MLP FIM Christmas Special "The Best Gift Ever" review

Review for the Christmas Special of MLP Season 9, "The Best Gift Ever". Celebrating friendship and holiday cheer

Note: This was written a few weeks ago, but we decided to post it closer to Christmas. -GC

I've steadily been catching up with MLP, and last week I took a pause from the Equestria Girls shorts to watch the Season 9 Christmas Special, "The Best Gift Ever". The first time I saw it was a bit dramatic; I could take in most of the episode without problems, but the credits song just was the biggest trigger ever and I ended up crying my heart out. I've left all the details on my post about holidays blues and dependent personality disorder so if you're interested you can read out more there. But on more positive side, I was able to rewatch the episode a few days later without triggers getting in the way, so here's my review of "The Best Gift Ever"!

Unicorns? Dragons? Pah. It's having snow at Christmas- or its equivalent- that really makes this a fantasy world. -GC

Christmas stories, for the most part, tend to follow certain well-established cliches. I don't think it's necessarily a flaw; rather, I find it part of their charm. We know that the characters are going to discover (or in some cases, rediscover) the importance of love, care and holiday cheer - but how they get there is all part of the fun.

"The Best Gift Ever" is no exception. As the title itself reveals, this Christmas Special for MLP: FiM Season 9 is all about gift hunting, finding the "perfect" present for loved ones, with all the complications entailed in expressing how important they are for us. This used to be my favorite kind of set up for Christmas stories, so I had great expectations even if the premise was kinda predictable. I'm happy to say that the show managed to pack in some surprising twists to what sounded like an ordinary Christmas fable; the story immediately becomes engaging and you're drawn into the endeavors of the Mane Six to find "the best gift ever".

The episode begins with a slice-of-life montage in which all of Equestria is seen preparing for Heart's Warming Eve. It's just one more day before the event and everypony is bustling with excitement while hurriedly looking for last-minute presents, or preparing to spend the holiday with family and friends. The Mane Six, of course, are no exception. So, to take some of the hassle off her friends (especially Twilight Sparkle), Applejack suggests that they instead adopt one of her family traditions - the Hearth's Warming Helper, a Secret Santa-style event where everyone must draw another pony's name and get a present for just that particular pony.

I knew I wore this thing for a reason.

Of course, it seems like a grand idea and much more manageable - in theory. When Spike accidentally tells Twilight Sparkle how the single present they're out to get must be something really super special - "the best gift ever" - that gets her even more worked up under the weight of the responsibility. And being Twilight Sparkle we're talking about, that makes her slightly neurotic - to the point of almost forgetting that her brother, Cadence and baby Flurry Heart will be visiting. Yet our Princess of Friendship is determined to make it through, no matter what state her nerves might be in at the end of the ordeal. She wants this Hearth's Warming to be special, both for her family and for the pony she's been assigned. 

This is roughly what my expression is like this time of year. -GC

Meanwhile, Spike has his own issues to deal with. Having found out from Applejack that it's possible to swap Hearth's Warming Helpers, he sets out to find out who has the one pony he wants to find a perfect present for - namely (you guessed it) Rarity. He knows perfectly well she's the one who deserves the best gift ever, but when he finally gets her name as Hearth's Warming Helper, he realizes he's suddenly not so sure of what might be special enough for somepony so special. With Spike being Spike, hilarity ensues in pretty much every scene he's in.

There's also a side plot featuring Applejack and Fluttershy's efforts to bring down a Christmas scam that's going to ruin Hearth's Warming for many a pony - if they don't do something about it soon. While Rarity and Pinkie Pie embark on two very different quests for the "best gift ever", Rainbow Dash gets the most unlikely assistance in picking up a present for Fluttershy when Discord makes his entrance. With such an assorted cast of Helpers, will everyone get the "best gift ever" and get it in time for Heart Warming Eve?

There's also a brief joke about sheep being set on fire. I'm serious. -GC

As much as the finale song broke my heart, I really loved this show. It was funny, it had lots of heart warming moments (and how could it be otherwise) and I loved how it went on to show little bits and pieces of everyday life (even if I have a minor quip in this regard that I'll address later). The introductory narrative, told in rhyme in the typical tradition of Christmas poems, was a delightful touch. And I loved how each pony came to Twilight Sparkle's final realization by their own different ways. The "gifts" were also not in the slightest bit predictable and I loved where the show decided to go with each pony's gift idea. The only exception was Rainbow Dash who, before Discord chimes in with his "helpful" suggestions, couldn't think of anything more original than a candle. I mean - really? Rainbow herself tells Discord that she's known Fluttershy for a long time, and while nailing down her preferences might have been difficult, I don't see how her first thought was just something so plain and devoid of any personality or meaning. Heck, at this point why not just get an autographed Daring Do novel because it's something special for Rainbow Dash, and she wants to share it with her friend? I understand that the show needed her to be totally at a loss of ideas for Discord to interject (and pretty much steal the spotlight) - I just feel there could have been subtler ways to go about it.

Another touch that I loved were the reindeer! I won't go much into spoilers, but all you need to know is that they're magical, they're the ponies equivalent of Santa Claus with just a dash of "the Fates meet Fairy Godmothers" thrown in for good measure, and they're thoroughly adorable. I hope there will be more Christmas specials with these new, lovely addiction to the MLP cast. And just for rhyming sake I'd love to see them interact with Zecora - bet there'd be quite the interesting conversation going on there!

"Totes Adorbs" as my cousin would say. -GC

My only pet peeve with "the best gift ever" is a scene in the opening montage, in which we're shown the Apples and Pies families meeting to spend the holidays together. As Big Mac and Sugar Belle nuzzle happily, Marble can only look over their shoulder wistfully before she breaks down in tears, and you really feel her heart breaking. In many ways it reminded me of the "Last Christmas" music video. Although later Marble even manages to stifle a chuckle while helping Pinkie with her gift hunting, that haunted look early in the episode made every of her later appearance feel contrived; yes, her eyes have always been sad, but having your former crush and his new love interest under your roof for all the holidays surely must not have been doing much to cheer her or warm her heart. Why they didn't show Big Mac and Sugar Belle deciding to spend the holiday in some romantic place, instead of constantly hanging around poor Marble? I would have much rather preferred seeing them nuzzle under Bright Mac and Pear Butter's tree, maybe with Grand Pear watching wistfully over their shoulder as he thinks back about his daughter's love for Bright Mac and how proud she would be of their son. Keeping them always under Marble's eyes felt unnecessary... unless the show is planning to address this issue in the next season, perhaps by having Big Mac and Sugar Belle help Marble find somepony for herself. It was just so recurring it felt a bit like foreshadowing, and we know that MLP isn't new to dropping subtle hints and tips of the hat to these "slice of life" moments. We'll see where they're going with that when the new series airs.

Ship sunk. -GC

On the overall, "The Best Gift Ever" was a lovely Christmas show. I'm just saddened that I couldn't enjoy it as much as I had wanted on my first viewing; it just hit too close to home, but that's everything to do with me and my mental illness and nothing to do with the story itself. Also, it is a Christmas special, so if these kind of stories just don't appeal to you, it might be worth skipping. The premise is a bit simplistic, but the show manages to never come off as predictable or boring. And the ending song, even if it broke my heart, might be one of my all-time favorites from all Pony seasons. So my vote for this is a solid 8/10 (I'm docking a couple points for the way Rainbow Dash's character was poorly used - though admittedly the show did worse with her in past episodes, I'm thinking of the one where she and Applejack very nearly let Yona die during a camp trip because they're too taken with their rivalry to pay attention to students - and for the unnecessary salt rubbed in the wound they did with Marble, even if like I said this could just be a matter of foreshadowing and premise to a future episode where her plot line is dealt with.)