I mentioned back in the original thread that there's a lot here I like, but it's one of those, "Oh I wish they had just done this and this" episodes for me, which a lot of the 2 parters are. They are fun, but I can't help but wonder, would these have been better as a movie, with a 70-90 minute running time to flesh things out.
Mostly it just comes down to the handling of the alicorn princesses. So many of the two parters imply such a cool backstory for them, and yet it isn't explored. What was Cadance's backstory and connection to the Crystal Empire? What about exploring Celestia, Luna and period before Nightmare Moon? What about the 1000 years she ran Equestria alone? Now we have a cool G1 connection with Tirek and Scorpan and Starswirl and the Sisters and...well I will say I'm suspecting some more of that may show up in season 5.
But Celestia's plan...it was way too much of a quick way to get them, er, out of the way. Maybe if the episode had more time...
But first, about Discord: I loved seeing his redemption completed, but, and again I'm just repeating what I said back there but:
Discord's betrayal seems sudden and seems to make Celestia look bad until you take a second to step back. On one hand, you're putting the fate of Equestria in a former villain's hands. Furthermore, while Tirek's argument does seem to resonate with Discord, he did fall back into old hadbits rather quickly. What about his friendship with Fluttershy? And besides, if Tirek really did convince him, why does he not simply banish Tirek anyway and rule himself? Remmeber, the elements of Harmony are gone. The only thing keeping him from going full evil again is his friendship with Fluttershy.
And there's the key, so to speak. In Keep Calm and Flutter On, a tearful Discord says (paraphrasing): "I guess having friends means not getting what you want all the time." Although Tirek never calls him friend, those glass windows with them being chums and everything clearly indicate Discord sees Tirek as a friend. He only tells him about Twilight after he's assured of his trust, after all. Tirek is the bad influence, the 'friend' that lets Discord do all the destructive stuff he wants, but in the end betrays him. Discord thinks he has a way to have his cake and eat it to: To be a chaotic overlord and still have best buddies that don't resent him. By the end of the episode, he realizes how foolish he's been. I can buy Celestia not foreseeing something like that. Though I would have liked that handled more explicitly. Like Celestia asking him, Discord explaining the logic, and her shaking her head and warning him that Tirek is not to be trusted.
So how could Celestia' plan been handled better? Again I said something like this in the old thread, and amatuer fanfic hour can be annoying but:
Celestia tells Twilight to hide in Ponyville and find a way to open the box. Don't bother with Tirek not knowing about her because he's with Discord. Why not mention the box and make opening it an explicit request from Celestia? It's from the Tree of Harmony, maybe it holds the key to stopping Tirek. Plus even without the elements themselves, the Mane 6 are a force to be reckoned with.
So Twilight leaves, knowing the other 3 are going to give their best shot, even if it seems hopeless. As they do say in the Episode, against Tirek and Discord combined it seems unlikely...
Wait...
Tirek sent Discord by off himself while he confronted the Princesses alone.
Hold on now, what? Ah, Tirek for all his cleverness, doesn't trust if he doesn't have to. He's a total narcist really, and given the choice of facing down 3 alicorns alone and letting Celestia use Diplomacy (or say, Cadance's love spell) charms against a guy he might not totally be sure he can depend on seems like a chance. I mean, he looked a little guilty as Shining Armor called him traitor for a moment...Meh, better to depend on yourself, I'm sure is what he thought.
But if Twilight with the magic of 4 alicorns fought Tirek to a stalemate after absorbing the power of
Discord, could the 3 have reasonably thought to stand up to him with their magic?
So let's have that happen, Tirek stops and sends off Discord alone. The princesses are stunned at his arrogance and ponder they might have a chance. Tirek walks in and Cadance gives him a good old blast of Love Beam. He staggers, but fights through because he's pure hate, and undeterred by Cadance showing him the love he'd be destroying if he has his way. But that distraction let's Luna dive him into a dream. There she tells him that she knows the path he has been on, appearing as Nightmare Moon, and there is no hope in it. He realizes he is dreaming and fights out once again. Now Celestia stands against him...and springs a trap. A well designed spell that he walks into in his weakended state. I'm thinking the stain glass window amplify energy into a cage of light, maybe they are made of crystal empire crystals, and thus channel energy? Anyways, he's basically beat until Discord saves him at the last minute when he returns. Celestia activates her final safeguard...and sends all of their alicorn magic across Equestria into Twilight, and a message via Spike. The episode pretty much goes as it did from there on out.
TL:DR, I would have loved more of a fight from the princesses and Discord's motives to be a little more explicit, though for me it was clear enough.
Also, I will say when Tirek absorbed Discord's power, I expected him to suddenly have trouble controlling it, and that Celestia was actually imploying a gambit that if Discord failed/betrayed them, his power would actually make Tirek unstable. Ah well.
Er, okay, I did find the fight, the redemption of Discord, Tirek's design, and that awesome castle pretty cool, even if Rainbow Power was a bit
Though I wish people would stop calling it a Deus ex machina. It's been foreshadowed all season and solving the box was central to the plot, I don't see how it can be seen as that, unless I just don't understand what that means.
Last edited by Ransom on Tue Oct 14, 2014 4:22 am, edited 1 time in total.