I came to this realization while answering a question from Firebolt about why I don't like Magic Duel, so thanks Bolty. I thought it was worth mentioning to everyone else and it's as good a reason as any for which eps of S3 are my least favorite--and why it's been my least favorite season overall.

In retrospect, I think Season 3 was all over the place--not just its quality, but the tone of its episodes and how much attention it paid to the bronies as opposed to the kids. The show balanced that out pretty well in Season 1 and even better in 2, but not so much in 3. To me, the two extremes of S3 are represented by the finale and Magic Duel.

On one side you have Magical Mystery Cure. It seems to have been written in an alternate universe where MLP has only a child audience, with no expectation that anyone over the age of 10 would ever watch it. An overly simplified show, stereotypically "kiddy" in a way MLP was never supposed to be.

And at the opposite extreme, you have Magic Duel: an episode that was all too aware of its adult viewers. Everything from Twilight's "padawan" role with Zecora to Fluttershy almost literally being a tree to Rule 63 and age change references felt like an exaggerated wink-and-nudge to the bronies.

There were some similarities. I thought both episodes had poor organization and lackluster writing, but the point of this is: basically, they went so far in their respective directions that they totally lost me. And Sleepless in Ponyville did the best job of balancing the innocent (not childish) spirit of the show with what the bronies wanted, and was my favorite of the season. It all makes more sense now!

What do you think?