It's a good show.
Shush, I'm talking.
Shoosh.
no.
Firstly, why on earth did they make Twilight an alicorn? I mean, I guess that's cool and all. Now she has the power of magic AND flight. She'll finally be able to get the stupid book off the top shelf herself!
That's all great and good and all, but what about her friends? Is she staying in Ponyville?
And why oh me oh my, WHY did they make her a PRINCESS?
I suppose I should back up. The entire season finale was... ok. Mostly mediocre. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't very good. I had to watch it a second time before I realized that it wasn't a bad episode necessarily.
Just poorly executed.
It begins with Twilight singing. That alone is a problem. Twilight isn't the type of character who just bursts into song about things. She's more the type who rolls their eyes when someone ELSE sings. She never really sang anytime prior to this episode (maybe once or twice, maybe) so when she starts off the episode with a big musical number, it just feels odd and out of character.
Then there's the actual song she's singing. It's all about how wonderful and perfect everything is, and it's just screaming to the audience that everything is NOT all good in the hood. What honestly isn't a bad song is somewhat tainted by the fact that the audience is kept in suspense the entire time, just waiting for everything to come crashing down.
And then it does. It turns out that Rarity has decided to take over Rainbow Dash's job of taming the local weather. Enter the problem: She has Rainbow Dash's cutie mark instead of her own.
"Everything is NOT alright!"
Well said, Twilight. Well said.
So barely even three minutes into the episode, the audience is left to wrap their brains around Twilight singing a happy song full of suspense and then smacked upside the head with the conflict, full speed, and with no warning.
It turns out (eventually, because it takes forever for Twilight to actually explain) that she accidentally activated a spell the previous night, which caused the destinies of each of the Elements of Harmony to swap with each other, of course affecting the ponies tied to those elements.
Confusing? Yes. The audience is left spinning around and around, trying to get a hold on what's going on now.
"It's all good! Wait, no, it's not good anymore, but why? Oh, I see, but wait, how? Oh, ok, I-but wait, huh? When did that even- ohhhh, wait, what?"
Yeah.
So now that the conflict has been established (via song) Twilight goes home for a cry (and another song) and a couple of minutes later she dashes out with a perfect plan to fix everything (by song, of course.)
All of this is starting to feel awfully cramped, isn't it? There's no time to settle into the story elements before things are upturned and changed on us. It's disorienting and hard to enjoy.
Within moments, the crisis has been rectified, and in a sudden and magnificent light show, BAM
Twilight Alicorn Sparkle.
WHAT???
So, along comes Trolestia, who whisks Twilight to some sort of other dimension, shows her clips of previous episodes, and sings about how she's been watching her grow and learn about friendship.
More like SPYING. I'm on to you, Celestia...
And then there's a giant ceremony wherein Twilight is crowned a princess and Celestia and Luna and everyone all bow before the new ruler.
Maybe it's just me, but this episode is so full of finality it just feels too much as though this is it. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, three seasons, thank you, goodbye!
Seriously, though, this feels too much as though it needs to be a SERIES finale, instead of a SEASON finale. It's hard to see how the series is going to go on now.
But that's only half of my complaint. The other half is the fact that the whole thing was crammed and stuffed into a single episode. If it could have spanned two full episodes, it would've been easier to swallow, but as one giant chunk, it's too much to take, and it doesn't taste very good served so quickly.
Like food, you get sick if you watch it too fast.
Except you eat food. But work with me here.
So where does the show stand now? Well, it's very hard to see Twilight staying in Ponyville anymore. It's even harder to imagine her friends leaving everything behind to live in Canterlot with her.
I'm as eager as anyone to see how the rest of the series pans out. I'm certain that I'm overthinking the whole thing and that the show will continue to be brilliant and entertaining, but as it stands, it's difficult to see.
We'll see.
No comments:
Post a Comment