Thoughts on Friendship is Forever: One Last, Slightly Stumbling Trip

You ever had one of those moments where everything's going to hell, you're feeling low and all the good stuff in life seems to have abandoned you, only for a small someone to come completely out of left field and lift you back up enough to keep going? With everything going on in 2020 and my personal situation not getting any better. Out of a nowhere that relied on me not seeing the leaked scripts (I didn't), FiM comes with one more gift for us. Even if it comes in the form of clipshows (which I'm not against in this case either, they managed to go the whole regular show without any), it's all patched together with a neat little storyline that ties into The Last Problem. Since there's so much old footage in there, almost entirely positively focused, I'll mostly be thinking about the new footage and how well everything meshes together. Lets see if G4 can go out on a relatively high note!

....Actually, there's not really any spoilers to warn about anymore. Unless, you know, you've never seen the show before watching these.

A-Dressing Memories:

I imagine making the switch from full 21 minute storylines to condensing them into 3 minutes at most, while attempting to segue in and out of the clips is a pretty challenging task. So I can forgive Haber for any awkwardness at first (He wrote all six of these as well, so no writer comparisons). So the overaching plot idea of Starlight and Spike putting their last episode gift for Twilight together is really sweet, but their recording alongside Rarity and Twi's discussion was a little clunky in handling it. Not that it's all bad, feeling a little like a bit from S1. Sometimes you need that callback to simpler days, which the clips provided in spades.

If the present stuff was a bit shaky, the old stuff was a reminder of just how good Rarity could be. Interestingly, hers probably gave her the most negative highlight of all (and considering some of the episodes used later, that's saying something) and yet still didn't hurt my opinion of her. Adding in a good mix of awesome, funny, decent choice of song and heartwarming helped a lot, though it would have been nice to see her star moment from Best Gift Ever. All in all though, it was a decent enough start to these and set the tone well enough.

Cakes for the Memories:

Oh dear, starting off with possibly the worst naming pun (if it can even be called one) in the show. Things didn't improve greatly either, Pinkie's manic style of rapid-fire bouncing from thing to thing didn't translate too well into a story for this one. Or for the clips themselves, as things went by just a bit too fast to savour properly. While I can appreciate that it felt more like a regular episode than the previous one did, it felt like a really badly paced one too. Not all of it was Pinkie's fault though, whoever decided to put a commercial bumper inside the final minutes, in the middle of the Smile song needs a damn smack.

In a way, it was a lot like Pinkie herself. Incomprehensible to us mere mortals and setting out to do what it intended, giving a decent showing of her. Even if we didn't get it. This was the only one I'd say I actively didn't like.

Memnagerie:

Fluttershy does tend to have a way of bringing things back around with a combination of determination, decent plot and cuteness, doesn't she? Sure enough, we went from the weakest of the FiF episodes to the best in one simple swoop. Hers felt the most like a regular episode of the show, flowed nicely, the clips fitted the context of the present smoothly and come on, you can't tell me that Glimmy's face at the end wasn't one of her sweetest. Aside from perhaps not fully highlighting how far she's come since the start of the show, and using one of the scenes from Filli Vanilli that almost ruined Pinkie for me (and making me realise how few songs Flutters has had), I probably would have been okay with this being an actual episode of the show. I mean there are far worse ones I'd be happy for it to replace.

Deep Tissue Memories:

I'm going to be honest, I went into the second half of these with a certain sense of dread. Rainbow Dash has probably been the most divisive of the mane 6 in recent seasons and I feared that even her earlier seasons wouldn't be able to balance it out. So imagine my surprise when it remained overly positive and even managed to use the odd off moment without going overboard with it. Props to Haber's handling of it too. I mean, if you can include 28 Pranks Later AND 2, 4, 6, Great without making them or RD look bad, that's a serious talent. Most people'll probably be harsher since they also included Newbie Dash, but most people are silly about that ep in my opinion.

Luckily the present stuff wasn't bad by any means. More relaxed and enjoyable, again feeling like a Twi/RD ep. It didn't flow quite as well as the previous one, but gained points back for having the sweetest moment of Twi talking about how much the other pony means to her. Seeing Dash openly happy cry was one of those things you never realised you needed. I needed it for sure, help seal the deal on another really good ep.

Harvesting Memories:

The RD problem I mentioned above is tenfold with AJ. Aside from the fandom response, even the writers seem to flip flop on having respect for her, best seen with the way she was treated for about half of S9. Was that avoided here?...Partially. The clips gave her a good light and even the worst (from Honest Apple too, in my opinion the second worst episode of the whole show) let her keep some respect. While the present stuff had Spike and Starlight (but mostly Spike) having no faith in her ability to not spoil the surprise. Being Applejack, she did just fine and pointed out how silly such a thought was after the fact.

After the last two, this felt closer to Rarity's ep in quality. Not a bad thing of course, they've all done a good job at keeping each of the Mane 6 looking good, keeping the story going and just in general, reminding me exactly why I love each of these characters so much. So in that respect, they're still five for five in successes. Good show, show.

Memories and more:

Turns out the final episode of FiF, and by extension the final episode of FiM, spreads the focus out a bit. Spike, Starlight, Celestia and Luna all get their turns with the memories in the first half, followed by tying it into the events of The Last Problem in the latter half. I must admit, it didn't quite work out. Most of them only get one or two clips each, all rather long ones (plus the shot of Twilight hatching Spike is used in two separate clips, bad form). Sure Starlight gets four, but only one is post-redemption. Of course they're not all bad, they did include Luna overcoming the Tantabus (actually one of my favourite scenes in the show), but they don't really gel together well, feeling drawn out yet rushed at the same time. It's still not as bad as Cakes for the Memories though.

The second half felt nice, if a tad unnecessary. Giving a few new shots during The Last Problem and reminding us all that our journey with our little ponies isn't really over. Including the clip of the elements being used for the first time was a nice closure to the whole mini series as well, each prior ep having included each element's first time embracing it back in Friendship is Magic Part 2. It'd never match up to the final episode, but the present stuff was still a sweet little sendoff.

And then the final clip, the final final footage of G4 used in a new episode.......A reuse of Best Friends Until the End of Time. One of, if not the weakest song in the whole show...

...In hindsight, I'm really glad I didn't see Sunset's cameo in the Last Problem first time around. Otherwise I'd be using this for the second time regarding a MLP ending.

Ultimately though, I'd say Friendship is Forever was worth it. Never quite going to be the same emotional farewell as the main show, but a poignant and pleasant reminder of how great this show and these ponies were. Right now, that's something I really needed. No matter how Pony Life and the G5 movie turn out, we'll still be carrying the magic of the last ten years with us. It's been a hell of a ride, and we'll make sure it never truly ends.

Episode Rankings:

1) Memnagerie
2) Deep Tissue Memories
3) Harvesting Memories
4) A-Dressing Memories
5) Memories and More
6) Cakes for the Memories