So I'm going to be discussing the series finale. If you've not seen it yet then, well serves you right for looking in the MLP thread the day after a new episode aired
Compared to the other series finales of this show, I found the new episode highly disappointing.
First of all, with all of the things going on the the episode, it really deserved to have more than a single episode dedicated to it. While it fits in to the series overarching theme of change and the mane six achieving major goals well, the fact that it is all crammed into a tiny 20 minute episode means that if I'm honest, the whole thing felt more like filler and even having watched it multiple times, I still haven't a clue what the fuck was going on in some parts because they never really did explain a number of important things.
First of all, it seems odd that all the other weather pegasi wouldn't try to fix Rarity's messed-up weather. The same can be said about the Apples not helping Pinkie Pie on the farm, the Cakes not helping Fluttershy with her parties and everyone ignoring the fact that animals are trying to cook and eat Rainbow Dash. The Apples ignoring Applejack is really weird because they do suddenly decide to help out once Applejack decides to pitch in and gets her Cutie Mark back.
Second, the Mane Six instantly seem to have forgotten all about each other and how much they care about each other. Instead of actually pitching in and helping out each other when everyone's Cutie Marks are switched, which would have resulted in things resolving themselves, we are treated to Twilight having to force everyone to remember that they are friends... It's even more annoying when you remember that Rarity and Applejack both have family in Ponyville that can help them out! Dash and Fluttershy are also really close (they've known each other since they were Fillies and several episodes do imply they they love each other like sisters) and never thought about helping each other out, and Pinkie has the cakes as her surrogate family who again, don't lift a finger to even help her out! Instead of Twilight just getting everyone together to help them get through this, she kind of has to drag them around and force them to help each other. Well that is what goes in on the background while they use a song to breeze through the entire plotline in less than 2 minutes.
Third, it is never actually explained what Twilight's Ascension actually means, we're just treated to a vague Yoda-esque phrase from Trollestia and are forced to accept that. This is a massive event that is the culmination of the life's work of Twilight and a hell of a lot of work on the part of Celestia. This should have been a MASSIVE event. Instead we get a 5 minute montage and two more musical numbers that don't show us what is actually going on, they just vaguely explain events in a pretty anticliamtic and unsatisfying way.
Fourth, It is rather disturbing that Twilight can accidentally swap a pony's destiny and force her to not only live a life that is both unrewarding and unhappy, but also make them think that that is the only thing that they have ever done. The implications of ponies being forced to do what their Cutie Marks tell them and Twilight having the power to basically swap them at will is pretty horrifying and the implications of this, again are never actually explored because the writers wanted to breeze through it with a song.
The songs are another bad thing about the episode. Seven songs are forced into the episode and they do little to actually show us what is going on. They just tell us what is going on and we aren't treated to the conflict being resolved, they just sing about it and it sort of happens in the background. They could have devoted an entire episode to Twlight resolving the effects of Starswirl's Unfinished Spell and then ended on a cliffhanger when Twilight gets the Ãœbercharge that causes her ascension, then spent the next episode on her coronation and the implications of this change. Instead both plotlines are hacked apart and cut into minimalistic chunks with a ton of songs between them which just makes the entire thing feel unfulfilling and a waste of two perfectly good and extremely interesting plots.
Comparing this to Wonderbolt Academy where Dash fulfils her life dreams of joining the Wonderbolts, Pinkie Pie having an existential crisis that results in some major character development in Too Many Pinkie Pies and Fluttershy turning Discord Chaotic Good in Keep Calm and Flutter On (An episode that really did need to be a two parter as well), all of the episodes we incredibly good episodes because we saw the characters go through a major change in their lives and go through a lot of character development. By comparison, Magical Mystery Cure feels like a filler episode purely due to how little the episode actually explores Twilight's ascension or even the first plotline of everyone's Cutie Marks being switched. They really did waste a pair of perfectly good plots by making the rookie mistake of cutting it all down to fit into 20 minutes. Keep Calm and Flutter On wasn't horrible with this, the episode was still well written, but it was a legitimate concern about the episode. Magical Mystery Cure blasts through the plot and leaves very little truly resolved.
Leave a comment: