So...that finale... · 2:07am Oct 31st, 2017
It's several days late, but when has being late been a new thing for me?
Anyway, I have thoughts on the finale below. Spoilers for those who still haven't seen the episodes, of course. You have been warned.
"Shadow Play" is a two-parter that fills me with a number of conflicting feelings. There's so much wrong with the episode that I should be angry about...but for whatever reason, none of these red flags seem to bother me like they should. In fact, I had a blast watching these episodes multiple times. It's not even that the good aspects (and there are many) outweigh the negative, either. I just wasn't bothered by the things that irritate other people about these episodes.
So the plot boils down to "Twilight does something without thinking through the consequences, endangers the world, and has to fix everything." The fact that Twilight, the Princess of Friendship and the foremost scholar when it comes to magic, doesn't even consider that freeing the Pillars will also free the Pony of Shadows is a classic case of Idiot Ball. And yet it never felt wrong or out-of-character for her. Twilight has a long history of not thinking things through, so I can understand her mistake here. And this is magnified even moreso when you include Starswirl the Bearded, the pony she practically salivates over. Likewise, the idea that the other legendary ponies the Mane 6 admire were also real, and could be saved, would inspire much of the same feelings in the others. So it may be just me, but that part never felt wrong.
I would have preferred that the Pillars not necessarily be real. Perhaps the legends could have had some basis in reality, but a millennia's worth of the game of telephone could have magnified or warped their accomplishments in some way. We get a bit of that with Starswirl, who turns out to be a grouchy and judgmental flankhole, but the other Pillars come across a bit more..."perfect," i suppose, than I would have liked. Their only shared flaw was their treatment of Stygian, which boils down to failures in communication and Starswirl being a dick.
I also liked that the finale actually felt like everyone contributed. The non-Twilight Mane 6 each get a turn hunting down the artifacts. Twilight breaks the banishment spell, comes up with a replacement, and ultimately makes the save with a friendship lesson. Starlight acts as a grounding force, pushing everyone towards the correct solution while pointing out the dangers of Twilight's plot. Both the Pillars and the Elements are necessary to defeat the Pony of Shadows. Events feel a little more evenly-distributed this time.
The Tree of Harmony...okay, that felt unnecessary and more than a little forced. The Tree was better off as some mystical, unknown source of power, and giving it a relatively mundane origin feels lame.
Also, the Sirens appear. I hereby declare Equestria Girls canon. It also retcons their backstory from Fiendship is Magic, but that issue was horrible, so I don't give a damn.
So...yeah, I don't have much to say. Sorry for my incoherent ramblings here. This episode was frustrating in that I'm probably supposed to hate it, but...I can't. I liked it. And whether or not you liked it, that's perfectly fine. To everyone their own opinion.
Now back to the booze.
A big advantage this finale has over the movie.
Much the same thoughts you had. One thing bothering me greatly, though, is how the conflict between Stygian and the pillars was handled.
Yes, they thought he was doing something horrible when he wasn't. They could have listened more. But it's not like he went out of his way to actually explain anything. He stole from them, which could already be grounds enough to be booted from a team, and he did so ultimately to satisfy his ego. He felt betrayed? Well who started it, huh? They didn't trust him enough, but he didn't trust them either, or he would've told them what he intended to do. As the episode showed, they would have accepted. But he didn't. Neither did he try to explain anything afterwards, instead he turned to evil powers for revenge.
And yet, it's the Pillars who have to grovel for forgiveness. Every single character acts like everything that happened was their fault alone. At no point did Stygian express an ounce of regret for anyone other than himself. And he got away without even saying he was sorry.
In a sense, this was the worst redemption of the series yet. If you want me to be happy with a redemption arc, first convince me the character in question deserves it.
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You know, I did feel like the finale was off but couldn’t figure out why until you pointed out Stygian didn’t apologize.
The two problems I had with this episode are as follows:
All text regarding these pillars are written in old ponish. They make that very clear in each one of the last 5 or so episodes, where the words "Old Ponish" are repeated. So how is it that they all speak modern ponish so well?
Starlight was the one who had to convince Twilight that she was wrong and that they needed to be friends with the pony of shadows. Yet in the end Twilight got all the credit. That just bothered me.
Everything else you list I could excuse. The rest of the episode was great. But these two things.... ugh i hated that.
Yeah, I'm way okay with that comic not being canon. :B
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At Nightmare Nights Dallas, Big Jim Miller explained that they all have a babel fish in their ear. When pressed further, he said “we only have 22 minutes!”
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They did the exact same thing with the crystal ponies, where despite being gone for a thousand years they sound like they never left. I didn't even consider this plot hole before, honestly.
Just because it's expected of her, doesn't mean I have to like it when she keeps fucking up like this.
4712772
That's another thing I really disliked about it. Thank you for articulating it. :)
I kinda feel like Twilight's response to Starlight's worry over freeing the Pillars should have been, "Of course it will free the Pony of Shadow. That's a given. But c'mon, we beat Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra, and Tirek. Plus you're here. I think we can take Sombra 2.0."
Also, why did they need the EoH, exactly? Can't they call upon the Rainbow Friendship Laser at will now, as literal avatars of their respective Element? Did Josh Haber just forget the Rainbow Power, or did DHX just decide to let that quietly disappear in favour of the Elements themselves? (Not complaining, mind. Elements > Rainbow Saiyans. Just curious.)
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What's really frustrating about easy it could have been avoided. You literally only need a second to say "I'm sorry too." I timed it.
And yet Starswirl remains the judgemental jerk that doesn't think through the consequences of his deeds... between continuities, I mean. *shrug* We've yet to see the old horse adjust. At the very least, I'm in agreement the comic backstory of the Sirens was awful and painted them in too-positive a light for their supposed crimes and evil.
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Describing Twilight as "she keeps fucking up" is way too harsh. She's not performing this as a means to save face, make friends or get credit with her mentor. She's just trying to save valuable lives. It's like Frodo wanting to save Gandalf, or Spider-Man trying to save the Avengers.
Putting aside intentions and looking at competency, she also thought through the attempt, with her intent of being to leave the Pony of Shadows behind in Limbo. From her point of view, why COULDN'T she successfully alter a spell of Starswirl's? That's literally how she became an Alicorn.
Your statement makes it sound like she's been making magical mistakes like this consistently. Before this finale, when was the last time she screwed up a spell since Flutterbat? Mishaps in the style of Lesson Zero are now Starlight's wheelhouse.
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To be fair, there's a difference between spoken and WRITTEN languages, but that's a weak defense. Super Trampoline probably made the best point.