Did you ever have to wait so long for something you waited for to be released? That's what most of the fandom did during the long hiatus between Seasons 3 and 4. Then, when released, people flocked to the TV screens and online streams to watch some new pony. I did the same and waited to see how McCarthy and crew handled their episodes. While there was plenty of good, plenty of bad pushed Season 4 two steps back, making this an incredibly average season so far.

Pluses:

1. Very strong animation, composition, and more variety of facial expressions. The biggest improvement here has been the use of light and shadow, creating a more believable atmosphere. I guarantee you, if the scene where Twilight looked down at a hurt Celestia was in the season-one style, it would've looked incredibly jarring.
   
2. There are more great, realistic, in-character consequences to really stupid stunts. One of my biggest gripes with past seasons is the lack of logical consequences to some really stupid behavior and stunts. There are more consequences as a result so far.
    
   Castle Mane-ia's best moment was the dark humor and chaos implanted on FS, Rarity, AJ, and RD from trespassing Celestia's old castle.
    
   In Bats, Act 3 (most of it) was very good in part because the Mane Six suffered nasty consequences for physically altering a pest's characteristic (Flutterbat, the orchard becoming a nightmare, Applejack forced to sacrifice the competition to save FS).
    
   More of that and less of the shit seen in episodes like MtBPW (Dash), MMMystery (Rarity, Dash, FS), OBA (Babs Seed), Sweet & Elite (Rarity), Ponyville Confidential (M6 sans Rarity), TMMDW (M6), and Games Ponies Play (M6), I'm in.
   
3. Great music, both the background score and songs. Need I say more?
   
4. For the most part, a greater respect of continuity. There are continuity references literally in every single episode this season. Some of it subtle, but most of it is really in your face. For the most part, it's respected. Bats, for instances, clearly uses The Stare Master, Putting Your Hoof Down, Dragon Quest, and Keep Calm and Flutter On as a base for the spell enacted in Act 2. Flight to the Finish references both Sleepless in Ponyville and Games Ponies Play to brace the script and song.
   
5. Having the Power Ponies stay stuck by having a henchcolt spray the ponies after every few minutes was an extremely clever twist that parodied one very big drawback in superhero stories: the villains leaving them in a bind and then forgetting about it.
   
6. Excellent visual comedy on Polsky's behalf.
   
7. The Elements of Harmony have been discarded. While great to start with, they were now the "go-to" device for the M6 if something big and evil comes along and the writers. Seeing the EoH sealed away in the Tree of Harmony was a change the writers desperately needed, and I fully support it.
   
8. Rarity. Easily the brightest spot this season after being relegated to the middleground and back in Season 3.
   

Minuses:

1. For the most part, the pacing has been TERRIBLE. One of the biggest reasons why Princess Twilight Sparkle is so weak is how poorly paced it was. First, it was too slow. Second, it was too fast. The poor pacing makes for a very lacking story, and like in Keep Calm, MMC, and EQG, it did here.
    
   For Daring Don't and Power Ponies, part of what made the two extremely weak was the pacing. The former had way too many other problems and, despite liking it a lot, made it easily the worst episode so far. Power Ponies is my most favorite episode this season, but it was extremely quick, and you can tell McGowen, Fullerton, and McCarthy hurried the script by hammering the self-deprecating "useless" plot every four minutes. Even the end of Flight to the Finish, which was well-paced earlier, had a really snappy ending.
    
   Only two episodes have a consistently good pace so far: Castle Mane-ia and Bats.
   
2. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are one-dimensional notes again. The fact that they have no personality besides being flat bullies didn't help Flight to the Finish at all. If anything, it underminded Scootaloo's quest to fly.
   
3. When continuity was disregarded, it made the episode (and humor) questionable in quality. Daring Don't has some gigantic continuity issues (swapping the meta reason why Daring Do was a RD recolor from a storytelling perspective, for example), and Twilight Sparkle's retconned incapability to fly was extremely artificial.
    
   Also, the "predestiny" subplot was shoved in again in PTS. The characters have free will, and despite their names, they grew independently. Actions and consequences were their results (internally and externally). The "destiny" concept (which was forced into MMC for the Twilicorn climax) contradicts this. Destiny doesn't choose you. You choose your own destiny.
   
4. The community feel (something seen from Season 1 to about the halfway point of Three) is missing. One of the most important things to do in showing a story is to describe the background life. When it's not there, the setting becomes barren. Besides Princess Twilight Sparkle and Flight to the Finish, there's literally no interaction with the rest of the community. It's focused only on the main characters, as if the background characters don't exist.
    
   To see what I mean, it's not just Derpy not appearing besides the opening. Popular background characters like Bon Bon, Lyra, and Rose Luck are absent, too.
   
5. Zecora being written as the Deus Ex Assistance for the Deus Ex Machina. One thing I tend to not like about her as a canon character is how she's sometimes there to be the "get-out-of-jail" card, similar to the old "invisible-loop" from Thomas & Friends years ago. The roles from her that actually satisfy me these days are Luna Eclipsed (for setting up the chilly mood) and Magic Duel (for she gave Twilight advice, and the two had to work it out to get Twilight to concentrate and intellectually grow). More of her from LE and MD and less of her from episodes like PTS and Cutie Pox.
   
6. Actually get the continuity rolling. After PTS, Castle Mane-ia and PowerP are the only two episodes to clearly reference the chest. One of the biggest flaws from the development of the Twilicorn was its poor foreshadowing: After episode two, it wasn't referenced again until it was dumped on us in MMC. If you leave the audience hanging too long, then they won't eagerly anticipate the development anymore. It'll only become frustrating and make them wonder if the team can really develop a very cohesive storyline.
   
7. Sometimes, the references from series one through three are so blatant, they stick out too much. Continuity is very important when telling a proper story, but tell it too much, and you demonstrate a lack of faith in your storytelling capabilities. Tell it sparingly — don't force-feed the audience by turning what should be a strength into a distraction.
   
8. The Twilicorn's development stagnated. She underwent a very big change in her life by ascending from a student in Ponyville to one of Equestria's elite. It wasn't followed through completely, and since Castle Mane-ia, her development to prove her worth has been eschewed. I was in limbo when asked whether I support the Twilicorn or not, but if Twilicorn's development remains at a standstill for too long, I'll be forced to lean to "not supporting it" because they didn't handle her ascension well at all.
   
9. Although the M6 often show up collectively, most of them are inactive. Daring Don't a huge example, making everyone minus Twilight, Rainbow, and Pinkie background ponies. Bats, PTS, CM-ia handle the group much better, but they need to be front and center more. This was something S2 did right: They spent time with the characters they needed and didn't include the ones unless there was a purpose. Sisterhooves Social, PYHD, SiP (season three, I know), and DQ did well with this.
   

In all, while I've had a blast with Season 4, after looking through the episodes, the quality seems to be along the border. While no episodes are TERRIBLE, none are thoroughly amazing, either.

Collectively, average so far. Hopefully, Rarity Takes Manehattan (and Rarity's ripe with visual comedy, something Polsky is excellent at) does something right with it.

My current favorites regardless of quality (subject to periodically change):

1. Power Ponies

2. Bats!

3. Castle Mane-ia

4. Daring Don't

5. Flight to the Finish

6. Princess Twilight Sparkle