"A Matter of Principals" could have been so much more than it turned out. The story did sound interesting and on the most part to me Discord is a very funny and interesting character and one of the show's best recurring ones. Most of the episodes where he plays a major role are good to brilliant. My positive overall feelings of him admittedly very nearly changed with Season 5's "What About Discord", which is enough to put one off him, but luckily he was redeemed not long after.
Was really hoping that Season 8 would turn things around quality-wise after being disappointed by "The Mean 6", but "A Matter of Principals" continues the disappointment in one of the worst episodes of an up and down season. As far as Discord episodes go, it is not quite as bad as "What About Discord" and is marginally better than "Non-Compete Clause" as far as previous Season 8 episodes go. It is still not particularly good sadly and it is certainly one of my least favourite appearances from Discord.
The episode does have its good things. Have nothing to fault the animation for, as vibrant and meticulous as ever. Nor the beautifully incorporated music and the hugely committed voice acting from all involved.
Did like some of the callbacks, which did amuse. The Student Six are interesting characters and it is good to see their personalities expanded. Starlight's role is quite nice, as is Spike's (a character who improved hugely in the later seasons), though both are underused. Trixie's cameo is fun though too brief.
Unfortunately, "A Matter of Principals" had a lot wrong with it. Three things in particular brought it down and two of those problems were ones that wrecked "Yakity-Sax" as well. Am going to talk about didn't work besides the three main problems. The dialogue is more cheesy than funny and didn't feel much of an emotional connection. The story is pretty thin on the ground and bland, while also lacking maturity and heart. Too many of the characters are underused and the episode does not really make the most out of the setting, it's basically functional but everything plays second fiddle to Discord's antics.
Am now going to go on to the three big problems. The moral felt muddled, a good one on paper and honestly would not have minded about it not being a novel one if the character it mainly centres around didn't unbalance the episode as badly as they did and if what they do didn't put other characters in danger as much as the case here. There is one exchange between Spike and Starlight that makes one even unsure what the moral is meant to be. The ending to me was far too tidy, in an out of kilter way, and also doesn't make sense. Absolutely do not buy how far too much is gotten away with this lightly considering what happens. What really unbalances "A Matter of Principals" is Discord's character writing, which is absolutely insufferable and there is far too much of him to ignore that. He is not funny at all, his childishness gets on the nerves quickly and his trolling goes way too far on the mean-spirited-ness. This is as bad as "What About Discord" at making one hate Discord and go off him, and it was like anything that he had learned in previous episodes had been ignored.
In conclusion, very underwhelming. 4/10.
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