Worst... episode... ever... (Details added now that the stunned daze has cooled a bit) · 4:30pm Apr 6th, 2019
Jesus christ... I don't even know where to begin..
Holy crap, that was some of the sloppiest schlock hack writing the show has ever vomited forth.
Screw all continuity, laziest Deus Ex ever... my god. Thank goodness the show is ending.
I'm just going to list the most glaring things that were utterly wrong, and a few of the lacking developments. I sat in shock at the diarrhea of writing I'd just seen splashed upon the screen for a time.
1. Grogar declares he was the first ruler of Equestria. Well, if that's not immediately dismissed as BS by everyone, then clearly no one's been paying attention to the show at all for the last 8 years. Do I really need to spell out how that clashes with EVERYTHING we know about Equestria's past?
2. Sombra suddenly has the power to overcome the Crystal Heart, alicorns, and the Tree of Harmony. You know, the thing which could defeat Discord. Who's clearly far more powerful than Sombra, given the little act Discord pulled off... but we'll get to that later.
3. Celestia and Luna dump leadership onto Twilight for amazingly stupid reasons, only to realize that she wasn't ready at the end. NO SHIT SHERLOCK!! Wasn't this EXACTLY what we were concerned about from the start?!
4. The writers clearly forgot the Plunder Vines were planted by Discord.
5. Starswirl is more powerful that alicorn Twilight... and Twilight was STATED to be the most powerful unicorn Celestia had ever seen.
6. Nothing whatsoever about Cozy Glow. To all the people thinking she'd be linked to Grogar and he'd explain where she came from: HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!! I told you the writing for her was garbage!!
7. The laziest Deus Ex ending of all time. Just, seriously... what the hell.
8. The Tree and Elements getting blown up. So, they tried to make the Tree a character... which clearly wasn't working out since they blew it up. In the laziest F'ing way. Also, Twilight and Co forgot the EoH had been blown up before... you know, that whole NMM thing? Even the most drooling fanboys commenting noticed that didn't make sense. I suspect they'll punch themselves in the face until they stop that pesky 'thinking' thing and go back to mindlessly praising the show. But for a moment, the awfulness punched through even their braindead oblivion.
9. Grogar just brought Sombra back to life from... what exactly? How did he do that? Why can't he do it again? As Nostalgia Critic would say, "EXPLAIN, MOVIE!! EXPLAIN!!"
10. Tirek seemed shocked to see a changeling. ... Uhm, how did he not know they'd been around for the past several years? He was supposedly free after Cerberus left the gates back in "Lesson Zero" near the beginning of Season 2.
The ONLY good things:
1. Discord trolling everyone, openly declaring he could have fixed everything instantly, but wanted to let them have their friendship lesson. Seriously, I wish he'd been even more meta about it that he already was. It would've made this so much more amusing.
2. The damned comics are clearly totally sundered from the show at long last. So now we are in utter contradiction with every Sombra comic. Trying to link the comics and show is now futile.
This writing was outlandishly sloppy, the pacing was frantically slap-dash, the continuity practically didn't exist. It was SO BADLY WRITTEN that quite a few people commenting as it aired were wondering if everything going wrong and making no sense was because the Mane 6 were still actually trapped in Sombra's 'greatest fear' spell... only to have that single hope dashed and realize, no, it was just the worst writing since the Season 5 finale of "Steven Universe" (I saw that. It was bad.)
Care to explain further?
I heard the same from Star Wars and Star Trek fans... after going to the cinema and seeing the same crappy film over five times, and buying all the junk associated with the shitty films and series.
I know you can do better at poking fun at the fans here that do the same thing.
Somepony's salty
Nah, it was pretty perfect. Everybody was in character. Everyone was acting in-character in the moment, by the moment, and that's what made those beats really hit and feel weighted within the show's world. As for the "deus ex," it's been established time and again that strength, courage, power - all of that comes from a desire to protect and help those you love. That's Harmony, where Twilight found her inner strength.
Grogar knows this well. He's the antithesis to this relationship, he's the Darkness, the negative emotions and all the stuff that creates Disharmony. This episode was merely a demonstration for why the villains gathered had always been defeated. Through every trial and tribulation, they were overcome by this drive dedicated to stopping them. To dismantle that, Grogar knows they have to think like them and pick them apart.
It's spelling for a grim finale, even more so than this premiere was. Of course we know friendship is going to win in the end. That's not even a question. But what the characters feel in the moment is what's real in their world, so...
I guess, what I'm trying to say, Alondro, is stop pretending this show and these characters are something they're not. See them for what they are and enjoy this last ride before Friendship is Magic closes the book on its final chapter.
See the plan that Discord is so clearly aware of. You're smart enough to catch it, too, I can tell! See the plan and just enjoy the ride. Enjoy this show instead of feeling angry over every little thing that doesn't mesh with the real world and just have fun with it.
5039500 It's garbage writing. Pull the wool of fanaticism from your eyes and learn to analyze at at least a basic level.
This is feeling like the imbeciles defending "Lost" and "Battlestar Galactica"... until the endings finally demonstrated we 'haters' were right all along.
5039503
I doubt you even read what I wrote. Tell me then, if you're so clearly smart. Because apparently you can't seem to grok a show that's written for a pre-teen audience.
You mean the continuity it's been playing fast and loose with for years? Regardless, it fits, because clearly from the way he speaks and what he says he's the master of, you could tell Grogar was the FIRST enemy. There had to be a first of everything, right?
Sombra never actually beat any of these things in a power contest. That is why he had to dive in and pick them apart one by one. Isolation and containment.
She is ready - that's what the whole episode is about. Twilight, given time, already knows the mechanics of running a government, obviously. She's crazy smart, but she lacks the confidence in herself (thus the Twilighting). But the princesses themselves were rash, they aren't wrong in their thinking but they were rash and selfish.
And the plunder vines were destroyed, that's not what was happening. The Everfree was a wild woodland until the Elements were re-established in the tree and made it safe to walk through. It contained the nature, but with it being gone that dark nature was no longer contained, not even by the tree itself, and thus grew exponentially. That's apparently what it does, the Tree itself kept the Everfree within that fine border, but with it gone its evil magic ran wild.
This was established back in Shadow Play. Celestia never said those words.
You're the one not thinking - the Elements were inside them, always, that was Discord's point. That's what they did in the first episode, they brought the Elements forth through their own spirits after they were shattered and restored them. Too much was happening for you to honestly expect the girls to process all of that and rationally think they can reform the Elements - we haven't even gone back to the site yet. That's not what the episode is about, but you want it to be about that, and because it's not about that, here you are, screaming like a child and demonstrating a sad lack of comprehension for actual storytelling structure, characterization, all of that... in a fucking cartoon.
You're just that insane, Alondro. I'm dead serious here - I'm the one thinking here, but you're flailing your arms because nothing went the way you would have written it.
The Aether, they said, listen. It's where all the magic comes from and exists. Sombra's spirit exists in it, it's clear he's distilled himself completely into just a dark force, owing to his shadowy way of moving around and ability to get in pony's heads.
His surprise wasn't at the fact that they existed, you fucking incompetent. He was only caught off guard by one being there.
5039530 Well you're dead wrong about Sombra. He DID face alicorns AND the Crystal Heart.
Celestia and Luna beat him easily and the only thing he could do was seal himself and the Empire away. The Heart at full power kicked his ass in Season 3's opener.
As for Grogar, well you actually admit the continuity is shit, but don't seem to care!
Then you admit that Twilight and Co had the Elements inside them all along... WHICH WAS THE POINT OF THE CLIMAX in the show opener! They knew it already from the get-go and forgot about it so this plot could happen. How do you not realize this is lazy Idiot Balling?
Celestia did say Twilight was the most powerful unicorn. Back in the Cutie Mark backstory episode from Season 1.
Grogar brought Sombra back from this 'Aether'... which is what? Why was Sombra there somehow intact after getting blown up? Sheesh, I could just snap my fingers and reverse everything done in "Infinity War" and say I brought them all back from the Cosmic Fart if that's all it takes to explain away bullshit.
Well then, I see where you're coming from. Don't bother wasting anymore of my time simply because you lack the mental acuity to appreciate a story written by people that actually give a rat's ass about what they're writing.
I've favorited hundreds of fics on here, any of which would kick this pair of episodes so hard the shock wave from the impact would be felt through time and trigger the first Rainboom.
Truth is, you can't handle that your idolized show is imploding. I don't worship at the altar of fiction. I call crap what it is.
5040029
I'm not going to bother deconstructing your ravings. They're not worth it, and neither are you, Alondro: the raving manchild so stuck in his own delusions of grandeur that he, in this serious rebuttal, gets information from a simple cartoon absolutely wrong, and has the disrespect to call it heightened criticism:
You seem to have forgotten that, not only did they beat him TOGETHER, when they were representing the ELEMENTS (hint hint like the girls did here hint hint), but Sombra didn't even seal himself away. The Sisters did. You're right about one thing (in this entire reply), and it's that the Heart defeated him... when it was a unified blast powered by the Empire, that is. Which is why I explained (and you ignored) Sombra's tactical attack on the Crystal Empire and the Tree, rather than trying to overpower everything through sheer brute force.
And this, right here, is why you aren't worth it, Alondro. Your brain is so fucked up that it can't handle being incorrect, so it takes the text that you are looking at this very moment and mutilates it, misinterprets it, all to ensure that you can get the last laugh.
And you want to know the funny part? I don't give a fuck about the show. Not as much as you think I do - I know what it is, I know its strengths and failings, and unlike you I grok its themes and characters and understand what it sets out to do. Sometimes it succeeds with a passable "eh," sometimes it fails and other times it failed hard. And I don't just mean stories, but even down to the littlest character moment, it turns into a vague imitation of what the show originally was. I think it does a fine job overall, though, but you really aren't someone I would go to for an intelligent discussion about My Little fucking Pony.
You're not smart, Alondro. You're an idiot who thinks he's smart.
I just saw a clip of the episode. I really don't like Sombra voice. He sounds like Gaston, not a Sauron like character.
5040066
While I can't say much about this episode, I remember that the sister did defeat Sombra, but it wasn't never even mentioned that the sisters had the Elements with them.
5040466
It didn't mention it, but considering they were together and not dealing with Discord, it can be ascertained that "the Harmony spell blast" disintegrated him like in this episode. Or that the sisters together were just that powerful. Either way, Alone to made a ridiculous point
5040066 The information isn't wrong.
Celestia and Luna were NOT using the EoH when they beat Sombra the first time. They DID NOT have the EoH with them when the flashback was shown. In fact, they specifically told Twilight not to bother bringing them... why? Could it be that with the EoH they would have ended Sombra so easily it wouldn't amount to any challenge? That point must be speculated upon, as with why Celestia suddenly decided to reform Discord with no sensible reason whatsoever to even assume he could be reformed in the first place.
But what IS abundantly clear is that he was beaten by the Sisters without the EoH.
You also ignore the obvious, which I've already stated: THE HEART IS AT FULL POWER. Sombra COULD NOT approach the Crystal Empire when it was in such a powered mode. It automatically repelled him... until this episode's plot required it not to.
I'm not the only one to notice this! DOZENS of others questioned it immediately as it took place. It was a plot hole so glaring it was basically shouting how wrong it was.
You're the one with extremely selective memory, allowing your fanon and opinion to override the actual information presented in the show
5041040
It was Cadance's spell that was repelling him the first time, you goober
And I wasn't stating the sisters used the Elements. I said they represented them like when they defeated Discord, except without them like with Twilight and the girls against Sombra. Learn to read
This is what I meant when I explained how your brain is fucked up and it's not worth dissecting your ramblings
5041218 They used that spell until they found the Crystal Heart and super-charged it with good vibrations.
Then it blew Sombra to bits.
I'd say that's rather definitive.
5041451
Sure, except it was clearly a pulse from the Heart itself - Cadance's shield dropped. She lacked the strength to sustain it. That's the whole reason it was such a close call.
5041478 Uhm.. yeah... it was the Heart. It was the whole reason Celestia sent them there in the first place. Sombra would lose if they got the Heart.
Soooo... why didn't it do anything this time?
That brings up more points: How did Sombra even know about the Tree of Harmony? He was in limbo for a thousand years, then barely back for a few moments before being blown up. How did he withstand being hit by the Deus Ex Rainbow Laser the first time in this episode?
It just threw so much on the screen without framing or expositing ANYTHING.
And I still must point out that the only other villain Grogar should need is Tirek, the one who single-handedly took down EVERYTHING ELSE, including Discord. The rest of the changelings are on the ponies' side and overflowing with love power, so Chrysalis is rather useless. And Cozy Glow... she's just a filly. With no backstory and no suggestion she's anything other than evil because 'the plot'. Why does she even exist? It's too late to throw some massive backstory on her, or suddenly reveal she's actually a super-villain. That would be a desperate ploy to make her relevant at this point and feel horribly tacked on.
The only thing I might believe now with how this has all been hashed together (only because this would be in keeping with how the show has handled matters with Discord and the Crystal Empire, not because it's good idea... in fact it's an awful idea) is that Grogar is secretly working for Celestia and this is all ANOTHER convoluted plan of Celly and Loony's to reform the remaining villains, and Discord is also in on which is why he didn't do anything and faked being injured. He was there as backup just in case they couldn't stop Sombra when Old Smokey wouldn't play ball with the rest.
5042092
It's amazing how you're still getting the Crystal Heart thing wrong despite my explaining it. And in your second paragraph, you demonstrated a desperate need to be handheld by a simple cartoon. There was no point reading the rest of your scribblings after that.
I'll say it again: You're an idiot who thinks he's smart.
5042103
You know, I gotta say, the repeated attacks seem entirely unnecessary.
5042445
Hey, I'm not the one who called someone that dared like this episode a mindless fanboy. I'm not the one asserting something is garbage whilst simultaneously misunderstanding evidence that is either heavily implied or outright explained either verbally or by visuals, or actually stopping a moment to think about the characters (I.e. how Sombra survived the first Harmony blast when clearly he was expecting this and plotted to be led to its source).
I don't like beating my chest on the internet, much less over ponies with people too angry and bitter over the show to properly critique it. But out of pride, I will not stand the butchering of a piece of art trying to be taken as serious criticism while the above are so glaring in almost every paragraph Alondro says.
He can stop at any time by just not replying.
5042453
Yeah... but you know he's not, right?
5042454
Which is what makes this kinda funny to me.
5042455
And just as much to him.
5042453 *aside to the audience* He don't know me very well, do he?
When I'm done with you, there won't be much left. There never is when I choose a new 'special friend'.
5042922
Unless you plan to actually affect my life then I don't care. Go apeshit.
5042928 The weave of fate has already been rewoven.
It shall begin as all things do... with hemorrhoids.
5042935
You're already a hemorrhoid, Alondro.