Season 1 of 'My Little Pony: Pony Life' was not good. The worst episodes were very poor indeed and the best ones were still rather average. Some episodes did have some good concepts, but none were lived up to in execution. Season 2 however did see some improvement, with a couple of above average episodes, but again none of the episodes were that good and there were still weak episodes (not as many though). Did like the concepts for both segments of this episode, especially for "The Crystal Capturing Contraption".
The good news is that both "Cute Impact" and "The Crystal Capturing Contraption" are among the best, or more like among the least problematic, episodes of 'My Little Pony: Pony Life' and there are improvements in the writing and character writing compared to usual. Neither are particularly great either, with the stories not being strong enough and the quality of both are inconsistent. Inconsistent is at least a good deal better than mediocre or downright weak like most of Season 1, but both could have been so much more. Especially "Cute Impact".
In both episodes there are good things. The best aspect is the voice acting which is very good all round, full of energy and nuanced. The character writing 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 (especially in "The Crystal Capturing Contraption") and the supporting ones are actually interesting and not obnoxious.
Also thought that there is a little more humour than usual and some of it is actually amusing. Both episodes also start off very well.
Really do wish that the promising starts were maintained throughout. Both stories are on the whole too thin and mostly pretty uneventful, "Cute Impact" ran out of ideas too early and the ending of "The Crysyal Capturing Contraption" lacks excitement. While the morals are very well intended and are not laid on too thick, they are also very rehashed and have been done before and better on the infinitely superior 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic'. While the writing has a little more spark than the usual 'Pony Life' episode, it is still too bland and too simple.
While the character writing improves vastly here, none of the main characters have much complexity and are a bit too one dimensional. The animation lacks imagination and looks rushed and the music is high school quality with a grating theme tune.
Overall, better than most episodes of the show but neither come off as well as they could have done. 5/10.