The Fault in Our Cutie Marks

The concept for "The Fault in Our Cutie Marks" could have gone either way in execution and had the danger of being too cute. Have said this quite a few times for other 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic' episodes but some stories conceptually of the show have had the potential issue of being too cute and a few have been. Seeing that most episodes prove themselves to be a lot more intelligent and layered than sounded and that the Cutie Mark Crusaders increasingly are a lot more interesting than they seem on paper, that was given the benefit of the doubt.

Didn't care personally for "The Fault in Our Cutie Marks" on first watch. Felt that it could have done a lot more with its concept, was quite predictable, too talky and too safe, while also finding Gabby too one-dimensional. On recent re-watch, "The Fault in Our Cutie Marks" was one of the 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic' episodes that fared quite a lot better this time. It's still not perfect and the faults found with it first time are mostly still there, but there was more to like about it this time.

Will start with what "The Fault in Our Cutie Marks" could have done better. While it is great to have a character with a lot of positive qualities, Gabby for my liking despite admiring her resourcefulness for instance (and she's cute) was rather too perfect a character. Characters are a lot more interesting and progress more when they have a flaw of some kind, as long as they learn from mistakes and don't have any negative qualities done to extremes.

Other Season 6, and 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic', episodes had more ambition and had more happening, "The Fault in Our Cutie Marks" is pleasantly and engagingly (enough) told and it is good that it doesn't try to do too much but is at times a little too slight and safe. It is a dialogue heavy episode and sometimes it did feel that there could have been some trimming to tighten the pace and move the momentum forward.

Luckily the actual dialogue itself is not bad at all. It is not as cheesy or as over-sentimental as one would fear reading the synopsis, it flows well and has a heart that is both light and warm. The story is charming enough and there are touching moments. The Cutie Mark Crusaders are all likeable characters with well defined personalities, their chemistry sparkles too, while they have always been better than expected characters their development has come on a good deal since their first episode.

Voice acting is uniformly spot on. The animation is vibrantly coloured, fluid and the background detail is far from simplistic. The music fits the action beautifully. The moral is a good one and handled sincerely.

In conclusion, not a great episode but a pleasant one. 7/10.