A few decent, but unspectacular episodes in a row. I’m glad the show brought Twilight’s jealousy to the forefront and dealt with it.
Yeah, this season is a bit of a disappointment. It’s not unwatchable, but it’s clearly the weakest so far. Coming off of nearly a year’s break doesn’t help, and neither does the fact that a new season premier date is not set either. Are we to wait another year? Discord’s actor says another Discord ep in a year. But is that the premier or just 24 episodes into the season?
The real studio movie has a release date of 2017.
Wow! what a season finale.
Well, The Cutie Remark was quite an impressive finale and a good bookend for the season that had cutie marks as a major theme. As expected, Starlight Glimmer returns to get her revenge on Twilight Sparkle, and Twilight has to take her on herself, with any powerups and without her friends. (OK, she has Spike for help). And Twilight just can’t beat her.
SG has been making scattered cameos throughout the season, gathering intel on Twilight and her friends and has also apparently been getting a lot of magic study/practice in. She’s figured out a way to boost Starswirl the Bearded’s time travel spell by focusing it through the Cutie Map (which is connected to the Tree of Harmony), which will let her go anywhere, anywhen in Equestria. And she decides to ruin the Mane Six’s friendship by stopping Lil Dashie from creating the Sonic Rainboom that led to them getting their cutie marks.
SG sabotages the race and Twilight is sucked back to the present, a very different present. The map table is there, and shows that the Crystal Empire has expanded to cover half of Equestria. But the castle is gone and Ponyville looks grim and run down. Twilight finds Applejack at a Sweet Apple Acres that has been converted to a canning/production facility churning out applesauce. Applejack has no idea who she is, but explained that King Sombra returned with the Crystal Empire and turned the crystal ponies into his slave army and its been constant war ever since. Every pony that isn’t on the front lines (like Rainbow Dash, No-Fun Rock-Farming Pinkamena, and Celestia her own self) is working on the home front to win the war.
Twilight goes back in time again, and fails to stop Starlight Glimmer again. This time, she returns to an Equestria ruled by Queen Chrysalis, with Zecora leading a small resistance movement in the Everfree Forest. Twilight bounces back and forth, showing glimpses of Equestrias ruled by Nightmare Moon, Discord, Tirrek, and the Flim-Flam Brothers. Not only is Starlight Glimmer able to match her magically, but she is also able to wrongfoot Twilight by being sneaky-smart and manipulative. Twilight realizes she can’t stop SG, as she has too many paths to victory. Her only hope is to get Starlight Glimmer to stop herself…
I can’t believe that they included a direct shout-out to a fanfic in the finale.
What was it?
I assume it’s one of the nightmare alternate worlds?
Kind of surprised that one of them wasn’t ruled by Alicorn-Amulet Trixie.
Sort of. There’s a popular fanfic called “Hard Reset” where Twilight is stuck in a time loop during a second changeling invasion. The first thing that happens every loop is Spike saying “Well that didn’t work.”
In the episode, the very first thing that happens during the changeling loop is Spike saying that word for word.
Well, the season’s over and I guess the question is: Where does MLP:FIM go from here?The nicely bookended season opener and season finale introduced new concepts and frameworks to build future episodes.
The Mane Six have had had too much character development and growth over the years to base episodes on friendship lessons or dealing with their main personality flaw. This season’s episodes that try to do that, such as Scare Masters, have too much of a been-there-done-that feel.
The Cutie Map still has a lot of potential to be a framework for a lot of episodes and led to some very strong episodes in Season 5. It lets the cast to explore different parts of Equestria, which gives the show more of an adventure feel than just hanging around Ponyville would. It also allows for character pair ups we wouldn’t normally see. Granted, the Mane Six are no trying to solve other ponies’ friendship problems rather than their own, so Cutie Map episodes depend a lot more on the plot to succeed.
And, of course, the huge change for next season is adding a reformed Starlight Glimmer to the Mane Six. Will she fit in smoothly, like Sunset Shimmer, or still have her prickly moments, like Discord? And with all these reformed antagonists, where is the conflict going to come from? As more of the Mane Six (and the Cutie Mark Crusaders) achieve their goals, what’s left to work towards?
Really Good Episodes:
The Cutie Map 1&2
The Cutie Remark 1&2
Crusaders of the Lost Mark
Make New Friends and Keep Discord
Amending Fences
Slice of Life
Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?
Bloom and Gloom
Good Episodes:
Castle, Sweet Castle
Tanks for the Memories
The Lost Treasure of Griffinstone
Canterlot Boutique
Brotherhooves Social
The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows
Hearhbreakers
Rarity Investigates
Weak Episodes:
Party Pooped
Scare Master
What About Discord?
The Mane Attraction
Everything Else was OK. Breaking it down like this, I think it’s the best season since two. It’s comparable to Season Four, but I thinks Five’s best episodes give it the edge.