Thoughts on the Season Finale · 2:34am Oct 19th, 2018
Everyone's reaction to Cozy Glow every time she's appeared in this season:
Do you suppose that if the S8 episode list hadn't been leaked, we would have still had that reaction?
...Yeah. She was too cutesy not to be suspicious.
It's crazy how a little filly was the smartest villain this show ever had. How and where did she learn how to be this devious? Did she get it from her parents (or are they victims of her, too)? Had it not been for the Tree of Harmony doing its Tree of Harmony thing (and the friendship between the Student Six, I guess), Equestria would have lost its magic forever (and Starlight and the Six would have be sucked into who-knows-where). And the crime of magic-stealing and putting Equestria at risk of falling apart earns you a place in Tartarus, little filly (it does strike me as odd that ponies are okay with putting a kid there, even if she did do something that horrible).
I won't lie... the depiction of Tartarus is disappointing. Yeah, I get it, it's a kid's show, so I shouldn't expect something too scary, but seeing things like the bugbear, the cockatrice, the manticore, the chimera, and whatnot... that made it look more like a cheap zoo than a prison. I don't see what's so evil about a bunch of wild animals.
It would have been really cool to see some villains from Equestria's past, pony or otherwise, who are there because they committed horrific crimes. Like, you know, Tirek's whole magic-stealing schtick and tearing up the land with the stolen magic. Or, to draw from my own fics, instances of stealing ponies' memories until they're mindless blank slates, or creating a plague that turns ponies into monsters and enchanting the water with it. Or just keep it ambiguous about what those evil villains did--because kids' show--and just have them try to threaten or perhaps sweet talk the Mane Six, much to the girls' discomfort. Hmph, I still headcanon those creeps in Tartarus--they're probably in the deeper levels, forced to live all eternity (yeah, 'nother headcanon I have is that it pauses aging for indefinite punishment) to suffer for their crimes.
Also, why did the pen pal thing between Tirek and Cozy Glow happen? Who let a mail service reach Tartarus, and why weren't the letters inspected? Why doesn't this prison have high security other than Cerberus, who might just get distracted and leave his post? You'd think freakin' Tartarus, which is supposed to have some of the most dangerous criminals in the history of Equestria, would have tighter security. Only thing keeping them in is the dang door, which could be opened with enough magic. Yeesh, Tirek's escape from Tartarus is starting to seem less impressive if that prison is poorly looked after.
Another thing that bugs me is why the pegasi are still flying and why ponies aside from the unicorns can still use their special talents--flight and cutie marks are magical in nature, aren't they? Not to mention the sun rising and setting, even though Celestia and Luna should be affected as well. I've seen theories that Cozy Glow altered the spell to keep herself going, but now I'm trying to figure out how that would work. But apparently, magic affects food--although cupcakes don't go that bad that quickly. I know the show can be inconsistent, but this instance impacts the plot enough that it's annoying and feels like they're changing the rules for the story.
On another note, at least Neighsay did want what he thought was best for Equestria--misguided douche he may be--and seeing him given a dose of the reality that ponies could be evil, and that the other sapient species could genuinely accept friendship was nice to see. I don't have much complaint on his turnaround, other than that it seemed a little quick, but oh well.
Student Six were just okay. I dunno, it's more fun watching them develop as individuals then when they're just doing stuff as a group, like with Smolder being a big sister figure to Spike. And on another note, CMC were basically useless. They got locked in a closet, so... that's kind of disappointing.
All in all, this finale is strangely both enjoyably fun to watch (because holy cow, Cozy Glow steals the show, and Tirek has some good scenes too), and yet kind of bleck because of some of the disappointments and frustrations that keep bothering me about it, and I just don't care for the Student Six as a group nor do I really care about the school (in fact, I'd rather that it wasn't a thing).
As for my thoughts on Season 8 as a whole? While mostly harmless and with a few episodes I can call great (like The Washouts, my favorite of the season), though with a few bad stuff here and there (especially the awful Yakity-Sax, my least favorite of the season), I thought it was a little weak compared to past seasons. Even if I do like characters like Smolder, Gallus, and Ocellus, I just don't like the school gimmick.
But, anyway, I still plan on watching this series to the end, so here's to Season 9!
Oh, wait, there's that Christmas special coming up. Another Hearth's Warming episode... for some reason airing just before Halloween. So, yeah, I guess I'll give my thoughts on that when it airs.
Is that where the Cheese Sandwich cameo is? Because I remember the claims of a Cheese cameo in Season 8, and I'm miffed about not seeing him anywhere--it feels like I've been lied to. >:(
The cheese cameo is in your heart.
My hypothesis regarding the magic drain is that Star Swirl was somewhat off the mark, but everyone took him at his word because he's Star Swirl. Cozy wasn't going to drain any magic that would actually be useful to her.
4955226 Yeah, that's a really good point. Every episode of Starswirl we see him in has him making a terrible mistake in judgement (Stygian can't be trusted but the FlimFlam Brothers can). And without access to any magic of his own Starswirl created an exact timetable from a Las Pegasus hotel room on when magic loss would be permanent?