Season Six Episode Review: Gauntlet of Fire · 10:41pm Apr 16th, 2016
Last week we had a CMC episode, which was okay. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, we can finally turn our full attention back to our six beloved pon-
Wait, this is a Spike episode.
...
COME BACK, CMC!
TECHNICAL SPECS:
Season: 6
Episode: 5
Written By: Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco
First Aired: April 16, 2016
REVIEW:
For the second week in a row, we have a sequel episode. This time, the setup stretches all the way back to Season Two, where we were “treated” to Spike's first attempt to discover more about his species. It ended with him declaring that dragons are all dicks and he was much better off as a pony. Looking back, this is a pretty damn horrifying moral that could be taken a lot of wrong ways, but more importantly, the episode itself came off as wasted potential. So now we have a second stab at the idea, only with more dragons and the emphasis placed on a specific event rather than Spike's existential dilemma.
We finally get a bigger view of dragon culture, and while it's pretty much in line with what we've seen before, the episode helps to expand it a bit so that it feels a bit more like an actual society. They're still focused almost entirely on strength, ruthlessness, and toughness, but it's also implied that at least part of this is filtered in from the top-down. If the current Dragon Lord had to go through the same trial to claim his position, then it's likely the dragons have been putting up similar gauntlets for generations. The dragons we've seen in Equestria have apparently been content to huddle in caves with their mountains of gold and jewels, caring little for anyone that might be affected by their presence and attacking anyone they perceive as an intruder, so it's probably natural for them to consider someone that could kick their butts to be their leader. Also, all of the dragons we see besides Torch and Spike are about Garble's height, implying they may all be dragon teenagers. Perhaps the Dragon Lord is recruited young so they can rule for a long period of time.
So many questions remain...
The other thing we see about dragons is that they really, really don't like ponies. Even excusing the plan to steal all of Equestria's pillows (which would then be destroyed after one night, considering all those spikes and scales they have), not a single dragon seems alarmed by Garble's plan to essentially declare open warfare on ponykind and reduce Equestria to ruin. And yes, Garble is back from “Dragon Quest,” again serving as the main antagonist, and he's even worse than before. Back then, his behavior could have potentially been excused as just being a dumb teenager, albeit a psychotic one. Here, he's very open about his hatred for ponies. Thankfully, the episode actually remembers to punish him for his asshole ways, as he spends most of the story being tossed around by the various traps, is soundly beaten in a fight, and finally has to humiliate himself every step of the way out because Spike is apparently into ironic punishments.
Besides Torch (who is mostly around to set up the plot and emphasize dragon culture's emphasis on power), we have a newcomer in the form of Princess Ember. Character-wise, she's very straightforward. She's not allowed to compete because her father thinks she's too weak and small (the “because you're a girl” is slightly implied, but we also see what appears to be other female dragons competing, so it's not like Dragon Lord has to be a guy), so she goes in disguise to prove she isn't just another princess. She doesn't understand friendship and breaks her deal with Spike so she can go after the prize herself, but then immediately changes her mind because she suddenly likes it. I'm not completely “meh” on her like I am with Starlight, as she's at least novel as a different kind of dragon (plus she didn't destroy the timeline multiple times and get away with it), but I also wasn't feeling much for her this episode.
Not that it will matter. The shippers will tear her apart before she ever appears again. RariSpike is a resilient monster.
If I had to pick out a problem this episode, it was how basic the plot is. The show has done this story multiple times. We saw Rainbow Dash and Pinkie do it with Gilda. We saw Twilight do it with Sunset and Starlight. We even saw Discord go through something similar in “Twilight's Kingdom.” A character doesn't understand friendship, thinks it makes them weak, or is otherwise hostile to our friendly heroes, only to discover the error of their ways and embrace the awesomeness of friendship. That doesn't make the episode bad – it actually pulls most of these steps off very well – but it still feels rather formulaic for this series.
On the plus side, there's Spike. Unlike so many of his other appearances, he doesn't suddenly drop fifty points in competency or intelligence simply because he's the main character. He knows from the beginning that he's in over his head, and still joins the competition because he wants to protect his friend. While he's still useless in the final struggle against Garble, it's because he's a baby going up against someone much bigger, stronger, and more bloodthirsty than him. The episode is obviously not going to end with him as Dragon Lord, but it does show him as the brave little guy that will do anything for the sake of his friends.
As for Twilight and Rarity...I dunno. On the one hand, the two are hilarious. Rarity acknowledging the luminescence of unicorn magic made for an amusing opening, and her numerous disguises were funny in their own way. Twilight is in top form here, positively squeeing over all the stuff she's learning. They are a very superfluous part of the episode, with their only contribution past the opening being to serve as a tiny part of Princess Ember's development, but they also serve as some nice comic relief. Except for that last joke. That was not funny at all, Rarity. Not in an “I'm offended” sense, but literally unfunny in every conceivable way. The upcoming episode where your store is ruined shall be your punishment.
CONCLUSION:
As far as Spike episodes go, this one was better than the usual fare. Spike was competent throughout, and there were some good laughs. Compared to the rest of the show, though, it's rather middle-of-the-road. Outside of some new insight into dragons (which is, again, mostly just the old insight expanded a bit) and a new character, it's a typical episode of pony.
I don't know about that. preliminary indications so far seem to suggest theres a fair portion of the fandom actually embracing this ship, or at least willing to depict it positively in the first few rounds of art based on this episode so far. So at least there doesn't seem to be any kneejerk hatred.
While the diehard RariSpike shippers will always exist, I do think that most sane and rational folks realize how untenable it is as anything other than a one-sided crush. Not that I see this new ship really going anywhere long term, at least not without another follow up episode to reinforce it. Either way, I don't really see any major fandom feuds coming of it.
Yeah, that more or less sums up my own opinion as well. There's nothing offensively bad about it, nor is it even blandly dull which has been my main problem with the last two episodes. This episode is just mediocrely average, but manage to be at least genuinely entertaining throughout.
Typical plot, maybe, but I still had a lot of fun watching it. Twilight and Rarity, while mostly useless, were also a hoot and I got a chuckle each time they popped up.
I also liked Ember as a character, basic as it is. I found her much more likable and interesting than what Starlight has become now. Might be because she's a dragon and dragons are cool. Gurl Powah!
Sometimes you have to go with the basics in order to make your point.
My eyes skipped from the end of the previous paragraph to this line and all I could think was "What episode did you watch?"
I loved the episode, but I agree that Twilight and Rarity's presence throughout the episode was rather superfluous. Had their role ended early on in the episode, and it was JUST Spike and Ember tackling the gauntlet, I don't doubt the episode would have turned out much the same as it did already.
That, and the cold open just made me dislike Sparity that much more. Nine times out of ten, Rarity takes advantage of Spike, and whether she shows awareness or acknowledgement in regards to his crush varies from episode to episode, and depending on the situation. Here, she's relegated him to "Basket Holder", when he was lead to believe he was brought along as a bodyguard. Rarity makes a painfully transparent attempt at assuring him that this is not the case, which Spike clearly does not buy. THAT'S MY BOY. DON'T YOU BUY THAT BULL-PLOP, NUH-UH.
She does nothing to address the issue. Whether she actually cares for Spike beyond him being a particularly useful friend of a friend is up in the air, but every affectionate gesture, every time she calls him HER "little Spikey-wikey", she only exacerbates the issue that is his crush.
The way I see it, Sparity has been a six season long joke that needs to be retired. It's a tired old gag that isn't funny anymore. With Princess/Dragon Lord Ember's introduction, I hope it can be put on the fast track on being put to rest, and Spike can MOVE ON from his crush. I mean, Season 5 seemed to shake up the status quo, and Season 6 is looking like it's continuing the trend, so one can only hope.
I was kinda ticked that they did something so basic with Dragons. I mean, you can respect power and might makes right, but to completely offhand dismiss knowledge or wisdom completely as a form of compensation, considering its the fact that Celestia and Luna are thousands of years old and have the experience of war, magic and what not, which this alone puts them ahead of dragons, is kind of stupid.
Then I saw that Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco wrote the episode. Yeah...