>>40424557>Since there's no moral or major character growth, there's no reason for the contrivance.These are two distinct things. A plot can have a good moral with or without contrived plot elements, and conversely a sensible plot does not necessarily mean its moral is good. Note that "contrivance" just means one or more improbable events or decisions in order for the plot to work out. In fact the episode does give a concrete morall, as delivered by Sugar Belle:
>I suppose there's a lesson here somewhere about communication, talking instead of assuming, or eavesdropping is wrong. Wouldn't you say?And she hits the problem on the nose, since Big Mac shouldn't have let his lovey dovey feelings get to his head and be talked worries by jealous Discord. In other words: simply be rational.
>Party of OneThe feeling of whether or not two parties in a row make sense is not essential to the moral, which is trusting your friends. It causes some awkwardness but it is not brought up later on. Yet, it introduces a contrivance: on one hand, Pinkie doesn't realize that she may be fatigueing her friends, and her friends don't bring this up as an explanation while working on the surprise party.
Ultimately, if the episode had occurred with Pinkie bearing in mind that she should trust her friends, she would still have stumbled upon them and their excuses and evasive behaviour. Trust is good, but trusting friends while they /seem/ to be talking behind your back leads to feeling gaslit. PoO and TBB ultimately have a very similar moral if you drill down to the actual issue (being rational and not listening to hearsay), but only the latter articulates it correctly in my opinion.
>Green Isn't Your ColorAn episode about when promises should be solemnly kept and when they legitimately "do not count" is a great idea, if this notion is central to the episode. But that's not the case. The center of the episode is the conflict between Rarity and Fluttershy, and Twilight's dilemma serves as a side-plot.
>There wouldn't be a story or a lesson if Twi wasn't pressured to keep her word.That's because the situation was contrived. It is not difficult to imagine a scenario in which Twilight feels intrinsically motivated to honour a promise, blind to the fact that "breaking" it is actually in the best interest of all parties. But since the episode was not written like that, the pressure needed to be enforced by Pinkie Pie, in an irrational way. Besides, the problem ultimately solves itself when Rarity and Fluttershy meet face-to-face, and not by Twilight having an epiphany or mustering the courage, downplaying the moral further.
Just to add, examples of episodes wherein the Mane 6 to manage to resolve their misunderstandings in a rational way are Griffon The Brush Off and Suited For Success, and these rightfully stand as some of the best MLP episodes at least in terms of writing.
