WEAK SEASON

This is an interesting season for me. I started watching the show in June of 2017 so while I was somewhat following the show through the second half of season 7, season 8 was the first one that I really followed along with. And when I first watched it, I liked it. But I also liked Starlight and Sparity so clearly I've evolved since then (or devolved depending on your opinions on those things). But still, rewatching this season was kinda nostalgic and I think it's that nostalgia that got me through some of the rougher parts of the season.

I said in my season 7 retrospective that its first half felt like the show was hitting burnout. Most of the episodes were bland and felt like they were on autopilot. Well, season 8 may not be on autopilot, but the burnout is still hitting hard. This show is now scraping the bottom of the barrel to keep itself fresh and it shows. There's another attempt to replace the mane six and by far the worst gimmick of the show in the School of Friendship. 

The School of Friendship is the worst thing that the show has ever done. Worse that Twilicorn. Worse than the library blowing up. Worse than Starlight. And worse than the stupid shit that's going to happen next season. At least none of the other dumb stuff in the show directly contradicted the point of the show. Twilight learned friendship naturally by being sent to a small town to live life with her friends. Making a school to learn friendship in classes confines the students and treats them like toddlers. Lesson Zero was all about how Twilight didn't need to stick to a strict schedule and she learned to only send friendship reports to Celestia when she happened to discover them.

It also makes no sense on a logistical level. How is a giant school running with only seven teachers who have to leave constantly? How do you make a semester's worth of classes based on learning basic skills like honesty, generosity, and kindness? How do the mane six find the time to teach at the school when most of them have very busy lives outside of the school?

The school is so fundamentally broken on so many levels that I almost quit watching the show after School Daze.

Outside of the School of Friendship, the more slice of life episodes were hit or miss in their premises. While there were a few episodes that tried to take the show in new and interesting places (The Washouts), there were way more episodes that rehashed others or made the characters out of character for the sake of a plot that wasn't even good (Non-Compete Clause, The End in Friend, Horse Play, The Mean Six). 

I almost don't want to talk about the characters since this was a lot of characters' worst season. I don't think any of the characters had a consistently good season. 

Oh wait that's not true. Spike had a good season. He was funny and got his wings. Good job Spike.

The CMC were also fine. Scootaloo got The Washouts which explored her relationship with Rainbow Dash in a new and interesting way. The others didn't get anything that good, but they were decent enough despite not having much of a presence.

The mane six are when things fall apart.

Pinkie got Yakity-Sax which automatically makes this her worst season. Not even her worst appearances in season 4 came close to how out of character she was in Yakity-Sax. She was also really shrilly in this season. And unlike season 6 where she didn't appear as a lead often but still had a decent amount of strong side roles and comic relief roles, Pinkie straight up didn't appear often in this season. And even then, a lot of her "comic relief" roles amounted to one scene with maybe one or two lines that weren't funny.

Despite all of that, she still got a couple of good bits. She had some nice character moments in The Mean Six, I liked The Maud Couple, and she had a couple good jokes scattered throughout the season, including by far the best jokes of the season with her fake suns in Horse Play.

Twilight was stuck as the principal in this season. I thought she was kinda stuck in a mentor role in season 6, but that doesn't even compare to the stranglehold that the School of Friendship had on Twilight. Almost all of her substantial appearances connected to the school in some way. Being stuck as a principal gave her very little time to show off her personality. She got Horse Play, maybe Surf and/or Turf, maybe Molt Down, Friendship U, The Washouts, and maybe A Rockhoof and a Hard Place.  That may seem like a decent amount of good roles, but they were heavily outnumbered by episodes where she either had no presence outside of being a principal, was an asshole, or was an idiot. Also she wasn't even the lead in Molt Down, The Washouts, Surf and/or Turf, and A Rockhoof and a Hard Place.

I barely remember what Fluttershy did in season 8. She was randomly a bitch in Fake It 'Till You Make It and existed in Sounds of Silence where I also think she was a bit too aggressive, though that wasn't too bad. I think I liked her in Horse Play. Evil Fluttershy was funny in The Mean Six. That's about all I remember about her.

Applejack was a bit more memorable, but not necessarily for a good reason. She sucked in Non-Compete Clause and just played the voice of reason role in a lot of other episodes. She was also kinda an asshole in Grannies Gone Wild and I don't know why. She looked so smug at the beginning, almost as if she knew her rules were dumb and was trying to ruin Dash's time in Las Pegasus.

Rarity was pretty solid for the most part. She didn't get any spotlight episodes, being stuck as a co-lead in Friendship U and The End in Friend, but maybe that was a good thing since she worked really well in a more comedic role. She had a lot of the funnier jokes of the season despite having her obligatory awful portrayal in The End in Friend. 

I think Dash was the big winner of season 8. She got two co-lead roles and two spotlight episodes. She sucked in her co-lead roles, but I think her spotlight episodes let her show off her full personality, something I can't say for the rest of the mane six. I guess Pinkie got The Maud Couple and Twilight got Horse Play, but those episodes didn't do much new for them, while The Washouts had the best mane six character exploration, at least until the third act.

Starlight continued to be the creator's pet with three spotlight episodes. The Parent Map wasn't actually too bad, but then I was reminded why I don't like this character in Road to Friendship. I have no clue why Starlight was the guidance counselor and why Twilight trusted Starlight with the school.

The replacements for the mane six were meh. They were pretty bland when all together, but they got some good individual character moments. I liked Gallus' backstory in The Hearth's Warming Club, Yona's admiration of Rockhoof in A Rockhoof and a Hard Place, and Silverstream got easily the best character moment of all of them with her confronting the fake Storm King in What Lies Beneath. But the best of the students was Smolder since she got a more substantial role outside of the group, being a dragon for Spike to relate to and get advice from. But those are just small character moments and minor roles. In the end, the replacements for the mane six failed at being replacements for the mane six.

Wow. That character list was gigantic, and I didn't even talk about every character. That's another problem with the season. The character list was way too big which made the balance of character spotlight episodes a mess. 

Okay this is way too long so let's just get to the top and bottom 5. 

TOP 5:

5. Sounds of Silence: Autumn Blaze hardcore carries this episode. She's so charismatic and her song is really fun. The stuff with Applejack and Fluttershy gets overshadowed since their argument isn't given time to mean anything. And then the more developed conflict of the episode turns into finding the cure for the Kirin's silence instead of convincing them that feeling anger is okay. Damn it now I'm spending most of this time criticizing an episode that I actually like. Okay, Autumn Blaze is fun and there are some good jokes. That's about it.

4. The Break Up Breakdown: Despite a cliché misunderstanding plot, there's a ton of little jokes throughout to keep things entertaining. I also really like the dynamic between Spike and Discord.

3. Friendship University: Every episode having to do with the school automatically gains a ton of problems, but aside from that and the fact that Starswirl would rather learn friendship from a school instead of continuing to travel the world, this is fun. Rarity shines with a lot of great jokes and I don't have a problem with Flim and Flam. In fact, it makes a ton of sense for Flim and Flam to take advantage of ponies who actually think that a school of friendship is a good idea. Twilight has some of her better characterization of the season here and she does catch them doing something wrong even though she should've busted them for using her work without her permission. 

2. The Maud Couple: This does fall in line with a lot of other Maud episodes, but I like Pinkie being confronted by maybe not knowing her sister as well as she thought and having to deal with someone who might know Maud better than her. I wish that was the main conflict instead of Pinkie generally not liking Mudbriar, though that still works.

1. Molt Down: This is just an extremely solid episode. Spike is great here and him going through puberty is both fun and adds to dragon culture in a way that doesn't get in the way of the plot. Smolder works as a way to explain dragon culture and the climax is really exciting. Rarity being thrown into the story also helps to add some good comedy. I think Spike's conflict of thinking he has to leave should've been more developed, but that's my only issue. Spike getting wings is also a very satisfying payoff. It's definitely more satisfying than when Twilight got wings.


BOTTOM 5:

5. The End in Friend: This is such an artificial conflict. This episode is trying to tell me that Rarity and Rainbow Dash don't have anything in common despite them obviously having things in common. They're both prone to melodrama and have an ego. They're both ambitious in their fields and Rarity Investigates showed Rarity enjoying the Wonderbolts show. But no. Let's just make them at their worst just to have a story about two characters being angry and yelling at each other. Why does season 8 have so many episodes that involve characters just yelling at each other and being angry? That's not funny or any fun to watch, especially when it's so overused.

4. School Raze: This story is so stupid. Cozy Glow is one of the worst villains of the show both because her plan relies on characters being incredibly stupid and because her motivations make no sense. She wants to get rid of all of the magic? Why? How does removing magic help Cozy take over? She says that friendship is power, and she wants to have a bunch of friends, but her plan contradicts those motivations. I think trying to remove magic will turn everyone against you.

And how do the mane six think Tirek is behind it? They know how Tirek takes magic and that's not it. It's so contrived. And why is everyone so scared of Cozy? She's just a little filly who isn't powered up at all. She's not giving herself any of the magic. The whole subplot in Tartarus is pointless. It's not funny and creates another.plot hole. How has Cozy been sending letters to Tirek? She's been going in and out of Tartarus to talk to Tirek? Where did she get the magic? I could keep going, but that would take too long. The plot makes no sense, but there's enough ironic enjoyment to keep this from being any lower.

3. Non-Compete Clause: I don't buy Applejack, Rainbow, and Twilight as friends in this episode. There's always been this air of Twilight being above her friends since she became a princess, but this is the most blatant it's ever been. She's in full principal mode and Applejack and Rainbow are just teachers. There is no friendship here and in a show called "Friendship is Magic", that is a huge problem. Applejack and Rainbow are straight up endangering kids and once again the story is just characters yelling at each other. And the worst part is that they don't learn anything. I seriously don't understand why this season made everyone so angry all the time.

2. School Daze: I straight up couldn't finish this episode. I was watching through part one and realized that I was getting nothing out of it. Every problem with the School of Friendship is at its worst in this episode and Twilight being in full support of it is the point where I couldn't even recognize her as Twilight. I don't know what happens int the second part and I don't need to. If I couldn't even get to the second part without giving up, I think I'm justified in calling this garbage. At least I could sit through Every Little Thing She Does.

1. Yakity-Sax: The fact that I think this is worse than the episode I couldn't even finish should tell you a lot about how much I hate this episode. Pinkie is my favorite character so of course I hate this episode for having the worst portrayal of Pinkie in the entire show. She says the Yovidiphone is the only thing that gives her life meaning. That is not Pinkie. At the very least we should be seeing this from Pinkie's perspective so we could get some level of insight as to why she cares so much about the Yovidiphone. But no. We don't know why this thing matters so much to her. There is nothing of value here. And while I could sit through this episode, the fact that it butchers my favorite character makes this the worst episode of the entire show and nothing in season 9 will top it.