Episode Re-Review: A Canterlot Wedding Parts 1 and 2 · 7:04pm Mar 10th, 2021
Although information about the finale was revealed far in advance, back in 2012 no one saw even half of the stuff that would occur here coming. Trailers and promos for the finale were really vague and generic, about the only thing they gave away was supposed "cloning". Behind the scenes, however, this was the straw that broke the camel's back and made Lauren Faust decide to step down all together. Hasbro, undeterred, pushed ahead with their plans and Meghan McCarthy was tapped to write. Considering Meghan had written episodes like "Lesson Zero" and "Sweet and Elite" as well as "Hearts and Hooves Day" she was perhaps the best choice of any to write a big finale. Yet nowadays, the negatives are what everyone seems to remember about this two parter, especially the huge amount of accusation fics it launched. Has this two parter really deserved its reputation, especially in light of later two parters including arguably more controversial things (like Twilight becoming an alicorn, the destruction of the Golden Oak Library, Starlight's reformation and the whole Grogar was Discord twist)? Well, let's find out.
Part 1 begins with the mane six having a picnic when all of a sudden Spike comes running up. He apparently has some big news to tell. Before he can explain, however, he belches up a scroll from Princess Celestia. She's assigning each of the mane six to oversee an upcoming royal wedding. Rarity will design the dresses, Applejack will take care of the catering, Pinkie Pie plans the reception, Fluttershy directs the song bird choir, Rainbow Dash has to do a sonic rainboom when the bride and groom exchange their vows and Twilight is in charge of overseeing the whole thing. Who is the wedding for, you might ask? Why, it's for Princess Mi'Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor, who just so happens to be Twilight's never before mentioned brother (and the way Tara delivers it it sounds almost like "Wait a second, I have a brother?"). Said brother is in the royal guard, in fact he's the captain. This is the first of many complaints people have with the episode, namely Twilight having a brother never before mentioned. However, I'm okay with it, there never was anything that suggested Twilight couldn't have a brother. Him being in the military (the royal guard) likely meant he couldn't just go see her whenever he wanted, and as for her birthday party keep in mind that it was changed to Canterlot at the last minute so I doubt he was aware. Besides, the mane six don't seem to really talk about family that much (and I think in general family isn't something friends talk about unless they have a reason to). This then leads into the song "Big Brother, Best Friend Forever" where Twilight remembers all the times they shared together and claims "We never had a single fight.", which we'd later learn was false.
However, I can easily live with that retcon for two reasons. First off, I think it's natural to want to remember the good times you had with those you loved or cared about and try to forget the bad times, and that's what Twilight's doing here. Second, anyone who claims they never fought with their siblings or family members growing up is lying through their teeth. Families will argue, siblings will fight. It's inevitable no matter how close they may be. It doesn't necessarily mean they hate each other either, sometimes they fight just because they disagree or even because they're worried about each other.
The song ends as we see Canterlot encased in some kind of bubble, though no one seems to notice this. Anyway, Applejack reassures Twilight that everything will be okay. But Twilight is kind of grumpy that she wasn't told about this sooner. And yeah, it is pretty rude of Shining not to tell Twilight about his big wedding. However, it's possible he didn't know where in Ponyville she lived (though I'm sure he could've found out from Princess Celestia if he asked) and as far as we know only Princess Celestia can send messages through Spike. But the rest of the mane six are too excited about the wedding to really care much about Twilight's state of unhappiness. They then board a train and head to Canterlot, finding an increased security presence which raises some concerns. Rarity thinks it's just for the wedding owing to the high profile of those getting married, and I suppose royalty does dictate extra security measures. But even so the whole royal guard patrolling a city protected by a bubble seems like something that should raise concerns about something else going on. But all Twilight can care about is going to give her brother a piece of her mind. She finds him still in his captain attire, and Shining doesn't seem the least bit worried about seeing Twilight. In fact, he's overly happy to see her. Another writer basically summed it up better than I could, Shining Armor is kind of like a big kid who never fully grew up.
Well, Shining reveals that the extra security is actually because a threat was made against Canterlot, and so he's been asked to provide additional security measures. We don't know if the threat was made before the wedding was planned or not, because if it was it's kind of stupid to hold a wedding when an unknown threat is on the loose, unless the wedding is meant to be a disguise to justify the increased security. We also see that Shining is the one encasing Canterlot in a bubble, making use of a shield spell. He then offers Twilight the position of best mare, which she agrees to before deciding to finally ask who the bride is. And it turns out the bride to be is Cadence, Twilight's old foalsitter. It's worth mentioning that this is specifically what pushed Lauren over the edge. She just wanted Cadence to a unicorn, but Hasbro insisted on making her an alicorn (perhaps because of the fact that their toys of Celestia and Luna at the time were really bad: Celestia was pink and Luna was just a pallet swap of Twilight with wings). Cadence seems to have been a really good foalsitter, a far cry from the evil babysitter trope.
Twilight and Cadence even apparently had their own secret hoofshake, and Cadence shows up again in the present Twilight demonstrates it. But Cadence doesn't seem to recognize it or Twilight, and Twilight immediately becomes suspicious. She doesn't seem to consider that maybe she didn't know Cadence that well or even that it's been years since she saw Cadence and a lot might have changed. She continues to be suspicious when she sees Cadence boss around her friends in the lead up to rehearsal, most noticeably when she lies about enjoying Applejack's apple fritters and then tosses them into the trash (which Applejack somehow doesn't notice) or when she glares at her bridesmaids (which happen to be Minuette, Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts) for speaking up in defense of the dresses (as if to say "Who gave you permission to speak?"). Yet when Twilight voices these concerns to her friends, they all laugh it off and think she's just being overprotective of her brother. Heck, Applejack doesn't seem bothered by the fact that she was lied to even though she's supposed to value honesty.
It is kind of clear that Twilight's not thinking straight when she's asking Pinkie Pie to back her up despite knowing Pinkie doesn't have the best situational awareness, but even so it does kind of run counter to the message from "Lesson Zero" about taking your friend's concerns seriously. So Twilight storms off, insisting she isn't jealous, and tries to go talk to Shining Armor. However, Cadence happens to show up at the barracks and insists on pulling Shining aside for a talk. Twilight watches through a window as Cadence gets into an argument with Shining and appears to take advantage of him getting a headache to brainwash him. Horrified, Twilight runs out into the night and goes right to her friends for help. But she finds that they were all made Cadence's new bridesmaids (she didn't say what happened to the old ones, which should raise concern). All of them seem to be won over, except possibly for Rainbow Dash who complains that her dress isn't really aerodynamic. Twilight thus believes she's on her own, and doesn't think to go to either Princess Celestia or Princess Luna for help even though they're supposed to be taking turns keeping watch. Heck, at one point Princess Luna calls out to Twilight and warns her to stay indoors, but Twilight doesn't give any kind of reply or acknowledgement. And that's really the extent of Luna's role in this entire two parter.
So instead, Twilight barges in during the rehearsal the next day and basically starts accusing Cadence of being evil. Initially, when this was just a one-off episode and Shining and Cadence hadn't been fully established, this was actually going to be the climax with Cadence breaking down and admitting that she'd been horrible. She was going to claim that she wanted a smaller wedding in Ponyville, and all would be forgiven. I can see how that would've been anti-climatic and maybe sent the wrong message. But what they chose to do in order to extend the story probably wasn't the best call to make. We get to the infamous scene where Cadence runs away in tears, and Twilight gets chewed out for her behavior. Shining Armor insists Cadence has been using her magic to help heal him because he suffers from painful migraines (which are headaches that make the victim sensitive to bright lights and loud noises, and if that's true then why is Shining going through with the wedding? I don't think anyone should be getting married if they're suffering that much). He then strips Twilight of her role of best mare and basically kicks her out of the wedding. The rest of the mane six (and Spike) all abandon Twilight too and even Princess Celestia angrily walks away, leaving Twilight alone.
Now, Shining Armor may be excusable to an extent. As a husband to be his first priority is to his wife, and it's possible that the brainwashing is making him react harsher than he would of his own free will (though we don't know for sure). And Princess Celestia, I imagine it's because she's upset that Twilight accused her niece without evidence instead of coming to her, Princess Celestia viewing it as a sign that Twilight doesn't trust her enough to come to her for help. Sort of like what really hurt her the most in "Horse Play".
The rest of the mane six though have no excuse, not when Applejack is the only one to speak up and she says "Let's go check up on the princess.", Shining Armor was already going to do that. It makes it seem like everyone is abandoning Twilight in favor of a princess they just met. And Spike at least would never do that! All it would've taken to fix that would be to change Applejack's line to "Let's give Twilight time to think.", because then it could be left open to interpretation (in this case it would've been them giving Twilight time to cool down before talking to her and asking her what she was thinking). Now alone in the throne room, Twilight realizes her mistake and we get a sad reprise of "Big Brother, Best Friend Forever" which makes it seem almost like Twilight is mourning her brother's death. However, Cadence comes into the room and basically proves that Twilight is right by surrounding her with lime green flames, dragging her down through the floor to somewhere unknown as part 1 ends.
Part 2 opens with Twilight now trapped in some catacombs beneath Canterlot, and Cadence taunts Twilight by saying that no one will think to look for her and no one even remembers that the catacombs exist. However, her taunting causes Twilight to destroy some of the crystals and find another Cadence trapped down there with her. This turns out to be the real Cadence, she's as sweet as ever and the impostor has been impersonating her for some time.
Twilight isn't convinced until the real Cadence does the secret hoofshake, and then they set off to try and find a way out of the catacombs. Meanwhile, the impostor Cadence is getting ready for the wedding and we have what is arguably the show's greatest villain song "This Day Aria". While it does appear to operate on musical logic (in that no one can hear the fake Cadence singing about her plan and somehow the real Cadence can just cut off at the right moment while singing and wait for her cue), it's so well done that you don't mind. It even makes use of the musical reference in Cadence's name, starting off with a deceptive cadence and ending with a genuine cadence. While there are many Disney villain parallels to draw from here, the most obvious seems to be "Venessa's Song" from The Little Mermaid when Ursula briefly reveals herself.
Interestingly, the Cutie Mark Crusaders are the flower girls despite never before having been mentioned at any point. Twilight and Cadence, meanwhile, are still stuck in the catacombs. It appears they've found a way out, only for the first set of bridesmaids to appear as guards (and they've been brainwashed as well). However, we later learn that Cadence distracted them by tossing a set of convenietly placed flowers. The real Cadence then shows up to interrupt the imposter's wedding and exposes her as a changeling. We never learn in-universe that she's named Queen Chrysalis. And it should be mentioned that they apparently cut the echoy filter to her voice after this appearance because it supposedly made her hard to understand. But I don't know of anyone who had that problem. And without the filter Chrysalis just sounds like an evil Trixie.
Chrysalis exposits her master plan, steal Shining Armor's love for Cadence and use it to weaken the barrier protecting Canterlot. Some try to defend Chrysalis by saying she's just doing what's best for her subjects since they need love to survive, but I'm pretty sure Chrysalis didn't have to launch an invasion to get love. She could've negotiated with Princess Celestia. So I think it's clear that she wanted to invade because she wants to have Equestria (or at least Canterlot under her control). She even points out how Twilight was right to be suspicious the whole time and Applejack is the only one who apologizes for not believing her. Twilight just brushes it off and says Chrysalis fooled everyone, and I can understand that there are more important things than accusations at the moment but this still could've been given a bit more weight. Anyway, Princess Celestia decides to actually do something for a change and engages in a beam struggle with Chrysalis. Even Chrysalis seems surprised when she manages to overpower Princess Celestia and win.
Princess Celestia urges the mane six to get to the Elements of Harmony and they rush off. But it isn't long before the barrier shatters completely and the changelings start swarming into the city. Right outside the place where the elements are kept, the changelings try to launch an ambush and opt to copy the mane six to, I assume, try and confuse them. Interestingly, during this whole fight Fluttershy doesn't speak a word even when it looks like she was meant to have a line. But Andrea Libman is still credited for voicing Pinkie Pie and it still sounds like her, so there's no word on why Fluttershy is silent here. Anyway, the mane six eventually manage to overpower the changelings, Pinkie even using Twilight like a magical gattling gun.
However, upon entering the building they find more changelings already inside and an entire swarm waiting outside. They surrender without fighting, likely because there's no point in trying to exhaust themselves when their enemies can just keep coming (though it should've been stated that was the case). They return to the throne room and find Princess Celestia trapped in a cocoon while Cadence has been stuck to the floor with changeling goo. Chrysalis decides to gloat about her apparent triumph as we get a reprise of "This Day Aria" that sees her looking out on Canterlot as her changelings continue to subdue and round up any would be resisters.
Twilight takes advantage of this opportunity to free Cadence and urge her to go to Shining Armor. Cadence does so and manages to use her magic to free Shining from Chrysalis' control. Chrysalis is dismissive of the idea that the power of love from Shining and Cadence (Cadence serving as a power booster) will be enough to repel her. But she just stands there and let's it happen, and ultimately gets blasted out of Canterlot along with all her changeling subjects.
Princess Celestia is freed from the cocoon and tells Twilight that the victory is very much hers, but then it's time to plan a new wedding with Twilight back in the role of best mare. Shining even reveals that Twilight was a big reason why Cadence wanted to marry him in the first place. The bride and groom exchange their vows and Princess Celestia declares them "Mare and Colt", which is a slip up since colt is a term for boys while mare is a term for women. So I think the actually phrase is "Mare and Stallion" or "Stallion and Wife" (or "Mare and Husband" I guess). We see that unicorns have rings placed on their horns, and we'd later see how earth pony marriage ceremonies work.
At the wedding reception, Princess Luna shows up and asks "Did I miss anything?" apparently having slept through the entire invasion. But that's not important, what's important is the reception. Pinkie Pie hoofs Twilight a microphone as we get "Love Is In Bloom" which would get an extended version later on. Interestingly, during this song we briefly see Vinyl Scratch take off her glasses to reveal that her eyes are violet and not red like so many assumed prior to this episode. We also get photos of Spike dancing with Sweetie Belle, Rainbow Dash dancing with Soarin and Rarity dancing with Fancy Pants, which launched a lot of ship fics for a time. Cadence then tosses the boquet of flowers and Rarity catches it, but is shamed into giving it up. As the carriage for the couple drives off into the night (after Shining thanks Twilight and says "None of this would be possible if it weren't for your help.") Twilight smiles at what a great wedding it was, and Spike comments on a bachelor party as everyone laughs.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the two parter? Maybe it's just me, but I think this two parter isn't deserving of even half the hate it gets. Oh it's not flawless by any means, the scene where Twilight is abandoned by her friends after accusing Cadence of being evil definitely needed to be changed and Twilight's friends could've tried to at least acknowledge why she was so upset even if they didn't believe her. Yes, Shining Armor and Cadence do seem to come out of nowhere but I think they do a good job establishing their stories and it seems believable that Twilight never talked about them before. Princess Luna deserved a bigger role, even if it was just to show her getting defeated and captured too. And the Cutie Mark Crusaders at least needed to be mentioned before their sudden appearance. But considering the promotional material for this two parter kept almost everything under wraps and made it seem like it would be a generic wedding fiasco kind of story, the fact that it turned out to be so much more is, to me, impressive. Queen Chrysalis was a pretty good villain up until near the end when she made the classic villain mistakes of not killing and underestimating the force that will defeat her. And Shining Armor and Cadence did have character, even if it wasn't necessarily utilized the best. The mane six still got to play their role in the story, so it wasn't completely Twilight doing the heavy lifting. Ultimately, I give both parts a borderline A/A+. Season 2 was an improvement over Season 1, more so for characters (and even then certain characters like Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and especially the CMC) than for world building or lore (many of the world building attempts fell flat and led to some pretty bad writing mistakes). The nods to the fandom and the references were definitely more noticeable and direct, but it didn't feel like the show was completely changing its direction to appease its new fanbase. I'd say it holds up about as well as it did before, maybe just a little bit better knowing that some of its world building mistakes would be corrected in later seasons.
Now it's on to Season 3 with "The Crystal Empire", but I wanna ask you all something: When I get done with my Season 3 re-reviews, should I continue into Season 4 and do the Equestria Girls films after Season 6 up through "Legend of Everfree"? Or should I do each film after the seasons (so after "Magical Mystery Cure" would come "Equestria Girls" and then Season 4, and you get the idea from there). Let me know whichever one you prefer, and come back tomorrow for the re-review of "The Crystal Empire".
While the first part of this finale was a bit dull and had some annoying cliches in my opinion, the second more than made up for it. The action was great, the Changelings looked really creepy, and Chrysalis not only made one hell of a debut, but also sang an awesome villain song. All in all, this was a great combination of Disney, Harry Potter, and the Avengers.
As for your question, I think you should review Equestria Girls right after Magical Mystery Cure and then start reviewing Season 4.
Same.
Then again, I don't think ANY episode where there are dozens, if not hundreds, of accusation/fix fics, deserve that. 90% of the ones I've read felt too mean-spirited, either at the time of reading them or with hindsight (Post Nuptials and Faith and Doubt being two of the latter).
As for the two-parter as a whole, I like it a lot. It's my second favorite episode of the season.
As for the EQG stuff, I'd recommend doing the EQG films after each season.
I should know given that I created a group dedicated to said accusation fics called Canterlot Wedding Blues, which you just so happen to be a member of. Also, if you were to ask me what I'd personally consider to be the saddest moment in all of MLP: FIM, I'd go with Twilight getting abandoned by her loved ones at the end of Part 1.
Well next up is the only half season of the series, and if my math is correct you'll get that one done by the 22nd, which just so happens to be my birthday! In case you're wondering, I'm turning 30 this year.
As for the Equestria Girls movies, I think it's pretty unanimous that you should do one after each season.
Do each movie after each season.
This is my favourite episode of the entire series. I think part 1 alone was really good with solid tension, characterization, and drama, but part 2 is the big reason why. It's pretty much the most enthralling experience the show's ever delivered from start to finish. So tense, adrenaline pumping, emotional at times, and even hillarious. And of course the best song EVER doesn't hurt.
THere wouldn't be as many accusation fics if there was a better apology scene than what we have here.
A good of a forgiveness scene was in the episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender where Zuko was forgiven by Iroh. Another one I can think of is the episode of Samurai Jack "Jack Under The Sea" where Jack forgives the Triceraquins.
5473476 I'm not denying or complaining about the accusation fics, they were born of a legitimate greviance. And I agree, Twilight deserved more of an apology than she got on-screen. I can understand not blaiming one another while Chrysalis was roaming free, but afterwards there should've been time to address the issue and show that everyone truly was sorry for how they treated Twilight (whether intentional or unintentional).