Mid-season episode ranking.

[CastletonSnob 3,025]

Alright, now that the mid-season finale has aired, it's time to rank the episodes so far, and give your thoughts on the season as a whole.

So, how is it?

[FirePuppy 621]

1. Celestial Advice - Important. The story had to continue from where the Season 6 finale left off. The show couldn't end in a cliffhanger now, could it?
2. All Bottled Up - Neutral. I don't really see this as a useless episode, since the Cutie Map is still part of the show.
3. A Flurry of Emotions - Neutral. Twilight babysitting her niece for the first time -- while it could be considered a "waste" episode, Flurry Heart needed a major role somehow.
4. Rock Solid Friendship - Important. For the first time, Starlight interacts with a Mane Six pony other than Twilight, and of course, Twilight isn't in an episode that Starlight is in, which we may need more of in the future.
5. Fluttershy Leans In - Neutral. While mostly a "waste" episode for Fluttershy, there is one important thing about her here -- she achieves her own goal of opening a new animal sanctuary.
6. Forever Filly - Important. As far as the show goes, this is the last important episode Rarity will ever have, since she hasn't spent much time with Sweetie Belle in the last two seasons. Plus, for the first time, Rarity has an episode where she's the only Mane Six pony.
7. Parental Glideance - Important. For the same reason above, this is the last important episode Rainbow Dash will ever have, since she hasn't spent much time with Scootaloo in the last two seasons. Plus, we do see Rainbow Dash's parents for the first time here.
8. Hard to Say Anything - Useless. It's just another Cutie Mark Crusaders adventure with NO Mane Six ponies, and Starlight is only mentioned.
9. Honest Apple - Useless. It's yet another episode about Applejack and Rarity. But hey, at least Pinkie Pie took Rainbow Dash's place in an episode like this (the last one was Applejack's "Day" Off").
10. A Royal Problem - Important. I decided on that because for the first time, Celestia and Luna play a major role together, after six seasons of nothing like that.
11. Not Asking for Trouble - Useless. Arguably, just a sequel to Party Pooped, which was also a useless episode for Pinkie Pie back in Season 5.

Season 7 will turn out to be mostly useless as far as I know it. At least other than the next two episodes that are coming to Boomerang in Australia and New Zealand, starting from the second half of this season onwards, any further episodes focusing on Twilight, Applejack, Rarity or Rainbow Dash will be automatically useless, since they've all got what they need -- ones where they each are the only Mane Six ponies with appearances, complete interactions with other Mane Six ponies, and achievements of their own goals.

What I also heard, Fluttershy also isn't getting episodes shared with any Mane Six ponies this season, the Crusaders are again only interacting with the same ponies as they did last season, and Pinkie Pie is getting more interactions with Rainbow Dash.

Edited June 17, 2017 by FirePuppy

[CypherHoof 26,479]

Overall, not too bad. started relatively weak, with a lot of cringeworthy moments. Hard to pick a worst episode, as there was a fair bit of suck this season - I will go with honest apple, against stiff competition.

Rock solid friendship seemed a sure thing for best episode of the season, right up until Royal Problem - which I went into with very low expectations, so was surprised by just how much awesome there was packed into one episode. Torn between the Daybreaker persona and musical box Twilight for best moment in the episode though.

Rarity rocking out on guitar though..... almost but not quite redeemed that episode

[Megas 27,050]

1) Goddamn, it's hard to choose between A Royal Problem and Parental Glideance, both are very close, but in the end my bias wins so I have to go with Parental Glideance

the rest are as follows

2) A Royal Problem

3) Celestial Advice

4) A Flurry of Emotions

5) All Bottled Up

6) Forever Filly

7) Not Asking For Trouble

8) Fluttershy Leans In

9) Rock Solid Friendship(only so low because of Pinkie being a spaz the entire time)

10) Hard to Say Anything

11) Honest Apple

[Dark Qiviut 22,160]

I'm gonna copy-linguine my post from another topic, with some tweaks:

On 6/13/2017 at 11:39 PM, Dark Qiviut said:

Like any other season, it has some good and some bad.

In order from best to worst, good episodes are in bold, mediocre in normal, bad in italic underline — grades added:

1. Parental Glideance: A+
2. All Bottled Up: B+
3. A Flurry of Emotions: B+
4. Celestial Advice: B-
5. Not Asking for Trouble: B-
6. Rock Solid Friendship: C+
7. Forever Filly: C+
8. Fluttershy Leans In: C
9. A Royal Problem: D+
10. Honest Apple: F
11. Hard to Say Anything: F

Glideance is one of the six best episodes of the entire show. On the other hand, Honest and Hard are awful, but not awful enough to reach probably the bottom 15. Bottom 20? Maybe.

What went right?

1. Starlight. Inconsistent characterization quality last season, but the most consistent and best written out of the entire Mane Eight. Not once is she out of character or unlikeable. She still has to settle her reliance on magic to solve problems, but they're addressed in much better ways that don't degrade her. All Bottled Up is a much better version of Every Little Thing by having her bottle up her anger as a last resort.
2. Rainbow Dash. Her characterization last season was a complete mess, but they improved on that tremendously in her only mane appearance.
3. When one-shot or new characters are well written, they're very well written. Spearhead cleverly subverts a very ageist stereotype of modern art and modern artists by welcoming people's interpretations and emotional responses to his abstract sculptures and paintings. Windy Whistles and Bow Hothoof play the "embarrassing parent" trope in a way that keeps them VERY endearing and very real.
4. Flurry Heart shows signs of personality and intelligence, yet never forgets the fact that she's still a baby.
5. Celestia's characterization is really good…in Celestial Advice. She's still Princess of the Sun, yet with qualities to make her feel more human without devolving her growth.
6. None of the actual morals in the episode are terrible to teach at this point. Each season has a bad moral in some way, but none of them cross that line yet. The closest it came was when the princesses told Starlight her decision to swap their talents without asking was the right move, but I don't know if that's a secondary moral they were truly teaching or not.

What went wrong?

1. Applejack in Honest is her worst characterization to date. She bears the Element of Honesty because she tells the truth while still caring about others' feelings. Here, she went from caring to vindictive and callous, even gaining some enjoyment in the destruction of hard-work fashion.
2. Big Mac and the CMCs are equally atrocious in Hard with their worst characterizations in the series, too. Big Mac for following through on the CMCs' schemes to woo Sugar Belle. (Mac, sexual harassment isn't funny!) The CMCs for literally believing that fairy tales are how-to guidebooks.
3. Celestia was great in Advice, the same can't be said in A Royal Problem. She and Luna are out of character here. Is it fine for them to bicker as sisters? Totally. But their bickering crossed the line into being personal attacks; each of them treated each other's important roles in Equestrian society as not just pointless, but wasteful, too. On top of that, they never understood that THEY were the friendship problem until Starlight told them directly to their faces, and even then, they were still too dumb to get it till later. (Seriously, Snips and Snails are smarter than them here!)
   
   When did they finally get it? When they witness Starlight's heartbreaking nightmare. (Them telling her she did the right thing all along not only suggests that transferring their talents against their will was a good idea, but also treats Starlight's emotional pain as an afterthought.) Their lack of appreciation for one another makes no sense, since Luna feeling jealous of her sister and lack of appreciation are why she turned into NMM in the first place. You'd think at their age, they'd figure something out. Despite quality characterization from Starlight, background music, and animation hints, their incompetence completely kills the episode.
4. When new characters are poorly written, they're poorly written. Hard Hat, Wrangler, and Dandy are one-note, flat antagonists who deliberately went behind Fluttershy's back to deliver their own vision of the sanctuary. Feather Bangs is a dated, half-dimensional, lazy parody of teenager!Bieber. Lily Lace is a stereotypical valley girl. Strawberry Sunrise is an unlikeable bitch (and in that scene, Rarity's expression and taunt after their fight suggest she predicted this fight, an implication of anger-inducing spite).

Nevertheless, there's quite a bit of good here, and it's not a bad season so far by any means. If I were to order seasons one through to six from best to worst, they're like this:

1. Season 5
2. Season 2
3. Season 1
4. Season 4
5. Season 3
6. Season 6

Currently, I have Season 7 in between 1 and 4. To score it, probably a 7.

 

Edited June 17, 2017 by Dark Qiviut

[Steve Piranha 28,747]

While only one episode can make it to my top 10 best pony episodes overall, I'm happy that most episodes weren't boring unlike the last two seasons in the same period. Honest Apple was mostly awful for bad AJ's characterization, and todays' (American airdate) episode was simply weak, otherwise it was a solid first half of a season 

[Thrond 3,257]

Posted in four of these so far. Nothing new to say. See blog post. 

And now: rankings, with scores. 

1. "A Flurry of Emotions" - 93. Not only the most purely entertaining this season, but also the beginning of her surprisingly solid S7 run. By some margin, probably the best she's been in a focus episode since season 2, plus it gives Shining Armour and Cadance some lovely screen time, and it has Flurry Heart in a return exactly as hilarious, adorable, and exasperating as her debut. Quality stuff all around. 
2. "A Royal Problem" - 83. Starlight's still an issue, but I found this quite deep and interesting, and surprisingly it's actually quite funny as well. I still wish for a less tightly-wound princesses episode, but this still does a fair bit to humanize the two, and I really do think that their pettiness here was both entirely believable and much preferable to making them relatively infallible. False dichotomy? Yes, but I just take no issue with how they act in this. 
3. "Parental Glideance" - 80. Only gets the moral half-right, to the point where it seems to be mismatched with the episode itself, but this is just so energetic and adorable. Dash's parents are maybe the best set we've gotten so far, and while they take their support too far, it comes from a good place, and that makes it easy to enjoy them even at their loudest and most embarrassing. They have no shame, and Rainbow's shame isn't based in anything tangible, so what might have been cringe comedy is instead delightful. 
4. "Not Asking for Trouble" - 63. Quite a leap down, indeed, but this one's still pretty funny and endearing, even if it's also repetitive and not especially fresh. Pinkie is written well in this, I like the Yaks, and at least it gives itself a little space to breathe. My opinion of this isn't significantly different from, say, "28 Pranks Later" (another funny episode brought down due to being predictable), but I'll take it in a season as dire as this one. 
5. "Rock Solid Friendship" - 60. Maud compensates for a lot. Starlight's kite thing is nice, and her friendship with Maud is genuine, but Starlight is at her blandest here, and more importantly, this is the rare episode where Pinkie is too much even for me. It makes the episode kinda irritating to watch, and the climax really just ruins whatever nuance the conflict might have had in favour of one of an overused cliche. But Maud is amazing in this.
6. "Celestial Advice" - 50. Maybe underrating a little, but it's just so uneventful. Celestia opening up a little is nice, but it doesn't quite break her cold persona, and Twilight's insecurities about Starlight are confusing and a little hard to buy into. There's certainly some funny moments, and this is the last episode where I really enjoyed Starlight, but the story is just so uneventful that it's a little hard for me to get too excited about. 
7. "Forever Filly" - 48. Great moral, but really stiff in execution. Does the dog subplot have to be directly related to the moral? Could we not have been shown how long Rarity was away rather than suddenly informed through dialogue? Did Rarity have to be so dense as to not get the hint? It just sort of feels strained, like everything else was compromised in order to fit the moral. 
8. "Honest Apple" - 40. Don't see how this is any worse than, say, "Look Before You Sleep," as it really just has all the same problems I've come to associate with Applejack/Rarity episodes: One or both of them always have personality traits exaggerated in order to foster that easy, easy conflict, and as a consequence one or both of them just become unpleasant. Same as it's always been. 
9. "All Bottled Up" - 38. Good moral, but why does this show think that intentionally making a character unpleasant will make the audience happy? Trixie isn't funny in this, and I don't sympathize with Starlight either, because now that she's confident she's just bland, and that makes her emotional immaturity all the more alienating. Not much fun at all. 
10. "Fluttershy Leans In" - 35. Seriously hope the show never does this again. What makes any other episode interesting is how someone goes through an internal conflict. It's not always very strong, but the show usually has had something to facilitate character development. In this, Fluttershy is right from the start and the experts are wrong until the end. It's simplistic, dull, and aside from having a big development for Flutters, it's basically worthless. 
11. "Hard to Say Anything" - 25. Presents seriously obnoxious behaviour as hilarious, and like other episodes this season, doesn't seem to realize that conflicts based on one character being obnoxious aren't inherently funny. Seriously a drag from start to finish, with nobody to sympathize with, and has a fairly pedestrian moral on top of that. Total garbage. 

[Frostgage 7,972]

Season 7 has been of of my favorites so far. I absolutely love the first 8 episodes on this list.

1. Not Asking for Trouble - ME LIKE PINK PONY
2. Forever Filly
3. A Royal Problem
4. All Bottled Up
5. Celestial Advice
6. Rock Solid Friendship
7. Parental Glideance
8. A Flurry of Emotions
9. Fluttershy Leans In
10. Honest Apple
11. Hard to Say Anything

(keep in mind I'm only rating them based on how much I enjoyed them. I'm not trying to objectively evaluate their quality)

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

Ok, Time to rank these episodes  This season is a roller coaster, too many mediocre episode mixed with some great ones, 2 of them pissed me off so hard that i will never watch them ever again.

#1 Rock Solid Friendship. The best episode of the season, even Pinkie's annoying antics cannot bring this episode down. Maud and Starlight are fantastic, their bonds and Maud being near Ponyville will unlock more potential episode. This episode is definately an important episode for Starlight Glimmer story arc.

#2 Parental Glideance. There are so much energy in this episode, i am exciting just as much as Scootaloo . The only one hindered the episode is RD's parents, they are too over the top, i cant take them seriously. RD yelling at her parents is one of the best character outburst of the show. Scootaloo is amazing with her "I have no parents to look for" speech, this hit me really hard, that made up for the whole cringy stuffs in this episode. No episode without its flaws but the great can outweight the bad.

#3 Celestia Advice. The first one-parter premiere of the show. Celestia characterization completely sold this episode, her every dialogues in this are spectacular, Celestia now is more relatable as ever but the cost is her goddess kind of feel, she is not a mighty, mysterious ruler as i thought she would be. Twilight fantasies are funny with awesome visual, freak-out Twilight is the best Twilight. The ending is a bit cop-out and that's it, nothing i can complain about.

#4 A Royal Problem. Amazing episode with great visuals. Starlight's magics are finally USEFUL. This episode again opened for more possibilities, the map can call any pony outside the mane 6, the CMC map episode is not too far-stretch. Daybreaker is a good shock factor for this already great slice of life episode. There are a few issues with characterization for me, but after several watches, everything are justified so they dont hurt the episode that much. A truth classic of Season 7.

#5 All Bottled Up. Another great TrixiexStarlight episode. Trixie is in character and Starlight is in character, their chemistry are even better than No Second Prance. The moral about not to bottle up your anger is extremely relatable to me, i lost my friend because of that (I am Trixie and my friend is Starlight with his bottled-up anger)  The reason why this ep cannot go above rank 4 is 2 plots in the same episode, even they did a decent job but 2 plot cram in the same episode is what i complained about Crytalling, it show you lack ability to write a full one plot episode, but still... if you suck at writting one plot one episode, then do whatever you want to fill the space, i guess, the escape room is a good filler afterall. I LIKE THE SONG.

# 6 Forever Filly. The last episode of this season that i have some positive things to say about. This episode is kinda boring if you like more fast-paced episode, more adventure episode, this ep is too slow-paced and too predictable but the messenge delivered in the end is well-done. The subplot and main plot connected to each other, unlike All Bottle Up, The subplot gave the moral, the main plot gave the solution for the sublot, a great writting choice for Fox Bros. A good episode for Sweetie Bell character development.

#7 Hard to Say Anything. A guilty pleasure episode. A really bad episode but with some amusing part like Feather Bangs song and the rest is trash.

And the rest are throwaway episodes, they are so bland that i cant even revisit them and even TALK ABOUT THEM. I DONT WANT TO TALK ABOUT THEM AT ALL, i dont have any passion to keep ranting the same thing over and over so i will keep it short.

#8 A Flurry of Emotion. A filler episode filled with adorableness, a perfect ep for anyone who seek for adoreness of the show, but not for anyone who want an intriguing story. Baby Cakes is a better baby-sitting episode, higher stakes (not a high-intelligent baby like Flurry Heart and Pinkie the Non-Unicorn Pony had to handle these OP babies), more fun stuffs(Slapstick), more shock value (OP Baby Cakes), some lore stuff (How Equestria genetics work). This ep is just too "slice of life" without any compelling story, a good episode to relax but not an episode i want to discussion about, nothing significant happen, nothing is accomplished and not too entertaining either. The subplot (Shinning and Cadence) is irrelevant and distracting, without it, this ep maybe higher than Hard to Say. The animation is really amazing, better than a lot of episodes of this season but it NEED A BETTER PLOT.

#9 Not Asking for Trouble. Pinkie in this ep is so perfect but she is placed in the WRONG episode. This ep is too slow, it takes too long to start the conflict, they should shorten Yaks culture in the first half because we dont need this ep to understand their culture, Party Pooped already did it. Back to Party Pooped, when everyone bad-mouth about Yaks being annoying and stupid but i dont think them that way, but this EP really show YAKS is a stupid, poor race like a third-world country that need some "help" by another first-world country without permission, and the moral is one of the dangerous moral so far. Another inferior race that need Pony Master Race culture to help them, like Griffinstone but at least Griffinstone can help themself from now on, ponies just give them friendship, that all, they still have to rebuild the kingdom by themself, on the other hand, Yak prince is so incompetent and stupid, his people will be suffered by his incompetent. Right now, i have to agree with anti-Yak fan, YAKS SUCK, thanks Writer!

#10 Honest Apple. This ep bring back two old character that remind me 2 classic fashion show episode of the series named Suited for Success and Green isnt Your Color and make it the worst fashion episode ever, GOOD JOB. I am not talking about AJ character assassination, how she is an ass in this ep, i am talking about her fashion sense and how her appreciate fashion over past seasons, rewatch AJ in Suited for Success or Look at how fabulous she is in Simple Ways and tell me, that AJ and THIS AJ is the same character. This is like a satire version of AJ character, where honesty is taken to the extreme, she is brutal honesty but not that insensitive, look at how she yelled at RD when she talked shit about Starlight in To Where, honesty and heart, writer, you simplified AJ character too much. The reason why this ep isnt in the bottom is the 3 new characters look better than 3 characters in Fluttershy Leans In (oh boy). Have nothing to say about humors, beside Guitar Rarity, nothing to make me laugh or even grin. And dont even talk about the solution where everyone wins, mlp should not make any episode about competition EVER.

  #11 Fluttershy Leans In. This ep make me re-check my definition about "what make a bad episode", i started to enjoy Mare Do Well episode thanks to this ep.This is so boring and bland that i will remember as an episode that create the new definition of bad episode of FIM. If i was a 16 year-old kid that watch this episode, i will switch the channel and never watch that show ever again and there are no me who love this show, ignore his parents questioning his masculinity. Here my rant if you like bashing 

Give me a controversial episode with great entertain value than an episode that bore me to death with underwhelming climax, a good climax should reward me for enduring a slow ass story. BUCK THIS EP.

This season failed my expectation. If i only count 11 episodes so far, this season is the worst season, let see if the remaining 15 episodes can make this season DECENT.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 18, 2017 by Lambdadelta

[Hierok 11,829]

1. Celestia Advice - I really liked the way Discord was in this episode and we got way more of Celestia. It was fun to watch and told a nice storie with important character devolepment.
2. A Royal Problem - The best part of the episode was the Twilight ballerina and then the fight and entrance of daybreaker. Also, first Celestia episode! Loved it.
3. Fluttershy Leans in - Character development for Fluttershy. Need I to say more!
4. All Bottled Up - My only problem with this episode is the red cloud of Starlight. This wasn't neccesary because we never seen it before. Why does Starlight need to be special?
5. Parental Glideance - I liked it till Rainbow became the bad guy. She was right, because her parents were ridiculous. Also, Scootaloo was being annoying during the whole episode.
6. A Flurry Of Emotions - It was fun to watch, but that is all.
7. Hard to Say Anything - Same
8. Rock Solid Friendship - Same, except for being annoyed by Pinkie!
9. Not Asking for Trouble - It was to slow. The problem began o late and was rushed at the end.
10. Forever Fillie - The beginning with a crying Rarity said enough. There wasn't even a reason to think Sweetie felt left behind.
11. Honest Apple - No interesed, no fun I always say.

[cmarston1 5,951]

Parental Glideance, A Royal Problem, A Flurry of Emotions, Celestial Advice, Rock Solid Friendship,  All Bottled Up, Forever Filly, Hard to Say Anything, Not Asking for Trouble, Fluttershy Leans In, Honest Apple

[Zachary 5,517]

A Royal Problem - 10/10

Parental Glideance - 9.9/10

All Bottled Up - 9.5/10

Celestial Advice - 9/10

A Flurry of Emotions - 8.9/10

Forever Filly - 8.5/10

Fluttershy Leans In - 8/10

Not Asking for Trouble - 7.5/10

Rock Solid Friendship - 7/10

Hard to Say Anything - 4/10

Honest Apple - 1/10

So far, It's really Awesome!

[BadHorse 39]

1. A Royal Problem 10/10

2. Discordant Harmony 9/10

3. The Perfect Pear 9/10

4. Parental Glideance 8/10

5. Rock Solid Friendship 7/10

6. A Flurry of Emotions 7/10

7. Hard to Say Anything 7/10

8. Not Asking for Trouble 7/10

9. Forever Filly 6/10

10. Fluttershy Leans In 6/10

11. Honest Apple 6/10

12. Celestial Advice & All Bottled Up 1/10 (0/10 if I'm being honest)

Edited June 22, 2017 by BadHorse