Rainbow Falls Review · 9:55pm Jan 18th, 2014
Well, so this episode was a lovely little piece! All the little bits and pieces really came together to make a nice, fun episode! So it's a Rainbow Dash episode, yet again showcasing how much she's grown over the past four seasons. Sure, she's still got her rough edge to her, but that's Rainbow Dash for ya! XD It's an episode where she yet again proves where her loyalty lies, despite temptation.
So, three-pony pegasi relay teams are getting their respective towns qualified for the Equestria Games. Rainbow Dash is leading for Ponyville, on a team with Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps (formerly known as Snowflake or Roid Rage). ...Despite that Ponyville has plenty more pegasi, but I digress... The teams are all off to Rainbow Falls to compete, with one team being, surprisingly, the Wonderbolts, for Cloudsdale. Spitfire, Soarin', and I'm guessing Fleetfoot. As fate would have it, Soarin' gets his wing injured and is out of commission for a while. Spitfire propositions to Rainbow to practice with them, which, while Rainbow would love to, is reluctant. Eventually, she agrees to do so.
Things get a little challenging when Rainbow now has to choose between Cloudsdale and Ponyville, permanently. She chickens out, fakes multiple injuries, so that she won't have to choose. But that's not making a decision. In fact, it's worse! She of course realizes this, along with a few OTHER incriminating factors. It's revealed that both she and Soarin' were lied to. Soarin' is getting better, but Spitfire and Fleetfoot told him that he won't be. Then they lied to Rainbow Dash, telling her that he won't be better in time. All because they wanted a better flyer.
Ouch! Poor Soarin'. Cut the poor guy a break! But it was nice to see that he had a little more character in this episode. He's nice, not the strongest flyer but tries his best, and is also very loyal to his team. Even when he found out he was being lied to, yes, he got upset, but he was still very classy about it and handled it with dignity. When all was said and done, he was just happy to be back and clearly forgave them, especially since Spitfire apologized.
In the end, Rainbow chooses her friends over the winners. Because while she loves to win, she knows she loves her friends even more, which means a lot to her.
Seriously guys, I think we're getting some kind of buildup to the magical boxes. Hence all those rainbow glows and symbolism!
Now of course, let's look at a couple of things.
For one thing, Fluttershy. WOW! This was amazing. She was actively and willingly participating all throughout. Yes, she was still nervous at times and felt a little less confident, but it was amazing that she was overcoming all of that. This was a great example of showcasing Fluttershy's confidence while still being in-character. It just worked so perfectly. Plus, you can tell part of her motivation was because of Rainbow, who she was very proud of and wanted to work hard for. That was just great! I was hoping Fluttershy would be in this episode, but I also wasn't holding my breath, figuring it just wouldn't happen. But it did! Yay! :D I was hoping for a Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy episode where the two are prominently sharing it together in some way.
Bulk Biceps was hilarious. XD I'm not sure why he was there, but he was such a funny guy. He's one of those big-muscled guys who's actually a teddy bear underneath it all. It was even cool that he had more dialogue, which makes sense, since he was at the forefront. Even he had his moments of overcoming the fact that he's huge with tiny wings, which was a nice touch. I guess Ponyville's team was meant to overcome the most, in that just because you may have a flawed team doesn't mean you can't try hard and do your best. And they did!
Derpy was adorable. I like the way they handled her in this. :D
Rainbow Dash herself was definitely well played here. She still does indeed have her flaws, but the episode did still display her character development so well. The way she acted while training her team was definitely more playful and determined than outright mean. In the face of temptation, even when she felt her team were...losers, she did still care about them and wanted to lead them. She never spoke maliciously about them, just simply acknowledging that they have flaws. This I liked, she wasn't sugarcoating anything but she also wasn't being mean, which was a great way to showcase it.
Then when she found out she was being lied to, she actually handled it in such a mature and kind way. She told them right out that she didn't appreciate their behaviour and also that her loyalty lies with her friends, even if the Cloudsdale team has better flyers.
What especially got to me in this scene was Fluttershy. She stepped right forward and told Rainbow she understood why she would choose the Cloudsdale team, because she knows how much Rainbow loves to win and be the best. She wasn't insulted nor giving Rainbow a hard time for her temptation. But she approached it with kindness and support. Even if Rainbow did choose Cloudsdale's team, she would still be proud of her and support her, and would understand why. Fluttershy wasn't taking it personally, she understood what was going on. Wow. That was... very mature and well-handled for a kid's show. Wow! Showing compassion and understanding for what someone else wants and realizing it's nothing personal. And it wasn't! Again, Rainbow had nothing against her team in the slightest, she just knew they were flawed and had to work at it. She wanted to win because that's what she loves best.
Wow!
Spitfire apologized and owned up to what they did, as did Fleetfoot, and admitted that Rainbow could teach them a lot.
Rainbow went against her own heroes and chose her friends. Big time. And it was all very well done! I liked the episode, it was a good episode overall and a nice Rainbow Dash episode. :D
There was even a nice sprinkle of FlutterDash! Yay! *Claps* So it wasn't nearly as skyrocketing as it was in Hurricane Fluttershy, but the way the two interacted was just wonderful. Like I mentioned above, Fluttershy truly does know and understand Rainbow's ways, supports her, and is proud of her. It was so sweet! And it really gives me a lot of fuel.
And okay, you guys. For any SoarDash or FlutterBulk fans out there, you have some fuel, too. Good for you. Now excuse me while I go nestle in the FlutterDash corner! Maybe with a sprinkle of SoarFire. ;)
Good to know
let's see if you come up with something
FlutterDash levels at an acceptable rate. You may proceed.
All I can say is... DERPY!!! OMGYAY!!! My heart nearly stopped when I saw her :D
I laughed when Spitfire asked Rainbow Dash to be hers and Fleetfoot's "third." FleetFireDash wouldn't be bad. O.O But Flutterdash is still OTP.
This episode was awesome!
"Now what am I supposed to do with all of these?"
"What were you gonna do with them before?"
So much FlutterDash fuel! So much yeah! YEAH!
Only other thought is that the Bulk and Shy selection made a lot of sense to me. Bulk seems like the kind of pony that would like to compete, but not necessarily be good at it. Shy obviously grew and was participating primarily for Dash (
). The other pegasi athletes already are in other events and non of the other non-athletes had any interest in participating. There are probably more non-athletes than actual athletes, even if they could fair better than Shy or Bulk on average. And then, why choose a relay, Rainbow Dash? Well, the closing event for a track meet is the 4x400 meter relay. It's the traditional end all be all of a meet where everyone watches and it combines the talents of both sprinting and pacing so of course Dash would choose this prestigious sort of event.
Oh, and I guess I also don't mind Bulk regressing in flying a bit. I assume he didn't make the cut at the Academy so he just stopped worrying about flight workouts and just went with benching 13,000 lb.s (my god).