Thoughts on S9 Part 12: Going out on a High Note

The regular episodes of the show have been a funny thing. We got our first one a little over nine years ago with The Ticket Master and, it's kind of surreal to think how much has changed and how far the lead 7 have come since then. There've been good episodes, bad episodes, funny eps, emotional ones and everything in-between (I never really thought about it but I don't think my top 10 episodes have ever included a premiere or finale). Now here we are, with the last two regular episodes of the show before everyone blows up from critical discontent when the finale doesn't end the show how they want. Assuming they get that far after these two (seriously, who skips an episode this late in the game?).

Me? I'm just here to watch, hopefully enjoy and see what mood the show puts me in before UK Ponycon, and the finale. Last two regular episodes, let's do it!

I suppose at this point I'm just putting this in for old times sake but, maybe still some unmarked spoilers in there somewhere.

Episode 22 - Growing up is Hard to do:

Okay, first things first, it's confession time. I had this episode near-completely spoiled for me thanks to youtube deciding spoiler free was for chumps and bombarding my recommendations with clips from this episode. As an unfortunate consequence, all the info ended up pushing my anticipation and expectations beyond reasonable levels. I'll get to that later but, yeah, I may have been a little unfair on this ep.

Back on point, this is the last episode not written by the power trio of Haber, Dubuc and Vogel, and it's an unexpected returning name in Ed Valentine. He did quite a few CMC episodes in past seasons (the last being The Fault in our Cutie Marks) but does he still have 'it' for writing them? Well he got a bit of a pass on that by getting to write the minds of at-best 12 year olds in mid-20s bodies. Yeap, we've finally got an adult CMC via wishing flower and...My poor heart when I realised Scootaloo's wings never grew...Still, it was fun to see and hear them like that at least once. Even if I kinda assumed/wished it had been permanent.

Plus we got another song out of it. S9 has been kind of lacking in good songs but 'Being big is all it Takes' helped make up for that shortfall somewhat. And then we got to today's new characters Spur and Biscuit, who immediately got my conspiracy cap on (Spur has the same manestyle as Cozy Glow, this is literally the biggest hint to Cozy's background we've had) and things started to go downhill a bit. I get the CMC were letting excitement and ego get in the way a bit, but Sweetie basically telling Spur to clear off if she didn't agree was quite a low blow from her. Which naturally led into today's issue with the latest addition to the Equestrian menagerie, the whirling mungtooth. Sometimes I wonder if they're ever gonna learn, especially when the time comes they won't have Twilight and Fluttershy to bail them out.

This was a mixed bag of an episode. If I'd watched this episode and held it up to the expectations I had going in, it probably would have ended up breaking the streak of good episodes. That said, when I realised it wasn't going to be the world changer that'd been hinted at, I was able to tone it down to a more normal level. On one hand, it does feel like a bit of a squandered opportunity, especially with not keeping the CMC grown up. On the other, it was a fun way to close out the last spotlight on the crusaders, with bonus points for being the first episode to treat Applejack normally since She's All Yak (even if, odds are it'll be the last time in the show). On balance it does manage to up the streak to 7 good episodes in a row.

The record still stands at 9...

Episode 23 - The Big Mac Question:

I had a good vibe going into this one, both because of the implication that this was a Big Mac/Guy squad episode and that it could only mean one thing. Then I realised that Haber and Vogel were the writers. Not that they're bad, but I haven't forgotten how their first episode together was the worst of the whole show. I'm more optimistic now though because who am I kidding? I quickly accepted the SugarMac ship back in S7, kept rooting for it despite all the fandom opposition, and now they're finally getting engaged/married! Good times.

Even skipping over the fact that Lyra and Bon Bon also got engaged in the background (though that left me in happy giggles too), this episode hardly put a foot wrong. Ok sure, Discord could actually start learning a little empathy for his chaos spiralling out of control (even if we anticipate nothing less) and Apple Bloom's rigid adherence to conflicting advice raises an eyebrow, but they both played into the moral of bad things leading into good ones (...Though in that case, why wasn't Starlight at the wedding?). Add in Granny Smith finally making the Star Trek joke regarding Grand Pear and Discord (and Mudbriar, bonus), Mrs. Cake getting a bit of development through some cracks in her attitude, Discord getting to deal with a problem with his OP powers and of course, the diabetes inducing sweetness of the final scenes as Mac and Sugar finally propose to each other (in front of Bright and Buttercup's memory no less) and the wedding itself rounding out the episode. There was just so much to enjoy that I was on a happy little high for hours.

Many episodes rank highly for me because they prove major world builders, or I feel some personal resonance with it, or it's such a feel good time that I'm taken back to that weekend where I first watched S1 and 2 and fell in love with this show. As indicated above, I can't remember the last time any episode did so well in the feel good factor. Though that said, it did well in both of the other reasons mentioned. I'm invested in SugarMac, and I'm glad they finally got their happy ending. I'm waiting until the last three episodes come out to make final judgement, but I can say with confidence that this episode is top 10 material for the whole show. Maybe even top 5.

The only downside to that is that the passing of the regular episodes raises the bar that much higher for the grand finale. Roll on 1am next sunday! Or don't, make the show last as long as it can...

Episode Rankings:

1 - The Big Mac Question
2 - The Summer Sun Setback
3 - Frenemies
4 - The Last Crusade
5 - Sparkle's Seven
6 - A Trivial Pursuit
7 - She's All Yak
8 - The Beginning of the End, Part 2
9 - Daring Doubt
10 - A Horse Shoe-In
11 - The Beginning of the End, Part 1
12 - Dragon Dropped
13 - Growing up is Hard to do
14 - The Last Laugh
15 - Between Dark and Dawn
16 - Student Counsel
17 - She Talks to Angel
18 - Common Ground
19 - The Point of No Return
20 - Sweet and Smoky
21 - Uprooted
22 - 2, 4, 6, Greaaat
23 - Going to Seed

S9 Bingo: 13/25 (Checking off Wedding episode, Discord episode (considering it was a guys episode where they got the same amount of focus) and through the power of knowing the schedule, 3 Part finale)