I have not seen too many opinions of the two part season 2 finale, 'A Canterlot Wedding' but the majority were probably expressed on forums and have yet to be composed into larger and more orderly blog posts. I posted this about 8 hours earlier over on Fimfiction.net and the only reason I did not post it here immediately is that I was tired, I wanted sleep first. Anyway here is my recent post on both parts of the episode, 'A Canterlot Wedding' written on the 21st April 2012.
What do the following episodes 'Mare in the Moon', 'Elements of Harmony', 'The Best Night Ever', 'Return of Harmony Part 1', and 'Return of Harmony Part 2' have in common. I consider all of them to be average. Yes, even the Discord episodes, for while Discord was a great villain, his not wrong but sinister lessons were smart as well as neat, and the Rainbow Dash chase was awesome they were not enough for me to consider the episodes above average (from time to time 'Return of Harmony Part 2' enters the good zone but I've never felt compelled to watch it again). I just felt they could be much better, and I will now say that 'A Canterlot Wedding Part 1' and 'A Canterlot Wedding Part 2' were also average episodes...but then I'd be lying.
The first part was good, and the second part would be in my top five episodes if I didn't favour 'May The Best Pet Win' to my fifth spot, and consider 'Secret of my Excess' to be just a little better than it, thus taking spot number six. Still, placing as my seventh favourite episode of season 2 is certainly not bad. Why is it that the first half is good but the second half is fantastic? Well the first half is the build up; the second half is the release of said build up. The second half also has the factors of the better song (although all the songs in the two parts were excellent), the reveal of the villain, and absolutely awesome action scenes.
My high opinion of these episodes does not mean I have nothing to criticise but I will get to the faults later, let’s first talk about the good. The songs were just...wow. All three (or was it four) songs were brilliant and I would go so far as to say that the Candence and Changeling song is my third favourite of the entire show (sorry Happy Monthiversery). The humour was brilliant, with bits to each and every one of the Mane 6 and Spike. Luna's appearances kind of felt like cameos but were appreciated. The Mane 6 vs. changeling battle was brilliant, a proper brawl that I wished to have seen in the other two part episodes (and 'A Dog and Pony Show') but never recieved. Once again this show has tugged at my heart with every moment of Twilight Sparkle, having everyone doubt her like that was awful, even more so when you know she is right. As for the new characters introduced, well I don't have much to say about Shining Armour and Candence. Shining Armour seems like a nice guy but he never really interested me, and while I liked Candence more than I ever expected too, it is only a small liking of her that I have. The Changeling queen on the other hand was an absolutely brilliant character. Someone who was completely evil, who actually felt evil, and yeah, I'm possibly considering her for my top twenty characters. Heck, she managed to do something I never thought was possible, she managed to make me like Celestia a little more. Yeah, Celestia is still in my bottom ten characters of the show but she is no longer in the bottom three.
There are a few minor things I could criticise but I will stick to pointing out two things I did not like about these two episodes. First, Candence's power, I hate it. The reason I was okay with the love potion in 'Hearts and Hooves Day' was because it didn't work, it didn't make them fall in actual love because it couldn't replicate the multitude of emotions that make up love. Candence's power on the other hand (or hoof in this case) appears to do exactly that though, make ponies fall in love and that...that is probably why I don't like her (along with her being apparently perfect in the eyes of everyone, though that is mostly redeemed for how she is shown to be frail and vulnerable in quite a few moments). My other criticism is that the people working on this show just can't seem to do an epic final showdown. It annoys me that the Mane 6 were not the ones to take down the enemy (or even have much involvement in taking them down), and it frustrates me that the Changeling queen did not even try to stop Candence and Shining Armour even though she had previously used the power of love to take down Celestia. I immediately thought of a better way to do that scene the moment the episode ended, and that was to have the Changeling queen try and stop the two from using the power of love, only for the Mane 6 to slow her down and prevent her from stopping the magic.
Of my favourite moments of each of the two episodes they were both parts that blew my mind, and almost prevented me from staying conscious. My favourite moment in the first part can be summed up with what I yelled out "Holy s**t! They just killed Twilight!" I then began to hyperventilate from seeing my favourite character being burned to death. My favourite moment in the second part was when Rainbow Dash saves Fluttershy from her clones and she helps Fluttershy up and...and...did I just hear...did I just see...DID THEY JUST KISS! How close the two characters were, their faces actually touch, and you can even hear the sound affect of a kiss. The closeness of their faces may be a trick of the eye but the sound of a kiss, I did not mishear that, heck, I even think someone has screen capped it already. I only managed to keep myself in the realm of living because I did not want to miss out on the rest of the episode but geez; I had a flipping heart attack.
Now to conclude, season 2's finale was brilliance stacked upon brilliance. Yes it could have been better, the Mane 6 didn't feel all that involved, stuff like Twilight having a brother should have been foreshadowed earlier in season 2, and while the romance was sweet it doesn't compare to the relationships presented in 'Secret of my Excess' and 'Hurricane Fluttershy' (and I'm pretty sure they weren’t even intending for it to come across as roma-actually, considering all the hints of FlutterDash throughout season two I'm not so sure; I think one of the writers or animators that joined in season 2 must be a FlutterDash shipper). Anyway, season 2 has ended with a bang, an unexpected bang and one bigger than what even season 1 had. Now I face two problems; waiting for season 3 and thinking of things to talk about in place of the episode musings until season 3 starts.
My musing this time is incredibly recent so there should in theory be little for me to say however I did find out a few things after writing my musing and thought of a the odd other likable moment. First off, the song that is now my third favourite is called 'This Day Aria' and the Changeling queen who looks to take a spot in my top twenty characters is called 'Queen Chrysalis'. To be clear on my opinions of Shining Armour and Candence, I do not hate them but neither do I like them; they sit firmly in a neutral zone. As for the FlutterDash kiss scene I thought I saw...I did see it, as well as several other people (they have it in the form of screenshots and YouTube clips already). Either my OTP is canon, the animators made a mistake, or the animators are trolling us like in the Mare Do Well episode with the Appledash kiss hidden by a camera flash. I'm hoping, however unlikely, for the first of these ideas. As for other things I thought were worth noting, Applejack putting on her hat the moment Rarity looked away, and doing so with a Liarjack expression. Marvellous. As always I wish to hear your opinions so discussion may be generated but for now cheerio!
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