Worst and Best Acts

[Dark Qiviut 22,593]

Each episode is divided into the following:

1. Prologue/Intro (opening to theme song)
2. Act 1 (between first and second set of commercials)
3. Act 2 (between second and third set of commercials)
4. Act 3 (between third set of commercials and credits)

A lot of acts have been written well, but a lot of acts are so bad, they help damage or destroy the episode.

 

So, my question to you is this: list your best and worst acts in the show and explain why. BTW, use only the show's episodes. No comics, storybooks, or EQG.

 

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Some of my best acts are as follows (not in order):

1. Toils, Act 2: Act 1 set up the conflict, but the second act graphically explored it. Rarity believed she was helping SB's play, but SB's play was overshadowed by Rarity's work, leading her to believe Rarity intentionally upstaged her. As a result, we get to see Sweetie Belle's angst in her own point of view, including sabotaging her sister's work as a means to get her back. The dream sequence is perhaps the best display of "show, don't tell" in the entire show. The graphic nature honed in the conflict and didn't look down on its audience.
2. Flight to the Finish, Act 2: Despite its overall slow pace, it picked up here. Silver Spoon's and Diamond Tiara's childish insults stopped working and legitimately believed the CMCs could beat them. So they performed at their worst: bullying Scootaloo for her inability to fly. During the conflict and confrontation with the bullies, SB and AB don't react to Scootaloo's possible disability, an implication that they knew about it yet still treated Scootaloo as one of them. It was excellent buildup for Act 3.
3. Cutie Re-Mark, Act 3: To echo, Starlight's redemption is seriously underrated. Everything from both two-parters culminated here. Twilight had to use her biggest character growth, her maturity and leadership, to convince Starlight to change her ways, re-learn the Magic of Friendship, and become a better pony. Starlight had to choose an option: continue the downward spiral of hurt or accept Twilight's offer. She chose the latter. But even though the Mane Six could've punished her, what good would that do for Starlight? None. In fact, it'd be out of character of the M6 to try it. Twilight teaching Starlight the MoF is more productive, progressive, and better for everyone.

My worst (again, not in order):

1. Trade Ya!, prologue: This whole episode is a series of storytelling flaws, but it all started by this really clumsy introduction. Immediate exposition, clumsy dialogue, flat characterization. If it was written much better, TA! could've had much better direction.
2. Rainbow Falls, Act 3: Every single act in RF is a mess. But the worst goes to the third, which doesn't get talked about often. Everything up to it was extremely poor, from the characterization to the "comedy" to the stupid setup. But Act 3 takes the cake. I don't know what happened during the writing or editing processes, but not only was the structure the laziest in the show; the complete lack of proofreading (rushed pacing, no lick of punishment for the WB, disregarding the episode's own continuity) showed me that DHX gave up on both RF and the EGames arc. This is the worst episodic act in FIM.
3. Putting Your Hoof Down, Act 1: The prologue was a shocker and for the wrong reasons. But the episode really sunk here when everyone in it other than Fluttershy was a huge asshole. Some of the characters appeared here for only this episode to antagonize Fluttershy. On top of it, there are so many stereotypes, damaging the rest of the story's credibility beyond repair. And how did it end? Reading a brochure after Angel punted her out of the house.

Edited February 12, 2016 by Dark Qiviut

[Megas 28,128]

Act 4, Returning to Shadow Moses holy shit the nostalgia

 

For worst, Act 3 or The Mysterious Mare Do Well, for that one scene alone(you know which one I'm talking), that ruined the entire point of the episode, and still the only case of a single scene ruining an episode for me

Then there's also the final act of Hearth's Warming Eve, things got way too sappy.

 

As for best, Act 4 of Wonderbolts Academy for Rainbow Dash quitting the Wonderbolts

Edited February 12, 2016 by Megas

[PoisonClaw 8,174]

Seeing as it's one of the only episodes I referred to using the word "acts", Acts 1 and 2 of Lesson Zero progressively go from head-tilting, to bad, to awful, to cringe-inducing. Starting with Twilight overly exaggerated bouts of OCD and organization and escalating into sheer OOC levels where the normally level headed Twilight dives off the deep-end into levels of crazy and chaos that Discord would be proud of.

 

Would Twilight make a list about making lists? Very likely. Would Twilight go super OCD over a minute amount of frosting on a single cupcake? Not really. Would Twilight use potentially forbidden magic to brainwash three unsuspecting fillies while looking like she could use a nice soft straightjacket and a nap in a foam room? Oh, hell no! Considering this came fresh off the heels of Return of Harmony, maybe you could argue she had yet to recover from Discord's manipulations, but even that's a bit of a stretch.

 

However, Act 3, which I mark as beginning the moment Celestia comes in to save the day, is nothing short of genius. One, we have a great bit of heartwarming character interaction between Twilight and Celestia when Celestia first tries to reassure Twilight instead of out right punishing her. Then, we have the moral that shattered the status quo, now allowing for episodes that didn't need to include Twilight, but also allowing for episodes that focuses solely on giving character development between other members of the Mane 6 AND including the option for an episode to not have a letter at all, since restating the moral would ruin it.