Overthinking MLP:FIM S2E7

An Overthought Review of MLP:FIM S2E7

Note: This is a personal response, not an objective statement of quality.  Also, here be spoilers.

0:00-1:14: Seriously, that pet combination looks like something out of Salvadore Dali

I have to admit, the dream thing was a nice touch.  I think I stared at my screen for like 30 seconds when Owlowiscious sprouted Winona's head.  I mean, the owl managing to keep up with Rainbow Dash is a bit odd, but "poof! I'm now a dog!" caught me off guard.  The entire thing where all the pets get sort of melded into one hideous abomination was priceless, in a disturbing sort of way.  The scene after Rainbow Dash wakes up basically reminds the viewer of all the various pets that the main cast has, in case we don't remember them from the first season.  That's the main purpose of the opening, and it does a pretty good job of that.

1:14-1:50: Introduction

1:50-3:24: Okay, so maybe I do want a pet

Ultimately, Rainbow Dash decides that she'd rather not be left out, and that she wants a pet.  Naturally, Fluttershy is absolutely elated at the prospect of helping Rainbow Dash get a pet.  All of the main cast is involved in this scene in some way or another, and I think it hits a nice balance between being obviously focused on Rainbow Dash, while still managing to give the other ponies something to do.  I normally wouldn't have noticed it, but I think that it sticks out a bit more after the past few episodes were more tightly focused on individual characters.  As a result, it's nice to see that all the ponies show up here.

It works especially well because it would be impossible to set up the conflict of the episode without them; Rainbow Dash isn't going to feel quite as left out if she has other friends in the main cast who also don't have pets, or don't take part in the pony pet playdate or whatever it's called.  It means that out of the cast, none of them are superfluous; even if their role in the episode is rather small (like Rarity, Twilight, and Applejack) there's still a good reason to have them present.

Also the way Fluttershy keeps nodding after Pinkie Pie stops grabbing her head is adorable.

3:24-7:04 Singing!

Okay, I have to admit that normally I'm hardly enthusiastic about songs.  I don't dislike them, but I don't get particularly worked up over them either.  Despite that, I really enjoyed this one.  I think part of it is that it isn't totally gratuitously musical, by which I mean that there's actually a reason for the song to happen other than "hey, let's toss a song in".  Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are so enthusiastic about what they're doing that the "randomly bursting into song" thing isn't so random.  Rainbow Dash is totally stocked at the prospect of getting a pet, and Fluttershy absolutely loves showing off all of her animals, and the singing just emphasizes the point.

The other great thing about this scene is that Fluttershy finally gets some decent screentime.  So far this season, she really hasn't gotten any focus; in the first four episodes she doesn't really get any focus, and she's totally absent in episodes 5 and 6, so seeing her finally get a nice long scene is really satisfying.  

This scene basically defines Rainbow Dash's criteria for what type of pet she wants, which basically sets up the lesson at the end of the episode.  She wants a pet that's basically as much like her as possible.  Or rather, a pet that she thinks is a lot like her, namely one that's cool, awesome, fast, and whatever other positive adjectives Rainbow Dash can come up with.  Of course, the lesson ends up being that her criteria for choosing a pet aren't the best ones, but that's more important later.  For now, all that really matters is that Rainbow Dash has a very specific idea of what she wants, and she knows how she's going to choose.

There's also some rather obvious foreshadowing here, as many people who watched the show noticed.  The moment the tortoise appears on screen, I'm pretty sure about half the viewers went "I bet that he's going to win".  Both the fact that one of the Rainbow Dash toys comes with a tortoise, and the sheer irony of Rainbow Dash having such a slow pet had a good chunk of the peripheral fanbase theorizing that she would end up with a turtle or other slow animal.  So the minute one actually showed up in the episode, the ending is really a forgone conclusion.

I know there have been some complaints about the predictability of the idea, but I don't think it's that big of a deal.  First of all, it's only dead obvious to most of us adult (or at least non-child) viewers because we've seen this kind of thing before; we're familiar with the whole "tortoise and the hare" story or any of the dozens of takes that various shows have done on it.  There's no guarantee that the intended audience knows the story (I'm sure some of them do), so it's fresh and new to them.  Second, even in that context, the story isn't played completely straight; even if you know it already, it's hardly carbon copied directly from the original version.  It's still hardly the most innovative take on the story, but it's mixed up enough to still be interesting for those who are familiar with the original.

Also, Derpy totally shows up in the henhouse at the very end of the song.  Because why not?

7:04-13:50 This is so much better than the Ms. America pageant

Despite this scene taking a sizable chunk of the episode, there surprisingly isn't a whole lot of plot development here.  It's mostly an expansion of Rainbow Dash's general attitude in the previous scene, interspersed with a bunch of gags involving the animals.  It's seems like it should be a bit of a waste of time, but it's entertaining enough that the length didn't really bother me.  Besides, there really aren't any other scenes in the episode that got rushed as a result, so I don't see it as much of a problem.  

While it doesn't introduce a whole lot of new material into the plot, it certainly expands on Rainbow Dash's motivation.  Her reactions to the various animals offer a lot of insight into what she values, not just concerning her pets, but in general.  A good example is the way that she differentiates Awesomeness, Radicallness, and coolness, and Twilight's reaction.  It demonstrates that Rainbow Dash tends to base everything on her personal preferences rather than any sort of objective metric.  Which makes sense in this specific circumstance because it's her pet, but it's quite easy to see how she extends this into other areas of her life.

Furthermore, this scene characterizes the various animals that are competing to be her pet.  I think it's a nice touch that there's no obvious forerunner; it shows that it's clearly a non-obvious choice that's going to force Rainbow Dash to think about her choice a bit more closely than just picking one animal that's obviously better than all the others.  It makes her conflicted, which is quite visible at the end of the episode when she makes her final decision.  

Lastly, it makes it even more obvious that Tank is going to be relevant.  The series of tests follows a sort of pattern, with Rainbow Dash watching the various animals and ranking them, followed by Tank attempting and failing something while Rainbow Dash does a facehoof at him.  I have to admit that Rainbow Dash is a bit of a jerk during this whole sequence, but really, this is exactly the type of thing she would do.  Her initial treatment of Tank is pretty harsh, but one has to remember that the entire tryout is entirely voluntary.  Yes, her standards are rather unreasonable, but it's not like she's forcing any of the animals participate.  That, and she made it rather clear from the beginning that a tortoise wasn't really what she was looking for, so to a degree it's sort of his own fault for subjecting himself to her complaints.  It doesn't change the fact that she's still kind of a jerk to him, but given that he's shoehorning himself into the competition makes it less harsh than it might seem at first.  Towards the end of the scene, she even looks like she feels a bit bad for him.  Not to mention that it fits well with the whole "tenacity" (gesundheit) running gag.

Anyway, there's a wealth of gags and cool moments here, from the bat playing the show's theme song on a bunch of wineglasses, to the eagle knitting a sweater, to Rainbow Dash dressing in style to take pictures with her potential pets.  Going through them all would take forever, so I'm just going to say that I think the entertainment value of the whole thing is more than enough to justify the length.  And again, there really isn't anything in the rest of the episode that really feels rushed, so it's not really a problem.

13:50-17:00: 127 seconds

The actual race part of this scene is just an extension of the past scene, showing Rainbow Dash's attitude and showing the various potential pets doing their things.  Again, I like the way they show the different animals being good at different things and generally being on an even level with each other.

Anyway, I know some people have questioned the fact that Rainbow Dash decided to take a bunch of animals through an animal that was clearly dangerous, but again, it's a purely voluntary effort, and she gives them the option of backing out.    

Moving on, things come to a head when Rainbow Dash causes an avalanche by ramming into the wall of the gorge.  Now, there's been quite a bit of discussion over whether or not the other animals got shafted.  The typical argument seems to be that the only reason the birds (and bat) didn't go back to help RD was because they didn't realize that she was in trouble, and as a result they got shafted when she chooses Tank instead, as the only reason he was there was because he was so slow.

  And there's a degree of truth in that.  However, it's fairly obvious that Rainbow Dash is in the midst of an avalanche when they fly by her, and she yells at them literally less than a second before getting nailed by a rock.  Even if they didn't hear her yelling after she got stuck, they definitely knew she was in danger.  Common courtesy would dictate that you at least look back and see if the pony you just passed up who was in the midst of a bunch of falling rocks is okay.  There's no way that the birds (and bat) were so far away that they didn't know RD was in danger of getting hit by rocks, and if any of them would have looked back, they would have realized that she was stuck.  

Then there's the matter of Rainbow Dash getting injured/stuck.  On one hand, she's proved to be really durable, which seems to imply that she should be okay after something like this, but then she ends up being bandaged up when Tank carries her to the finish line.  My only explanation for this is that getting caught under the rock messed up the feathers on her wing; I'm not an ornithologist by any means, but I'm pretty sure that some birds have difficulty flying if certain feathers get messed up, so that might be what happened here.  Alternately, RD basically got a sprained wing; painful, but heals relatively quickly.

RD's freak out when she realizes she's stuck was quite interesting.  For all of her posturing, she tends to have anxiety attacks quite easily, so even if she probably isn't in much danger (really, the other ponies would have gone to look for her if she took too long to show up at the finish line).  We saw in "Sonic Rainboom" that her confidence can get shattered without much difficulty; so something like getting stuck in a canyon could conceivably trigger a panic attack.  As soon as things get out of her control, she loses it.  Part of the reason that her somewhat arrogant demeanor doesn't bother me too much is because it's balanced out by things like this; she's forced to acknowledge her weaknesses  and gets a reminder that even she isn't awesome all the time.

17:00- 21:11: Tank saves the day

  As for Tank's presence, there are a number of factors in this scene that make his rescue impressive.  First, putting aside the fact that he was slow, his mere presence means that he got through the tunnel and thorns and got past the eels, which is pretty freaking impressive considering that he can't fly.  Second, the thing that endeared him to RD isn't just that he helped her when the other animals didn't, it's that he helped her even though she's basically written him off.  The fact that he still helped her even after she labeled him the most annoying turtle ever is what convinced RD that maybe her criteria for selecting a pet was actually not the best way of choosing.  

I mentioned earlier that this episode didn't quite follow the whole "Tortoise and the Hare" thing,  and what I mean by that is that in this story, the tortoise actually loses to the faster animal.  I think there was a degree of expectation that Tank would ultimately somehow win the race, thus proving that he really does meet RD's requirements.  The actual end of the race blows that up by showing that Rainbow Dash was wrong about how she was going about choosing a pet.  As such, Tank ends up technically losing, but in the end it's irrelevant because RD realizes that there are more important attributes for a pet to have than being able to win a race.  

I do agree that it kinda sucks for the falcon though, as he ended up winning the race and didn't get to reap the reward, but at least he accepted defeat with dignity.  It helps that you can see that RD is clearly conflicted about turning the falcon down.  But yeah, it's kinda sad that he ended up not getting anything for his effort.  Then again, he's still a falcon, which is pretty awesome on it's own.  Tank is a tortoise, he needs the validation.  Plus, he's probably the most adorable tortoise ever, so I can't really feel too bad about it.

Anyway, the moral really speaks for itself: a good personality trumps physical ability when it comes to friendship.  But really, it's incredibly fitting that she ends up with Tank, given that the reason he gets chosen is his loyalty to Rainbow Dash, regardless of how hard it is for him.  Remember what RD's element of harmony was?  Yeah, it makes sense that she'd go with the most loyal pet.  

21:11-21:30: Heli-Tank

Do I really even need to comment on this?  It's a magic helicopter tortoise!  It's hilariously awesome.

Other stuff:

Not much extra to say here.  The basic "Tortoise and hare" plot is fairly unoriginal, but the show did it well; it put its own spin on the idea, and the episode is full of great gags throughout, so I can't complain about it.  The animators really went for broke with the sight gags in this episode; especially radicalness and style contests.  And Derpy's appearance in the henhouse at the end of the song.  It's one of those episodes where you basically have to watch it multiple times to catch everything.  It's not the best episode, but it's very much entertaining, provided one doesn't think about it too hard.  It doesn't quite have the depth of characterization that some of the episodes do, and it isn't breaking any new ground in the plot or writing.  But still,  there are no glaring issues; the worst that can be said about it is that if you think too hard about the plot (specifically the end of the race and how RD uses a loophole to pick Tank instead of the falcon) it makes RD out to be a bit of a jerk, but it's really in character for her, and most of the episode is played for gags anyway, so you can't take it too seriously.  Long story short: the episode is good, but not great.

Summary

Pros:

- Fluttershy returns!
- We finally get a song
- There are tons of little gags everywhere

Cons:

- Rainbow Dash can come across as jerkish
- The basic plotline, while handled well, isn't breaking any new ground