I’ll take a stab at it.
The first problem is that Starlight isn’t presented as sympathetic until the episode is almost over. If you want to have a villain reform, then you have to set it up beforehand by humanizing the character.
The second problem is with Starlight’s backstory; it’s underdeveloped at best, and weak at worst. I’m willing to accept that her friend moving away because of events beyond her control was what lead to her need to be in control, but there’s a ton of connective tissue missing.
The third problem is that the episode ends on too bright of a tone. It should have ended with the sense that Starlight is on extremely thin ice, and will need to work very hard to redeem herself. It should not have ended with everyone singing and being friends.
But the elephant in the room is her plan in The Cutie Re-Mark. Specifically, the optics. Technically speaking, the bad timelines aren’t even that big of an issue. Either there’s only one timeline, in which case no harm done, really. Or, there are infinite timelines, in which case everyone has created bad timelines, and she just created a few more than everyone else. Plus, she wasn’t intentionally creating the bad timelines. So when you get right down to it, what she did wasn’t actually that bad.
Now, I can sit here and logically explain this. But at the end of the day, it still feels like Starlight nearly destroyed the world because her childhood friend moved away, and was just instantly forgiven for it.
But I’d argue that’s not even the biggest issue.
This should have been the moment Starlight gave up the fight. She’s the well-intentioned extremist, and this is the first time she has to confront the consequences of her actions and see the bigger picture. She should not need more persuading after this.
@Vivace
Speak of The Devil and he will appear.