Having now finished reviewing all of the show's episodes thus far, and with a new season close to starting, I thought I'd make a list of my favourite episodes so far.
Bear in mind that this is my personal list so the vast majority of my choices here will be based solely on my opinion. Nothing I say here will diminish what you think or what your personal favourites are. It's all opinion, nothing more.
So then, let's get on with this list.
10 - Dragonshy:
Before this episode, Fluttershy, to me, was pretty much a one-note character. Just there to be frightened and look adorable. And while she certainly did that job well, it didn't really do her much good in terms of character development.
This, her first starring role, was very much a "coming out of your shell" story, of Fluttershy having to face her fears and grow as a result.
That's a fairly basic premise but what really makes it stand out was the execution of that premise. The entire episode is incredibly well-paced, allowing for much time between the start of the story and the eventual confrontation with the dragon. And during that time we get some spectacular inter-play between our main heroines and some greatly-written jokes. And even after they get to the dragon, the writing continues to be fairly top-notch, keeping me entertained throughout.
Whilst I wouldn't go so far as to call it a fantastic episode, it's certainly an entertaining one that gave a good first starring role to someone who soon became one of my favourite characters.
9 - The Last Roundup:
When this episode first came out I gave it a rather harsh review, but now that some time has passed and I've watched it a few more times, I realise that it's far better than I initially gave it credit for.
Applejack has always been one of my favourites of the main cast and yet despite that she hasn't had anywhere near as many brilliant episodes devoted to her character like the others have. In fact for a long time she was pretty much forgotten as a character to focus on for much of the series, so it was nice for me to finally get another episode devoted to her in the second season.
The mystery regarding Applejack's choices here was very well done, as was the humour found in much of the story. Pinkie Pie's actions in particular were absolutely hilarious and had me in stitches for much of the third act.
Does it have it's flaws? Oh certainly, and there are still elements about the story that bug me. But in spite of that, this episode really has grown on me over the last couple of months and it really is far better than I originally thought. But then again the fact that it's on my top ten list should have made that obvious.
8 - Party of One:
Pinkie Pie was a character that I had a great deal of trouble in liking for the first few episodes I watched. She reminded me far too much of many of the overly-annoying and bubbly characters that irritate me in other shows, so she ended up dropping down in my opinion of her frequently. Seeing her usually up-beat attitude get replaced for one of cynicism and mistrust provided a great deal of character development for her that she didn't really have much of before this episode.
On top of that it's easily one of the funniest episode's the show has given me so far. All of the jokes made me laugh and made me laugh hard. From Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash's blatantly obvious attempts to get out of Pinkie's party, to Pinkie rampage across Ponyville, to her imaginary friends party, all of the humour here was done so well that it easily stands as one of the single most entertaining, though not necessarily deepest, stories the show has created.
But then I saw this episode and all that changed.
7 - A Friend in Deed:
This one I like for a very personal reason. It reminds me of a time in my life when I was very much like the guest character, Cranky. I was bitter, anti-social and never wanted anything to do with anyone. If I hadn't had people around me to help me get out of being like that, I'd probably still be the way he was during most of this episode.
So I suppose you could call this episode a sort of reflection of my early life, staring out grouchy and cynical before eventually getting to be more friendly and less uncomfortable around others. Pinkie during most of this episode reminds me very much of the kinds of people I had around me during that time. Sure they were annoying to me, but if they hadn't been there, my life would have turned out much differently.
Few episodes have spoken to me on a level like this before and it really did give me a great appreciation for it, making it more than worthy of a spot on the list.
6 - Suited for Success:
When I was making this list I knew that one of Rarity's focus episodes would eventually make it on here. Despite not being one of my favourites of the main cast, many of Rarity's episodes have been, in my opinion at least, some of the most entertaining and well told of any of the stores given to us by the series, specifically, this episode, "Sweet and Elite" and "Sisterhooves Social".
I chose this one because although I don't think it's "better" than those other two Rarity episodes per se, it has one element that the other two lack. It was the first episode to make me appreciate Rarity as a character. Before this episode Rarity struck me as the kind of character I'd grow to dislike. She seemed to embody many of the stereotypically "girly" things that I hoped the series would avoid.
But after seeing this episode that opinion changed greatly, much in the same way that "Party of One changed my opinion on Pinkie Pie. Oh sure, she could be very girly from time to time and I'd never say that that was an automatic bad thing, but this episode showed just how much of a caring and generous character she is. She work and work without asking for anything in return and after much stress and mental breakdown, she manages to get what she's been working towards.
Couple that with some fantastic voice work from Tabitha St Germain and one of the best songs in the series and you have one very good episode.
5 - The Best Night Ever:
The season one finale was a pretty interesting episode for me because it seemed like the first time this ensemble cast of main character was actually being used like a proper ensemble.
To me, most of the episodes of the series tend to focus on one character, maybe two, with the others providing supporting roles. Here is the first, and probably ONLY time that all six managed to have a story of their own. And each of those stories helped to cap off their character and the development they'd had over the course of the series, like Rainbow Dash's need to please the Wonderbolts, Pinkie's love of parties etc.
But despite all these stories they never felt like they were treading on each other's toes. They all had their moments to shine and gave a clear impression that this was an inter-connected story that whilst certainly good on their own, worked even better when told together, which really does seem like an embodiment of the series core principles, "stronger together than apart".
4 - Luna Eclipsed:
I'm sure many of you out there in the MLP fandom are happy to see this episode on my list. However, I'll say right now that my reasons for putting it on here are probably not the reasons you were expecting.
Sure, having Luna make her greatly-anticipated was great and it was certainly nice to see her character and how she's changed since her introduction. But what really elevates this episode in my eyes was not Luna, but Twilight. Specifically, her attempts to help Luna make friends amongst the ponies of Ponyville.
To me, this is where the real strength of the episode lies. Twilight, a character who started the series finding it difficult to make friends, now serves as a teacher to someone who finds herself in the exact same position for different reasons. Both have, at one point or another, been the outsiders of this community and so it really does help to strengthen Twilight's character by providing Luna with the kind of "friendship help" that she herself was never given. She's had to learn from the start of the series how important friends are and what has to be done to both make and keep them. And now she's using that education to help someone else in the same predicament.
It really did help to bring Twilight's character full-circle to me.
3 - Friendship is Magic (AKA, the series Pilot):
Pilot episodes in any series are incredibly difficult to pull off, and in a kids show it's especially difficult. Past experience has taught me that a show's opening moments can either make or break it most of the time.
And these two episodes most definitely made it.
It manages to successfully establish both the world, the story and the characters all in a relatively short amount of time. Yet it accomplishes this without feeling rushed, which is even harder to get right. So many times I've seen pilot episodes and the impression I always get is "this is the story and these are the characters, enjoy" without ever giving me either time or reason to care about it. But here, the pacing and the writing are all done well enough that we're given reason to care.
Couple that with an interesting story and characters that provided a great deal of entertainment, and this series can certainly say that is started with a bang. It made it clear right from the start that this series and it's story was going to be taken seriously. It wasn't all about stereotypically "girly" adventures, but a show that right away tells us that it's just trying to be good. And it most certainly was.
2 - A Canterlot Wedding:
This episode is barely a week old and yet it's managed to shoot it's way up to become my number two. That alone is a testament to the quality of this episode.
But what really makes this episode stand out for me was, and I'm know I'm going to sound incredibly corny for saying this, it's heart. It had a real sense of emotion for me from beginning to end. From Twilight's melancholic and nostalgic remembrance of her brother, to the prospect of their relationship being destroyed, to the absolute anger I felt at the episode's villain for having done all this wickedness, to the genuine happiness I felt when everything worked out in the end. This episode knew how to push all of the right buttons for me to both admire and respect it, both on a story level and on a deeper emotional level.
In fact, I'm not going to sugarcoat it folks. I have absolutely fallen in love with this episode. There was not a single moment I wasn't invested in the story and the characters.
And speaking of the characters, this episode should also be praised for handling all of it's characters, both old and new, with a great deal of respect. All of the established main character shine as much as they have ever done, especially Twilight, who manages to provide the real emotional centre of the entire story. And the new characters get handled brilliantly too. Twilight's brother, Shining Armour, and his budding bride-to-be, Princess Cadence, were both written in such a fashion that you completely forget that they've only been introduced in this episode. I can't think of a single time someone has done that in a series and pulled it off. They've only been in two episodes and yet they already feel like family to me.
This episode and everything in it was a work of absolute genius and also, in my opinion, absolute proof that this series can go toe-to-toe with the best of any animated show that has ever been made.
And now the moment of truth, my number one episode.
1 - The Return of Harmony:
I've praised this episode a great deal since it's airing and given how much I've piled such positive comments around this site it should be no surprise that this became my number one. However, what you probably aren't expecting me to say is that I do not consider this episode to be as good as "A Canterlot Wedding". Whilst the characters development, the story and the writing were all top-notch as one would expect from an MLP two-parter, I felt that those elements weren't as refined as they were with the most recent two-parter.
So you're probably asking right now "if you don't think this is as good as your number two episode, why is it your number one". The answer to that question is very simple.
This episode manages to make it to my number one position for one reason and one reason only. It is the episode that turned me into a Brony in the first place.
Don't get me wrong. I certainly liked and admired the series before I saw this episode. But it was watching this two-parter that first made me realise how much I cared about it's characters. When I saw what they were going through and saw how broken up their group became during the course of the story, I suddenly realised how much I cared about Twilight and the others. It was a turning point for me and it's largely the reason why've I've continued to watch, review and love the series as much as I have done.
But let me say right now that if this two-parter did NOT have that element to it, if it wasn't the episode that turned me into a Brony, it would not be the number one choice for me. It would most likely have been number two, possibly even number three behind the pilot. It gets the number one spot by the skin of it's teeth.
So that's all I have to say about this list. I hope you enjoyed reading it and I hope that you weren't too disappointed by my choices.
Bear in mind that this is my personal list so the vast majority of my choices here will be based solely on my opinion. Nothing I say here will diminish what you think or what your personal favourites are. It's all opinion, nothing more.
So then, let's get on with this list.
10 - Dragonshy:
Before this episode, Fluttershy, to me, was pretty much a one-note character. Just there to be frightened and look adorable. And while she certainly did that job well, it didn't really do her much good in terms of character development.
This, her first starring role, was very much a "coming out of your shell" story, of Fluttershy having to face her fears and grow as a result.
That's a fairly basic premise but what really makes it stand out was the execution of that premise. The entire episode is incredibly well-paced, allowing for much time between the start of the story and the eventual confrontation with the dragon. And during that time we get some spectacular inter-play between our main heroines and some greatly-written jokes. And even after they get to the dragon, the writing continues to be fairly top-notch, keeping me entertained throughout.
Whilst I wouldn't go so far as to call it a fantastic episode, it's certainly an entertaining one that gave a good first starring role to someone who soon became one of my favourite characters.
9 - The Last Roundup:
When this episode first came out I gave it a rather harsh review, but now that some time has passed and I've watched it a few more times, I realise that it's far better than I initially gave it credit for.
Applejack has always been one of my favourites of the main cast and yet despite that she hasn't had anywhere near as many brilliant episodes devoted to her character like the others have. In fact for a long time she was pretty much forgotten as a character to focus on for much of the series, so it was nice for me to finally get another episode devoted to her in the second season.
The mystery regarding Applejack's choices here was very well done, as was the humour found in much of the story. Pinkie Pie's actions in particular were absolutely hilarious and had me in stitches for much of the third act.
Does it have it's flaws? Oh certainly, and there are still elements about the story that bug me. But in spite of that, this episode really has grown on me over the last couple of months and it really is far better than I originally thought. But then again the fact that it's on my top ten list should have made that obvious.
8 - Party of One:
Pinkie Pie was a character that I had a great deal of trouble in liking for the first few episodes I watched. She reminded me far too much of many of the overly-annoying and bubbly characters that irritate me in other shows, so she ended up dropping down in my opinion of her frequently. Seeing her usually up-beat attitude get replaced for one of cynicism and mistrust provided a great deal of character development for her that she didn't really have much of before this episode.
On top of that it's easily one of the funniest episode's the show has given me so far. All of the jokes made me laugh and made me laugh hard. From Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash's blatantly obvious attempts to get out of Pinkie's party, to Pinkie rampage across Ponyville, to her imaginary friends party, all of the humour here was done so well that it easily stands as one of the single most entertaining, though not necessarily deepest, stories the show has created.
But then I saw this episode and all that changed.
7 - A Friend in Deed:
This one I like for a very personal reason. It reminds me of a time in my life when I was very much like the guest character, Cranky. I was bitter, anti-social and never wanted anything to do with anyone. If I hadn't had people around me to help me get out of being like that, I'd probably still be the way he was during most of this episode.
So I suppose you could call this episode a sort of reflection of my early life, staring out grouchy and cynical before eventually getting to be more friendly and less uncomfortable around others. Pinkie during most of this episode reminds me very much of the kinds of people I had around me during that time. Sure they were annoying to me, but if they hadn't been there, my life would have turned out much differently.
Few episodes have spoken to me on a level like this before and it really did give me a great appreciation for it, making it more than worthy of a spot on the list.
6 - Suited for Success:
When I was making this list I knew that one of Rarity's focus episodes would eventually make it on here. Despite not being one of my favourites of the main cast, many of Rarity's episodes have been, in my opinion at least, some of the most entertaining and well told of any of the stores given to us by the series, specifically, this episode, "Sweet and Elite" and "Sisterhooves Social".
I chose this one because although I don't think it's "better" than those other two Rarity episodes per se, it has one element that the other two lack. It was the first episode to make me appreciate Rarity as a character. Before this episode Rarity struck me as the kind of character I'd grow to dislike. She seemed to embody many of the stereotypically "girly" things that I hoped the series would avoid.
But after seeing this episode that opinion changed greatly, much in the same way that "Party of One changed my opinion on Pinkie Pie. Oh sure, she could be very girly from time to time and I'd never say that that was an automatic bad thing, but this episode showed just how much of a caring and generous character she is. She work and work without asking for anything in return and after much stress and mental breakdown, she manages to get what she's been working towards.
Couple that with some fantastic voice work from Tabitha St Germain and one of the best songs in the series and you have one very good episode.
5 - The Best Night Ever:
The season one finale was a pretty interesting episode for me because it seemed like the first time this ensemble cast of main character was actually being used like a proper ensemble.
To me, most of the episodes of the series tend to focus on one character, maybe two, with the others providing supporting roles. Here is the first, and probably ONLY time that all six managed to have a story of their own. And each of those stories helped to cap off their character and the development they'd had over the course of the series, like Rainbow Dash's need to please the Wonderbolts, Pinkie's love of parties etc.
But despite all these stories they never felt like they were treading on each other's toes. They all had their moments to shine and gave a clear impression that this was an inter-connected story that whilst certainly good on their own, worked even better when told together, which really does seem like an embodiment of the series core principles, "stronger together than apart".
4 - Luna Eclipsed:
I'm sure many of you out there in the MLP fandom are happy to see this episode on my list. However, I'll say right now that my reasons for putting it on here are probably not the reasons you were expecting.
Sure, having Luna make her greatly-anticipated was great and it was certainly nice to see her character and how she's changed since her introduction. But what really elevates this episode in my eyes was not Luna, but Twilight. Specifically, her attempts to help Luna make friends amongst the ponies of Ponyville.
To me, this is where the real strength of the episode lies. Twilight, a character who started the series finding it difficult to make friends, now serves as a teacher to someone who finds herself in the exact same position for different reasons. Both have, at one point or another, been the outsiders of this community and so it really does help to strengthen Twilight's character by providing Luna with the kind of "friendship help" that she herself was never given. She's had to learn from the start of the series how important friends are and what has to be done to both make and keep them. And now she's using that education to help someone else in the same predicament.
It really did help to bring Twilight's character full-circle to me.
3 - Friendship is Magic (AKA, the series Pilot):
Pilot episodes in any series are incredibly difficult to pull off, and in a kids show it's especially difficult. Past experience has taught me that a show's opening moments can either make or break it most of the time.
And these two episodes most definitely made it.
It manages to successfully establish both the world, the story and the characters all in a relatively short amount of time. Yet it accomplishes this without feeling rushed, which is even harder to get right. So many times I've seen pilot episodes and the impression I always get is "this is the story and these are the characters, enjoy" without ever giving me either time or reason to care about it. But here, the pacing and the writing are all done well enough that we're given reason to care.
Couple that with an interesting story and characters that provided a great deal of entertainment, and this series can certainly say that is started with a bang. It made it clear right from the start that this series and it's story was going to be taken seriously. It wasn't all about stereotypically "girly" adventures, but a show that right away tells us that it's just trying to be good. And it most certainly was.
2 - A Canterlot Wedding:
This episode is barely a week old and yet it's managed to shoot it's way up to become my number two. That alone is a testament to the quality of this episode.
But what really makes this episode stand out for me was, and I'm know I'm going to sound incredibly corny for saying this, it's heart. It had a real sense of emotion for me from beginning to end. From Twilight's melancholic and nostalgic remembrance of her brother, to the prospect of their relationship being destroyed, to the absolute anger I felt at the episode's villain for having done all this wickedness, to the genuine happiness I felt when everything worked out in the end. This episode knew how to push all of the right buttons for me to both admire and respect it, both on a story level and on a deeper emotional level.
In fact, I'm not going to sugarcoat it folks. I have absolutely fallen in love with this episode. There was not a single moment I wasn't invested in the story and the characters.
And speaking of the characters, this episode should also be praised for handling all of it's characters, both old and new, with a great deal of respect. All of the established main character shine as much as they have ever done, especially Twilight, who manages to provide the real emotional centre of the entire story. And the new characters get handled brilliantly too. Twilight's brother, Shining Armour, and his budding bride-to-be, Princess Cadence, were both written in such a fashion that you completely forget that they've only been introduced in this episode. I can't think of a single time someone has done that in a series and pulled it off. They've only been in two episodes and yet they already feel like family to me.
This episode and everything in it was a work of absolute genius and also, in my opinion, absolute proof that this series can go toe-to-toe with the best of any animated show that has ever been made.
And now the moment of truth, my number one episode.
1 - The Return of Harmony:
I've praised this episode a great deal since it's airing and given how much I've piled such positive comments around this site it should be no surprise that this became my number one. However, what you probably aren't expecting me to say is that I do not consider this episode to be as good as "A Canterlot Wedding". Whilst the characters development, the story and the writing were all top-notch as one would expect from an MLP two-parter, I felt that those elements weren't as refined as they were with the most recent two-parter.
So you're probably asking right now "if you don't think this is as good as your number two episode, why is it your number one". The answer to that question is very simple.
This episode manages to make it to my number one position for one reason and one reason only. It is the episode that turned me into a Brony in the first place.
Don't get me wrong. I certainly liked and admired the series before I saw this episode. But it was watching this two-parter that first made me realise how much I cared about it's characters. When I saw what they were going through and saw how broken up their group became during the course of the story, I suddenly realised how much I cared about Twilight and the others. It was a turning point for me and it's largely the reason why've I've continued to watch, review and love the series as much as I have done.
But let me say right now that if this two-parter did NOT have that element to it, if it wasn't the episode that turned me into a Brony, it would not be the number one choice for me. It would most likely have been number two, possibly even number three behind the pilot. It gets the number one spot by the skin of it's teeth.
So that's all I have to say about this list. I hope you enjoyed reading it and I hope that you weren't too disappointed by my choices.