Toad Eightyfive
used to be here but peaced out
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Northern Verve said:Toad Eightyfive said:S3: Magic Fucking Duel. Least favorite episode of the series, by a mile. I seriously don't see why this doesn't get more hate. I could probably elaborate another time, but it boils down to a combination of a plodding and tedious first two acts, Trixie's unnecessarily cruel antics, the fact that she receives zero consequences for said antics, and Twilight's cheating in the second duel (which would've been fine in and of itself as an "ends justifying the means" moment, but nope, it was baked into the implicit moral.)
On Trixie's cruelty, it's implied that's all the amulet's doing. She wouldn't have done all those things she did if say she had beaten Twilight in a duel normally instead (Which she can't do anyway cause Trixie just isn't that good at magic). In the hypothetical situation that she somehow did though, she would of just simply may have gloated a bit and left. She certainly wouldn't have taken over the whole town and forced everybody to be at her beck and call. The Amulet was the only way Trixie was going to have a chance of revenge, it was wrong for her to do so in the first place. But at the same time she probably didn't know it was going to twist her mind that much. She wanted revenge, but had she known that she would give up her mind to something that makes her have less of a morality as well as a lot more evil then she actually was. She probably wouldn't have.
Oh and before you bring up the fact Trixie still tried to do the cruel things she did even after she took off the Amulet (The scene where she says she tried to make Rainbow "Writhe in Agony"). Let's just say the effects from the Amulet don't go away that quickly, her mind had to have some time off the corruption. It's possible the final scene (In where Trixie apologizes, it's thanks to this scene we get a clear indication that it was all the Amulet's doing. is hours or even the next day after the final duel in the episode)
wow you wrote all that in response to the least important part of my criticism
well two things:
1. i would've thought that the "writhe in agony" scene would've been conclusive evidence that trixie was acting under her own power, or at least the amulet wasn't controlling her. removing her inhibitions, perhaps, but not strapping her to do anything against her will.
2. even if you reject point 1, which i can understand, ymmv and all, you're missing my point. the issue is that trixie's cruelty was difficult to watch, it was jarring and mean-spirited, it was purposeless sadism. i could argue that fluttershy in putting your hoof down and diamond tiara on a daily basis are worse, but even then they served a narrative point. trixie's demeanor made her a hard character to like in this episode, and i tend to be a person who likes villains.