S02:E01+E02 - Return of Harmony

[Moon Rat 4,772]

I really enjoyed this episode quite a lot. I lol'd a bit when Discord started dancing on Twilight's head in the window PLUS...

Discord has to be THE FUNNIEST villain I have come across

 

I mean, it is not everyday you see someone with a glass of Chocolate Milk drinking the glass and throwing the Chocolate Milk and it explodes behind them

 

I just about fell out of my chair laughing at that

[TwilightSparkle42 37]

Discord will return because he's epic.  One of the reasons why he is too epic is that he can have a chocolate milk of glass, throwing the explosive liquid away (mentioned earlier).  Here are the other reasons:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvSdQyK10vo

 

He even got a well-deserved song:

 

[Virulence 254]

This episode was very well thought out. The name "Discord" really sticks and doesn't linger. I recently watched this episode again and would like to point out how spectacular it was.

 

I loved all the different ways of chaos as well. Such as the cotton candy clouds, and chocolate milk rain. That was genius and funny. Pinkie really was funny at the beginning, but too much of her... well that's another topic.

 

In the labyrinth was the best. Discord was very sly and mysterious on how to re-make every pony act different. My personal favorite was fluttershy (Or in this case, fluttermean... okay I tried.)

 

Anyway, this episode showed humor and how disharmony is erupted with friends turning their backs on you... Anddd a giant draconequus terrorizing the town..  

[Redthir 42]

The way the Mane 6 turned out after they became Discorded is incredibly clever, in my opinion.

 

Applejack is telling constant half-truths. Firstly, this breaks her element (Honesty). Secondly, we have seen this from her, namely in Party of One.

Pinkie Pie becomes angry and negative. This is most definitely the opposite of the element of Laughter, and in Party of One, after Rainbow Dash dragged her to Sweet Apple Acres, much of what she said was very similar to her discorded self.

Rarity becomes obsessive about a rock, which she believes to be a diamond. Her greed breaks the element of Generosity. This whole thing about the rock seems rather like the Prince Blueblood saga to me - falling for a charmless prince. Also, could her skepticality be related to her OCD and her wish to have things exactly as she pleases?

Fluttershy becomes a bully, breaking the element of Kindness. Although Putting Your Hoof Down hadn't aired at the time, it's likely that the production team finished the episode before this one aired.

Rainbow Dash becomes someone similar to the man in the lyrics of Judas Priest's "Beyond the Realms of Death." http://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/judas+priest/beyond+the+realms+of+death_20076109.html

We've seen her completely isolate herself twice in Season 2, firstly in The Mysterious Mare Do Well and secondly in Read it and Weep. Interestingly enough, the former of these cases seemed to result from failure, and when she was Discorded, could she have believed she'd failed to save Cloudsdale?

Twilight Sparkle is probably the most straightforward - she became the Twilight Sparkle from the pilot, as she had lost all of her friends.

[Emerald Claus 24,849]

LOVED THIS EPISODEEEEE

LOVED THIS EPISODEEEEE

yay

[DR Leper Lupinstein 410]

this was my epic fav. Fluttershy just schools twilight ima never forget that. I think she needed this episode cuz she's always gettin the short end of the stick. 

 

LIKE A BOSS!!!

Edited January 21, 2013 by zombronie

[Toby 3]

why doesnt anypony watch these episodes anymore?

[The Rainbownator 42]

These two episodes were my favouret two parter in the entire show, some may say canterlot wedding was better I say to them....John de lancie JOHN DE LANCIE the guy is a legend, and played Q.

[MurderousLord 2]

My favourite episode of MLP by far.

 

This episode singlehandedly got me into MLP, Star Trek and Breaking Bad. Not many episodes, let alone series can do that.

 

DeLancie is King.

[Buttonmash1973 1,026]

And so Discord had been born.

 

I was new at the show at that time and I loved the dramatic Season two opening.

 

Discord deserved his comeback.

[Thundershock 310]

A good 2 parter,but its kinda weird how cotton candy clouds and chocolate milk rain are supposed to mean chaos.

Lol rarity's giant boulder tom.

[GuerrierCosmique 146]

Return of Harmony is my third favorite episode (and Party of One) after Friendship is Magic I and II. I love the whole adventure and "good vs. evil" scheme the story is about.

 

Best Season 2 episode together with Party of One. Also Discord rules.

Edited March 4, 2013 by Tahirih

[Starlight Song 43]

The famous John Dilance  as Discord( I think that's how you spell it).

Favorite scene: Discord tries to get Fluttershy to go against her element but she is too pro..

Edited April 21, 2013 by Starlight Song

[TheSupremeLeaderOfChaos 1,206]

These were the episodes that truly got me into this fandom. Without Discord, and the song that the fandom made for him, I wouldn't have even known this fandom existed. Soooo.... FAVORITE EPISODES! Also, John de Lancie. Let me repeat. John de Freakin' Lancie!!!

[True Rarity 1,240]

That was awesome! My favorite part was when Fluttershy was pulling the hot air balloon, and Twilight tells her that if they don't catch Rainbow Dash, Discord will win, so she goes faster!

 

"Fluttershy, if we don't catch her, Discord is going to win!"
"That... big... Stupid... MEANIE!!!!!" (jets forward)

~Twilight Sparkle  and Fluttershy 

[Persian 46]

Two of my top three favorite episodes, along with "Keep Calm and Flutter On". Guess why? Well, because of Discord, of course! What can I say. In my opinion, Discord is one of the greatest character ever created.

[True Rarity 1,240]

Two of my top three favorite episodes, along with "Keep Calm and Flutter On". Guess why? Well, because of Discord, of course! What can I say. In my opinion, Discord is one of the greatest character ever created.

I'm with you, bro.

If you watch Star Trek, you'll notice that Discord acts an awful lot like the character Q. Later my brother looked the actors up, and it's the same actor!

[RAInbowShy1001 6]

I absolutely enjoyed these episodes mostly for Discord. Thats all I'm going to say. Discord has made my top 5 favorite tv show villains of all time...I don't watch much tv 

[BlueEyedPegasus 59]

Just watched this two-parter today for the first time, and so far, I consider it to be the darkest, most suspenseful two-parter in the entire series. What makes it worth watching is that it's very reminiscent of Batman: The Animated Series, Power Rangers, and even Super Sentai. Discord himself seems like a hybrid of the Riddler and the Joker from Batman and Him from The Powerpuff Girls. I also like how he sounds a bit like Tim Curry! Overall, very good story with plenty of depth.

[WishingtotheStars 15]

I did not care for this episode really at all. It got boring after awhile. Although they did put Discord back to stone, I think they should have made it a little more exciting.

[Tri-Dart 38]

]Why, these episodes were fantastic! Discord was so chaotic! XD my grammars is nice do you sees meh grammar?! GRAAAMMMMMMAAAAAARRRR!

~Tri-Dart

 

[Homura Akemi 974]

Watching these episodes was the very first time I ever watched FiM live, so it holds a very dear place in my heart. These episodes are my favourite from season 2 and my overall second favourite from the entire series. I love Discord so much. He's my favourite villain. 

 

Rating: 9.3/10

Edited July 15, 2013 by Misumi Nagisa

[pinkie_pie4816 4]

I loved this episode. I just started going back and re-watching some of my favorites. I found myself laughing out loud to some parts. The girls were perfect. They were the complete opposite of their elements. And did i mention that discord is amazing!?

[Dirty Dan 83]

Probably one of my favorite pair of episodes haha

[Batbrony 16,052]

 

 WOOHOO, NEW SEASON!!!  OK, not really seeing as it is already over two years old, but still, I'm starting to review a fresh, new season and it's an exciting occasion, especially considering that it's Season 2!  To start my Season 2 reviews off, I'll begin by saying that personally, I hold Season 2 to be the best complete season of MLP thus far.  That's somewhat unfair to Season 3 seeing as it was only half as long as the previous two, but to that I can only say tough break Season 3, that's the name of the children's television distribution game.  Don't get me wrong, I loved Season 3 for what it is and it is superior to the other two seasons in plenty of ways, but the truth of the matter is that when you get down to it there is simply no way that a season half as long as the previous two can in any way, shape, or form be, overall, better than the other two.  Anyways, with that little disclosure out of the way, let's get down to the Season 2 opener itself, "The Return of Harmony: Parts 1 and 2".

 

I'm not going to go too much into detail of the story or comedy bits, mostly because there's simply too many notable things in both areas to count in this opener.  I will cover the setup however to start things off.  After a fun-filled Season 1, things seem to be going great in Equestria, until whacky, wild things start occurring all over Ponyville!  Clouds run amok and are made of cotton candy and rain chocolate milk, corn is spontaneously popping into popcorn all on its own, and animals are sprouting horse legs!  After reeling in some of the local chaos, the Mane 6 are summoned to Canterlot by Princess Celestia herself, where she explains who is behind the recent discord.  In a word, it's none other than, well... DISCORD!!!  Yes, Discord, a malevolent spirit of chaos who Celestia explains once ruled all of Equestria with a chaotic fist, plunging the land into eternal chaos until the alicorn sisters Celestia and Luna discovered the Elements of Harmony and, utilizing their power, turned him into stone!  Now, with the Royal Sister's connection to the Elements broken, and thanks to some rowdy young fillies in the vicinity of the encased Discord (way to go CMC!!! ), Discord has escaped and is on the loose, intent on wreaking havoc and chaos across the land unless the Mane 6 can stop him!  After discovering that the lord of chaos has stolen the Elements, the Mane 6 set off to recover them and banish Discord back from whence he came!

 

So, with that out of the way, let's start with the villain himself; the all powerful, conniving, deceptive, evil lord of chaos, disharmony, and all things discord is...

 

 

...a completely carefree, utter goofball!   This is Discord, the draconequus lord of chaos and villain of the Season 2 opener (voiced by none other than John De Lancie himself, who's character Q from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" actually inspired Lauren Faust to write the character Discord).  And, if I'm being completely honest, this dude, like for so many other bronies and pegasisters out there, is by far my favorite villain of the entire show thus far.  On the surface, he's hardly the most threatening villain the show's ever seen: I mean, Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis, Sombra, they were all far more upfront about their evil intentions and wicked ways.  But Discord?  This dude just wants to have fun and spread the joy of cutting loose and sharing a little chaos with as many ponies as possible!  Right?

 

Well, actually, no.  When you get down to it the thing that makes Discord such a frightening villain is really just how powerful he is, and no, he's not like a child playing with fire in that he doesn't realize how dangerous it is, no no, he's fully aware just how powerful he is!  But the thing you've got to understand about Discord is that the guy has style; for him, there's a very specific way one should screw with everypony.  He doesn't just use his power like a blunt tool, no no, this guy, this sneaky bastard is like an artist when it comes to wielding his chaotic powers.  When you think about it, he could've at any time with a snap of his fingers sent the Mane 6 anywhere he wanted, anywhere at all, and all of Equestria would've been screwed!  I mean, he took away their wings and horns for crying out loud, so I'm sure he could've easily done that!!!  Instead, he launched a complex scheme to utterly crush the spirits of each and every one of the Mane 6 and destroy their very will to defeat him (even if he had to get a little blunt at times when things didn't go his way *cough cough* Fluttershy *cough cough*).  Basically, he turned their world, the friendships that they'd built over the entire course of the first season, entirely upside down in less than a day!!!  I don't know about you, but to me, that's bucking scary powerful, I mean, especially considering he wasn't even trying that hard or using his powers to their full extent!!!  The other thing that puts him ahead of these other villains is that, whereas most of them have operated either in the shadows or indirectly to get what they want without being discovered, Discord, while certainly relying off of trickery and cunning, never once makes it a secret that he's trying to screw with the Mane 6!  He's constantly showing up in front of all of them to "discord" them, and in fact, I think the subtlest he ever got was with Applejack and Twilight herself.  This guy knows just how powerful he is, but he's so carefree and also devoted to having as much fun as possible that he refuses to just flatout wield his power to its full extent, and rather do his very best to get as much enjoyment out of his victims' pain and suffering as possible.  That's just plain evil, it's scary, it usually has hilarious results (don't look at me like that, you all know you laughed at Flutterb*tch and RarityxTom the Rock as much as I did ), and it's still bucking effective, which just goes to show how intelligent a villain Discord is, which, combined with his ridiculous level of power, makes him one bucking tough villain!

 

On top of that, there's other things that make him a great villain.  Discord gives new meaning to the phrase "he just don't give a buck"; the guy's entire goal in life is to get as much enjoyment and laughter as possible out of doing his best to spread as much chaos and anarchy as he can, even if it causes suffering for others.  While obviously this qualifies him as quite evil (but not beyond reform as we see later in Season 3), it also means that he's hands down the funniest villain the show's had yet.  The only other villain that can really even compare is Nightmare Moon, and that's just because she's so over-the-top that it's hilariously cheesy.  Discord tries to and is easily just a funny, funny being every second of his existence; there's only a few moments where he drops his usually cheery, carefree personality and displays a more malevolent, threatening side, but even then you know that this guy's just mad because his fun's being interfered with and he just can't wait to get back to having disharmonious fun!  His physical character design is great as well, a very unique and, I'd go so far as to say, inspired original design, and definitely the most memorable of any of the villains the show's had so far (and that's saying something considering they've all looked great!.

 

So, confronted with such a scary-powerful villain, just how do the girls stop him?  Well, if I'm being honest, Discord's personality is as much to blame for his downfall as it is for why he's such a great villain.  The guy's biggest weakness?  Hubris.  Discord is way too prideful and certain of his own success for his own good, and it bites in the flank in the end when he allows the girls to take another shot at him, rather than just scatter them to the four corners of the earth as I'm sure he very well could.  I'm not complaining about that, as he'd probably be overpowered if he was far more careful, and really it's a key part of his personality that goes into making Discord such a great character.  All in all, I can say with absolute certainty that for me, Discord is easily the best villain the show's had thus far, and it's really for only that reason and the phenomenal challenge he gives the girls that I'm actually disappointed to some extend that he was reformed in Season 3, even though I loved how that was handled as well.  Hats off to the writers on creating a truly memorable, unique, original villain for MLP near and dear to us all!

 

You might as well give up already; no matter how hard the rest of you try, you'll always just be fighting for second place.

 

Well, that's the villain out of the way, so let's get to the story.  Again, I'm just going to talk about it in general since there's simply too many things here that make this two-parter perfect.  I think the biggest factor that really makes this episode truly great is that it picks up perfectly from where Season 1 left off.  The second this season starts, you know these friends have spent an entire season being friends, and that's perfectly believable throughout the episode.  This shows that there is an overall story progression to this show, along with a few other factors.  The character of Discord and his own past with Celestia and Luna was probably the biggest addition to canon Equestrian history we'd gotten since the Season 1 opener with Nightmare Moon, and set the tone for Season 2, which would contain far more world building than Season 1 ever did.  Finally, Celestia's returning all of Twilight's letters to her towards the end of Part 2 was a delightful throwback to Season 1 that further reinforced the idea that we'd only gotten to this point in the show because of Season 1, that there is indeed an ongoing story to this show with a beginning, a middle, and, eventually, an end.

 

The theme of the story is very notable as well; when you get down to it, it's all about the girls reaffirming everything they've learned about friendship over the course of Season 1 against the very anti-thesis to friendship.  Friendship in MLP blossoms out of harmony; Discord is the lord of disharmony!  So really, when you think about it, Discord's disharmony is to friendship what Darkseid's Anti-Life Equation is to life; the very anti-thesis of all things harmonious, including friendship.  And that's really what he literally transforms the Mane 6 into, their very anti-theses, the exact opposites of themselves.  The fact that he can do that just goes to show how ridiculously powerful he is, but their overcoming it goes to show how even more powerful the Mane 6's friendship is at that point in the show.  Again, as I said with the story, this type of theme is perfect to pick up where Season 2 left off, as it reinforces that friendship remains the central theme of the show despite the fact that the world and its history/mythos is expanding rapidly.

 

Finally, I can't talk about the episode's story without talking about the comedy.  It feels unfair to say that this is the funniest episode in the entire show, mostly because it's a two-parter, so I won't go that far, but it is by far the funniest season opener/finale that the show's had thus far.  Throughout both episodes the laughs just keep coming and coming and coming nonstop, whether from the normal Mane 6, Discord and his gags, the discorded Mane 6, or even some of the amazing pop culture references (there aren't too many, but there are some notable ones, especially "chocolate rain" and the amazing Star Wars reference at the end of the episode!!!).  Heck, there's so many laughs and plot points to throw into the episode that, unlike any of the other season openers or finales, they didn't even have time left to throw in a song!  Usually I'd complain, but in this case I'll make an exception because frankly the episode's too funny to care that there is no new songs; besides, Daniel Ingram delivered plenty enough later in Season 2 that it didn't matter in this case.  Point is, if you're ever looking for a good laugh, pick any five minutes from these two episodes and I have no doubt you'll find something that gets at least a chuckle out of you. 

 

OMG gaiz, like, lolz, we are seriously so funny it's unbelievable!!!  

 

Just got a couple more things to say before I wrap this review up.  The animation in this opener was probably the finest we'd seen in the show yet, and really took it to places we'd never seen before.  Of particular note to me is the stain glass scene at the beginning of Part 1; the animation of Discord in the stain glass is a really very lovely and impressive animation, and it showed that Studio B's animators were continuing to refine their craft (hats off to Sibsy and the crew ) and willing to try new and exciting things!  Discord's normal design was impressive as well, especially his very flexible, fluid movements, no small feat I'm sure.

 

Overall, "The Return of Harmony: Parts 1 and 2" is the perfect season opener to me.  Again, I hesitate to say it's the best episode of the entire show simply because it's a two-parter, but it is in my book most definitely the best season opener/finale the show's had thus far.  Everything is simply executed perfectly, and Season 2 could not have gotten off to a better start than it did with this bang of an opener.  I think it's safe to say that this episode ranks high in the hearts and minds of most bronies, probably making the Top Ten lists of most, and as for me, well, I can honestly say that I never get tired of watching this opener again and again and again.

 

You better be getting my good side, because mark my words, I WILL BE BACK!!!  After all, the fan response has been overwhelmingly positive.  You simply can't deny the fans a fan-favorite, right writers?  So be good little boys and girls and bring me back to the show.  I don't care if you even have me reformed by that annoying butter pony, just bring me back pronto!  Please and thank you!!!  I certainly don't want to spend the rest of my days stoned; after all, that would make for one heck of a case of the munchies!  HA!!!  Still got it!!!