Unpopular opinion time

@GenericArchangel  
I agree with the first half being great and second being mediocre.

You know, after watching Between Dawn and Dusk again on TV, it made me think about something…
 
If Celestia feels that being a princess restrains you to do things that you really want to try, that limits your way of living, that by the time you will get bored to dead, that enclosers you in a way that makes you feel the entire castle was some kind of prision…
 
Did Celestia thought about this for Twilight Sparkle?

@Wiimeiser  
“Uprooted” and “The Point of No Return” actually. But thanks for reminding me to put “Going to Seed” on my top 10 list.

@rdibp  
I have no idea where this apparent difference is coming form. Well, it’s true the best eps are early on I suppose.

@GenericArchangel  
Which episodes in the second half were good?

@Wiimeiser  
The finale and the episode about the villains stealing the book. The rest were meh.

@E-123  
Probably

@GenericArchangel  
Makes sense, those episodes were arc-critical so they were likely given higher priority (in fact, I imagine The Last Problem was finished before any filler episodes except Common Ground, which would perfectly explain why Clear Sky and Wind Sprint are the only Season 9 characters who appear in any of the last 3 episodes besides Grogar)(If you want to hear my guesses on the S9 production order I can tell you some of them)

@Broken Adam  
Probably?

@E-123
 
…
 
Yikes…

@E-123  
Well, maybe not. Notably, she never asks Twilight - just tells her.

The final season started out so promising too. Then it got ruined nearing the end to me. It’s To Where and Back Again-tier, as it’s one of my least favorite episodes overall. At least the actual series finale was a decent note to end the series on, comics notwithstanding.
 
Though it’s exactly what I expected out of the show.

@Josh103  
To me, seeing high potential in the early part of Season 9 is as strange as hating To Where And Back Again.

@Josh103  
@GenericArchangel  
I wonder what the general scores for each episode in Season 9 are…

@GenericArchangel  

 
BIG. FRICKIN. MOOD

@GenericArchangel
 
Aw, I loved A Horse Shoe-In.

@Wiimeiser  
Frenemies at the top, She’s All Yak and Common Ground at the bottom.

@Vivace  
What about the in-between? Also, why Common Ground at the bottom?

@Wiimeiser  
Common Ground really wasn’t all that good.

@Wiimeiser
 
The Beginning Of The End:8.7  
Uprooted:9.1  
Twilight’s Seven:9.2  
The Point of No Return:9.4  
Common Ground:9.2  
She’s All Yak:9.0  
Frenemies: 9.3  
Sweet and Smoky:8.1  
Going to Seed:7.0  
Student Counsel:9.4  
The Last Crusade:9.3  
Between Dark and Dawn:9.0  
The Last Laugh:9.5  
2, 4, 6, Greaaat:8.7  
A Trivial Pursuit: 7.5  
The Summer Sun Setback: ∅  
She Talks To Angel: 9.0  
Dragon Dropped: 9.3  
A Horse Shoe-In:9.4  
Daring Doubt: 8.7  
Growing Up Is Hard To Do:8.9  
The Big Mac Question: 9.5  
The Ending of The End: 8.1  
The Last Problem: 9.6

Oh yeah, “A Horse Shoe-In” is an episode that exists. I liked it and all, but also Octavia should’ve been vice-headmare, not Sunburst.

@GenericArchangel  
I feel really bad saying this, but a Horse Shoe In was a rather soft 7.8 out of ten. I liked it, but it felt… insubstantial, and going over ground other episodes had handled better.
 
Octavia should have been vice headmare, I agree. I was happy to see Trixie settled down and using her talents constructively however, it’s a nice ending for her.

@Philweasel  
It felt like we needed one more Starlight and Trixie episode for them to rebuild their friendship after S9 strained it so badly. Like, a “Trixie finally swallows just enough of her ego to be a decent enough person that Starlight can tolerate her” type thing. It would’ve been fun to watch Trixie spend twenty minutes of screentime pulling her head out of her own ass, at least.

@GenericArchangel  
I liked how they didn’t make Trixie too incompetent. After years of episodes where either her or Starlight failed at life, there they were both pretty in character, virtues and flaws.

@GenericArchangel
 
@Philweasel  
One friend of mine claimed that this season showed that Trixie hadn’t changed at all. I pointed out that her motivation in both eps is possessive attachment to a friend - something early Trixie would probably have found inconceivable.
 
That said… counsellor? Really?