My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic: Episodes 301-302 - The Crystal Empire

 

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Winter is coming to Ponyville.  The season three opener finds Twilight forced to take the black and head to the wall, but fortunately (or perhaps unfortu­nately) the Game Of Thrones references end there.  Instead of wildlings, the legendary and certainly not hastily retconned Crystal Em­pire has reappeared, more or less intact after it disappeared a thousand years ago (according to the flashback, apparently before Celestia sent Luna to the moooooooon!).  These Brigadoon ponies are suffering from…amnesia after the past millennium passed overnight to them, and restoring their spirit so that they might protect Equestria from the evil King Sombra (even though nobody had heard of any of these characters before (including Twilight, who says as much)) is really important seriously.  Since pretty much no one else was critical of the season two finale also penned by Me­gan McCarthy, it’s unsurprising that she learned nothing from the over­rated and mediocre two-parter.  Most of the problems in that episode are present here as well, which includes a number of “that was easy” plot mo­ments, unnecessary below-average Broadway songs, slightly suspect characteri­zation, and Shining Armor referring to his sister as “Twilie” no less than three times.  Despite these issues, I ac­tually enjoyed this two-parter better than the last one, if only because the story felt more suited for the time allotted.  There are still a lot of problems with the episode, especially from a logical standpoint, and this is definitely the least of the first four season-openers.  Fortunately, the focus is on the mane six instead of the unwanted previously retconned couple (who were thankfully otherwise occupied for most of the show), which helps the overall spirit.
 

My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic: Episode 123 - The Cutie Mark Chronicles

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Sonic Rainboom slyly mentions Rainbow Dash accomplishing one when she was a filly, but it neglects to go into de­tails.  Seven episodes later, we finally get to see how it happened.  The Cutie Mark Chronicles’ placement near the end of the season is a smart one, as it ties up a number of threads.  Our least favorite characters give up trying to kill themselves for the moment and decide just to ask the mane six how they got their cutie marks.  The stories they hear suggest the marks only appear as a result of exposure to radiation or a near-death experience.  No wonder an exasperated Scootaloo takes little from these bizarrely unhelpful stories, likely concluding cutie marks aren’t really worth all that the mane six had to go through to get them.  Free-falling onto a swarm of butterflies from 30,000 feet is debatably preferable to a trip to the tattoo parlor down the street, though.  Of course, it’s more likely the latter is exactly what the mane six did, and they just embellished a bit for the children’s sake.  Nevertheless, the stories in The Cutie Mark Chronicles are compelling no matter if they're actually canon or not, and that makes the episode one of the best in the first season.

My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic: Episode 403 - Castle Mane-ia

 

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There are so many ways Castle Mane-ia could have gone wrong, and in previous seasons it probably would have.  Yes, the episode is technically harmless fluff filler that could have been a good Halloween offering, but this new season is finally seeing My Little Pony approach the feel of a good series.  Even though the plot is unlikely and requires a bit of a stretch to happen, all of it unwinds very naturally.  For the first time, our pony friends just seem to be living their lives in a normal fashion as opposed to being slaves to whatever the plot of the week is.  Having introduced an arc in the season opener greatly enhances this, even if those events weren’t really necessary for this episode to happen.  Castle Mane-ia is designed like older scary movies or thrillers, and several came to mind while watching (Scooby Doo was the main inspiration, although I also thought of Abbott & Costello, Don Knotts movies, and Murder By Death).  These consist of the characters being confined and wandering around some sort of scary mansion, and are often accompanied by unexplained disappearances and an unknown person lurking in the shadows.  That might mean Castle Mane-ia is a genre exercise, but the style of the fourth season makes it so much more enjoyable.

My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic: Episode 126 - The Best Night Ever

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Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you when you think everything’s okay and everything’s going right.

Alternately, I could quote the John Lennon aphorism that life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.  Both would describe the action of The Best Night Ever, which is a decidedly unsatisfying conclusion to the first season.  However, for once this is actually by design.  Le Grand Gala Équestre was first introduced in Ticket Master and hinted at throughout the rest of the season, but it’s taken until the final episode for us to actually see the event.  Since the introduction was so long ago, a lot of the first act recaps the reasons the mane six badly wanted to go to this dance via a large production number that is actually quite appropriate.  Everything goes smoothly for about the first half or so, but a failed Pinkie Pie song marks the beginning of things turning for the worse.  The mane six’s plans all start going awry no matter how much they try to fight it.  Although this disheartening illumination of Murphy’s Law prevents The Best Night Ever from ranking among the season’s best episodes, it’s also the point at the same time.  In a season besotted by silly cartoon flourishes, this episode is a surprisingly realistic interpretation of an event everyone has been waiting for.