Season 3 has left us almost as quickly as it appeared, and once again we are facing many, many months. But even with comics and that...spinoff thing in the future, this season still waits to be utterly dissected by the scalpel of overthinking. So let's start picking this thing apart and see what makes it tick.
And like before, remember that these are all my personal opinions. You may agree or disagree, and feel free to express your own thoughts in the comments, but keep things civil.
SEASON OVERVIEW:
The season opens with news of a new land suddenly coming into existence to the north of Equestria: the Crysal Empire. This in turn sets up one of the running themes of the season, as the story is quickly tied into the events of the previous seasons. Twilight is still panicking about Celestia telling her to take a test, Cadance and Shining Armor are still around, and Princess Luna has returned to voice her own concerns about Celestia's plan and to offer to enter the conflict directly. We are also introduced to the Crystal Ponies, a race of crystalline equines who were enslaved by the evil King Sombra before vanishing for a thousand years after his defeat and reduction to smoke.
The Mane 6 and Spike head up north to meet up with the advance party, but things quickly go wrong. Shining Armor is attacked by Sombra on the way back, and his horn is corrupted so that he can't use his magic. Cadance has been using her own power to repel Sombra's corruption, but has been awake for days with almost no food or rest and is losing her strength rapidly. The Crystal Ponies have had their memories erased save for Sombra's rule, and are so depressed that they can't muster the strength to even shine. Their library research uncovers a Crystal Fair that was used to rally the land before in times of crisis, including a Crystal Heart as its centerpiece. The Fair works at first, but then Twilight discovers that the Crystal Heart was actually an artifact powered by the love and hope of the Crystal Ponies, and without it, there's no chance of stopping Sombra.
With Cadance about to lose power, Sombra starting to break through, and the other ponies unaware of just how doomed they are, Twilight takes Spike to find the Crystal Heart and save the land by herself, thus completing Celestia's test. Her friends hold the fort as best they can, keeping ponies away from the fake Crystal Heart Twilight made while providing as much entertainment as possible. Twilight's search reveals a secret passage in Sombra's throne room, which leads to a deep pit with a door to one's worst fear; in this case, Twilight's fear of Celestia abandoning her. Spike saves her from this danger, however, and they are both able to break free of its enchantment and reach another endless staircase to a tall tower, at the top of which lies the Crystal Heart.
However, Cadance's magic has failed, Sombra has broken through, the fake heart has been revealed, and everything seems doomed. Even worse, Sombra had installed a trap around the Crystal Heart; the minute Twilight grabs it, she is encased in a cage of black crystal, the Heart flying away to land at Spike's side. With no way to teleport out or escape in time, she surrenders herself to the inevitable and throws the test, telling Spike to rush down there and give Cadance the Heart while he still can. Spike does so, with Cadance grabbing him in midair after being tossed by Shining Armor and revealing herself to be the Crystal Princess. The Heart is activated once again, restoring the land and destroying Sombra utterly.
Twilight returns to Canterlot, disgraced at her failure, but contrary to her fears, Celestia tells her that she had indeed passed a far greater test than saving an empire. She delegated duties and refused to risk losing the day simply to preserve her own glory, and thus, she has passed the test with flying colors. The triumphant group returns to the train to Ponyville, while Celestia and Luna bring out an old book...
The rest of the season is then devoted to the ponies going about their daily lives, with Twilight practicing more difficult spells than ever and learning to think outside the box to stop a brainwashed Trixie, Rainbow Dash realizing just how much she's grown, Pinkie Pie being contrasted with one-dimensional clones of herself, Fluttershy outplaying a God of Chaos and reforming him, Applejack holding her family reunion and dealing with an overly-enthusiastic Spike, and Rarity being herself. Along the way, they successfully get the Equestria Games Committee to appoint the Crystal Empire as the hosts. And finally, at the very end, Twilight receives the mysterious book, which turns out to be Starswirl the Bearded's last journal, and is tasked with finishing the unfinished spell at the end...which Twilight casts without thinking, disjointing reality and switching about her friends' destinies.
Her friends are miserable in her new roles, but because their memories have been altered, they can't think of anything but doing what their Cutie Marks tell them to do. Twilight is unable to think of a way out until Spike tries to give her a pep talk, giving her the inspiration she needs. She tracks each of her friends down and reintroduces them to what they've always loved. Before long, all the ponies are restored, Ponyville is saved, and Twilight has finished the spell...just in time to be vaporized by the Elements of Harmony. In reality, though, she was transported to a celestial plane where Princess Celestia congratulates her on proving herself worthy for the next step in her journey.
Twilight floats down from the sky, now an Alicorn and a Princess of Equestria. She is a student no longer, but rather, Celestia's equal. Still, Twilight stands by her friends, and even in her new role, she knows that everything is going to be fine...
THEMES:
Growing Up: Where Seasons One and Two kind of meandered about regarding characters achieving their hopes and dreams, Season Three advances several of these fronts. Twilight's development is the most pronounced, as she learns about delegating responsibilities and managing the team in “The Crystal Empire,” looks outside the box to stop Trixie in “Magic Duel,” and finally learns to control her neurosis in “Games Ponies Play.” Rainbow Dash becomes much closer to joining the Wonderbolts in “Wonderbolt Academy,” which also shows how much she's grown since the series began. Scootaloo became much closer to Rainbow Dash in “Sleepless in Ponyville,” and as a consequence has gained a new pillar of strength. And on a more metaphysical level, the ponies are writing far fewer letters to Celestia, with only two being sent this season. The ponies are starting to grow beyond the need for a central mother figure to guide them through lessons about making and keeping friends, and instead are becoming model citizens in their own rights.
Redemption: Two long-standing antagonist characters, Trixie and Discord, are redeemed through the season, but in different ways. Trixie was obsessed with overcoming Twilight and redeeming herself in the eyes of the public after the shameful events in “Boast Busters” ruined her reputation, but in the process has her body and mind hijacked by a corrupting artifact until she's little more than a petty, insane tyrant. After being bested once again and having the artifact removed, she becomes far more apologetic and resolves to become more humble and apologetic. Discord, meanwhile, attempted to con Fluttershy into thinking he had reformed so that she would refuse to use her Element on him, thus riding him of anything that could impede his return to dominance. What he had not counted on, however, was Fluttershy's kindness actually getting through to him, making him feel something for the first time and bringing his chaos to an end. He resolves to use his powers for good (most of the time), but is still rejected by the community save for Fluttershy. In both cases, however, the underlying characters are not altered; they learn their lessons and resolve to become better, but are still identifiable as themselves. The only villain not to be redeemed was Sombra, but it's arguable whether he could even be considered alive by the time the Crystal Heart destroyed him. His intelligence had certainly waned over the centuries, reducing him to little more than a single-minded monster seeking to regain what once was his.
STRENGTHS:
Continuity: While continuity was present in Season Two, Season Three is where it truly reached its strongest. Many episodes retain links to previous events, from simple background scenes to entire storylines. The Great and Powerful Trixie returns for revenge, Rainbow Dash tries out for the Wonderbolts, Scootaloo grows closer to Rainbow Dash, and even the pets return. But “Magical Mystery Cure” takes things even farther, attempting to tie almost all of the series into its pivotal moment and showing just how far Twilight has come from the socially awkward bookworm who didn't want friends.
Return of the Group Dynamic: While not as strong as it was in the first season, Season Three reintroduced the idea of nearly all of the ponies at least making an appearance in all episodes. While not all of them got speaking roles all the time, it still showed how the ponies would react to the various situations around them and helped give things more of a community vibe. When you see the Mane 6 standing and watching the parade in “One Bad Apple,” you don't have to have them say mandatory lines; you know who they are, and their non-verbal responses are spot-on for the situation going on around them. Likewise, “Wonderbolt Academy” tried to show us how the others were worried about Dash and what was going on in Ponyville while she was out of the episode, where in Season Two they would never appear once and everything would be entirely about Dash and Dust.
Utilized Underused Characters: This is a bit more of a toss-up, as these episodes tend not to be all that popular. Still, the season addressed the lowered profiles of Applejack and Spike from previous seasons and attempted to give them more to do. They both receive one episode to themselves, and then shared the starring role in a third. The season also addressed the fate of Applejack's parents in about the only way they could get away with, with Word of God officially marking them as passed on.
Willingness to Experiment: This season showed some attempts to toy and play with the confines of the series and the limitations placed on the production team by Hasbro. “Just for Sidekicks” and “Games Ponies Play” ran synchronous to each other, and have already been masterfully edited into a single episode with little to no obvious changes. “Magical Mystery Cure” was a full-on musical, which helped to patch along the story at a breakneck speed. McCarthy has already promised more along these lines in the future, which, if executed properly, can help maintain the series' freshness and open up new possibilities.
WEAKNESSES:
Weak Opener and Contentious Ender: “The Crystal Empire” is so far the most poorly-received season opener, and will likely remain that way for some time. Sombra was a fine idea executed poorly, the story ultimately focused on Twilight to the detriment of the group, and much of the foreshadowing was never acted on until the finale. And speaking of that, everyone has an opinion on Alicorn Twilight. Was it a horrendous decision that'll destroy the show, or will it lead to new episodes and concepts? How much control does Hasbro have? Just whether or not the episode was a good one is a matter of personal preference, and merely speaking of it can ignite flame wars dwarfed only by the likes of the Sopranos finale and Joel vs. Mike.
Poor Showing of Rarity: Rarity didn't get an episode this season, and indeed was barely used at all. Not helping matters was the fact that she was more or less ignored in the second season after “Sweet and Elite,” and that her roles this season were mostly played for comedy. According to the Writer's Panel at Unicon 2013, Rarity wasgoing to be the focal point of Spike's unwelcome assistance in “Spike at Your Service,” but the idea was ultimately rejected because it painted her in too negative a light and, by the time it was finished, she was reduced back to comedy sidekick status.
Overambitious Scripts: This is a bit of a gray area, but many of the scripts this season aimed for the stars, almost made it, but then got slammed by a passing UFO. “The Crystal Empire,” “Magic Duel,” “Keep Calm and Flutter On,” and “Magical Mystery Cure” all fell victim to the show's time limits, with rushed conclusions that rendered the episodes unenjoyable as a whole in the eyes of many. “Wonderbolt Academy” had a very different ending that actually explained what happened at the end of the Academy itself, but it was cut for time, which was perhaps the fate of these other episodes.
Thirteen Episodes: Beyond all else, this is what crippled the season. With only half the number of possible episodes, every mistake hurt twice as much. An episode like “Spike at Your Service” might have been laughed off in Season Two, but with fewer episodes to deaden the blow it had a much more significant impact. Likewise, several poor episodes in a row could kill the series in the eyes of fans, as their flaws become magnified.
GREAT EPISODES:
Because of Season 3's short episode number, it's only appropriate that we shorten the number of episodes on both lists. Thus, we will only be counting down the top and bottom three episodes. Everything else is just about the middle.
1. Too Many Pinkie Pies (Episode 3): Out of all of Dave Polsky's many contributions this season, this was the best one of the entire series. “Too Many Pinkie Pies” is practically a counterpoint to the Pinkie Pie of Season Two. While her manic energy is still present, as is her horrifying fear of losing her friends, she is examined and expanded upon in a meaningful way. Pinkie is more than just a fun-loving sociopath, as many fanfics and Season Two depicted her as; she cares deeply about all her friends and wants them to be a part of her fun, not the butt of it. The Pinkie Clones, on the other hand, are utterly flat and straightforward, showing what many of us thinkPinkie is like. While this episode had some headscratching moments, the good far outweighs the bad for me.
2. Sleepless in Ponyville (Episode 6): The season's contribution to many “Best Of” lists, “Sleepless in Ponyville” is the first time Scootaloo gets a chance at bat, and finally cements Scootaloo's relationship with Rainbow Dash. The episode makes very efficient use of its time, going over Scootaloo's fears and descent into sleep deprivation at a perfect pace, while her relationship with Dash is presented less as the negative thing Faust wanted, but rather as a chance to show Dash's less brash and more loving side. Luna is also used rather well here, giving her a domain well outside of Celestia's influence while also letting her perform much of the same function in her own way. All in all, a fantastic example of character advancement and a wonderful story.
3. Wonderbolt Academy (Episode 7): Coming right off the heels of the other episode is Dash's first steps towards becoming an actual Wonderbolt. Much like “Too Many Pinkie Pies,” this episode serves to contrast Rainbow with a less-savory counterpart, only instead of clones, they created an entirely new character. Lightning Dust is Dash without her sense of loyalty, a skilled but utterly ruthless pony who simply does not care who gets hurt in the middle of her stunts. And while the animation is stellar and the flight scenes very, very well done, it's the writing (by Merriweather Williams, no less) that really propels this episode. Even the annoying scenes with Pinkie aren't quite that bad a second time through, as they help to show what's going on with the rest of the ponies while Dash is partnered with her darker half. All in all, a very good episode.
Runner Up: Magic Duel (It was a close match between this and Magical Mystery Cure, but this episode was a bit more enjoyable on rewatching. That, and you'd probably all kick my ass if I picked MMC.)
NOT-SO-GOOD EPISODES
With the good comes the bad, so let's take a look...
1. Spike at Your Service (Episode 9): This is the only episode this entire season that I hated. I absolutely loathe this travesty. Not just because it's bad, but because it'slazy. Nothing in “Spike at Your Service” is the least bit entertaining, engaging, or creative. Spike is written as an incompetent moron, despite the fact that he's been shown to do the same damn things every episode up to this point and be GOOD AT THEM. Applejack is utterly useless throughout this thing, serving only to justify recycling one of the most boring plots in the world because the writers couldn't think of a damn thing better to do. The CG Timberwolves look awful, and the way the giant one is defeated is just...dumb and anticlimactic. I hate this episode with every fiber of my being, and the only thing I will give in its favor is that “Over a Barrel” and “Mysterious Mare-Do-Well” are still worse than it.
2. Keep Calm and Flutter On (Episode 10): The Discord episode...hoo boy. Back when I reviewed this, I said that I didn't know what to make of it. Now I do, and it's...mostly meh. Discord's antics aren't that amusing a second time around; most of what made him work was that he was so out of left field that he threw everyone's expectations off. But Fluttershy is excellent this episode, a few of Discord's jokes are amusing, and I kind of liked his master plan. But then the episode shoots itself in the foot with the ending, which simply does not work with how quickly it happens. I get the idea, and can respect the intentions, but it requires us to disregard everything Discord did in “Return of Harmony,” and that just cannot be done. So sorry, but this one makes the list.
3. Games Ponies Play (Episode 12): This one is weird, because I actually do like quite a bit of the episode. The humor is very good, as expected from a Polsky episode, I loved the small flashes of character scattered throughout (from Rainbow Dash wanting to live vicariously through the Crystal Empire to Shining Armor coaching the track team, not to mention the chicken farmer's claustrophobia), and I really enjoyed Twilight's breathing exercises. But the actual plot in this one is pretty damn weak. Like “Spike at Your Service,” it's a very old story trope played totally straight, and the humor simply isn't enough to save this one from the list. It just barely scrapes on, but still, it's on here.
Runner Up: Apple Family Reunion (I almost went with this one, but GPP had enough go right to make the stuff that went wrong look worse. AFR is just dull.)
CONCLUSION:
Season Three is...um...well...
Season Three is a mixed bag to say the least. Given the way the finale played out, plus the number of writers that just came back for the next season, it's pretty clear that this was going to be the last season. The most likely scenario was that Hasbro was hedging its bets by giving it thirteen episodes; if it stayed popular, another season, but if not, then they had their syndication number. The staff was trimmed down to almost nobody, and the writers were almost entirely gone, with Polsky taking up more than his fair share of the writing credits this time around.
A lot of the ideas bounced around this season were good, and some were executed well, but there were still other issues that crept up. The front half was filled with classic episode after classic episode, but the backside was a lot more barren. While I liked “Just for Sidekicks” and “Magical Mystery Cure,” the rest of the final six were either bad or boring. But none of that compares to the nightmarish explosion that was Alicorn Twilight. To this date, nobody has a clear idea of what to make of that moment, with responses ranging from paranoid rants about Hasbro controlling the writers via psychic powers to the staff just being incompetent without Saint Faust's holy vision. And still others liked the change, didn't like being told that it was bad, started attacking people who didn't say anything, and then the Brony fandom collapsed in on itself for a good while. The dust is still settling, but things won't be back to normal until Season Four begins cleaning up.
Overall, though, I liked Season Three. It was a couple steps below Season Two, but there is quite a bit to actually enjoy here. Characters were allowed to develop and advance, the front half has a lot of good episodes in it, and several concepts were tested here that I would love to see in future episodes. Continuity became a much bigger concern, and for all the claims of the evils of pandas (and they are pretty evil), it really never came across as that. (That Rarity/Octavia duet people kept whining that they were promised but never got? That would be shameless pandering.)
So that leaves us with the question: will Season Four improve? So far, I'm cautiously optimistic, especially after the recent panel at Unicorn cleared up some issues I had surrounding the finale's conception and reasoning. Alicorn Twilight is seemingly a permanent change, but Season Four's opening is planned to acknowledge Twilight's fears and concerns after the Coronation and (hopefully) answer some leftover questions we all have. Until then, all we can do is hope for the best or leave the fandom. Either way works.
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