TheBrianJ Reviews - MLP Season 5 (Ranking the episodes!) · 12:15am Dec 13th, 2015
I’ll just go ahead and say it, this has been my favorite season of MLP yet.
There was a great over-arching story from start to finish (the cutie map being important in the premiere, finale, and several episodes throughout), as well as just an overall theme of cutie marks as a whole.
So let’s arbitrarily list them from worst to best! I’d like to start by saying that I don’t think any episode this season could be considered outright bad; even the worst episode of the season had some charm to it. But I thought this would be a fun way to wrap everything up, so head on below the break for the list and basic explanations, starting with the lowest and working our way to the top 10. Explanations will get more detailed as we go up the list because that is what I have decided today.
Head on below the Face, and let's rank the episodes!
No reason for this image. Just like it.
24) Princess Spike
Man, I don’t know what it is about Spike. He’s a fun character who always adds something to the episodes he appears in. And yet, his episodes just tend to, I don’t know, feel underwhelming. Some of them (Dragon Quest) are better than others, but maybe he’s just not a fleshed out-enough character to warrant his own episode like this.
Either way, Princess Spike had its moments—the Fargo pony was really funny, and I actually kinda dug the comedy cliffhanger ending—and I did like the overall message, but the whole thing just felt like it never got out of first gear. Like it was building to a big moment that never really came. I don’t consider it an outright bad episode, it just was the weakest of the season.
23) Made in Manehattan
Believe me, I am just as surprised about this as you are. An episode with Rarity and Applejack traveling to the big city, supported by #1 Horse Waifu 2015 Coco Pommel? That sounded, on paper, like a surefire hit.
Yet when it the actual episode rolled around… well, it had a good start. But once we had a goal of the episode, it just was kinda… there. It felt like the focus shifted from the actual story to a strangely detailed recap of a play. It had a nice lesson and some very funny moments, but I kinda thought the focus ended up being on the wrong thing, and the episode really suffered from it.
22) What About Discord?
YEAH WHAT ABOUT HIM?
This was an episode that had a lot of humor and, of course, Discord’s brand of Discordness. The reason that the episode is so low is that, well, it didn’t really have any sort of lasting impact. There were a lot of episodes this season that either furthered character relationships, moved the over-arching story forward, or evolved characters in some way. This one, it didn’t feel like any of that happened.
Even that would make for a fine episode, but at times this one felt a little flat, like they were just running over the same territory over and over until the ending where both Twilight and Discord learned lessons. I almost wonder if they had focused on either Discord OR Twilight, the episode would have been higher on the list.
21) Appleoosa’s Most Wanted
It really felt like there was nothing to talk about in this episode. It was fun catching up with Braeburn, but this felt like “Just Another CMC Episode.” Granted, they took major steps later in the season to essentially permanently remedy that, but as far as this goes, it felt like a very average CMC episode.
In fact, it would have been lower if not for the fact that it did kinda hint at what the future held for the CMC. It was interesting to look back and see what the episode overall was foreshadowing. It was a fine episode, but nothing really memorable.
20) Scare Master
I liked this one when it aired, and I think it had a really, really good lesson at the end. But it sadly fell victim to one major problem: there were so, so many big episodes this season that this one almost felt lost in the shuffle. It might also have to do with the fact that the last halloween episode, Luna Eclipsed, was such a series highlight that this one had impossible expectations to live up to.
It also doesn’t help that, for the most part, it really only was a one-note joke throughout the episode: Fluttershy feels awkward about Nightmare Night and doesn’t understand how to scare ponies/fit in, and that’s about it. As I said, I liked the lesson at the end, but I think that the path to get there could have worked better than it did.
19) The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows
This was a one-note episode; humor. Granted, it was Pinkie Pie humor, which is some of the best and most over the top they can come up with. But again, this felt very much like a one-note episode, the comedy. It certainly set up something that will be really awesome in the future, namely a new baby storyline with Cadence and Shining Armor, but for the most part it was a single stream of consciousness episode.
And don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a bad episode by any stretch of the imagination. It’s just that there were episodes this season that overall fit the theme and furthered everything, and this one, well, just wasn’t. Enjoyable and fun, but in the grand scheme of things, not the most important episode by a long shot.
18) Castle Sweet Castle
Okay, this is where we get into difficult territory, because my top 10 were pretty set, and my bottom 5 were set, but there’s this group of good episodes in the middle that I have to rank. And while Castle Sweet Castle was an overall important episode and had a lot of good moments, it simply came across as the weakest of this group.
Honestly, what I was hoping for more out of the episode was that not only would the Mane 5 be setting up the new castle, but we’d get a lot more reflection on Twilight’s time in Golden Oaks Library. They touched on it a bit in the episode, but it felt like most of it was devoted to castle setup.
Still, though, there was a lot to like about the episode. The ending was really sweet, they helped set up the Glowy Castle of Friendship well, and I did like a lot of the setup scenes. It’s just that the other episodes were more memorable.
17) The Mane Attraction!
While the overall episode worked, had a solid lesson, and a good villain… I don’t know, something felt a little off about it.
I can’t quite put my finger on what, though. Maybe it was that Lena Hall’s voice sounded a smidge different than everyone else. Maybe it was because I felt like we didn’t really get to explore the backstory between AJ and Rara as much as I would have liked. Maybe it was because Sven Gallop was such a great villain and just kinda disappeared.
The episode had a lot to like, it really did, but somehow it felt juuuust a touch off to me. Still enjoyable, though.
16) Canterlot Boutique
This was a weird episode. I thought that a lot of it felt kinda disjointed and odd, sorta flipping back and forth between themes as it went along. I honestly spent a lot of it wondering “Just where is this episode going?” Sassy Saddles came across like they didn’t know if they wanted to make her a good pony with the wrong intentions, or a bad pony/antagonist. It felt a little scattered at times, I think a bit more focus in the first and second acts could have done wonders.
That said, everything came together really, really well at the end of the episode and bumped the whole thing up. I thought the overall lesson that the episode moved to was one of the stronger of the season, one that can really apply to real life more than many of the lessons learned, especially for kids as they grow up.
Overall I really did enjoy this episode, but again, the others simply stood out more.
15) Make New Friends But Keep Discord
Starting here, I can safely say that there was at least one thing about each episode on the rest of the list (15-1) that I really, really loved, which is why it made it here. And in this case, it was one of my favorite relationships on the show: the friendship between Discord and Fluttershy.
While the episode didn’t do a lot with the over-arching story, it did offer one of the better Discord episodes and a pretty interesting look at how he has been evolving as a character. It also had a lot of really fun moments, a nice lesson at the end, and most of all, tons more of the relationship between Discord and Fluttershy. I always find their interactions to be some of the most entertaining on the show, given their differing personalities, and this was some of the best interaction they’ve had.
And while we didn’t get to see her again, I loved the addition of Tree Hugger. I know I’ve mentioned a few times I want more recurring characters, but for a one-time character, Tree Hugger was really, really fun to have around. I do hope we see her again, but if not, we at least got one really fun appearance out of the character.
14) Bloom and Gloom
There were two episodes this season that really hinted at what the future held for the Cutie Mark Crusaders: Appleoosa’s Most Wanted, and Bloom and Gloom. AMW was a hint as to where the characters were going to go, but in the grand scheme of things, it was Bloom and Gloom that really gave us the better indication of the CMC’s characters going forward.
A lot of the episode was centered around Apple Bloom’s nightmares, but it was the wrap-up of the episode that really pushed this one forward. Not only did we get Wonderful Night Horse Luna (LUNAAAAAAAAA), but the realization that their Cutie Marks weren’t as important as they had originally been thinking was kinda a big moment in the show, and foreshadowed the conclusion of the CMC’s Cutie Mark Quest really, really well.
This was an episode that got bumped up mostly due to the third act, though. The nightmares were okay, I guess, but after one of them happened, you kinda knew exactly where the episode was going to go. Solid episode overall, though.
13) Hearthbreakers
I have said before that character interaction is one of the things that MLP has always done best, and Hearthbreakers was an episode that exemplified it. Two very different families, each with a lot of different characters, led to an episode that was just really enjoyable throughout. Having such a diverse cast for the episode is what held it up and put it halfway up the list.
What I really liked about the Pies is that, apart from Marble Pie (I still don’t understand why she’s so popular with the fandom), all of them were characters who we really haven’t seen in protagonists on MLP. Maud is Daria-type, Limestone is super antagonistic and confrontational, the parents are Amish to the point of uncomfortableness, it all made for a lot of humor and a fun lesson.
Sadly, I feel like the odds of us seeing Limestone Pie and The Other Horse again are pretty low, but I would be all about them returning. Now that the relationship between the Apples and the Pies has been created, bringing them back would be a cinch.
12) Slice of Life
For all the hype leading up to the 100th episode, it lived up to the hype. Just a 22 minute roast of MLP as a whole that didn’t take itself seriously and embraced one of the things that has kept MLP so endearing to us for so long; the background characters.
Yeah, it didn’t exactly have an impact on the show as a whole. But 100 episodes is still a huuuuuge milestone for a kids show, and they used to to just take a break from the story at large and have fun. Secret Agent Bon Bon, Doctor Whooves, Derpy, Steven Magnet, just all these characters who have sprung up from the fans over the years.
It was just this big, wonderful reminder of what MLP has done for so many of us, and in a way, what we have done for MLP. Tons of fun and one of the more hilarious episodes of the season, even if it really didn’t have much of an impact.
11) Party Pooped
The first time I saw this episode I did like it, but I kinda thought it would end up being one of the weaker episodes of the season. But upon further review, I realized just how much I enjoyed it.
This was a two-tiered story done perfectly; you have Pinkie Pie adventuring through Equestria, while you have her friends trying to take her place back home. We get a lot of humor out of it, and we get a sense of just how important to the world Pinkie Pie really is. Not only that, but we got a great chunk of world-building out of it as well with the Yaks, and with Pinkie Pie’s quest through Equestria.
I’d go ahead and call this one of the stronger Pinkie Pie-centric episodes of the whole series, because not only did it show her as a character, but the scenes that didn’t have her went out of their way to show just how important and dedicated she is to what she does. It just wasn't enough to crack the top 10, though.
10) Rarity Investigates!
What can I say… I’m a sucker for noir.
It occurs to me we really haven’t seen much in the way of interaction between Rarity and Rainbow Dash one-on-one other than maybe Sonic Rainboom, which is what made this episode so memorable. THere was a lot going on in this episode—mystery/intrigue (although obvious), both parody of noir and lampshading noir tropes, friendships being pushed and tested—but it was all really well balanced and came together quite well by the end.
Not to mention, as I said, I’m a total sucker for the whole noir thing they had going for it. Not only Rarity playing the noir perfectly straight, but Rainbow Dash following along with her and constantly throwing us out of the situation. It was a great contrast of characters that worked. I think the reason this episode stood out so much to me is because it felt almost like a pony version of one of my favorite games series, Phoenix Wright.
I also really liked how the episode ended; both Rarity and Rainbow Dash ended up being successful, with Dash getting in the Assholebolts show and Rarity being successful as a detective. The show does a lot of happy endings, but this one just felt really satisfying for some reason.
9) The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone
WORLD BUILDING I TELL YOU.
It’s kinda rare to get a “sequel” to an existing episode, but I think this one was handled well. It used one of the character duos we’ve seen a lot on the show—Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash—to bring back Gilda and give her a nice redemption story. Beyond that, though, there was a whole lot more to this episode.
We got to see more griffons and learn about their past and what their characters are generally like, we got to see whole new areas of Equestria that we hadn’t seen previously, and we even got some thrilling adventure out of it. You really couldn’t ask for more from an episode.
I felt like this was the end of Gilda’s story in MLP, but if we never see her again, it would be satisfying. Sure, Griffonstone isn’t perfect yet, but at the very least we now know that Gilda will be getting the ball rolling on everything. Then again, we could see the characters check in on the Griffon Kingdom at some point in the future.
8) The Hooffields and the McColts
Of the three map-related episodes, two of them were about relationships we had seen before: Pinkie/Rainbow and Rarity/Applejack, but this one was between two characters who really haven’t teamed up in an episode since Season 1, and even then they spent most of the episode running around in a blind panic looking for a bird.
The dual approach to solving a friendship problem of emotion vs logic made the episode the most interesting of the three map stories, but honestly it was the actual Hooffields and McColts that made this episode for me. As I said in my review, it really felt like they came up with two distinct families instead of just carbon copies with different colors, and that’s one of those little details that made the episode all the more enjoyable.
I loved seeing just how over the top the war was with constant food fights, canons, and of course the attempted murder with a shovel that totally happened what the fuck MLP. The ending was a bit abrupt, with the families immediately dropping their grudge by hearing the story, but it wasn’t something that took away from the episode at all.
7) Brotherhooves Social
You know, if this episode had just been the comedic stuff with Big Macintosh dressed up, I still think it would have been pretty high up on this list. Big Macintosh is a character who doesn’t do a whole lot, but when he is a focal point of an episode they really go out of their way to give him something to do. In this case, it was putting on a dress and speaking in an absurd falsetto.
And it worked! It was a weird kind of interaction episode, but it still made for a whole lot of comedy. And if that was all the episode was, it would have been good. But it was the last few minutes that gave this episode a jump.
That conversation, the mini-monologue that Big Macintosh had about being left behind and just not wanting to be forgotten… that was one of the best written, and best voiced, scenes since the beginning of MLP. It was one of the deepest and most emotional looks we’ve had at a secondary character (I say “one of” because of another episode this season) and really made for a memorable scene.
6) The Cutie Map
One of my favorite season openers, and a great way to start the season off on the right foot (hoof?) and hint at the future. Starlight Glimmer was a great villain because of how different she was from the others, not to mention that it appears she had been quite successful in her ambitions for a while until the Mane 6 intervened.
What also worked is the fact that, when it comes down to it, the Mane 6 weren’t the ones who saved the day. They did a lot of the work, but it was those four, th Equal Four or whatever, who did the bulk of the work to save them. That’s cool! I like the Equal Four! I honestly expected them to become full-time castmembers in the season finale rather than a cameo, but I’m holding out hope that we could get some episodes about them next seasons.
Beyond all that, it was just really, really well written. Discussions of destiny and Cutie Marks, what it means to be different but accepted, a lot of themes were touched on here that would end up coming back throughout the season. Both foreshadowing the rest of the season while still telling a really, really solid story, plus the 42 minutes gave it time to breathe and pace itself better than most episodes can.
5) The Cutie Remark
I agonized a bit over whether the #5 spot should go to this or The Cutie Map, because I thought both were really, really great episodes. But at the end of the day, the finale was just a more grand scale, epic story. It still touched on a lot of themes of destiny, Cutie Marks, and friendship, but it did it in a totally different way. Namely, time travel wait what.
The variety of futures we saw really did make the episode memorable, seeing what the world would be like had the villains of their respective episodes taken over. Kinda wished we saw more of the Flim Flam Future given that I’m like 90% sure they were constructing a steampunk world, but the ones they focused on were the best and kinda pushed the limits of what we have seen on the show.
And as mentioned before, Starlight Glimmer is such a great character. Not a supervillain via ambitions but via her actions, given that she was causing immense damage without really realizing what she was doing. With the way the episode ended, it does feel like Starlight will be joining the main cast in Season 6, which is why this was such a great finale; not just wrapping up the season nicely, but building to the future of the show, whenever Season 6 comes.
4) Do Princesses Dream Of Magic Sheep?
Answer: Apparently not.
Luna is such a fascinating character. The way she talks and acts, her actions, they feel so different from any other character on the show, by design. She’s had a few secondary appearances, mostly in the CMC’s dreams, but her two starring roles in the show have both created really great episodes and given us a look at the character in very different ways. Luna Eclipsed dealt with her re-adjusting to the world, and this one with her guilt.
Come to think of it, the Mane 6 really didn’t do much in this episode, in the grand scheme of things. Luna did most of the legwork, the Mane 6 were just backdrops to helping her overcome her own guilt. And I think that’s why I like the episode so much. So many episodes of the show have been the Mane 6 solving everything, it’s kinda nice to see them be secondary as the main star of the episode works through the issues herself. Well, with the help of a giant derpy, Lyrabon, and other strange dream creature things.
Luna-centric episodes are few and far in between, but like Big Macintosh, when she gets a headlining role the writers really know how to do everything they can to make her stand out. One of the better episodes of the series, and one I’d honestly say I liked better than her original appearance in Luna Eclipsed.
3) Tanks for the Memories
You know, I never thought MLP would tackle the loss of a loved one/pet in an episode. And while the loss wasn’t permanent, this was a close as the show has come, and they nailed it.
Seeing the five stages of grief, the tragedy of Dash realizing that she’s going to lose Tank (temporarily), the bittersweet ending of her reading to Tank as he fell asleep… it wasn’t exactly death, but it hit on all the correct notes and really made for an emotional roller coaster of an episode, in all the right ways. Dash was comedic when the episode needed her to be, but also was grounded enough to really give the sad moments some weight.
And what made the episode more is that, much like Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep, it came down to Rainbow Dash. Yes, her friends were there to give her a helping hand, but by the end of the episode, it was something that Dash herself had to come to terms with and accept. It not only strengthened the final scene, but gave Rainbow Dash some real character depth that at times she sometimes lacks.
2) Crusaders of the Lost Mark
An obvious choice to put high on the list, but really, it was that good of an episode. In many ways, this could be seen as as season finale in and of itself; The Cutie Remark was the main finale, but this was the season finale for the CMC, and had a few things that really made it so great.
First off is the obvious, the payoff of the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ storyline that has been running since season 1. A really satisfying conclusion, one that ends this chapter of their lives, but also begins a new one that is going to be just as, if not more, exciting. Second, we got the redemption of Diamond Tiara, which was done incredibly well and stunningly emotional, giving us a glimpse into the life of MLP’s longest-running antagonist and actual backstory for why she was the way she was. And third, MUSICAL EPISODE which means Daniel Ingram got to be awesome for 22 minutes.
I’ve seen some people call this the best episode of the season, maybe even the whole series. And it was absolutely amazing, in any other season it would have no doubt clinched the #1 spot on this list. But this season, there was another…
1) Amending Fences
Gonna be honest… this one wasn’t even close. From the moment this episode happened, it was a lock for #1.
Episodes like Crusaders of the Lost Mark and Tanks for the Memories were really, really well done. But Amending Fences is the only episode of My Little Pony that has really gotten to me on an emotional level. It hit so close to home for me and made me realize just how far I’ve come in the past few years. But even without the direction emotional connection, it still probably would have gotten first place.
The writing was some of the best I’ve seen in MLP. It was funny when it had to be and sad when it had to be, with neither emotion ever feeling out of place. It gave an entire history and backstory to a character who, previously, had a single mention on the show as a throwaway line designed to give context to the main character in the first episode. There was no extra padding or unnecessary scenes; everything was there that needed to be there, without at any point sacrificing the story.
MLP has introduced a lot of one or two appearance characters, and Moondancer comes across as one of the best. She was likable despite having jerkish tendencies (At the start), but masterfully sympathetic to the point where you were really rooting for her to get the happy ending that she ended up getting. It had a beautiful final shot as we realize just how far the character has come. It even had a lot of supporting characters with their own personalities that helped hold the episode up as it went through.
Just absolutely sublime from start to finish, I cannot say enough positive things about it. I would not only call this my favorite of Season 5, but in all likelihood this is my favorite episode in MLP history. My hat is off to everyone who worked on it.
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In fact, my hat is off to everyone who worked on this season. MLP Season 5 was just such a great showing of what makes My Little Pony the show—and cultural phenomenon—that it is. Even the weakest episodes had something to enjoy, while the stronger episodes ranged from hilarious sad without ever feeling out of place.
I don’t know how long this hiatus is gonna be, but I know that this season reaffirmed my love for the show. Thanks for everything, DHX. See you next year.
As far as I go, writing these reviews every week have been fun, but with the hiatus coming, I’m probably gonna break from reviewing. I’ve had to break from writing, period, for the past month or two as I finish up my preparations to go freelance, and I in fact am leaving my job next week while my business officially launches the 1st of the year, and I want writing stories to be a part of my life again. I’m sorry for all the delays and hype, I won’t say anything else until stories are actually ready and I’ll ease up on the needless hype, but I will say that I have ideas that I cannot wait to get onto paper, including one that I’m sure you’ve been hearing plenty about on this blog.
See you all around!
-Brian J
Your top two are my (current, unchecked) top two, so I can't say much against this. :V Though I think I still rank Party Pooped pretty low.
Kinda amazing the show has gotten this far. Back in season 3, I really thought that would be the end, but the people behind it kept it going and I'm glad they did. We would have missed out on a lot of great stuff.
Some of the episodes on this list I had completely forgotten about while others are going to stay with me in terms of impact for a while to come.
I'm hoping season 6 will do to Starlight Glimmer what Equestria Girls 2 and 3 did for Sunset Shimmer. Sunset grew on me but right now Starlight hasn't impressed me all that much. I guess we shall see.
General agreement from where I'm standing, especially Ammending Fences. I've probably gone back and rewatched that episode more than any other from any season.
It's fascinating to see the differences in episode rankings, especially for someone as easily pleased as I am. Thanks for giving me another viewpoint to consider.