In my honest opinion about this episode, it was poorly executed and it didn't have Rarity in a very positive light. It's the same typical plot when a character have a crush on another character who don't share the same feelings on that said character, but when that character began having feelings for somebody else, the love interest of the character get jealous. I see this happened in other shows, and it's cliché and it doesn't made the character look good by getting back with the character that you don't have any feelings toward to.

I know there are people who like this episode and that's fine. But to me, this episode should have focus only on Spike and Rarity's relationship, instead we have a plot that's made Rarity look bad and it doesn't help this episode was her last focus episode of the show. What you guys think of this?

There's a lot of ugliness and hurt feelings in Dragon Dropped, and I'd argue that none of the three participants of the love triangle(?) look great for the duration, although they did manage to work things out amicably in the end. The focus of the story is of course on Rarity having to process no longer having Spike's undivided attention, something she'd obviously taken for granted in the past that was abruptly taken from her, and not handling it well at all without Twilight's outside guidance. No question it makes Rarity look bad to get so jealous and possessive, but unexamined feelings suddenly being front and centre for someone in general can cause a lot of mental distress, and for Rarity that manifests in depression and feelings of abandonment. To that end, it's not a coincidence that her discussions with Twilight about the issue look an awful lot like talk therapy, psych couch and all.

Regarding Spike, he'd spent a long time orbiting Rarity, hoping that one day, if he just carried her stuff around and helped her out enough, she'd realise that he was so devoted to her that actually she was in love with him and then they would live happily ever after. That was never going to happen...! But it's understandable that Spike's perceived place of value in the world is in assisting others, primarily Twilight, and that's just how he showed his appreciation to the pony of his affections. Then one day along comes Gabby, who invites him to hang out with her on her delivery rounds and he goes for it; finally someone who's happy to give him non-transactional attention! Spike's sin is the way he drops Rarity, who does like him even if she hasn't always been great at showing it, like a stone, ignoring her and flying off to be with Gabby without explanation, but again, I get why he'd suddenly switch like that given the circumstances. Besides, turnabout is fair play, and it's possible that Rarity got a sniff of how Spike may have felt all those times she barely thanked him for his service -- it's treated as a joke when it happens through the series (season 4 seems to be the worst of it) but it probably hurt more than a little!

On Gabby's part, while she is a well-tempered, if overexcitable, young lady she still comes from Griffonstone, home to an ingrained culture which we know doesn't reward kindness and often seeks to exploit it, and she's had to develop some sense of self-protection to avoid that to preserve her better nature. While dumping Spike because he was playing O&O with Rarity on his day off after their gem cave and Power-Ponypalooza excursions was an overreaction on its face, she's not as dumb as she lets on and can see Rarity's actively keeping him to herself, and Spike, to whom Rarity's interest in the stuff he likes is new, is letting it happen -- perhaps she saw that, confirming her existing suspicions she'd developed over the previous few days of Rarity taking Spike away to places where she wasn't invited, and figured it was better to tear off the bandage instead of letting her relationship with Spike decay further. Goodbye forever Spike, flask dropped.

Of course that's not a great solution either and it leaves both herself and Spike miserable, and to the victor the spoils -- until Rarity realises the damage she's done with her victory and seeks to make amends to both of them. If the episode had truly sought to make Rarity look bad she wouldn't have gone to the lengths she did to convince Gabby to undump Spike. An appreciated side-effect of the whole event is that Gabby's presence forces both Spike and Rarity to reassess their relationship somewhat -- exactly how is left up in the air, but the episode's conclusion establishes that Rarity appreciates Spike on an emotional, not merely transactional, level, and just from that they can move forward in whatever way they choose. That's an important development on its own.

tl;dr: It's complicated and there's some between-lines reading to be done, but I'm pretty sure that's intentional. Also while I'm down with Dragon Dropped generally, I do not know what they were going for in that scene where Rarity breaks into Spike's bedroom with event tickets while he's sleeping, that's some creep shit my mare

And yes, I'm aware I'm psychoanalysing magical talking cartoon animals here, but it's fun!

While i'm a-where of the problems it has, i still enjoyed it. Before this, we saw the shipping form Spike side, we never saw it from Rarity's point of view.

7215145
Nicely put!

Honestly, I feel like Season 9 had a lot of weak episodes. In "The Last Crusade," for instance, it was the tired old friend-may-be-leaving-but-then-they-end-up-staying plot. It would've been more meaningful if Scootaloo did end up moving away. There have been times when the show handled more mature themes and did so with good writing. "Dragon Dropped" felt unnecessary in my opinion, especially considering it was in the last season. Same thing too with "Daring Doubt," "Growing Up is Hard To Do," and "The Point of No Return." It's like the writers ran out of ideas and filled the season up with filler.

7215145
Very good detail of your thoughts about the episode and I see your point.

7215197
I'm mixed about season nine, while I do think the season is an improvement over the previous season but it's still have problems.

7215322
And don't even get me started on their treatment of King Sombra and "Grogar"

7215324
I don't really have a problem with King Sombra, but the plot involving "Grogar" could be better.

7215488

Sombra really could've been a great, serious villain but they changed his voice and characteristics, essentially re-introducing him and then immediately killing him off to usher in a new baddie...only for that baddie to not even exist. Aside from squandering two villains, Discord's plan to "build up Twilight's confidence" was asinine. I would've preferred if either Tirek or Chrysalis were taken out instead, maybe Chrysalis, since she's had the most screen time. Having the real Grogar show up to challenge the Main Six would've been far more interesting.

7215185
Hah, thanks, but that didn't sprout fully formed from my own mind. After watching the episode a few times (pertinent to my interests, after all) I spent a bit of time wandering the halls of the internet on the subject and found this forum opinion post that resonated with me, some of it was stuff I already felt and some was stuff that I pinched! I may as well source it here for anyone interested in reading someone else's take on the whole thing.

7215197

One of the worst episodes of season 9, in my opinion. It goes to great lengths not to blame and shame Scootaloo's parents for their terrible parenting but they should be, they should be told that actually, they're not cool dude Steve Irwins, they've neglected their daughter something vicious for years to go off wrestling crocodiles or whatever, and also foal protective services are here to take her into custody away from their neglect. I do not like Scootaloo's parents, one bit

The best thing about it (a low bar, btw) is Scoot's gay aunts -- they are cute and they often stand next to one another, which basically means you're married in MLP, especially on this forum in particular -- but even then, where the hell were they before that episode???!! In a few lines/panels of the light novels and comics, I guess. That first five minutes where it's "explained" that Scootaloo sleeps over at others' houses and they check in on her at weekends is a half-assed retcon and you know it, Ms. Dubuc 😤

Anyway, I'm way off topic talking about Scoot's bad 'rents and the bad episode they're in, so... Spike best dragon, Rarity best unicorn, Sparity complicated but rewarding, Spike and Rarity blushing because they are in love then maybe hugging and/or kissing, as good as all those things combined at least -- there, now we're back on topic!

7215734
Absolutely plus they waited until the very last season to confirm that Scootaloo's not an orphan? I honestly didn't care for her folks one bit. In fact, it would've been more interesting if her "globe-trotting adventurer parents" were just something that her aunts made up so Scootaloo didn't know that her parents abandoned her and so that she didn't grow up feeling unwanted. Boom! Emotional conflict and deep storytelling.

7215500
I personally think the story should be about the villains teaming up with the mane six after being betrayed by Grogar (the real Grogar, not the fake one), that's something the show has never done before and would be more interesting. And maybe give Cozy Glow a reason why she evil in the first place.

7215734
7215773
I have mixed feelings about Scootaloo's parents, while I don't hate them but don't like how they portrayed. The think the execution would be better if her parents was mentioned throughout the series before they actually appeared. But in the episode, they came out as being neglectful and that's not a good impression.

7216186
Yeah, I'm not a fan of Cozy Glow. In a series that I'm working on, I have a backstory in mind for Cozy Glow and without delving into spoiler territory, let's just say that she's actually a familiar face, at least to the fandom...

7216189
I'm not a huge fan of Cozy Glow too, I think the writers from the fandom can write her better then the actual show's writers.

7216296
I think that qualifies for all of Season Nine to be honest. The writers just ran out of creativity.

7216301
With 222 episodes and nine seasons, the writers would eventually run out of original ideas. This is not new in long-running shows.

7216329
Fair enough. Still, a single fanfic writer can come up with better ideas than a room of professional writers

7216906
That's kind of sad, but it's all too true in the grand scope of things. In all fairness to the show writers however, they have restraints or shackles, if you will, that kind of prevent them from delving too deep into the richness of what good storytelling is. Fanfic writers have all the freedom in the world to create whatever world they want in the already established universe, where as show writers have to adhere to what Hasbro itself wants.

7223017
That's true.