Thoughts on the Finale · 3:19am Oct 14th, 2019
For me, the show ended a long time ago. The season four finale was the last contiguous episode I watched. The show had become predictable and stale. The sincere optimism and slice-of-life tone that I had enjoyed no longer entertained me. The jokes no longer landed, and the plotlines failed to surprise me. And the writers had started to run out of ideas even then; at the time I joked that they had gotten DBZ in my MLP, given the laser dogfight that ended season four.
I have watched a few episodes since then, probably no more than three or four, and they all felt the same way. I decided to watch the season finale on a whim, just to say I did. It didn't change my mind in any way.
Despite that, I still consider myself a part of this fandom, and I do want to see where they take the franchise next. For me the show ended five seasons ago, but that doesn't tarnish or diminish the time I did spend with it. I will always love The Simpsons, despite the garbage they pump out now. At least MLP is having the dignity to end.
The show ending is just one ending of many. And all endings lead to new beginnings.
I feel like season 3 was when the show was "supposed" to end, but it was popular enough that they ran it for another six seasons.
I was glad that they did in some ways, but it would have probably been better from an artistic POV to end it with Twilight's ascension. Of course, they still ended with Twilight ascending, but in a different way.
Season five is the only season I think of as unusually good.
5138741 Yes, unfortunately money is a pretty big motivator for shows to continue. Most shows cannot support a quality writing staff and interesting plotlines that long, simply due to the law of averages. Most of my favorite shows lasted four or five seasons, and even that can be pushing it. It's definitely possible to do more and make it organic and high quality, but it's very difficult.
5138746 Starlight Glimmer is pretty emblematic of the show's shortcomings. The simplistic writing and plots are most evident in her storyline. Her main threats are her ideas, and she discards them pretty easily. She is yet another "light-noun light-verb" deuteragonist with excessive magical talent, despite Sunset Shimmer already showing up. She is the villain that is redeemed most awkwardly.
I love all the ideas and possibilities that she represents, but the execution was lacking. And sadly that is true of a lot of the show past a certain point (that point being debatable).
5138799
Yeah, but that's only the finale. The rest of the season is good.
Season 2 is imo the best top to bottom season. I think some of the storylines lost their way in the later years, but the CMC's stayed awesome!
If only we had gotton more of the Pie Sisters. And gotten an actual background on Cozy Glow. I love her character we did get, but it felt like she was jammed in just to add a third villain for the finale. Her motivations were not explained well. And then she was just tossed into the MLP version of Hell...just no. Come on. You can write her better than that.
Same here, though I didn't have a clear cut-off; my interest faded out gradually from Season Three onwards, and I ended up taking a pick-and-mix approach, salvaging episodes I liked and discarding the rest. That got harder each season. So when I got to the point I was discarding half a season at a time, I just cut my losses and walked off, leaving the last two seasons to their own devices.
Funny you mention the Simpsons; I took a similar approach there too. "Fanon Discontinuity" is a useful tool sometimes.
5139577 My issue with the CMC storyline is that it dragged on a little too long. Although once it got past the point of repetition, it did make some interesting points. The episode where they worry about whether they still have anything in common despite having their cutie marks is an interesting idea that is not explored often in children's media. If they had more adult themes like that, it might have held my interest in the show a bit longer.
5140971 I stopped watching the Simpsons after season 16. I remember my high school self watching most of the series, and the first episode I actively disliked was the one with Ray Romano. I actually rewatched most of the series recently, and season 13 was the earliest season without worthwhile episodes.
Twelve good seasons (maybe 11.5) is a lot more than most shows could ever hope to achieve, however.
In retrospect, my relationship with the Simpsons was a lot like the one with MLP, just over a much smaller time frame.
5140971
I think there are several episodes worth a watch in the later seasons.
"The Maud Couple"
"Growing Up Is Hard To Do"
"Common Ground"
"Road To Friendship"
"Frenemies"