My Review of MLP: FIM season 9 episode 26–The Last Problem · 2:48am May 23rd, 2021
Grading Scale:
A (fantastic episode)
A- (an excellent episode with at least one flaw)
B+ (a great episode with a couple of flaws)
B (a good episode which still could have been better)
B- (a good episode with numerous flaws but still rewatchable)
C+ (a decent episode)
C (eh... it’s not terrible but not good either)
C- (it’s not worth rewatching although it does have good elements)
D+ (a bad episode with a few good things in it)
D (a really bad episode with wasted potential)
D- (a terrible episode with badly written characters and butchered moral)
F (horrible and unwatchable)
Hello there, folks! Here is my final review for MLP: FIM season 9! This time, we are talking about the epilogue of the series entitled “The Last Problem”. Many fans in this entire community were emotionally touched and heartbroken as this very show which they have grown up watching has finally ended on October 12th, 2019 and watched their beloved characters on screen for one last time. I do have to give credit that this show is one of the few which actually got an ending unlike most shows I know that unfortunately got cancelled *cough* Transformers: Animated *cough*
Although it was impressive with the way they ended this series, it was still overall meh to me personally. Considering that I have only watched this show for only a year since late 2018, I never truly cared for this show unlike the hardcore bronies. Anyway, let’s talk about The Last Problem, shall we?
We jump all the way into the future (presumably 20 years later) where all the creatures and ponies live in harmony together. We see Spike all grown up in his buff form as he reports to Princess Twilight Sparkle—who is weirdly a recolored Celestia. Hmm, she looks like Celestia instead of looking like Cadence or Luna. That’s interesting to note here.
Then we meet a carbon copy Twilight Sparkle 2.0—I mean, Luster Dawn! I’m so sorry... I am starting to chuckle right now. This whole episode is filled with so many things that panders to its fanbase and at the same time provokes people to anger when they see these ships they don’t like or wish they would become canon. Haha, you can never truly satisfy people, huh? 😂
So Luster sees nothing of value in friendship which behooves Twilight to share a story with her in regards to how she used to be like her. Thus, the episode cuts into segments of flashbacks revealing events that transpired after The Ending of the End. I think it would have been better if they showed these flashbacks in the beginning of the episode and then leave the present time at the end so that the segments don’t look out of place and distract us from the main story.
Before any of you StarlightXSunburst shippers ask, I don’t care about Luster Dawn or the possible theory that she may be their daughter. I don’t sympathize with carbon copy characters who show up at the end of a series with no distinction of character or originality. Simp for her all you want. Moving on...
In the flashbacks, we see Twilight moving from Ponyville, having her emotional moments with her friends, and making preparations for her coronation as the new ruler of Equestria. Just as Rarity dresses Twilight up for the ceremony, things start to get slightly out of hand. She slips, she falls, oh no! Oh, wait, everything is alright now! That whole scene was so cringeworthy especially with those spiders crawling around her dress. I couldn’t take it seriously as a result.
After a rather mediocre ceremony, Twilight receives a gift from Starlight and Spike that contained all their memories of the times they had together. Aww, that’s so sweet. We definitely won’t make six pointless, boring episodes from a miniseries that friendship is forever with this book as a plot device and filling half the episode duration with clips from old episodes. ☺️ I only watched two of those by the way. I didn’t bother watching the rest.
As they all had their farewells with the Royal Sisters, we cut back to the present time. Luster Dawn sees the full potential friendship has and is willing to give it a try, the Mane Five appear where we see them having bags under their eyes, Pinkie has a kid of her own which makes her love relationship with Cheese Sandwich officially canon, Applejack and Rainbow are... together I guess? Discord and Fluttershy are probably together as well, but Jim Miller did say it is up to the individual viewer to decide what their relationship is. You want my opinion? Here’s what I say about it:
Then we have the last song of the series called “The Magic of Friendship Grows”. While I admit it was sung well by all the cast of the episode, I don’t have much of a high opinion about it. It was okay at best.
And that is the final episode of the whole show, ladies and gentlemen. This epilogue brought absolutely nothing out of me except... maybe that it was okay? Back when I first became a public member of this site, I liked this show at lot, and the previous episode inspired me to be a fanfic writer that I have been doing for over a year now. It currently means nothing to me except that it did introduce me to some of its interesting characters, concepts, and ideas which I’m still fond of.
Although I would rate this episode as a C, there was one great thing this finale as a whole did bring me to: you guys. For those of you who have frequently commented on my blogs and others who may know me, I am more than happy to be a friend to you all. It is what brought us together and make great, interesting stories for people to enjoy. That’s the best compliment I can ever give to this finale. You, my friends, are truly the best.
I love you all very much as I extend my hugs to you. Have a big smile on your face everyday knowing that you can carry out the magic of friendship.
Stay awesome, guys. I’ll see you next time.
I love you, too buddy.
I refuse to think of the song because I want to see if I'll feel emotion when I watch the whole finale.
Whether this would seem weird to you or not is something I don’t know, but I’ve always considered the “future” scenes of the episode non-canon despite them being featured in the episode. Nothing about them ever really made sense to me, they conflicted with the present time, and they left too much to be desired.
It's such bullshit for Twilight to do that though. NOTHING WAS STOPPING HER FROM MOVING FOR NO GOD DAMN REASON!
But anyways... -sigh- Heh.... throughout what Season 9 has been.... we still know we still hate it's main arc with a passion no matter what, right Mr. J? :)
5523487
It's okay. It's not weird to share your opinion. I'm just glad this finale brought me to you guys.
5523487
Even the retirement of the Royal Sisters as well?
5523489
Okay, Jimmy, listen. You seriously need to let it go. It is time to put the past behind us and look forward to new things ahead of us. I know you said you can't help it, but you have to let it go. For me, they don't bother me anymore because it doesn't exist to me. You have to do likewise. I am trying to be as reasonable as possible.
5523492
Spike looked pretty good for his age.
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Not really. I have nothing against them retiring and handing the duties of ruling Equestria to Twilight. The possibility of Twilight raising the sun and moon, though...that’s something that I don’t believe would happen, because that was basically what the Royal Sisters’s cutie marks called them to do and I’m pretty sure it would be too much for Twilight to handle.
I know this is a late comment, but I’d really like to say this:
This is openly one of the things I’ve disliked the most about this episode. Ever since it aired, people have assumed right off the bat that FlutterCord and AppleDash were canon, even despite Miller saying it was open to interpretation as to whether or not those pairings are canon.
What really annoys me is that people seem to be making a big deal out of nothing because the scenes each character shared have hardly given implication of the two pairings being canon. They don’t even take into account that the pairings wouldn’t work anyway. FlutterCord because the chemistry between the two characters doesn’t give enough potential for anything beyond a close friendship and due to the whole thing being a toxic move to go with considering Discord went behind Fluttershy’s back many times before. And AppleDash because the two of them are openly competitive towards each other and have personalities that wouldn’t make their relationship the most harmonious.
Aside from that...in my opinion, making Fluttershy and Discord a romantic pair, and making any member of the Main Six a romantic pair to each other, goes against the fact that they came together to become friends and learn about friendship.