Episode review: S8E17: "The End in Friend"

Gems have got a lot easier to find since S1!

My real-life concerns (to put it as vaguely as possible) continue and won't end for a while, so this is going to be a very short episode review. However, I prefer to do things this way than to wait until I'm back on an even keel – partly because I currently don't know when that will be. Anyway, "The End in Friend" was a G. M. (Gillian) Berrow episode, her first since the amusing "Grannies Gone Wild" 12 episodes ago. Past the break we go!

This was not one of my favourite Berrow episodes. It shared the same central problem as "Non-Compete Clause" – a clunkily manufactured conflict – though it wasn't quite as bad this time. I could accept Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle's argument in "Surf and/or Turf" as those two are basically young teenagers, but for Rainbow and Rarity to do it was a real shame and made much of the rest of the episode seem false.

I did quite like the adventuring they did, and it was a pleasant novelty to see Dash and Rares together, as they have all too rarely been. I was also amused by Twilight's increasingly desperate attempts to get in the way use RD and Rarity's friendship as a School lesson. I didn't much like the Bufogren, though. That giant frog just seemed silly. Let's have some Greek (or at least pseudo-Greek) mythical beasts back!

"I'm really not sure I want to be seen in Logan's low-class blog, either"

It was also a bit ridiculous that neither pony recognised the very obvious School of Friendship logo on the door at the end. (A "Speak Friend and enter" reference would have been perfect here.) Overall, then, a somewhat lacklustre episode that rather wasted its rare pairing and never felt truly convincing. Some flashes of fun along the way, but not one I'll be rewatching too often.

Best quote: Rarity: "We may have been friends for a super-long time, but you don't know everything about me yet" (simply because it intrigued me more than most of the episode!)

Yays

• Rarity and Rainbow Dash together for a change
• Twilight's lesson attempts raised a smile
• Starlight and the Student Six were fine in minor roles

Neighs

• Another annoyingly contrived conflict
• Mostly unmemorable dialogue
• Not a fan of the Bufogren

★★