Season Four Retrospective (Take One)

Season 4 is "different". It has deviated from character interaction to random silly gags and pop culture references, Twilight has gained nothing from being a princess, and, I'm just going to come out and say it, this season sucks.

Even Moron "Daring Don't"

The whole episode makes no sense.

When Twilight had the ring why didn't she teleport far away, why did she only teleport five feet? And she didn't just teleport five feet, she teleported five feet to directly in front of the unguarded exit door. And she didn't just teleport five feet to directly in front of the unguarded exit door, she teleported five feet to directly in front of the unguarded exit door and then DID NOT GO THROUGH IT.

And there was no ceiling in the room with all the rings and FOUR ponies who could fly and none of them were bad guys. Why didn't Fluttershy or Twilight or Dash and her pallet swap fly the rings out of the temple?

And why is it that the one ring everypony keeps tossing around like it's weightless but all the others on the alter weigh a ton each?

And if Daring Do just destroyed the ring at the end once the temple fell apart, why the hell didn't she just destroy it in the very beginning instead of go through all that convoluted nonsense about hiding it in her cottage where everyone would go to look for it first? If she destroyed it at the end why didn't she let it stay in the fire to melt? Nopony else was going to get it, she got it out herself with her whip.

"I had to find a way to get into the fortress."

No, Daring Do, you didn't. You could have destroyed the ring you had and then what's his name could NEVER have completed his plan of unleashing 800 years of heat on that stupid valley nopony else cares about.

What the hell was the point of this whole episode? There were over 9,000(!) super easy solutions to end the story at any moment, making all that crap they went through unnecessary, but they did it anyway because "waiting until the last second to stop the end of the world is that much more exciting!" or something.

Powerless Ponies

Headcanon established: this is EXACTLY what happened in "Daring Don't". They were sucked into a book (with emphasis on the sucked part) and Daring Do is still fictional. Perfect.

Rarity and Pinkie Pie were nice, Spike learnes the same crap for the millionth time (really, how insecure can he be after all these episodes that focus on how important he is?), there were a few funny throwaway jokes, and the rest was just boring.

Flutter Hulk is a huge letdown after all the hype with that contrived bit at the end. It was like a bad parody of "Dragonshy" really, only there she got angry when her friends were beat up, now she didn't give a shit about her friends and a stupid bug was randomly thrown in for no reason other than to save her transformation for the end. All it really does is make her look like a bigger jerk than in "Putting Your Hoof Down".

There really is nothing memorable about this episode at all. It could vanish from reality and it would have no effect ("Daring Don't" vanishing from reality would cause real unicorns to be born and world peace to be established forever as it is still the worst episode ever, now and forever into the future, no matter how many seasons the show gets). The whole episode screams "laziness!"

This is the first time a season has disapointed me. I actually feel bad for disliking so many episodes, like I've become a jaded cynic or something. The first episode introduces what appears to be a major theme - that key box - just like the major theme of the first season was getting to the Grand Galoping Gala, and there were references to it in every other episode, but in this season the key box is just dropped totally for a string of bullshit episodes that are like bad fanfic. I can't help feeling like the writers will do an asspull at the end and solve everything in a super rushed manner like they tend to do, only worse because if they don't mention the keys soon NOTHING they could possibly do could fit into a good single or even double episode finale. It will be doomed to suck.

For the first time since I started watching almost three years ago I am not looking forward to next week's episode.

40/100 for "Power Ponies"

More On Daring Don't

Tommy Oliver (aka BronyCurious) pretty much sums up how I feel about this episode in four minutes.

Daring Don't, Please, Just Don't

Wow. Dave Polski wrote another episode I dislike. It's like some kind of superpower, but a bad one. Will this be the worst episode of season 4? I sure hope so, because I don't think I could dislike an episode more (this is probably even worse than Over a Barrel and Hearth's Warming Eve, previously the only two episodes I consider having never happened). There's so much to dislike I don't know where to start.

First the good stuff: In the new theme Discord is in Fluttershy's cottage. Well, I never noticed that in the previous episodes, so since it was new to me I'm counting it as a plus. This episode needs all the help it can get and I'm feeling generous.

Now the odd stuff. Stuff that I isn't really Dave's fault, I guess, but stuff that really seemed out of place.

● AJ's voice seemed off for pretty much the entire episode. Did Ashleigh Ball have a cold or something?
● Pony typewriters only have three keys yet they somehow are capable of producing a complete language? Is it like Morse Code?
● In the library Twilight is noticeably taller than Rainbow Dash. Perhaps an alicorn growth spurt? In fact, she's noticeably taller throughout the episode. She looks really weird taller, I don't like it.


Her horn is bigger too. Maybe she got a Swedish made horn enlarger.




And now, the bad. First off, there was absolutely no mention of the keys. I fear the writers will shoe horn them in at the end of the season in yet another rush job. Neither were the glowing eyes from the previous episode mentioned. I'm guessing that was just a throwaway gag.

Why the hay did everypony turn into idiots all of a sudden (except Fluttershy)? They stand there watching as Daring Do gets beat up? Twilight doesn't want to help?

"Sounds to me like we're in way way way over our heads."

You beat Discord. Your argument is invalid. N.O.T.H.I.N.G. is over your heads now. Yes, what Twi said is so absurd that it required seven single letter sentences. Why the fudge didn't she just use her alicorn magic? She could have defeated all the bad guys and retrieved the ring by thinking it, but she didn't.

Daring Do is a real pony, and nopony else knew it? Celestia didn't know about it? It wasn't in any of Twilight's books? Seriously? And she doesn't trust anyone with her secrets, yet she... writes... them... all... down in her books? WHY DO NO POLSKI EPISODES MAKE SENSE WITHIN THE CONTINUITY OF THE SHOW!?

I can't. I just can't keep going. This episode just pissed me off so much. I'm not sure what show I just watched, but  it certainly was not MLP.

20/100.

Princess Twilight Sparkle

A Spoileriffic Reivew

Season four began today with probably the best opener yet, but for all its awesomeness I am also filled with sadness. I am concerned that this may be the final season.

The two parter begins with now Princess Twilight practicing, and sucking at, flying lessons for a "big finish" she is going to be performing at the Summer Sun Celebration. To put Bronies' hearts at ease Twi tells her friends she is uncomfortable with flying and with her new title.

The theme song is different. Twi now has wings, the CMC and some others are there posing for a picture by Photo Finish, and Lulu is with Tia when they see the new picture in Canterlot.

Tia tells Twi that this is the first Summer Sun Celebration where she's not sad because it reminded her of when she had to banish her sister cause now they're back together. If this event happens only once a year then that means it is exactly one year since Lulu returned on the very first episode. Talk about one busy year!*

The beginning of part one is really sad and sweet with sad Twi being comforted by her friends. Twi is making a list and checking it thrice, and Pinkie Pie is being Pinkie Pie. There's a cute scene where Twilight bumps her head on the ceiling when she's worried about forgetting something, and another sad sweet moment where Princess Celestia tells her that she's not her student anymore, but is instead her equal. They grow up so fast.

Unfortunately Tia and Lulu disappear (with a rather worrisome shriek from Tia as she's captured), the sun and the moon are in the sky at the same time (not a big deal on Earth, as it happens all the time, but in pony world (Hippotopia - literally "place of horses" - if you will), when the sun and moon are together half the sky is day and the other half is night (which looked really cool how they blended together). The Royal Guard, with no other royalty to guard, come to Princess Twilight for direction, and she promptly directs them to get lost for the rest of the episode (pretty much).

Back in Ponyville, black weeds (that look poorly animated at times) start strangling everything and spiny thunder clouds are trying to shoot Rainbow Dash out of the sky. Rarity and Sweetie Belle are having trouble controlling their magic (and Sweetie Belle's magic is blue, just like her sister's, not green like it was in "One Bad Apple").

Twi gives everypony the Elements of Harmony and they summon Discord (who is singing "Winter Wrap Up" in the shower) who affirms that he is not behind these disasters, asking "would I lie to you?" To which almost everypony replies "yes," and Fluttershy giving a less sure "um, maybe?" Discord is kinda-sorta grateful that his good friend "Shutterfly" is giving him the benefit of the doubt. He points them to Zecora, who is having to flee her home now that the Everfree Forest is overrun by killer weeds. She gives Twilight a magic colour-changing potion, Twi drinks it, and all of a sudden she can see into the past. Part one ends with Twi witnessing Luna transforming into Nightmare Moon.

Part two begins with a very intense battle between Nightmare Moon and Celestia that was very reminiscent of this Lullaby for a Princess video. The similarities are spooky, really. The battle destroys the old castle and seems to injure Celestia at one point (very intense for MLP). Tia gets the Elements of Harmony and goes god mode to banish Nightmare Moon.

Cue more flashbacks. Twi sees when Tia and Lulu first beat Discord. We get to see which three elements each sister wielded. Judging by the colours:

Tia
Magic
Kindness
Generosity

Lulu
Laughter
Honesty (AJ - "Dependability")
Loyalty (RD - "Authenticity")

This is interesting because, after BronyCon when I outlined my own story about Discord and the EoH, I gave Tia and Lulu practically the same list of elements, with the only difference being Tia obviously had laughter, as she's always joking around, and giving Lulu Generosity because somepony had to get it and the other five were taken. I'm not going to change my story in light of the canon list, or any of the other events that happened in these two episodes.

When Tia and Lulu blast discord with the EoH he seems not to know what they are. However, at the same time, he throws "plunder seeds" on the ground in a plot to steal the elements and trap the sisters! Unless, he knew about the Elements but never thought Tia and Lulu would figure out how to use them. It takes a long time for those seeds to sprout because a great and powerful force is keeping them at bay.

The Elements of Harmony, it is revealed, come from a crystalline entity called the Tree of Harmony, located within the Everfree Forest. Just as I predicted in The Window, the EoH started out together as part of a single being of unimaginable power (though, in the story, I never specified what that being was). That it was a tree is very interesting. Just as the battle with Discord represents the Chaoskampf, where the demiurge or creator god brings about the world from the primordial chaos, the idea of a tree of unlimited power, uniting heaven and earth is a very common theme. The world tree, axis mundi, or kalpataru (a wish-fulfilling tree which is identified with the supreme God) appears in cultures all over the world (and is the supreme entity in the universe of pretty much all my stories, at least since 2006).



Unfortunately, the Tree of Harmony's power is almost gone, and the plunder seeds have begun to grow out of control. They have captured the princesses and are close to fulfilling their purpose of killing the Tree. The Mane Six go looking for it. They have to put the EoH back inside the Tree to recharge its power and restore the balance of the universe.

There's a fight, Twi is convinced to leave, but Discord says some sly remarks and Twi goes back to her friends. Twi almost dies, her friends save her (in a most awesome scene), she puts the Elements back in the Tree, the weeds vanish, and Tia and Lulu are saved. The Tree produces a box that cannot be opened without six keys that are going to be the focus of next week's episode.

Book ends! That great big thing Twilight was going to do at the Summer Sun Celebration? She flies up and makes her cutie mark appear in the sky, sonic rainboom style. Why couldn't she just use her magic? Why did she need to fly at all? Still, it is a very cute ending.

Overall, I would rate this two parter 98/100.





*On the other hand, if Apple Family reunions happen "every hundred moons" and there's been two so far, then eight years have passed already and Tia has just had a memory lapse or something.

OR the writers just make stuff up as they go along.

Season 4 Premiere Trailer

Still the same Twi we've come to know all these years, only a little more of her to go around.