Episode Re-Review: To Where and Back Again Parts 1 and 2 · 6:30pm Jun 5th, 2021
So, just as Season 6 looked like it was falling apart at the seems after a season that had seemed to mostly not be taking chances, it was time to bring it to a close. Apparently, they thought it'd be a good idea to let Starlight Glimmer get a two parter all to herself, an honor that had not been given to any other mane six member besides Twilight (or even to Spike). Considering Starlight's two focus episodes had been hotly contested and hadn't exactly made her look good, there was cause for concern. Josh Haber was teaming up with Michael Vogel to write this two parter. Haber had penned "The Crystalling" which is when Starlight had last truly looked good, whereas Vogel was responsible for bringing her to a new low with "Every Little Thing She Does". Doesn't seem like a duo that would meet with success, especially considering how their collabs with others this season had been of mixed quality. Yet, at least in comparison to the season finale before it most seem to regard this as a good finale. Has it deserved that reputation, and did it manage to close out Season 6 on some sembelance of good quality? Well, let's find out.
Part 1 begins with Twilight and Starlight moving some boxes, and throwing in a brief bit of Spike messing up because why not. There's really no reason for this movement other than because potatoes, Starlight's already got her own room in the castle and she's not renovating it. It isn't until Spike spots something out in the distance that the plot starts to kick in. That something is Derpy Hooves, who comes quite literally crashing in through the window with a letter.
The letter isn't for Twilight or Spike though, it's for Starlight Glimmer and it's from the ponies from her old village (seriously, could they not come up with a name for it?). They're inviting her to come to their annual sundown festival, which Starlight is rightfully worried about because of how badly she treated them in the past. She then suffers a nightmare where in the villagers say they didn't actually want her to come and just wanted to make fun of her. Fortunately, it's dispelled by Princess Luna who convinces Starlight to talk to her friends about how she's feeling. She also mentions seeing a bit of herself in Starlight, though this is pretty much just a throwaway line because it'll never be brought up again. Anyway, we get the mostly standard mane six introductions, though Rarity subverts it by not talking about fashion. Twilight then suggests Starlight bring along a friend, and Starlight opts to bring along Trixie even Twilight was hoping to be picked instead.
Trixie opts to rub this little "victory" in Twilight's face even though boasting and bragging is exactly what got her into trouble the last time she was with Starlight. Anyway, the two unicorns head off the village and Starlight is still as nervous as ever. It only gets worse when the villagers start swarming around her and asking for her help, basically wanting her to help them with planning. Again, it's weird that no one seems to have any kind of resentment or hostility towards Starlight Glimmer, and they're all perfectly okay with just letting her take charge again. Yeah, I get that there's been a considerable passage of time (that we didn't get to see) which probably allowed for tensions to ease. But stuff like this doesn't help Starlight's case when people say she faces no consequences and is just instantly forgiven. Sunset Shimmer had to work to earn her redemption, we were denied that with Starlight by skipping over that crucial trust earning phase. And considering Starlight's crimes, especially in the place where we were first introduced to her, her apparently facing no hostility and just being welcomed back feels questionable. I mean, how do the villagers know for sure she won't take over and revert back to her old ways?
However, this does show some development on Starlight's part because she suffers a nervous breakdown and has a full on panic attack. And Trixie, in the first truly selfless thing she's ever done, comes to Starlight's aid by throwing down a smoke bomb to cover their escape. Unfortunately, Trixie seems completely oblivious to how her "best friend" is feeling and claims that her advice is to just forget a mistake was ever made and move on. Starlight mentions how that's "almost" good advice. This isn't like Hakuna Matata, the idea of not dwelling on your past so that it can't haunt you (but as Rafaki demonstrates, the importance is learning from it instead of running away from it). This probably explains why Trixie can never develop, she's unable or unwilling to look at her past mistakes and learn from them, meaning she's just going to keep repeating them. It's not even like she has short term memory loss either.
So the two come back to Ponyville and find Pinkie Pie acting as if she doesn't remember Starlight. Of course, Trixie thinks Pinkie Pie is just acting like her usual weird self so this doesn't raise suspicion. And neither does Rarity and Applejack apparently mocking Starlight for running away because of her fears. Starlight doesn't even seem to suspect anything is amiss when she heads back to the castle and finds the doors locked. Even Spike doesn't seem to recognize her.
Oddly enough, when Twilight answers the door and apologizes for Spike's behavior, Starlight talks to her and is surprised to hear that Twilight thinks Starlight should cut her losses. It feels like Starlight is flip flopping: One moment she doesn't want to go to the village and the next she does. And it's weird how it's only this supposedly makes her suspect something isn't right. That night, she has another nightmare where in she ends up back at the old village, but Twilight and the rest of the mane six show up to berate her for coming back. It's dispelled as Princess Luna hastily shows up, mentioning that the changelings have returned and have already kidnapped Princess Celestia. Kind of find it odd that this happened all off-screen. Anyway, Starlight wakes up in her bed in fright. And in an interesting little detail you can see a kite in her bedroom, which means that her love of kites next season is not something just made up on the spot for an episode.
Starlight Glimmer manages to sneak out of her bedroom and slip out of the castle undetected, finding Trixie asleep in her wagon as she mentions peanut butter crackers (an indirect nod to the first Equestria Girls film where human Trixie wanted them in a brief gag). When Starlight wakes Trixie up she sets off a whole bunch of fireworks that somehow don't burn Trixie's wagon to the ground right on the spot, even though they do fill the inside with smoke.
Starlight wisely refuses to talk to Trixie fully until she has proof that Trixie is not an impostor, but Trixie stupidly insists on dragging it out even when she can see Starlight is worried. Why? Because apparently just admitting to one friend that you said even you make mistakes is apparently a hard thing for Trixie to do. I mean really, how hard is it to spit it just to satisfy your "best friend"? And this is before Trixie really seemed to not care at all about Starlight's well being. Fortunately, once this little detail is taken care of, the two unicorns are able to go back inside the castle. And sure enough, they find that the mane six and Spike have all been replaced by changelings. This is all the work of Queen Chrysalis, who's decided that the only thing wrong with her last scheme to take over was that she thought too narrowly. Now she wants to take over all of Equestria, replacing every leader (or at least every princess). And it's even more jarring now that she lacks her echo-filter when Kathleen Barr is also voicing Trixie. Again, without the echo filter Chrysalis just sounds like an evil Trixie.
Anyway, Trixie panics and Starlight has to teleport her out before they can get caught. Thorax shows up soon afterward, revealing that no help will be coming from the Crystal Empire. Trixie freaks out while Starlight interrogates Thorax upon noticing his wings seem to have changed. An interesting detail is that they even use the music when Thorax is mimicing Twilight from "The Times They Are a Changeling", and it stops when Starlight is convinced that Thorax is legit. Once that's done, Thorax says that the changelings already got to the Crystal Empire, stealing Shining Armor, Cadence and Flurry Heart. And Sunburst sent Thorax to Ponyville to get help from Twilight, only to find out that it was too late. Fortunately, there is still one powerful magical being who might be willing to help, Discord. And it doesn't take much for him to prove that he's legit, so there are no imposters among the group.
But Discord is only willing to help upon learning that the changelings kidnapped Fluttershy. He then teleports the group to her location only to find that he's come up a bit short. Part 1 ends as Thorax shows the rag tag group of heroes that they've been brought right to the doorstep of the changeling hive.
After the recap, Part 2 begins with Discord wondering why he wasn't able to teleport right into the changeling hive and insists on trying to blunt force his way to Fluttershy. Trixie protests, saying they should hear what Thorax has to say. But Discord insists that he's the only plan they need, only to find that his magic stops working as soon as he gets close to the hive. Thorax explains that the hive is protected by a powerful magic cancelling stone that makes it so only changeling magic will work. So Discord is rendered powerless. Starlight reluctantly takes the lead as the group heads towards the hive's entrance, and then she wisely suggests they need a code word in case they get separated. Ultimately, they settle on "Klutzy Draconequus" after Discord trips over a rock even though Discord insists they should pick something else.
They make their way into the hive proper as Thorax explains that it's constantly changing. Then, as they walk Discord and Trixie get into an argument over who's truly more useful to the team.
Eventually, they get lost and Thorax mentions that surprisingly he hasn't been hungry for love since meeting Spike, and that's around the same time his wings started to change. Discord, however, interrupts this by loudly shouting out his intentions and as a result he startles the horde.
Fortunately, Thorax is able to make use of Trixie's smoke bombs and his shape shifting abilities to trick the changelings that come after him. Then Starlight notices how some split off, Thorax mentioning that they went to protect the queen from an intruder, putting them on the right path. Soon afterward, though, they find the path ahead blocked by changelings and need a distraction. Ultimately, that distraction is Discord though it's not by having him dress in drag and do a hula dance.
No, it involves Discord doing stand up comedy (which he does with a mic that somehow has power despite not being plugged into anything, although given that this is Discord he might have a way to make it work anyhow). But it's only when he heckles the hecklers that the changelings decide to chase after him. Trixie mentions how she can't believe that worked, seemingly indifferent to Discord doing something selfless for once (I mean, he could've easily made Trixie be the live bait if Starlight hadn't insisted he do it). Discord, meanwhile, manages to give the changelings the slip right before he spots Fluttershy by herself. He wisely realizes that this is a trap, before he's presented with an army of Fluttershys all claiming to be the real thing. And they mention that it's entirely possible one of them is the real Fluttershy. Discord thus realizes he's been caught.
An impostor Discord soon shows up to join the rest of the group, and he fails the code word as Starlight, Trixie and Thorax realize right away that he's a changeling. Then the fake Discord heads down a path, and Thorax says that he's leading them into an ambush if they go down the same. Out of the blue, Trixie decides to be the sacrifice to spring the trap so Starlight and Thorax can escape (why not have Thorax spring the trap since he knows it's coming and will probably know how to outsmart it? Heck, why not have him do what he did earlier when he used up Trixie's smoke bombs?). She even tells Starlight that she needs to get over her hang-up about being leader because she's really good at it (which would carry more weight of this fear of leadership hadn't just been part of this two parter, and ideally if it were coming from someone like Spike or Sunburst who knows Starlight better). So Trixie springs the trap on the impostor Discord and is captured as well.
Starlight and Thorax split up, and Starlight appears to have found the throne room where everyone (Trixie and Discord included) is being kept in a cocoon. The task is thus to destroy the throne and the magic repelling stone that's connected to it. However, Queen Chrysalis shows up (in rather creepy insect fashion, even twisting her head around) and reveals that of course she knows about the rescue attempt. However, it turns out that the one in the throne room is actually Thorax. But Starlight is exposed soon afterward when she tries to destroy the throne with what little she has at her disposal. Starlight then opts to ask Chrysalis why she does what she does, and Chrysalis says it's "So I can feed!", which means that she's doing this for herself and not for the benefit of her subjects (this also implies she may be intentionally starving the other changelings to make them depend on her).
Starlight Glimmer, looking at Thorax, insists that there's a better way. But Chrysalis will hear nothing of it and decides that she'll make an example out of Thorax by draining all of his love. As she does so, Thorax starts to weaken before Starlight out of the blue suggests he share love because that's what made him different from other changelings. Thorax does so and sharing this love apparently overpowers Chrysalis and causes him to transform.
Now we come to the obligatory controversy that every season finale must have ("The Best Night Ever" had the fact that it was the last episode of what could've been the only season, "A Canterlot Wedding" pioneered the trope with its new characters and what happened to Twilight, "Magical Mystery Cure" had Twilicorn, "Twilight's Kingdom" had the destruction of the Golden Oak Library and the new castle to replace it, "The Cutie Re-Mark" had Starlight's redemption, "Shadow Play" now has detractors because of Stygian and the way the pillars were handled compared to what was originally planned for them, "School Raze" has what happened to Cozy Glow and of course "The Ending of The End" has the whole Grogar twist while "The Last Problem" has the time skip and the older mane six designs), this time being the designs of the new changelings when they start "sharing love". I do kind of agree that these new designs take away some of the unique insect like ness of the old changelings. And the colors don't exactly mesh well (they're weird mixes of green, orange and purple for the most part). But I think the changes made to the hive in Season 7 helped to take the sting out of it by matching them to their new environment. It's odd that Thorax doesn't talk anymore from this point onward though, because the next time he hear him in Season 7 his voice is still the same as it was. Did Thorax have lines originally and they got cut?
Chrysalis is thus defeated, and Discord is delighted to see Fluttershy is okay. However, it's not time to celebrate just yet since Chrysalis is still alive. Everyone's ready to blast her, but Starlight opts to talk to her again anyway and with no warning to Chrysalis that if she tries anything she's dead. Starlight offers Chrysalis a chance to redeem herself, and initially it seems like the now former queen will do so. But then Chrysalis swats Starlight's hoof away and vows to get revenge.
Everyone apparently just stands there and lets this happen too, no one tries to chase after Chrysalis (not even Discord). It made sense with Starlight Glimmer since she fled into a series of caves (and it wasn't even clear that she had in fact gone in there instead of possibly teleporting somewhere else). It doesn't make sense here. At the least if Chrysalis maybe attacked Starlight to cause a diversion and then slipped away in the chaos that would've made more sense (maybe even have her sink through the ground like she did to Twilight). I want to suspect that they were planning to redeem Chrysalis originally and only changed their mind because they saw the backlash against Starlight. But I kind of doubt that since the scripts would've likely been finished before Season 5 had finished airing. Even knowing what will ultimately happen to Chrysalis, I think this was a decision for the better since it means Starlight got her first true taste of failure.
But then part 2 ends as Discord is convinced to teleport everyone back to the village, and Starlight insists that sometimes you have to step up and take charge. Then, Trixie stupidly throws a compliment Discord pays her back in his face as Rainbow Dash mentions how "Somepony's gonna have to catch us up on what we missed."
And that's the story, so what do I think of the two parter? It's definitely a step up for Starlight Glimmer after her two focus episodes prior really didn't do much to develop her, and the rest of Season 6 just ignored her completely. It really does seem like Josh Haber had at least some sort of idea in mind for Starlight, and was now trying to pick up the pieces and make them fit. Maybe if he'd insisted on helping write the other Starlight focus episodes instead of just being story editor he could've prevented some of the missteps. Michael Vogel does seem to have a better grasp on Starlight now too, though I'm not sure how much of that is because he had help from Josh Haber. Starlight's fears come into focus again, making her feel like more of a character instead of just a writer's pet or something the show had no idea what to do with. It's nice that they changed up the two parter formula again here, especially since the previous one felt more like "The Twilight Sparkle and Friends Show" given how irrelevant the alternative timeline versions of the mane six ultimately were. However, there's a bit of a problem in that of the secondary characters Starlight is paired up with here, only Trixie has any prior chemistry with her. Starlight was only vaguely there for Thorax's introduction and never interacted with Discord at all. Part of me wonders if this two parter was intended for Spike originally, but even if you swapped out Trixie for Sunburst it still wouldn't work with Spike because he has no chemistry or prior history with either Trixie or Sunburst. Still, it kind of irks me that Starlight got to have a two parter to herself whereas no other mane six member or even Spike would ever get that honor. Discord and Trixie are fine, though they do lose some sympathy points at times when they either don't seem to care that others have been captured or don't seem interested in taking Starlight's concerns seriously. Thorax is fine, though his transformation feels very sudden and tacked on, like there was supposed to be something more to it that got left out. This whole two parter definitely was trying to be FiM's equivalent of The Suicide Squad (which existed in comics long before any movies were made about them), though it was probably greenlighted in part because they knew that a movie based on the squad was on the way.
Part 1 feels like the very obvious set-up, intended to get our heroes together for their big rescue mission. But I have to ask why we needed to have all of Equestria be captured by changelings. Why not just have it be Ponyville since Chrysalis would be going after Twilight and her friends? You could still have Flurry Heart be kidnapped in a diversaery attack on the Crystal Empire to keep the other princesses busy, thus explaining why they couldn't be called in to help instead of just yet again taking them out of the fight uncerimoniously. Part 2 is fine, though it feels very rushed in places such as when Trixie inexplicably has to sacrifice herself to save Starlight and Thorax, or Thorax just transforming out of the blue by "sharing love", to say nothing of Chrysalis running away without anyone really going after her and just letting it happen. Still, all things considered it's an improvement over the end of Season 5 since "The Cutie Re-Mark" was likely screwed over by the changing of the guard. Part 1 gets a B while Part 2 gets a borderline B+/A-, giving the combined two parter an overall grade of B+. Season 6 unfortunately is the first season to not top its predecessor, though it is still second best season overall of the six we've covered. I think I know why Season 6 was... underwhelming in a lot of aspects though. Another reviewer summed it better: Season 6 is "The Chill Season". Think about it, we didn't really visit any new locations aside from one or two. A lot of episodes were ponies just putting their own take on stories we'd seen before. Most of the time, the show didn't try to go out on a limb and the few times it did it seemed to backfire more often than not. But all of this may have been somewhat intentional due to the big movie that was in production. Season 7 was ordered while Season 6 was still in production, most likely when the movie had to be pushed back due to the decision to switch animation from Flash to Toon Boom. It would make sense that a season like Season 6 would exist before a big movie that was supposed to really push the envelope and do new things, that way the big movie would seem even grander by comparison. As it is, Season 6 settled for a more consistent quality of good but not necessarily envelope pushing, though at least unlike Season 4 I got the sense that events from previous seasons mattered. And hey, there's nothing wrong with a "Chill Season". Sometimes it's okay to kick back and take it easy.
Now, my reviews of seasons aren't quite done yet although Season 6 is going to be the last to be covered entirely in-depth. But we'll get to that on Monday since my reviews of the next three seasons (along with the movie and two specials) will be only for those reviews that I want to redo to consider new points or new information. Meanwhile, we have one last re-review of Equestria Girls (all my reviews of stuff from "Dance Magic" onward cover my points quite well, I'd say) as we cover the last full length movie/special to include a true arc for any of its characters in the form of "Legend of Everfree".
I thought the group's chemistry was hillarious and them bondinig overtime was really fun and satisfying.
Yeah, it's almost like the show staff were trying to avoid making the same mistake they did with Twilight in Season 1 where she was shoehorned into episodes she had no purpose being in just to deliver the moral at the end.
I know I've said this many times before, but I really do think a big problem with Starlight is that it felt like the show staff were trying way too hard to make her as popular as Sunset Shimmer in order to compensate for the latter not being in the main series.
This is one of my favorite finales, and I love the season as a whole.
5530452 This is one of the better finales, but not the best.
5530453
Yeah, I can agree that it's not the best finale
As must I dislike Starlight, these episodes is those I mind watching and enjoy watching Starlight as the main characters. So, a C or B for it
The team-up in this episode is actually more similar to Guardians of the Galaxy than the Suicide Squad.
Also, how come there is not a single reference to The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings throughout the entirety of the review?
5530724 Haven't seen either of those films.
5530437
That's because they were.
This is one of the better season finales that for sure.
5539521
Uh, exactly which of my comments are you referring to?
5539696
About the staff members.
In my opinion, “To Where and Back Again” was not only one of the best two-parters made...but perhaps the most original too. Most of the ones before it often focused on Twilight Sparkle or both her and the Main Six, which is why I find this one to be unique among others.
5540989 It's unique, but I wish it had been an honor given to another mane six member, to Spike or even to the CMC. Starlight didn't deserve to that honor alone of being the only other one with a two parter to focus on her.