It's taken me far too long to get through S2; in fact, I posted my "Reflections" post about S1 back in February! Admittedly, world events since then have been somewhat distracting, and look like remaining so for some time to come, but I still seem to have taken an age. Anyway, I'm here now, so let's get cracking.
I'd been looking forward to Season 2, and indeed it proved to be a generally entertaining experience. As it happens, my mean star rating of 3.38 was the same as it was for S1. There's list of each episode's rating beyond the cut. Perhaps I was slightly generous to "Ponyville Confidential" and slightly harsh on "Dragon Quest", but that balances out. I think on the whole S2 was about as good as I'd remembered it being.
Come with me past the cut for more waffling!
Okay, it's time now to take a look at the ratings breakdown:
★★★★★
The Return of Harmony, part 1
The Return of Harmony, part 2
Hurricane Fluttershy
A Canterlot Wedding, part 1
A Canterlot Wedding, part 2
★★★★
Lesson Zero
Sisterhooves Social
Read It and Weep
It's About Time
Ponyville Confidential
★★★
Luna Eclipsed
May the Best Pet Win!
Sweet and Elite
Secret of My Excess
Hearth's Warming Eve
Family Appreciation Day
The Last Roundup
The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000
Hearts and Hooves Day
Putting Your Hoof Down
MMMystery on the Friendship Express
★★
The Cutie Pox
The Mysterious Mare Do Well
Baby Cakes
A Friend in Deed
Dragon Quest
★
none
A lot of three-star episodes here, especially in mid-season: of the 13 episodes between E07 and E19 inclusive, no fewer than nine got that rating. What will probably stand out most, though, is that both parts of season premiere and season finale got the maximum five stars. I know the first halves of each aren't that much to everyone's taste, but in both cases I enjoyed myself so hugely I really couldn't find a reason not to score them as maximums.
This was the season of Derpygate, a kerfuffle which seems almost quaint now, and one which didn't really register with me. I don't think there were any other controversies worthy of the name, beyond perhaps Pinkie's poor behaviour in "A Friend in Deed", and even that was drowned out by "Smile". S2 was also where I joined the fandom, with my very first as-it-aired FiM experience being for the finale. I think I watched that on BronyState.
Writer ratings next. I go by the name on the screen, so "Putting Your Hoof Down" is Merriwether Williams (who did the teleplay) and not Charlotte Fullerton, even though the latter wrote the story. Here's the list:
4.00: Cindy Morrow
4.00: Meghan McCarthy
3.86: M. A. Larson
2.50: Amy Keating Rogers
2.50: Charlotte Fullerton
2.50: Merriwether Williams
As with the equivalent list for S1, the small samples make this list of uncertain helpfulness. Meghan McCarthy's triumph (in my eyes, at least) with the S2 finale skews her rating upwards quite a lot from where it would have been had the season ended with E24. Cindy Morrow was probably the writer who provided me with the most consistently enjoyable episodes. AKR had a rather poor season, though she's likely to redeem herself in spades come S4...
There's quite a noticeable change in the atmosphere this season. The explicit equinity of S1 has been considerably toned down, with more human gestures and actions. You do still get things like Twilight's snort in E25 when she thinks she doesn't know who Mi Amore Cadenza is, but they're rarer than they had been in S1. The show also feels just a bit bigger and just a bit more ambitious now, though we'll have to wait for S3 for the first real jump in animation quality noticeable to ordinary fans.
Last time, I said I'd follow my S1 summary with an S2 preview – which I completely forgot to post! So this time, I won't promise one. You might actually get one now! :P
S2 definitely did feel bigger than S1, and S3 as well.
ReplyDeleteThen somehow, Twilight got princessed and the bigness increased even more. It's weird how this show separates itself into tiers like that. <.<
S3 feels different to me already, because it was the first season I followed as it happened. Mind you, at the time there was a chance it would also be the last season! So it's going to be a different experience watching when I know there are six more to come after that.
DeleteSince I joined the fandom during the first quarter of Season Two (the first episode I watched anywhere near its airing time was "May the Best Pet Win"), I've generally considered it a sort of companion piece with Season One. Both collectively make for my favourite stretch of ponydom, both feel like the gold standard against which to compare the rest of the show, and both represent that classic first "era" where the show felt more cohesive and personal (Season Three technically falls under that umbrella, but I have many problems with that one).
ReplyDeleteThat said, I think I'll be nitpicky and say Season Two felt like a very, very, very slight downgrade to Season One. While I fully agree with the high ranking of the premier (which lacks the overall fairy tale weirdness of Season One's and also has a much more unorthodox but effective villain), the finale was a very mixed bag and I can only count it as a success by lopping off the first half of that two-parter.
I tended to have more problems with the execution of certain episodes, too. "Luna Eclipsed" is a great reintroduction of the titular Princess of the Night, with a good fear-based moral and fun character shenanigans, almost all let down by a slight internal inconsistency (wait, so how do we tell when ponies only pretend to fear her and when they genuinely do!?) and a major annoyance in Pinkie Pie's repeated turn as a Get Out Of Jail Free Card-Playing Creator's Pet. I've already talked about Larson's later season efforts, which either felt weirdly insubstantial or way too cynical. And "Lesson Zero" is easily the worst example, reducing a major cast member to an unlikeable self-parodying caricature and then combining low sympathy (her problem is purely self-generated; Celestia at no point prior in the show ever mentioned a deadline, to say nothing of Twilight's blatantly ridiculous fantasies about someone she supposedly respects and knows) with a high amount of immoral behaviour that largely doesn't get the condemnation it warrants.
Anyway, moving on...
More positively, though, I think Season Two has just as much claim to classic episodes as Season One. "The Return of Harmony" should go without saying, but I personally loved the historical episodes we got mid-season, revealing how Equestria and Ponyville were founded. Rarity and Sweetie Belle get a strong early-season presence with "Sisterhooves Social" (one of my favourite SoL episodes ever) and "Sweet and Elite". I also rate "The Cutie Pox", "Baby Cakes", and "Putting Your Hoof Down" reasonably well for putting the spotlight on more relatable aspects of three particular characters. Even episodes with some plot-logic problems or gaps, like "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000", "Read It and Weep", and "MMMystery on the Friendship Express" proved very entertaining in their own ways. And even when the season lags a bit in the second half, "Hurricane Fluttershy" is as clear an example of a knockout episode as one could hope for.
As for individual writers, I actually thought A. K. Rogers had a pretty solid season - barring one particular episode, which even then could've been salvaged before the third act kicked in - as did Charlotte Fullerton, whereas M. A. Larson's record is much spottier outside the season premier, and McCarthy had two outright black marks against her in an otherwise pretty great lineup (Cindy Morrow I pretty much agree earned her top rank, and Williams - though I think she nailed it for one particular episode and showed some fascinating sparks of potential in a couple of others - has some obvious weaker efforts and was merely OK at best).
Overall, I consider Season Two a natural partner to Season One even as it strikes away from the predecessor's stronger tone and cosier feel in favour of pushing boundaries a bit more and dropping the smaller equine details in favour of the "just stick a horse pun in it" approach of later seasons. A lot of good to great episodes, a few middling efforts, two or three outright bad eggs. There have been some knockout episodes since, but to my mind the knockout seasons end with Season Two.
ReplyDelete