Best/Worst Episodes of Season 7

[Prospekt 11,018]

Best:

1. The Perfect Pear

2. Shadow Play

3. Campfire Tails

4. A Royal Problem

5. Uncommon Bond

Worst:

1. Hard to Say Anything

2. Not Asking for Trouble

3. Secrets and Pies

4. Celestial Advice

5. Marks and Recreation

[Adamgreen 1,129]

Best:

1. The perfect pear: Definitely one of the best episodes in the entire series. It just goes to show that MLP is still wanting to take risks and pull it off nicely. The questions the fans been questioned a lot had finally been answered and the results were great. An episode people can enjoy and relate to.
2. Parental Guidance: Funny, yet heartwarming. It goes to show that even the egotistical person can be reasonable. Dash's parents are all likable and overall nice parents. You can tell why they are perfect for each other. Dash's anger can be reasonable and Scoot's breakdown is also reasonable too. You can see both sides of the argument and how each of them differ.
3. A Royal Problem: I never really considered it to be the best of the series, since there're parts that rub me the wrong way, but the way the episode handled it is really satisfying. Celestia's other side of her emotions are really entertaining plus some good humor into it, pretty heartwarming scene at the climax there for the sisters and Starlight being overpowered isn't such a bad idea (she's not a mary sue). 

Honorable mentions:

• Shadow play
• Once upon a Zeppelin
• Fame and misfortune
• Uncommon bond

Worst:

1. Secrets and Pies: Never in my life have I felt so much negative emotions in one sitting. It's trying to be Party of one but it never gets it right. The craziness of Pinkie Pie feels unnerving and sad seeing Pinkie is desperate to make Dash eat her pies. Dash's dumbness is not even balance here. Sure, she threw her Pies through donations, but throwing in the trash at the beginning just leave in to more suspicion on her end. All this wouldn't have happened if Dash could've ended it when she saw Pinkie's despair and over the top plans.
2. Daring Done?: It's kinda boring, to be honest. Been there, done that. The villain was obvious. The only good thing I could say is the legend. That was the only interesting stuff.
3. Hard to say anything: I don't have anything to hate, honestly. It's a guilty pleasure of mine. Though I could say the quality of it is really bad and not the best in the series.

Dishonorable mentions:

• Triple treat
• To change a changeling
• Honest Apple  

[DonMaguz 1,023]

This season was amazing, definitely my favorite, and the main reason for that is the number of top level episodes there were.

My personal favorites:

1. A Health of Information: Thrilling from the beginning, Fluttershy at her best, great humor, great new character, best presentation of a legend, had me at the edge of the seat.
2. The Perfect Pear: Heartwarming story, amazing song, 4 instant favorited new characters, heartbreaking moment, made me shed a few tears (rewatches made them worse).
3. Shadow Play: Great lore and world building, good use of many characters, thrilling moments, best friendship problem ever (ok, to date).
4. A Royal Problem: Celestia&Luna, Twilerina, great humor, messed up Starlight Glimmer, lovely moment of the sisters acknowledging each other's role, NMM vs Daybreaker.
Episodes I think are amazing, just not god tier: All Bottled Up, Rock Solid Friendship, Parental Glidance, Not Asking for Trouble, Discordant Harmony, Fame and Misfortune, It Isn't the Mane Thing About You, Uncommond Bond.

My least favorite episode (For me the season didn't have any 'bad episode'):

1. Hard to Say Anything: I still don't dislike it, but it was too cringy to like it. It has a disgusting moment. I'm glad for Big Mac. CMC's humor is always welcomed.
Episodes I liked but didn't give me much more: A Flurry of Emotions, Fluttershy Leans In, Daring Done?, Marks and Recreation.

[Tacodidra 61,263]

Most of the season was very good in my opinion. My favorite episode was definitely "The Perfect Pear". It was the most touching episode of the entire series, impossible to watch without getting a lump in my throat. The guest voices and the fact that we finally got to see Applejack's parents were also great. "All Bottled Up" and "Rock Solid Friendship" also stood out for me, and there are several episodes that deserve honorable mentions: "Parental Glideance", "A Royal Problem", "To Change a Changeling", "Once Upon a Zeppelin", "Secrets and Pies" and "Shadow Play". Most of the others were also brilliant, with enjoyable stories and great moments. The only episode that I found disappointing was "Fluttershy Leans In". Apart from showing the more assertive side of Fluttershy, nothing else in the episode particularly appealed to me (no notable conflict or humor).

One of my favorite things in season 7 was how the various characters each got their moment to shine. Starlight and Trixie had a couple of starring roles (which were among my favorite episodes of the season), as did the CMCs, and Spike got one too. And of course one can't forget "A Royal Problem" where Celestia and Luna had one of their most significant appearances in the entire series. While season 7 may not have been one of my favorite seasons (season 1 and 4 are the ones I have liked the most), it was another great one. With all the recent additions to the cast, I think season 8 will also be awesome!

Edited October 30, 2017 by Tacodidra

[Steve Piranha 29,429]

My bests:

1- Perfect Pear: This long waited episode had all the chances to fuck up, but gladly that wasn't the case. Pear Butter and Bright Mac are best Mane6 parents

2-Discordant Harmony: Wasn't expecting much from this, but was pleasantly surprised. No short of old fashioned Discord comedy

3-A Royal Problem: Another episode that was all or nothing like Perfect Pear, but loved the unexpected importance of Starlight instead of Twi with the princesses, and the princesses themselves. Specially Cellie who needed some more dept. OH, AND DAYBREAKER, OH MAI GAWD  (Though I prefer Nightmare Star's design, but hey, that would be going too demanding considering the deliver of the rest of the good stuff  )

4-Fame and Misfortune: Suspension of disbelief activated, and made me appreciate all the sweet fandom jokes in universe. "TWILIGHT WAS BETTER WITHOUT WINGS", oh my god, lost my shit there  

5-Finale Two parter: focusing on each of the Mane6 and more actually having some spotlight and contributing to the plot instead of Twi doing all the work is one of it's few strong points. Others are the interesting arc of the pillars, like Starswirl finally appearing and opening more revelations in the future. And the tragic pact of villainy of Stingan. Though I'm going to take some points because the Pony of Shadows didn't presented himself as that threatening 

My Worst:

1-Honest Apple: One of the most down to earth pony, using honesty to the point of hurting others? Not good pall  . Strawberry Sunrise was the only strong point in that episode 

2-Not looking for trouble: wasn't awful, but I consider this episode as rather weak. It dragged too much on the jaks' stubbornness plot  

Edited October 30, 2017 by Steve Piranha
Grammer XD

[PoisonClaw 8,165]

Best

- Shadow Play

- The Perfect Pear

- A Royal Problem

- It Isn't The Mane Thing About You

- Once Upon A Zepplin

- Campfire Tales

Worst

- Triple Threat

- Marks and Recreation

- Daring Done?

- Not Asking For Trouble

Edited October 30, 2017 by PoisonClaw

[RulesofRarity 493]

Best: 

1. It Isn’t The Mane Thing About You.

2. A Health of Information.

3. Fluttershy leans in. 

4. An Honest Apple. 

5. Discordant Harmony. 

Honourable mentions:  Triple Threat, Apple, Once Upon a Zeppelin, Celestial Advice(would’ve been perfect for me if Starlight was sent away). 

Fluttershy was amazing this season btw. 

Worst: 

1. Rock Solid Friendship. 

2. Fame and Misfortune. 

3. Shadow Play. 

4. Secret and Pies. 

5. A Royal Problem. 

Edited January 27, 2018 by RulesofRarity

[cmarston1 5,959]

Most of the episodes this season I at the very least thought were okay, so I don't really have a lot of episodes here that I disliked.

Even the ones that I find to be the weakest like Hard to Say Anything and Honest Apple, it is only really the latter that I dislike.  And even that it isn't in my all time series worst list.

Seeing how I found this to be one of the strongest seasons of the show, the episodes I consider to be the best actually are in my all time series best lists.

1. The Perfect Pear- The much awaited backstory of the apple parents manages to be both one of the show's most tearjerking and heartwarming episodes. Bright Mac, Pear Butter, and even Gran Pear were all interesting characters, and that song really helped this episode be the best of the season, and one definitely worth waiting 7 seasons for.

2. Parental Glideance.  Speaking of things we have waited a long time for, an episode focusing on Rainbow's family was also another contender for one of my favorite episodes.  I really enjoyed the dynamic between Rainbow and her family had going on, and I hope we get to see more of them later on in the show.  This episode had great characterizations for not only just Rainbow and her family, but also Scootaloo as well.

3. A Royal Problem- Yet again another episode people have been wanting to see for a while. Are you starting to notice a trend yet?  It was great to finally get some more insight in the relationship between Celestia and Luna.  I found their struggles to be engaging and relatable, and the fight between them and Daybreaker was really fun.  I even enjoyed Starlight's portrayal in the episode, despite initially being worried about it after seeing the synopsis.  It was also an episode I found worth waiting 7 seasons for.

4. Shadow Play- This episode has managed to become one of my favorite 2 parters of the series.  The worldbulding and lore, all of the characters including the mane 6 and the pillars, and Starlight getting something to do and not feel at all useless, as well how the story was resolved were all really interesting and made for an episode that I really enjoyed.

5. Fame and Misfortune - I am someone who really enjoys when shows incorporate meta narratives into episodes, and this was just chock full of metaness all around and I just loved that.  The song was great and one of my new favorites of the series, all of the mane 6 and even Starlight got moments to shine in the episode, and all and all I found it to be a pretty funny episode.

[Truffles 2,033]

On 10/29/2017 at 1:15 PM, Music Chart Fan said:

(and I'll mention @Truffles, since he might be interested in this):

Thanks for the heads up!

My favorite episodes of the season that I voted as "loved", in order:

1. A Perfect Pear - Clearly the best episode of the season. Flawless structure and a lot of emotional content to keep me engaged, and it proved MLP can do romance effectively, even in a "show for little girls." I still don't think I can put it above my all-time favorite "Equestria Games" because that one also has a fairly flawless structure and a lot of feels, but it gets a bonus of putting Spike through the highest of highs and lowest of the lows. Heaven help me if they ever do a Spike's parents story as effective as "A Perfect Pear."  

In fact, I think I still like "Amending Fences" a little better than this episode, but I love them all and there's not much daylight between any of these three.

2. Shadow Play 1 & 2 - Arguably the best finale of the series so far, though "Twilight's Kingdom" is a close second. (That finale still gets a demerit by my confusion over Discord's true motivation and the muddled way it was presented.) The only flaw in the S7 finale is the overt broadcasting they do with Starlight being in the right. If they had kept it a little more subtle, it would be a lot more effective in its storytelling. Also @Music Chart Fan brought up some interesting issues in his comments, which I would like to respond to. Other than that, a great use of all the main characters that bears resemblance to some of the best episodes of the first 2 seasons.

3. A Flurry of Emotions - Fun episode. They took the "bratty kid" babysitting premise and made it funny. Flurry was actually endearing, especially when she was trying to stop the fighting between Pound and Pumpkin. And I learned more about Spike in this episode than at any other time in S7 - he's good with foals and at last has found some pride in being a dragon.

4. Once Upon a Zeppelin - A really funny romp with Twilight's parents and meta fan humor done right. We finally get some depth for them, get a revisit from an old antagonist, and get reaffirmation that Spike is part of the Sparkle family. Twilight has an emotional scene, though I admit it's a bit contrived to have had her out on the deck in the open air and still somehow miss the light show. o_O Also after the first time Shining turned green I just wanted to see him to stick his head overboard and empty himself out because seeing his cheeks puff out over and over was nasty. =P

Honorable mentions go to "Parental Glidance", which almost pulled off a "loved" rating save for how they botched the moral at the end with Rainbow seemingly being portrayed as the only one in the wrong, and "Triple Threat", which was an amazing showcase for Ember and Thorax but loses points for using the tired "one guy on two dates" premise and not wrapping that aspect up after the first act and doing something more interesting in the second act. (The third act was great as is.) Also an honorable mention to "Marks and Recreation" for Rumble getting an awesome musical number in an also fun episode.

 

My least favorite episodes, in no particular order:

Fluttershy Leans In - Arguably the most contrived episode in a season of noticeable contrivances. All three of the OC "experts" are written to be stupid beyond belief, and there's little or no common sense used by any of the characters. Plus the story is just too low-key and uninteresting. It's only redeeming aspects are the return of Dr. Fauna and seeing every major character helping out in a montage at the end.

Honest Apple - Yet another bad portrayal of AJ, cementing her place in series history as character with the most bad episodes. This is S7's "Somepony to Watch Over Me," only worse. Not only is AJ acting out-of-line, but the writing for some reason thinks judges are supposed to alter the contestant's submissions to make them into winners. Rarity is poorly realized here as well, letting AJ go on and on without ever putting her hoof down to stop what was happening.

Discordant Harmony - I realized that because this was one of the early release episodes which I had I skipped, I never even commented on it when it did finally air. Reason being was it was rather boring. I guess I never felt like I needed to change to impress someone - either accept me for who I am or move on - so the premise didn't work for me. I was excited for a moment when Pinkie showed up and thought she was going to be the one helping Discord put on a good tea party in his realm, but sadly she shuffled off again moments later. Ever since "Three's a Crowd," I've wanted a Pinkie-Discord pair-up episode and was hoping this could be it. Instead, we got Discord talking to himself, which, as much as I like John DeLancie, was excruciatingly boring. At least in this episode, no one is written OOC, but like I said above, I have a hard time understanding when people fret over making a good impression, so it feels forced in how he didn't know she likes him the way he is.

Fame and Misfortune - Initially funny for meta shock value, it doesn't hold up due to the utter stupidity and shallow portrayal of the "fan" characters. Furthermore, it has only gone downward after seeing "Once Upon a Zeppelin," which like I said above, gets the fan parodying right. 'Nuff said.

Secrets and Pies - I can't remember if I ever wrote a comment in this episode's official thread (only writing a brief comment in the leak thread) because it was just so boring and tedious, like "Discordant Harmony" - only worse. They tried to stretch the premise out for nearly the entire episode, but it is only good for about one act, and even then that's pushing it. Pinkie needed to find out the truth very early on and take the story in a different direction, maybe spend some time trying to find out what kind of pies Rainbow does like? Something. Anything.

Dishonorable mentions go out to "Daring Done?" for the absolutely worst bit of OOC for Rainbow Dash ever (yes even more than in "Mare-do-Well") where she forgets to fly and cowers before a goon squad, "Hard to Say Anything" for it making a lot of mistakes (but still not enough to throw it into the disliked pile) and "It Isn't the Mane Thing About You" for having Spike in nothing but a non-speaking role and seemingly not giving a crap about what happened to Rarity's mane.

 

Overall, I still prefer S4 over this season. In fact, I prefer S6 over this season. S4 was just plain consistently good, and S6 had fewer bad episodes than S7, even if S7 had some really good ones. If I were to complete the list, I guess it would go S4 > S6 > S7 > S2 > S1 > S5 > S3.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Truffles

[Toon4Thought 274]

Top Five:

5. Uncommon Bond - This was a really relatable one, and one I'm especially glad they told with Starlight since a lot of her friends (particularly Trixie and Maud) are actually more different from her than Sunburst is, at least at first glance. Thus, their roles in the story feel especially meaningful, and it just seems to round out Starlight's circle of friends quite nicely. Plus, it gave Sunburst a truly enjoyable character that immediately carried over to Shadow Play.

4. Parental Glideance - The mere fact we meet Rainbow Dash's parents is good enough, but having Scootaloo fangirl in front of them is probably the single best way to do so. And not only is the entire first act just that adorable, but it strongly ties in to the moral later. I can obviously see people getting annoyed at RD's parents, but their heart is clearly in the right place and Scootaloo's explanation of not getting enough attention is what really seemed to make the message work.

3. A Royal Problem - There's just so much imagination packed into this episode, elevated even further by just how incredibly well the characters are used. Starlight and Twilight both work really well in their roles, but it's the Princesses that are the real stars. They are the ones who get the full character arc, and it feels so good to finally get an episode with them in the spotlight, especially one that I'd say delivered.

2. Shadow Play - I never would have thought that Josh Haber (who I always associated as a 'play it safe' kind of guy before his return this season) would have been able to make a story this incredibly epic in both tone and presentation. Of all the series' two-parters, this is probably the one with the most substance; all the characters have a different role to play, there is always something new going on, and Starlight's role feels very warranted given the circumstances. It helps that this takes full advantage of the established lore, only making everything even more intriguing.

1. The Perfect Pear - As if I even have to go into any detail. The emotions are especially high here and executed in all the best ways, with an even better conflict and framing device to complement the already fantastic flashbacks. The fact they got William Shatner in there is just the icing on the cake.

 

Bottom Five:

5. Not Asking for Trouble - The looks we got at Yakyakistan and their culture were pretty cool, but too much of the episode was spent with Rutherford ignoring the easy solution, grinding the entire middle section to a screeching halt.

4. Hard to Say Anything - As cool as it is to see Big Mac get a legitimate marefriend, especially a character I do genuinely want to see more of, I really don't like love triangle stories and this one doesn't do anything to stand out for me.

3. Marks and Recreation - There are some good ideas in the setup, and the actual story isn't bad at all. But Rumble's voice grated on me after a while, and the execution felt especially repetitive.

2. Fluttershy Leans In - I can't say anything was definitively wrong with this one, but there was virtually nothing that gives me any reason to revisit this episode. It was just really dull.

1. Fame and Misfortune. I know a lot of people love this episode, but I simply can't get behind nor look past the unusually pessimistic tone presented here. It just feels incredibly wrong for this show to portray the entire town in this negative a light, and devote a good two-thirds of the runtime to the Mane 6 getting psychologically damaged with very little mercy to speak of. Even the note it ends on - while sweet - doesn't feel anywhere near enough to offset what we saw before and the conflict never really ends either. And I'm sorry, but I can't find the fandom references funny when the characters I care about actively suffer from them this constantly. This isn't me being offended or insulted or anything, this is me speaking from a personal enjoyment standpoint. It's the only episode of the season that genuinely left me in a bad mood, and I am not at all surprised Larson has disowned this script.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Toon4Thought

[Zel 56]

My list. In green the episodes I enjoy the most, in orange the meh section with average episodes for which I didn't care very much but were still enjoyable, in red the ones I don't plan on rewatching any time soon

1. Fame and Misfortune : Just a crazy crazy ride. Lot of humor, very meta, a really good and catchy song (reaffirming the flaws of the characters and why we love them) and all of this packed with a great moral about criticism and how to react to it which is a lesson I can relate to completly. A really strong episode what I can watch again and again without it becoming stale. Best episode of the season for me.

2. Discordant Harmony : Really good episode solidifiying the friendship between Flutter and Discord. The conflict was good. The humor too. And the moral was a great one. I don't really what else to say... It was just a very good episode all in all. It was sweet to see how far Discord could go to "please" Fluttershy and to don't lose her... and to see how far Fluttershy can go to stop Discord from fading away.

3. Shadow Play - Part 2 : Pros : Good use of the M6 and Starlight, good and believable conflict, expansion of the lore which was nice. Cons : Some pillars were under used, the Pony of Shadow was a lackluster vilain which posed no real threat and with a goald I didn't even understand that well... I didn't understand what he wanted to do, nor how he wanted to do it. But all in all it was a good finale even if there wasn't enough time to really tell the story proprely.

4. A royal problem : It was sweet to see the continuation of the sisterly relationship between Luna and Celestia after Slice of Life. A good episode showcasing Celestia's and Luna's characters, the upsides and the downsides of their missions and dwelled a bit more on both sisters... which was long overdue for Celestia. It was nice to see that both of them are real ponies even if they are princesses of Equestria and centuries old. Starlight and Twillight were on point as well.

5. The perfect pear : Some parts were real great (Big Mac demanding more stories about his father for example). And I really liked the subtlety of the evocation of the death of the Apple's parents. The fact that it used Ms. Cake and Mayor Mare as a part of the story were also great points and it felt very organic and natural. The song was also cool. But the story felt a bit cliché all in all and some little things were really a bit too much for me : the fact that Pearl Butter was good at figuring people talents was... really stupid and just here to create some sort of connection with Apple Bloom but it would have been better without. The story of Burn Oak was also a bit weak. And the ending even if nice was a bit weird... since it implies that Granny Smith or anyone else for that matter didn't ever saw that tree in the middle of their own farm (AJ don't ever recolt the apples from the nearby trees ?).

6. It isn't the mane thing about you : The beginning of the story was very misleading for me. With the classic and cliché misunderstanding which started the whole plot (Oops, I mistake your bottle for mine) I was expecting a really bad episode. In fact it was pretty decent. A bit slow sometimes but it was a good showcase of Rarity as a character and had a great moral. A really solid episode this season.

7. Marks and Recreation : Cool premise. A bit slow at time but pretty solid. Good resolution. Good song. I think Marks and Recreation was a better CMC episode than The Fault in our Cutie Mark and Rumble was an interresting client. Humor was great and the story was relatable for anyone struggling to find that they want to do in the world... and who are afraid to be stuck doing one thing all of their life without the possibility to do anything on the side.

8. Celestial Advice : It was an interresting look on Celestia as a character. Discord was a bit too much in this one but the conflict was interresting, the resolution was pretty good with Twillight willing to let got of Starlight but Starlight deciding to stay a bit more and all in all it was a pretty good follow-up to the season finale of the former season and a good introduction to the new season.

9. Uncommon bond : Good moral. Trixie and Maud were as good as ever. Sunburst finally have a more proeminent role after The Crystalling. In short it was a good episode. Nothing really to say about it in fact. It was just cool.

10. All bottled up : The M6 story was cool, a good musical number with a good jab to the show premise. The part with Starlight and Trixie offered a good moral, and a good dynamic between the two friends. Plus it was a relatable episode... Friends aren't flawless people who only do things you will like. Friends are people who you think are worth putting up with their shit because the upsides outweight the downsides. And it's cool if you say to your friends what what are doing is dumb, because they are your friends and will listen and try to act a bit differently in order to be a bit less sufferable... at least for some time. The only real flaw I have with this episode and Trixie being able to make the map disappeared. It was... it was very strange and dumb.

11. Shadow Play - Part 1 : Not the most exciting first part of a two parter we got. It was more or less filled with the M6 going to retrieve the items of the Pillars. Some of these missions were pretty good (Fluttershy and Rainbow/Spike were the best) but Rarity's mission was too fast and anticlimatic, Pinkie's mission was really too fast to even care about and AJ's story was... yeah... weird (still cool to  see again the archeology pony we saw the CMC help in an earlier episode). It was mostly a setup for the second part but didn't really offer anything at all in itself... The retrieve missions could have been an episode each through out a season... here it was a bit wasted.

12. A Flurry of emotion : A story a bit on the repetitive side (Twillight go somewhere, Flurry do something, Twillight apologize again and again) but the plot about Cadance and Shining was funny. The moral... at least a bit relatable if not that good and Spike and Pikie were great in it. Flury was also a great character, I especially liked the scene with the Cake twins with Flurry triying to solve the problem on her own but failing.

13. A Health of Information : All the characters were good in this story. But the resolution was anticlimatic and the lesson (which was really good) was lost a bit during the episode since Fluttershy didn't take a break because she wanted to but because she was forced to do so... because she was sick. The legend was cool, second best behind Mistmane. The begining of the story was dumb nonetheless and it's maybe the weakest point of this story : Zecora reason to become sick was contrived... Fluttershy could have just fly rather than letting Zecora struggle to take the plant for no reason other than to move the plot forward.

14. Not asking for troubles : Weak premise. The story felt just very long and very repetitve during the middle of it. Pinkie's antics saved the episode for being utterly boring at least especially the scenes in the ballon which were the best part of it. Nothing really special. The lesson was also a bit... strange. I didn't really understand what they were going for with that.

15. Secret and Pies : The premise of this episode was clearly not enough to fill an entire episode of the show. It felt weak and tiresome to sit during this one. The resolution was... very weird. Didn't really know what they were going for with that (it would have clearly been better if Rainbow's would have just decide to eat one of Pinkie's pie to make her happy... and Pinkie stopping her to do so because of her new knowledge of Rainbow disliking pies in general...). Some of the humor was funny and Pinkie's antics were good at least so I put this episode a bit higher than the other episodes on the list.

16.  Triple Threat : Really basic premise and sometimes the story is a bit painful to watch unfold since I saw this kind of "misunderstanding" a lot of time in a lot of shows. The map calling Spike didn't really make sense at all in the context since it wasn't Spike which solved the conflict in the end but Ember and Thorax... so... the fuck map ? Still this episode get Ember and Thorax right, and their dynamic was pretty good. Plus all the Ember's gags were on point especially her mistaking Starlight and Twillight.

17. Once upon a zeppelin : Didn't understand the need of the return of Iron Will. This character is just obnoxious and in addition continually screaming which make him one of my least favorite character on the show. It was cool to see the Sparkle Familly interract with each others (especially love Twillight Velvet and a daring do persona which was a nice touch) and Spike was on point in the intro but at the same time the fanpony was just too much for me to handle and Shining's running gag about air sickness kill the episode for me. It was never that funny. Still cool to see the whole familly on a cruise.

18. To change a changeling : Boring episode. The only redeemable quality of this episode was Trixie and her banter with Starlight. Sometimes it was a bit too much, but it kept the story afloat since without her it would just have been boring. The fight at the end was pathetic and no effort watsoever was made to make it look good... a shame since it was the big climax, the backbone of all the narration since it was the point where Pharynx point of view was justified, and what the story was leading to since the beginning of the episode. In addition the humor was... really lackluster.

19. Rock Solid Friendship : The episode could have been great. But Pinkie Pie characterisation was thrown out the window in this one to make her as antagonistic as possible. She was straight up obnixious and it's saying something since I just love Pinkie Pie and even found her bereable in Filly Vanilli (which is saying something since a lot of people didn't like Pinkie's behaviour in this episode). Pinkie's obnoxiousness make this episode unwatchable for me even if some good ideas were thrown in there.

20. Parental Glideance : The story could have been great. Some of the humor worked. But the moral was bad. The episode didn't say enough about how Rainbow's parents behavior was wrong instead focusing most of the fault on Rainbow... which had her faults in all of this but not most of it... Plus Rainbow's parents were very obnoxioux during all the runtime of this episode. I didn't really find them endearing at all... just very cringy and not likeable at all. They almost killed someone with a firework and it wasn't really adressed at all. For me it was a worst episode than Newbie Dash so I don't really understand how so many people liked it and didn't like Newbie Dash which was less cringy and less on the nose than this trainwreck.

21. Daring Done? : Contrived as hell. An obvious vilain which make the reveal scene totaly dumb (no shit, it was Cabalerone ? Who would have guessed ?  ... =_=) . The good concept of Daring Do doing bad stuff in order to do good deeds which was the interesting part of the episode was pushed to the side until a fast and weak resolution at the end because the writters needed to shoehorn the nonsensical moral about "hope" and "leap of faith" which didn't really have all that much to do with anything in the story. And to complete the picture of why this episode failed... Daring Done? is also the episode with the stupidest and badly written scenes in all the season : the kidnapping of Rainbow was laughable espiecally considering Pinkie and Daring were two feets away doing... I don't really know... walking ?..., the scene were Pinkie and Rainbow goes "Oh look ! We found Daring" in the hostel was incredibly dumb and was basicaly the writters saying "well the scene with the owner of the hostel is over... what to do next ?" and the rescue scene with the... steam thingy in the green goop is one of the dumbest thing I ever saw on the show... It don't even make sense : how is it a leap of faith ? Shouldn't Pinkie and Daring saw the thingy in the green goop ? Wouldn't they think about using them rather than just jumping blindly in toxic liquid without even considering the steam things to be useful ? And why don't we see these contraptions in the other scenes ? It's just plain stupide. At least the animation of the legend was... cool.

22. Campfire Tales : Boring episode. Scootaloo characterisation was just plain stupid and too over the top (she was way too scared and Apple Bloom and Sweetie not at all) and it was painful to watch her be reduced to this trope of the "scaredy cat" which don't even really make sense with what we know of Scootaloo and the events of Sleepless in Ponyville. The resolution was dumb and weak (let's jump in the water... wait, what ?). The legend were not that great : Rockhoof is the worst one with very little to offer, Flash Magnus is barely average... The only redeeming quality of this episode and why it is so high on this list is the story of Mistmane which is by far the best thing Campfire Tales has to offer.

23. Honest Apple : AJ was unbearable in this one. The concept was dumb (they tried to explain why Rarity would ask AJ to be a judge... but in the end I wasn't really convinced by her compeling arguments... plus aren't judges supposed to judge the dresses at the end of the fashion show ? Isn't it the point of competition ?). The humor fell flat. And even the best scene of this episode "Hard Rock Rarity' was poorly put together. It was just a WTF moment during five seconds and wasn't even that well animated.

24. Forever Filly : Two plots. Both equally boring. The moral was good I guess, but I start doing something else at the same time in the middle of this episode since it couldn't really hold my attention at all. All of the story seem really contrived. You can see how the story will end from miles away (the dog and Sweetie will be paralleled in the end, big surprise). And the ice cream shop scene still baffles me... I know the size of this ice cream is exaggeratedly small for comic value but... it's a bit too much and only make Rarity look like a total moron. I need a bit more than Rarity being cute in a disguise to liked an episode.

25. Fluttershy Leans In : Even more boring than Forever Filly. Yeah, it's possible. Nothing really happen during the runtime and could have been sum up in five minutes flat. A weak conflict. Weak antagonists. Forced storyline which didn't really make sense (why hire a specialist of cages, a pony who kow how to decorate homes and someone who build real buildings to build an animal sanctuary ? They are no experts at all in this area). In short, an episode I didn't care for. And it's no different today.

26. Hard to say anything : Don't even know why this episode exist. Not pleasant in the slightest, dumb and a bit on the uncanny side when you look at the situations with the eyes of an adult. One episode about romance was more than enough in My little pony... Plus Big Mac and Sugar Belle ? Really ? They didn't really have any chemistry in the episode which warranted me to root for this couple to win in the end.

[Astralshy 27,101]

Season 7 is one of my three most fav. seasons for me. There are so many good episodes I love and only one episode I don't like too much.

Best episodes: Perfect Pear, Fame and Misfortune, A Royal Problem

Worst episodes: Honest Apple

 

Edited June 26, 2021 by Astral Soul

[Rushing cash 836]

My favorite season in the series, it had a lot of good to great episodes and very few episodes that I didn't enjoy.

Favorites: A Royal Problem - my favorite episode overall, amazing from start to finish.

Perfect Pear- probably the most emotional episode that handled the issue and the fans expectations amazingly.

I will mention the other episodes I think are great, episodes: 2, 4, 7, 8, 12, 14, 19, 22 and 23 (20 and 21 were close).

I think there were very few mediocre episodes and I found only one bad: Not Looking For Trouble. 

[Totally Nyx 36,114]

I put in two votes for best episodes and two for worst.

I really enjoyed A Royal Problem and Fame And Misfortune. It was fun to see Luna and Tia trying to perform each other's roles and failing. And let's not forget that it gave us Daybreaker. Fame And Misfortune was just a hilarious parody of the fandom. I'm not sure there was a moment during that episode where I wasn't laughing.

As for my disliked episodes, it's definitely The Perfect Pear and Shadow Play. I'd been wanting some backstory for Applejack's parents for a long time. Who were they, where are they now, what happened, etc. So imagine my extreme disappointment when the writers decided, "You know what, we don't really care, have a Romeo and Juliet copy/paste, ha, you thought we'd actually give you something, nope, take that anticipant scum"... Yeah, it was a pile of garbage. Nothing was executed well, nor did they even try.

As for Shadow Play, that was the final straw. The show had been going downhill for a while already, and then they decided to make these random legends appear? Starswirl was historical, a wizard that people could read about and learn of. The others were myths and legends. And don't even get me started on the one with the shovel... Absolutely horrendous. That is the episode the finally did the show in for me. I don't consider that episode or anything afterward to be canon. I prefer to hold onto the episodes when the writers still cared to do the job right.

[JMTV99 1,354]

I'm going to be completely honest here. In my personal opinion, looking back on Season 7, it lands somewhere in the middle. Not as bad as Season 6, 8, & 9, and I still think it's a bit of a improvement over Season 6. However, it wasn't that memorable compared to Season 1-5, IMO. 

Now hear me out! Don't get me wrong, it has some good moments, and the ideas may sound interesting, and I'm glad that the show was able answers a lot of the questions like AJ's parents. However, when it comes to writing department, it lacked the flavor, hook, or memorability that make me wanna come back to watching again. It's not bad, it just didn't have that spark. What makes the first five seasons so great is that it had a lot of wit, charm, and happiness that makes me wanna come back watching it again. It had a lot creative freedom and I could tell the old staff had a lot of fun making the show. When they're gone and replaced by the new staff, they seems to care more about on what the fans wanted to see, rather than creating unique stories they wanted to tell that can appeal to both kids and families. I mean, it's fine once in a while to showcase some fanservice, but not all the time when it get distracting.

While the later seasons had some okay to decent episodes(the best one has to go Sounds of Silence from S8), but I like the earlier ones are much better for me, IMO. It feel like the core of the show to me.

I know I shouldn't come across as a bit harsh since there are some people out there who enjoy Season 7(and beyond) for what it was. That's great. If you guys like it, good for you. I respect your opinions. You can still praise for the people who were working on it. As for me, I'm not that big of fan of Season 7, but I'll give it credit for what it was trying to do and I made my peace with it.

Anyways, let's move on to my favorites and least favorites of the season.

My favorite episodes from Season 7 are The Perfect Pear and Honest Apple.

I really love The Perfect Pear so much. It's one the best episodes of the entire series. It's so sweet, so emotional, and so endearing. Sure, the whole Romeo and Juliet trope had been done before, but at least it put a unique spin to it. I love Pear Butter and Bright Mac. They're really amazing parents and they are a really cute couple. This is something that the fans has been waiting for since Day 1, and I'm very satisfied.

As for Honest Apple? Most people didn't like it due to AJ's behavior, but for me I don't mind it since it's a great learning experience for AJ. She may be the most honest pony and the most stubborn one, but she gotta learn to have some respect and be kind to others, and she did. Plus, the moral was so relatable and still relevant to this day (especially in the age of the internet). I'll put that episode in close second.

My least favorite episodes of Season 7 are Fame and Misfortune, Parental Glidance, and Secret and Pies.

I used to like Fame and Misfortune because I thought it was a great social commentary on the brony fanbase, but looking back on it again, and learning about the behind the scenes issues that happened, I really started to dislike it. Hell, even the good stuff couldn't even save it from all the mean-spiritedness that has been going on in this episode. Say what will about Slice of Life, at least they don't make dated references about Twilight being a alicorn and Fluttershy learning the same damn lesson over and over again. The premise about the journal coming back sound pretty cool, but the execution was so awful. Don't even get me started on townponies and their behavior. I don't get why Hasbro thought bringing back M.A Larson just to write another meta episode was a good idea despite the fact he was never a fan of meta humor in MLP?  What? Just because Slice of Life was well received, you'll think he'll strike lightning in a bottle twice? Give me a break.

I mean, if you guys like it, good for you. For me, it doesn't sit well. If M.A Larson wants nothing to do with it, so do I.

As for Parental Glidance and Secret and Pies? Both of them suffered the similar problems.

Rainbow Dash was so unlikable in those episodes. If it's not yelling at her parent's faces, then it's lying to your own friend when you can just simply say "no". Say what you will about Mare Do Well, and as bad as that episode was, at least Rainbow doesn't use her ego at spite of her friends and family. It such a shame that her characterization went down the rabbit hole as the years went by. It feels like the newer writers didn't really do her justice.

While it had some decent moments, but not enough to save those episodes for me.

That's all I have to say.

Edited June 28, 2021 by JMTV99