Season 3 Finale

Comments

[RainbowDoubleDash]

Eh, I liked it.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

I wouldn't go quite that far... but I did not like it.

[EonMaster]

The episode made sense to me. Starswirl was trying to create a spell that could ascend him to alicorn status, or a similar level, but was unable to get it right. Twilight managing to complete the spell is what caused the elements to activate and put the completed spell into effect.

Clearly the other 3 alicorns were created differently. Maybe we'll get some details on that in S4.

[CLAVDIVS CAESAR]

845702
It felt like the sort of tripe that I would have expected from MLP before discovering FIM. And 'jumping the shark', in this case, is perhaps more accurate than it often is in common use: Blatant pandering mandated by their corporate masters, with the show's quality suffering as a result.

I tried to be optimistic. I tried to remember the royal wedding. But what should have been the meat of the episode, what could have been a good episode, was horribly rushed, the resolution crammed into a song that -- on top of everything else -- just wasn't very good.

I wonder if the order came down so late in the game that the writers just didn't have time to make a good episode out of it. It's the only explanation I can think of.

[CLAVDIVS CAESAR]

Another thing: Several images aren't showing up on the site for me. Not avatars, not embedded images; site UI elements are intact, though. I deleted my first attempt a this post because I thought the embedding didn't work, but I checked old posts with images and they weren't showing up either. But if I open them in another browser (I used Chrome), they show up. Even clearing my cached didn't fix it. It's very weirdly specific and I have no idea what's causing it.

[Carpetbagger]

Episode wise, it was kind of rushed and could have benefited from a 2-parter. But with that, I welcome our new alicorn overlord. As long as she's not immortal, because that would just... be... I don't want to talk about it

[CLAVDIVS CAESAR]

845730
That doesn't excuse the terrible execution.

[Blue_Paladin42]

845770
Well, there is always the season opener. Supposedly the finale was the beginning of a 3 part story arc. Not an especially auspicious start, but we'll see how it goes.
Where there any parts of the episode you did like?

845763
Well, aside from the fact we don't know for certain whether the Princesses are immortal or just really long lived (it's a reasonable enough assumption though.) I can't think of any reason why Twilight wouldn't get that too. Especially since she evidently had to get vaporized by the friendship artillery strike first.

[EonMaster]

845770 My only problem with the execution was its rushed pace. I've had that issue with every 2-parter in the series as well. Other than that, I enjoyed it. I loved the songs, the cutie mark swapping was interesting to see unfold, and the whole celestial dimension Twilight met Celestia at was neat to see.

Overall, I found it more enjoyable than Best Night Ever.

[CLAVDIVS CAESAR]

845792
The first half of the episode was obviously rushed. As I mentioned above, the resolution happened on fast-forward during a song, and it wasn't even a good song. None of them were, I thought. The predicament they were in could have been mined for both comedy and drama, and instead was just glossed over in order to get to the fricking princess thing. What should have been an episode in its own right was compressed into a clumsy setup for the episode's real purpose.

The second half, in contrast, dragged. Like the multiple endings of Return of the King, but without the excuse of having several character threads to resolve. It just kept plodding along unnecessarily, adding layer after layer of the kind of pandering, sugar-coated pablum that people who make cartoons for girls think girls like.

And ultimately, I think making Twilight an alicorn was a mistake to begin with; making her a princess is even worse. It introduces a drastic change to the group dynamic that drives the show, and does so purely for the dubious benefit of selling an alicorn Twilight toy. I was willing to give it a fair shot, and give the writers the benefit of the doubt, and I think I did. But it was still a bad episode, and failed to resolve my concerns about the concept. Maybe the season 4 premiere will redeem it, but the show has already used up the slack I was willing to give it. I'm trying not to condemn it before it airs, but I no longer have the confidence I did before.

[Lurks-no-More]

Personally, I liked the episode - if only for the awesome songs, the whole ascension scene, and of course "liquid pride" - but I can see how it would bother others.

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[Carpetbagger]

845792
Honestly, Twilight's mortality status is the least of my concerns. I have a feeling that this isn't the only change we'll be seeing in the franchise. Have you noticed how much the writers have been paying attention to continuity in retrospect? The mane6 have really developed as characters since the pilot. (especially Twilight) We have a new member of the CMC, and Cadence and Shining Armor weren't swept under the rug like we all assumed. Something is going to happen, and it's going to make Princess Twilight look like a drop in the bucket. They might be setting up for MLP: G5. Think about it, Twilight gets a student of her own, elements of harmony get passed down to a new generation but all the while keeping the mane6 around in a DBZ sense. (without being entirely useless) Just something to think about.

[Blue_Paladin42]

845909
Hmm, calling in G5 might be a bit much. A new generation usually means a totally new continuity and characters.
I think that we are gonna see one of two things, depending largely on how and what Equestria Girls ends up being. I think, personally, that EG will pick up the slice of life aspect in an AU setting (the mane 6 being aged down due to it being a different setting, different universe.) While Twilicorn will get to go on more adventures with her friends.
ALTERNATIVELY
EG will follow a similar formula to Totally Spies, while Maneverse stays largely slice of life, and Twilight has to adjust to her new responsibilties as a princess of Equestria. (From her seat of power in the Books and Branches [1] Library, she rules Equestria's knowledge with an iron hoof.)

[1] Unless there is some canon use of Golden Oaks, I am sticking with B&B in my own headcanon.

[OtterMatt]

It's sadly true. I don't even know if they jumped the shark as much as they jumped Lauren Faust. I honestly don't know how she could possibly watch this episode without crying at the end, because I wanted to. In a show known for good writing, good songs, good animation, and not talking down to kids—they fell short on every single one of those points. ESPECIALLY the last. I don't know how much longer Lauren can keep up her facade and keep going to conventions and whatnot, but it just has to get more painful with every episode this season.

8459944
Season 3 was already G4.5; not bad necessarily, but definitely not the show we remember.
And if you listen to the toy line, then Golden Oaks is canon.

[Arcshod]

I feel like everyone is consistently overlooking the fact that in a half-season, it may well be impossible to have multiple two-parters. No matter how they air them, them, they could only have 13 episodes. I'm not familiar with broadcast rules and the minimums they have to follow, but it's obvious they made a choice to give us another week of airtime this season instead of a two-part finale. Maybe that's worth considering when the most significant problem seems to be that it felt "rushed." Maybe I'm wrong.

Aside, the "hay guys, Twilight 's becoming an Alicorn princess" story arc is not concluded yet- it's being continued in the next two-parter. It's more of a season-end cliffhanger.

[CLAVDIVS CAESAR]

847385
Firstly, as I wrote above, the first half felt rushed while the second half dragged. The pacing was terrible in both directions. Unfortunately, this is not something that averages out.

Secondly, so what? Knowing why something turned out badly doesn't make it not bad. If they knew they couldn't do another two-parter, they shouldn't have tried to fit two episodes of story into one. And that's working under the assumption that that's actually the root of the episode's problems, which I don't agree with.

[Beegirl Scribbler]

It is pretty likely that this season risked being the final season. Why else dip into a 13-episode season? The writers actually probably made Twilight an alicorn because they weren't sure whether the end was near. That episode, with its many songs and "how far we've come"-style scenes, was meant to double as an ending if need be. That's my theory.

[Shantara]

Knowing why something turned out badly doesn't make it not bad. If they knew they couldn't do another two-parter, they shouldn't have tried to fit two episodes of story into one.

This! Ten billion times this! It boggles my mind that something as obvious as this needs to be explained at all. There are so many apologists in the community that sometimes it seems only a few Fimfiction blogs are written by sane people, who can express their own opinion instead of mindlessly praising any episode or news article.