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| This shot really underlines how Rainbow has matured emotionally and LD hasn't |
Written by Merriwether Williams
15 Dec 2012
My original rating: 7/10 (=★★★)
IMDb score: 8.2
The one with Pinkie emerging from the mailbox
Thoughts: For reasons I now can't remember, The Hub had a two-week gap between "Sleepless in Ponyville" and this next episode. For my money, it's one of Merriwether Williams' few definite hits. Lightning Dust is a hugely watchable character, though it's a bit of a shame that (as we learn five seasons later) she doesn't really learn much from her ejection from the Academy. Rainbow herself demonstrates how she's matured since the start of the show, and that's something I really do appreciate. As for Spitfire? I've softened a bit towards her portrayal, but this is a kid-friendly version of Sgt Hartman, a character type I find frankly tiresome. (Most real-life militaries do not take this very American "break them before you make them" approach, incidentally.) The two best scenes are confrontations: first when Rainbow snaps at Lightning Dust for her who-cares attitude to the tornado's consequences, and second when Dash quits. That scene had a real gut-punch impact when we saw it the first time. A bit less so now we know Rainbow's future, but still. Pinkie's portrayal can feel a bit over the top for this late in the series, and I'm afraid I still don't much like Bulk Biceps. Nice to see Twilight Sparkle's Balloon, though! Overall, an entertaining episode with a little extra emotional punch, but slightly let down by its flaws. I'll stick with a three-star rating.
Choice quote: Applejack: "Is anypony else followin' this?"
New rating: ★★★
Next up is "Apple Family Reunion". I was distinctly underwhelmed with that episode in 2012, but I'm cautiously hopeful I may enjoy it more this time around.
I still maintain that this is an episode where a character who is not Rainbow Dash is punished for acting like Rainbow Dash while Rainbow Dash just sits by and watches innocently. The actual Rainbow Dash went back to being horrible immediately after this episode aired, and I absolutely hate it.
ReplyDeleteXD You're not wrong.
DeleteI want to like this episode, I really do especially as it has one of RD's finest hours. But I really don't like this at all, the ending feels rushed and uninspired, Lighting Dust rubs me the wrong way plus this episode really does make the Wonderbolts look like a bunch of jerks (Rainbow Falls doesn't help either!) Overall I sadly have to rate this one of the worst of the entire series.
ReplyDeleteThe Wonderbolts are pretty useless a lot of the time! But I'd take them in this over their "Rainbow Falls" behaviour any day. :P
DeleteOne of my favourite Season Three episodes, a category of definitely four members and maybe six if I treat the opening two-parter kindly.
ReplyDeleteWhat can I say? I just really clicked with this episode. The Wonderbolts HQ is - unlike a lot of pegasus architecture up to this point - set on a plateau, and I find that just intriguing enough to consider it a good start. The training camp setting is actually pretty neat, combining aircraft carrier, the usual Greek-inspired touches, and military barracks all in one. It's a design I really dig.
This is also where the background pegasus cliques started to crystallize for me. "Hurricane Fluttershy" set the trend with unique and distinctive pegasus designs (such as Flitter and Blossomforth), but this is where a solid core group emerges, including the haplessly naive Meadow Flower (the cadet who replaced Wildfire and who gets their turn on the Dizzitron). It's just a really nice turnout for the pegasi.
I really like how we got to explore the little tricks and lessons needed to pass into the Wonderbolts. The obstacle courses, the Dizzitron (which has a ludicrously deadly maximum setting - I love the silly gag involving the labels on the dial), and some nice heart-pumping action bits such as the flag hunt and the cloud tornado spinout. It's not as inventive as "Sonic Rainboom", but this is a world-building episode I can appreciate.
Lightning Dust is, of course, a major draw. She emerges as pretty obviously callous, but I like how the episode manages to make her pretty disarmingly charming too, even when she's breezily explaining why knocking all other racers for a loop is perfectly natural.
People compare her to an early seasons Rainbow Dash. I think those people are wrong.
Unlike early Rainbow Dash, Lightning Dust isn't some bombastic or secretly lazy "awesome bro": she operates on different logic. She exudes way too much genuinely calm, cool confidence for that, her laid-back smugness combined with a monstrous appetite for ambition that makes Rainbow look merely idle.
She's dangerous, and yet she manages to hide it for a long time under a plausible-sounding "no hard feelings" competitive philosophy. Rainbow Dash was a blunt instrument. Lightning Dust is a knife.
Even at the end, it's interesting to see the only bit of uncertainty is when the worst consequences of her actions catch up to her. She's not just caught out: she's outright confused by the idea that, since nothing bad ultimately happened, there was anything bad actually done. There's a lot of ways to take her subsequent denial: genuine apathy, a facade to cover up her mistake, even perhaps feeling genuinely shaken by the idea she's been allowed to go too far for once. It's just a short scene with a little animation, but it's one of the reasons the ending (for the longest time) was so ambiguous, and I love it for that.
She's very much her own realized character, and that's what makes her such a great addition to the show.
Lastly, while it gets defused by a last-minute happy ending, the episode deserves tremendous credit for showing Rainbow Dash's loyalty in a new light.
I remember someone once saying that this was an example of Rainbow staying loyal not to anyone in particular, but to herself, and to her integrity.
The episode does a great job of putting her alongside someone who could do a lot to push her envelope re: getting into the Wonderbolts, but she clearly has doubts about the increasingly ruthless means used to get there, and eventually decides for herself that her lifelong goal is not worth sacrificing her conscience. That's a masteful way to characterize her, and I only wish the episode had the nerve to go with that with more commitment.
As it is, it still remains a fantastic glimpse at Rainbow Dash's potential.
So because this episode does so much just right for me, I think it's good enough to surpass what are, admittedly, some significant flaws in execution.
Another bit I quite like re: Lightning Dust is her massive sudden impatience during the obstacle course race. It's a weirdly relatable scene for me too, because when your ambition is sky-high, even the smallest obstacle can easily generate a hostile response.
DeleteIt's notably the only other time Lightning's cool mask slips, and given her mindset, it's a very understandable reaction: who hasn't wished senseless violence on people blocking their way? Who hasn't made a pointless race out of a non-racing event despite being explicitly told "it's not a race"?
It's even useful to contrast with Rainbow, who just sees an opportunity to show off there. But Lightning Dust is so single-minded and frustrated in her self-imposed challenge that all she sees is something to attack at the first opportunity.
And then there's also her dismissal of Rainbow's injury. Somehow, I get the impression Lightning Dust is the sort who'd grit her teeth and soldier on even if her own wing was injured: her insane dedication leads to a willingness to take risks. Her starting a stunt troupe in "The Washouts" later certains adds fuel to the fires of speculation.
Have I mentioned Lightning Dust is a big part of why I like this episode? :P
But yes, there are flaws. Although I'm personally ambivalent about it, I don't know what to make of Spitfire's Drill Sergeant Nasty turn.
ReplyDeleteI guess at this point you could chalk it up to a role she was playing, but it still feels very left-field compared with prior portrayals. It kinda works if we're going for a "never meet your heroes" vibe, but the fact it gets turned around at the last minure weakens that approach.
Also, do you notice that Spitfire randomly does not supervise the last event herself despite being present for all the others, the one with the tornado? It feels like a very contrived change once you notice it.
(That said, I don't really care much for more militarily inspired criticisms of how the events of the episode were handled, e.g. how Lightning talked back at the beginning, firstly because artistic license in a fantasy setting in favour of an interesting plot and themes, and not least of all because I'm not fully convinced the Wonderbolts are a genuine military force anyway.)
The ending, like I said, feels a bit incomplete. It helps with some juicy ambiguity over e.g. whether Lightning was kicked out or just demoted, but given how mature the episode was prior to this, it feels like a bit of a letdown. Rainbow and the other cadets saluting each other is a great finisher, though.
Lastly, the only bits I liked with the B-plot involving Pinkie were Applejack pointing out how nonsensical it was. That should give you some idea of how much I care about the B-plot.
I suppose this episode is to me, to a lesser degree, what "Sleepless in Ponyville" was to you: clearly flawed in some ways, but personal resonance means I rate it higher than some might expect from a purely "objective" analysis.
Best bit in this episode is when the Wonderbolt catches falling Fluttershy, then realizes she's a pegasus, and gives her that look.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, that was a brilliant little moment. I half wish there'd been a follow-up to that much later in the show, after Rainbow had become a full-fledged Wonderbolt, but you can't win 'em all.
DeleteI find both Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash to be executed largely wonderfully in this episode, and I don't even find much issue with Spitfire (though Impossible Numbers is right in that her not supervising the last event of cloud clearing when she was present for the rest is contrived if you think about it). With "Rainbow Falls", that's a different story - the treatment of her and Fleetfot is both worse there and less excusable after the events of this episode.
ReplyDeleteBut the B-plot with Pinkie was such a huge bust - the opening scene is fine, but the scene of Pinkie being ramped up to 11 back in Ponyville before they decide to visit is, bar an observation from Applejack or two, very infuriating in the exaggeration of her character (I guess what I feel here is what some others feel about her in Fillips Vanilli). It's not even needed - just showing the Mane 5 (and ideally Spike too, guy needs to stop getting shafted) riding up in the balloon as they do in the episode, with one line of dialogue about looking forward to visiting Rainbow with a care package, would have done the trick, and given some extra screen time back to other aspects of the episode that, while I felt were grand, could have been used to smooth out parts commonly cited as problematic. The original ending of Dust still being there but as a wing pony, for instance.
Baring that, it's surprising how well this one works - Season 3 really turned Rainbow Dash around between "Sleepless in Ponyville" and this. The effective characterisation of Dash is there for us all to see, and Lightning hits the nice spot of being similar to what Rainbow would be like without friends to keep her in check, but far more sure of herself (Impossible Numbers' analogy of a blunt instrument to a knife is beautifully concise here). The episode remains fun and fast-paced, with nifty visual designs for the landscapes, objects and new Pegasi, and William Anderson's score uses some millitary-esque motifs quite effectively.
All that considered, this one is an 8/10 for me - even apart from the bust of a B-plot, there are a few minor questionable things about it. But for such a winner of a Dash episode (only "Sonic Rainboom" and "Read It and Weep" thus far would outclass it there), I admire it greatly.
Now, whoa boy... Season 3 gets a lot rougher going forward. There isn't a single episode left of the remaining six that that doesn't have some big issue, regardless of whether one agrees with it or not. Let's prepares ourselves for some heated discussions, me thinks.
Pretty good, though Pinkie was a bit too over the top, and I agree it was a shame Lightning Dust never learned anything from it. if I liked the episode for one thing, it was the interesting kinds of tests the recruits were subjected to and some nice background characters added to fill out the class.I probably would have rated it a little lower than you, but still in the 3-star range.
ReplyDelete