'My Little Pony: Pony Life' "One Last Wish/Wild Heart Beats" (2021)
Opening thoughts: Actually found the first half of Season 2 to be a big improvement over the whole of Season 1, as all the episodes from "Cute Impact"/"The Crystal Capturing Contraption" to "Time After Time Capsule"/"The Great Cowgirl Hat Robbery" were average to decent, which for 'My Little Pony: Pony Life' is an achievement. The latter half on the whole unfortunately saw a big decline in quality and it was like the improvement seen in the season's first half never happened.
Both "One Last Wish" and "Wild Heart Beats" had could go either wag concepts. The latter sounded more intriguing, but was a little apprehensive at the same time with it being Discord-heavy and this show did not do a good job with Discord. As far as 'Pony Life' goes, "One Last Wish" and "Wild Heart Beats" is one of the best, or at least more tolerable, double bills and an alright way to end a weak shoe. My feelings though were pretty mixed, but considering that most episodes of 'Pony Life' are mediocre at best and many even pretty poor that is an achievement.
Good things: Both segments have good things. The best aspect is the voice acting which is very good all round, full of energy and nuance. The character writing for the Mane 6 is some of the best of the show up to this date and overall, with all the main characters not having flaws exaggerated and having good intentions. They are in character and the chemistry does feel like a friendship and well connected.
Where a lot of the character writing and chemistry were heartfelt and heart-warming and there is advancement rather than regression. The moralising is less predictable than usual and is more sincere and more subtle. There is more humour than usual, a fun musical number that is a lot less grating than most of the show's music. Of the two segments, "Wild Heart Beats" is more involving, has some nice energy and goes somewhere.
Bad things: A lot is not done well though. The animation is unimaginative and is rushed looking. The music still has the high school quality with the theme tune still grating on the ears. The storytelling on the whole is predictable and lacking in imagination and momentum, especially "One Last Wish".
Also thought that the pacing could have been a good deal tighter in places, "One Last Wish" is extremely thin and doesn't go anywhere too much of the time, and some of the humour is too forced and over simple. Particularly with Discord, who can be very annoying and mean spirited, so it was not always easy to sympathise with him when we were meant to. Peter New doesn't have the same level of zany comic timing of John DeLancie and generally the voice doesn't fit the character.
Closing thoughts: Overall, very mixed feelings here.
5/10.
