The Second Opinion

Honestly, I agree entirely. And looking at it "through Moondancer's perspective" makes it worse and not better, because the episode is then saying that Twilight should validate Moondancer's chronic insecurity and approve of it making Moondancer lash out at her.

Yes, it IS nice to help somebody like Moondancer - with actual help, not by condescendingly telling them they should never have had to deal with a common, reasonable disappointment that reasonable people have to deal with all the time. Not by telling them that their friends should/will always protect their ego from such blows. That's just you making yourself feel better by telling them what they want to hear (probably making their problem worse). And I'm worried that's the secret to this episode's appeal.

It was a very useless fight and I really did not find it entertaining.But still I'm on pinkie pies team even though she wouldn't win.

It doesn't try to offer much in the way of a fight, no, but I did feel like I got my money's worth in entertainment from these two. I can understand why some people seem to feel shortchanged though. (It definitely could've been bigger and better in a few spots.)

13:41 that is what happens irl tho

Episode just didn't address it well, imo

IMO, a decent improvement over What About Discord?

That's putting it mildly XP

good voice

*Takes bow*

Zephyr only started getting a bit sympathetic toward the end.

 

But for the most part, I just wanted Dash to electrocute him even more.

That was pretty much my impression too. Still, I'd say the episode got the job done.

I think its crazy that such an apple tycoon would have not thought of adding those water pipes till now. i wonder how many apple trees she has...

I'm wondering if we're ever going to see those again, come to think of it.

Yeah, my thoughts exactly on the story and moral.

 

Remember in Spike at your Service when we had moments like Rainbow Dash discussing her fan fiction novel and Rarity being all sarcastic? I liked it because I like giving characters little moments that are unrelated to the plot to give them more life outside the episodes' plots and to give their friendship a little more depth outside of just saying supporting words all the time.

 

This episode feels like it stretched that idea into a whole episode. It just takes so long to get anywhere and could have used more comedic energy or framed its character moments more interestingly.

 

Also how did you feel about Applejack in this episode? Did her doing things so inefficiently strike you as odd for such a practical-minded character?

 

The moral is the one thing unambiguously love about this episode. I feel that scenarios like "stuck in a routine you didn't realize was costing you" and "having an outside eye take a look and give advice" are one of the few that can have practical benefit adults. It feels less schmaltzy and more real than stuff like "your friends have your backs" or "giving a gift is not a competition, it shows you care".

As far as Applejack goes, I didn't really even take it as much of a reflection on her. Even in the moment, it just felt like an exaggerated example to get the point across, like a sketch in which Sherlock Holmes does everything like Sherlock Holmes, except notice that the next clue is right behind him, just so the audience can feel smart about seeing it first.

In spite of the episode being drawn out, pedestrian, and dull, yeah, I'll still give it the moral itself. If Neal Dusedau really is to blame, I'll point out that he seemed to try to lay out a relatable moral in a step by step process in his last two episodes as well. He just doesn't seem to have the energy or the inspiration to make it as palpable (or interesting) as the shows better examples of that.

Well this was unexpected, I've always liked musical reviews and yours was no exception. Although what did you mean by "with worlds we're not invested in, and only so much to change our minds" and what were you thinking of in regards to seeing Starlight tick?

 

As for the episode, Pinkie's song was the only part I really liked, the rest was just alright. Basically, a christmas carol with ponies (which I think For Whom Sweetie Belle toils did much better by having a relatable, if overplayed, situation of jealousy, seeing a different perspective on Rarity's relationship, and a non-Christmas context).

 

Also I don't think Snowfall was Scrooge-lite, she was Scrooge 2: Even more scrooge. Scrooge just wanted nothing to do with christmas, Snowfall wanted to destroy the entire holiday.

Glad you liked it! By "world's were not invested in" I mean the "tales" that were the predominant narrative in 2 out of 3 of these, and the Pie's "traditional" rock farm, to a lesser extent. In new worlds with new characters, they have to build our investment from the ground up, for a one-time thing. It's hard for that to reach the same level as the top-tier episodes that utilize the characters we know we're following long-term. They always do something to tie it back to the main cast, as well as create a nice moral in general and some of their good trademark entertainment, but hardly enough for me to call them great episodes. (Or in Hearthbreaker's case, that slapdash Confalone storytelling just didn't do the greatest job geting us beind either the Pie's traditions or Applejack's attempts to improve them.) 

With Starlight, I think they could've, say, made Sunburst the "sister Fan" and gone into detail about Snowfall's growing hatred for holidays and recreation, in ways last season didn't go into detail on Starlight's growing hatred for cutie marks and differences. They could've made it seem like both characters forgot how things like that allow for real emotional connections, and the story inspiring Starlight to want to try it would've felt more meaningful.

As for Starlight having more overly "heartless" goals, that kind of makes her more Scrooge-lite to me, not less. What people forget about Scrooge is that he's actually a pretty dimensional character, which is why the story works so well. He's over-the-top, but he's what someone really would look like if time, fate, and lifestyle made them that bitter, so seeing it all reversed really is a journey's worth. With Snowfall, they're kinda trying to get too much from too little, so it seems like a pale imitation. 

Anyway, with my like/hate relationship with Sweetie Belle Toils, I'd probably have a tough time picking the episode I like better. Other than Pinkie Pie's scene, Toils probably had higher highs and lower lows. But yeah, when it comes to this episode, it looks like we liked it about the same. Oddly enough, this show seems to do just about EVERY holiday (so far) better than Christmas.

Good review, it's nice to see you so happy about an episode. The general reception of this episode is that it's decently entertaining but you and me seem to actually really like this episode.

 

I just loved how Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Maud played off each other and how it made each other's traits stand out more because of the contrast. Everyone got some character development in some way: Pinkie had to make a huge sacrifice, Rarity's business is expanding and she got more on the same page as Maud, and, like you said, Maud was the most lovable as she's ever been.

 

Also I must comment on how you look at episodes. You seem to like it when the "dramatic and emotional" parts are more subtle and intertwined with the humor and overall cheery atmosphere, rather than being more explicitly dramatic. Am I on the money?

Happy to go to bat for this one! I think Rarity was a great choice for a straight man here, because she has an eccentricity of her own, but it's brought out by the stuff she doesn't fully understand. Usually, her response is either to turn up her nose or (even funnier) try to go along with it and take every bit of it seriously.

As far as when I like drama and when I don't, I'm sure I've been more positive overall when it's more subtle and not the whole focus, since that usually stops the team from overdoing it. But I did enjoy episodes like Party of One, Hearthswarming Eve, Hurricane Fluttershy, Flight to the Finish, Tanks for the Memories, and The Mane Attraction, so I'd like to think I can enjoy straight drama too. (In fact, Winter Wrap Up and Canterlot Wedding are two of my favorites.) I guess I just feel like drama should come from the story, not the other way around. If an episode seems like it started out just wanting to be dramatic, so the characters go through maximum tears and anguish and "touching" revelations, regardless of whether the story they came up with is anything that should ever lead to that, I'm not buying it. In fact, it feels condescending, like I'm just such a sap head, that all I really want to see is characters "like me" being validated in the most dramatic way possible.

Why not go wherever your story actually would lead? (Or should?) There might be fewer tears, but they'll feel more real.

That part about drawing parallels between season 3 and season 6 was pretty darn hilarious!

 

For the constant party cannon jokes, I figured the writers intended to hammer in the fact that Pinkie Pie loves her party canon to make sure we understand the weight of her sacrifice when she does the trade. Forced as they may have been, they served their purpose. That would be my take on it anyway.

Actually, at 3:37, I did initially intend to write "though admittedly, they do emphasize the canon itself a lot," but doing so kinda seemed superflous. I still give them credit for never having Pinkie directly say anything about how much she loves her canon or show any extra affection for it before the trade. (You could make the argument that showing the canon more than once was just so first time viewers know it's a thing.)

Yeah. Probably for the best.

 

And I really hope they continue to portray Spike in this manner more often in this season.

 

Scrappy Doo...

This is where I hope the whole Flurry Heart thing is a one-time event. Her magic fluctuations getting under control hints at this. The whole alicorn birth tells us that this will likely be revisited to expand upon the show's lore but whether or not she will have any more involvement in that is anyone's guess. Although with Sunburst being the Crystaller -- whatever that really entails... If the point of this episode was about showing the importance of the Crystal Heart then Flurry Heart really did show us why it's so important by destroying it and force everyone to fix it. The episode also hints that Starlight and Sunburst will be relevant in this season. Why exactly remains unanswered at this point.

There're a lot of different directions they could take Flurry Heart, and plot-wise, there are many good possibilities. Character-wise, I just really hope they keep in mind that forced hijinks and cutesiness can get annoying.

It was kinda like Twilight suddenly not flying so well in the S4 premiere with Starlight's character. The S5 finale depicted her as "she lived happily ever after" to suddenly being repressed and not confident in herself because of her misdeeds. It raises more questions than it answers between S5 and S6 Starlight.

 

Loved the dynamic between Starlight and Spike. There was much better chemistry between those two than between Starlight and Sunburst. Speaking of Spike, it's good not to see him as the #1 assistant again as opposed to just being the buttmonkey.

 

The reason I'm not all that phased by Flurry Heart is how unfamiliar I am with the trope she represents so much. Given how it's all taken care of, it'll hopefully just be a one-time thing.

 

What really made the premiere for me was the resolution.

To be fair, I'm not sure how much they could've done to connect Starlight back to her previous self, after that finale, but I do think they rightly decided not to go out of their way to much to try it.

It's strange how often Spike ends up the redeeming factor of episodes that were partially seen as disappointments, but I also like the portrayal of him here much better than most of what he got last season.

Thankfully, the team has an easy out with Flurry Heart, so they'd probably have to really go out of her way to make her a serious detriment. Basically though, if you know the story of Scrappy Doo, you know the kind of thing people are afraid of here. 

Can you imagine how one-sided a Zecora vs Princess Celestia rap battle would have been?

If it were by these guys, yeah, that'd be more of a curb stomp than those Epic Rap Battles where someone else has to show up at the end to save the guy who's losing.

I'm just going to keep myself guessing why Sunburst is there. Starlight's going to be there as well. Will be looking forward to how that plays out.

 

Even the characters seem to be treating the whole Alicorn birth thing as something that wasn't supposed to happen for some reason. Curious to see what explanation they give there.

 

And yeah, March 26th is the third next saturday as of this post. The inter-season wait turned out to be shorter than anyone dared to hope. The season finale was in late November, right? If you had told anyone that the wait to season 6 would be only four months, how many would believe you? Heck, even you were taken by surprise at that revelation.

 

Anyway, being someone who tends to take things as they come, I'm not fretting too much. Right now, For me, it'll be the top episodes of season 6 that I'll be looking forward to. There's going to be hits, there's going to be misses but hopefully there's be at least one episode to knock it out of the ballpark. What will Season 6's equivalent of season 5's Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep turn out to be?

I'm a bit late here, but anyway, yeah, I can't help but speculate on Sunburst myself. I have some good thoughts and some bad coming to mind...

The nature of alicorns is something I would mind seeing the episode get into myself. (I think I mentioned that I wouldn't mind it as a way to explore Celestia and Luna's history.) 

And yeah, while I can't help but be aware of the potential pitfalls of in the upcoming season, I'm sure it will still have its share of pleasures to offer. Even season 3, still my least favorite to date, carried itself passably enough.

Have to keep busy until the new season starts in May, right?

Oh, I'm not lacking for ways to do that...

The first of its kind I saw was Iron Will vs. Zecora. If that sounds intriguing, then that's because it is.

A couple people have mentioned that one to me, yeah. I might do a followup to this later.

Didn't think you'd manage Spike's voice as well as you did. That was surprising.

Yeah, my voice seems to skip a couple ranges after going high enough. I left out my Discord attempt, but Spike seemed to turn out at least passable.

Called it on which one got #1 spot!

 

There was something else that really hooked me with the Princess Luna episode and that would be the aesthetics. The way everything was presented was pretty captivating, especially when things really started kicking off in the unified dream part. This episode had some stellar fanart.

Yeah, props to you

And that's true too, the animators really got into "Magic Sheep" as well.

Ah yes, the trailer. What I'm really curious about is what Princesses Celestia and Luna have to say about this. Hard to tell whether or not the two really understand what's going on. Maybe they know what's happening and are just waiting for everyone to be on the scene before they start to explain things or maybe they have questions of their own. It's difficult to say so far.

Somebody told me that Luna and Celestia were revealed to have been born that way, in the journal of the two sisters, but the show's not really obligated to stick to that, so it's a possible suggestion at best.

Very interesting point about Starlight's depiction as a narcissist. They're definitely people you want to be careful with. Those who've actually gone through abuse at the hands of a narcissist will give a very detailed account. With season 6 just on the horizon, we'll have to wait and see what becomes of her character. Given the execution of her reform in the season finale, I dare not hope this was thought out as thoroughly as it should be. On the flip side, in the season 4 premiere, Twilight's flight mastery got retconned so maybe we'll see Starlight off to a rough start. Who knows?

 

Will be looking forward to part 2.

Thanks! It's definitely true that the show has found it's footing on bits it stumbled with in the previous season before, but I do usually give all the credit for that to the episodes that got it right. The episodes they're correcting don't get to mooch off the achievement XD I'm interested to see what season 6 will do with it. Anyway, part 2's almost ready.

It's always 30ºC (86ºF) over here so... what is this "cold" you speak of :comeatus:

 

https://scontent-mia1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xlp1/v/t1.0-9/10731081_10202177733563097_456902186609839224_n.jpg?oh=44db75c382a9f64b97e7c46f7570b4b3&oe=5705D206

 

Sorry, I just couldn't resist

 

Well, it had effort put into it, that's for sure. That ending go to me.

Yeah, I can think of some people who would probably be jealous over here Still, I do at least have this video as a consolation now...

They definitely knew how to get a lot from a simple concept. I guess it speaks to being able to convincingly show the audience why something - anything - means so much to characters we like and care about.

LOL that headdesk you did at the lesson.

 

Since I didn't follow on the hype and only watched it when a link finally made it my way, I didn't have all these expectations. Right from the beginning I thought this was some kind of parody. All those credits were a little annoying though but yeah, didn't really know it was supposed to be "show-like" in anything other than in style and animation.

XD Yeah, that was a bit hard to take in. 

I wasn't around for the hype myself, but apparently this guy really set himself up for a fall, trying to bill this as the first "official" fan made episode and generally sounding way too cocky about it. If he hadn't gone that route, it probably would be seen as the flawed but harmless fan project with lots of novelty that it is.

Now that I think about it, ust adding in one sentence could have been all that was needed. Something like: "Without the only friend I ever made, there was no other pony for me to turn to. None!" Okay, that's technically two sentences but I thought the latter one would help hammer the point in. That and it would seem in-character for someone like Starlight.

It could've at least helped.

     Despite some flaws that in latter half of finale, i find The Cutie Re-mark is... better than Twilight's Kingdom (i hope no one try to kill me for saying this). In TK, Tirek is just a generic hungry-power villain and what he did in the end are just destroying some trees (even in this finale, he still destroy some trees... lame), Rainbow Power and The Castle hurted my eyes so bad even more than the song ending in ss5 finale. Starlight's motivation is not completely unbelievable, they should cut down Nightmare Moon timeline and spend more 4 min to elaborate her motives then this finale would be perfect (maybe ss6 will address this).

     

Starlight's face heel turn feels a little rush, but STILL MAKE SENSE THAN SUNSET SHIMMER.

     

Discord is the only villain who recieve the best redemption, he has 2-parters and finale in ss4, but what do you think about his development in his last episode??? disappointed, perhap.

 

Starlight's character was underplayed in this finale, but i believe her role in the future will be more meaningful than Discord. Discord the Fantastic villain after redemption turned into some comedy source, on the other hand, Sunset Shimmer is the worst villain ever with the worst face heel turn then become one of fantastic characters of the show. Starlight is no worse than Sunset as a villain, so may the staff will make us surprise again in season 6. I may be too positive about this...

 

This finale is the best Josh Haber's episode, in my personal taste. 9/10. Barbie will rule Equestria.

While power hungry villains are common, I found Tirek to be a clever, intimidating, and suitably venomous character, who more than held up his part of the story. And what he "did" was drain everyone's power, leaving them tired and crippled, strain/break friendships, and take total control of the ponies' world entirely. I don't see how testing his power on some trees is a point against him. Not that the designs of rainbow power and the castle weren't weak, but those are offhand sights, not significant plot points.

Starlight Glimmer's face turn also makes more sense than the baby in Son of the Mask. That's still doesn't make it any better. (Actually, the more I think about Starlight's redemption, the more I start to wonder if I was really way too easy on it.)

I'm not quite sure I understand your point with Discord (who I believe most fans agreed usually made some of the best episodes, even though his last one was botched by the newbie writer who wrote Princess Spike), but I think it's that he has less potential than Starlight Glimmer. I'd have to say Discord has proven himself to be a good character and however well he does is up to the writers now. As for Starlight, I actually thought she was a good villain in her first appearance. She had potential as a villain, and I agree with you that she has potential as a hero, but that won't make me more positive towards her very weak redemption story. 

Anyway, on my card, this would probably have to be the 2nd best Josh Haber episode. I'd say 8/10 or maybe 7.5