Favourite Finale/first two episodes?

[Nature Tune 8,392]

So, I was wondering, which finale/first two episodes of the seasons did you like? I liked the season seven finale, although i can’t say im a big fan of the one when the crystal heart shattered cuz of flurry heart.

[Jeric 46,850]

My favorite premiere is Return of Harmony. My favorite finale is a split between Best Night Ever and Shadow Play. But if you had to eliminate Best Night Ever as it isn't a two-parter, then Shadow Play is my favorite. 

[Prospekt 11,017]

My favorite of the season premieres is The Return of Harmony, followed closely by The Cutie Map. My favorite finale is A Canterlot Wedding, followed closely by Shadow Play.

[Dark Qiviut 22,378]

Favorite premiere: The Cutie Map. Everything about it is so well done. Pacing's magnificent. The story is impeccable. This whole episode has a lovely, unsettling vibe with Starlight Glimmer leading the nameless town and cult. "Our Town" is the best villain song of the series. Rather than bombastic, it's more grounded and character-driven. TCM, especially Part 2, is a psychological horror flick, and I love it.

Favorite finale: The Best Night Ever: The whole episode is flawless. Pacing, story structure, comedy, dialogue, and satire are amazing.

[Foxy Socks 2,599]

I don't think I have a favorite, but the last finale was pretty good. I liked the premiere for season 5 a lot too since it introduced Starlight Glimmer.

[Oleks 1,993]

My favorite premiere 2-parter is Return of Harmony. Discord was a great addition to the show, and his introduction was really cool.

My favorite finale is definitely The Cutie Re-Mark. Epicness+timey-wimey things - the perfect combination for me, and even the overly fast reformation of Starlight didn't make it any less enjoyable.

[Megas 27,540]

Best Premiere is Cutie Map, there was a lot that set it apart from other premieres. After that is Celestial Advice 

Best Finale is Best Night Ever, sometimes simple is better 

[ShootingStar159 2,155]

Favorite premier is Cutie Map, it was such a breath of fresh air after all the magical monsters I was used to, it instantly hooked me back into the series after two years gone.

Favorite finale is is Shadow Play, good lore, good character use, great pacing, excellent resolution.

[Sparklefan1234 169,111]

My favorite premier "Return of Harmony" & my favorite season finale is "Magical Mystery Cure".

 

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

My favorite premiere...ughh.

Return of Harmony is just really solid all around with a fantastic villain.

The Crystal Empire feels like a great example of preventing a disaster before it arrives, and Sombra did a good job at being intimidating

Princess Twilight Sparkle was really amazing and gave us many lorez, but overall had some stupid unneeded flaws that detract from the overall viewing.

The Cutie Map was just incredible, different and smaller scale yet the stakes were still high and I always get goosebumps at the end of episode 1.

Crystalling, FiM, and Celestial Advice are irrelevant here.

I think for me it is truly a tossup between Return of Harmony and The Cutie Map.

 

As for my favorite finale. Twilight's kingdom is...not far behind The Cutie Re-mark and Shadow Play, which are my two favorites.

Edited December 3, 2017 by Ryanmahaffe

[Castle Bleck 19,308]

1 hour ago, Jeric said:

My favorite premiere is Return of Harmony.

 

Mine, too.

 

It was when the show really started picking up steam.

[The Derpinator 36]

Favourite premier is definitely return to harmony

i dont really have a favourite finale but if i’d have to choose i would go best night ever i just love the old episodes (not saying the new ones are bad)

Edited December 3, 2017 by The Derpinator

[Sovereign Leader Rarity 12,006]

My favorite season premier is probably "The Return of Harmony" for it's entertainment factor, humor. and high stakes/emotional moments. It's just one of those episodes where basically everything works. I'm not a huge fan of the ending, but it's not a big deal by any means.

My favorite season finale is "Twilight's Kingdom", by far. It had the highest stakes, it successfully wrapped-up multiple story-arcs, it had the best villain that the show has seen to this day and, to put it bluntly, nothing else in the show has even come remotely close to topping that final battle between Twilight and Tirek. A truly outstanding climax to what, is in my opinion, the best season of MLP.

My least favorite two-part episode in general is "A Cutie Re-mark", an episode that I dislike considerably for a number of reasons. 

[Thrond 3,262]

Hmm. 

Favourite premiere? I'm gonna take an unpopular opinion and say it's probably "The Crystalling." It's a very nice balance of humour, spectacle, and drama where all three serve the characters above all else, and it's the exact kind of anxiety-driven story which I think this show does best. I really enjoyed the absurdity of the magic-powered baby, and all of the anxieties - Shining and Cadance's difficulties with new parenthood, Sunburst and Starlight's fear of rejection - feel somewhat more down-to-earth than what the show usually gets up to, and while the pace is slower than many episodes, the script is smart, and not only was Starlight's shtick fresh at the time, this is one of the few cases where I feel her self-pity is balanced correctly between being a flaw and being sympathetic. Ultimately, it's a story about how anyone - even someone considered a failure - can still do good in the world; about how every person has their own unique value. I find that resonant. 

Second place: "The Return of Harmony," which is the funniest two-parter, and might have been no.1 if the second half weren't so rushed. 

Favourite finale? "The Best Night Ever," of course. I'll say it again: this feels like the culmination of the season. Season 1 focused a lot on the mane six becoming friends, and this episode very nicely expands on each of their interests while also putting a final note of closure on those growing friendships. At the start, they barely knew each other, but by this point, they're thick as thieves. And I'm sure I don't need to remind anyone about all of the memorable, hilarious moments in this episode. 

If I had to pick a two-parter, I'd probably still say "Twilight's Kingdom," even though it goes against my usual demands of these things. Yes, it's mostly serious, and yes, it foregrounds plot and spectacle, but I still remember how much of a step up in intensity it was at the time, and I still love Twilight's character arc here enough to keep me awake now that the novelty of the spectacle has worn off. Very much a reaffirmation of the show's core values, however cheesy those may be. 

[DonMaguz 1,023]

Favorite premiere: The Return of Harmony.

Favorite finale: The Cutie Re-Mark.

[ultrairongorilla 2,064]

Favorite season premiere - The Cutie Map

Favorite season finale - Twilight's Kingdom, or Shadow Play

I've also grown more soft toward The Cutie Re-Mark, which I initially didn't like the first time I watched it. The last act in particular I thought was really well done.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

My favorite premier would have to be "The Crystal Empire" largely because the stakes felt high, the atmosphere felt heavy, and the villain was fucking BRILLIANT! The whole return of the ancient evil felt so real with how the crystal ponies expressed that through the PTSD they felt at the very thought of his name, and the Mane 6 were under a lot of pressure to deal with the situation the best they could; only to end up failing until Sombra himself was defeated, and the way he was taken down is was unique in that he almost WON without having to lift a hoof. I know many people have issues with the episode, and the gripes are legitimate, but the episode just works for me.

My favorite season finale (and my favorite episode period) would have to be "Shadow Play." Simply put, this episode has to deal with a LOT of things and it does it admirably well; possibly brilliantly. When you factor in that the episode had to find time for about 16 characters; while of course giving the most time to Twilight, Starlight, Star Swirl, and the Pony of Shadows, every character feels like they contribute in some fashion. Then there's how the episode connects with previous episodes like "Cutie Re-Mark," "Magical Mystery Cure," and even "Castle Maneia." It's an amazing feat what they were able to do given what they had to work with for 40 minutes.

[sweetolebob18 728]

The best 2 part episode would be The Cutie Remark because of the alternate universes. There aren't really any bad two parters. The worst season finale would probably be Magical Mystery Cure. First, because it rushed things -it would have been better  as a 2 part episode. Second because only Twilight became an alicorn & IMO they all deserved to. This was originally supposed to be the series finale & IMO it should have been reserved for the end of the last season. 

[Hierok 11,831]

My favourite premiere is without question 'The Return of Harmony', because Discord is focking brilliant. The Crystal Empire and Princess Twilight were also great. At four comes probably Friendship is Magic.

My favourite final is probably 'Shadow Play', with Magical Mystery Cure and A Crystal wedding behind it. At four a draw between The Cutie Re-mark and Twilights Kingdom.

[Rhythm Red 6,484]

I’d say my favorite premiere is Return Of Harmony, but really, I like them all. My favorite finale, though, is definitely Twilght’s Kingdom. That’s probably my favorite episode in general.

Once again, though, I liked all of them. In fact, I can’t really name any single MLP episode that I dislike.

[Here No Longer 5,276]

My favorite premiere is definitely, and by far, "The Return of Harmony." The episode in general was completely solid, there are basically no problems at all aside from the pacing towards the end, as well as the ending in general.  It just began to feel rushed, and the way it ended was just a little bit disappointing. Otherwise it's almost a flawless episode, and without question the absolute best of Discord, and a really well written episode in general aside from the hiccup in the second part of it that made it feel a little bit rushed towards the end, as well as the disappointing ending.

Second and Third would be: "The Cutie Map" and "Friendship is Magic." These weren't hard to choose for me, though, because none of the others really compare that well to the top 3 in quality. If I HAD to pick a fourth, I guess it would likely be "Princess Twilight Sparkle."

My favorite finale (and episode) is "Twilight's Kingdom." I don't even know what to say is wrong with it. Almost perfectly paced, extremely well written, and basically perfect in every other way. I don't even see a problem of any kind with it, aside from the ending feeling a little bit too much like a Dragon Ball sequence, but even then it's a very small issue because that problem with it actually isn't much of a problem as it serves as an example of the stakes of the episode's ending. I really liked how they actually made Discord betray the Mae Six here as well. MLP doesn't do plot twists often, but that one is worth as many complements as some of the best twist endings of "The Twilight Zone."

 Second and Third here would be: "To Where and Back Again" and "Shadow Play." This was a really hard choice, because I also was thinking heavily about putting "The Cutie Re-Mark" on here. 

 

I'll go off on a tangent here and say the WORST of both as well.

My LEAST favorite premiere (that I've watched, as I decided to skip the Crystalling after reading the plot summary. Probably should be glad I did) is, also by far, "The Crystal Empire." Sombra was a villain was hardly even present here and it felt really boring to me.  It hardly even felt like anything was happening at all, with how it took the entire first half to actually get the ball rolling and all...  You know it almost took them until the end of the 2nd episode to actually get to the climax, and even then it wasn't that climactic, and after that was literally everyone praising Spike for little reason, because Hasbro decided that he needed some love for some reason.

My LEAST favorite finale, (AND EPISODE), is "Magical Mystery Cure." Where do I even START? The pacing was downright ATROCIOUS. It was paced so fast it was hard to even keep up with what was actually happening in the plot, and even then most of the time they should have taken to EXPLAIN IT was used instead for probably some of the worst and least memorable songs in the whole show's run. What REALLY put the nail in the coffin for this this being the absolute worst this show ever aied is the ending. All that can be said is "in what world did this even REMOTELY make sense?" The conclusion was completely confusing to the point where I even wondered "what the actual f*** is even happening here?" Answer being... I hardly even know. now after FIVE YEARS.

Edited March 2, 2018 by Classic Meme
Added a little more to it.

[SummerHaven 49]

My favorite is the episodes with tirek returning (I forgot the name of the episode). This might be influenced by the fact that twilight is my favorite character and she was great in those episodes.

[JH24 385]

Favorite opening: Return of Harmony

Favorite ending: The Cutie Re-mark