6. "Crushing Obstacles" Episode Review (POOR)
"Hi! I mean, hi." - Rosemary, greeting Aster when he walks by
"You're way too hung-up on Rosemary" - Snapdragon to Sage
"Hey cretins, sorry to break up your labyrinth failure, or were you about to make out?!" - Amaryllis, teasing Sage and Snapdragon
"Son, we need to have a word."- Hakone to Aster at the end of the episode
This episode is infamous among High Guardian Spice critics, and for good reason. Sage spends the entire episode complaining about Rosemary having a crush, and nothing else really happens. There is no world-building or anything truly meaningful, and there's not even humor.
I will admit that the intro is cute, even if its only purpose is to introduce Aster. But in all honestly, despite how his relationship with Rosemary will be, he would make a good romantic interest for her. Another thing I like is the title, which is somewhat of a pun. It not only references Rosemary's crush on Aster, but also the first challenge to her relationship with Sage.
But after the opening sequence, there is a lengthy, drawn-out scene in a gymnasium where Sage whines about Rosemary's infatuation with him. She is not just fixated on it, she is obsessed. And the rest of the episode drags itself with her expressing jealously towards them. For this reason, the episode is relatively plotless.
After the gymnasium, the students go through an obstacle course, but it is not particularly interesting nor really important to the plot, and it doesn't make sense anyways. Each team is allowed to go through it in any order they want, so long as they complete all three sections. Despite this, it is implied that Sage and Snapdragon, as well as Thyme and Amaryllis only go through the garden maze.
As a minor criticism, Snapdragon mentions that Sage is not wearing her hat. Even though he references this fact to compliment her appearance, she can't wear it due to physical activity. It would fall off when exercising, so it would be redundant to have it on. I should also mention that students take their weapons with them, even though no part of the challenge requires it.
The episode emphasizes how each of the girls work with their assigned partners; and in some fairness, they are put into odd couples, which make unique pairings. Parsley and Parnelle work very well with each other while Thyme becomes friendlier with Amaryllis, albeit begrudgingly and inadvertently. But the character dynamics aren't strong enough to carry the episode; instead they drag the pacing.
And with the exception of Sage and Snapdragon, none of the girls interact with their partners again. Parsley does not team up with Parnelle later in the series; and Thyme and Amaryllis disassociate from each other. Not only that, but the latter two pairs have no influence on the main plot.
Most importantly, Aster does not appear again. He might not be all that funny, but he could have easily been brought back for later episodes. I have also heard that female fans of the show find him attractive. The writers however, wanted to present him as a chauvinist, despite his worst offense being an egotist that talks too much about himself, as well as talking down to Rosemary. As a way to alleviate this, Parsley pretends to drop her hammer on his foot, even though he did nothing wrong.
Additionally, I think a more interesting plot would be if Aster was trying to steal Rose's sword. He would actually make for a good antagonist, if he was actually made into one. After all, I can easily imagine him using the sword not just for himself, but also to boost his ego.
But the one element that has made this episode notorious is when Sage claims that guys do not understand girls. Critics say that this is her sexism, or misandry against males. Not helping is that in the previous episode "Lost Cause," Sage bonds with two males, Parnelle and Slimeboy, over her feelings.
While she doesn't go into a complete tantrum in this moment, Sage is so blinded by jealousy that she blurts out nonsensical statements. Ironically, the way that she behaves shows that girls are prone to jealousy. And even though I defended her behavior in the previous episode, I do not defend how she acts here. Even though it's wrong for Aster to ramble about himself to Rosemary, the episode allows Sage to ramble about Rosemary, for the entire runtime.
Although speaking of, if Sage is on a healer or mage track, then why does she even have physical fitness with the other girls? And wouldn't she have the most problems with the obstacle course? If she is a mage, then surely she is not the kind of girl for athletics.
Beyond this, the events of this episode have no real impact on the rest of the series. As stated before, Aster disappears and nothing in the plot has consequences later on. That being said, I don't see the need to crush it any further.
Crushing the episode like Parsley crushing Aster's foot
previous episode review: Lost Cause
next episode review: Cave of Vinca