Text Review Roundup: "The Last Problem"

And also the last Text Review Roundup – for some considerable while, at least. (I don't do TRRs for the Equestria Girls specials, so "Holidays Unwrapped" won't get one.) Even if I do end up resurrecting this feature for G5, I may tweak it a little – in particular, removing my one/two-word value judgements and letting reviewers' words speak for themselves. (Of course, which words I choose to quote will still be subjective!)

Anyway, how did "The Last Problem" fare? I'll be honest, the first time I skimmed a few reviewers' thoughts, I hit on the negative ones and thought they were representative. I'm therefore having to revise my opinion on that even as I write up this TRR. That said, the praise was certainly not universal, and in a few cases maybe it's hard to separate the reviewer's praise for the episode with their praise for the series. My own mixed view was below the average.

Bubble Blabber – positive (rated 9/10; "Seeing Twilight, Spike, and everyone else as aging adults is strange and instantly makes me feel nostalgic, which is exactly what I want in a final episode [...] the show treated this like how a finale should be treated: not being afraid to finalize arcs, fulfill fans wishes, and put a capstone on characters journeys as they move on and grow older.")

Cuddlepug – very positive (graded A; "wraps everything up in a way that “The Ending of the End” wasn't able to do [...] gives us the answers we wanted and ties everything together neatly [...] Seeing all the characters years on, looking tired but still conversing as good friends, is rewarding")

Dark Qiviut – very positive ("The moral is excellent in concept and better than excellent in execution [...The song is] emotional, hopeful, and beautiful [...] A magnificent cap to a great, successful show!")

DrakeyC – positive ("much better [than eps 24/25] I laughed very frequently [...] I liked the grown-up designs for the cast [...] all the ships are canon and they have kids and I don't care how much pandering it is, I ate it up and want seconds. And the final song was great, great seeing all the cast, and very touching and warm.")

Dramamaster829 – broadly positive ("I did felt my heart-strings tugged seeing the way this episode was written out. Sure we got to see the typical ‘Anything can and will go wrong’ coronation that still works out [and] the introduction of Luster Dawn was random [but] overall the ending with the book closing as a nod to how the show started… That hit me hard.")

JDPrime22 – very positive (rated 10/10; "God, I cried. [...] Pinkie married Cheese Sandwich and had a kid. I cried. Applejack was wearing Granny Smith's scarf. I cried. The ponies we grew up loving and laughing with are finally older and living their lives. I cried. [...] Phenomenal finale.")

Louder Yay – mixed (rated 3/5; "If you consider this thing simply as an episode of an animated children's show, then I don't think it's especially impressive [...] However. However. It's not "simply" any such thing, not to me [...] I'm not at all fond of [all the shipping, but the song] really fitted for me [and] The very end of "The Last Problem" brings us easily the epilogue's best moments.")

Mike Cartoon Pony – very negative ("if you think Spike’s future design is the worst issue, you haven’t seen anything yet [... The flashback stuff is] typical lightweight Season 9 fluff [...] a catchall bucket marked “it’s a fun Epilogue, indulge your reckless side normally kept tampered, FiM staff”. The end result is like stepping forth into somebody else’s migraine [...] I stand by this Epilogue being Canon In Name Only [...] the fanservice moments are not things fans need, even if they think they do")

MLEEP Reviews – very positive (rated 10/10; "an emotional final farewell to the series with our final song of the season as well as the entirety of the series [...] man was it a powerhouse of a final farewell")

Present Perfect – mixed ("That was... okay. [...] The final sequence with the song was fantastic, my friend and I were literally just shouting at the screen the things which we were seeing [...] I hate two of the ships they canonized [...] the last few minutes of The Final Problem were even a fitting and perhaps beautiful finale for MLP:FiM, but overall? As an episode? It was just okay.")

SuperPinkBrony12 – positive ("The Last Problem I'm willing to give it an A+ just on account of how well it wrapped things up, maybe it's not what some of us would've preferred but all things considered I don't think we could've asked for a much better send off than that.")

The Railfan Brony – extremely negative (rated Atrocious; "Literally the first thing I said after watching it was, "that's it?" I'm not even joking [...] I genuinely feel sorry for the voice actors and animators that all of their amazing talent was wasted on this.")

TheDragonWarlock – positive (rated 9/10; "falls a little short of being perfect. It comes damn close to it though [...] It's got a great story, the characters are all well written, its has a fantastic song, and a moral that everyone can relate to and learn [...] sends the show off on a very high note.")