Episode Re-Review: The Last Crusade · 4:00pm Jul 11th, 2021
Ah yes, this episode. I'll bet many of you have been looking forward to this one for quite some time. I mean, the fandom had been all but begging for years for Scootaloo to have a family she could come home to. And once the Ponyville Mysteries books revealed that she was being cared for by her aunts (which were gay), fans only further started anticipating the possibility of Scootaloo finally getting to have a family. But nowadays, everyone seems to hate this episode and hate the family it provided for Scootaloo, claiming it would've been better if she remained an orphan. Oddly enough, the leaks confirmed that there was going to be an episode involving Sweetie Belle and her parents, which would end with her moving into Carousel Boutique with Rarity full time. They didn't say for sure that that episode got cut because of this one, but it would make sense that when they wanted to finally address Scootaloo's home situation they didn't think having a similar one with Sweetie Belle would be anything other than repetitive (though I think we could've had both). Nicole Dubac wrote this episode, sticking to her own continuity for once. And considering how much of a mess of characters she made with her previous writing endeavors, that's not exactly high praise. Is this episode really so bad, or is this a case of "The fandom doth protest too much"? Well, let's find out.
The episode begins with Skedaddle coming to the CMC to mention that he got his cutie mark, and they happen to be at Scootaloo's house. Skedaddle mentions that his cutie mark is in knot tying, which he got from repairing his fishing line after the CMC encouraged him to fish. We then see both Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty, and Holiday seems to be reusing Mrs. Cake's body type while Auntie Lofty looks like a bit of a blend between the models of Stormy Flare and Miss. Harshwhinny. They never actually mention their relationship on-screen, which is probably for the best given the backlash there was to Arthur featuring Mr. Ratburn getting married to a guy. However, they do indirectly elude to this via Skedaddle's cutie mark since knot tying (or tying the knot) is a synonym for marriage. We also don't know what the aunts' careers are, though Lofty seems to be more of a homemaker given that they mention sewing and baking. Lofty seems a bit more patronizing, whereas Holiday seems a bit more detached. And we don't know for sure where they live since Holiday only says they are "a few stops away from Ponyville". Through exposition we learn that whenever Scootaloo's aunts aren't watching her, various ponies take turns serving in that role. And something like that should've been provided much sooner, even if they wanted to leave the parent situation vague.
Soon after the aunts leave, Derpy drops off a letter at Scootaloo's house informing her that her parents are coming home today. She is so excited in fact that she can barely pay attention in school, and explains that her parents are dangerous wild life and plant experts who go off to the far corners of Equestria in search of (and the subsequent study of) rare plants and animals in order to benefit Equestria. Snips claims Scootaloo is just making that up, right before a cragodile bursts into the schoolhouse and eats up the vacant desk Scootaloo was previously occupying. In what may or may not be a nod to G3, Cheerilee pulls Scootaloo onto her desk (in G3, Cheerilee was Scootaloo's sister). But then an earth pony stallion and a pegasus mare show up and effectively manage to tame the cragodile they named Marshmallow.
These two turn out to be Scootaloo's parents Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood, the latter being a nod to famous gorilla expert Jane Goodall while Snap Shutter seems to be somewhat based on Steve Irwin as well as Crocodile Dundee.
We learn from dialogue that the two have been keeping in touch with Scootaloo via letters and have been away for quite some time. However, over ice cream sundaes they reveal that the reason for them coming back is because they've accepted a job offer to move to Shire Lanka and want to take Scootaloo with them. Scootaloo protests, but her parents say she can come back to Ponyville via a train that runs once a month. This leads into a mostly drawn out scene of the CMC presiding over what they think will be their last meeting while they cry, even when Rainbow Dash shows up to offer free tickets to a Wonderbolts show. Fortunately, she convinces them not to give up because as she puts it "Solving problems is what you do". It's nice that for once Rainbow Dash is not the instigator of a plot for Scootaloo or part of the solution. However, from here we mostly get the standard CMC antics that we know are going to fail. Whether it be trying to come up with a fake monster, taking pictures of their cutie marks or even chaining themselves to the post outside.
When everything fails, Scootaloo snaps and complains about being taken away from her friends and the town she knows so much. And I will fault Snap and Mane for not taking this into consideration even just a little. I know that in real life parents usually don't have the luxury of considering what's best for their kids, but Snap and Mane do seem a bit unaware of the suffering they're inflicting on their daughter even after she runs off. To that end, Scootaloo decides to take a train out to wherever it is her aunts live, and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle come with her. This is mostly so Scootaloo can't move with her parents. But it is a sign of maturity when the CMC can apparently take a train all by themselves with no adults as a chaperone. They take the train out to see Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty, and Auntie Lofty reveals that the quilt she had trouble with earlier is a Chekov's Gun, she's made it Cutie Mark Crusader themed after all the ponies they've helped. This includes Silver Spoon, which I guess the CMC helped indirectly by getting Diamond Tiara to change and thus enabling her to patch things up with Silver Spoon?
This gives the CMC an idea, or rather Apple Bloom an idea. And this time it's an actual good idea.
On the day of the big move, Scootaloo leads her parents into town for what turns out to be CMC Appreciation Day. They even get the obligatory "Key to the city" trope that I'm pretty sure no awards ceremony ever actually does these days. We also see some non-ponies in the form of both Terramar and Gabby (weird for Terramar to return when he was just in Ponyville last episode, but I don't think they planned to have this and "Student Counsel" be right next to each other). Though there is an apparent animation error when Babs Seed supposedly doesn't have her cutie mark even though we saw what it was in the letter at the beginning of "Bloom and Gloom".
I am a bit miffed that even now they couldn't be bothered to give Diamond Tiara a speaking role, and instead it's Skedaddle who is giving the speech about how great the CMC are. Surely, just a line or two from Diamond Tiara wouldn't have killed anything. Her reformation is arguably the CMC's greatest achievement.
Fortunately, Scootaloo's parents realize their mistake. But it's too late for them to turn down the job offer. Then Holiday tells Lofty "don't tease my brother", which is probably the only thing that would've even remotely suggested the two were not sisters like we would've assumed without the chapter books to tell us otherwise. Lofty mentions that she and Holiday are moving to Ponyville since "The CMC make Ponyville such a nice place". There's no mention of whether they bought the house Snap and Mane sold, or if Holiday and Lofty have a place of their own they're establishing (the comics do seem to imply they took over the house that Snap and Mane sold). Snap and Mane promise to keep in touch as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle confirm that Scootaloo is indeed staying in Ponyville because "CMC Forever".
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Maybe it's just me, but I feel like all the hatred towards this episode and towards Scootaloo's family situation is almost completely without merit. Snap and Mane are far from the best parents, but I'm glad the show stopped using the "Amazingly Embarrassing Parents" trope that had been done to death in Seasons 7 and 8 (and The Fairly Odd Parents had run into the ground alongside the "Adults are useless" trope). We see enough to know that Snap and Mane do love Scootaloo, and the same is true for Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty from what little we do see. Plus, we've seen far worse parenting in the show. Whether it be Sweetie Belle's parents (Hondo Flanks and Cookie Crumbles) just dumping her onto Rarity with no explanation, or Spoiled Rich verbally (and potentially physically) abusing her own daughter in public, to say nothing of how Mr. and Mrs. Shy or Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles failed to help their children overcome their biggest hang ups and if anything made them worse. Yes, it would've been nice to get all these details sooner, and an episode of Scootaloo's parents just coming back to Ponyville to hang out with her would've been great. I'm not saying I can't see why people hate Snap and Mane, and it's not just because "It clashes with my headcanon" since I wrote a lot of headcanon Scootafamily fanfics in the years leading up to this episode. Snap and Mane could've been done a little bit better, they don't seem to realize that their decision is one they made without consulting Scootaloo and that they aren't giving her much of a say in the matter. But that's sadly all too real in real life, and I kind of like that the show didn't sugarcoat that. Sometimes, kids have to move with their parents even if they don't want to. Ultimately though, the Crusader antics in the middle alongside the drawn out crying do hold this episode back a bit. Plus, details such as Babs Seed's missing cutie mark during the ceremony are hard to overlook. But this episode still gets a borderline B+/A-, it was great that Scootaloo got an episode that didn't involve Rainbow Dash for a change. And it would've been the perfect conclusion to the CMC's arc if "Growing Up is Hard To Do" hadn't happened.
Now, as I've nothing new to say on "Between Dark and Dawn", we're instead going to jump to the special "Rainbow Roadtrip" which is a salvaged sequel to the 2017 movie.
When it comes to Scootaloo episodes, this is by far my favorite.
I'm definitely one of those people who considers Scoots' parents more naive than outright malicious, like I know some people think.
5553207 I agree. They're not intentionally being mean or cruel, but they don't realize what their decision means for their only daughter.
5553211
Exactly.
They're good ponies who genuinely care for her, they just don't know quite how to do it.
5553214
5553211
A lot of people do say that Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood are the worst family figures in MLP by far, but in my opinion...Holiday and Lofty are way worse. No matter how much they say they love her and how much they take care of her, all they ever did was leave Scootaloo behind.
And for what? To just get some peace and quiet from her?
And yes, I am aware that they’d assign other ponies to look after her, but that isn’t what I’d call great parenting or the right way to raise a child. It very much begs the question as to why they couldn’t just move to Ponyville in the first place. Not to mention the depicted family life for Scootaloo in this very episode is far from realistic and believable.
5553239
Eh, with a show like this, I'm fine with things like that not being realistic or believable.
It's a different world with its own rules and way of doing things.
Sure, it's pretty similar to ours in several ways, but that's it.
5553262
But does the whole thing really translate her aunts as great family models? Or depict them as Scootaloo’s rightful guardians?
Well, I like the idea of Scootaloo having a family which I don't mind. they way they are writing that some fan have a problem with
5553303
Considering we don't know the full story of her family, I'd say yes.
You know, it's funny you say that. Voice of Reason and Thespio mentioned in their At the Screening... review of this episode that they feel the story would've worked better with Sweetie Belle and her parents.
5553239 It's not made clear when the aunts started watching over her. The chapter book that introduced them said only that they'd been watching Scootaloo lately while her parents were away. Given what her parents' professions are, I think they were busy with the Everfree Forest across the first three seasons, and began getting called away more starting in Season 4 when the forest was tamed. I would assume the aunts came into the picture sometime after "Flight to the Finish".
5553329 Yeah. I mean, who says we had to choose? I would've rather seen that than see "Growing Up is Hard To Do" which was better off left on the cutting room floor.
5553329
Suddenly I’m starting to vision that as a story with this title: “The Last Crusade: The Real Story”.
5553522
Do you think it's possible this episode was originally going to be the Sweetie Belle story that the leaks mentioned before the show staff changed it into the Scootaloo story we ended up getting?
5553573 Possibly. I can't think of much other reason why it would be cancelled or cut given its similarities to this episode.
5553522
I know that this is a late reply, but I’d like to come out and say this:
Hardly anything about that explains why they couldn’t just permanently live with Scootaloo before the events of “The Last Crusade”. If anything, the whole thing seems to say that they’re openly neglectful and terrible family figures. It’s no wonder Scootaloo thought better of Rainbow Dash’s family more than her own in “Parental Glideance”, if “The Last Crusade” has enough reason to be plausibly canon at all.
5553573
5553583
I’m starting to wish they had gone with that instead. It makes a lot more sense, and had they not changed their mind then we would not be stuck with four of the worst and most controversial MLP characters in existence.
5553311
Well, I strongly disagree. How their world works compared to ours doesn’t excuse how neglectful her aunts truly were.
5560129 You think her aunts are neglectful, that's your opinion.
5560129
I'm pretty sure they do a good job taking care of her off-screen between episodes.
It just wasn't really relevant to show them until now.
Hey, I didn't realize until now that this episode was Cheerilee's final speaking appearance. Don't know how that slipped my mind. But anyway, here are Cheerilee's first and last speaking lines.