Was Crusaders of the Lost Mark really that good?

[SteveMorison 408]

One of the most memorable episodes of the series so far and when I finished watching like everyone I was extremely excited by what I saw, and placed it among my favourite episodes of the series. But I've been thinking about it recently, was it really this amazing episode that so many seem to think that it is or is it really just an ok/decent/good episode that just happened to have an amazing moment at the end (a moment that was always going to happen eventually anyway). The majority of the episode is spent just handing a back story to a DT in order to justify an instant redemption, and of course there's a number of songs where opinions are always subjective. It's not the strongest episode plot wise and there are no real funny moments either. Thoughts? Or am I being too negative?

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 42,202]

I think the ending is what cements the episode's legacy for many of us, but I believe that is enough. That ending was delivered in such a profound way that I can help but consider it one of the great episodes. The rest of the episode is still good, but I can see where an issue with pacing was there, but a good episode with a wonderful ending can still leave am impact.

[Concerned Bystander 2,905]

This is probably the only occasion in which I will compare an episode of MLP to the film 'The Usual Suspects'.  I sat and watched that film, and the whole way through it I was thinking that this was a fairly decent crime/action film, but nothing outstanding.  Then, there was the last five minutes, not only was the last five minutes brilliant, but it retrospectively put the rest of the film into a whole different context, and elevated the whole thing from being adequate, to being brilliant.

 

My reaction to the end of 'Crusaders of the Lost Mark' was similar, because the ending was unexpected, it changed the perspective of the entire episode.  Also, it was a musical episode, and much like 'Magical Mystery Cure' it felt very fast paced because of that, and there was some very good songs in it, particularly 'The pony I wanna be' and 'The light of a cutie mark'.

 

At the end of the day though, your experience will vary in relation to any other person's. if you found the episode a bit of a let-down then that is what you think, just because someone else doesn't agree, doesn't make you wrong.