>>4894
>I am onto the topic of the true three main villains. Our expectations were subverted. Was it a good subversion though? That is where I am slightly mixed.
I might have considered that mixed reaction at first, in the sense that it might look like the villains were raised this time by pushing the reset button but I am not all that convinced of it being a low point for the episode. My biggest issue with this episode is this line that you have said that this feels like Hollywood. However, not because of the plot twist but because the plot itself is nothing new and certainly falls into a cliché of famous superhero movies. Like I said with the premiere, I don´t know if my mind has changed but ironically enough, the context behind the action was the most generic part of it. The finale didn´t feel as fresh as other ones even though I appreciate that they had to go through that route for making it epic. Why do I disagree here with you in the villains aspect?

>let's use friendship to destroy Equestria for all it was built up wasn't really brought fully into the picture in the final. It was just the reason they were working together. It was an element that was introduced only to trick us and in The Ending of The End, they just acted like generic evil for the sake of being evil villains for the most part.
ironically enough, you have answered by yourself my reply. Sure you can sense that it was written as generic ones like Hollywood does all the time but here is the catch, they failed because they didn´t put Grogar´s words into practice. Before testing Discord´s magic locked in the bell, Cozy Glow tried to encourage both Chrysalis and Tirek say positive things at each other...and it mostly failed.
The reason why they failed in their plans was because they claimed the power individually as soon as they got it, potentially betraying at each other if Equestria fell into their ownership. This is repeated several times in the finale (Cozy Glow becoming a superpowerful alicorn or almost using the bell just when Chrysalis and Tirek were looking at the prisoners, Chrysalis repeating the word "I" and "my" in scenes like the Windigos´ problem...) and this pays off with two odds for them: Dolores getting out of the cage (releasing everyone else there) and the unexpected Windigos having ridiculous ancient powers that cannot be overlooked.

They failed not only because of their physical defeat but also because they didn´t actually do this together as Grogar told them to do.

>It feels like the Hollywood version of subversion/plot twist: "See we implied it was this the whole time but it's really not!" It feels like their was potential for something more here with this dynamic they set up.
the dynamic is there, just that when the power is so easy to obtain, those who are obsessed with it become even blinder. They were together because of beating Twilight in an attempted coup but the differences outweigh the resemblances when their objective isn´t there. Grogar´s base served as a sample of what they would do without her. Just that their power was the standard one but as soon as they taste it, it´s prone to have more than a simple discussion between them.