Personally cannot agree with the previous reviewer regarding "Uprooted", as much as it pains me to do so. The premise did sound interesting though did have slight potential to be too thin. What also made the episode have potential was that it was following from a great two part opener, which was always going to be a tough act to follow on from, and also that Season 9 was the final one and it is hard to not expect much from final seasons of shows you love.
Sadly, the season with "Uprooted" went from two of its best episodes (technically one but with it being two parts it's going to be classed by me as two) to one of its lesser ones. A shame because it was also centered around the Student Six characters that made such a big impression in Season 8 and were among the best things about it. A strong case of a good concept executed in middle of the road fashion, which was quite disappointing. Not a terrible episode by all means, but it did promise more than it delivered.
"Uprooted" has good things. The animation is vibrant and richly detail, with some quite jaw dropping visuals in the dreams at the beginning, the Princess Smolder one being one of the episode's highlight scenes. The music fits beautifully, never at odds with the action and has a wide range of emotions. "The Place Where We Belong" is not one of the show's classics but is still a very pleasant and catchy song with lyrics that have much heart. The voice acting was always consistently great on 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic', and it is here. Katrina Salisbury as Yona stands out.
Yona is the most interesting and most well developed character here, actually she is the only one of the six to get much development and the one to make the decisions or suggest them. There are a couple of good individual scenes, such as the Princess Smolder dream and the permission slip montage. Some of the interaction is quite fun, it was good to see the six working as a team and the ending was heart-warming without being overly neat (though on the predictable side still).
Really did wish on the other hand that the Student Six were better developed. Season 8 did so much better at expanding upon and fleshing out their personalities, but here they come over as rather bland. Especially early on where they do very little other than argue. Something that wore thin a bit too quickly. Some of the dialogue is thought-provoking, but not much stood out as memorable and it could have had more nuance and variety. The amount of bickering was not too excessive but could have been a less so that it was less repetitive.
The story had a good concept, but it did feel too thin and like underbaked and padded setting up. It did get better towards the end but it takes too long to get going. On paper, it was quite innovative but when it came to the execution, "Uprooted" struck me as a bit too ordinary. The pacing does pick up but failed to maintain enough interest initially.
In summary, watchable if disappointing. 5/10.
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