A.I. writing fanfic!Twice the Spike, Double the Spoilers · 3:38am May 5th, 2014
Aheh. I skipped a week.
The world carried on without me, too. Dashed inconsiderate of it.
Anyway, let it be said that I love Spike, and my opinions of his episodes are colored by such. I figured that these episodes would not falter as far as That One Timberwolves Episode, and I think...
I loved the Spike and Rarity episode. The promise that these two would get a lot of interaction was well met. They interacted beautifully as friends, and not just as a boy with a crush and his understanding crush. I feel that this is a good path to take. He's obviously still enamored, but he's more concerned about their friendship than in winning any sort of romantic affection. It's a nice bit of development for Spikey-Wikey.
Speaking of development, the second episode was a joy for me to watch. People might complain--amongst other things--that he's already dealt with this problem before (In That One Superheroes Episode). But I felt this episode was a continuation of that development. He learned in the Superhero Episode that he was not useless, and no one sees him as useless. In this one, he finally managed to grow beyond his personal honor system and believe in himself.
He can at least believe in the Twilight that believes in him. Heh.
Anyway, I loved the development given to Spike. I love his interactions with the cast. I loved the world building in the Equestrian Games.
Spike's anthem was physically painful to watch the first time, but I can't stop laughing on repeated viewings. Oh dear. 
I was pretty surprised to see two Spike episodes right after each other like this.
I expected a bit more Rarity in that episode, but I liked what it was. And I really did like the characterization of their friendship. When for like the last two seasons they avoided referring to him as anything but an assistant, I was starting to wonder if it was on purpose. Some kind of payoff-later machination.
I think revisiting the same character development path is par for the course for this show. I mean Fluttershy's had several varieties of "gets over another facet of her nervousness," Rarity keeps on being self-centered then learning not to, Applejack has a variety of family-related problems... I liked the ultimate conclusion that no matter how great someone else thinks you are, if you don't believe it yourself it ain't worth squat. It's... actually a really mature message about self esteem.
Also, this may be a pretty personal joy but... Blueblood was there. He was There. This is huge! It's important! It's... okay it's only a little cameo, but it made me happy! I was more happy for it existing.
What have I become when a background cameo of a minor antagonist that once gave one of the main characters a bad date could bring me such joy?
Truth be told, I was more interested in the little details of Inspiration Manifestation than anything else in the episode. It was good and all, but the implications of dark magic's effect on the psyche is astounding.
I feel that the episode Equestria Games was a payoff to two arcs: The whole Equestria Games arc, and the Please Give Spike A Break arc. Both were pulled off pretty well, although some people seem to have gotten hung up on the misnomer in the title.
2078520
Reminds me of back in season one when we had three CMC episodes back to back. Maybe they should have spaced them out, but I'm glad we got them!
That or the writers really liked Owl's Well That Ends Well?
Yeah. That happens with a lot of slice of life shows, especially once they get into their "only six plots" groove. As long as they keep it as fresh as it was in Equestria Games, you won't see me complaining too much.
I liked that very much. It brings to mind an old Sunday School lesson: You're not gonna be too good at "Love your neighbor as yourself" if you don't actually take care of (e.g. love) yourself. This is one of those morals I hope gets remembered somewhere down the line, where Spike needs to comfort or help somepony else. I'd like a callback.
It was great! There he is, right in the special box, sitting not three feet away from dear old auntie!
I kinda wanted him to sneer. Just a bit. Just a small expression of disdain for the little people around him. I guess even he can have fun when he's not dissing the Lady Rarity.
I believe you are experiencing a deep-rooted psychological condition known as "Pony Partisanship." It can be cured through shock treatment, though most people choose to live with the affliction.
Side effects are mild, and may include: Squeeing at the appearance of certain colorful cartoon characters, enjoyment of flash-animated cartoons featuring equines, and authorship of stories revolving around friendship, magic, and various other delightful things.
2079034
It fits in with what we've seen before in Nightmare Moon. Selfish magic, designed only to benefit a single person to the detriment of those around them, seems to always backfire and control.
A lot like pride in real life.
If you can call them "arcs." I don't know what kind of payoff I was expecting, but I wasn't too troubled. We clearly got to see a lot that the games had to offer, it's just that people more expected an inspirational sports-movie type story. Heck, with Spike's involvement they were able to tie in a lot of big events for the games to the plot.
As people like to tell me, it's a bad idea to include scenes that are extraneous to the plot.