We're going to agree on a lot but my impression was quite a bit more positive, and I'm going to see if I can get you there.
My post MIGHT give people the wrong impression. My criticisms are numerous...but I still had fun with the show. I'm still coming back for the next binge-drop. I'm committed at this point.
And there ARE a lot of fun moments sprinkled throughout this Chapter. A few really heartfelt moments, too. There ARE good moments.
But, I'm not sure if I'd say there's a really solid EPISODE this chapter, other than this final one, maybe. There's a lot of great moments in these episodes...but they're kind of bogged down by sharing time with things that either feel like filler or are kind of routine for a show of this type.
It's just...a good 60% of the good stuff revolves around Misty. 30% is probably Pipp. And everyone else shares the remaining 10% of the good stuff. The love is not being evenly distributed here. The writers clearly have their favorites. And that's fine. But...would this show actually be stronger if they just went ahead and Misty was actually the MAIN focus, instead of the Mane 5?
And it's ALSO competing against a show that feels like has tighter writing (by necessity, but still). And funnier jokes. And a art-style that I personally prefer. And there ARE times when it feels like multiple writers are writing different parts of the same episode or something, with weird little writing inconsistencies here and there.
I'll admit, realizing they either gave up on or never wanted to tie MYM and TYT together was the biggest problem I had with this Chapter. That kind of colored my enjoyment of some of it. It didn't RUIN the show for me, but I'll admit I kind of resent the choice.
And maybe part of the problem is the show's just not giving me a lot to chew on. It's a simple show. And simple shows can be fun! It's just...I feel like the show WANTS to have these dramatic twists and turns and reveals...and they just keep dropping the ball in that area.
...AND I'm still doing it. I'm still being (probably overly) critical of this show. I think this is just a ME thing? I'm just tearing this thing apart like a mechanic, trying to see what went wrong and how to improve it. Because I think there IS a lot of room for improvement...but I think those improvements could still happen. The show's got good bones, I just think it needs a few tweaks to be the best it could be.
I found Opaline more... subdued is clearly not the word for her but something was different.
Hmm...it might be that she's just in this season less? I feel like she..probably got fewer minutes on screen, before this final episode? More of the screen time focused on Misty, which is probably the right call.
Sparky. Sparky Sparky Sparky....He only really mattered again in the finale, and there he was hardly an active participant in things. This was a very welcome swerve.
I'm kind of two minds about this. On the one hand...yeah, I'm kind of glad they aren't focusing on the baby as much, too. The baby didn't really add anything for me, personally. On the other hand...I'd RATHER they do something to make me LIKE Sparky than just not using him as much.
Really, the best thing they can do is probably get him talking ASAP. Then, he can start to become his own proper character, rather than a minor obstacle in someone else's plot. And, to be fair, he does have a BIT of a personality, right now. There are moments when he seems to know more than the Mane 5 and tries to get their attention. And there's the whole Tree subplot...but that's almost happening off-screen, at this point.
I don't know, he very well might be GONE by the end of the season. He might end up going off with the other dragons to train his powers or something. He's probably sticking around, but it seems like Sparky MIGHT have a grander destiny than Spike did in G4.
That's TYT's job, apparently.
No, no. It's one thing if they do the work to keep the two shows connected. Fair enough using one show to focus on comedy and another on bigger moments, if that's how they want to split the focus. That takes effort.
But, if they don't want to go through that work, and they just want to have both shows do whatever they want, without being tied down by whatever the OTHER show did, then they get JUDGED on their OWN merits. TYT doesn't really make sense on it's own, without plot information from MYM. And MYM doesn't really isn't doing enough work fleshing out the Mane 5 as characters with problems.
This is one thing the first batch of episodes did better.
I'll admit, I'm not really considering this season as a whole. It's just been a while since I've seen Chapter 2. I'm kind of considering each Chapter to be more of a less a "season" in my head, even though I probably shouldn't. In the credits, it seems like this batch of episodes was still made in 2022.
As for how the shows managed to fit as well as they did for as long as they did, that may have never been the plan. That may have been just the TYT team trying to make it work because they felt like it.
*SIGH* Yeah, you're right. I know you're right. It just stings.
And, yeah, I'll say I still enjoyed the MYM versions of these episodes. We got some good jokes and moments out of them. I just couldn't stop feeling the whole time that they were copying off TYT's homework a little. Even if that was most likely NEVER the case.
This is a thing, but I don't feel I can complain about it with a clean conscience because I was actually surprised when she escaped that easily. I don't know why I didn't expect it, but the episode got me there.
I'll admit, I thought they were going to leave her in the bubble for a second there too.
"Wait...are they just going to leave her in the castle all alone? How is she going to EAT?!" But, then Misty just stayed there and I started seeing what they were doing.
But, the biggest problem I have isn't Opaline not being captured. I'd be fine with that. It's the WAY they did it that I have a problem with. They had her contained within a bubble. A bubble VERY similar to the one THEY couldn't escape without Stoker just a few minutes before. THAT could have easily been a cage for her. They could have hover-carried her back into town or done SOMETHING. Or used the Magic Lantern to pull off some sort of depowering spell on her. Or she could have just ran away before Sunny could get the chance to bubble her. But...just having her bubbled up all ready to go and just...LEAVE her there without doing ANYTHING and just walking away just feels like lazy writing. I know the writers don't want to be done with her yet, but this just makes the heroes look incompetent.
As for not having a "bigger fish"...I'm going to rant about this again...this was a pretty big fight. And Opaline wanted to kill a baby, that's a pretty big "friendship problem". And we've established that "magic" or "Twilight's spell" or the Unity Crystals DON'T LIKE IT WHEN PONIES FIGHT! Why didn't magic react when Sunny and Opaline were having their ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny? Fine, Opaline's magic probably comes from a different source (..or something, it's not like they explain it) and they showed that Opaline can just cancel out the magic of the Unity Crystals. But SUNNY'S magic should have had SOME sort of reaction, here. Sunny got a powerup from her friends believing her, but...there COULD have been a black hole that pulled Opaline into it like it almost did to Posey in the pilot. Are you telling me that "magic" considers Posey a bigger threat to harmony than Opaline? Plus, then we might have been able to explore what that "black hole" even WAS! Maybe being in the black hole could have given Opaline a powerup (or maybe that could be where the dragons are?) when she eventually popped back out, hours later, when everyone left and assumed she was dead. Wasn't the whole point of the "black hole" to seal away threats to harmony?! But, magic's been so inconsistent on this show, they probably don't have any big plans for explaining any of it. *SIGH* It's hard to argue about magic systems, when the writers don't seem to give them any internal logic!
And they just left Misty there with her! Look, her being a double agent is a VERY interesting plot development...but it's a TERRIBLE thing to do to their friend. She's still stuck with her abusive boss! You don't do that to a friend! At the very least, they should have INSISTED on Misty leaving with them, so she wouldn't have to be around her anymore. It'd be one thing if Misty just started leaving them notes in secret, without them knowing that she wants to reform, as a way to try to redeem herself, but they DO know! They know she's not a bad pony now! They're friends...but they're letting her stay around a incredibly toxic person! It just feels wrong, to me. I'm looking forward to seeing where they go with this double agent plot...but I'm not 100% convinced this makes sense from a character perspective.
It's...just so the plot can happen. And that happens too often on this show. The writers CAN do better than this, I believe in them. They have moments of really nice character work. I'm sure they can make the plot make sense too, if they just thought it through a little more.
