Episode Re-Review: Daring Done? · 5:48pm Jun 16th, 2021
Though not the seventeenth episode to air (that was "To Change A Changeling") this episode was seventeenth in production order. And what may be most noticeable is that Josh Haber was returning to the story editor's position here and would stay in it through the rest of Season 7, at first sharing the role with Lewis and Songco but eventually taking over completely. Considering Season 7 had been stuck in the mud up to this point under Lewis and Songco, unable to shake off the bad writing of "Fame and Misfortune", Haber's return may have been a way for Season 7 to get back on track. G. M. Berrow was penning this episode, and interestingly enough she had previously written some Daring Do chapter books for a short lived series. Yet this episode tends to be among Season 7's more forgotten ones, though many will say it's a better send off for Daring Do than "Daring Doubt" in Season 9. So, is there a reason for all of that? Well, let's find out.
The episode begins with Pinkie Pie picking up a newspaper, but Rainbow Dash just thinks the stories are either boring or overexaggerated. She doesn't change her mind until she happens to overhear an article about A. K. Yearling retiring, because she knows that A. K. Yearling is just Daring Do in disguise. Fortunately, it's not because her identity was exposed thanks to Rainbow Dash, so I guess Rainbow Dash was careful not to disclose the secret in the friendship journal.
Rainbow knows the way to the cottage where Daring lives, but Pinkie Pie suspects that this is not unlike "Daring Don't" where Rainbow Dash is just hoping to get Daring to come out of retirement in order to write more books. Rainbow Dash denies it but doesn't really give much of a reason beyond that motivation. She and Pinkie Pie then discover that Daring Do is home (after Rainbow briefly thinks she's not), and upon being let inside they learn that Daring is retiring not because she's been forced or blackmailed to, but because she's encountered some bad press in Southern Equestria. So Daring Do has run up against the inevitable worst nightmare of any hero: Collateral damage.
Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, however, convince Daring Do to put on her A. K. Yearling disguise and come with them to visit the village where everything supposedly went wrong. Daring even reveals that her books are not sold there, A. K. Yearling is unknown to Southern Equestria and to the village called Somnambula. They go down there to learn that Daring Do based her latest book on her adventures in the village, even succeeding in defeating Ahuizotl and preventing the entire village from sinking beneath the sand.
Unfortunately, the villagers aren't aware of this and regard Daring Do as a menace. One villager even complains about her destroying an apple cart. Hey, at least she didn't do it to a cabbage cart.
We also see a hooded stallion who is very obviously Dr. Caballeron, but no one notices this even when he is only slightly bothering to hide his voice. Anyway, Daring Do decides that coming back to the village was a mistake and she runs away. Rainbow Dash insists on going after her, and when Pinkie Pie questions her on this it's here that Rainbow starts showing her better nature and character: She doesn't want Daring Do to give up on herself.
To that end, Rainbow Dash leads Pinkie to a place called The Get On Inn where Daring Do apparently "stays all the time on her adventures". And Pinkie gets a whiff of muffins. The two go into the inn and soon alert the inn keeper. She's never mentioned by name on-screen, only in the credits. Her name is Mrs. Trotsworth, and what might be most interesting is that she's voiced by Jaynese Judd, G3 Pinkie Pie. Anyway, Mrs. Trotsworth reveals that the last time she let Daring Do rent a room, Daring didn't pay her bill before leaving. And afterward, half of the rooms got destroyed by a bunch of evil doers who were trying to find her. I suppose it would've been easier to make her a permanent guest of the inn?
Mrs. Trotsworth then reveals that Daring Do is being blamed for a theft of glowpez, an important item that ponies offer up to a stone statue of the village's namesake: Somnambula. Mrs. Trotsworth claims it's "In hopes for a good future", so I guess it's like how civilizations used to offer up tributes to gods at statues, on alters and in temples.
Daring Do (as A. K.) happens to be nearby and insists that she never stole the glowpez. But Rainbow promises to fix everything after a good night's sleep. The next day, Rainbow Dash tries to defend Daring Do in front of the statue, but insults the village namesake and prompts the villager from the day earlier to "correct" her by explaining the legend of Somnambula.
Somnambula was a pegasus mare who lived in the village when it was plagued by an evil sphinx who demanded most of the villagers' crops. Somnambula used what little she had to help others, even giving up a pearl necklace to help another village buy a loaf of bread. As a result, Prince Hisan, the son of the pharoh, decided to stand up to the sphinx. But he was captured, and the sphinx took him to a pyramid as a prisoner. Somnambula was the only one to volunteer, and upon entering the pyramid she was presented with a riddle from the sphinx.
Somnambula realized the answer was hope, but the sphinx was furious at having one of its riddles solved and it seemed it might not let Prince Hisan go after all. Fortunately, Somnambula proposed another challenge, and the sphinx agreed. The challenge was for Somnambula to be blindfolded and walk across a narrow bridge to the prince without the use of wings (due to a magic spell preventing flight). Somnambula still solved the puzzle, and the sphinx flew away in rage. The pharaoh asked Somnambula afterward how she'd carried through, and Somnambula explained that she'd never lost hope in being able to save the day. To that end, her pearl necklace was replaced by one made of glowpez. And that's why ponies have been offering it up as tribute to the statue. But Rainbow Dash argues that Somnambula would've appreciated Daring Do saving the day, right before the disguised Dr. Caballeron is able to persuade them otherwise despite not presenting any evidence.
So Daring Do leaves, the villagers disperse and Dr. Caballeron reveals his obvious disguise. Then he and his stallions kidnap Rainbow Dash in broad daylight, and Rainbow apparently doesn't try to fight back even though she could fly. This is where the episode kind of starts to fall apart, hitting what's called "Third Act Stupidity". So Rainbow's screams alert Pinkie and Daring, who come rushing to the rescue. They find Rainbow Dash tied up and blindfolded on a pillar over the vat from Somnambula's story, and Dr. Caballeron makes the classic villain mistake of leaving the heroes in a death trap and then not sticking around to make sure the trap actually works.
However, it seems like the trap will since there's no bridge. But Pinkie Pie proposes making a "Leap of Faith" which is bringing back bad memories of the climax of "Feeling Pinkie Keen" which just carelessly tossed those same words in with no thought. And just like that one, there's a magical dues ex machina solution able to save the heroes, this time in the form of steam vents. So Pinkie Pie and Daring Do reach Rainbow Dash and free her (and it's never revealed that she let herself get captured to motivate Daring Do, not even as a form of payback for "Daring Don't"), then Daring Do manages to expose Dr. Caballeron before he can escape with the glowpez. Dr. Caballeron confesses willingly, saying that he originally just wanted the glowpez but couldn't resist an opportunity to make Daring Do look bad and give up the chase. And somehow, this is enough to singlehoofedly redeem Daring Do's reputation in the eyes of the villagers, just knowing that someone else was framing her all along. Fortunately, Daring Do decides that she is indeed coming back for good, but we do get a fairly mature message about even if you're doing good you're still responsible for damages that you cause.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, it definitely integrates its legend into the story a whole lot better than "Campfire Tales" did with its three legends. Pinkie Pie is written surprisingly well here, in fact she seems more worried about Daring Do from the start than Rainbow Dash is. That's not to say Rainbow Dash looks bad, but it takes about a third of the episode for her better character to shine through in regard to why she's doing what she's doing. Daring Do is handled quite well here, I daresay this was the episode that truly brought out the best in her character since she became real, showing that she isn't doing what she's doing for the sake of thrills and that she does want to make a difference. The first two acts flow pretty well, aside from the painfully obvious fact that the hooded stallion is Dr. Caballeron and yet neither Daring Do or Rainbow Dash recognize this (or even suspect it). However, the third act is where things start to fall apart since Rainbow Dash just gets taken out of the action with no indication that she let herself get captured on purpose. The climax feels almost like a rehash of "Feeling Pinkie Keen". And Dr. Caballeron becomes so petty and so stupid that he confesses willingly to everything he's done within earshot of the same villagers he's been misleading so effortlessly. It does pick back up a little with Daring Do saying that she's still responsible for the damage she caused, so there's no trying to pin the blame on others for her own unintended consequences. But that third act is quite bad, about on par with the third act of "She's All Yak" in regards to how much it almost singlehandedly brings down the story. So this episode gets a borderline B-/B as a result, but it was the first true sign of quality for Season 7 in its second half and not a moment too soon.
So next we have the last legend introduction episode, and arguably the only other time Zecora was actually relevant in "A Health of Information", an episode about trying to find a cure for a disease with no known cure that came out only a few years before a deadly global pandemic.
This is an episode that I enjoyed the first time, but I've come to despise in hindsight for one scene.
There's one scene that pretty much ruins the whole thing for me, and makes it one of my least favorite episodes of the series, and it's one of the few things in the show that actually makes me angry.
The scene where Dash gets captured without putting up a fight at all.
It's not like in Stranger Than Fanfiction where she was kinda taken by surprise (though even that scene is kinda iffy in hindsight). Here she can clearly see the goons surrounding her, and instead of attempting ANYTHING, she just sits there.
That ONE scene kills the whole episode.
This is one of those few cases where I actually prefer how a fanfic handled things rather than the actual show:
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/384579/daring-done-right
Pretty much the only thing Daring Doubt has over this episode is that you can skip it and lose nothing of value, whereas this episode is one you have to watch because it's a part of this season's story arc.
I love this episode regardless of whatever flaws it may have. It was not only one of Daring Do’s best appearances, but when you don’t count “Daring Doubt” as canon (mainly since that one felt like the beginning of a big story no one bothered to finish and since the canonicity of it was questionable), it’s the best we have to a perfect conclusion to Daring Do’s character arc.
Plus, I love how this one shows a more vulnerable, considerate, and caring side to her. In that she never wants innocent civilians to get hurt because of her or cause any harm.
I have a question:
When do you plan on doing a re-review of “Daring Doubt”?
5539489 Never, I'm not re-reviewing since I've nothing new to say on it. I didn't like it before and I still don't like it now.
5539496
👍🏻Good for you.
Glad that there’s one episode you’re absolutely sure on in terms of what you think of it.
5539496
What other episodes are you not planning on doing a re-reviewing of? And were there any previous ones you decided to not re-review?
5539496
I just remembered the reason for why I asked if you were going to re-review “Daring Doubt”.
When I looked back on your review on the episode, I noticed that you rated it a C. Meaning that you were neutral towards it at the most. However, based on comments you made later on, your feelings towards the episode went much lower than merely neutral.