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| "Logan's actually finished this?" |
S7E07: "Parental Glideance"
My original rating: ★★★★
IMDb score: 7.7
Thoughts:
I am a huge fan of Scootaloo,¹ so I'm delighted to have a Scootasode to mark the 150th MLR. I really liked it in 2017, and I still really like it now. Her utter hero-worship of anything Dash is both cute and funny, and Rainbow's parents are entertaining too – I'm glad they weren't recurring characters, mind, as they'd have been a bit much. We get a gut-punch moment (even more so now) about how Scoot's parents weren't that supportive, and a heartbreaking little sideshow moment for Derpy. The Wonderbolts are very solid, too, with a great sense of camaraderie. Josh Hamilton's MLP writing debut was easily the best of his four episodes; it's a shame he couldn't match this. I still feel Dash's parents get off a tad lightly for what really was excessive behaviour, but I still love this ep and the large amounts of ecstatic Scootaloo we get, and it still gets a four.
¹ Less of a fan of huge Scootaloo, but we'll get to that in two seasons' time...
Choice quote: Bow Hot Hoof: "Great timing." Scootaloo: "Great door!"
New rating: ★★★★
Next on the list is "Hard to Say Anything", the slightly strange episode that introduced SugarMac to the fandom. I didn't like it all that much first time round, and I can't say I'm hugely optimistic of a massive about-turn. Though who can say?
and it still gets a four.
ReplyDeleteNew rating: ★★★
Oh, my dear, sweet Logan, you do appear to have fallen afoul of the old "copying the template and missing changing some details" boo-boo. :D
The consensus since this came out is that it's the first properly good episode of Season Seven, and it's hard to dispute that. It is still unmistakably an episode of this era, even apart from Dash being a Bolt, with a rather more sitcom approach to the writing and dialogue, and DHX slacking on an internal, consistent world in the visuals (core Bolts being foals when RD was in the flashback). But it manages to turn most of that into a strength, or at least mostly mitigate the deficiencies.
While there is still some suspension of disbelief to be hoof-waved in Dash's parents only appearing now, the episode has a decent excuse for it, one that allows for them to be entertaining too. It's easy but also natural to read into their portrayal that they are kinda squares who have long since settled into quiet lives (Windy's collection of Celestia commemorative plates, no?), and live vicariously through their daughter.
The cringe in their gushing and embarrassment is unquestionably stretched for "effect", but it has a believable root that makes it not too hard to sit through. Compare and contrast with "Newbie Dash" last year! Which is also something this episode corrects that on, with possibly the best showing for the Bolts yet. Granted, they're peripheral players, but they are supportive and not mean to Dash even when there are many places where they could have been (hell, Fleetfoot is nice).
The sitcom-ness does strip the episode of much of its organic character by how it just brushes over that Dash's parents are properly embarrassing in the resolution. I can mostly overlook this by a lot of the comedy throughout being quite good (the sound effects door is the right kind of meta joke for this show), and for Scoots have such a stellar showing. She stood in for many fans with her screeching at meeting Dash's parents when this was new, I'm sure, and all the way on the other end, her confession to Dash is quite touching, being the kind of "we can't say the truth about her lack of onscreen parents, but we can imply it so heavily it doesn't feel like a cop out". And foreknowledge of… a certain Season Nine episode does make it hit harder, yes.
It's easy to overvalue this because of the okay-to-weak-to-bad episodes its in the company of – in any season before Six, this would likely miss cracking the top third. But you don't look a gift horse in the mouth, so I'll take it. If this season is to be largely trying to do old-style episode in its new format, or expand on missing holes in canon, it delivers with this one.
Oh, boy, though, we are back to a rough stretch afterwards. Only episode of the next four I have positive feelings for is "Honest Apple" (yes, yes, "A Royal Problem"; my feelings on that one are well clear by now, and I see no need to repeat them, here or when it rolls around). Still, it'll be worth it for "The Perfect Pear".
Josh Hamilton's MLP writing debut was easily the best of his four episodes
I checked his credits off of this, and sheesh, you're right. I'd guessed it was because he got squashed under the "talents" of Nicole Dubuc, as many writers who previously wrote decently did, but no, two of his other three are in this season. The Spike-dumb-cringe of "Triple Threat" and the passable-but-whiffy early-show mimicry of "Secrets and Pies". Not a good look indeed…
By this point in the show, I was so entrenched in being a Dash hater that I was over the moon about her having super-cringey parents. :D Worst pony deserves them!
ReplyDeleteGranted, I don't think they're the best concept speaking in terms of developing her character (though still far, far better than the horribly-crafted Shy Parents), and they do go a bit far with the cringe, but I did like them as characters in their own right, the whole "living vicariously through their kid" thing.
And yeah, the flasback scenes might not have made sense in the grand scheme of things, but the story they tell about Derpy was excellent.
The first two acts are really good; the set up is solid, and the conflict plays out really well. The third act, however, is where things fall flat.
ReplyDeleteNamely, this comes down to how Rainbow Dash is somehow seen as being in the wrong when she chews out her parents for being overbearing. It doesn't really help that her parents aren't shown apologizing to their daughter for embarrassing her in front of the other Wonderbolts, which leads to a questionable moral at the end of the episode. If anything, both parties could've talked things out - Rainbow Dash explaining (calmly) why she doesn't contact her parents that much, and her parents making an effort to support their daughter without being overbearing.
It's a shame that they didn't go that direction, because the episode would've been Top 10 material otherwise. Or at least, an honorable mention.
Agreed. In my case, this is very much Season Seven's "A Friend in Deed": the first third is a winner all on its own as sheer joyfest; the second third doesn't hit that high but does enough interesting things that I'm willing to play ball; the last third is a bad case of "What the hell happened!?"
DeleteThe episode being biased in Scootaloo's favour is great for the first third because, seriously, she and Rainbow's parents are goddamn adorable and I seriously want Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles to adopt her and have done with it, bless them. It's like the Rainbow Dash Fan Club equivalent of listening to the Smile Song. Mike points out the door gag as a particularly meta highlight, and yeah, it absolutely is. Funny, character-driven, and a delightful play on tropes: what's not to like?
I don't even mind the reveal that RD's parents are overbearing to the point of harassment. It'd be wrong to just have perfect parents, and at least it's a flaw that casts an interesting light on Rainbow herself. Both because of the implications of her validation-seeking from others, and because of the lack of involvement in her family life up till now (the explanation for why they've never heard about the daughter they absolutely fawn over wobbles too much, though, and I think it needed a better explanation - like, they travelled the world and only recently got back, or something). Heck, Scootaloo being oblivious to the flaw fits, as her relationship with Rainbow Dash is part-fangirling, and this would've been a great opportunity to criticize that.
It's when we hit Rainbow's breaking point and the episode's still on Scootaloo's side that it starts to feel outright unfair. Fine, Rainbow shouldn't have blown up at her parents, but it's not like she had many options. This is stalkerish behaviour, family or no family. Even when Scootaloo hears her side of the story, it comes across as being brushed aside in favour of Scoots' own issues way too quickly. I legitimately feel it was poorly balanced.
Especially that comedic ending. Just as RD's parents start feeling how embarrassing it must've been for someone to go to so much trouble for them... they go right back to the same obnoxious behaviour. Come the heck on.
Overall, it delivers the first unambiguous high of the season, but it's too bipolar for me to award it full marks. Probably a mid-three, if I'm generous? (The opening gets as close to a five as a pedant can give, so that's something).
That flashback is canonical nonsense, though. Lightning Dust alone is unforgiveable.
DeleteLoved the Derpy tragedy in this one, and that it also got developed in... I don't remember episode titles that well. "Where the Apple Lies," I think. I always wondered whether this was supposed to tie into Derpy's S1 appearance at the Best Young Flyer Competition or if it was just serendipity.
ReplyDeleteDash's parents were fine, and it doesn't hurt that Windy Whistle's character design is adorable. And yes, it was nice to see lots of stuff go Scootaloo's way for once.
One of the high points of this season for me.