The Follow-up · 4:35am Oct 27th, 2016
Right, so I'm fully recovered with my wits intact. After several glasses of red wine I got off with only a mild hangover this morning. (How'd I'd love to skip merrily alongside Snoop Dogg. Some people have all the luck...)
Time to wrap this season up in the spirit of sobriety. Here we go.
Where the Apple Lies: Heh heh, Big Mac being more the talker in his youth. Usually it's the opposite for those awkward growing years. A whole heck of a lot of backflips AJ had to pull off, though, in keeping up this farce. Guess it's a reflection of how kids can greatly over-exaggerate things to avoid making trouble, but boy these were ludicrous lengths. Average episode. Pity we can't have another "Cutie Mark Chronicles" for the whole gang, only in their teen years. Or heck, one involving the background ponies. Would really be great if we could have one of those again, or as my chum suggested, one focusing on the day-to-day of the royalty. Some shenanigans in the Day Court, mayhaps?
Top Bolt: A nice episode. Odd what a fun back and forth Rainbow and Twilight can have where education/training is concerned. I personally believe in the "no compromise" truth-telling approach, because what better way to have an affect on the world then through sheer brutal honesty. Can't progress proper if you're living in lies all the time. Commenters for the episode say how Vapor Trails is throwing herself away on Sky Stinger, and I see that. But at least he doesn't end up a total irredeemable jerk at the end. There's the whole "fixing your problem in less than a day" cliche at work here toward the end, but by now there's no point in bringing it up in this show. And top marks for Twilight's s***-eating grin when Vapor spills the beans. It's practically a split second, but it's one of the best moments this whole season to me.
To Where and Back Again: Wow, really? That's the title you're giving for the season finale? Sure it's not something generic like "A Canterlot Wedding", but this just plain makes no sense. Enough of that nitpick, though. For the finale itself... Holy shish-kabbibles with that first episode. I mean, thanks to the spoilery nature of the writers here I knew in advance that the Changelings would be back, but how it ended... hoo boy, I was a-grinnin'. Quite shocking how Chryssy decided to do things smartly: kidnap the greatest threats to her before going full-on Disney villain victory mode. I'm not gonna bother asking how she managed to wrangle Celestia and Luna so easily, since a passing dirt devil could entrap them no problem (seriously they can't fight the frickin' weather I'm not getting over that). And adorable Thorax came back all adorable-y SQUEEEEEEE! Biggest surprise though was Discord popping in. Oh heck yeah now we're talkin' a rescue party! Awesome seeing our Lord of Chaos get dead serious when Fluttershy is mentioned. Of course you'd be righteously f***ed when you get his one and only bestie tangled up. So hyped for second episode, which having seen I say... pretty dang neat. Good way of fixing the whole dead serious Chaos Lord thing with the McGuffin Throne. Allows for some right proper teamwork between unlikely heroes. The ending to all this was also spoiled by shameless fic writers and their story blurbs, yet this has similarities to another kid's show finale.
Quite a long while back me and my Changeling fanboy chum would talk about the wasted potential of Chrysalis, having her always be the bad guy cuz the writers say she's irredeemable. Then I went on to say how at the end of Season 2 of Wander Over Yonder the main villain had rejected redemption and friendship, despite being offered mercy and a chance by the heroes after all the terrible things she did (and yeah, a female villain as well. Though Dominator is more the fun, bad girl kind of villain). Seems a shame Chrysalis is being made to follow this same route although she's been presented with a way better option for survival than forced love harvesting. Perhaps redemption down the road like with Starlight? Maybe as season opener? Doubtful. By the by, resolution to this whole shebang came rather abruptly: flash of shared love and boom, whole species is redeemed. Odd how Thorax never said a word after his transformation; I wanted more of his adorable voice, dammit! Oh, and that transformation: majestic as all f*** 
For the finale in its entirety, I found it to be pretty great! Had me grinning most of the way without the aid of alcohol. Certainly a different spin on the whole crisis resolution having a band of "secondary characters" saving the day. They gave it time to develop and reach a more satisfying conclusion instead of some last-minute cop-out to have some other minor character get the spotlight *ahem* Crystal Empire *Er-HUM*. Good interaction between two rather similar villains, one having learned the error of her ways and trying to convince the other that it's not the way to go. And the whole lesson of it's okay being in charge, stemming from "if you're good at something you just keep doing it without fear... as long as it doesn't hurt anyone, of course".
As for the season as a whole, ehhhhh it wasn't all that spectacular. Not enough stand-out episodes like the last one, and only one of them this season had something of emotional gravitas to me (being the Trixie episode). But the ones with Discord were definitely a treat, which by extension includes the season finale. Starlight seems to me an okay addition to the main cast, though not as developed as the others for obvious reasons. Still four more seasons to fix that before this puppy's done. Speaking of, time to hedge bets on what will happen for the next one. Returning villains? Returning Gen 1/2 villains/characters? Plus there's the promised FiM movie coming out next year. What kind of plot would that—
*DOOM*
No... They wouldn't, would they? They wouldn't make that the Chrysalis redemption event, would they? *Looks up Wikipedia page* Alright, judging by the barebones synopsis and casting list, I don't think that'll be a worry. Phew! Right, gonna go chill and play some fangames. All the best, fellow pony writers. Till next season ;)
