I've already shared my opinions on every individual episode of the season in each episode discussion thread, so this is where I will show you a compilation of them all and give you a better idea of what I thought of the season as a whole. 

School Daze (both parts): Awesome premiere, one of the best. My favorite part was how everyone in it was being racist. I'm part-joking, part-serious, I don’t think it was one of the best, and though I honestly was amused the whole time at how none of the kids held back with their comments against the ones from different species, it wasn't my favorite part. My favorite part was the unbiased message. I honestly loved how they showed the goodness of natural diversity and inclusivity while also showing the folly of forced diversity through incompetent teaching methods in schools. Screw what the rule book tells you, teach kids why they should be loving to each other rather than just how.  As per usual, the pacing wasn't perfect, with a major plot turning point needing to be gone through as quickly as possible through a song, but I was still enthralled by it the whole time. 9/10

 

The Maud Couple: Personally thought it was great. Pinkie Pie is so unlikable throughout it, but that's part of what makes it so fun to watch. I was just going, "Wow...this was me in my initial reaction to Maud Pie being introduced and not understanding why people liked her.", and it was great to see Pinkie on the receiving end of the lesson of the episode Maud Pie. I also feel the writing team was predicting the way certain people would react to Mudbriar, with one side of people hating him out of their blinded worship of Maud and another side of people defending him by pointing out the hypocrisy in ignoring that what they hate in Mudbriar, they like in Maud. Even if I hadn't been a fan of the new character, I would've enjoyed the episode regardless because it's hilarious discounting the absence of the rest of the Mane 6, save in Pinkie's psychotic episode. I loved her imagining Twilight saying, "I never learned how to read!". 8.9/10

 

Fake It Till You Make It: I didn't find it to be that good, but I also didn't find it to be that bad. I personally wouldn't describe Fluttershy playing other shop pony characters to be "out of character" at all. In fact, I'd go so far to say that it was completely in character. Yes, Fluttershy herself would never be anything like a snooty elitist, a droll goth, or an airheaded valley girl...thus the need for her to play a character. Her true self was doing it out of the kindness of her heart, not wanting to disappoint Rarity. I think the episode's main flaw is being too reliant on the joke of Fluttershy's character, spending too much time on it only to have the episode end so abruptly with the problem being resolved just by having her characters get fired. I still enjoyed most of the lampooning of the stereotypes they mocked though, so even with the joke getting a bit repetitive and the pacing making it feel rushed towards the end, I honestly thought it was alright. Just nothing to write home about. 7.2/10

 

Grannies Gone Wild: Another alright episode. The plot may have been incredibly simple and straightforward, but I got to give the extras some credit for giving me a lot of food for thought. Lyra and Bon Bon, Trixie's dad, an alicorn construction worker, Rick and Morty, and an old mare hitting on a young stallion. Favorite thing besides that was Applejack's head. One of the more humorous parts of the episode that legit had me wondering at the end if it was just a figment of RD's imagination or if it was a manifestation of Applejack's psychic powers she never told anyone about. Ah, this show is always good at stimulating my imagination. 7.3/10

 

Surf and/or Turf: Yea verily, this was good. Surprised that there was no Queen Novo or acknowledgement of Twilight's mishap of trying to steal the pearl, but they still tied things in with the movie fairly well. It's another one of those episodes where the strongest part is the moral, no one should feel forced to choose an identity, we're all a sum of our parts. I also liked how well Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo played the part of biased researchers and journalists telling people like Terramar what choices they should make based on their own personal experiences and tastes, and how both of them are portrayed as in the wrong for doing so. Glad this show's writers aren't like the writers of the Powerpuff Girls reboot. 7.8/10 (trust me, it’s not for too much water) Real score: 8.3/10

 

Horse Play: More proof that Celestia is not a Mary Sue, I love it. I really like how they were able to make a simple, "honesty is the best policy" moral, the kind of lesson much of Hollywood and theater has sadly forgotten, work with the ruler of Equestria. It also made me realize that not just Spike, but Applejack also does not get enough credit. That's the only thing I found irking about the episode, they were the ones preaching the truth, and what did they get? Not only does Spike get used as a scapegoat, but AJ doesn't even get an apology from Twilight for being ignored. For good gags, I loved Celestia's Canterlot voice, Pinkie's sun props, and how Celestia trolled them at the end. Luna was also the best background character in all this, heckling child actors and expressing bemusement at the play going well. She's definitely going to become Nightmare Moon again some time. 8.5/10

 

The Parent Map: I love seeing relatable episodes like this that make me marvel at how deep this pony show can get. Not so much to Starlight's dad with the babying I relate to, but definitely to Sunburst's mom, as I did have many endeavors with my parents trying to get me to "have a plan" while not understanding the context of my situation. It was painfully obvious, especially after what we saw in Parental Glideance, however, how their conflict with their parents would play out. They should've brought Spike in to mix things up, don't know why he never appeared in the episode again after the opening. Oh well, I still can't wait for the fanfics about Starlight's emo phase.  Stunned they were able to model her room the way they did, love that we now know that she's both a former Communist and a former Satanist. 8.2/10

 

The Non-Compete Clause: AJ and Dash fans hate this one? Won't say I blame them too much. After all, the episode kicks off with proof that Fluttershy is best pony. Being real, their unrelenting fighting did quickly grow to be tiring and a bit hard to believe, but I did laugh at how they kept pretending to agree with each other while the students were too smart to fall for it, knowing that they only cared about the award. Them actually not learning their lesson at the end and making up, I also weirdly liked just for going against the usual formula of the characters in conflict being happy friends after everything is over. Gallus also continues to shine as my favorite member of the Young Six. He wanted to see his teachers get ripped apart. I adore the subtle sadism in this show so much. 8/10

 

The Break Up Break Down: I didn't go in expecting much from this one not being a fan of Hard to Say Anything, and guess what? I was pleasantly surprised once again. The plot was nowhere near as straightforward as it could've been and had me curious of what was going to happen next the whole time. While we knew that Sugar Belle wasn't really going to break up with Big Mac, I actually laughed at Spike's attempts to rationalize what Sugar was really talking about and explain how what we saw coming would happen. "Even I don't buy that one!". Then it turns out at the end that guess of his was right.  It's funny to me because they did a good job making it seem like there was nothing else Sugar could've meant besides breaking up with him in the conversation they eavesdropped on. They also did some clever things for the Cutie Mark Crusaders plot, like having Sweetie Belle's name being similar to Sugar Belle's as a way to explain the confusion of who the package was for and Button Mash's cameo as one of the ponies they thought Sweetie's secret admirer was. And to top it all off, we get to wonder what caused Discord to not believe in love...nah, I'm kidding. We know for a fact at this point that he and Celestia totally dated. 8.8/10

 

Molt Down: Yay, Spike became an alicorn. I honestly really liked how well his molting represented puberty. While I'm aware it's commonplace for kids shows to write characters going through changes that have parallels to puberty, I was impressed that they even gave a nod to things like awkward vocal chord shifts and messed up sleeping patterns. The little girls of today are lucky to get to know this stuff from cartoons earlier than I did. I thought it was odd how Spike still thought Twilight would actually kick him out after all they've been through, and as usual, I got weary of Zecora's rhymes, but seeing Spike grow wings and actually fight off a creature with his own power for once was awesome. This was the perfect episode for showing how well Spike's character has developed. 9.1/10

 

Marks for Effort: Not as good as Marks and Recreation, but still another high-quality Cutie Mark Crusaders episode that always kept me curious of what was going to happen, especially when it got up to the stuff with Cozy Glow. I am also one of the people who legit almost believed she was a Changeling, especially at the part where she failed her test. However, even when it got to the part where she confessed her plan to fail it on purpose to help the CMC to Starlight, I was still pleasantly surprised to see a clever plot twist that tied things together with Starlight's foreshadowed conflict. Twilight's characterization in the episode though, I have mixed feelings about. I still don't see what the big deal was with the CMC simply transferring schools, especially after what happened at the very end, and I agree that she jumped to conclusions with thinking that the CMC deliberately set up Cozy to fail. I guess answering "Your mom" for "Who is the Princess of Friendship?" really got to her, which admittedly got a laugh out of me. 8.6/10

 

The Mean 6: I thought it was almost as good of a midseason finale as The Perfect Pear. The Mean 6 were hilarious, seeing the Mane 6's friendship being tested to the fullest in an episode outside of a premiere or finale was great, and like The Perfect Pear, it was edited down almost perfectly considering its constraints. Truthfully, Twilight and her friends being deceived by corrupted forms of themselves has been done before at least twice, once in the show with the The Return of Harmony, and another time in the first arc of the main series of the comics. However, I honestly thought this episode utilized that plot point to its full potential, unlike in the prior examples where in the Season 2 premiere, Twilight and her friends were the corrupted forms and had to get themselves back on track after it had taken a full episode and a half for them to completely lose their way, and in the case of the comics, only a short part of the story was spent on the Mane 6 reacting to what they were simply overhearing before they had to get right back into the action and then be split up. I've also seen people continue to express their worries about Chrysalis being reformed, and as someone who would prefer for her to remain evil to the end, I can't exactly say I'm worried after how well I was entertained by six completely irredeemable characters toy with the Mane 6 and fight amongst themselves. I'll also say that after seeing characters like Iron Will and the Flim-Flam brothers still be the way they are despite the possibility of them changing being implied, as well as both Trixie and Discord still being the same lovable narcissists we've always known them as, I really don't feel the call to be worried about Chrysalis. That's also not even mentioning the glorious death scene of the Mean 6. The spirit of The Tree of Harmony ain't nothing to mess with. 9.3/10

 

A Matter of Principals: This was easily the most villainous Discord has been since the Season 4 finale. I have to confess that he caught me by surprise. I was not expecting him to irritate Starlight to the point of essentially killing him, becoming a ghost to haunt the school, and then it being revealed at the end that he sent the Mane 6 on a fake friendship quest. Initially, I felt that Starlight went too far...but now I almost support her actions despite liking how she decided to be the better person in the end in spite of everything. Discord is detestable to the core in this one, but it's also fascinating watching how far he's willing to go out of spite for being ignored, so I can't say I was disappointed. What did admittedly disappoint me somewhat was Trixie being the only substitute teacher Starlight hired that got featured in her own scene (I would've loved to watch Maud teaching a class). However, that scene does have my favorite of many good jokes in the episode, involving the banana phone, so I'll let it slide. 8.9/10

 

The Hearth’s Warming Club: This one was a series of highs and lows. The low point of it for me is actually close to the beginning. Twilight's gotten very...accusatory as of late. After what she just went through with jumping to conclusions about the CMC, she looks at the scene with the Young Six and goes, "Welp, it's one of you! Especially in a world where teleportation magic exists, a locked door makes for an open-and-shut case!". I legitimately thought it was going to be an outside party who was guilty before the scene with Gallus, though his scene of opening up is admittedly the high point of the episode for me and the best character development for the students so far. The jokes were a weird kind of self-aware anti-humor, some of them being funny like with Sandbar's "stories", and others being fairly bland, like with Yona's smashing. Overall, it gives me a weird feeling of being underwhelmed and satisfied at the same time somehow. 8.1/10

 

Friendship University: I think I just realized that my favorite part of Flim and Flam episodes are Flim and Flam themselves. Like actual con artists, they try to sell you something you'd have to be a fool to think was bad without knowing the finer details, know how to manipulate others' feelings, and offer both legitimate and illegitimate services. Also, they always offer a high-quality song. I liked how their trick wasn't obvious from the start, even if the ponies, Starswirl and Rarity included, were pretty naive to not suspect anything fishy about having to pay for copies of lessons. However, at least Flim and Flam weren't dumb enough to fall for Twilight's disguise, like what would've happened in a lot of other badly written episodes of kid's shows, and only fell for Rarity's because they forgot who she was. I also enjoyed how they tied things back to Rarity Investigates well, and even ended the episode on a note of mystery. It is interesting to imagine the possibility of someone at the school being a spy. Maybe Cozy Glow really is a Changeling after all… 8.3/10

 

The End in Friend: I'll admit that when I first heard about this episode's plot synopsis, I wasn't too excited. Like many, I am getting somewhat tired of drama and fighting in the show being made the outlier for a serious plot. It still makes for good entertainment, but the "threat of a friendship ruined" conflict never builds any suspense because we always know that they're going to reconcile in the end. That being said, I did like how everything built up to Rarity and Rainbow Dash solving a mystery together and finding creative ways to get past obstacles. One other thing I slightly took issue with was that even though neither of them were supposed to be in the right, I was able to empathize with Rainbow Dash more. She at least did not pretend to be invested in what Rarity wanted to do, was the first to come clean about not doing the book challenge, and even made a good point about the impracticality of Rarity's fashion designs. I don't know, I've just come to prefer "tell it like it is" types more. 7.4/10

 

Yakity-Sax: Like with Non-Compete Clause, I'm going to be playing the devil's advocate here (sort of?) in saying that this episode was actually good. I do get why the moral confused people and agree that Pinkie Pie's obsession with the instrument to the point where she was going to leave Ponyville was somewhat hard to believe...but again, this just feels like another time to me where too many of the things an episode did well are being overlooked. We had some really good jokes, like the opening gag that I actually laughed at, the return of Maud Pie in another hilarious cameo, and the return of Pinkamena. Besides, the "being honest about telling your friends that their talents lie elsewhere" moral was already done in Horse Play and Pinkie has overreacted and tried to leave Ponyville before, both in Pinkie Pride and The Maud Couple. I do believe that the others should've still encouraged her to get better at the instrument at the end and that the "leaving Ponyville" plot point is getting redundant, but I still really enjoyed the episode and completely disagree with it being labeled as "The Worst Episode of Season 8" by some. For Celestia's sake, even Fake It Till You Make It is worse, and I don't even mind that one. 8.2/10

 

The Road to Friendship: A much more entertaining "friendship drama" episode to me than The End in Friend. Trixie and Starlight's fighting was consistently more realistic, less predictable, and a lot funnier. I like how their fighting wasn't caused by something as simple as them realizing they didn't share similar interests, but grievances that were legitimately affecting their progress. Starlight murdered me with how hilariously passive aggressive she was by going so far as to sell her friend's wagon without her permission and acting like it was completely justifiable what she did, and it just got even better with how Trixie was willing to lie down in the dirt for two days without any food or water to keep the guy from moving the wagon. Forgive me for ever having distaste for Trixie, she is badass. My favorite part though was a really funny and relatable opening gag about Trixie and Starlight actually being creeped out by Twilight and Cadance's friendship shake and it turning out to actually be foreshadowing to Trixie and Starlight doing a hilariously terrible friendship shake of their own. Now that is well-written humor. 8.9/10

 

The Washouts: I'll dare to say that The Washouts are easily some of the most likable minor antagonists we've had so far. I mean, discounting the obvious vice of not caring for a child's safety, it's pretty badass of them to live to risk their lives for the amusement of others. And at the risk of sounding like a jerk, I can't fault Lightning Dust too much when Scootaloo initially agreed to the stunt, was fully willing to do it, and tried to back out in the middle of a show. That's the episode's main weak spot for me, Scootaloo seeing Dust's true colors too quickly and wrapping up her conflict so abruptly. After all, there's still the problem of her never being able to join the Wonderbolts because she can't fly, plus the fact that Scootaloo's dream has always seemed to be living on the edge. It really is impossible to not empathize with her frustration, especially after Rainbow Dash proudly tore down all the posters in her room, boasted about wanting to tear them up and throw them off a cliff, then wanted to hang framed pictures of herself to try to make herself "look humble". Rainbow's the only one who can be so hilariously unlikable in a scene like that and still be heartwarmingly likable in the end with how she started a fan club for Scootaloo instead of herself in the end. Now that was truly touching. 8.7/10

 

A Rockhoof and a Hard Place: More captivating than I thought it would be. I like how they finally brought the Pillars back and made one of them a role model for Yona. Up until now, I saw Yona as one of the less interesting members of the Young Six and Rockhoof as one of the less interesting Pillars, and I know I’m watching a good episode of the show when it gets me to care about a character more and look at that character differently. I especially can’t look at Rockhoof the same way ever again. I was genuinely surprised when it got to the point where he legitimately wanted to be petrified, essentially wanting Twilight to assist him with suicide, after he felt he would never be able to fit in with the modern world. Even more surprising to me was when Twilight sort of went along with it and Spike was just like, “Eh.”.  Well, after his moment of gold at least. “I thought you were arguing over ice cream flavors!” This show is getting dark and twisted, but that’s what keeps me loving it. I need to read Me and My Shadow now. 8.6/10

 

What Lies Beneath: Great episode focusing entirely on the Student 6, better than The Hearth's Warming Club. Again, we get to learn something new about each of these characters, only this time, it's done with a more engaging real-time conflict with a real risk involved. It's weird how The Tree of Harmony is an actual character now, but the much more disturbing aspect of this episode is easily Cozy Glow. It's creepy how good she is at lying and manipulating these kids while pretending to be an innocent child. She got them to doubt themselves by making them believe they couldn't understand friendship because of their species and that one of them was privileged because of their species. And to top it off, she pretended to be a victim so that the others wouldn't inform Twilight about something crucial. What a sociopath. However, it shows how good of a job they've done building up what's yet to come. 8.8/10

 

Sounds of Silence: Even one of the most heartfelt, uniquely upbeat songs in the show...can’t stop me from thinking of Disturbed every time I look at the title. The same way the Kirin couldn’t stop me from thinking of Maud Pie before Autumn Blaze came into the picture. And then Autumn Blaze had me thinking of Pinkie Pie. You can tell this episode has inspired me to be honest with my emotions with one of the best morals in the show by far. In a time where we’re quick to call showing any kind of anger and engaging in any kind of discourse a sin, this show is somehow able to hit the nail on the head with its message about both. Anger and conflict are just part of who we are, what matters is how we go about it. I’ve been in Autumn Blaze’s shoes before of being condemned for expressing my feelings, so I can vouch for her in saying that having to be stoic and silent all the time does get boring, unlike this episode. It rarely had me bored, especially after that hilariously off-tangent joke about Phantom of the Opera in the song. Random humor really can be funny. 9/10

 

Father Knows Beast: I can see why this is a somewhat divisive episode. Despite being well-written, it comes as a disappointment to any Spike fan to still not know who Spike's real father is in an episode this late in the same season where he got his wings. However, Sludge was a worthy minor villain. It was foreshadowed from the start who he really was with how complacent he was in working with the ponies who were trying to help him get back on his feet and there's a clear possibility of him being a sociopath in how he manipulated a child into taking care of him with such malicious lies. Spike was pretty cruel in how he denounced Twilight as a real parent, which grated my nerves a bit as someone who thought he'd be past behavior like that by now, but I liked the visual of Twilight's heart literally breaking. The visual gag of Starlight being thrown out while taking a bath was awesome too. It's not at all bad, it just shows that we really need an episode about what happened with Spike's real parents eventually. We saw how well The Perfect Pear worked with Applejack, so surely a similar episode would work with Spike. 8.4/10   

 

School Raze (both parts): How I love the irony of one of this show's most calculating, cunning villains by far being a little girl. It was clear there was something off about her from the start in how weirdly devious her scheme to get the Cutie Mark Crusaders into school was, but it's only in this finale where we get to see just how evil she actually is. Neighsay at his worst couldn't even compare, and after she used racism herself to turn the school against the Student Six, it felt like a message was trying to be sent about the worst racists in this world being those who try to sell it as "good". Even worse was how she got all those friends and then only wanted to use them as tools. That would make her worse than Discord ever was for sure, since he had never had a friend before. I know I'm going on about Cozy a lot, but it's always incredible to see such a great villain of the show get a chance to display so much of their evil glory. I also loved how the Mane 6 had to get by without their magic, how well elements from the earlier episodes tied in, like with how the power of the Tree of Harmony saved The Student Six, and how many doors have now been opened for great story opportunities. I mean, now we have Tirek and Cozy potentially joining forces, we have Chrysalis still on the loose possibly coming back to see what the Tree of Harmony has evolved into, and Cadance's conversation about the Crystal Heart with Celestia possibly foreshadowing the return of King Sombra. Really, there is no reason why Season 9 shouldn't be the best season of the show, but this season was still a blast overall. 9.3/10

 

Episodes I Loved

School Daze (both parts)

The Maud Couple

Horse Play

The Break-up Breakdown

Horse Play

Molt Down

Marks for Effort

The Mean 6

A Matter of Principals

The Road to Friendship

The Washouts

A Rockhoof and a Hard Place

What Lies Beneath

The Sounds of Silence

School Raze (both parts)

 

Episodes I Liked

Surf and/or Turf

The Parent Map

Non-Compete Clause

The Hearth’s Warming Club

Friendship University

Yakity-Sax

Father Knows Beast

 

Episodes I Didn’t Mind

Fake It Till You Make It

Grannies Gone Wild

The End in Friend

This season was great overall, even better than Season 7 to me. I really hope that Season 9 will be the perfect final season if the show ends then.