MLP Episode 913: Between Dark and Dawn

Well, we're at the last episode before the final hiatus of the show, excluding Rainbow Road Trip. Ever since the bombshell dropped about Twilight taking over for Celestia and Luna, the big question on everyone's mind has been, "Okay, then what?" As we've seen thus far, very little. Not a single episode felt like it belonged in season nine and instead felt like they were leftovers from previous seasons for the most part. The sole exception seems to be Frenemies, and that was atrocious. But now we're gonna see how the final mid-season finale goes.

Between Dark and Dawn

Written by Gail Simone

For pony's sake... This is practically the lovechild of A Royal Problem and Road to Friendship with bits of Once Upon a Zeppelin and Pinkie Apple Pie being sprinkled into the mix.

I'm sick of mentioning this, but it's now gone beyond its nadir. This retreading of older ground needs to be put to bed! It never hurts to exercise a little creativity, you know? Not only that, the way both Celestia and Luna are portrayed completely devalues what they learned from A Royal Problem. But that's not the biggest issue I've got with the episode, especially since the main story with them gives me very little to talk about.

The B-plot with the Mane Six, which I'm laser-focusing on for the review, further emphasizes my hatred for The Point of No Return. That episode seemed to tell me that Celestia and Luna were practically giving their duties to a pony with paranoid schizophrenia. I'm not kidding; that is a mental disorder that Twilight has, so what's going to happen the next time she freaks out? Send Equestria at war with itself?

Also, consider that in The Beginning of the End, Luna said that Equestria has endured its longest period of harmony in recent years. Yeah, if you can consider a wedding almost being crashed, a raging monster going loose and stealing magic, royalty and close friends being kidnapped, and even a filly committing treason as "harmonic", then I'd really hate to see what things were like before Twilight and her friends obtained control of the Elements of Harmony...! But seriously; why would Luna make such a claim if we see evidence contrary to her statements?

Taking those facts into consideration, Twilight taking over for the sisters was probably an idiotic idea to begin with. I don't care if it was an idea Lauren Faust had planned from the start, but consider Twilight's history with acting without thinking as well as her ignorance to obvious problems from season six onward. Hell, this episode specifically shows her brushing off Fancy Pants' concerns, thinking that she knows best.

Here's something the writers have seemingly forgotten; Twilight is meant to be the voice of reason for the Mane Six! Yes, she has flaws, and without them, you'd border on making her a Mary Sue, and we know how despised many of them are. But you can also go too far the other end as well by exaggerating her flaws, making her an idiot at best or a toxic leader at worst. This episode and The Point of No Return are prime examples of that. This is what's known as flanderization, taking a common trait the character is known for and exaggerating it to the point it feels like it's their sole personality trait.

You know who would've been a better choice to take over for Celestia and Luna? Fluttershy. Out of the Mane Six, she's grown the most in terms of maturity, she's not afraid to stand up for herself in recent episodes, and she's even shown genuine concern for her peers, pony or otherwise. Heck, why do you think Celestia trusted her in redeeming Discord back in season three?

Getting back to Celestia's and Luna's story, they reconcile, fly back to Canterlot, and then the episode just... stops. Yeah, that's how they end it, and we never see them help Twilight in handling the raising and setting of the sun and the moon. This is also what happened in Fame and Misfortune with the story stopping at a completely random point. The Movie also stopped at a random point, but at least it felt like it was meant to bring the story and Tempest's character arc to a close. Here? It just stops because... reasons.

The only good aspect about this episode is Celestia and Luna's duet, and hearing them sing together is one of those "once a show" moments. And the sisters' performances by Nicole Oliver and Tabitha St. Germain (and Aloma Steele when Luna sings) shine through despite the thoroughly awful script.

Final Thoughts

This is one of the most abysmally written episodes of the entire series. It's pretty much the culmination of all the problems I've had with season nine thus far; retreading old ground (and doing nothing to make it stand out on its own), unfortunate implications, and an uninteresting end result. It almost feels like the writers simply aren't invested in the show anymore and want it to end. But even if you disregard the fact that it's the final season of the show, that's no excuse to not put in any effort into the writing.

I'm more frustrated than ever about the problems surrounding Twilight's character arc piling up. In fact, I may end up doing a follow-up post about it. Twilight needs to get her shit together by the time the finale airs in October; otherwise... Equestria's royally fucked.

Rating: Atrocious (-10/10)