My Episode Review on My Little Pony: Make Your Mark-Izzy Does It

Greetings and salutations, my friends.

This is your top-of-the-line film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.

Today, for my 72nd episode analysis, I'm gonna give you guys my take of My Little Pony: Make Your Mark's "Izzy Does It".

Outside of the fact that "Izzy Does It" is the show's 2nd episode, and the first part of "Chapter 2", I hardly think that a summary for it is necessary. Besides, I found that it'd be too difficult to explain what the episode is about.

Anyway...

After I did my review on "Chapter 1", I knew that doing an analysis of Chapter 2's "Izzy Does It" was gonna become a priority since I've been planning on reviewing more of MLP (G5) anyway. At the time I was making plans for critiquing this episode, though, and due to not being a fan of G5, I became concerned that whatever I'd say would be the same as my review on "Chapter 1".

So, in order to ensure my statements wouldn't get repetitive, and be absolutely certain over what I thought of the episode, I watched "Izzy Does It" three more times this year. Also, I decided to try keeping my focus on the episode's core aspects, and I'll probably do so with every G5 installment after it too.

Coming from a guy who watched "Izzy Does It" for the 3rd time recently, I'd like to start off by saying this:

Sadly, I didn't think "Izzy Does It" was much of an improvement over "Chapter 1". I mean, it was a little more tolerable to sit through, but the episode as a whole just wasn't very good.

Most of the reasons for why I found "Izzy Does It" to be far from satisfactory revolve around the story by Jim Martin, as well as the overall direction & execution.

Similar to "Chapter 1", "Izzy Does It" had a multitude of subplots rolled into one story. 4 subplots, to be exact. I was grateful that the episode didn't feel like four stories crammed into one, but still...it seemed to be offering too much for a person to take in one sitting. Not to mention the character inclusions ranged from logical to unnecessary.

Among the characters who clearly weren't needed very much in this episode were Zipp, Hitch, and Sparky Sparkeroni (the baby dragon from "Chapter 1"). Aside from the one exchange between Hitch and Zipp about the new magic developments, the scenes featuring both the 2 of them and Sparky were more of a distraction than anything else.

I mean, what was so important about focusing on Hitch and Zipp cleaning Izzy's stuff beyond the little tidbit I mentioned before? Or on Sparky if all he was gonna do was just unwittingly turn things into food with his dragon fire?

If anything, it seemed like the episode's only purpose for Zipp, Hitch, and Sparky was to have them merely serve as comic-reliefs. Needless ones even, which is fueled all-the-more by Zipp making wisecracks and witty voice loggings most of the time.

In addition, the subplot featuring Misty Brightdawn spying on the Main 5 for Opaline Arcana was both annoying and useless for this episode's story. It was annoying because of how conspicuous Misty was being, and the fact that many of the ponies who actually saw her were idiotic enough to not be suspicious of her fuels the impression that the G5 ponies are sadly lacking in intelligence. And, it was useless because the whole thing neither contributed anything important or carried much relevance.

The only aspect regarding the Misty & Opaline subplot that made it standout was when Misty secretly gave Sunny the magic handheld mirror, but even that wasn't enough to make the whole thing necessary. Heck, the entirely of the subplot would've worked better if it served as the main story for a 6 or 7 minute short rather than be part of a 30 minute episode, because then things wouldn't have felt overcrowded.

On the subject of Sunny's inclusion...there actually wasn't anything wrong with her usage. Outside of making smoothies, the episode didn't have Sunny doing anything big compared to the other characters. And that's perfectly okay. It was clear that Sunny's role in this episode was to be Izzy's source of wisdom & support, and I thought she worked perfectly in that regard. Compared to the other characters I previously mentioned, it didn't feel like Sunny was in this episode for the sake of it either.

Pipp's involvement, meanwhile, was generally a mixed bag.

For a little bit, it seemed like Pipp was going to have the exact kind of role Sunny was given, and the idea of her being Izzy's creativity-advisor is something that honestly fits her so well. But, once the story opens up the subplot of Pipp having creative-block over what her next song would be, everything fell apart at the seams with her. Her focus throughout the episode ultimately caused the story to be conflicted over who the main character was, even despite the title's implication that Izzy was gonna be the star. The fact that Pipp hardly ever did the things she advised Izzy to do before her creative-block came also made her come across as a hypocrite, and in a way...her advice & style started to feel more like a meta-commentary saying that G5 will never change or improve from the problems I noted in both "My Little Pony: A New Generation" and "Chapter 1".

As for Izzy, the "Star" of this episode...she was relatively underwhelming.

It was hard for me to get engaged by Izzy or care about what she was going through. Her antics were more annoying than amusing, and she gradually started to feel more like an afterthought than a protagonist. Also, despite her saying that she learned stuff in this episode, Izzy never gave any signs that she learned anything or grew as a character; not to mention the direction take with her was more baffling than understandable, because I wasn't able to get how she solved her own problems or helped Pipp resolve hers.

The other aspects in the story & direction weren't well-done either. The comedy in this episode generally made me cringe more than laugh, and there certainly wasn't much in the ways of heart & emotion to give it any support.

Plus, as indicated by my complaints towards the directions taken with Izzy and Pipp, I found myself completely lost on what the morals & messages of "Izzy Does It" were. Every apparent attempt at teaching how to overcome creative-block felt like it was instructing how to do the opposite of that; and it didn't give much insight on how to gain inspiration, create something new, or make the new product better than the last one. Even if those things weren't what the episode was trying to teach in the first place, I don't think I'll ever get what it was intending to educate viewers on. And in terms of lessons regarding friendship, "Izzy Does It" had nothing of the sort.

In the end, "Izzy Does It" certainly wasn't as bad as "Chapter 1", but it wasn't an adequate episode or a good sequel to the last two computer-animated installments either. It has the same basic problems as its predecessors, and the character usage is wonky at the most. In short, the whole thing was a lazy way to kick off this 8-episode 2nd chapter.

So, I rate "Izzy Does It" two out of five stars.