Episode Re-Review: School Raze Parts 1 and 2 · 10:15pm Jul 5th, 2021
*Sigh*, I originally planned to skip over this re-review because I didn't have much new to really say on it. But I felt like it wouldn't be fair to do that when I'm going to re-review the next two two parters, and this would thus be the only two parter (and season finale) I would be skipping. Plus, we now have "The Ending of the End" for an arguably worse season finale with an equally stupid plot twist in the villains department. What's most odd about this two parter is that it's written by two different authors across two different parts. Nicole Dubac wrote Part 1, and for unexplained reasons Josh Haber wrote Part 2. No one else collabed with them on the story or in writing for either part. So for reasons unknown, this script underwent a changing of the guard midway through, something that would be repeated in the next season with Nicole writing Part 1 and Michael Vogel writing Part 2 (Josh Haber would write the mostly unrelated "The Last Problem"). Between this and Nicole Dubac not writing "Sounds of Silence" despite writing the song for it in collaboration with Michael Vogel, I wonder if something came up that forced Nicole to leave. It can't be because she was kicked off the writing team since she came back for Season 9. But there's no denying Nicole was absolutely terrible this season, responsible for both "Marks for Effort" and "A Matter of Principals" that she insisted on defending the bad writing choices of. Josh Haber, meanwhile, had been largely chugging along just fine, though as "Road to Friendship" will attest it wasn't a completely smooth ride. And even he had penned a dud in the unwanted rehash that was "Father Knows Beast". So with all that going against it and armed with the knowledge of what would become of the villain here, is this two parter really still the worst thing FiM ever did for an ending? Well, let's find out.
Part 1 begins with two oc ponies being shown around the School of Friendship by Cozy Glow. This isn't like showing off two G3 ponies at the start of "Fame and Misfortune" though. There was an actual contest that Hasbro hosted that let kids compete for the honor to have small cameos in this episode with their own custom ocs. However, their inclusion of Cozy Glow here is even more painfully obvious than anything they did prior to foreshadow the revelation of her being evil.
In fact, Cozy Glow is apparently so much of a model student that she is able to do everything all by herself, even arrange a field trip to Cloudsdale. And that just so happens to be what Starlight Glimmer is doing (because I guess Rainbow Dash couldn't be leading it), largely so that somepony can cast a cloud walking spell. Suddenly, however, the spell fails and all the non-flying students and ponies begin to fall to the ground.
Fortunately, everyone is caught before there can be any impacts with the ground (and in cartoons, only impacting the ground is fatal. If you get yanked out of mid-air you're totally fine). They go to report this to Twilight, who initially thinks Starlight just cast the spell wrong. Because you know, that's totally an appropriate response to students nearly dying!
When Twilight's magic stops working as well, Starlight can't resist throwing shade. But it soon turns out that all magic isn't working anymore, even Spike's dragon magic that lets him send and receive scrolls from Princess Celestia. Starswirl the Bearded is aware of this and speculates that the magic drain will become permanent and take away all magic if it is not stopped before sunset on the third day. Cozy Glow immediately suggests that this has to be the work of Tirek, and somehow no one questions how a filly her age knows about him. And despite zero evidence to even suggest Tirek is involved, and despite the fact that there's no need for them to all rush off on a wild goose chase, the mane six decide they should go to Tartarus alone to check on Tirek.
I mean heck, there's no indication of them getting Discord to help even though as far as we know the magic drain doesn't affect him. It made sense why he couldn't be consulted in "The Cutie Re-Mark" due to the time travel, he was part of the rescue group for "To Where and Back Again" and at the time the pillars seemed to be more than enough to deal with a still weakened Pony of Shadows in "Shadow Play". So why isn't Discord given even a passing mention or line here? They could at least come up with an excuse as to why he can't be used besides just the fact that he would make this plot irrelevant. Even just making the magic drain affect him as well wouldn't have been too much of a stretch when even alicorn magic will apparently disappear.
But of course, the plot insists that the mane six be sent away and I guess it was just easy to send them off to Tartarus. Cozy Glow insists on packing for them and immediately makes clear her intention to take over the school in Twilight's absence. But Twilight, in perhaps the first truly sane thing she's done when the school has come into play, rightfully states that Starlight Glimmer will run the school instead of a child. And Cozy is not happy about that. Yet we'll never get to see how she manages to overpower Starlight and take over. At least when G1 Starscream finally got rid of Megatron, we got to see how he did it.
So the mane six go away to Tartarus and the next day, Starlight is inexplicably absent and Cozy Glow states that she'll be taking over because Starlight alledgedly went to go help Twilight and the others. Everyone buys this blaetant lie except for Smolder and the rest of the student/young six. But making them the only sane ones in the room does not make them more appealing as characters, it just feels like character shilling. It only gets worse when Chancellor Neighsay shows up out of the blue that night, and even he believes that Cozy Glow is running things. Why does everyone honestly believe that a child could be in charge of a school? I don't care what kind of "utopia" we're talking about, you can't believably sell me on the idea of any child be entrusted with such a responsibility. It feels like the idea with Cozy Glow was to make her like pre-reformed Diamond Tiara but on a bigger scale. But here's the thing, making Diamond Tiara editor in chief of a school newspaper or class president is not the same as if she tried to get rid of Cheerilee and run the school.
It's not even like Cozy Glow is related to Neighsay somehow, even though this scene seems to imply that the two are in cahoots somehow to get rid of Twilight. Neighsay of course decides that he'll take over Twilight's school despite it not being an EEA school (so legally he can't touch it), and Cozy Glow begins to scheme on how to get rid of him. But then the student/young six get busted for spying on the conversation, and Cozy Glow takes advantage of Neighsay's bigotry to have him imprison them just on her word. So Cozy Glow is a villain sue of the worst caliber. As much of a villain sue as Tirek and Chrysalis could be, they at least had to work for what they wanted and showed that they could pose a threat on their own. If Cozy Glow didn't have others believing her lies and just conveniently kept getting those in power to go away or trust her, she would have nothing. She's not even on the level of Baby Doll where she's actually an adult stuck in a child's body, even though that at least could explain why she is the way she is.
Neighsay then claims that he's not actually going to hurt the students, he's just going to leave them locked up until he can contact their elders and have them be sent home (and how he does even think he'll get in contact with them when he has no magic? Heck, why does he think they'll do what he says when he's already insulted them and angered them twice?). And apparently he's doing this even to Sandbar, a pony, as if he doesn't exist. And then as if someone remembered he does, Sandbar speaks up and claims he's changed his ways out of the blue. So Neighsay stupidly believes him and lets him go free. Naturally, Sandbar is faking it in order to get help.
As for the mane six, they make it to Tartarus and just so happen to have a key (after Pinkie Pie proposes dressing up as if they're delivering a pizza in order to get in). Oh, and Spike is there too just to remind us that he's there with an unfunny and repetitive joke about the "seven" of them (while no one sticks up for him at any point). They go through and the key disappears, leaving them all trapped in there. As for Sandbar, he gets help from Apple Bloom and the Cutie Mark Crusaders as they make their way down to the catacombs from "What Lies Beneath". There, they find a clearing where Starlight is trapped in a magical bubble of silence, the artifacts from "A Matter of Principals" are being used in a special ritual that is causing the magic drain. And surprise surprise, Cozy Glow is behind it all as she vows to become the "Empress of Friendship" as part 1 ends. I mean, we do get a little tiny hint that she might be insane, but only when she rants about Neighsay.
Following the obligatory recap in Part 2, we see Sandbar and the CMC try to rescue Starlight and undo the ceremony, but apparently the artifacts are enchanted for the ritual so that trying to touch them triggers a failsafe to pull you into the bubble as well. This is the extent of Starlight's role here, being a damsel in distress taken out off-screen by Cozy Glow. I know we were getting tired of Starlight always hogging the spotlight and being the only sane one in the group during two parters, but this is not the right way to compensate for that problem! As much as her constant shilling could get annoying, at least it gave her a role to play instead of pretending she didn't exist. We didn't even get to see her fight against Cozy Glow, which is something we would get to see a season later in "The Ending of the End".
Meanwhile, the mane six and Spike are in Tartarus and the design is very underwhelming. It's just a generic looking prison facility lined with cages, most of which are occupied by creatures from the Everfree Forest that the mane six were just unlucky enough to cross paths with. Could they really not just leave the cages as dark outlines so we could speculate who the figures might be? And really, was an actual Greek underworld inspiration too much for the animators even though that's what Tartarus is (the Greek underworld)? I mean heck, we don't even have a ponyfied Hades despite him being the Greek god of the underworld.
So the only prisoner of interest is Tirek, definitely channeling his inner Hannibal Lecter here.
And Tirek confesses that of course the magic drain isn't his doing (because if it was he would've made his presence known, something that should've been painfully obvious). But he'll willingly blab about his "student" that he's been communicating with via letters, Cozy Glow. Yes, that's right. Cozy Glow somehow not only learned about Tirek and Tartarus, but also found out how to communicate with him and thought it was a good idea. And Tirek was somehow able to convey to a filly in Ponyville how to perform an advanced magical thing. And Cozy Glow was somehow able to get everything set up without anyone ever finding out or noticing. I'm sorry, but this whole thing has way too many holes to be believable. There's no way everyone was that much of an idiot! You can't possibly tell me that none of Cozy Glow's letters would ever get intercepted, or that at no point would she get caught moving things that should've undoubtly been under lock and key since they were on loan from archives and were themselves likely loaned to the archives from the kingdoms/nations that originally owned them.
Meanwhile, Chancellor Neighsay announces that he's taking over Twilight's school because it was a failure. And naturally, Cozy Glow exploits this to turn the school against Neighsay and imprison him, which is a bad thing since Sandbar and the CMC were just about to go to him for help (because you know, he would totally believe them). Cozy Glow then tells Neighsay what her motivation is: She believes friendship literally translates into power, that the more friends you have the more powerful you become. And so she's going to take over a magicless Equestria and make everyone be her friend, and she will rule over all. At no point does she say that all the magic will belong to her or that she'll become taller or stronger. She believes that in her current state everyone will bow down to her because of no magic. And I'm sorry, but again you can't expect me to believe that one child by herself is somehow this endgame level threat. Anyone could easily defeat her just by being taller than her.
As for the rest of the student/young six they're all wondering if Sandbar was truly their friend and only Yona believes he didn't sell them out. Fortunately, Sandbar reveals that it was a bluff (obviously) and that the true threat is Cozy Glow. But in order to stop her they need to get Chancellor Neighsay onboard. So to that end, they have the CMC go off with Cozy Glow to distract her while the student/young six go to rescue the captive chancellor. And what do we get of the CMC? They get tricked by Cozy Glow and locked into a broom closet, and that's it. This is all we get of them here despite the synopsis claiming they would work with the student/young six to save the day. And this is because according to Haber the episode had too many characters to juggle. So why bother putting the CMC in at all if you couldn't make them fit?! Why lie to fans who wanted so desperately for someone other than Twilight or Starlight to have a two parter to themselves?!
As for the student/young six they manage to free Neighsay, who is quite surprised to be rescued by the same creatures he wrongfully imprisoned. I guess he's not like Palpetine in that he planned to be captured as part of a test.
But what does Neighsay do now that he's free? He uses what remains of his amulet's magical powers to walk through a portal in order to recruit an army, and he won't be seen again until after the climax. So all Neighsay was used for was just to make Cozy Glow look worse by comparison so they could redeem him. It wouldn't surprise me if Neighsay was originally supposed to be the big bad of the Season 8 finale, and they were going to build up to him betraying Equestria with small appearances like in "Friendship University". But then they decided that was too predictable and having a child villain instead would be something totally unexpected, even though they would turn around and redeem their original villain who had previously been shown to be toxic and was presented as a strawman.
So the student/young six go down to the catacombs as Cozy Glow has managed to turn the entire school to her way of thinking, and makes them push the student/young six into the bubble with Starlight as the magic drain starts to take hold. Meanwhile, Twilight has found a way to get magic out of all the inhabitants of Tartarus, Tirek included. She does this by pointing out to Tirek that he's going to be stuck there forever with them and that's a bad thing. So after intentionally having Pinkie Pie be as annoying as possible, Twilight gets Tirek to give her his magic and the other creatures willingly do so. Yet apparently, in the time it took for this plan to be enacted, it's been over a day and the magic drain is nearly complete. Yet now, at the very last minute, the Tree of Harmony does something and pulls an almost literal dues ex machina out of its rear by saving the student/young six. They each start to glow for a respective Element of Harmony, making this yet another finale to give us an alternative mane six of sorts (the fourth straight since "The Cutie Re-Mark" and arguably the worst of the bunch). As for the elements, the glow suggests that they are the following: Gallus is magic, Silverstream is laughter, Smolder is generosity, Ocellus is loyalty, Yona is honesty and Sandbar is kindness. But I never recall any situations where Ocellus' loyalty was questioned or tested, or where Yona's honesty was what mattered most. If anything, given Sandbar's test in "What Lies Beneath" and what he did here, he should've been loyalty, Yona should've been kindness (thus possibly hinting at it allowing its bearer to communicate with animals) and Ocellus should've been honesty (a hint of irony for a species based originally around deception).
And although the episode now suggests the school might be destroyed stopping Cozy Glow, that doesn't happen when the artifacts are able to undo everything Cozy Glow has done and restore magic to Equestria. The mane six and Spike are able to teleport to the school, and this time the royal guard and the princesses actually do something when they show up to ensure Cozy Glow can't get away. But if anything, this only raises the question of why they failed to act when presented with much greater threats both from their own and from outside forces. I mean, this could be them learning from their complete failure of security during the Storm King's invasion, but if anything that is what should've warranted more of a threat. It feels like a belated attempt to respond to criticism of the royal guard and the princesses' uselessness in crises.
Twilight demands to know why Cozy Glow did all of this, and she just proclaims she did it to have power because she still believes that's literally what friendship translates into. And somehow, that's the only defense anyone bothers to hear. They give her no further chance to explain, they don't bother to search for more information or ask questions about how she was able to do what she did. They just assume that she's a lost cause, and Twilight even believes she's a failure as a teacher because of Cozy Glow (which she kind of is if she failed to show Cozy Glow of all ponies that friendship was not about power, though that depends on if Cozy believed that or not before meeting Twilight). And the student/young six are held up as this example of Twilight's success, even though she had almost nothing to do with them becoming friends or learning about friendship in the first place. And apparently, this time the villain is not only not redeemed but is also not allowed to escape. Of course, Neighsay is forgiven because he claims to have seen the error of his ways. And the student/young six believe they're going to graduate because of their heroics, but Twilight tells them it takes more than a year to learn everything about friendship. The CMC then pop out of the broom closet they were trapped in, asking where Cozy Glow is.
Cozy Glow is being sent to Tartarus, the very same Tartarus where her partner in crime Tirek is. Heck, she even gets put in a cell next to Tirek and with no guards around to keep an eye on either of them (strangely enough, we see Princess Luna be accompanied by two new designed guards, but we never see them again).
And that's the story, do I even need to say what I think of the two parter?! My thoughts haven't changed!
Nothing makes sense at all, everything was just there to set up Cozy Glow as the villain and she is an absolute failure of one. You mean to tell me that a child is this complete monster that is worse than anything that's come before it, but a racist bigot like Chancellor Neighsay can be redeemed even when he's trying to take over in a moment of crisis and will wrongfully imprison others without proof?! I think the whole two parter has it backwards! I'm not saying children can't be evil or can't be monsters, because they can! But usually that's if they come from messed up families or have bad influences in their lives, and in most cases it can be possible to save them if intervention is done quickly enough. It's only once one is an adult that the window of opportunity begins to close. We get nothing at all to show us why Cozy Glow is so messed up or believes what she believes, we never see her do anything to show how powerful she is and she gets everything handed (or hoofed) to her just because the plot says so. Her entire motivation for being evil is solely "for the lulz", which would normally not be a bad thing if not for the fact that it feels like it's done in such a spiteful and in your face way. Like they did it solely to spite those fans who dared to complain about the show's overuse of redemption! It would be one thing if at least Cozy Glow meant redemption would stop being used, but they kept on doing it in Season 9 and even here with Neighsay!
The mane six, Spike, the CMC and Starlight Glimmer are all just brushed aside and tossed aside without fanfare. And all so the student/young six can save the day by looking like the only sane ones in the room for not buying Cozy Glow's obvious lies right off the bat and being rightfully suspicious of her. Except this doesn't make us like these characters any more! "Shadow Play" demonstrated that you don't build up one group by putting down another and making them look weak or useless! That's exactly what this whole two parter did! Again, it feels almost like all of this was done on purpose to be self sabotage, but I kind of doubt the show staff would be that spiteful. From what I can gather from their social media posts, they seem to honestly believe that this was okay and that they don't understand why people are upset about it. They seem to be more oblivious to their mistakes than outright ignorant of what they did. They just can't seem to realize that they messed up. But oh boy did they mess up here! Maybe the abrupt changing of the guard from Nicole to Haber meant plans in Part 2 that would've explained everything got discarded? But if Nicole's script was the problem, why keep what she wrote for Part 1 instead of dumping it and rewriting the whole thing from scratch?! If time constraints were the problem, they could've just asked someone else to help them out or even just wrote two separate episodes back to back to be bundled together like they probably did for Season 7's premiere. Nothing about this two parter makes any sense. All it does is leave you with more questions.
Part 1 and Part 2 both get an F-, the lowest possible grade I can give! For all the problems that "The Ending of the End" had with that stupid Grogar plot twist, at least if you could look beyond that (which is not easy to do) you could see the pieces of what would've probably otherwise been a great finale (just goes to show how one bad twist can almost singlehandedly ruin everything). This two parter even ends like it knows the next season is coming and is just saying "Go ahead and skip to Season 9, you're not missing anything.", except Hasbro refuses to put Season 9 on Netflix even now that G5 is on the way! So that means this is the last pony content of G4 available unless you wanna rely on official uploads on YouTube. An absolute insult to the show's legacy, almost if Hasbro would rather act as though the ninth and final season they demanded never existed, and they instead cancelled the show after they decided to throw a new concept in for more toys right before the end.
As for Season 8 as a whole (since what I'm reviewing next isn't part of Season 8 according to the show staff), it not only didn't improve over its predecessor but it lowered the bar of quality so low that it seemed like the show might not recover! The school was supposed to be this big status quo changer, but it was rarely ever utilized. And when it was the focus it only ever seemed to bring out the worst in our established characters, while barely giving any attention to the new characters who for the most part just felt like carbon copies of pre-existing characters like Princess Ember or Princess Skystar, or in Sandbar's case were a complete waste of a character slot. And when they weren't focusing on the school, they were wasting episodes on cliche plots that they weren't bothering to put a fresh take on, creating some of the most annoying and insulting episodes of the show. Season 1 still beats it out for worst season though, if only because Season 8 did manage to improve on the world building whereas Season 1 took until its second half to find out what it wanted to be, and then spent a lot of time experimenting in ways that didn't work out. But alas, since "The Best Gift Ever" is next and it's been confirmed to be part of Season (a sneak peak of Season 9, you might say), that means Season 8 doesn't have something to redeem it. But what about "The Best Gift Ever"? Now that it's part of Season 9, does that make better or worse? Well, come back tomorrow to find out.
Honestly, I really liked the season 8 finale overall. Cozy Glow is a really interesting villain who was given a unique introduction, and she was technically one of the closest villains to actually conquer Equestria.
Also, I kinda love that Gallus called out all the students who were on Cozy's side when their powers were revealed. There are so many shows/movies where naysayers aren't given some proper tongue-lashing (*cough, cough* The Royal Wedding episode *cough, cough*), but Gallus was one of the few who actually pointed at them and was like, "AHA!"
I don't think the episode was that bad, but Cozy Glow being the main villain is overwhelming and considered she was written without a backstory make her character even more one-note.
The only thing I don't like about this episode is how Starlight essentially had to be worfed.
But otherwise, I always find it entertaining from beginning to end.
ESPECIALLY for the Cozy Glow reveal.
Before this episode, she was always teetering on the edge of being annoying and one of my least favorite characters, and then, when her true self is revealed and she just goes HAM, I ended up loving her.
It makes it clear to me that, in her previous appearances, when she was interacting with others, she was always just BARELY holding back some kinda loud angry rant or something.
She's still an evil sh*tbag who deserved to be put in tartarus, but she's one that I love watching.
I use WatchCartoonsOnline for my toons/anime nowadays.
Not the hugest fan of this finale in hindsight (ironic, isn’t it?), but I find it kinda entertaining if I just delete logic out of my life for 44 minutes.
While this episode certainly has its flaws, Cozy having possibly the most over the top hammy performance out of any villain in G4 will never cease to be entertaining. Also Starlight finally doesn't hog the limelight by dumbing down other characters! Although I guess that kinda happened with the student 6 this time...
Next to Lyra and Bon Bon officially becoming a homosexual couple in Season 9, what really bothers me about the eighth and ninth seasons are that they introduced so many new elements yet hardly touched on them later on. For instance, the Student Six held so much potential, but were openly wasted in the long run thanks to not even getting a sequel spin-off.
Well, they are flaws in these episodes, It would be better if we got a backstory for Cozy Glow
You might face opposing opinions regarding that, as many loved "The Ending of the End."
And this is why bringing him back was an asinine idea, one of the worst things this show ever did, to say nothing of his behavior post-reformation.
Not really, seeing as how she barely appeared in seasons 6 and 7.
For me, this is easily the worst part of this two-parter.
Pretty sure that the history books recorded Twilight's battle with him back in season four, and Tartarus is common knowledge among ponyfolk.
And this is why Cozy Glow does not work as a villain. She is no more threatening than your typical schoolyard bully ala Diamond Tiara and there is literally nothing stopping anypony from beating the stuffing out of her even without their magic.
And this really pisses me off because it would've been great to see them actually save the day for once.
As opposed to when the writers aren't making her as annoying as possible all the time. Seriously, they pulled this same trick back in season two's "The Last Round-up."
What?
Care to elaborate on this point? I don't get what you mean by this. As far as I know, this is only the second time they've done this, with the Pillars from season 7 being the first.
There's a reason why it's a common joke in the fandom that the Princesses are useless. At least in other episodes like the pilot, "The Return of Harmony", "A Canterlot Wedding", "Magical Mystery Cure", "Princess Twilight Sparkle", "Twilight's Kingdom", "The Cutie Re-mark", "To Where and Back Again", and "Shadow Play" they provided a reason as to why the Princesses couldn't help.
That would be this line from Rainbow Dash in the following episode:
"Um, if you think about it, they literally almost never help."
This might come off as funny to some, but to me it more comes off as the writers trying to play off their own bad writing as comedy.
That's because Cozy Glow was a lost cause. She literally said that she would gladly repeat her actions again if given the chance. And, really, this does in no way call Twilight's qualifications as a teacher into question, as the Student Six were able to benefit from her lessons. Cozy Glow had no intention of learning about friendship; she was just interested in power and nothing more.
It's heavily implied that this was ultimately Cozy Glow's plan if she failed.
And this is why I and so many others absolutely hated "Magical Mystery Cure."
Funny. They did the same exact thing a year later when the series finale aired.
And many people agree that that finale was great.
Not a bad idea, as I say that the series should've ended after season 7. As far as I'm concerned, the series did end after season 7.
And this is why I choose to completely ignore this season and act as if it never happened.
And this is why I hated season 1.
For me, worst season goes to season 2. There were a lot of bad episodes from that season.
5549774
So what? Her plan was still utterly stupid.
God, that episode!
5549807
Not really, though it seems to only be hated because of the Grogar twist and the fate of the Legion of Doom (specifically Cozy Glow)
And when she did she was almost always front and center, though at least Season 7 got better at giving her non-focus episodes that made her feel like part of the group.
We had it somewhat in "The Cutie Re-Mark" with the alternative timelines showing us Applejack, then Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, and then Rarity and Rainbow Dash. "To Where and Back Again" didn't have a group of six, but it did have four secondary characters in Starlight, Trixie, Discord and Thorax (though that was also partially to try and be like Suicide Squad).
But why does she believe that friendship translates into power? Why is she so messed up? It can't just because potatoes. If you're going to sell me on the idea that a child is this horrible monster that must be locked away, you need to give me a damn good reason and it can't just be because you said so. What Cozy Glow did is no worse than what Starlight Glimmer and Tempest Shadow tried to pull, and they had sob backstories that could've been made up. Yet they were forgiven despite being adults, so Cozy Glow should've been given the same treatment. At the least she should've been put on trial.
The big problem with Season 2 is that it tried to build the world, but it often didn't do a very good job of it.
5549809
It seems I'm one of the few who didn't have a problem with this.
To me, that's just prime fanfic fuel.
But here's why those redemptions worked, though. Not only did they show remorse for their actions, but they were perfectly willing to accept whatever punishment the protagonists deemed suitable. Cozy Glow not only didn't do that, but she was completely unrepentant for her actions and vowed to repeat her actions again if given the chance. What sets characters like Starlight and Tempest apart from Cozy Glow is the fact that they just had a misguided view on friendship. Cozy Glow, on the other hand, understood friendship perfectly, hence why she was able to turn the concept on its head and manipulate others so effectively.
It's almost like the show staff heard about the fandom's complaints of Starlight being a "Spotlight Stealing Squad" while coming up with the story and tried to appease them by adding in her getting easily captured so she wouldn't upstage anyone. But unless you're a hardcore Starlight Glimmer hater like Lily Orchard, it will likely backfire. Though Voice of Reason, who at the very least tolerates Starlight, thought it was a breath of fresh air to have a post-Season 5 two-parter where she doesn't save the day in some manner when he put this finale as his #2 best episode of Season 8. His exact words were "It was nice to see Starlight did not solve the problem or was proven right, for once..."
Actually, Smolder is loyalty and Ocellus is generosity. The former has a blue glow, while the latter has a white glow.
5549869 Still don't think that fits either of them.
5549876
Well if it helps, the Fridge Brilliance section of the show's TV Tropes page offers an explanation for how each of the Young Six correspond to their assigned elements. Here are the descriptions:
* Yona is Honesty because, even in Hulk Speak, she always speaks what's on her mind and rarely ever fibs.
* Ocellus received Generosity because her species as a whole has learned that sharing love is more beneficial than taking it.
* Smolder has already demonstrated Loyalty in "What Lies Beneath" when she and Gallus refused to leave their friends behind.
* Silverstream being Laughter is rather obvious, given she's so enthusiastic and high-spirited.
* Sandbar is Kindness because he exercised Fluttershy's Cruel to Be Kind lesson when he became a Fake Defector in order to save his friends.
* That leaves Gallus with Magic as, while not a magical creature himself, he has knowledge about it, which turns out to be useful.
This disaster of a finale is a BIG reason why I prefer to pretend this season and it's successor don't exist. They're total dumpster fires!!
As flawed as it was, Season 1 was LEAGUES better than this farce of a season. The last two season are total disasters that (save for a few relatively enjoyable episodes) are better off forgotten...
5549869
Can't really blame Lily Orchard for being like that.
Ironically enough, Season 9 is available on Hulu while all the other seasons are available on Netflix.
Talk about disorganization.
5550197 And as far as I know it's only the first half of Season 9 that's available on Hulu. No "Rainbow Roadtrip" and no second half. Maybe it was forgivable at first when Hasbro wanted to maybe see if they could get a better deal on Hulu, but if G5 is coming to Netflix it's clear that they're committing to it for the near future and therefore they can't have any content on other platforms (unless they wanna strike out on their own, which doesn't seem likely despite how much content they own),
5550239
Coming from a guy who no longer uses Netflix and considers it a dying business anyway, I’m honestly more interested in seeing the MLP installments made after the 2017 movie be released on home video and become available on Paramount+. After all, Hasbro and Paramount have been collaborating since the first live-action Transformers film anyway.
5550239
Actually, all of the Season 9 episodes are available on Hulu. I just checked myself.