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| "Starlight, how do you do that with your leg? Doesn't it hurt?" |
7 Oct 2016 (Tiny Pop; 22 Oct on Discovery Family)
My original rating: ★★★★ (for both parts)
IMDb score: 8.3
Thoughts: As with part one, I expect some people to feel I'm being absurdly generous to this episode. So, let's start with my least favourite part, ie the changeling reformation. It was too quick and easy, and the new changeling designs aren't appealing. I'd have much rather kept the "black but with shimmery wings" design. The rest, though? Way more fun. Trixie's sniping with Discord is fantastic throughout. Starlight grows as a leader and is a more appealing character for it. Chrysalis reminds us all why she's Best Villain – she's clever, she's scary, and as we now know, she will never reform. Thorax's impersonations are crucial to the success of the mission. Discord overcomes his hardest test: the Room of Crying Fluttershys. The hive animation is interesting. All in all? This is not only a four, it's a high four. One of my favourite season finales.
Choice quote: Trixie: "It is absolutely ridiculous that that worked."
New rating: ★★★★
And at last that's the end of Season Six! As usual, I'll do a brief retrospective next time, and then it will be on to the reasonably fondly remembered first part of S7.
And so, season six comes to its conclusion. I'm commenting for both parts because I feel it's easier to post about it all at once rather than leaving a comment per half.
ReplyDeleteSo, To Where and Back Again. I remember not liking this finale at all when it initially aired, but looking back, that was unfair of me. I suppose I needed time away from it so I could properly re-assess it, and when I re-watched it back in 2019, I was honestly surprised with how much I liked it the second time around.
With the first half, while it's (understandably) slower compared to the second, it does its job at setting up the battle with Chrysalis. Why were the Mane Six, Equestrian royalty and Spike all kidnapped? This is a question that I believe is best left unanswered in-universe since it allows open discussion. Plus, it adds to the tension as to what Chrysalis might be planning.
I also like that it ends with Chrysalis rejecting redemption; it felt surprising considering how often the show would believe in redemption at all costs, but pretty refreshing too. While it didn't lead to anything great, it left you wondering what she could be up to next.
Ranking all of the season finales together (including the three you've yet to revisit), I put To Where and Back Again in the middle of that list. Less an indicator of its quality and more that I prefer other finales to it. Similarly, it makes my Top 10 for Season 6, but only just. Again, there are better episodes in that season, but at the same time, there are far worse.
Interesting that you've mellowed significantly on this episode since 2016. I wonder whether the fact that we now know Chrysalis's lack of reformation did carry through the rest of the show and wasn't just cancelled out in the very next episode might have a bearing there?
DeleteYou being absurdly generous with episodes is pretty standard, though. :P One of your more charming points if I'm being honest!
ReplyDeleteYou wait until I get to "Non-Compete Clause"... ;)
DeleteSo much digital ink has been written on the awfulness of the changeling reformation that I won't belabour the point, except to note this is the first time that DHX's execution actually made something worse, in the new "vomit up a bag of skittles" changelings. Okay, there was Twilight's Castle, but the issue there came from Hasbro changing their minds on revitalising the Castle of the Two Sisters and DHX having to work with what Hasbro's toy division gave them. So not fully their fault. Whereas changeling toys were never going to be more then a side action series like the short-lived Guardians of Harmony set. So, eh… sorry DHX. Unless proof is dug up that Hasbro forced your hand, you done goofed.
ReplyDeleteIgnoring that and the ridiculously rushed and lore-breaking last third of the episode, this was… honestly not bad. Hell, those first two-thirds are borderline halfway-decent.
Now, being frank, "the quartet infiltrate the changeling hive with no available magic, and get most of the way before they start to get picked off until the last two get caught at the goal" is not only just surface-level plot stuff bereft of depth due to this show's demographic, it doesn't sound like 13 minutes' worth, does it? Probably why I remembered the first two-thirds being a lethargic slog. And while it is still undeniably overlong, helped not at all by how easy most of the trek is and repeating the same types of dialogue/jokes, it's not painfully slow.
Vogel and Haber's approach does render much of this rather frivolous, but outside of the few thankfully-rare moments about to Starlight's arc, there's nothing here that irritates. And plenty of it does amuse, especially the chemistry between Discord and Trixie; still could have done with some dialogue polish for variety, but it wards off going stale much better than any other fallback the writers have. I'm actually a little disappointed the two basically never interacted again after this episode. Despite Thorax being a bland nasally-voiced guy and Starlight being… well, Starlight (the good news; by next Season, it's super-easy to consider her independent of her Season Five incarnation, and thus, she's actually an okay character), they do fine. Obviously a tense mission like this in the changeling hive should be better then fine… but, look, it's Season Six, man, what can you do? Honestly, this is still a better episode then any of the forthcomings two-parters (well… maybe "Shadow Play", we'll see).
Outside of the ending, the biggest issue here isn't even this episode. This quartet would be far better a guide had they interacted at all outside of Starlight/Trixie before these episodes and had we gotten proper organic reasoning for everyone else being captured (ditto for the magic-proof throne). Chrysalis is very intimidating and deliciously hammy (if a little neutered with her repetitive dialogue from Haber and Vogel), but her and her plot/the changelings would have fared much better set up properly over the season. And of course, if Starlight's arc all season hadn't been a botch, her moments here would have had actual resonation. This episode does the payoff to all these aspects right – they just land limply because of earlier episodes' mistakes.
But oh well. Fine episode outside of the ending, and weak one with it. Should have been far better, but this improved over my memories more than marginally on this rewatch.
Oh, new changelings excepted, great visuals from DHX too.
By the way, one of this episode's storyboard artists posted a slug animatic of this episode to his website. (https://videopress.com/v/4K4mtDiH). It's from a stage without music or most sound effects, and is 4 minutes longer before most cuts were made. A good watch, if you're curious.
and then it will be on to the reasonably fondly remembered first part of S7
Is the first chunk of Season Seven fondly remembered? I never got that impression looking around, and not just at those like myself rather cool on the later seasons. Referring to just yourself here?
I think we're too far apart on the episode itself to make much comment on the bulk of your post very useful. Suffice to say I'm much closer to that IMDb 8.3 than I am to you, and I would very happily watch the finale again next week for fun. But there was one thing I did want to reply to...
DeleteIs the first chunk of Season Seven fondly remembered?
Slightly sloppy wording from me, but I really meant the first half of S7, in which case yes it is. Significantly more so than the second half of the season. Off the top of my head, I'm looking forward to: "All Bottled Up", "Rock Solid Friendship", Parental Glideance", "A Royal Problem", "Discordant Harmony" and "A Perfect Pear". All in the first 13 eps.
Slightly sloppy wording from me, but I really meant the first half of S7, in which case yes it is.
DeleteOkay, that makes a little more sense, especially with the fandom favourites "A Royal Problem" and "The Perfect Pear". As is probably evident, first part came across as a more vague term which I read as roughly the first quarter, meaning only up to "Parental Gildance". And it was the only one in there that struck me as fondly remembered – neither "All Bottled Up" nor "Rock Solid Friendship" felt that way, though if you are talking just about your opinion as opposed to a consensus (your reply didn't really clarify that one way or the other), that's fair.
Me, I'd have to crunch the numbers on each episode, but the first half could well be better, given like five episodes in the back half are associated with the Pillars, and outside of "A Health of Information", the result for them are… messy, being polite. Then again, the back half has both "Once Upon a Zeppelin" and "Marks and Recreation", and the first half has "Fame and Misfortune" so… yeah, I'm gonna half to wait until we get to the season's end to see what I think there.
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Also, Logan: if you don't find anything to reply to in my comments, you don't need to feel the obligation to reply to tell me "read it, nothing to say". It's your blog, I know you'll see it either way. Don't need no validation here, I'm a big ghost. Just not physically. :D
That said, I will confess, I really don't understand why that is the case for the above. After the "Every Little Thing She Does" fiasco, it was clear that pure negativity just doesn't feel like something you can engage with. And, you know, I get that, I do. And off that prior one, I've already decided I will almost certainly sit out the comments for "A Royal Problem" and "Fame and Misfortune". Said my place on them before anyway.
Thus, I stayed far away from this episode's done-to-death failings, and focused on the mixed areas. I accentuated the positive or things that had the potential to be positive with only minor tweaks. The visuals outside of the changelings' new designs, Trixie & Discord's banter, the tension, it being not nearly as draggy as I remembered, and much more. And while our takes are still quite a ways apart, that's no barrier to discussion. If it were, I certainly wouldn't comment on this to begin with! Polite discussion doesn't need agreement, and I wouldn't want my takes to change anyone's mind if they didn't honestly feel that way anyway.
Basically, I wrote the whole comment to be honest about my take while being open, gentle and with plenty of positivity. It was tailor-made for you to find something in there to respond to, because I know you don't enjoy having to say "sorry Mike, can't really respond to that". So, eh… you'll understand why I'm confused that didn't work. Make no mistake, I 120% (Dash tongue emoji :D) accept that if you don't see anything in a comment to engage with, you don't see anything. I just don't understand why, off all the effort I made above. Because you've engaged with comments where you don't agree with what their saying all the time, both mine and others. And not just to say "to each his own" either, but proper bouncing off their points.
tl;dr – This ghost is a mite confused.
[And even if that ideal scenario, I don't expect long responses like mine. I'm talking about your quick, sincere, genuine replies here. They're warm and lovely, and what I come here for. :)]
I've nothing whatsoever against your comment on this. I do tend to be more positive about the late show than you and many others (Present Perfect's comment fits with this) but that's fine. In any case, sometimes people mellow towards an ep they previously strongly disliked, as Zack did with this one.
DeleteI just don't understand why...
Just one of those things, I guess. Didn't click, just as sometimes a fic that's objectively pretty good doesn't click. I expect S7 will bring other examples, but hopefully also some where it does click. :)
One minor point from earlier:
the first half has "Fame and Misfortune"
Actually, no: that's episode 14. So knowing how much you dislike it, losing it ought to nudge your overall opinion of the first half up a little. :)