Redo review: Season 5

This will be the last redo review I've done, since my opinions on Seasons 6, 7, 8 and 9 haven't changed that much in comparison with these ones. So, let's finish looking back to the entire show. Remember, this review will assume you've already seen the show, so spoilers ahead. Shall we?

The Cutie Map

Considering the fact that it wasn't very entertaining, which I still think it's a bit sluggish at some points like between both parts of the story, I reexamined the fact that an MLP episode doesn't need to be full of excitement and just needs to focus on the story and moral(s) rather than anything immensely special that you'd find in most two parters. So re-judging every aspect of it, from its near well-paced plot if still a little boring, wonderful morals though one was more necessary to learn than the other (since one of them has been used in previous episodes before), The Cutie Map is now much better than I considered it to be, although some previous openings are still more interesting for more creativity. It’s sad that the Cutie Map itself wouldn’t be used that much in future seasons. 4/5.

Castle Sweet Castle

While the season premiere was a great way to start off this 5th installment of MLP seasons to come, I feel its sequel episode Castle Sweet Castle gave and told a much better story and I think it’s my most personal episode by far. In other words: the Season 5 episode that actually made me cry. Thanks to its touching plot, wonderful humor in its first half, great animation, good voice acting, funny script with charm like other good episodes, fantastic song and one moral I have a strong connection to, it is THE very definition of how you make a personal favorite among bronies. The scene of Twilight and Spike looking back on their old place made my eyes very teary when I watched it, only instead of both of them looking back on their old home (which was destroyed by Tirek in by far the best episode of the show), and it still touches me as of today. The plot is one of my favorites not just for how personal it was to me and how humorous it was, but also for how it delivered its message targeted primarily at fans who were either moving or missing out on their old favorite places in the old days. With all of the good reminders of what some of the previous episodes showed over the years and a wonderful narrative, it certainly proves itself to be one the show's finest chapters of any MLP season to date. 4.5/5.

Bloom and Gloom

Apple Bloom’s crisis on getting her cutie mark is cathartic to some extend and can be uncomfortable to watch, though sometimes tries too hard to be unsettling and weird at times. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle have their moments and it goes directly to the point. To be fair, it’s the weakest episode of the CMC’s-Luna trilogy, but it’s a decent entry if you can support the sluggish pacing and its repetitive story. 3/5.

Tanks for the Memories

For moments like both faces Rainbow Dash made, especially her Grinch smile during 2/3 of the story, and even the great song she sang, and of course her attempts to prevent winter from coming, Tanks for the Memories does give a fun deal of entertainment. The episode's story did give goods to its elements, but is sadly let down by a few negatives. Firstly, Rainbow Dash's extreme breakdown towards the very end, especially when she and the others say goodbye to Tank was a nice heartwarming moment of true tearful emotion, but how it happened was my biggest problem with it thanks to Fluttershy herself and it would've been nicer if it wasn't done in that hurtful way. And other than Rainbow Dash learning to accept Tank's hibernation, no moral has been admitted in the episode whatsoever. Speaking of admitting things like morals, the episode's script though was generally good, though it's only a bit dumbed down by some of Rainbow Dash’s overreaction moments towards her friends which sometimes makes her friends' lines sound more mature than her's but even still, her dialogue was pretty good. The biggest backup for it though as to make it one of my favorites aside from those great moments and that song Rainbow Dash sings (as I mentioned) are the impressive visuals and groundbreaking animation. I called the episode just decent at first, but for all its categories being done so well now that I think more positively about them makes for a Season 5 installment of pure beauty. 4.5/5.

Appleoosa’s Most Wanted

It does have its flaws like every episode does though unlike other people would consider, though this should be widely considered to be one of the finest chapters of both the Crusaders and the 5th season. For a great plot set in the Wild West in Appleoosa, the narrative of the CMC’s making yet another obvious attempt to earn their cutie marks is a rather cleverly original idea for three fillies to make another big change in another character's life (although Trouble Shoes is not that memorable when you think about it, I have some heartfelt sympathy for him). The message he admitted to the villagers at the rodeo grounds was a nice touch to the overall ending as well though the Crusaders deserving punishment from Applejack despite helping Trouble Shoes was really nonsensical to me and of course nothing they truly deserved just because they were trying to help him. It feels a bit slow but give it a little patience, you won’t regret it. 4/5.

Make New Friends but Keep Discord

Discord's 3rd normal-length episode might be one of my favorites of this 5th season, however it has some noticeable flaws I want to talk about. Starting off is where most ponies haven't been respecting him decently like when he was trying to find a plus-one before going to the gala or when most of them laughed at him when Pinkie's sister Maud made a little in-your-face comment while he was trying to put on a comedy stage act. But my biggest one though has to be how annoyingly bad of a character Fluttershy's new friend Tree Hugger was. She practically stole his spotlight when it came to stopping the Smooze and of course stealing Fluttershy from him which I felt was nothing but downright angering to my conscious. Despite Tree Hugger’s monotony with her voice and weak personality making her both sound and look like she's on drugs (which I know it’s the point but that’s not an exucse), Discord's plus-one the Smooze was where it shined just as much as my favorite character. In spite of the crowd at the gala laughing at him, Discord definitely provided great humor and clever enough moments and more detail about himself like his residence. The message about the fact that you can have more than one friend was reasonable too, though I wish Discord never had to give out an apology to my new most hated character as well. But a decent script despite Tree Hugger's bland and monotonous lines, does back the episode up besides the Smooze with Discord. 4/5.

The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone

With some of the most interesting backstory given by those jerky-at-first griffons, a better script than Griffon the Brush-Off, delightful performances (even for the griffons' mean personalities) and powerful scene of rescuing Rainbow Dash, this episode deserves to be one of the best not that this season has to offer, but also this series in general. At first, it wasn't quite understandable at first as to why Gilda was so cruel in the old days, but with this episode, it pretty much makes it completely reasonable. Some of my favorites moments in the backstory category (besides the tale of Griffonstone's idol) might have to be Gilda's past with Rainbow Dash, and in the category of humor, mine would have to be Rainbow Dash's hilarious imitation of Twilight. Pinkie Pie has humorous moments too via her chats with Gummy and a really awkward fake discussion with a statue of the griffon King Grover. The friendship message of learning to care for each to make a kingdom mightier than before with friendship and not some dumb idol has also been done greatly and certainly would be a good lesson to teach a big kingdom in the world. 4.5/5.

Slice of Life

This has to be one of MLP's worst efforts and was just uninteresting due to a lazily confusing story, the various sections of the now uninteresting background ponies being just "there" as much as Derpy with no real development whatsoever, whereas the whole episode basically just makes no sense to me at all, including its random moral that had pretty much nothing to do with the story. Because if you're going to make a good special, think of anyone else we have an opportunity to draw into the show (where we can preach kindness and compassion to them), and don't aim it just at the fans. Period. Let's be honest; to develop background characters, you should write for only one at time, in one episode at a time, and not just cram them all into one so-called *special*. And don't start going all ape on me because there are other episodes that should've been the special for Season 5 due to strongly focusing on important characters and giving something more surprising to audiences rather than just focusing on too many characters at one at time at random in just one little episode and giving them nothing other than pointless attention. There are some good bits I appreciate, such as Vinyl and Octavia’s duo, Gummy’s existential speech and Bon Bon finally having a defined personality, but it’s time to face the facts and accept that this is one of the most overrated episodes of the entire series. 2/5.

Princess Spike

A lot people hate most of Spike's episodes for how much humiliation he goes through. When I myself look closer at Princess Spike and cut it a little slack, I'll say that while it may not be as fascinating to me, I'll agree with those who defend it when I say it's admittedly some good development Spike's character, if still a little out of character at some points. It’s also nice to see Cadance in a more active role and the return of Fancy Pants is always welcomed. So not necessarily a bad episode, but still not one that could be watch more than once. 3/5.

Party Pooped

This episode introduces a new character: Prince Rutherford, one of the most disliked characters of the series. Arrogant, ignorant, rude and dumb overall, he leaves a bad impression straight away. Then there’s Pinkie Pie. Her character is fine for the most part, but this is not the right occasion to be extremely positive. Adding on top of the selfish, ungrateful behavior the yaks display, the plot is extremely convoluted. I know this is a cartoon and you sometimes have to bend the rules of logic for the sake of storytelling, but this is too much, even by Pinkie's standards and the ending is perhaps one of the stupidest ever. 1/5.

Amending Fences

Most people have given it a rating of perfection for how incredible of a plot it turned out to be involving Twilight going back to her old friends that she abandoned in the pilot episode of Friendship Is Magic along with its great moral of not letting mistakes being a reason you can't be friends with anybody else. Back then, my only grudge that kept it from being perfect was how Twilight's old friends didn't take her apology one bit seriously, but now that I think about it, it's a small problem that I can completely ignore when re-watching the episode itself. So take it for what it's still worth. An incredible episode and one of my favorites of the entire series. 5/5.

Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?

I understand what this episode is trying to say in regards to its message. But to be frank, the intention doesn't mean anything. The execution of the message does. The episode's message, as intended, was to forgive yourself for your past mistakes. But Luna's dialogue near the end completely destroyed this episode's intended message and instead implies that you shouldn't seek help when you have a problem. Not only that, it completely destroys her development from Luna Eclipsed, as bad as that episode was. 1/5.

Canterlot Boutique

Rarity has always been one of my favorite characters of the show, but this episode has to be one of the main reasons on why she's even better than she considered her to be. Not just for how she got her own business shop in Canterlot, but also on how she delivered a great moral and even sang another great song around the 2/3 of the plot, not to mention its plot was creative for all the visually stunning dresses. So I give this episode an even better rating for what Rarity surprisingly got for even more fame, her best character trait that made her an even better character of good quality and just how good its moral was, if not exactly the most worthy of MLP friendship messages to come. 4.5/5.

Rarity Investigates!

I criticized it for how predictable it was near the end, but since I look more on its bright side nowadays, Rarity Investigates! has now earned more of my praise for how much I look on other old school noir flicks very similar to this when I think about both of them at the same time, only this is a cartoon episode on TV and not a full-length movie. I still think it's bizarrely odd to put an innuendo scene of Rarity acting as some femme fatale, but I will say it's a nice edition to Rarity solving a case in a team up to prove that Rainbow Dash is innocent. 4.5/5.

Made in Manehattan

Since Rarity Takes Manehattan, Coco Pommel has become a loved character among fans (although she’s not one of my own due to her similarities with Fluttershy). And with this episode, she's an even better-than-ever character due how it gave her more personality in terms of character development. With another great message about even one small can sometimes make a big difference in some cases, well written plot, spot on dialogue and of course Coco's development as I said, Made in Manehattan offers yet another solid storyline for Rarity and Applejack .Although it's one of my favorites of this season, its only imperfections to me were, aside from some of Applejack's moments, how Aapplejack and Rarity started off with finding the main problem all around Manehattan despite being reasonable enough in which it's a big city. The pacing was done wonderfully though, if also a bit imperfect and it certainly has done a real good job of fixing some of any clichés previous episodes had, but still, is definitely another one of my favorites from Season 5. 4.5/5.

Brotherhooves Social

Big Mac's full sentence speech in this episode is his best lines he's had in an MLP episode since Applebuck Season, with a heartwarming feel to it at the very end of story. In fact, in terms of emotion, this is probably one of the most emotional moment from the series. "Orchard Blossom" was a bit bizarre for a character for Big Mac to fake in order to compete in the events with Apple Bloom, but did have a humorous feel to it as the story progressed on. It's little odd that this plot occurred during the one of last week's episode, much like Just for Sidekicks and at the same time Games Ponies Play, but both of these episodes were separately done in a much, MUCH better way with greater and more bearable plots that thankfully do have some of the more happier outcomes. Like the ending, the moral pointed out by Apple Bloom was as touching as both siblings making up for each other like what Rarity and Sweetie Belle did back in Sisterhooves Social and as a result, this shows that messages about siblings learning to love one another can be life changing, and how Big Mac can become a better and more interesting character than he was in previous episodes. 4.5/5.

Crusaders of the Lost Mark

Diamond Tiara’s redemption is emotional manipulation at its absolute worst. Giving Silver Spoon the spotlight should’ve been the optimal choice because it would've been the perfect chance to explore why she follows Diamond Tiara and why she chose to behave this way. That being said, the episode itself feels rushed and doesn’t have any clues of giving the CMC’s their cutie marks. The songs are good and having some of the main characters on the background, though not necessary, was nice. Overall, I really, really wanted to look back at this episode and say it was one of my favorites, one of the best of the entire series and a classic in all rules. However, it wasn’t the case and nowadays I can say it’s the worst-aging episode in the series. 2.5/5.

The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows

Thanks to its charming humor, powerful performances and excellent animation, The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows has become one of the funniest episodes of the season. Although Pinkie Pie is my least favorite of the Mane 6, she certainly did fine job of acting as her true self in this episode, and I think some fanswho criticize it too much get it wrong and should honestly give it a better rep. (I'd say the same thing for others, but I'll get into them when I review them). I loved that Cadence and Shining Armor would have their first foal together but it would been better if they would have just showed the baby immediately, but I was more than thrilled to hear it... Anyway, the imperfection in this episode though is Pinkie's bizarre dialogue throughout and that the moral might have been somewhat learned, but wasn't exactly stated at some point before the conclusion of the plot. I can look past my peeves with it though and declare that whether or not you'd be interested in it, or consider it to be good, The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows undoubtable holds itself up as another part of Friendship Is Magic's good quality productions. 4/5.

Heartbreakers

It's certainly not one of my favorites, but Hearthbreakers does provide some much needed shining of my favorite elements from the show. Giving great development for the episode's characters, to some of my favorite minor characters reappearing (Maud Pie) and having great messages of friendship, it’s generally good, but I hate to admit though that sometimes Pinkie's snobby family, mainly Limestone can really get on my nerves, though I can at times understand why they're not some ponies quite as lovable as Pinkie herself is. The pacing was done greatly and despite Pinkie's sometimes mean family with unbelievable acts, the performances from the cast were still clearly reasonable for the most part. It lacks emotion that makes me tear up obviously due to Pinkie's family, but I still have some sympathy for Pinkie's siblings and her parents, also Applejack's family have given great moments within the episode. I can still call it admirable but when I get down to it, it’s really nothing all that special. 3/5.

Scare Master

Halloween simply doesn’t work for ponies. We all know Fluttershy’s an obvious generic coward due to her fear of things like giant dragons, her own shadow and even in this case, the outdoors of Nightmare Night. She has been out of her own character more than once, but this made her go way too far than she has in any of her previous installments. Because one minute she's trying to blend in with her friends on Nightmare Night outside of her own cottage, and the next minute, she makes lazy attempts to try and scare them when they arrive at her place. It's always a peeve to me to see Fluttershy acting scared for literally every last second of the episode. The monsters in the corn maze were designed cleverly to me and seeing Fluttershy as her vampire pony bat form was a nice throwback, but so much so that it honestly rises above the rest of the uninspired plot. The moral of taking part in some of your friends' favorite stuff even though it might not be your cup of tea was pretty mediocre for me as well, but still fair enough. With even a lazy script and jerky weak scare attempts despite a somewhat impressive one that Fluttershy pulled off in the end, and like Fluttershy's cup of tea is not Nightmare Night, this episode isn't mine either, and is rather laughable and completely pointless enough to be. 1/5.

What About Discord?

I'm not going to pretend that this is a good episode because it isn't: the majority of the jokes don't work (they’re repetitive and focus too much on the pop culture references), the abuse to Twilight isn't funny, both Spike and Zecora do little to the plot, Discord is used as an animation tool rather than a character, the moral is forced, the pacing is horrible, the story is so thin that feels cramped and goes nowhere. For me, this episode has lost its title of “the worst episode of the show” simply because there have been worse episodes than this, but it’s still really bad. You could skip over this one and you'd lose nothing in the long run. 1/5.

The Hooffields & McColts

The overall plot is very much akin to the family feud plot trope like Romeo and Juliet, minus the romance, and... that’s it. Fluttershy's characterization here was better though. She's concerned about the animals’ safety and need, and even learns from them as to why the titular families were feuding for many years. It was all because their first ancestors couldn't agree and come to a compromise. Very good; it connects to the message about animal protection nicely. Other than that there isn't really much to say. 3/5.

The Mane Attraction

The final episode of one of the best writers the show has ever had. I honestly have to say she pulled it off excellently. To start off, the plot was just fantastic with one the best backstories of MLP episodes to date involving Applejack and her friend hanging with each other at a camp together, while also showing off one of my favorites songs of the entire show. The writing, coupled with its voice acting has been done greatly with a superb script. The visuals of Coloratura's concert were just awesome for my eyes and what another great job for another episode delivering two messages in one episode and just one like with most others. Choosing between just one moral that was more worth of the episode I have to feel was more for me than the other though both were great has to be Applejack telling her friend of how the real perk of friendship is getting to see your friend being true to their self. Although Svengallop is a very despicable character and does nothing but get on my nerves what with his secretly demandingly and horrible attitude towards Pinkie Pie, the rest of the characters, including Rara herself was just incredible too thanks to her wonderful personality and especially her strongly talented singing, which also makes her song at the very end a beauty that people would (and should) shed a tear for. And the songs were just catchy and fantastic as well. Give it a chance, you'll surely be satisfied in end after watching it. 5/5.

The Cutie Re-mark

The amount of plot holes involving the time travel gimmick it's extremely confusing and it's not properly explained how it works, the action is riddled with incoherencies and it would take a lot of re-writing in order to make the whole thing work. When it comes to Starlight’s redemption (one of the stupidest decisions of the entire show) that's actually really easy to fix: remove Sunburst and replacing him with something like: when she was a teenager, she didn't get her cutie mark and was bullied for it. By the time she finally got her cutie mark, Starlight resented the fact that she got it so late and would hold onto that grudge for years to come, then Twilight tells Starlight that holding onto that grudge wasn't healthy and she shouldn't have let bullying get to her. There are redeeming moments, such as Twilight encountering Starlight in the crowd during a speech, Twilight and Spike facing off Starlight without the rest of the Mane 6 and the Sombra timeline. But at the end of the day, the final result feels like a letdown. With a bit of a rewrite, this could be great. As it is, it's a big change in the show's structure in all the wrong ways. 2/5.

Overall season ranking: 3.1/5.