How would you rank the season finales as possible series finales?

[pnylvr 185]

If the show had ended with one of the seasons so far, which season finales would have been the best and which the worst? Here's my ranking, from best to worst:

S4: The worst villain ever has been defeated, and Twilight has found her place in the world.

S3: Sense of closure for Twilight (not surprising, since it was supposed to be the last episode).

S1: No clear loose ends.

S5: Leaves open Starlight Glimmer's redemption plot, but there's a sense of closure nonetheless.

S2: Leaves open two freshly-introduced characters, which would have been an abrupt change that lead nowhere.

S6: Explicitly leaves open the Chrysalis's revenge plotline and the new changelings. This has no sense of closure whatsoever.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 40,237]

Your list is actually quite good and mine is mostly the same, though I would probably put the S3 finale much lower on the list. The reason for this is the fact that it was just one episode and it went by far too quickly, not giving enough room for closure nor explanation. This was one of the reasons the fandom felt so confused by the end of it because it ended so abruptly and then we had a long wait before we seen any results. It would have been an odd series finale that would be unsatisfying because while Twilight being a princess is wonderful, the episode ended because we could see anything of it.

[Megas 27,050]

S3 - Twilight becomes a freaking princess, episode really felt like a series finale, though it needed more time

S4 - Tirek has definitely felt like the biggest threat yet

S2 - Big wedding and another threat taken down, but nothing too substantial. Only slightly above S1

S1 - A lot Smaller compared to the others. As much as I love TBNE, it's not exactly Series finale material

S5 - Fuck no

S6 - Fuck no harder

Edited November 20, 2016 by Soundwave

[BastementSparkle 20,310]

Season 4: Great episode, great villain, probably the most "Epic" finale we've had yet, would have made a great ending.

 

Season 1: Just a wonderful, fun, slice of life story, no villains or big threats, would have left a good feeling behind. Far too early in the series to be an ending for my liking, but by itself it would have made a great finale.

 

Season 2: Loose ends of just introducing Shining and Cadance in that episode would have bothered me, but otherwise I think this would have been a decent ending.

 

Season 5: One of my favorite finale's, the main thing holding this back as a possible finale for me is Starlight's reformation. I love her, and I love that she was reformed, but I'm really glad we got to see what came after, and if they just ended it with that montage I would have been pretty upset. Plus, I just hate it when shows do a huge change for their finale.

 

Season 6: My favorite finale of all time...It's a wonderful season finale, but I think it'd be a pretty bad series finale. Focusing entirely on the side characters for the very end of the series would just feel...off, and there's not enough closure at the end for it.

 

Season 3: No. I love Magical Mystery Cure, but no. "Twilight's now a Princess!" ending the series would really frustrate me, I mentioned in the season 5 explanation that I hate huge changes introduced right at the end and this one would be even worse for that. It's a really common thing in entertainment, but I just don't like it. "Everything has now changed!...The end" is like a kick to the teeth, I want to see what comes after.

[FizzyGreen 908]

Best

S3 - Twilight has learned everything about friendship and is now a princess like her mentor celestia.

S4 - Twilight has defeated the biggest villian and now has found her role.

S1 - They're all finally at the gala.

S5 - Twilight now has a deciple and everone is happy.

S2 - Everyone is dancing and happy and the evil changelings are defeated and the two lovers are reunited.

S6 - Cliffhanger with villian wanting to exact revenge on Starlight.

Worst

 

There we go with my thing.

[Cleverclover 1,525]

No finale pre-season 5 would have been a suitable place to end the show, IMO. This is mostly due to the lack of closure for the CMC. Had the show ended while they were still blank flanks, it would have instantly rendered every single one of their episodes pointless and a waste of time. 

[Steve Piranha 28,751]

S3: Despite how abrupt it was, this felt like the series finale the most (considering it WAS supposed to be .....)

S1: Yeah, it was a slice of life episode, but since the show genre is that, FiM could have ended right there if it wanted to

S5: Just look at the pic just before the credits

S4

S6

S2: It would make little sense to end the series with two newly introduced characters don't you think

[Baykush 328]

Episodes that could be the series finale:

 

Season 3: It still feels like the finale of the show, it would've been a great place to end it in my opinion.

 

Season 4: "Let The Rainbow Remind You" gives me a series finale vibe, specially because of how the rainbow goes to each one of the ponies the mane 6 helped. 

 

Episodes that maybe could be the series finale:

 

Season 1: A very simple finale, but I believe it would've worked, specially because it was an event that they were looking forward to all season.

 

Season 2 premiere: Yeah, this is cheating, but the episode was originally meant to be the finale of season 1, I think it would have been a pretty great finale had the show ended early.

 

Episodes that couldn't be the series finale:

 

Season 5: The mane 5 are barely in it, and I would expect a little more of the mane 5 in a series finale, even if Twilight is still the protagonist like in the season 4 finale. Another reason is that this is an episode that focuses more on Starlight.

 

Season 2: Nothing about this feels like a conclusion to the show, it introduces random new important characters that need more development, and is an unrelated story to the rest of the season.

 

Season 6: None of the mane 6 have a relevant role here, and it ends in kind of a cliff hanger.

 

 

This list has nothing to do with how much I like the episodes, just how much they would work as a series finale.

[Thrond 3,257]

1. "Twilight's Kingdom" - Provides closure for Twilight as a princess, finally justifying it and acknowledging that the other five are just as important. A few too many loose ends to work perfectly, as ending the show with a single arc emphasized feels wrong to me, but it works the best.

 

2. "The Best Night Ever" - Arguably too early to serve as a series finale, but it does a great job of reflecting everything the main six had been working towards while emphasizing their bonds and what good friends they had become. I maintain that it's the best season finale, if not the best show finale.

 

3. "A Canterlot Wedding" - Doesn't have a lot of closure to offer, but there aren't many major loose ends aside from Cadance and Shining not getting more appearances. It would do, I suppose.

 

4. "The Cutie Re-Mark" - It'd be even more awkward to introduce Starlight as a reformed character just to do nothing with her, and ending the show with season 5 would leave a particularly bad taste in my mouth in general, as that's my least favourite season.

 

5. "To Where and Back Again" - Actually offers closure, and would be way higher up if it didn't end in a cliffhanger. I'm indifferent to Chrysalis's return, but you can't just set that up and then never follow through. Would prefer the series finale to relate to all of the mane six (which only the S1 finale does), but I can deal with something which provides closure for one without shitting on any others.

 

6. "Magical Mystery Cure" - Fuck no. Ending a show on one of its worst episodes is generally a bad move, and since this particular finale does so much to diminish non-Twilight characters, it would be doubly offensive.

Edited November 22, 2016 by AlexanderThrond

[-Deleted- 25]

S3: It was originally going to be the series finale

S1: Felt like a good series finale

S4: Feeling of closure

S2: No loose ends

S5: Wouldn't be a good series finale

S6: Left lots of loose ends

[Number62 1,246]

The only season finale I actually like is the season 1 finale because it features all of the Mane 6. They're doing their stuff, living their lives, and trying to solve whatever problems they encounter like they do in the rest of the show, but the GGG is a special event, and seeing how they handled this was fun. The season 3 finale was ok. It felt like 2 different stories mashed into a very short time. Twilight's ascension even feels abrupt, but I suppose it isn't terrible. Neither could be a satisfactory series finale since, as another user already said, the CMC didn't get their cutie marks yet, and there were plenty of episodes dedicated to that.

 

The rest of the finales can/should burn in hell.

[cmarston1 5,951]

Season 3's finale already has the most series finale out of all of the shows so season 3 would go first. Than I would rank Season 4 as a second and season 1 as a third. None of the other finales would have been a good place to end the series at.