Well... it finally happened. After over two years, I now have a new favorite episode. "The Return of Harmony", you had a fantastic run, really, you did. But after Season 4's finale, I simply can't deny it: "Twilight's Kingdom" is, officially, my new favorite episode of the show. The thing that I find most fascinating about this is how very different both episodes are, but I'll cover that in a bit. Right now, in addition to reviewing just what makes "Twilight's Kingdom: Parts 1 and 2" such phenomenal episodes, I gotta review how Season 4 fared as a whole. So let's get to it everypony; this is my full review of Season 4 of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, including my thoughts on "Twilight's Kingdom: Part 1 and Part 2". Enjoy!

 

The Story

 

If there is one word that can best sum up what makes the overall story of Season 4 so downright spectacular, it would be this: Clarity. Following a shortened season that left us with little idea where the show was going to go, we got a season that, on the surface, kept that question up in the air for most of the season. However, following the Season 4 finale, it is apparent now that the writers knew exactly what they were doing the whole time, and if you review the season as a whole, you see that there is a beautiful unity to everything that happened that simply clarifies in a splendid manner why everything's been happening and leading up to what has happened since Season 3 began. Season 3 left us not with a solid foundation, but rather, a cornerstone, that being that Twilight is a princess. Now that Season 4 is over, a foundation has been built around that cornerstone from which the entire show might build upon in an entirely new direction for the story. With that in mind, I want to propose the radical idea that Seasons 3 and 4 should be considered.not so much as separate seasons, but rather as one large super season. Yes, there is an overall story to the show as a whole, but these two seasons covered a large transitionary phase for the show's story, when you get down to it. Throughout that transitionary phase, we didn't know what we were going to get, but now that we are at an end, a new foundation for the show's story has been established. The finale of Season 2 closed one chapter on the show's story that began in Season 1, Season 3 opened another, and Season 4 closed that very same chapter. Below are my top 3 plot developments of Season 4, each wonderful in its own special way!

 

Top 3 Plot Developments:

 

(1) Princess of Friendship: So remember last season when the fandom almost collectively lost its head all because of a pair of wings? Boy, does that seem silly now. The final major plot point of Season 4, which I will discuss in far greater detail further down below in my thoughts on the Season Finale, was handled to perfection. It brought together so many plot points from Seasons 3 and 4, and just made sense of so many things. Most importantly of all was that it illustrated that the writers have not only kept the show grounded in its very own thesis (contained in the title itself), that being that "friendship is magic", but also continued further expanding upon that idea in the show's overall story, taking the story and the characters in new directions and opening a treasure trove of new possibilities, especially with this final plot development of the season. Twilight is now the Princess of Friendship: her purpose, her destiny, is clear, and her friends are a crucial, inseparable part of that destiny now more than ever before. She needs them, and they need her, in order to be the best that they can be and unlock the true magic of friendship, and nowhere has that been more loudly proclaimed throughout the entire show than in the final five minutes of Season 4's finale. Princess Twilight Sparkle is here to stay, and I couldn't be happier about that and what it means for the show's future!

 

 

(2) The Nature of Magic: I won't go into this plot point too much, seeing as it was more a season-spanning trend, but this season made understanding the nature of magic in Equestria far easier to do than ever before. More than ever, magic played a crucial role consistently throughout the season, and time and time again we saw a wide variety of magic employed, and sometimes different types of magic being pitted against each other. For the first time, it is possible for us to break down a large variety of the magic that exists in Equestria into different categories and classifications, and I just think that's really, really cool. If you're looking for an in-depth and fascinating discussion about this truly very neat plot point, take a gander at ~Chaotic Discord~'s thread on the subject; there's some very neat ideas getting discussed, debated, and exchanged over there: http://mlpforums.com/topic/97727-new-headcanon-chaos-magic/

 

(3) The Equestria Games: Look, I know that many would argue that the payoff was weak or rushed, but I don't think there's any denying that the Equestria Games on a whole were one of the better plot developments this season. Throughout the season, they consistently came up as a plot point, and a number of episodes even revolved around them. In addition, I thought the payoff was quite good if I do say so myself; earlier episodes came back into play, we got to see some nice action from the games themselves, and the episode was one of Spike's better ones this season, rounded out by a very nice message. Not to mention that, along with Twilight's becoming a princess, this far more minor plot point was one of the first to start in one season and carry on through the next. In many ways it was a spiritual successor to The Grand Galloping Gala in Season 1, and while I would concede that the latter did have a better payoff than the Games did, they were still fun to watch develop and unfold, not to mention it was still an ambitious plot development on the writers part overall. I know not everyone will agree, but in my book, the Equestria Games get two thumbs way up for the way they affected Season 4 on the whole.

 

Honorable Mentions

 

Scootalove Continuation: Last season I cited Scootalove as the #1 plot development of the season, and with good reason. It was easily the most demanded plot development by the fans, and the writers gave us just what we wanted in "Sleepless in Ponyville", one of the finest episodes of that season. However, its continuity this season was just as much a measure of its success as its beginning was last season. This season showed us that Scootalove is, definitively, not just a one-time, novelty occurrence. Multiple times throughout the season, in both major and minor depictions, we saw Scootalove on full display. Rainbow and Scoots are clearly now canonically hanging out on a regular basis, treating one another as surrogate sisters, and that normalization of it was almost as delightful and important as its very inception, and so it most definitely deserves an honorable mention.

 

"Reformed" Discord: I don't know about the rest of you, but I absolutely adored what the writers did with Discord this season! At no point, until the last five minutes of the final episode, was it ever clear where he stood throughout the entire season. This uncertainty was not exclusive to the fans, no no, the Mane 6 were just as uncertain. Fluttershy was the only one who ever had full faith in him throughout, Twilight cautiously developed a relationship with him, keeping an open mind about things, while the rest seemed to assume that he'd turn on them in a heartbeat if given the chance. What's even better, neither side was ever portrayed as being definitively right. Fluttershy's faith and friendship was certainly admirable, but that didn't mean that Discord's allegiances were certain. As we finally learned in the finale, it would appear that Discord himself throughout the season did actually change and come to value their friendship in his own odd way, albiet without truly understanding its true value. That's why it was so easy for him to revert back to his old ways at Tirek's goading, seeing as it simply felt safer and more comfortable for him. It was only when he truly saw the consequences of his throwing away friendships that really meant something (a repeat of his almost doing so last season in "Keep Calm and Flutter On", albeit, far better handled here) that Discord himself finally knew what he really wanted. Sure, his type of fun had always brought him mirth and glee for thousands of years, but it brought everypony else suffering and misery, and he finally understood that it was far more meaningful to share in fun, friendship, and love with others rather than have fun at their expense. Discord CHANGED, he evolved as a character; nothing was set in stone after "Keep Calm and Flutter On", and I absolutely loved that. While he didn't show up too often, he showed up regularly enough that he had a strong presence and made lasting impressions every time, and as ~Chaotic Discord~ has said many times, he frequently stole the spotlight in scenes, sometimes without even talking. Discord remains one of the highlights of the entire show, and this year, as far as character development goes, he probably had his finest season yet.

 

The Return and Evolution of the Derpy Cameo: I'll talk more about this in the Background Characters segment of my review, but I just have to mention what a joy it was for me to see Derpy appearing on a regular basis yet again! Last season really hurt, I mean, REALLY hurt as a Derpy fan up until the season finale. So this season it was just a joy to see Derpy not only appearing in little cameos on a regular basis, hearkening back to her Season 1 and 2 appearances, but also appearing, a few rare times, in what I would call her first genuine supporting roles ever. It simply reaffirmed that DHX loves her now as much as ever before and that she's here to stay, and me, well, I can rest easy with that knowledge in mind.

 

Top 3 Worst Episodes

 

As with any show, there is no such thing as a perfect season. That doesn't really take away from the show as a whole, because things would honestly get quite boring if every episode achieved the same level of quality, but all the same, some episodes deserve being called out for their flaws and failures. These are my top 3 worst episodes of Season 4.

 

(1) "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies": I've made it no secret that I did not like this episode from Day 1. Fluttershy had a very good season all around, but for me, this episode was the low point of Season 4. It did not, thankfully, create in me the sort of rage that I have for an episode like "MMMMystery on the Friendship Express" (still my all time least favorite episode of the show). However, unfortunately it left absolutely no impression on me whatsoever. It was redundant, there was lots of pointless filler, I never felt particularly engaged or concerned by the Breezies plight (despite the writers many attempts to make Rainbow Dash trying to create a soft breeze gripping!), and the Breezies themselves disappointed me in both personality and design (aside, again, from Seabreeze and their amazing Scandinavian accents!!!). Overall, this was just a stinker, and the fact that it was a key episode to boot makes that all the more disappointing.

 

(2) "Bats!": While "Bats!" left far more of an impression on me than "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies" did, I still found it lacking heavily in many regards, and it was also probably the most disappointing episode of the season for me. Whereas I really had no expectations going into "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies", I was very, very, very excited going into "Bats!". We had Fluttershy and Applejack acting as costars, a pair we haven't seen starring together too often, and I was really hopeful that it would play out splendidly. Sadly, it did not; while Flutterbat was undeniably hilarious and kinda awesome, it still derailed the episode from the direction I had thought and hoped it would take, and caused some pacing issues to boot. I would've far preferred that the episode play out in its entirety as the first half did, with Fluttershy and Applejack quarreling over their different viewpoints of how to handle the vampire fruitbats. Instead, there was questionable decision making throughout, Fluttershy was unfairly portrayed as being entirely in the right without Applejack's legitimate concerns ever really being given merit, and this episode just ended up turning out not how I had envisioned it at all. Still had plenty of merits, such as Flutterbat and the fun "Bats" song, but overall this was the most disappointing episode of the season for me.

 

(3) "Inspiration Manifestation": like "Bats!", this episode, featuring a pair we hadn't seen in a really long time, Rarity and Spike, disappointed me a lot. Despite a strong performance from the always delightful and energetic Tabitha St. Germain, "Inspiration Manifestation" was far too heavily weighed down by Spike's poor decision making and refusal for most of the episode to even recognize that what Rarity was doing was wrong. The message itself was strong, but the execution was lacking. While there was some very interesting magic in the episode, this was undoubtedly Spike's weakest episode of the season, and once again, Spike proved that, when he has a bad episode, it can be a real stinker.

 

The Characters

 

The Mane 6

 

Twilight: Let me start my character reviews by saying this: I cannot conscientiously say after the season finale that any of the Mane 6 had THE best season of them all. Nor can I say that any had the worst. I won't stop others from doing so, but my reasoning is this; the finale hammered away more than any other episode before the point that this show needs each and every one of these characters. Can you imagine just how much less special this season alone would've been if even just one of the Mane 6 weren't involved? Just as each one of these friends needs each other to be their best, so too does MLP in general need each and every one of the Mane 6. As for Twilight, she did undoubtedly once again prove herself quite convincingly to be the show's star. Her transition from princess-without-a-purpose to the Princess of Friendship was a delight to see unfold, and throughout she still remained the same good ol' Twilight we've all come to know and love, albeit still very conscientious of the new responsibilities she had that come with being a princess. Even when in supporting roles, she usually filled the role of leader of the Mane 6, especially in ensemble episodes, but she had a few notable appearances as a costar as well, perhaps most notably in "Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3". Overall, Twilight had a fantastic season, exactly what she needed to prove that her becoming a princess was both the right direction for her character as well as the show, rounding it all off with probably her best starring role to date (which I will discuss more in my finale review below).

 

Applejack: The silly pony of the group (heheh, sorry, couldn't resist the G1 reference) once again proved herself this season to be pretty easily Twilight's right-hand-mare of the group. While again I can't say that anypony had the best season of the group, Applejack had a very exceptional season! The only disappointing performance she ever turned in was in "Bats!" in my opinion, and again, I don't blame that on her so much as I blame it on the poor writing for that episode. Besides that, every single one of her starring performances was strong: "Pinkie Apple Pie", "Simple Ways", "Somepony to Watch Over Me", and "Leap of Faith" were all very strong episodes, and Applejack was characterized fantastically in each and every one of them. Ashleigh Ball delivered some lovely vocals for the cowpony in one of my favorite songs of the season, "Apples to the Core", and this was possibly AJ's funniest season yet to boot. Besides her always funny matter-of-fact humor, AJ had a lot of physical humor this season, most notably in some of the expressions she made, whether it be her amazing duckface or the Skeptical-Applejack expression that kept popping up routinely throughout the season. Her relationship with Rarity, my favorite pair of friends out of the Mane 6, got quite a few nice highlights throughout the season. Finally, whenever she was in a supporting role, unless the episode didn't really have much of her, AJ was a rock in the group, somepony that everypony else could always lean and rely on. She was always ready to lend a helping hoof to others, always ready to jump into harms way at a moment's notice should her friends be in danger, and had quite a few badass moments throughout the season if I do say so myself, with some of her finest bits coming when she wasn't even starring in an episode ("Princess Twilight Sparkle: Part 2"). In fact, I'd even go so far as saying that AJ kicked more flank, quite literally, this season than even Rainbow Dash did. Overall, it's undeniable that AJ had one of the strongest seasons she's had yet, possibly even her best to date. She starred in five episodes, had the highest number of episode appearances yet again out of the whole group (seriously, Twilight showed up in less episodes than even AJ did), and just all around had an awesome season! Way to go cowgirl!!!

 

Rarity: Ahhhh, Rarity. It's safe to say that after the dreadful season she had last year, in which she had not a single starring role (despite being fabulous as ever before), that Rarity had nowhere to go but up at the start of the season. And boy oh boy, did she go up! She nailed every single one of her starring roles, backed up most notably by Tabitha St. Germain's always-amazing voice work. From "Rarity Takes Manehattan" (easily her best role of the season), to "Simple Ways", "Filli Vanilli", "For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils", and even "Inspiration Manifestation", Rarity always shined and was never a problem in any episode she starred in. She also turned in some incredibly strong supporting role performances, especially in ensemble episodes, where she frequently stole the spotlight with her over-the-top antics. To make matters even better, Rarity showed A LOT of character growth this season compared to earlier seasons. We got the first ever completely positive portrayal of her as a big sister to Sweetie Belle in "For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils", almost all of the time her friends' well being was one of her greatest concerns, and her always generous spirit got highlighted quite a few times this season (again, most notably in "Rarity Takes Manehattan"). She had one of the best key episodes of the Mane 6, proved herself alongside Applejack to be, despite her frequently over-the-top personality, one of the most mature members of the group, and never once suffered from earlier flaws displayed in Seasons 1 and 2, aside of course from when she was corrupted by the Inspiration Manifestation spell book, proving herself to have grown rather significantly since the start of the show. Finally, as I mentioned with AJ, Rarijack got quite a few highlights this season, and I am convinced more than ever that these two are not only my favorite personal favorite pair of friends in the group, but quite possibly canonically best friends, despite being polar opposites on the surface. All in all, Rarity had a fantastic Season 4, and a much welcome improvement over her disappointing Season 3.

 

Fluttershy: Fluttershy probably had a greater mixed bag of episodes this season than any other character, at least for me. When she was off, she was off. "Bats!" and "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies" were my top two worst episodes of the season, both of which she starred in. However, that said, when she was on, she was ON!!! "Filli Vanilli", which is I suppose the only one of her full-fledged starring roles that I can say I liked from this season, was fantastic, exactly what a Fluttershy episode should be. In addition, she turned in strong supporting and costarring performances in a number of other episodes, such as "Castle Mane-ia", "Power Ponies" (FLUTTERHULK, SO AMAZING!!!), "Rainbow Falls", "Trade Ya!", and "Equestria Games". Perhaps most notable of all, however, was Fluttershy's friendship with Discord. It kept popping its head into the show routinely throughout the season, with Fluttershy really Discord's only fully committed and trusting friend out of the Mane 6 after befriending him in "Keep Calm and Flutter On". The effect that her kindness alone could have on him was highlighted amazingly in the season finale, and her devastating and heartbroken reaction when she learned that Discord had betrayed them was probably one of Fluttershy's most moving performances ever, seriously, I hadn't seen her that broken since "Hurricane Fluttershy" back in Season 2. Even more incredible was how fast she forgave him, and how clearly her kindness to him affected the others in forgiving him, especially Twilight when she had Tirek release him. It felt fitting then that she concluded the final song number singing alongside Twilight after clearly affecting her deeply in her own quiet way, and all in all I have to say that, despite having two very weak starring roles, Fluttershy had a very strong Season 4 on the whole, largely on account of her fantastic supporting roles and friendship with Discord.

 

Rainbow Dash: I'm not going to say that Rainbow had the most disappointing season out of the Mane 6, but I feel like this season the writers for whatever reason did not fully commit themselves to trying many new things with her. "Rainbow Falls" I enjoyed, really, I did, even though I know that many other bronies disliked that episode. I thought it was a very well done test of her loyalty, the element she best embodies; but at the end of the day, it was still just that, a testing of her loyalty. Yes, she hadn't been tested in that particular way before, but still, we've seen Rainbow's loyalty tested many times. "Daring Don't" was probably her most OOC appearance, and only just missed getting on my top 3 worst episodes of the season list because of its entertainment value, "Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3" was delightful and her best role of the season, despite having a somewhat rushed conclusion, and "Equestria Games" gave her a nice bit of payoff in its continuity from "Rainbow Falls" (despite having a very OOC pep talk from her in which she declared that they'd probably have to settle for 2nd place at best in her event). Like Fluttershy, her season was more saved by her supporting and costarring roles than by her full-fledged starring appearances. Scootalove got some very nice continuity, and it was great to see that Rainbow really took her relationship with Scootaloo seriously, and finally understands just what a large role model she is for the filly. She was always a strong supporting character no matter who she starred alongside, and some notable bits include "Castle Mane-ia", "Pinkie Pride" (BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!), and "Trade Ya!". It was nice seeing RD trying to teach Twilight to fly consistently throughout the season, and I will admit that she seemed a bit less hotheaded than usual. However, like I said, it just seemed like the writers didn't really try to do too many new things with her this season, and my fear is that they have it in their heads that she won't become a Wonderbolt until the show ends. I get their reasoning, but at the same time I can't help but fear that there won't be too many new things to do with her if they've made that decision (since there's only so many different ways she can try to get into the Wonderbolts), so my hope is that they really focus in the offseason on coming up with new challenges for the most awesome and loyalest pony around to face for next season. Overall though, RD still had a dang fine season!

 

Pinkie Pie: I think we can all agree that Pinkie had exactly the season that she should've. Not one of her starring roles was ever weak; like Rarity, even if I didn't like the episode overall that much ("Maud Pie" didn't do much for me, mostly because of Maud herself), Pinkie always was a bright spot whenever she starred in any. "Pinkie Apple Pie" and "Pinkie Pride" were easily two of the most memorable episodes of the season, thanks in no small part to the best party pony of them all! It's especially hard to describe just how awesome it was to see Pinkie Pie costar with none other than Weird Al Yankovic himself in an episode. She had quite the range of songs as well, most notably in "Pinkie Pride", which was unexpected but delightful. In addition, whenever she was in a supporting or costarring role, Pinkie always proved herself to be, as usual, the funniest and most random, 4th-wall breaking pony of them all. While some might argue that she was a bit ditzy or airheaded at times, she never came across in any supporting role as OOC to me. Maybe it's because those characters that needed to be serious always were, so it didn't seem like she had to. I think the one time she ever was OOC this season was in "Filli Vanilli", where she just kept causing so many problems for Fluttershy without being aware of it when she really should have. Besides that hiccup, however, Pinkie had a great season, and I look forward to all the parties and laughs she has up her sleeve for next season! Never stop being you, Pinkie, never stop being you!

 

 

Spike: Overall, Twilight's #1 assistant had a strong season, far better than last year that's for sure (aside, of course, from his saving the Crystal Empire and everything). "Power Ponies" and "Equestria Games", while both containing similar messages, were very strong episodes for Spike. On the other hand, I have made it no secret whatsoever that I did not like Spike in "Inspiration Manifestation", he really was my main issue with that episode. However, that episode wasn't my biggest concern about Spike this season. No, my main concern is that it doesn't seem like the writers know any longer how to write Spike as a supporting character. While he had a pretty strong season opener, he didn't do much in the season finale besides providing comedic relief, and that seems to be the case whenever he's in a supporting role these days. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing Spike as the butt of jokes, it is quite funny seeing him as the Bad Luck Brian of the group at times, BUT I miss the days when he was a competent assistant to Twilight who made meaningful contributions to her even when he wasn't starring in an episode. These days, it's almost like he's a hapless butler character who's brought along for comedic relief, and I wouldn't mind that if they only balanced it out with a little more competence on his part. Overall, though, I'd say Spike had a far better season than last year, and turned in some very strong starring performances. It was also quite epic finding out that he's the comic book nerd of the group!

 

 

CMC: While this season was very, very, very well balanced for the Mane 6, that balance came at a cost to the CMC. While there were plenty of episodes that focused on the Mane 6 as a whole, or on individual members, the CMC only had 4 episodes, only one of which was an ensemble episode where the whole group learned a lesson (though I suppose you could argue that AB and Sweetie learned a lesson in "Flight to the Finish" as well). Their episodes were still very strong, but this year more than any other year they really had nothing to do with getting their cutie marks, didn't they? I think it's safe to say that at this point it's very much certain that they won't be getting their cutie marks until the final season of the show, so that just means that, increasingly, the CMC group itself, unless the writers find new things to do with it, won't be doing much in the way of crusading, even if they still learn valuable life lessons along the way. I wasn't disappointed with how their season turned out overall, they all had very fine episodes, but again, it just didn't seem like they were up to too much this season either, though the Equestria Games payoff was pretty cool. Ah well, keep on crusading Crusaders!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Supporting Characters

 

I will be totally honest, given that there were 26 episodes this season, there were wayyyyy too many new and old supporting characters for me to cover them all. That said, I will try my best to cover those who deserve being reviewed.

 

Well first of all, let's cover the princesses. I'd say they all had strong seasons. Celestia's was somewhat restrained, probably the least amount she's shown up in a full length season in the entire show's history, and that's a shame, because I really love Nicole Oliver's voice work, BUT when she did show up she had a very strong presence in the show, always did. She continued splendidly in her role as Twilight's oldest and greatest mentor, though I liked the fact that, as Twilight has grown, Celestia hasn't had all the answers for her as she used to. It shows that life isn't so simple that even our greatest mentors can figure out everything for us, that sometimes it's up to us to discover our path on our own. Anyways, she also sang again, which I adored (I'll talk more about that in a bit), and overall turned in a fine performance. It was nice seeing both Princess Luna and Princess Cadance make more normal appearances yet again, especially for the latter. Luna killed it in "For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils", and Cadance was quite a delight to see in "Three's a Crowd" (though I still wish we'd get to see her more as an actual princess, the one time we've really seen her doing anything as a ruler was when she defended the Crystal Empire in Season 3). Finally, it was awesome seeing the three interact and put on display their different personalities in "Twilight's Kingdom", from Celestia's calming presence and quiet, composed strength and wisdom, to Luna's somber and serious personality, shaped by past mistakes and regrets of her own, to Cadance's calm but still energetic love and earnestness. Overall, all three princesses had really strong seasons, and showed up just about as much as they should have.

 

Next, let's talk Discord. As I already mentioned, he had a phenomenal season. While in some respects he was still the same old troll as before, in other regards he was changing quite a bit throughout. In the end, he had to choose between his old nature or this new path offered by friendship with ponies, and, thankfully, he chose the latter, despite stumbling along the way. The ambiguity of his nature was phenomenally handled throughout the season, he was, as always, hilarious, but at the same time he proved in the end just how much good and evil he was capable of. Now that his allegiance is more certain, it'll be interesting to see what he does next season, and if he shows up more frequently. Also, hat's off yet again to John DeLancie on some truly outstanding voice work!

 

If there's one major supporting character who I have to say did not have that good of a season, it was Shining Armor. The few times he showed up, it seemed like he was thrown in there more as an obligation rather than because the writers actually had something to do with him. I think his biggest performance was in "Equestria Games", and there he really was only the master of ceremonies. I miss seeing him interacting with Twilight; it seems very wrong that we saw more of her with her sister-in-law this season than with her actual BBBFF. Seriously DHX, I hope you come up with some far better roles for Shining next season, because quite frankly he was disappointing this season.

 

On a brighter note, if there's any family that did not get the shaft, it was the Apple Family. HOLY CRAP, that family in general had a great season! Granny Smith (voiced by Tabitha St. Germain, I feel like I knew that, but I forgot, and it's still mindblowing) was cantankerous and ornery as usual in all the right ways, and had some hilarious performances, most notably in "Pinkie Apple Pie" and "Leap of Faith". Big McIntosh probably had his best season yet; he had a number of very notable supporting appearances, frequently worked off of AJ and Granny Smith, and provided a whole heap of laughs this season from start to finish. I'm guessing Peter New really enjoyed recording for this season, and I'd be happy to see him have a season just like this next year (though it would be nice if he got to have a starring role again). I don't really need to talk about AB since I already talked about the CMC, but she did always work off of her family very well.

 

The Mane 6 pets didn't honestly have that great of a season. Gummy and Angel made quite a few funny cameos, Winona, Tank, and Opalescence all showed up here and there, but unfortunately Owlowiscious (who after four seasons still does absolutely nothing for me as a character) showed up more than any of them (ugggghhhhhhhh). That kinda irked me, just a bit.

 

As for recurring supporting characters, some of them were a bit more subdued than I would've liked. Zecora only made one major supporting appearance in the season opener, Mr. and Mrs. Cake delivered one of the worst expositions ever in "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies", Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had one turn in their typical bullying roles, and Cheerilee and Snips and Snails did hardly anything at all. I think the one bright spot with minor supporting characters was that we got to see quite a bit of Ms. Harshwhinny, returning from Season 3, who was very fun to watch almost always, whether she was excited or cranky. Sadly, I get the feeling we won't get to see much of her, if at all, next season seeing as the Equestria Games are at an end, but you never know. Spitfire and Soarin' also turned in some pretty good performances, especially in "Rainbow Falls", and Flim and Flam had a nice return, as did Pipsqueak.

 

One-shot supporting characters, on the other hand, had quite the season. I think the only ones that were somewhat underwhelming would be Trenderhoof and Maud Pie (and no, I will not like her no matter how much people try to convince me to, she was dull as a rock). Besides that, the rest were bang up, seriously top notch! Daring Do, Prim Hemline, and Sapphire Shores all had nice performances. I really enjoyed all of the key episode supporting characters: Coco Pommel, Fleetfoot, Cheese Sandwich, Silver Shill, and even Seabreeze were all enjoyable. Finally, the villains/episode antagonists were great: Ahuizotl and the Mane-iac were especially scene stealers (especially the latter, holy crap I loved the Mane-iac!!!), but Dr. Caballeron and Suri Polomare also made for good antagonists. I'll cover Tirek in my season finale review further below, but suffice it to say for now that he most certainly did not disappoint. Overall, we had a wide array of old and new faces, and they all were a delight to see this season!

 

 

 

 

 

Background Characters

 

This season was far better to background characters than last season was. First of all, Derpy and Bulk Biceps turned in the first ever supporting roles for background characters we've seen in the show, both in "Rainbow Falls" (not to mention Bulk Biceps got a canon name, R.I.P. Snowflake). Derpy especially had an impressive season as far as background characters goes, and that's aside from my own bias for her. She didn't show up too much that it was obnoxious, she showed up just enough that it wasn't too much, but when she did show up you could tell that the writers cared. From an actual supporting role in "Rainbow Falls" (and arguably in "Equestria Games" as well), to lovingly placed cameos throughout the season, Derpy was back to her normal self and even better than ever after the great Season 3 Derpy Drought of last year that was so very hard to sit through. I don't particularly care if she doesn't speak again (though it would be awesome if she did), I'm just glad that she's here to stay.

 

As for the rest, all the major background ponies had some very fun cameos throughout. Doctor Whooves seems to have filled a role similar to Season 2 Derpy in that he probably had more little cameos akin to her Season 1 and 2 roles than any other background pony (and annoyingly enough they kept pairing him up with Roseluck; I like Roseluck, but I don't like shipping her with the Doctor when his ship with Derpy is my favorite of the show, though thankfully I did catch one scene where he and Derpy were next to each other and he had a cutie mark of two hearts overlapping, thought that was a nice nod to those two). Vinyl Scratch and Octavia both made a couple of cameos this season, the latter being especially rare in the show (seriously, for as popular as Octavia is, she does not show up that much!). Lyra, BonBon, Cloud Kicker, Carrot Top, Blossomforth, Amethyst Star, Daisy, Raindrops, and the rest of Ponyville's populace all showed up quite regularly, sometimes in cute cameos of their own (Lyra's judging cameo in "Leap of Faith" was especially hilarious). All in all, I'd have to say that the background ponies in general had a bang up season, with Derpy resuming her rightful place as leader of the background ponies and mascot of the brony fandom! All is right with the world yet again, and I look forward to more of their ongoing shenanigans in the background next season. Rock on background ponies, rock on!!!

 

 

 

 

Aesthetic Quality

 

Animation

 

This season, DHX's animation team continued its by now to-be-expected trend of somehow further improving on MLP's already stellar animation. Without a doubt, the show looked simply more gorgeous than ever before in every single way imaginable. Animations looked smoother, shading was improved, there was a wide variety in the size and style of the settings, and some of the action sequences, especially in the season opener and finale, were of an almost unfathomable quality. Overall, the most impressive aspect of Season 4's animation was quite simply its ambitious nature, and the ambition that DHX's animation team alone continues to display in its work, always setting a new bar for itself with each passing season, is very heartening indeed. That ambition helps me rest easy knowing that not only the animation team, but the production team as a whole at DHX, continues to aim higher each year, and I expect that Season 5 will blow our minds even more, both in animation and so many other ways.

 

Comedy

 

Last year I did not have an entire section set aside to review the comedic elements of Season 3, but this year I felt obliged to add such a section. Why? Well, it's quite simple really: THIS WAS A BUCKING FUNNY SEASON!!! Now look, MLP being funny is nothing new, it's always had comedy gold. But this season for whatever reason seemed quite exceptional, and I think it comes down to just how many episodes of this season I would consider to be, shall we say, laugh riots from start to finish. In total, 7, I repeat, 7 of Season 4's episodes, in my opinion, achieved this level of comedy: "Castle Mane-ia", "Power Ponies", "Pinkie Apple Pie", "Three's a Crowd", "Pinkie Pride", "Simple Ways", and "Trade Ya!". THAT is dang impressive in my book, and in addition, the comedy was solid in almost every other episode as well. The only difference between all the other episodes from these 7 in terms of quality of comedy was simply the rate at which the comedy came; the laughs were almost always solid, it's just in these 7 in particular that they came more often.

 

Songs

 

As usual, the phenomenal Daniel Ingram delivered a wonderful musical experience for us this season, comparable especially, I'd say, to the number of songs we got in Season 2. Really, as far as music goes, this season had everything one could possibly want out of MLP; songs that captured the energy of the show; a wide variety of music, some of which paid homage to or parodied songs from different media; and of course, plenty of new, never-before-seen musical elements that only helped make MLP all the more special and unique than it was already. Mr. Ingram, I tip my cap to you yet again good sir. Below are my top three favorite songs of the season!

 

Top 3 Season 4 Songs

 

(1) "You'll Play Your Part": OK... well this was certainly unexpected. So until the season finale, my favorite song of the season was definitely "Apples to the Core" (more about that in a bit). But then this happened, and... I was stunned. This wasn't like "True, True Friend" last season, which was clearly the climax of "Magical Mystery Cure", even if Twilight's coronation followed it. No, "You'll Play Your Part" came within the first ten minutes of the first part of "Twilight's Kingdom", and took place entirely on one setting, a balcony! So how the buck did this song work so well? Two words: PRINCESS QUARTET!!! OK, that's not entirely accurate, they never all four sing at once, but I don't care, it's still all four pony princesses singing in one song, that alone is amazing! Of course, that's not all that makes this song amazing (though it's certainly a great start), it's everything else about the song. For one, it evolves musically in so many ways. It starts as a solo by Twilight, progresses to little solo bits by Celestia, Luna, and Cadance (each of which reflects their differing personalities and experiences splendidly, as well as their different relationships with Twilight: Celestia's calm and commanding presence and wisdom, as well as her role as Twilight's mentor, Luna's somber and serious personality, born from past failures and regrets, and Cadance's calm but still earnest, loving nature are all on full display), and finally builds up to a chorus, or rather trio, of the three elder princesses. Finally, I suppose it's the subject of the song itself that makes it work so well; this is not a song where they're spoonfeeding Twilight any kind of lesson. Instead, Twilight's admitting that she doesn't really understand why she's a princess, and the other three are simply offering encouragement; they don't know either, but they know that she has a special destiny and are certain that she'll find it. It's just a lovely pep talk really, but it just... I don't know, it's so lovely, aesthetically pleasing (seriously, Rebecca Shoichet, Nicole Oliver, Kazumi Evans, AND Britt McKillip all singing in the same song?!?! THAT IS AWESOME!!!), hits all the right notes, and was just such a pleasant surprise. This one song number, along with the scene it was in, gave us a better idea of how all the pony princesses work together and view one another than any other scene in MLP history, and, overall, it ended up being my favorite song of the season. It's not my favorite song in MLP history, but it's definitely up there, and easily secured its spot as my #1 song of Season 4.

 

 

(2) "Apples to the Core": so yeah, like I said above, THIS was my favorite song of the season until the season finale, and with good reason. DHX was smart to preview this song at San Diego Comic Con last summer, because my gosh was it a gem! It's got all the energy that we've grown accustomed to having in some of the finer numbers of MLP, such as the "Laughter Song", the "Smile Song", "Winter Wrap Up", or "Raise This Barn". It's got Ashleigh Ball (Applejack), Michele Creber (Apple Bloom), Tabitha St. Germain (she's Granny Smith's VA, so I can only assume that that's her singing as Granny Smith, which is bucking impressive), Peter New (Big McIntosh), and Shannon Chan-Kent (Pinkie Pie's singing VA) ALL IN THE SAME SONG!!! Besides that, it's got a lot of heart, a lot of joy, and is just... pure MLP, everything that we love about the show in a nutshell in just over 2 minutes. That's hard to explain, but it just is, and it's why it was my second favorite song of the season.

 

(3) "Generosity": Two words: RARITY'S VOICE!!! I've said it before, I'll say it again, I LOVEEEEE Rarity's singing voice more than any other character's in the show. I'm a choral singer myself, so a refined, matured singing voice such as hers cannot help but appeal to me. And last year, one of the biggest crimes of Season 3 was that not only did Rarity never have her own episode, but she never got her own song, just a few bit parts in songs throughout the season. THAT SUCKED!!!!!!!! But no worries, for it was more than rectified this season when Rarity got her first solo since Season 2's "Becoming Popular" in "Generosity", a splendid number that fit her to a T! Not only was it a lovely expression of Rarity's generosity, the most important element of her personality which she embodies more than anypony, not only did it have an amazing setup (RD: "Ponies bursting into song in random places at the drop of a hat? Who does that?!"), not only did it have a lovely animation sequence backing it up, but it was just a lovely song in its own right, and also served to introduce us to the city of Manehattan. Basically, it was classic Rarity. Just pure, chic, classic Rarity in every single way, and it was welcome to have another solo from her this season.

 

Honorable Mentions

 

"Glass of Water"/"The Goof Off": Tying for funniest songs this season are "Glass of Water" and "The Goof Off". Why, you may ask, was I unable to choose between the two? Well... just how in the heck am I supposed to choose between the awesomeness that is Discord singing the craziest solo of all time about a glass of water and the amazing that is Pinkie Pie and Cheese "Weird Al Yankovic" Sandwich competing via song to see who is the better party planner??? HOW, HOW, HOW, I ASK YOU ALL, HOW CAN I CHOOSE BETWEEN THOSE TWO?!?!?!?! I have wracked my brain trying to see if I could come to a definite conclusion, but the only one I can come to is this: there is simply no way to choose between these two which is funnier. They KILL IT in their own ways, have their own unique sounds, are virtually crazy to the same degree yet again in their own way, and just... perfect nonsense through and through. Congratulations you two, you are equally hilarious and should be proud of it, quite possibly the funniest songs of the show to date!

 

"Make a Wish": This lovely little tune, a hybrid, in my opinion, of "Smile Song" (Pinkie's vocals and energy) and "Love is in Bloom" (general beat and style of the song) was an insanely catchy way to end the amazing episode that was "Pinkie Pride". It's actually a send up to P!nk's song "Raise Your Glass", but eh, semantics. Anyways, it was just incredibly catchy, that's really the only reason I love it (but hey, sometimes there's nothing wrong with loving a song simply because it has a sick beat), and if you get the chance you should definitely give the extended version of it (recently released on ITunes) a listen, it is awesome!

 

"The rappin' Hist'ry of the Wonderbolts": this song is less than a minute long, so how did it get an honorable mention? (1) It's Pinkie Pie, (2) she's rapping. I'd say that about sums it up.

 

The Season Finale

 

As promised, here are my full thoughts on the season finale. What did I think of it? It was amazing! Easily my favorite episode of the entire season. To start off, I will talk about what left the biggest impression on me: the themes, and how they were handled. The theme of "Twilight's Kingdom: Part 1 and Part 2" was destiny. Specifically, Twilight's destiny. Right from the bat, we had Twilight admitting that she had been feeling more and more uneasy in her position as a princess lately because it wasn't clear to her or anyone else just why exactly she was a princess. What was she the princess of? What was she to do? This was not just a very good question, because it had really been up in the air all season, and in fact ever since Twilight was coronated last season, but it also showed a remarkable amount of conscientiousness on the writers' part for recognizing its importance as a question in the show's story. So how was this theme handled? Incredibly.

 

To start, we got the other three princesses reassuring Twilight in an incredibly beautiful scene that she would discover who she was and what she was meant to be and do. I talked about it more extensively in my thoughts on the song "You'll Play Your Part", so I'll just leave my thoughts on that scene at that. Next, we got Twilight inadvertently doing what she does best. Studying? NOPE!!! Working alongside her friends, at their suggestion. Importantly, I think, was the fact that she didn't turn them away. Rather, she welcomed their company. In Season 1, Twilight, when she went after Nightmare Moon, tried again and again to do things on her own. Here, however, from the start, we see her doing her best when she's working with her friends.

 

And then the stakes get amped. After Discord betrays Equestria and joins Tirek, Twilight is given a hefty responsibility, albeit with a caveat; she has to bear the other three alicorn princesses' magic, but cannot tell her friends. THIS decision... made me so very happy!!! Why? Oh it has nothing to do with just the story itself. It's because it brought things so full circle. Let me explain. In the season opener, Applejack and the rest of the Mane 6 tried to save the Tree of Harmony on their own so that Twilight wouldn't have to throw herself in harm's way. That failed. In the season finale, Princess Celestia tried to have Twilight guard the alicorn magic without her friends knowing. That failed. Both the Mane 6 and Celestia had good reasoning. The Mane 6 wanted Equestria to have a princess, and Celestia didn't want to put Twilight's friends in peril. But both were wrong because of this: they were treating Twilight and these circumstances differently than they normally would BECAUSE SHE WAS A PRINCESS!!! They were acting as though Twilight being a princess changes who she is. They forgot that Twilight is a princess BECAUSE of who she is.

 

This brings us to the conclusion of the episode. After Twilight failed, with all the alicorn magic in Equestria, to defeat Tirek, she ended up defeating him by making the ultimate choice of friendship, a choice that embodied the magic of friendship more than any other she might have ever made. She risked dooming all of Equestria just to ensure that all her friends, including Discord, were safe. In doing so, she taught him the final lesson he'd need to learn about friendship in order to truly understand its worth, completing his character arc for the season, and more importantly unlocking her key for the Tree of Harmony chest. That led to my FAVORITE line of the episode, a line that was quick, short, very easy to miss for many, but just embodied so much of the episode, the season, and the show's main theme: "Together! I think we have to do this together!" Unlocking the magic of friendship like never before, to the point that we must assume that it now lies within each and every one of them in a physical sense, and need not even be channeled through devices such as the Elements of Harmony (basically, the Mane 6 are now, I can only assume, quite literally the physical embodiments of the Elements of Harmony), the Mane 6, TOGETHER, overthrew Tirek and his dark power. Twilight, with her friends, discovered then and there who she was meant to be: The Princess of Friendship. More importantly, she discovered the nature of her princesshood. When she became a princess, both her mentor and her friends believed that things would change for her, never be the same. That was partly true, and yet partly not true. While things have undoubtedly changed, they were not supposed to change as most thought. Twilight became a princess because of the things she'd learned about friendship and its magic, so it only makes sense that she should continue applying what she's learned as she learns even more, and what's more, do all that alongside the friends that got her there. This was the show and the writers declaring that friendship is magic, the most powerful magic in Equestria, the Mane 6's friendship is the most powerful of all, and most importantly, Twilight needs the Mane 6 as much as they need her. You cannot have Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, without the friends that made her the Princess of Friendship. "Twilight's Kingdom" made that abundantly clear, and I applaud every single person who works at DHX for it.

 

Besides the incredible thematic elements of "Twilight's Kingdom", I'll now discuss a few other bits that stuck out to me. Tirek was an incredibly awesome villain, for starters. He was probably the best villain the show's had since Discord. It was very cool seeing the very first villain of G1 MLP getting a reboot, not to mention the nods to G1 in his backstory (which makes me also wonder if the girls will ever encounter his brother Scorpan?). I don't want to say, still, that he's the shows best villain, but I will go so far as to say that he's been the show's most powerful villain to date. Basically, he was Palpatine (and no, not just because of that one scene where he drove Discord to join him, though the similarities were uncanny). Discord's the show's Darth Vader; not because he's a tragic figure (though I suppose one could make the argument that he is to some extent), but because the fans will always love him as a villain most of all out of any MLP villain. Tirek, on the other hand, like Palpatine, is probably the more potent threat, and the fact that he had Discord wrapped around his hooves suggests as much. I mean think about that, really do. He tricked the god of Chaos, the trickster god who almost tore the Mane 6 apart through psychological warfare alone, to join him before disposing of him when he no longer needed him. Give that man a round of applause folks, because that's diabolical! In a few minutes, he managed to undo all the progress that Fluttershy had made with Discord in befriending him. He clearly had an eye for what makes someone like Discord tick, and he exploited that. On top of that, he was methodical. He launched a dang impressive campaign against Equestria, tearing it down bit by bit from one region to the next, always going after those he could handle and saving the big guns for last. Overall, he was smart, cunning, incredibly powerful and ruthless in the application of his power, and more or less the complete antithesis to all the love, harmony, and friendship in Equestria. Tirek was pure hate at its most powerful, and the show certainly conveyed that well.

 

I also, of course, simply have to talk about THAT action sequence between Tirek and Twilight. HOLY CRAP IN A HAND BASKET, THAT WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean... I'm still reeling from that sequence, I really am. I know most people are going to say that it had DBZ elements, and I'm sure it did (though I never watched that show myself, unless Team Fourstar counts), but when I watch it, the first thing I keep on thinking about is Superman and Darkseid's final battle in Justice League: Unlimited. It was just so raw, and chaotic, and destructive. It was unlike anything I ever expected to see on the show! A clash of magical forces the likes of which we'd never seen before, and I'm kinda scared if anyone at DHX has any ideas of somehow surpassing the scale of that fight down the road (I'm looking at you Larson, you know you'd do it, DON'T LIE!!!). Aesthetically I will concede that, while it was easily the best fight of the season, I still found Celestia and Nightmare Moon's duel more pleasing to the eye, simply because the colors were less harsh, but like I said, this fight in terms of sheer size alone still blew that one out of the water. What more can I say other than it was pure awesome!

 

Besides that, I just have a few more thoughts on the episode. I can't honestly say that I liked the Mane 6's designs when they unlocked the "Rainbow Power" of the mysterious chest, if you will. I think Dark Qiviut put it best in saying that there was simply way too much going on in those obvious marketing ploys, way too much style over substance. Thankfully, they weren't onscreen for long, and may or may not reappear in the future, who knows? While there were plenty of laughs, for a two-parter, there weren't that many, and it makes sense given that the stakes were so high for so much of both episodes, along with the fact that Twilight was going through a personal crisis of her own. Actually, the things that probably made me laugh more than anything else were the plotholes, namely in Celestia's plan to hide the alicorn magic. Now, I know some people keep saying that Tirek should've known about Twilight if he knew about Cadance. BUT I can defend that plot point; we can assume that the Crystal Empire may have still been around when Tirek first came to Equestria. Soooo, it's also logical that an alicorn prince or princess would've ruled the empire at the time, until of course the rise of Sombra. So, that's probably how Tirek knew of Cadance and not Twilight. HOWEVER, what I cannot defend is Celestia deciding that they'll try and hide Twilight's princesshood from Tirek and either neglecting or completely forgetting about THE GIANT 20 FOOT TALL STAINED GLASS WINDOW OF TWILIGHT BEING CROWNED A PRINCESS RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BUCKING THRONE ROOM!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh, it's such a big plothole, it's not even funny... wait, yes it is. I seriously cannot stop laughing about it. And what happened because they neglected/forgot about it? WELL TIREK DISCOVERED THE BUCKING WINDOW OF COURSE!!! Look, I know it's plot convenience, plus it makes me laugh so much, so I can let it slide, but that doesn't mean that that oversight wasn't stupid, because it was. Oh my goodness, we will never know just what in the heck was going through Celestia's head concerning that window. That won't stop me from venturing a few guesses though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Concluding Remarks

 

When all things are said and done, I hesitate to say that Season 4 was my favorite season yet of the show. I don't know at this point if I can even say that I have a favorite season anymore. What I can say, however, is this: things are changing in the show, but the direction is no longer so unclear as it was at the start of the season. Phase 1 of the show ended at the close of Season 2, and that season remains my favorite season of that phase. Phase 2 began with the return of the Crystal Empire, and it has ended in Season 4 with Twilight discovering her purpose. Season 4 is undoubtedly my favorite season of Phase 2. And now comes Phase 3 of the show, in which Twilight and her friends will start a new chapter of their lives, more certain of their destinies and responsibilities to each other, their friends and families, and Equestria than ever before, Twilight as the Princess of Friendship and the rest as her sort-of Knights of the Round Table. Whatever happens, and I cannot possibly predict at this time what will happen, one thing is certain: they're going to do it together. Their friendship will always remain at the center of this show, for that is the show, everypony, that is the show. Friendship is magic. With that, I bid farewell to you, Season 4!