Talk:Magical Mystery Cure/@comment-15617-20130216181700

After weeks and weeks and I mean some loooong weeks of polarizing emotions and speculation, the final episode of Season 3 has finally been uploaded onto the internet, and I just finished watching. Those who have known me for the admittingly very short time I've been here, should know that I've tried to maintain a optimistic and fair viewpoint on this: that my meme, if anything else, has been enjoy the ride for what it is....well, the episode is now out, and what did I think of the ride?

Well, it wasn't perfect, but it wasn't bad....It will probably take a little while longer to really gauge a sort of personal rating, but at best, I would say it was above-average.

How did I reach that conclusion? Well, let me explain....

After watching the episode, the two biggest impressions that I realized I took from it, were these: Number 1, it was as straightforward as can be....this, I expected - it was the canon after all...these were game-changing decisions, yet it figured it was going to be treated with a huge simplicity; bigger then I expected. Their weren't a whole lot of questions being asked, the whole thing was kept light-hearted and cheery....it leads to the second impression I got which I actually did not expect.

What was that? We aren't supposed to be thinking about it so deeply...as before, I tried to watch this episode as I would any other, without letting any sort of bias get in the way; that still didn't stop the analysts in the back of my head from asking questions...the whole first half of the episode with the cutie marks was honestly a bit confusing and I think it's because the whole thing was never really developed all that much within the canon -- I personally predicted that the personalities/histories of the characters would remain unchanged, this would not be any sort of time-travel episode....and yet, despite Twilight's words that the ponies memories were uneffected, their behavior (especially Fluttershy's) seemed to be exactly that -- their personalities were the same, they still remembered eachother, but not one of them questioned that their cutie-marks changed overnight...their memories plainly were manipulated despite what Twilight said - you even get this when Rarity asks if this was all a 'bad dream' and the memories swirling in their eyes. Nitpicking? Perhaps....as before, this is typical of the canon -- for all our regimented head-canons, the canon is always very simple, straightforward and undeveloped in alot of ways...it's what enables us to shape things the way we like them within the fanon, and lets the writers easily shape things how they also choose within the canon because concepts and characters were never really developed much in the first place.

In any case, the whole first-half with the cutie-marks...it wasn't bad; I just got the impression, like the whole of the episode, that I would enjoy it much more if I simply didn't question it too deeply -- that said, were their plenty good thing about that first half? Yes....firstly, I like how they played with the EOH in Twilight's possession...that the spell only effected them and not, say, the whole of Equestria. I also like how they included the notorious black (now brown?) book which is apparently Star Swirl's journal...but I'll get to that later. In any case, the whole first-half of the episode...honestly, it wasn't bad - I simply got the big impression that I'd enjoy it, and the whole episode for that matter, if I didn't think too much on it even if the critiques were perfectly fair and not mere nitpicking

And then came...dun-dun-dun, the big moment -- firstly, returning to the black book, I was happy to see it had purpose; they couldn't get it, or any of these changes despite the 11 episodes between the premiere and finale (which, granted, wasn't surprising given that the bulk of every season is simple slice-of-life/adventure which we already knew), the script being done since 2011 and, of course, this being "planned from the very beginning"....but as before, I tried to put that stuff from my mind and, honestly, pretend like I never knew any of this stuff.

And how did I feel about the second half? Well, as before, I like how they incorperated Star Swirl...of all the theories I came up with, I did not think of him...but the rest of the episode and all it's controversy....how did I genuinely feel about it?

Well, just like the first half actually -- The less I think about it, the better.

If I had to sum up one overwhelming thing about this episode, it was this -- They tried to put in too much...this was a common complaint this season; the Trixie and Discord episodes especially...with both of them, I enjoyed those episodes and felt that they hit on the major pegs for 22 min episodes - I could understand why people felt it was rushed, but I genuinely enjoyed those two episodes, the first especially and is probably my favorite episode of this season.

This episode however was the very first time I've ever felt that way - from beginning to end, MA Larson, despite good execution in some areas, simply packed in way too much...the cutie-mark incident already felt like one episode; and tying in something as big as this Alicorn change? This was this episode's biggest failing, by far - this episode just begged to be made into a two (or three XD) parter.

I was a bit confused on how finishing writing magic (so nobody's actually written magic before?), which was actually Star Swirl's and not her own, corralates with being an Alicorn...and the whole change....was way too easy-going - again, I understand the light-hearted tone of the canon, and that they were running out of the 22mins, but the reactions from everypony was just...too easy; Celestia's praise of Twilight at the coronation goes for all the other Elements, and not just Twilight....the whole coronation, topped off with Twilight flying in the end (how did she do that? She's never flown before!) was simply too "this is no big deal" when it's anything but.

I mean, Twilight's a Princess....Princess of what? Friendship? I expected that, but I honestly didn't expect them to not say anything at all.

So I hated it? No, I wouldn't say that...I did enjoy it, and I especially loved the cameos of Twilight's parents, Vinyl Scratch, and Derpy (^_^) in this episode, as well as the Princess' outfits (Twi's, not so much...Cadence was notoriously silent; they couldn't get her VA for a short line?)...The impression I got, once again, is that I would enjoy the whole coronation, and the whole episode, if I just didn't think too hard on it. That said, I was curious if Twilight's crown was her EOH tiara or something else....and was also happy that, after shying away from labelling Celestia's race, they proudly said "Alicorn" like it was no big deal...yes, we've heard that in Magic Duel, but here (Pinkie especially XD) they said it like it was nothing...made me think why it took so long to get there.

Now, the songs....Honestly, when I heard their were Seven...I didn't know what to think -- I imagined the only way they could stick that many songs, were if they were all very short (and memorable enough to make up for that)...and that was exactly the case -- the songs were all indeed very short, and while they weren't exactly bad, some were better then others....subjective I know, but I feel it fits basically with the same impression that I got from this episode -- they tried to make it too epic and stuff too much into a single 22 min episode when it should have been a two-parter -- that would have been perfect. That said, the songs were still enjoyable and, as I expected, "Morning in Ponyville" had a reprisal at the end. Celestia's Ballad...wasn't bad -- I was more surprised and happy about the fact she was singing then the actual song.

And that's it I think....oh sure, their is undoubtedly more I could say, but I think I said everything I needed too. This episode wasn't bad...but it just was too much and too easy-going about too many things...I tried not to let myself be bias by all the controversy going on behind-the-scenes (or anything else for that matter), and honestly, I was not...any critiques I had with the episodes were purely because of the episode itself and not because of so-and-so in the background...but as before, the episode tried too hard...but don't misunderstand -- I did enjoy it....it wasn't, by any means, perfect...but it wasn't terrible; Average? Ehh....I think above-average, at best, would be the highest I could give it at this very moment. The songs were a nice way of pacing the episodes, the execution was good and clever in some areas...but on the flipside, they simply put too much into one episode and glossed too much over like it was no big deal when, genuinely, their are many many questions that deserve answering. With all that said, I'm not surprised to see people's reception to the episode is just as polarizing as the anticipation leading up to it.