Ranking the 25th episodes

[KH7672 1,604]

So since I've been too stupidly busy and took this long to finish the ranking threads I'm just gonna thrown the rest of them at you. So episode 25 sees the single slice-of-life episode, the start of many two part finales and ending of one. It's interesting to see only four different writers are here for all the episodes and predominantly dominated by McCarthy and then Haber so it'll be interesting to see the rankings. Whether you hold to treat each finale part seperate or as one, look forward to the opinions we have for each (including an unpopular one of my own):

1. To Where and Back Again Part 1- Time for me to praise my favorite finale and this first part I love especially because of the gradual build up to Starlight rag-tag team of "secondary characters" with the decision to keep the audience in the dark about the Changeling takeover by following Starlight, the details are something I've been able to give my suspension of disbelief just because the reveal works well for the character involved, from Luna send a dream message to the spying on the communications in the throne room. It knows wwhere the priorities of the story lies and to keep it moving and I enjoy that.

2. Party of One- Speaking of keeping both a character in the dark along with the audience, this episode pulled it off wonderfully. Plus it got to delve into Pinkie's character that may have tried to be duplicated but never got the right passion or sympathy behind it. Plus the humor in the episode is wonderful.

3. The Cutie Re-Mark Part 1- My bias might not be showing yet, but trust me it will, for this finale feels works well to set up the time travel situation and continues to expand on Starlight's deluded intentions for herself. It's a one-on-one revenge showdown that the show never attempt much before with more talking on both sides and coming to grips with the situation due to the nature of the spell instead of diving in head first and failing. The failures cause growth for Twilight, and the futures she experiences are interesting in the what if scenerios they create. With a desire to maybe see a little more before the second part but still fine on it's one.

4. The Ending of the End Part 2- This part utilizes the entire world the show has built up effectly and sufficiently with each of the main players of the show getting moments to shine around the Mane 6 like the Princesses, Starlight, the Students (not so much the Pillars though) but the final climax uniting all of Equestria has such a grand scale and is so meaningful it lives up to the expectations set by the season. Plus for the time they have left the Villainous Trio still continued to be wonderful characters to watch until the end.

5. School Raze Part 1- I enjoy this initial part because of the set up they have going for the finale, mainly that the magic is mysteriously disappearing and there is almost a certain blame game going around for who done it. Each group of characters gets involved from the Mane 6 and Spike, to the Students and Neighsay, to even the CMC. It's building up a solid experience around the characters the school impacted most. All leading up to Cozy Glow's villainous reveal that keeps me invested to see how ALL the groups solve this...all of them right?

6. Shadow Play Part 1- The finale with the pillars and this is kinda on the low end for being a lore dump and kind of rushing to get to the ending by gong through quick fetch quests that had potential to be strong episodes on their own. Plus it could've done a better job at making Twilight's motivations more believable along with showing better logic for overlooking the Pony of Shadows' return, but still a fine mini adventure store before the main showdown.

7. A Canterlot Wedding Part 1- While not a bad finale in any way the plot goes a little too much out of it's way to keep both the audience and Twilight on edge. However is mostly frustrating to watch Twilight struggle this episode on both sides of the problem. To see Twilight react harshly toward Shinng Armor and Cadence who we never got much build up on, but also to see everyone abandon Twilight without taking the time to understand anything. It's characterization that work solely for the plot and is not the strongest.

8. Twilight's Kindom Part 1- Unpopular opinion time, and this curious as this being the first finale I watched live as I started in Season 4 but it has always been my least favorite finale and this part being the worst of them all for the sole purpose that NOTHING MEANINGFUL HAPPENS FOR 75% OF THE EPISODE. Only three things of importance happens: The beginning with Twilight feeling unimportant, Discord facing Tirek, and the ending Stinger with Celestia's decision. That's it, the characters do almost nothing to advance the story besides reaffirm the rainbow keys that have been built up but mostly just sit around waiting for the plot to happen. It's unfulfilling and it never struck me as a solid entry for Twilight's rainbow key but that gets more into Part 2.

[Megas 28,140]

Unfortunately after S4, these finales really took a nosedive imo

1) Party of One - Pinkamena is a riot, yet, it's....surprisingly emotional

2) Canterlot Wedding Pt. 1 - The cliffhanger in the end is real edge on the seat worthy

3) Shadow Play - Probably my favorite of the post S4 finales, I really liked the artifact hunt as it gives each of the mane 6 significant to do

4) Twilight's Kingdom - Princess stupidity aside, "Play Your Part" is a wonderful song, and I like Tirek's gradual build up to something more threatening

5-8) the rest, I really don't like the rest of these at all. Cutie Remark wastes most of it's time on just outlandishly edgy alternate universes not giving enough time for anything to breathe. To Where And Back Again outright neuters just about every major character without any explanation just to jerk off to Starlight and co. without them doing anything to earn it throughout the entire season, really making her look like a creator's pet. Then School Raze does it again for the student six, this time addressing the issues of the latter by actually showing how everything went down, yet it still feels convoluted and poorly executed, which just tells me that maybe they just can't pull off this kind of plot well. I haven't seen The End of The End, but I already know they major twist and it just ruins both the entire finale and much of the season imo

[Sparklefan1234 181,033]

19 minutes ago, Jefferson Steelflex said:

Unfortunately after S4, these finales really took a nosedive imo

 

I agree.

My favorite of the episodes listed is "A Canterlot Wedding Part 1". 

[ChB 18,574]

48 minutes ago, Sparklefan1234 said:

 

I agree.

My favorite of the episodes listed is "A Canterlot Wedding Part 1". 

I cannot separate the first part from the second, so I voted that too. One of the most timeless episodes ever, and for good reasons.  

[Rushing cash 845]

Party of one wins it for me, its not intense or sophisticated as some others and its very simple... but its such a fun episode to watch.

[Oleks 1,994]

1. The Cutie Re-Mark Part 1 – I really liked the alternate timelines theme, and I hadn’t expected that they’d show things like a full-scale war in MLP – and it had some cool visuals too. Also, my favorite Moondacer appeared in this episode, so bonus points for this.
2. The Ending of the End Part 2 – one word: epic!
3. To Where and Back Again Part 1 – I really liked that secondary characters had a chance to save the day for a change.
4. Party of One – the competition is really tough in this poll, if such a masterpiece only lands fourth. This is a classic, and definitely one of my favorite Pinkie Pie episodes.
5-6. A Canterlot Wedding Part 1, Twilight's Kingdom Part 1 – in CW the sudden introduction of Shining was an issue, but not a major one, in other aspects the episode was fine. TK was mostly build-up before the epicness of the next episode, but it was quite interesting.
7. School Raze Part 1 – a promising start of the two-parter, but still it has quite a few problems and plotholes
8. Shadow Play Part 1 – this should have been 3 or 4 separate episodes. Too many characters, too little time.

[Will Guide 21,372]

Okay, maybe I'm biased here but To Where and Back Again is my favourite. Mostly Due to Thorax's Return since his debut. Plus Trixie bailing Starlight out of embarrassment as well as sleep-talking about peanut butter crackers. Nice subtle callback to Equestria Girls 1.

Also, before coming up with Changeling Will Guide I originally was going to have Unicorn Will Guide secretly follow StarTrix to Our Town. But I realized it would be more interesting to show something new not seen onscreen. So offically, in Part 1, U. Will before rediscovering his Changeling soul mate would go visit Thorax at Sunburst's house. Thorax would mentioned this other Changeling he knew and I as U. Will would have quickly realized the truth. But Sunburst burst into the room saying the evil Changelings have taken the C.E. Royal Family. Thorax and I would quickly make our way back to Ponyville where we would regroup with Starlight, Trixie and Discord.

More to say in next episode poll

[Thrond 3,271]

1. Party of One - It was fun enough to have Pinkie Pie being completely ridiculous, but I feel like this episode takes a deeper look at her mindset than most other episodes focused on her. I sympathize with her anxiety about being abandoned, and I sympathize with her confusion about what her friends are doing. Plus there are just so many great Pinkie Pie shenanigans, from the singing telegram to hiding in a haystack, and then it goes off the rails - parts of this episode are still weirder than anything else the show has done, even now that it's finished. Tremendous. 
2. To Where and Back Again, Part 1 - Probably my favourite Starlight focus episode; her chemistry with Trixie is on point in this, and both of them are just so charming. Then Thorax and Discord come in and they're great too. More importantly it's just funny joke after funny joke, and when almost every other season finale takes itself so seriously, this one is incredibly refreshing. It's a little contrived that everyone else got captured, but I don't even care, because that makes it feel even less pretentious to me. 
3. Twilight's Kingdom, Part 1 - This episode is really cool, plus I do enjoy Twilight's struggle to rediscover her place in life. I never really cared about her role as a princess, but this is much more about her learning to just be herself - just because she's a princess doesn't mean she has to change. I like this part slightly less than part 2 because it's a little slow and the stuff about Twilight "playing her part" isn't very interesting to me. 
4. The Ending of the End, Part 2  - No change in opinion. 
5. School Raze, Part 1 - I think this might be the blandest of the series finales, but it's a bit more fun than those of seasons 5 and 7, if only because the students' relationship is charming and the Tartarus scenes show the mane six at their funniest. But it still tries too hard to be suspenseful, even though there's no real sense of danger or doubt about what will happen next, and most of the ideas are recycled from earlier two-parters. They didn't really pull this kind of thing off until season 9. 
6. The Cutie Re-Mark, Part 1 - The alternate futures are neat, but they don't last long enough to be satisfying, and most of it is just an unsatisfying laser-beam fight which we know nobody's actually going to win. This episode takes itself way too seriously for how predictable and simple it is. Plus the idea that nobody would have stopped these villains if Twilight never met her friends is nonsensical. 
7. A Canterlot Wedding, Part 1 - On the one hand, I'm a little surprised that nobody but Twilight saw through Chrysalis's disguise. On the other hand, Twilight is really annoying in this half, and crashing her brother's wedding for something she doesn't really understand seems unusually tactless for her. This half is significantly less enjoyable than the second part. 
8. Shadow Play, Part 1 - Nothing that happens in this episode matters, and I truly do not care about the Pillars. Even if this episode weren't pure table-setting for the second half, it would still be the mane six blandly collecting MacGuffins, and it would still be unbelievable that Twilight would be so blinded by idol worship that she didn't consider that, oh, maybe there's a reason Starswirl locked himself in limbo. Seems like she was made stupid to make Starlight look better. 

[Js250476 1,367]

Party of One is a nice psychological ride and shows a new side to Pinkie’s character. Shadow Play was a great epic episode for introducing the Pillars and Stygian and I even love To Where and Back again for the excellent chemistry between Starlight, Trixie, Thorax and Discord they made such an excellent and fun team to me. And I do still absolutely love Ending of the End (people really exaggerate the twist imo.) 

[Cash In 23,133]

I enjoy the season finales, but they aren't the same when condensed into halves, so Party of One has a bit of an edge here.

1. Party of One - Definitely a lot deeper from an emotional standpoint. Was the effective inspiration for a lot of shitty fan content, but I guess that goes to show how much depth this one has.
2. Twilight's Kingdom Part 1 - One of the strongest finales. Tirek is one of the best villains in the show, hands down.
3. A Canterlot Wedding Part 1 - Pretty good overall. 
4. Shadow Play Part 1  - Pretty good. Seeing Star Swirl was pretty surreal.
5. To Where and Back Again Part 1 - Fine. Part 1 one is a bit weak.
6. The Ending of the End Part 2 - Has an advantage because Part 2 is much better than Part 1.
7. The Cutie Re-Mark Part 1 - The idea here had a ton of potential. Potential is the key word here.
8. School Raze Part 1 - It's alright. Part 2 is far stronger.

Edited October 2, 2021 by Cash_In

[Buttonmash2020 20]

The Ending of the End Part 2 

 

A Canterlot Wedding Part 1 

 

School Raze Part 1

 

Party of One 

 

Twilight's Kingdom Part 1

 

The Cutie Re-Mark Part 1 

 

To Where and Back Again Part 1 

Shadow Play Part 1

[Astralshy 29,437]

I still missed one of those threads >D

I love all these episodes. Just preferences here

1. Twilight's Kingdom Part 1
2. A Canterlot Wedding Part 1
3. The Ending of the End Part 2
4. The Cutie Re-Mark Part 1 
5. Party of One 
6. To Where and Back Again Part 1 
7. Shadow Play Part 1 
8. School Raze Part 1