed a unity tree. Opaline was hoping it would be the one in her castle, but still. She might have had questions about how it happened but she would have been happy with the development.

And I'm not even sure she would have had that many questions about how it happened. She somehow didn't expect a complete betrayal, but she did repeatedly suspect that Misty was going soft.

 

[Videomaster21XX]

She would have realized that Misty made a connection to the 'other ponies' in order to grow the tree and wouldn't have been happy. No matter how I try to view the info, I sadly just keep coming back to the same conclusion. Opaline really shouldn't have known this.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

"Don't tell me you really were having fun with those ponies."

She had the suspicion at least.


To be clear I do think this was an error, but a salvageable one.