An episode a day

[Gentian]

S2E25 A Canterlot Wedding Part 1

When I first saw this one I didn't think it was so bad, but in hindsight, now having several other seasons under our belt, I dislike this as it kinda set the stage for a lot of things I dislike later on. Strictly talking about Part 1, it introduces that concept that gets used in every other premier and finale after that everyone else except Twilight is an idiot or falls victim to whatever the villain does, or just stands on the sidelines. It's not as bad here, but as it's the first time it happens it really marks the start of it being a trend. And the introduction of Cadence as a brand new princess honestly didn't make me think until now. How it really does break up quite a bit of alicorn lore at the time, stuff that I never thought of beforehand. Well the BBBFF song is really cute and catchy.

There's a lot here which I think you're right about, but not everything. I personally enjoy this episode, and agree that BBBFF is a great song. The introduction of Cadance was a seminal moment in the show, and one not handled all that well, imho. Leaving apart the destruction of lore, it makes absolutely no sense Twilight wouldn't have known who she was. In the comics, her brother was head-over-hooves for an Alicorn named Cadance, there were only 3 Alicorns. The invitation even said "Princess," and her name isn't that different.

Which brings me to my chief disagreement with what you said: everyone but Twilight acts like idiots. If anything, I think Twilight was the biggest idiot in this episode (sorry Love, I know it's not really you), with the possible exception of Princess Celestia. Not only for the aforementioned reason, but when she discovered something was up, rather than let Celybeans know right away, she makes a huge scene giving Chryssy just the ammunition she needed to pull off a successful deflection. The others had no prior experience with Cadance, and can be easily forgiven for failing to realize something was wrong, (except Cely) however, Twilight's foolishness can not.

Not only that, but with the sheer number of changelings which attacked, the M6 still managed to defeat a great many of them in (mostly) melee. The changeling's military nearly had it's butt handed to it despite the enormous advantages of numbers, surprise, and leadership decapitation. Considering this, and the way they have shown themselves to be an active, malicious threat, I have to wonder why Celestia tolerates their existence. She should wipe them out completely, yet she doesn't, and doesn't even seem to have any reliable way to detect them permanently in place. The Princess Celestia in Twi's Equestria would never behave so recklessly with the safety of her ponies, neither would Twilers herself. Fortunately there are no changelings in her world.

So, anyway, I think, rather than what you said, it was only(mostly) Twilight that acted like an idiot. Despite all these problems, though, I really do like these episodes. Hopefully you'll enjoy part 2 more than this one.

[Rares]

There's a lot here which I think you're right about, but not everything. I personally enjoy this episode, and agree that BBBFF is a great song. The introduction of Cadance was a seminal moment in the show, and one not handled all that well, imho. Leaving apart the destruction of lore, it makes absolutely no sense Twilight wouldn't have known who she was. In the comics, her brother was head-over-hooves for an Alicorn named Cadance, there were only 3 Alicorns. The invitation even said "Princess," and her name isn't that different.

Which brings me to my chief disagreement with what you said: everyone but Twilight acts like idiots. If anything, I think Twilight was the biggest idiot in this episode (sorry Love, I know it's not really you), with the possible exception of Princess Celestia. Not only for the aforementioned reason, but when she discovered something was up, rather than let Celybeans know right away, she makes a huge scene giving Chryssy just the ammunition she needed to pull off a successful deflection. The others had no prior experience with Cadance, and can be easily forgiven for failing to realize something was wrong, (except Cely) however, Twilight's foolishness can not.

Not only that, but with the sheer number of changelings which attacked, the M6 still managed to defeat a great many of them in (mostly) melee. The changeling's military nearly had it's butt handed to it despite the enormous advantages of numbers, surprise, and leadership decapitation. Considering this, and the way they have shown themselves to be an active, malicious threat, I have to wonder why Celestia tolerates their existence. She should wipe them out completely, yet she doesn't, and doesn't even seem to have any reliable way to detect them permanently in place. The Princess Celestia in Twi's Equestria would never behave so recklessly with the safety of her ponies, neither would Twilers herself. Fortunately there are no changelings in her world.

So, anyway, I think, rather than what you said, it was only(mostly) Twilight that acted like an idiot. Despite all these problems, though, I really do like these episodes. Hopefully you'll enjoy part 2 more than this one.

There's a lot more with Part 2 that I dislike more than the first part. Obviously I'll get into that a bit more later, but I actually really dislike the melee fight, I feel like that didn't fit, and I dislike the number of similar action scenes that follow in the show.

In the case with Twilight in the episode, it definitely seems like a matter of perspective. I think you're right in that case that Twilight should have handled it differently, and then there is the case of the Mane 5 not having any experience with Cadence before (and I'm certain Rari has put up with at least a handful of Bridezillas before) it's that instance of dramatic irony that kind of nags at me. We as the viewer know Twi is right, seeing everyone else act the way they do just makes them seem like going along with the villain's scheme. Which again, not so bad here, but considering how it continues later on in later premiers and finales, it's really tiring.

There's a lot more in the next episode I'll bring up, but while I don't think this was bad in itself, I think it definitely opened up the doors for a lot of things I don't quite like in the show now.

[Rares]

S2E26 A Canterlot Wedding Part 2

Now for the bulk of the stuff I don't like. There's quite a bit, as I said before. First off I feel this one at least lightened the "Twilight's the only one who can do anything", but the whole bit with Celestia irks me. This is the first time we have ever seen her in action. If anything, this should have proven her dominance, there's no point in beating Celestia if she is never shown to have power. If anything, if they really wanted to not use the Elements, Celestia should have saved the day. And about that fight scene, while it definitely isn't much like what's to come, I still dislike it in the show, it doesn't work well with me. I also feel This Day Aria is a bit overrated, and the resolution of the conflict seemed rushed with, quite literally, the power of love, solely to show off Shining and Cadence, in the process putting down everyone else.

It's not necessarily bad, but it opened up the doors for what I still feel to be a lot of bad things currently in the show. I think it's also what finally set the stage for "Every premier and finale has to have some grand epic threat." Sure it started with Discord, but Discord as he stood, while a villain, felt more like an inconvience, where as Chrysalis becomes the first villain on the show to actively harm other ponies. (Even Nightmare Moon didn't do that in the pilot.)

So with S2 finally finished up, I think I can say this season wasn't as good as I remembered, unlike S1 which still holds up. Rather, S2 set the stage for what is to come of pony, and honestly I rank it as equal to S4 at this point. It has it's high points, but definitely had very low ones as well.

[Gentian]

...but the whole bit with Celestia irks me. This is the first time we have ever seen her in action. If anything, this should have proven her dominance, there's no point in beating Celestia if she is never shown to have power.

Nicely put.

If anything, if they really wanted to not use the Elements, Celestia should have saved the day.

This would have been a much better resolution imho.

[Rares]

S3E1 The Crystal Empire

Well Rarity talking about crystal ponies was adorable. And seeing how Twilight felt preparing for an exam from Celestia was also nice to see. But aside from that I can't think of much else to like so far. I dislike how it's already completely backtracked over the development S2 was starting to make with Celestia and the Mane 5, and it just goes back to her only recognizing Twilight. Which as much damage as it may do to the Mane 5, I realize it hurts Celestia herself even more, as she's almost phased out by the next season when they stop writing to her. And sending Cadence and Shining away to the Empire, while probably the best move, still feels weird. And it doesn't seem like the Crystal ponies really contribute much new things to the series. Maybe Part 2 will be better than I remember.

[Rares]

S3E2 The Crystal Empire Part 2

Rant time!

Wow. That was much worse than I remembered. Before I just didn't remember anything of it, but honestly I don't even know where to begin. I guess the first part would be just the concept of Crystal Ponies again seemed unnecessary. There was nothing really contributed as a result of them, other then being in a land that may or may not be far away. Dark magic was another concept that could have been used again but wasn't used for anything. Especially something like a door that shows people their worst fear? Why wasn't that used for something? In fact, why was it in the episode at all, what did it contribute? Speaking of things that shouldn't even have been in the episode, what the heck is Sombra anyway? Probably the worst villain in terms of storytelling, as he contributes absolutely nothing to the story aside from less of an influence on the plot than Megatron in the 2007 Transformers movie. But the thing that really gets me about this was the "test". First off, I'm not even sure I understand how Spike is regarded as highly as he is for what he does in the episode. I'm sorry, he carried the Crystal heart for a little bit, and fell and Cadence caught him. Like they'd be grateful sure, but they wouldn't really be praising him as we see later. Where does that come in. But anyway, back to this bit with Celestia and Twilight. I first thought this episode was only starting the whole "Celestia ignores everyone else except for Twilight" bit, but no we're already full blown into it. How did this happen? I fail to see how this was deemed something as a test for Celestia, for Twilight. Yes, Twilight told Spike to go do the thing. But if that's all you're saying was necessary, everyone was contributing something. And in the show, if we accept Spike is the one who receives all of the praise from everyone else, why is Celestia only congratulating Twilight for telling Spike to do it? This is insane. And then the "Success" song, which seems like everyone patting Twilight on the back for something she merely contributed in. In hindsight, this premier itself wasn't as fully Twilight-centered as I thought, which only makes it all the more confusing how this ending comes to be. I know they're trying to set up "Now Celestia sees Twilight as fit for a Princess" but this is really forced here, and it's really degrading how Celestia basically forgets the Mane 5 exist when she was starting to develop a little with them as in S2.

This should have been far better than what it was. It's like they wanted to cram way too much into something and ended up with everything half baked.

[Rares]

S3E3 Too Many Pinkie Pies

I really don't see why this one was so controversial. I thought it was alright. I mean, if anything the worst part was that the Mane 5 couldn't tell who the real Pinkie was. As it stood, it was pretty clear in the episode who the real Pinkie Pie was. If anything the way it came off with the pool was that the other Pinkies were just cheap imitations, reflections of Pinkie's outward appearance with nothing else that makes her who she is. In terms of the 3rd act everyone talks about, I really don't find much wrong with it because again they didn't feel more than cheap reflections, and the only upsetting part was they couldn't tell who the real one was. But aside from that, it's good in my book. I enjoyed it.

[Rares]

S3E4 One Bad Apple

I didn't like this one. I felt like the lesson in particular was completely messed up, and it should really be hammered into kids' heads that telling an adult shouldn't be something not considered out of fear, and I don't think the episode did a good job at that. Well at least this episode explained that "emergency edible boots" meme I've been so confused as to where it came from.

[Rares]

S3E5 Magic Duel

This one really didn't sit right with me. There's something about powerful magic in Pony which really unsettles me, since it seems any unicorn can get it and take over a town. Which is exactly what happened here. And I know the amulet "corrupted" Trixie, but she's not a villain. It didn't come off right, just seemed like a reason to make her duel Twilight, which this powerful magic type while again everyone else is helpless.

I guess I see why others liked this, but this really sits poorly with me.

[Rares]

S3E6 Sleepless in Ponyville

I guess this was a cute one. Simple lesson, sisterly moments, Rari being Rari, and a reference to Sonic Rainboom? It's nice. Maybe not a favorite, but it does kick off the trend of CMC dream episodes which were decent.