WOOHOO, NEW SEASON!!! OK, not really seeing as it is already over two years old, but still, I'm starting to review a fresh, new season and it's an exciting occasion, especially considering that it's Season 2! To start my Season 2 reviews off, I'll begin by saying that personally, I hold Season 2 to be the best complete season of MLP thus far. That's somewhat unfair to Season 3 seeing as it was only half as long as the previous two, but to that I can only say tough break Season 3, that's the name of the children's television distribution game. Don't get me wrong, I loved Season 3 for what it is and it is superior to the other two seasons in plenty of ways, but the truth of the matter is that when you get down to it there is simply no way that a season half as long as the previous two can in any way, shape, or form be, overall, better than the other two. Anyways, with that little disclosure out of the way, let's get down to the Season 2 opener itself, "The Return of Harmony: Part 1 and Part 2".

I'm not going to go too much into detail on the story or comedy bits, mostly because there's simply too many notable things in both areas to count in this opener. I will cover the setup however to start things off. After a fun-filled Season 1, things seem to be going great in Equestria, until whacky, wild things start occurring all over Ponyville! Clouds run amok and are made of cotton candy and rain chocolate milk, corn is spontaneously popping into popcorn all on its own, and animals are sprouting horse legs! After reeling in some of the local chaos, the Mane 6 are summoned to Canterlot by Princess Celestia herself, where she explains who is behind the recent discord. In a word, it's none other than, well... DISCORD!!! Yes, Discord, a malevolent spirit of chaos who Celestia explains once ruled all of Equestria with a chaotic fist, plunging the land into eternal chaos until the alicorn sisters Celestia and Luna discovered the Elements of Harmony and, utilizing their power, turned him into stone! Now, with the Royal Sister's connection to the Elements broken, and thanks to some rowdy young fillies in the vicinity of the encased Discord (way to go CMC!!! ), Discord has escaped and is on the loose, intent on wreaking havoc and chaos across the land unless the Mane 6 can stop him! After discovering that the lord of chaos has stolen the Elements, the Mane 6 set off to recover them and banish Discord back from whence he came!

So, with that out of the way, let's start with the villain himself; the all powerful, conniving, deceptive, evil lord of chaos, disharmony, and all things discord is...

...a completely carefree, utter goofball! This is Discord, the draconequus lord of chaos and villain of the Season 2 opener (voiced by none other than John De Lancie himself, who's character Q from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" actually inspired Lauren Faust to write the character Discord). And, if I'm being completely honest, this dude, like for so many other bronies and pegasisters out there, is by far my favorite villain of the entire show thus far. On the surface, he's hardly the most threatening villain the show's ever seen: I mean, Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis, Sombra, they were all far more upfront about their evil intentions and wicked ways. But Discord? This dude just wants to have fun and spread the joy of cutting loose and sharing a little chaos with as many ponies as possible! Right?

Well, actually, no. When you get down to it the thing that makes Discord such a frightening villain is really just how powerful he is, and no, he's not like a child playing with fire in that he doesn't realize how dangerous it is, no no, he's fully aware of just how powerful he is! But the thing you've got to understand about Discord is that the guy has style; for him, there's a very specific way one should screw with everypony. He doesn't just use his power like a blunt tool, no no, this guy, this sneaky bastard is like an artist when it comes to wielding his chaotic powers. When you think about it, he could've at any time with a snap of his fingers sent the Mane 6 anywhere he wanted, anywhere at all, and all of Equestria would've been screwed! I mean, he took away their wings and horns for crying out loud, so I'm sure he could've easily done that!!! Instead, he launched a complex scheme to utterly crush the spirits of each and every one of the Mane 6 and destroy their very will to defeat him (even if he had to get a little blunt at times when things didn't go his way *cough cough* Fluttershy *cough cough*). Basically, he turned their world, the friendships that they'd built over the entire course of the first season, entirely upside down in less than a day!!! I don't know about you, but to me, that's bucking scary powerful, I mean, especially considering he wasn't even trying that hard or using his powers to their full extent!!! The other thing that puts him ahead of these other villains is that, whereas most of them have operated either in the shadows or indirectly to get what they want without being discovered, Discord, while certainly relying off of trickery and cunning, never once makes it a secret that he's trying to screw with the Mane 6! He's constantly showing up in front of all of them to "discord" them, and in fact, I think the subtlest he ever got was with Applejack and Twilight herself. This guy knows just how powerful he is, but he's so carefree and also devoted to having as much fun as possible that he refuses to just flatout wield his power to its full extent, and rather do his very best to get as much enjoyment out of his victims' pain and suffering as possible. That's just plain evil, it's scary, it usually has hilarious results (don't look at me like that, you all know you laughed at Flutterb*tch and RarityxTom the Rock as much as I did ), and it's still bucking effective, which just goes to show how intelligent a villain Discord is, which, combined with his ridiculous level of power, makes him one bucking tough villain!

On top of that, there's other things that make him a great villain. Discord gives new meaning to the phrase "he just don't give a buck"; the guy's entire goal in life is to get as much enjoyment and laughter as possible out of doing his best to spread as much chaos and anarchy as he can, even if it causes suffering for others. While obviously this qualifies him as quite evil (but not beyond reform as we see later in Season 3), it also means that he's hands down the funniest villain the show's had yet. The only other villain that can really even compare is Nightmare Moon, and that's just because she's so over-the-top that it's hilariously cheesy. Discord tries to and is easily just a funny, funny being every second of his existence; there's only a few moments where he drops his usually cheery, carefree personality and displays a more malevolent, threatening side, but even then you know that this guy's just mad because his fun's being interfered with and he just can't wait to get back to having disharmonious fun! His physical character design is great as well, a very unique and, I'd go so far as to say, inspired original design, and definitely the most memorable of any of the villains the show's had so far (and that's saying something considering they've all looked great!.

So, confronted with such a scary-powerful villain, just how do the girls stop him? Well, if I'm being honest, Discord's personality is as much to blame for his downfall as it is for why he's such a great villain. The guy's biggest weakness? Hubris. Discord is way too prideful and certain of his own success for his own good, and it bites in the flank in the end when he allows the girls to take another shot at him, rather than just scatter them to the four corners of the earth as I'm sure he very well could. I'm not complaining about that, as he'd probably be overpowered if he was far more careful, and really it's a key part of his personality that goes into making Discord such a great character. All in all, I can say with absolute certainty that for me, Discord is easily the best villain the show's had thus far, and it's really for only that reason and the phenomenal challenge he gives the girls that I'm actually disappointed to some extent that he was reformed in Season 3, even though I loved how that was handled as well. Hats off to the writers on creating a truly memorable, unique, original villain for MLP near and dear to us all!

Well, that's the villain out of the way, so let's get to the story. Again, I'm just going to talk about it in general since there's simply too many things here that make this two-parter perfect. I think the biggest factor that really makes this episode truly great is that it picks up perfectly from where Season 1 left off. The second this season starts, you know these friends have spent an entire season being friends, and that's perfectly believable throughout the episode. This shows that there is an overall story progression to this show, along with a few other factors. The character of Discord and his own past with Celestia and Luna was probably the biggest addition to canon Equestrian history we'd gotten since the Season 1 opener with Nightmare Moon, and set the tone for Season 2, which would contain far more world building than Season 1 ever did. Finally, Celestia's returning all of Twilight's letters to her towards the end of Part 2 was a delightful throwback to Season 1 that further reinforced the idea that we'd only gotten to this point in the show because of Season 1, that there is indeed an ongoing story to this show with a beginning, a middle, and, eventually, an end.

The theme of the story is very notable as well; when you get down to it, it's all about the girls reaffirming everything they've learned about friendship over the course of Season 1 against the very anti-thesis to friendship. Friendship in MLP blossoms out of harmony; Discord is the lord of disharmony! So really, when you think about it, Discord's disharmony is to friendship what Darkseid's Anti-Life Equation is to life; the very anti-thesis of all things harmonious, including friendship. And that's really what he literally transforms the Mane 6 into, their very anti-theses, the exact opposites of themselves. The fact that he can do that just goes to show how ridiculously powerful he is, but their overcoming it goes to show how even more powerful the Mane 6's friendship is at that point in the show. Again, as I said with the story, this type of theme is perfect to pick up where Season 1 left off, as it reinforces that friendship remains the central theme of the show despite the fact that the world and its history/mythos is expanding rapidly.

Finally, I can't talk about the episode's story without talking about the comedy. It feels unfair to say that this is the funniest episode in the entire show, mostly because it's a two-parter, so I won't go that far, but it is by far the funniest season opener/finale that the show's had thus far. Throughout both episodes the laughs just keep coming and coming and coming nonstop, whether from the normal Mane 6, Discord and his gags, the discorded Mane 6, or even some of the amazing pop culture references (there aren't too many, but there are some notable ones, especially "chocolate rain" and the amazing Star Wars reference at the end of the episode!!!). Heck, there's so many laughs and plot points to throw into the episode that, unlike any of the other season openers or finales, they didn't even have time left to throw in a song! Usually I'd complain, but in this case I'll make an exception because frankly the episode's too funny to care that there is no new songs; besides, Daniel Ingram delivered plenty enough later in Season 2 that it didn't matter in this case. Point is, if you're ever looking for a good laugh, pick any five minutes from these two episodes and I have no doubt you'll find something that gets at least a chuckle out of you.

OMG gaiz, like, lolz, we are seriously so funny it's unbelievable!!!

Just got a couple more things to say before I wrap this review up. The animation in this opener was probably the finest we'd seen in the show yet, and really took it to places we'd never seen before. Of particular note to me is the stain glass scene at the beginning of Part 1; the animation of Discord in the stain glass is a really very lovely and impressive animation, and it showed that Studio B's animators were continuing to refine their craft (hats off to Sibsy and the crew ) and willing to try new and exciting things! Discord's normal design was impressive as well, especially his very flexible, fluid movements, no small feat I'm sure.

Overall, "The Return of Harmony: Part 1 and Part 2" is the perfect season opener to me. Again, I hesitate to say it's the best episode of the entire show simply because it's a two-parter, but it is in my book most definitely the best season opener/finale the show's had thus far. Everything is simply executed perfectly, and Season 2 could not have gotten off to a better start than it did with this bang of an opener. I think it's safe to say that this episode ranks high in the hearts and minds of most bronies, probably making the Top Ten lists of most, and as for me, well, I can honestly say that I never get tired of watching this opener again and again and again.