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| "Didn't I already do this five seasons ago?" |
13 Aug 2016
My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 6.1
Thoughts: Another episode that was generally rather poorly received by the fandom, and frankly I was surprised to look back and discover that I'd awarded it three stars in its day. This was the only episode ever written by F. M. DeMarco, though they had done some Littlest Pet Shop work before. Maybe it's that inexperience that explains Rarity's repeated and uncharacteristic use of "Dash" for Rainbow. More to the point, it's also much more a S2 or so episode than an S6 one; Rainbow's character feels regressed. (So does Fluttershy's timidity.) A few of her pranks are amusing, such as the one she pulls on Pinkie – and the cookie one isn't the worst, really – but the brick in Mr Cake's burger is plain vicious. That's a prank for Bugs Bunny to pull on his enemies, not for Rainbow Dash to pull on a sympathetic MLP side character. The ep's pacing is rather rough, Dash isn't strong enough to lift a huge rock, and there's one of FiM's thankfully extremely rare fart jokes. On the plus side, the moral itself is fair enough, I liked Harry and the Filly Guides, and the score is atmospheric, with custom closing credits music returning. Best character this time is probably Pinkie Pie, who is significantly more sympathetic than Rainbow. This isn't a dreadful episode, and I think it's better than the last one. But it's being bumped down to an upper two. It just has too many little problems to get more.
Choice quote: Rarity: "They're probably all in a cookie coma right now."
New rating: ★★
Next
time, I'll be rewatching "The Times They Are a Changeling" – which brought us the first appearance of Thorax. Most see this as a step up again, and I'm expecting to do so too, though I didn't love the ep first time round.
