An episode a day

[Rares]

S5E9 Slice of Life


First time I've seen this one. Alright. I'm willing to give this some leeway since this was the 100th episode, and I get they decided to do that "Let's do a bunch of stupid stuff" route for it. Whatever. It's that one bit that really prevents me from hating it completely, and ranking it as one of the worst episodes or something like that. That being said, I really didn't like this one, and it's one of the ones I've probably enjoyed the least in the entire show. For starters, I've never liked a majority of the fandom memes, with the exception of a few. And this episode came off as one big fan made episode, and that is definitely not a compliment. The episode felt as if it lacked a point aside from "HEY FANDOM, LOOK, MEMES" and as someone who never enjoyed most of them, I felt uninterested. It lacked a reason to watch it. I never liked Twicane, I used to kinda like the Doctor Whooves meme but stopped after I stopped liking Doctor Who, "the horror" never clicked with me, the Agent Bon Bon thing felt dumb. And it really rubbed me the wrong way that the Mane 6 don't do anything. Look, again I get it. Fandom memes, let's focus on the background ponies. okay. That's not why I watch the show. And leaving them out, Rarity not even getting a line in an episode celebrating how many episodes this show has gotten? Not in my taste.

I'll probably file this one under things I'll never care to see again.

[Rares]

S5E10 Princess Spike

Never saw this one, and with everything I've heard of it, I was expecting it to be one of the worst things I've ever seen. At least that's what I was prepared for. In all honesty though, what I got was not the worst thing I've ever seen. Was it a good episode? No not really, and it seems like the conflict would have easily been resolved if literally anyone else but Spike was doing it. But it was a Spike episode, so I guess my standards were low anyway. I guess if anything, my complaints were that it seemed like there were too many ponies that were referencing something, and I really hate those "cut to black" unresolved endings. But on a positive note, I felt like the ponies rebuilding the statue together was sweet. All in all, I guess it's just another forgettable Spike episode.

[Rares]

S5E11 Party Pooped

Never saw this one. This one I actually found to be a really sweet Pinkie Pie episode. I thought it had a good lesson in it, and it actually was a bit heart warming to see how far Pinkie would go. Not to mention that party basement, having files on all her friends for parties that's really special. I thought the lesson was really great too: Don't make people feel like they're at their home, make them feel welcome in your home. I guess if anything, my one gripe with the episode was that Celestia thanked Twilight for what happened, instead of saying it directly to Pinkie Pie who did everything. But that goes into the issue of Celestia not quite noticing the Mane 5. All in all though, really good episode for me.

[Rares]

S5E12 Amending Fences

By far, one of the best in the series. Definitely my favorite non Rarity episode, and probably in my Top 5 episodes. If only placed after probably 4 Rarity episodes... Anyway I think this episode shows why Larson is probably the best writer in the series. I haven't liked everything he's done, but I think it's proven that of all the writers, he cares for the show the most and definitely puts the most commitment in his writings. And this is without a doubt proof of that, calling back to the first episode. I think the episode also does an awesome job with minor things like Minuette being around Ponyville too, they didn't have to do that. And Moondancer I feel is great, probably one of my favorite episode characters in the series, and I really hope she comes back. All in all, like I said, this one is great.

[Rares]

S5E13 Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep

Wow, what a fantastic episode streak, knowing what two episodes this is followed by. I think this is definitely an awesome Luna/Mane 6 episode, and again, one of the best non Rarity episodes in my book. It's incredible on Luna and provides an amazing amount of insight of who she is and how she is feeling. I think it also teaches an incredible lesson on not beating yourself up that, I think it's a great one everyone can relate to. on top of that, it did an awesome job on making it feel as if all the Mane 6 had a part, not just Twilight in this instance. It also did a great job with the antagonist of it, not making it feel like something too sinister that felt out of place.

Now how are they ever going to top episodes like Amending Fences and this one? Oh well I guess I'll just have to wait and see tomorrow and the day after...

[Rares]

S5E14 Canterlot Boutique

Second best episode of the series for me, only preceded by Rarity Takes Manehattan and immediately followed by Rarity Investigates. This one is really personal to me. Honestly it has my favorite song it it, Rules of Rarity really made me cry as it feels like an incredible insight on who she is, and what dressmaking means to her. I think it's really wonderful. The episode also does a fantastic job showing Rarity in her element, and giving Sassy another chance. I love this horse, and this episode should show every reason why.

[Rares]

S5E15 Rarity Investigates!

3rd favorite episode of all time right here. While not necessary emotional for me, I feel this was really fun and provided wonderful insight on another way Rarity can help others, even in a super fun way. The outfits in the episode are incredible, and I love the switching to the noir style back and forth. Honestly this was just so fun all around, and I can't think of a single flaw except for the fact that there aren't more like it. Predictable? Sure, as everyone knows it's always the new character who did it, but it was still a blast to watch all across the board. And seeing Dash and Rarity hang out was just a big plus too. Great episode.

[Rares]

S5E16 Made in Manehattan

I didn't see this one until now. Honestly I avoided it for some time because when it first was announced I was really annoyed it was yet another Rarijack episode. I just feel like the pairing is so overdone to death, when other character pairings are so much more interesting and dynamic compared to that. Seeing the episode, well, it hasn't changed my opinion on that. Was it better handled than other episodes that use it? Yes. Does that excuse using the same bit of "Hey everyone, remember how different Rarity and Applejack are?" Absolutely not. The episode itself wasn't bad. I did of course enjoy all of Rarity's bits, and I loved seeing her interact with Coco. The lesson was sweet, and I liked how it didn't have any sort of real major conflict. However, the fact that it was a map episode felt incredibly forced. I would have much preferred this to be a Rarity/Coco episode, or Rarity and any other M6 pony to make it anything but Applejack not knowing what to do there since she's different than Rarity. It honestly should have been Twilight to go with them, and instead of talking about it, show Twilight restoring it magically and have it not work. Give Rarity and Twilight some interaction.

And with that, I feel like the really positive episode streak sort of comes to a stop. Not that this was bad, I enjoyed it for the most part, but it feels like aside from Rari, not a lot really stands out as memorable. These map episodes really haven't been all that good.

[Rares]

S5E17 Brotherhooves Social

I never saw this one. Honestly, it was more towards that "eh" scale for me again. It just didn't feel like a lot stood out to me, especially comparing it to Sisterhooves Social. Especially with that last act of the obstacle coarse itself. First off, the intense desire to win it seemed to be slightly out of place, as it seemed like everyone was well aware of the the point of the Social was not to win, it was sisterly bonding. And comparing that last rush through the obstacle coarse from this episode with Sisterhooves, the bonding is just much more evident in the latter, especially with the tone and music. And Apple Bloom having such an intense obsession of Applejack didn't strike me as quite normal either. If it did anything good, at least it gave Apple Bloom some bonding with Big Mac. All in all though, it was a bit eh for me and didn't strike me in some areas. Perhaps because I was comparing it too much to the original, which I feel is a fantastic one.

[Rares]

S5E18 Crusaders of the Lost Mark.

Never saw this one. Well I do think this episode was good, and if anything, what definitely made it was the songs. Musical episodes always feel very strong, and the songs are always great in musical episodes. I thought also the way the CMC treated Diamond Tiara was great on them too. I have to say though, I guess the biggest thing holding me back about this was truthfully, I don't like the cutie marks they got. Waiting for this for 6 years in my case, I was expecting a bit more. And I don't know if I quite like the designs all that much. I mean, of course I knew about the cutie marks prior to watching this, it was impossible to miss. But I feel like this gives me my chance to share my thoughts about them since I never did before. Personally, I never liked the idea of the CMC as a single entity. I much preferred to think of them as Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, not one collective entity. Like how the Mane 6 are. And while I think it is very nice to see the CMC help others find their talents, that's not what I wanted to see them shine as with Show Stoppers. Earning their cutie marks at the same time was fine, honestly expected even if an episode of one of them earning it before the others would have worked. With the talents originally outlined as Sweetie's ability to sing, Bloom's construction and Scootaloo's athletic abilities. I wanted to see their talents arise from that as that was from S1. This whole bit of helping others find their talents, again, while I think is very nice, I still think is relatively new. It's just not what I wanted, or was expecting to see when they finally reached that point. On top of that, I'm not sure how I feel about Diamond being redeemed. Again, it's super great on the CMC, but sometimes I feel like it's better if some characters are left unredeemed as sometimes there is a lesson in "Hey, some people are just bitches, and you have to deal with them, but that shouldn't make you a bitch." Which evidently is almost present here. It reminds me of Suri from of course my favorite episode, and how I really would hate to see her redeemed, because I think that's a powerful idea though. All in all I enjoyed it, because the very strong songs definitely held it together. But I guess maybe it just wasn't what I was looking for in the first place.