Season 7 Overview · 6:27pm Oct 28th, 2017
Given how lackluster Season 6 was, I didn't have high hopes for Season 7. I got the impression that the writers were running out of ideas. Thankfully, my concerns were unfounded. While it doesn't quite reach the heights of S4 or S5, this newest season proved that the writers still have a lot to offer. Unfortunately, Scootaloo has yet to fly, but at least we got to see her and the other CMC grow into their roles as contributing members of society. Starlight also comes across as more relatable this season than in the past, although this often seems to be at the expense of making Trixie more obnoxious. Still, Starlight is learning to refrain from using her OP magic as her go-to solution for every problem. And her love of kites provides a much-needed personality quirk for bronies to latch onto.
S7 has a truckload of new lore, which is awesome. We got to watch the changelings adapt to the new order, although some are slower to change than others. And I love the Pillars of Light, especially the OP earth pony Mage Meadowbrook. And dear sweet Celestia, we saw not just Rainbow's parents, but freaking Applejack's parents! I was starting to think we'd never get to see them. “The Perfect Pear” is third MLP episode that made me cry, and I mean that as high praise.
Most of the episodes were well-written, with only one that I didn't like at all, but I think it was just because of Flurry Heart's role. It's not that I have anything against her, it's just that can't stand watching her . . . That sounded worse than I meant it to. Oh well, I'm keeping it.
The songs were a step down from the other seasons. The only ones that stood out to me were “The Perfect Pair” and “Flawless.” The others were okay I guess, but none of them stuck in my head, and a couple of them seemed almost like self-parody. Here's hoping S8 improves in that department.
In other news, I'm going to upload my new story, "So You Escaped From Limbo," today or tomorrow at the latest.
I'm going to have to disagree that season 7 was decent. The writing quality was tangibly poor in several episodes, as exhibited by plot contrivances and some plot lines that had been outright copied from previous episodes. The season opener was not distinguishable from a regular episode, and the season finale was 50/50, as in the first half was absolute shit and the second was actually good but still held down by the poor quality of the previous episode.
Sure the lore was nice, but at the cost of the show actually being good? I prefer the latter.
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Honestly, most of the plot contrivances didn't bother me as much as they seem to bother you. I don't spend much time thinking about how each episode fits in the series timeline, otherwise I end up giving myself a headache. But yeah, "It Isn't the Mane Thing About You" and "Secrets and Pies" are two recent examples of repeating earlier lessons. They're not bad episodes, just unnecessary. Still, compared to S6, there was a higher ratio of good to bad episodes. Again, this may be my lowered expectations coloring my view of this season and making me react more favorably than if I had gone in expecting another S4.
As for the season finale, part of my motivation for writing "So You Escaped From Limbo" was to make Twilight and her friends look less stupid while fitting canon as closely as possible. I still enjoyed the episode, but I think it might have been better if it were three parts instead of two. That way Twilight would have had time to devise a way to keep the Pony of Shadows from escaping. This method would inevitably fail so the story would continue, but at least the episode would show that she was thinking through the consequences of her actions and not being completely reckless.
Two great songs in a season is pretty decent? I mean, it's no season 5, but what did we get in season 6? The only thing that made it into my permanent music collection was "Out on My Own." Sure, we can always wish for more amazing songs, but I'm not inclined to be dissatisfied by having just the two songs you mentioned.
As far as episode quality goes, I'm well-satisfied by season 7 on the whole. I've seen everything but the finale, and the quality has been consistently high, with fewer complete whiffs than ever before. The latter half of "Daring Done" was extremely disappointing due to shoddy writing, and I didn't get much out of "Not Asking For Trouble", despite generally being a fan of Pinkie. The moral seemed dumb / confused and the yaks just don't seem to add much as characters.
Other than that, there isn't really a lot that made me go "I wish I didn't have to see that". Parts of "Once Upon A Zeppelin" were painful to watch, but I can't call it bad. The lesson is an important one and it was well-done. Well, I kinda hate what it did to Iron Will. He seemed like someone with integrity in his other episode, and this one kinda compromised that.
"Secrets and Pies" was amazing at what it tried to do. The character breakdowns in episodes like "Party of One" and "Lesson Zero" were some of my favorite moments in earlier seasons, and it's great to finally get something like that in the show again. While it's clear they took inspiration from "Party of One", it doesn't mirror it so closely as to deprive it of entertainment value, at least in my eyes.
And yeah, the opening episodes weren't a two-parter, but that's fine. Both episodes were decent offerings. Seeing Celestia laugh heartily like that was great, though I could have done with less of Discord being a dick and sending Twilight into a tizzy just to amuse himself...
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Sorry for the delayed reply - I was busy cranking out new chapters.
I also loved the songs in "Hearths Warming Tail." The problem with those is that I only feel like listening to them around Christmas. But yeah, I guess songs aren't everything.
Totally agree with you there. I wanted to like Daring Done, and I did like Somnambula's legend, but the episode as a whole had way too many contrivances. I doubt you'll find a bigger earth pony fan than me, and even I'm calling shenanigans on Caballeron capturing Rainbow so easily and getting to the top of the pyramid before Daring made it to the slime chamber.
I think he learned the wrong lesson from "Putting Your Hoof Down." He should have learned to caution his attendees not to take aggression too far. Instead he learned not to offer refunds to unsatisfied customers.
After the mess that was "The Crystalling" I was glad that the writers didn't try to force themselves to write an opening two-parter if they weren't feeling it. Come to think of it, the only really good season opening was "Return of Harmony." Even the pilot episode had some issues, looking back on it. But the flaws are more forgivable there since Faust was still figuring out how the characters and world worked.
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I'm not saying you shouldn't focus on the songs so much, I'm saying that I don't think what we got out of season 7 was a bad haul. "Flawless" and "The Perfect Pear" were both amazing, top-tier songs, and there were a couple others that were good, like Rumble's song or the friendship song in the second episode - they just aren't stuff I want to listen to endlessly on repeat. I guess we didn't get a full-on musical episode, though, so if you were hankering for something like that, I can understand your disappointment.
I've also watched the finale now, and overall I'm quite happy with it. It was well-written and had no glaring inconsistencies (that I spotted on my first watch, anyway), a slew of new world-building, and some change to the status quo in a positive direction. I expect to see these characters make return appearances in season 8, and that should be very interesting.
I have to agree that Twilight being made to look like a reckless idiot here yet again is getting tiresome. Between this finale and the movie, the trend of Twilight backsliding and forgetting her lessons is getting a little much.
In the movie, when Twilight gave the nudge to Pinkie to befriend the seaponies, I fully expected it to be a Princess of Friendship kinda-deal - just let Pinkie work her magic and they'll want to help. Instead she tries to go for the goddamn pearl... and here in this finale, she doesn't think through the consequences yet again. I have to call bullshit to the writers on this one. Hopefully, this is a trend we've seen the last of. I'll have to check out your story and see what you make of this problem.