Text Review Roundup: "Sparkle's Seven"

Time for another look at how the text-based reviewers saw the most recent episode of Friendship is Magic. In this case, of course, anticipation was high as it was episode 200. As we won't reach E250 before the show runs out of road, this will be the last major numeric milestone the show will reach. Not that that means very much, so let's move on.

This one got a generally very positive reception. The one big exception, The Railfan Brony, was a lone voice among this bunch. (I did see a few other dissenting voices in EqD comments, but they were very much in the minority.) Despite TRB's dislike, "Sparkle's Seven" was overall the most favourably reviewed episode since "What Lies Beneath".

I ended up being down at the lower end of the scale in terms of how much I liked it, despite the fact that I enjoyed it a lot! I said that it only missed a full five-star rating by a small amount, but my few gripes nevertheless made me pickier than a number of reviewers.

Cuddlepug – very positive (graded A-; "surprises and delights in unexpected ways [...] if you're a fan of [...] the friends going on adventures and working together, this is a grand example")

Dark Qiviut – extremely positive (rated A+). NB: no actual review that I could find this time; the grade is from an all-time all-series ranking.

DrakeyC – very positive ("Fantastic episode, perfect way to celebrate 200 episodes and the incredible voice actresses who made it possible.")

JDPrime22 – very positive (rated 10/10; "Oh, boy, did this episode deliver! [...] the ending to the episode is what truly makes it shine.")

Lightening McQueen – very positive ("It was really great! [...] Applejack's fantasy of her alter ego Apple Chord was sweet")

Louder Yay – very positive (rated 4/5; "I was delighted by how [the Spike plotline] was resolved [...] I'm not sure [Pinkie's fantasy] entirely worked [but] pacing of the episode seemed very good [...] excellent dialogue [...] a very solid, very entertaining story and a fitting E200.")

Mike Cartoon Pony – very positive ("easily one of the best post-Season-5 episodes and one of the few that can really stand up with that earlier era of Pony")

MLEEP Reviews – extremely positive (rated 10/10; "an emotional yet funny celebration of everything that has made 'Friendship Is Magic' the cultural phenomenon that it is today")

Present Perfect – very positive ("for an episode that written by committee, this was a lot of fun. Immensely entertaining, with no jokes that fell flat or brought out the cringe.")

The Railfan Brony – extremely negative (rated Terrible; "a boring, slow-paced slog [...] possibly the most stupid way to celebrate 199 200 episodes!")

TheDragonWarlock – wildly positive (rated 10/10; "I can't stress this enough; I love this episode. It's well written, has great character development, good comedy, and it has Spike at his absolute best yet.")