Text Review Roundup: "The Ending of the End"

As I've said already, the end of the show certainly doesn't seem to have reduced my workload here any. :D This time, I'm getting TRR updated to nearly the end of the series. As one or two people have pointed out, some reviewers did cover both "The Ending of the End" and "The Last Question" in the same review, but I think they're different enough to split. This means I'll have to make more value judgements than usual, so please do comment below if you think I've misrepresented your views.

Also, many reviewers wrote a lot about the finale, and I'm simply not going to include 500-word summaries, so inevitably I'm having to simplify greatly here. Please do read the full reviews to understand the reviewers' feelings. Anyway, the text-based folks gave it a decidedly mixed reaction. It does feel strange that (along with the oft-cheery MLEEP) it was Present Perfect and me who liked this one more than anybody else did! Even we disliked the Grogar twist, though, which was absolutely not well received.

Cuddlepug – mixed (graded B-; "[The Grogar = Discord] twist doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense [...] and Discord's motivation is, frankly, an insult to the audience [...] this sours what is actually quite a decent episode overall [...] t's big, it's bold and it's certainly exciting.")

Dark Qiviut – mildly positive ("[Making Spike Friendship Ambassador is] Small, but powerful and extraordinarily sweet [but] Discord being Grogar is a poorly-written, overcomplicated twist [...] Ending of the End's okay. I like it, but like A Canterlot Wedding, it could've done much better.")

DrakeyC – somewhat negative ("The Grogar-Discord twist was terrible [and] raises a lot of questions [...] Twilight's shattered self-confidence was totally forced [...] The racism subplot, and by association the Windigos, was stupid and pointless [...] but there were a lot of great things in this episode. The final battle [...] everyone [coming] together as one nation to fight the trio [...] the powered-up designs for Cozy Glow and Chrysalis [but] Overall, Episodes 24 and 25 were a disappoint")

Dramamaster829 – broadly positive ("I could not get over the fact that the whole time Grogar was Discord in disguise [but] Much of the sequences within this first part alone were amazing [and] the final confrontation against Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow [was] probably bigger than the Season 4 finale. [...] If the show had chosen to end with this Two-Parter alone, it would’ve been a satisfying ending.")

JDPrime22 – positive (rated 8.5/10; "What. The. Hell. Discord. [...] I really did enjoy the rest of this first part [...] REALLY enjoyed part two [...] Discord somewhat redeemed himself, and the fight scenes are just SOOOOO GOOOOOD. [...] And better yet, we didn't forgive the villains!")

Louder Yay – generally very positive (rated 4/5; "There were a lot of enjoyable bits in "The Ending of the End" – and I do mean a lot – but they weren't always smoothly connected. [...] I'm still more than a bit annoyed about Grogar not being real [but] I really liked Starlight's battle with Chrysalis [and we later got] the Rainbow of Light! :D [...] I loved the final scene in Donut Joe's [except for] a weak "everypony laughs" ending.")

Mike Cartoon Pony – mixed ("character moments don’t really deliver, so all the audience investment comes from prior episodes. For most viewers, that’ll be enough, these episodes are quite the thriller [...] enjoyable in spurts but really rickety and wobbly when you think about what's going on for even a second [...] You know the Grogar twist has pissed a lot of people off when even DrWolf can’t mount a defence for it.")

MLEEP Reviews – very positive (rated 10/10; "the most epic battle of good versus evil that has ever been while bringing an perfectly fitting end for our legion of villains as well as the dawn of a new era as the Princess Of Friendship herself officially becomes Equestria's new ruler")

Present Perfect – mostly very positive ("I’m mad because Grogar was so cool, and so menacing and so powerful, and I was really looking forward to finding out what his master plan was [but] by the end of part 1, they had topped Twilight’s Kingdom in terms of epicness [and] THEY DID A PINKY AND THE BRAIN REFERENCE. [...] it’s actually a strong conclusion for the School of Friendship [...] It’s not the best episode of the show’s entire run, but it might be top three?")

SuperPinkBrony12 – rather negative ("very clunky in its set up, Part 1 especially suffers from how horribly they wrote Discord [...] Part 2 tried to pick up the pieces and make them fit back in but did so in a very half hearted way, padding out the run time")

The Railfan Brony – negative (rated Bad; "[Grogar being Discord was] hooves down, the stupidest plot twist this show has ever spewed [... The villains] end up being turned into a statue. Thank goodness [...] takes every grand finale cliche, smashes them all up and throws the remains into the hotel swimming pool. It's a completely underwhelming anticlimax")

TheDragonWarlock – negative (rated 4/10; "For wasting so much potential, ramping up a lot of hype without delivering it, and failing to do what should've been the final season's last battle justice, it deserves a low score for what it did. There's nothing I hate more then wasted potential for a good story, and this finale not only squandered potential, it stomped over it and spat on it.")