Thoughts on Buckball Season · 4:18pm Nov 24th, 2023
I thought this episode was one of the funniest episodes in the entire season as it does well with the premise and humor, which also starts a rather fun subplot with the new sport "buckball" growing in popularity. So basiclly, "buckball" was just invented, and Applejack and Rainbow Dash are on track to compete against Appleloosa. Little did they know that three-star athletes were with them: Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Snails, who are surprisingly the best at the sport. Snails himself is almost supernaturally good at catching balls. But basiclly, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy seem to be so good at the game that Applejack and Rainbow Dash agree that Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy should be the ones to compete against Appleloosa. This leads to a really good conflict with Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy just playing the game for fun and being pressured to win, which causes them to choke during practice and have a nervous breakdown on the train to Appleloosa. Rainbow Dash and Applejack then help change their coaching to help Fluttershy & Pinkie Pie get over their anxiety of having to win for Ponville and just having fun, which helps them win.
I think this episode worked because it knew what it wanted and had a strong sense of how it would get there. All the characters blended well with them, trying to resolve an inner conflict. The humor and the antics of the four worked well, and Snails' "don't think about it" philosophy was honestly the best part of the episode. In fact, he really made me like this one, as he and Snips are usually "joke" characters who are mostly there to make others laugh. But Snails shined here, showing that his ability not to become too serious with the sport helps put his mind at ease and focus on the game. Overall fun episode and helped make a side character shine, which always is an added plus for me.
This episode also yielded the wonderful fan song "Carrying My Water"!