My Review of MLP: FIM season 8 episode 20 The Washouts · 9:40pm Nov 18th, 2023
Grading Scale:
A (fantastic episode)
A- (an excellent episode with at least one flaw)
B+ (a great episode with a couple of flaws)
B (a good episode which still could have been better)
B- (a good episode with numerous flaws but still rewatchable)
C+ (a decent episode)
C (eh... it’s not terrible but not good either)
C- (it’s not worth rewatching although it does have good elements)
D+ (a bad episode with a few good things in it)
D (a really bad episode with wasted potential)
D- (a terrible episode with badly written characters and butchered moral)
F (horrible and unwatchable)
Greetings, everyone. This is Mr. J back with another MLP episode review for today. This afternoon, I will be reviewing the twentieth episode of season 8 entitled “The Washouts”. Honestly, this wasn’t that bad of an episode. As I rewatched this episode earlier today, I found myself liking it for what it gave us. Sure, it wasn’t perfect, but it is definitely better than the other episodes. Plus, it was kinda nice seeing Lightning Dust again as we haven’t seen her since season 3.
The episode starts with Scootaloo quickly finishing her Rainbow Dash fan club meeting prematurely, escorting everyone out, and then setting up her new fan club for the Washouts. Rainbow was shocked at this as she was eavesdropping on everything that happened. Now, this was a little surprising to see this unfold because Scootaloo has always been a Rainbow Dash fanatic; so to see her idolize another group of daredevils was somewhat unexpected.
I don’t know about you guys, but I personally think it makes sense for her to look up to someone else for encouragement and inspiration. Now, remember, she did not stop liking Rainbow; she was just tired of being under-appreciated due to her physical disability and wanted to be like someone who can directly inspire them to be what they want to be regardless of what they can or cannot do.
Rainbow Dash was suspicious of this new group and wanted to make sure they were actually legit. So she and her friends went to the show the Washouts were having that weekend. The more she watched them performed wildly, the more blown away she was.
Rainbow then encouraged Scootaloo to talk to them, but the latter was nervous to meet with them. So Rainbow speaks for her and proudly introduces herself as a Wonderbolt. The Washouts then laughed and invited them to join in as they too were Wonderbolts at one time until they “washed out” of the Academy, hence the name. That’s where Lightning Dust is re-introduced—face to face with her rival after so long.
Now, Lightning Dust is a pretty decent character, in my opinion. She’s certainly entertaining to watch, and I like how she is a blatant polar opposite of Rainbow Dash—reckless, careless, self-centered, obnoxious—wait, am I talking about Dust or Dash? Hmm, not so different after all, are they? I guess I meant to say “disloyal” and “unreasonable” in regards to Dust.
Unlike many fans who wanted her to be reformed so badly, I personally think Lightning doesn’t need to. Why? Because she isn’t technically a big bad villain like Tirek and Sombra, and her goals are pretty much simplistic in terms of being a daredevil and doing things her own way. She isn’t evil; she’s just…a wild card. Why does she need to grovel to the whimsical notions of friendship? Not every antagonist needs to be reformed, guys, and this is probably the 100th time I’m saying this.
And as I watched this episode, I noticed one minor issue of continuity. Scootaloo is surprised to learn that these girls know each other and have a history together. Umm, shouldn’t she already know this? Actually, wasn’t she the one who had photographs of Lightning in her journal in season 7 episode 7 “Parental Glideance” and told the story of their rivalry and how Lightning got expelled from the Wonderbolts Academy?
How is it she is suddenly ignorant of their history together? Did Nick Confalone even watch that episode?
Moving on, Scootaloo was so eager to join the Washouts she even agreed to drop out of the Wonderbolts immediately. Rainbow is angered by this and takes her there so she can better understand what makes them so good and safe unlike the Washouts. Unfortunately, the filly is bored by this and no longer shares interest in them.
Spitfire tried to straighten her out via harsh tactics, but she only managed to scare her. So Rainbow decides to take out all the Washouts posters and stickers from her treehouse, but Scootaloo runs off and instantly joins them by wearing the Washouts outfit.
Rainbow tries to get her to change her mind—pleading with her to reconsider her choice, but Scootaloo refused to listen. She finally vented her frustration to her and expressed her desire to join her new club regardless of what Rainbow says. Thus, the latter accepted her decision and let her go. It must’ve been hard for Dash to let her biggest fan make choices on her own and allow someone else to be her role model, but she was now mature enough to let her do her thing.
And this is something teenagers often go through; they are sick and tired of parents telling them how to do things and want to experience the world on their own. I say this because Scootaloo is acting like a teenager here although she’s supposed to be much younger than that (I really wish the show told us their ages). She wanted to experience what she’s been longing for, and she thought that the Washouts would finally be a way for her to express her authentic self and discover who she really wanted to be.
She couldn’t find that in the Wonderbolts because they constantly reminded her of what she couldn’t do—fly. This is something she’s been bottling up for so long as evidenced by the way she yelled at Rainbow. It’s so clear to me she wanted to talk about her feelings to her but couldn’t find the right time to do so. Better late than never, I guess.
But of course, as with most cartoons, young characters who make hasty decisions don’t always have their way as they soon understand the face of danger the hard way. As another show was about to begin, Lightning Dust sets Scootaloo on a huge rocket on top of a hill which concerns the filly. Okay, if she were to do that to any random adult, that would be a different story. But to do this to a child is just downright terrible.
Now, I’m not saying this as a writing issue; I’m saying this to highlight how her nonexistent regard for anyone’s safety applies to anypony of any age. It doesn’t matter if you’re a child, she will still put you in harm’s way. She’s such an underrated antagonist that it’s a shame she only made two major appearances in the whole show. Is her voice actress that expensive or did they not care about this pegasus? I’m genuinely asking.
So after Rainbow saves Scoots and says goodbye to Lightning who is blasting off to the skies, they apologize to each other and hug each other. And then Rainbow sets up a Scootaloo fan club as a sign of appreciation for her. Wow, hurray, friendship wins again! Woohoo! Clap! Clap! Clap! 🙄
But overall, this was a nice episode. It has a few minor issues, but it is still watchable. We learn to never look up to someone who doesn’t have your best interests at heart and listen to the advice of those who actually care about you. So I’ll give it a solid B+!
Peace.
Even though it’s been a while since I saw this episode, I remembered enjoying it regardless of the slight flaws it has. Heck, I actually liked the fact that Lightning Dust never got reformed in the end, because her clear disregard for the safety of others and her wildcard personality have shown that she’s not exactly a “Friendship-y” type of pony.
I’ve often wondered the same thing. I noted this continuity error ever since I first watched the episode, and it was so impossible for me to overlook that it became a reason for why I’ve frequently questioned the majority of Season 8 & 9’s accuracy in the canon of their predecessors.
One theory that came to my mind was that Confalone most likely made the episode as something that takes place before Season 7, but it was shelved until Hasbro decided to revive it for Season 8 and most likely got edited and changed by Nicole Dubuc to fit with the season. Nowadays, because of this theory, I can’t help but think that the episode would’ve been a much better fit for the 5th or 6th season.
Another lesson this episode teaches is the reason why safety rules are important.
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That would make a lot of sense if that was the case. I really wish they didn’t use Nicole as a story editor because she just doesn’t know ANYTHING about these characters.
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I agree.
If the real Grogar was spying on the Mane Six since the beginning of the series, I bet he’d consider Lighting Dust and her Washouts to be good candidates for his Organization of Disharmony.