>>5035
>I think a lot of what I have as a problem is more of stuff that should've been handled before this ep. I'm still a bit split on Cozy and the whole subversion of friendship, a lot of potential yet apparently they didn't even have a backstory for her, which just seems nuts to me considering how interesting of a concept she represented.
again if you are still split with Cozy, I can post the Feats of Friendship arc just for you and see if that´s what you wanted for her to end with another pony that shares a lot of similarities in the circumstances. I will go further with this in the comic thread if you want but I have downloaded the issues tonight, just in case .

>Is that the episode's fault though?
short answer: nope
slightly longer answer: it isn´t considering that the season was built up with a pretty calm ambient for its own ending. The arc wasn´t as tense nor promised something in the long term for it that could go beyond these villains. In fact, considering that Discord had controlled them for all this season, these three felt more like a challenge rather than an unexpected big deal that adds up more lore or world building.

>it's perhaps something that should have been thought of long before.
yeah. For taking a vastly different direction, we would have needed more showtime to justify it and make assumptions before getting the cherry on top of it. However, for this one the cherry was the actual cake and there weren´t any more lore layers to check out.

>Another factor that is perhaps a stronger line of criticism is the season opener, which feels way too similar to this final.Perhaps even a more desperate situation than what they had faced here as Sombra actually was going around imposing mass mind control while here the populace for the most part still retained their anatomy and actually factored in the end. But is that something that I hold against the episode?
I do hold it and this is the main reason why I cannot consider this finale as perfect even though it is superb at what it delivers in its established formula. This is more of a personal taste here. In the premiere, what bored me was the action while here, the action was really entertaining yet the direction behind it was so....by the book. As if the formula was there written and the writers only had to put the numbers in order to get the intended answer. I understand that lack of experimentation but I cannot avoid my criticism of this part.

>I can hold the fact that Twilight becoming demoralized and going off on her own only to be encouraged by her friends has been done.
>I could muster a partial line of defense involving the fact that this is a very very scary situation and this is the moment that makes the most sense for Twily to be demoralized. Perhaps some writing on this end could be better but I'd say that this should be here and the opener should've been written a bit differently instead.
perhaps it was because it´s her trait and what you would expect from her. But yeah, they had really impossible situations before and overcame them like nothing. Even worse, she fell in desperation far from home (also destroyed), without anyone familiar (at the time) to help her in the movie. But again, it´s that needed momentum that one needs for taking the necessary steps, getting more morale and confidence as soon as you see that you are not alone.