As a New Year's treat to myself, (and also because that date ended my self-imposed cartoon episode embargo) I have started watching Season 9 of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic with The Beginning of the End and Uprooted. Like with Seasons 7 and 8, I had a very clear preference out of the first two episodes. I saw The Beginning of the End as a solid two-parter, especially brought up by Discord's role being executed excellently, and most other aspects being good except I didn't like that Twilight regressed into her earlier seasons freaking out motions in some scenes. However it wasn't quite as good as the best season openers (The Return of Harmony and The Cutie Map). I saw Uprooted as forgettable at best though due to it being extremely similar to the disagreement plot of rebuilding a destroyed monument Castle Sweet Castle had, except with the Student Six instead of the Mane Six. While not degrading exactly or the worst episode I've newly seen this decade, I'd recommend seeing or reseeing Castle Sweet Castle first to see the major retreads it has. Twilight freaks out in it too so this episode isn't even an edge in her characterization.
