so, I am finally replying for this thread again. I have watched Going to Seed and Student Counsel this afternoon while I should give Sweet and Smoky another try (well, in general, one should watch the eps twice in order to review them properly). But I am limiting myself to reply to your posts and add a few aspects and/or answers to your reviews.
>I didn't love it but I think I like it well enough. considering that this ep was written by the same one who wrote Non Compete Clause, that´s a big accomplishment. >Only critique I can think of is that I think this episode could have been done without fluttershy and some more time devoted to the A plot. Even if this complaint is minor, I think that the plot device makes sense and in a way, it should be expected. Fluttershy is the most useful character for introducing and getting to know different species at their core. It may have not happened in the show until now but Hasbro published The Island of Dragons (a non canon visual book released around 2015/16 (?), which also consisted in warming up eggs of the dragons) and Fluttershy Balances the Scales (which takes place in the surroundings of Seaquestria).
Why am I saying all of this? Just to tell that Fluttershy serves for these plot devices amazingly well,as if these situations were natural from the very beginning.
>I think Fluttershy was alright enough here. She wasn't useless, just perhaps unneeded. Sometimes I like it when there is an A plot and a B plot,and I like it here sans that one minor issue. while you are classifying the episode with two subplots, your vision clashes a bit with the episode itself mostly because they get combined right at the middle of it. It doesn´t look as obvious as the Crystalling for example, which the episode tells clearly the two simultaneous resolutions.
>The lesson wasn't new or interesting but not bad at all. I suppose how it fit with the dragon eggs was a little odd, but this is a world of talking ponies and magical dragons. taking into account that Dragons were intended to imitate the cool guys from the 90s, this message challenges the first premise in which they were designed from their creators. Episode aside, I believe that I will have to change a little bit my take on Garble in a certain fic, considering that he cannot keep the intimidating image all the time.
