To Where And Back Again Review · 6:42pm Oct 22nd, 2016
Alright, it's finale time! This has been a pretty divisive season compared to Seasons 4 and 5 (there were some people who complained frequently about Seasons 4 and 5, but for the most part the fandom reception was positive, few episodes this season have met with universal praise) for several reasons, none the least of which is Starlight Glimmer herself. I'll admit, after "Every Little Thing She Does" I was kind of starting to question my willingness to give her a chance, and this finale really had to do a lot to justify her being part of the main cast for at least another season. With fandom speculation running high since this finale was announced, it had a lot to live up and a lot to answer for those still not onboard with Starlight as a character. So, was the finale able to at least hopefully rectify this with Haber and Vogel working together? Well, let's find out.
We begin with Twilight, Starlight, and Spike helping to move boxes of books down some stairs. Unfortunately for Spike, without magic he isn't able to keep his balance and he stumbles and falls. Poor Spike, after a season of outstanding performances it looks like he's back to being the butt monkey, I guess some things were too good to last.
Then Derpy/Muffins/Bubbles (whatever you wanna call her) comes flying and crashing into the castle with a letter for Starlight, inviting her back to her old village for the Sunset Festival. Starlight is quite nervous about this, and even has a nightmare where the equal four shun and reject her. Thankfully, Princess Luna arrives and tells Starlight she should talk with her friends about this. Starlight does so, and Twilight makes the suggestion that Starlight go with a friend to protect her. Starlight does so, deciding on Trixie (kind of surprised she didn't pick Sunburst, but I guess Trixie's easier to get ahold of for some reason). Then we get a bit of a callback to the hostility between Twilight and Trixie in "No Second Prances" that I really don't think is needed (please don't make Trixie the new Discord in regards to a character Twilight continues to keep looking upon with suspicion for no reason), this time especially as she's already forgiven Trixie twice.
So Trixie takes Starlight back to the village, still hamming it up as usual and even surprised that Starlight would be nervous about revisiting it considering the villagers seem to forgive her. But then Starlight has a nervous breakdown when the villagers try to put her in charge of some of the activities of the festival, knocking them all away with a forcefield.
Trixie thankfully does the right thing, immediately coming to Starlight's aid by distracting the audience and covering her escape with a smoke bomb illusion, while also using her cape to shield Starlight. Trixie admits that even she makes mistakes and tells Starlight to move on from them (though phrasing it alongside pretending they don't exisit, which is pretty bad advice, ignoring your mistakes dooms you to repeating them).
The two return to Ponyville, but something seems off as all of the mane six are acting noticeably different and don't even seem to recognize Starlight. Twilight even tells Starlight to forget about trying to befriend those villagers after whatever she just did, and this carries over into another nightmare that Starlight has. This time, Princess Luna returns not to offer advice but to send out a distress signal, the changelings are back and have captured not only Twilight and her friends (including Spike unfortunately) but also Celestia and Luna (kind of a letdown for Haber when he previously had them do something in the premiere, but then again "The Crystalling" was overcrowded and Celestia and Luna's inclusion felt largely unnecessary aside from making Flurry Heart even more special and rule breaking). Starlight wakes up in her bed in a cold sweat, and sneaks to Trixie's trailer under cover of darkness. It's here that we get our first actual nod to Equestria Girls in the main series, as Trixie quips in her sleep about peanut butter crackers.
Starlight wakes Trixie up, and Trixie really struggles to admit she said she makes mistakes (I could buy this from Discord, but Trixie is just being a grump for no real reason even considering the fact that she was rudely awakened). But knowing that Trixie is who she says she is, Starlight uses her to sneak back into the castle where they evasedrop on a conversation between the changeling spys and Queen Chrysalis in her native kingdom.
I should get the elephant out of the room, it's never explained how the changelings could pull off such a massive scheme especially when we learn they managed to infiltrate The Crystal Empire despite the scare going on and the heightened security (though maybe it was scaled back after Thorax was exposed and reformed), but remember that in "A Canterlot Wedding" Chrysalis was able to infiltrate Canterlot undetected, kidnap and imprison Princess Cadence, and take her place without anypony being any the wiser. And in the alternative timeline in "The Cutie Re-Mark" where she's leading a civil war against the ponies, she was able to get some of her soliders to infiltrate Zecora's hideout and we knew Zecora wasn't taking chances. Chrysalis may be a bad actor (to say nothing of her lack of a moral compass) but it's clear she's a lot smarter than most of the fandom probably gives her credit for.
After a narrow escape from the spys, Trixie is freaking out since changelings is something way out of her league. And she freaks out even more when Thorax shows up with new wings and explains he was sent by Sunburst to get Princess Twilight's help since the changelings invaded The Crystal Empire (they never say or imply Sunburst was captured, so I think they could've had him come along too, but I guess they had to save money in the voice acting budget so they could get the equal four to come back). Fortunately, Starlight calms Trixie down and brings her and Thorax into her little group. Then Discord shows up, and he's pretty miffed that Starlight and co. are talking about magically powerful beings and leaving him out of it. He changes his tune when he learns the changelings have his friends hostage (Fluttershy in particular provokes him into anger, guess it's his trigger word).
With Starlight still not comfortable taking on a leadership role, Discord boasts about how he'll take the gang right to the source of evil and he does so. But it seems something is wrong, he meant to take them right to Fluttershy, but she's nowhere to be found. Then Trixie points out they're right outside the changeling hive, a massive nest like castle, and part one ends there mostly serving as a set up for what's to come.
Part two opens up with Discord confused as to why they can't teleport right into the Changeling's domain, and Starlight says they need a plan. Discord refuses to accept that notion, getting into an arguement with Trixie before finding out his magic can't penetrate into the hive. Thorax explains that Queen Chrysalis' throne was carved from a stone that absorbs and renders all non changeling magic useless. Starlight then proposes a rather basic plan, sneak into the hive, find Chrysalis' throne, and destroy it, then leave the rest to the magic users. While walking, Trixie and Discord continue to snip at each other (with Trixie becoming a noticeable snarker) and this leads to the group agreeing on a secret phrase to use if they get seperated to ensure they're who they say they are "klutzy draconequus". They all agree, except for Discord who is noticeably unhappy at being the butt of a joke.
Turns out the hive is an ever changing series of catacombs and tunnels, making it easy to get lost. Discord and Trixie continue to argue over who's got the bigger ego, until Starlight finally tells them to knock it off.
Starlight admits she has no idea what to do since even with magic she's never truly had to bear responsibility or be a leader, and this situation is stressing her out. Thorax then reveals they might be lost, and it leads into a discussion that reveals Thorax's wings changed once he stopped needing to feed off of love, which happened after he was reformed. Then Discord whines a bit, and a changeling swarm is alerted. In other words, he startled the horde!
With the swarm fast approaching, Starlight manages to come up with a plan involving Trixie, Thorax, and smokebombs and it works really well. Conviently enough, two changelings break off from the swarm and go through a seperate tunnel. Thorax states that this is because they've been assigned to protect the queen with an intruder in the hive. Which finally gives Starlight a plan, they'll sneak to the throne room and slip inside to destroy the throne. In order to do so, however, they'll have to get past the guards and Trixie doesn't have anymore smoke bombs. Thankfully, the group has Discord, and even without magic he's still very distracting. He agrees to do a stand up comedy routine for the guards, this time making it changeling and bug themed. The guards noticeably take offense and give chase.
Discord loses them only to run into Fluttershy, but as he's about to free her he smells a set up and points out how convient it is that he found the one friend he cares the most about right when he's seperated from the group. Even the fake Fluttershy crying doesn't fool him, but then a whole bunch of Fluttershy clones show up and taunt him with the possibility that one of them is real, thus playing to his heart his only weakness. Meanwhile, Starlight, Trixie, and Thorax wait for Discord to come back as Starlight is counting on him to take out the changelings when the throne is destroyed. Discord shows up, but now he's being a lot more friendly and helpful, and he fails the password test so it's obvious he's an imposter. He leads the gang towards a waiting ambush, and Trixie in a display of bravery offers to scarifice herself to spring the trap so Starlight and Thorax can escape. Starlight panics at the thought of losing Trixie as well, but Trixie tells Starlight she can manage without magic in leading the group. Trixie then springs the trap, calling the fake Discord's bluff only to end up swarmed and captured.
Starlight and Thorax split off and Starlight finds the throne room with everyone imprisoned, then who show up but Chrysalis herself (really getting in touch with her insect ways in the process)? She then sics another swarm on Starlight, sticking her to the spot and after the tried and true "You'll never get away with this, I already have" cliche, Chrysalis remarks about how she didn't think Starlight was worth capturing and is quite furious when Thorax is brought up, especially when it turns out that Starlight is really Thorax in disguise and that Starlight has been trying to chip away at the throne with a rock.
Trying to reason with Chrysalis, Starlight attempts to explain about Thorax and how he doesn't need to feed, especially since Chrysalis' plan is to have her changeling imposters replace the real ponies and funnel the love of the rulers back to her for the entire hive to feast upon, but Chrysalis won't hear any of it. She then decides to make an example of Thorax and drain his love away, Starlight encourages him not to hold back and share it with Chrysalis, triggering Thorax's evolution.
Thorax emerges from a cocoon in a new state, and yes it's definitely ugly and unappealing but it doesn't turn me off from the character (still hope the DHX staff can fix it, just like they toned down Flurry Heart's excessive brightness when she reappeared in "The Times They Are A Changeling"), with Chrysalis knocked through her throne, all the other changelings begin to transform as well, and the entire top of the hive castle is destroyed, freeing everyone imprisoned.
But it's not over yet, Chrysalis is still alive and even though she's facing down an entire army with no one to back her up she doesn't seem too concerned until she's back into a corner. Starlight makes an attempt to reach out to Chrysalis, like Twilight did to her, and at first it seems like Chrysalis will take up that offer, but then she angrily swats Starlight's hoof away and vows to get revenge before running off into the distance, leaving Thorax to be crowned king of the new changeling race.
With the magic restored, Discord offers to teleport everyone to Fluttershy's cottage for tea, but Starlight instead recommends her old village so she can attend what's left of the Sunset Festival. Starlight now has confidence in herself, realizing that sometimes you have to step up and take charge even if you're afraid to do so. Meanwhile, Discord compliments Trixie in his own way, and Trixie foolishly continues to snark at him when he offers to spice up her tricks if she wants. Part two ends with Trixie and Discord flying off on flying pigs (the pigasus from the IDW Comics) and Rainbow Dash remarking about how the mane six will have to catch up on what they missed, especially considering what happened the last time she got a chance to unwind.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the two parter? Well, it's probably the best finale to date, but I will admit it's largely due to how amazing the second part is. The first part wasn't bad, but it was largely a set up for what was to come in the second part, and as a result it felt kind of clunky. You could've just as easily cut out everything up until Starlight comes back from the village and explained why she was with Trixie and with the exception of seeing the equal four again nothing would've been lost. I also don't think it was necessary to up the stakes to Starlight saving the princesses and the mane six, just having her save her friends would've been enough and arguably would've made this significant step of hers more humbling. There was also a waste of opportunity for Sunburst, Spike, and Ember to be part of the group, and of course Thorax's design once he transforms is hideous. I'm thinking that Mike wanted to do this finale but after he messed up with "Every Little Thing She Does" Haber didn't trust him and decided to collaborate and hold him in check (I guess Starlight's just not a character Mike understands for some reason, which is concerning if Haber or Meghan don't return to the editor's chair in Season 7) but by that point the damage in the first part had already been done and Haber largely had to work on fixing the second part and then doing a little bit of damage control in the first part. Starlight's speech about leadership is a little forced but I am glad that it wasn't Thorax, Discord, or Trixie who did most of the work and/or contributed largely to the victory, that would've robbed Starlight of the growth she needed. Those are largely just nitpicks though, the setup could've used work but what it built up to more than made up for it so I have no trouble giving this episode an A+ putting it above "The Times They Are A Changeling" (which had some of that clunky exposition at the start, thus rushing the climax) but below "Dungeons and Discord" which was a wonderful guys only focus episode (though it could've cut some stuff or been given a second part to really hammer home that major selling point). While we're on the subject of episode rankings, "Every Little Thing She Does" has dropped down to below "Viva Las Pegasus" and "The Saddle Row Review" but above "The Fault In Our Cutie Marks" since Gabby is apparently what's called a parody sue and part of me can't help but wonder if she's supposed to replace Babs Seed as the fourth CMC member (I'm pretty sure that's not the case and I really hope it isn't). Season 6 definitely beats out Season 5 for best season, albeit more closely than Season 5 beat out Season 4 (which was by a decent margin) and despite this being perhaps the most consistent season of quality there's still room for improvement in Season 7 in the Spring of 2017.
Now that Season 6 is done, expect to see a lot of blog posts involving episodes, writers, characters, songs, and many other things. As for stories, right now I'm working on a CheesePie shipfic slated for release by the end of next week, then I'll be hopefully taking "Fluttershy's New Foal" off hiatus by Halloween and working on it through November, then around Thanskgiving and into December I'll likely be working on the "Prince Shining Armor" chapters of my R63 Stallion Six fic, and then depending on whether or not either of my go to proofreaders are back online by that point I'll try to close out 2016 with a Diamond Tiara/Apple Bloom friendship holiday themed fic to round out the triology of Diamond Tiara/CMC fics I wrote this year (the other two being "The One Where Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo Have A Sleepover" and "Diamond's Dog Day" respectively). And I'm still going to probably write that Spike/Starlight friendship mission fic in January of 2017. But these dates are not set in stone, especially with midterms, registration, working on a research paper for a writing intensive class, and of course the presidential election here in the U.S. (God help us all). Meanwhile, if you're looking for stuff to do to tide you over during this hiatus, check me out on DeviantArt as SPB2015 or FanFiction.net as SPB (on DeviantArt I do journals involving all sorts of stuff and not just ponies, cartoons, video games, movies, you name it. And on Fanfiction.net I've published some of my fanfics from this site and may publish one or two fics in other areas on there if I find the time).
Honestly, I think the difference between season 6's quality and season 5's quality is even larger than the quality gap between seasons 4 and 5, in the best way possible. (Just to give a small taste: In my top ten of the entire series, 5 episodes are from season 6, 2 are from season 5, 1 is from season 4, 1 is from season 2, 1 is from season 1, and none are from season 3. In my bottom ten episodes of the entire series, every season except for season 6 has two episodes in it. In fact, not a single episode from season 6 is in the lower half of the series).
As for this episode, I honestly think it's the second best episode of the entire series. Given that number 1 is Crusaders of the Lost Mark, that just speaks for how good the quality of the episode is. And the reasoning for that is that both parts are equally amazing. As in, the set up in part 1 is just as good as the payoffs in part 2.
I didn't mind Sunburst, Spike, or Ember not being part of the group, since having too many characters might have cluttered things up a bit.This
As for Thorax's post-transformation design, I honestly love it. In fact, I prefer the changelings' appearances post reformation over their pre-reformation designs.
This finale also cemented Starlight Glimmer as not just best pony, but best character in the show period.
I think season six was a pretty good season, despute the fandom drama. It brought us some great episodes, and amazing new characters like Thorax. As for Starlight, I'd say she her reformation was done pretty well, and became a great character in the process.
4266530 I'd say her reformation is better than Luna's and Discord's. Luna's was practically forgotten after "Luna Eclipsed" and then hastily retconned into "Do Princesses Dream Of Magic Sheep?", and with Discord well it wasn't really until this season that they truly had him as an equal to the mane six and not just someone they put up with because they had to, as well as someone who wasn't just an immature prankster who kept having to learn you can't always get your way. But her reformation is below Diamond Tiara's since, while it did come a bit out of left field, they managed to make it believeable and redeem her properly plus there's still hope that her reformation will lead to something in the future, and of course below Sunset Shimmer and Sci-Twi (Sci-Twi was Luna's fears in "Do Princesses Dream Of Magic Sheep" done better).
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I honestly can't understand all this hatred towards Starlight Glimmer. She was a manipulative bully with issues that started in child/ponyhood and lord knows I had enough bullies bother me (an entire gang of them) in my childhood that this hit home with me as far as relating to her being a believable character. Several of the bullies I grew up around apologized later when they found me, so yeah, guess what all the Glimmer-bashers out there, they ARE capable of change. The character is here to stay - deal with it roundstable.com/forums/images/smilies/DashEmote2.png
Yes, THANK YOU! I agree 100%. What is so hideous about it? There are beautifully colored insects in nature...there are June Bugs/Jewel Scarabs a plenty in Southern California that are a gorgeous, iridescent green and we all know that in MLP, a character's inner beauty is often reflected on the outside as far as accepted standards of physical beauty. Not the greatest lesson to teach children, but there it is.
Overall I liked the finale. I especially liked that Queen Chrysalis was NOT reformed. Keeps my head-cannon hope that one day she may find King Sombra's horn, reanimate him and they team up for another attempted takeover of Equestria. Hey, a Sombra fangirl can hope, can't she?
I have to agree. From what I've read about this episode, it actually WAS one of this show's best. Of course, I'm wondering just how Chrysalis is going to try to take her revenge on Starlight. She doesn't have her army anymore and she lost her means of depowering her enemies. So, she's basically limited to two options: 1. Recruiting all of the non-reformed villains (which is basically, with the possible exceptions of Garble, Tirek, the Dazzlings and MAYBE the baddies from the Power Ponies comics, limited to a handful of VERY minor nuisances) to distract Twilight and her friends so SHE can focus on Starlight. or 2. Go with (relatively) simple and subtle single-target psychological warfare. Somehow, the latter seems like the much more likely of the two.
4266663 It's just some people are so determined to hate Starlight that they won't change their minds no matter what.
I think that's most cartoons in general.
While I admit, I would personally have loved to see Chrysalis get reformed, that would make an interesting season 7 finale.
That part caught me completely by surprise and I was actually very happy to see Trixie.
Yeeeeeeeeah. They REALLY need to watch out for that.
Thanks for introducing the music to me. It sounds tense and stressful.
Even though the jokes were corny, I was laughing at how the changelings were being burned by them.
On the one hand, I was glad the writers did not go with the automatic "redeemed" Chrysallis. That was what I was afraid they were gonna go for and it didn't happen. Phew.
On another hand, Chrysallis escaped............and the ponies let her go............when they had an opportunity to capture her and they were no hindrances for it, especially with Discord's restored magic....................yeah, that was not handled well. It destroyed my suspension of disbelief. -_-
I disagree, because otherwise, the ending would not have been as emotionally impacting when everyone went back to "our town" and Starlight delivers her Aesop message about herself.
I disagree. The fact that the stakes were raised that high was what got me so invested in the Starlight's and her friend's journey and success to their mission. Throughout the episode, I kept asking myself "how are they gonna solve this giant problem?" So you can imagine how on edge I was throughout the second part.
Good point on the former. Not sure how the writers could have fit in Ember and as for Spike...................he most likely would have stolen Starlight's and the other's thunder, since they ARE redeemed characters.
*shrugs* I'm indifferent.
One of the biggest disadvantage having a 22 minute episode. Not enough time completely flesh out the dialogue in the end and make it better. *sigh*
One last loose end the writers left out was the changelings that are still in Equestria when they replaced the main characters. I wonder what happened there.
Thought I leave my two cent worth.
I finally got to watch the finale and it was amazing, second best episode of the sixth season. (Gauntlet Of Fire is my top fave episode of the Season.) The brightly coloured version of the changelings leaves a door wide open for a golden opportunity going forward to Season 7, I don't think we've seen the last of Chrysalis, even though it's taken four seasons for her to attempt revenge and failing at the last moment.
I will say this much this finale was better than last years, but I was disappointed. I like the changeling kingdom, giving secondary characters a chance to shine mostly with Trixie, Thorax, and Discord. I also like not reforming Chrysalis at the end we don't need any more quickly redeeming villains anymore, still mad at Starlight's redemption. Love King Thorax as new leader of his kind.
Things I hate making the Mane Six useless for plot convince, taking out Twilight and the three other princesses and having the other mane five rescue her instead. The last three finales seasons 3,4,5 would about Twilight. I still hate Starlight as a character and she is just a less popular Sunset clone. Sunset would been better in this than Starlight and Chrysalis said Starlight was Twilight's only pupil and that made mad. I still want Sunset to have a real appearance in series not just the movies. I hate the changeling's new form.
To me this Josh Haber's attempted to get us to like Starlight while some people like her now, others I have find across the Internet still hate her and so do I. Josh as ruined this season and I hope he don't return next season. Josh is just mediocre and can't lead the show. I think that should focused on Starlight's redemption this season and I would like her better. If they give more focus on in season 7 I may change mind and like her. I want to like, but just haven't yet. People who love good for you I am glad, but I not convinced.
I give To Where and Back Again a 5 out of 10 average not good enough for a finale.