Ranking the Misty Brightdawn Episodes (From Worst to Best), Version 2 · 5:37pm Sep 24th, 2023
With Misty getting over half of the episodes of Chapter 5, it's only natural that the list ranking her episodes be updated again. I'm gonna hold off on doing one for the mane five/mane six until "Starlight Secrets" or whatever the Chapter 6 special is called comes out, seeing as it could be the last major bit of focus for any character before Make Your Mark wraps up for good. As always, this is purely the result of my personal opinion, so please respect it. Now let's see where Misty's new episodes fall relative to the old ones. Is there a new best or worst episode for her? Let's find out.
8. Sunny Side Up (Chapter 4, Episode 4)
Why it stayed on the bottom: The most Misty does in this episode is break out of Opaline's spell. Other than that, she's just as much an observer as she was in "The Jinxie Games". Instead of watching television, she's watching on her phone. It does show her first steps towards independence from Opaline, but that's about it.
7. Cutie Blossom Bash (Chapter 5, Episode 1)
Why it's not on the bottom: If not for the very end of the episode, this probably would've been passible since it hadn't done anything offensively bad. It at best would've just been an entire episode spent on the obvious, Misty still feeling uncomfortable and socially awkward around other ponies. But the last few minutes is when it all falls apart. Misty throws away her newfound happiness and independence in order to go back to Opaline and be a double agent. And it ends up being pointless to the narrative since Misty never gives any meaningful intel, only once in Chapter 5 did we see her doing anything close to spying on Opaline, and Opaline ends Chapter 5 ready to do what she was already supposedly poised to do in Chapter 4. So why send Misty back to Opaline? It can't be because they didn't want to use her, they made the next three episodes after this one focus on her. Keeping Misty in Maretime Bay would've changed nothing of substance.
6. Have You Seen This Dragon? (Chapter 2, Episode 8)
Why it's in the bottom three: This becomes Misty's episode at points, mostly by revealing what she hopes to accomplish under Opaline and thus why she's doing what Opaline wants her to do. And the episode ends with Misty starting to regret her allegiance to Opaline, the episode implying she cries herself to sleep over Opaline's cold heartedness. But this time, Misty's plans come undone through no fault of her own. The episode shows Sparky is in no danger and repeats the same scene of Misty cornering Sparky three times without anything changing. At least if they had extended the game of cat and mouse to all of Maretime Bay, the stakes would've been higher, and Misty's actions would've carried more weight.
5. The Manesquerade Ball (Chapter 4, Episode 5)
Why it's in the bottom half: Misty sneaking out to join the mane five at the Maresquerade Ball is a nice touch, and she ends up getting something of her own plot when she tails Zipp only to confess that her cutie mark is a fake. This ends up commanding much more attention than Sunny's desire to perform a unity dance with her friends, or Alphabittle visiting Queen Haven again. However, we never see how Misty was able to pull out the pages on alicorns to keep Zipp from finding out about Opaline, let alone how Misty could've known such a book would have that kind of revealing information.
4. and 3. Family Trees Parts 1 and 2 (Chapter 5, Episodes 2 and 3)
Why they're in the top half: Although Part 2 does start to share its focus more and more with Sparky, particularly when Misty gives up her search for answers in order to help Sparky, Misty is undisputibly the character of focus for the plot here. She even gets a song mostly to herself in Part 2. The revelation that her father is Alphabittle is foreshadowed fairly obviously, and Misty's sudden disappearance at the end of Part 1 just feels like it was done to have an excuse to extend the episode. The stuff that focuses on Misty is pretty good, but it takes a while to really get going, even if what comes before is understandable.
2. Father of the Bridlewood (Chapter 5, Episode 4)
Why it's not on the top: Misty reuniting and reconnecting with her father is really sweet, though we also can see the conflict and its resolution once Alphabittle starts trying to do things Misty did as a filly. They thankfully keep the focus mainly on Misty and Alphabittle's plot, Sunny and Zipp's plot only loosely connects. However, this episode's story is just as much about Alphabittle (arguably more so) as it is about Misty. And that ultimately keeps it just outside the top.
1. Missing the Mark (Chapter 4, Episode 7)
Why it stayed on the top: This remains (at least for now), Misty's big moment of defiance and change. She finally succeeds in capturing Sparky, convinced she'll finally get what she wants. But she starts to have second thoughts and runs to the mane five, only to inadvertently lure them right to Opaline. Thus, it becomes Misty's task to set things right. And when she does so, she finally gets her cutie mark. The episode even ends with her joining the mane five, promising to help them defeat Opaline. Even if Misty does at times take a back seat to others, this episode is where she finally steps up and becomes a main character more or less full time.
And there you have it.
So if you count Family Trees as two separates episodes, then Misty holds the record for most focus episodes among the G5 Mane Cast. Otherwise, she ties with Pipp for most episodes. Kinda sad how the Mane Five pony who got the least amount of attention in the pilot movie and the Sixth Ranger who didn't even appear in said pilot movie at all have gotten more focus in the TV series than our main protagonist.