I haven't come away from an episode feeling so

since Magical Mystery Cure. It's no secret that I think S4 has been the strongest season so far. If it wasn't for the incredible feels generated by MMC, this would be my favorite episode of the series. Every last little thing clicked right into place for me. Every now and then when watching an episode, I'll find myself rewording lines of dialogue here or there to better fit what I personally thing would flow well. I tried doing the same here, but something incredible happened. As I was rewording dialogue, the characters said quite literally
exactly what my brain was making up. I could gush on and on about how glassy and pitch perfect the dialogue was.
The comedy was top notch, perfectly supported by little details, such as a snicker here or a little visual gag there. Speaking of the visuals, wow. Did anybody notice the shadows in the flying scene? As I was watching RD's shadow approach the house, I remember wondering what would happen when it rolled over it. I was treated to a wonderfully realistic stretching of the shadow as it crept up the side of the house, elongating it in a hyper-realistic fashion, only to regain its proper dimensions once it hit the roof. THEN, as it moves off the edge, I'm surprised that I don't see it immediately on the ground past it. Let me emphasize something. THERE WAS A DELAY BETWEEN WHEN THE SHADOW LEFT THE ROOF AND WHEN WE SAW IT ON THE GROUND AGAIN. The attention to detail guys.
So many little things to mention. Breezing through a few things that stick out in my memory, Spike. Comic gold. His face when he just randomly shows up with his little drum. GAWD. Then, when Fluts mentions continuing the play and it's shot down, Spike just curls up into a ball in the foreground and starts crying. That got a real good laugh from me. GAWD. Also, when the mane 6 are on the library balcony, Pinkie puts on that hat again and a hint of record scratching can be heard. GAWD. Just the line "Pinky, stop rapping!" GAWD. RD curling into a depressed ball like a cat when laying on that cloud. I felt heart palpitations. GOOD GAWD. Lastly, the whole montage of the town helping out. Those generated feels. HOLY GOOD GAWD.
Also, the moral of the story is incredible and hit right at home. It's such a mature and relevant moral and something that NEEDS to be known to the general public about 50 years ago. I personally learn through intense but quick grinding repetition, sleeping on it, and doing it again. If I grind too much, I get frustrated and all the frustrating information gets promptly ejected from my brain. RD's frustration about learning something she doesn't really care about and justifying it by saying it's unnecessary is almost literally exactly what I say about a hell of a lot of things.
This episode, from top to bottom, was pure excellence. From the voice acting (bursts of frustration, little snickers), to the dialogue, to the pacing, to the moral, to the visuals. Everything was absolutely perfect for me. At least in my opinion, pony hasn't ever been better. I may still regard MMC as my most astounding episode, but it has a few faults. The only reason it's still on top is because of it's ridiculous gut punching feels. This episode, however, is objectively better, and an incredible show of force from the production team. Episodes like this don't remind me of why I got into pony in the first place. Instead they reinforce why I so happily stick around for it after so long. They show that pony is still improving what was already fantastic. Episodes like this make me think that MLP is legitimately one of the better shows on TV.
