Season 3 Episode Reviews: Spike at Your Service · 7:32pm Dec 29th, 2012
There's only two more days until 2012 is over, so let's see if the last episode before the break is enough to tide us over. Let's all take a long, piercing stare at “Spike at Your Service.”
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TECHNCIAL SPECS:
Season: 3
Episode: 10
Written By: Dave Polsky (story), Merriweather Williams (script)
First Aired: December 29, 2012
SUMMARY:
Twilight is once again going into Serious Study Mode for Princess Celestia, and thus gives Spike the day off. Unfortunately, he runs out of things to do very quickly, so he decides to go wandering around town until he spies the rebuilt balloon. While running up to it, he ends up crashing into the pole it was anchored to, sending it flying away on its own, and in Spike's haste to recover it, he ends up wandering into the Everfree Forest...and right into the middle of CG Timberwolves. Fortunately, Applejack was also following the empty balloon, and arrives just in time to smash all three wolves to pieces. And so Spike is saved and everypony is happy...until Applejack learns that Spike has a Dragon Code that requires him to serve whoever saves him for the rest of his life.
Unfortunately for AJ, Spike's attempts at being helpful are...wanting, to say the least. He splashes Apple Bloom with suds while washing a pig, demolishes the kitchen while helping to bake pies, and ends up roasting the one he finished until it's a pile of cinders and ash. Even worse, Twilight is too wrapped up in her studies to help, leaving Applejack on her own. Her friends are all supportive of him, too...until he destroys Rarity's kitchen just trying to wash a plate.
Rainbow Dash suggests just giving him something impossible to do, like building a giant pile of rocks for Dash to smash through. Unfortunately, he succeeds at his task, thus forcing Rainbow to plow through the pile and knock herself dizzy. Next, AJ tries to follow Fluttershy's advice and not give him something to do, but all this does is make Spike look for things AJ needs him to do, exasperating her more. Finally, she goes back to Twilight and jars her out of her studying for some sort of solution.
All six ponies decide to stage a fake Timberwolf attack, where Spike will save Applejack and thus even out their debt. Despite everypony involved utterly failing at pulling off their roles (save for Rarity putting up a very convincing damsel-in-distress), Spike almost falls for it...but then notices that they forgot to include the monster's breath...much like the one he's smelling right now...
Three Timberwolves (possibly the same ones as before, having reformed off-screen) pounce out of the forest, ready to munch on some ponies. Once again, Applejack saves Spike and smashes the wolves...but ends up getting her hoof stuck under a rock. Even worse, the wolves are not only reforming, but absorbing nearby trees and wood to transform into its Combiner form. Fortunately, he's still made out of twigs; all it takes is one rock in the mouth to make it choke, and gravity does the rest for them. Spike saves the day, rescues Applejack, and the two rejoin the others.
Applejack finally tells Spike point-blank that he doesn't have to follow a stupid code to be a noble dragon, and he finally agrees that's for the best. Besides, he still has to take care of Twilight, after all...
REVIEW:
While I normally go for a point-to-point recap of the episode's events and explain their significance...I can't do it with this one. I simply don't want to spend any more time discussing this episode than I have to.
Once again, Twilight goes into full-on study mode, causing her to neglect food, drink and use of the facilities in order to read every book in a big old pile. Unfortunately, this is used less like a character trait and more like an excuse to kick her out of the episode until she's actually needed. This also frees up Spike from his eternal servitude to his cruel mistress, allowing him to...um, lick his nose, beat his belly, and smell his feet...
Yeah, the episode gets off to a bad start, and it only goes downhill from there.
There's really no need to go over the plot in any real detail. It's one of the oldest story concepts in the world, and it's been done to death hundreds of times before this. Spike knocks the balloon into the Everfree Forest, gets cornered by the Timberwolves, and saved by Applejack. Thus, he has to serve her for the rest of his days, which might make things a tad awkward when she dies before him. (Might want to switch it to “rest of her days.”) In fact, out of all the early scenes, the one thing of notable comment is the new design for the Timberwolves. They're now CG animated, which is understandable considering the amount of moving parts they'll have on display this episode...but it's also really bad CG animation. The actual movement is all right, but it's integrated with the existing Flash very poorly, with obvious outlines and very jerky movement. The only impressive use of it is at the end, where the wolves go One Wing Angel on the heroes.
That said, I do like how the wolves have been redone. Originally, they were just a simple pun, but now they're sort of like forest creatures of some kind, reassembling themselves and even absorbing other nearby wood sources into themselves. It makes them a much more magical and dangerous enemy; even if you break them, they'll keep coming back.
The next seven minutes or so, unfortunately, is where we run into the BIIIIIIIIIG problem I have this week: Spike. As following the concept's tradition, he's horrifically incompetent at every little thing he tries to do, only serving to break things or ruin the task at hand. I could understand this if it was something that he normally wasn't good at, but most of what he does is cooking and cleaning, something we know he's already done in previous episodes and is good at. The guy's Twilight's housekeeper, and yet destroys an entire kitchen just to wash one plate? I'm sorry, but this is character assassination, plain and simple. Even back when he was a jealous bugger in “Owl's Well that Ends Well,” he was still competent. If your plot requires you to make a character act that stupid, you really needed to go back to the drawing board.
The only saving grace of the first 2/3rds are the occasional appearances of the rest of the cast. Rarity taking a bite of the ruined pie was hilarious; it must really bring back memories of her mom's home cooking. (Again, how did Rarity survive to adulthood?) Rainbow Dash's joke about her unfinished novel was funny (I always took her as the type for Mary Sue self-insert fanfics), and Spike building the rock pile for her was pretty much the only time his plot didn't raise my ire (since it's about organizing and structuring a sufficient pile, something he has done for years for Twilight). Fluttershy pointing out how they could have just told him there was nothing to do was spot-on; in fact, her development seems to stick fairly well this episode. And the way AJ finally gets Twilight's attention, while once again delving into her OCD, was funny.
But let's discuss “Spike's Dragon Code.” When it's first introduced, it sounds like something Spike made up himself, probably after the disappointment with the dragons from “Dragon Quest.” He doesn't want to be a selfish bully like the others, so instead he creates a moral guideline for himself and strictly adheres to it in order to consider himself “noble.” The problem comes when Twilight seemingly confirms that it's a real code and dragons take it very seriously. It just makes it a lot more confusing than it should be.
But then we get to the last third, and things go into a bit of an upswing. The usual plot of “stage a disaster, end up in a real disaster” is in full play, but the way it's set up is funny as heck. Pinkie's insane plan involving hornets and cannons made me stop the episode so I could laugh some more, and it seems Spike isn't the only one who can pull off an awesome mustache. The fake Timberwolf was perfectly pathetic, and Rainbow Dash having a perfect Timberwolf call was amusing. And then you have AJ's incredibly fake acting, which goes well with her inability to lie particularly well. But the real highlight is Rarity pulling off the best damsel-in-distress imaginable, swooning and screaming to be rescued by Spike. Once again, her haminess has been used for good instead of evil. As for the Timberwolf itself, its defeat is pretty quick, but it also makes a lot of sense considering how the things are constructed, plus Spike rolled a natural 20.
The moral is...um....I dunno. I guess it's that you shouldn't let chivalry rule your life or something like that, but...it was kinda just there. No letter this time, just...Spike clinging to Twilight's leg as if she was threatening to replace him with Owlowiscious again.
CONCLUSION:
I didn't like this episode, that much should be apparent. While the last third is a general improvement, the first two-thirds are just awful all around. Spike's character is thrown through the woodchipper in order to force in a story that was already worn out by the time The Andy Griffith Show did it. His antics are forced and not amusing, and the whole “Dragon Code” thing is very poorly handled. We also get the first really poor animation in a while with how the Tiberwolves are handled. The only saving grace is the presence of the rest of the cast; they are all in character, executed well, and the last third has them working off each other to great effect. But Spike's derailment just drags the whole episode down with him, making this the absolute worst episode this season so far.
Is it worst than OWtEW? No. Is it worse than MMDW? No. But it's still just a bad episode.
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Well...that was a disappointing way to end the year. Here's hoping the episode after the break will...
Oh wait, next is the “Discord Redemption” one...
And then there's Spike petsitting...
Excuse me. I need a drink.
Agreed.
This is the lesson IAH
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Y'know, the motile plant organisms are a major new aspect of Equestria and I'm surprised that they haven't been discussed in more detail. Fruit Bats that seem to literally be airborne mobile fruits (completely changing the concept of seed distribution, when you think about it) and mobile carnivorous plants in the form of the Timberwolves, who appear to be a hive organism based on the combiner effect. Add on top of that the fact that, given how tough they are, the Dragons might be a silicon-based lifeform (literally living rocks) and you realise that Equestria has a seriously weird biosphere to the point where I wonder if the mammalian sentients are all transplanted species from another planet or dimension.
I think that the "Discord Redemption" one might be a great episode, if handled correctly.
About petsitting episode, well, it's probably gonna suck. A lot.
Honestly, I think they're trying to turn Spike into an accidental klutz more than an idiot. And you're kinda right about the character assassination thing. I've never seen Spike use any sign of sarcasm he usually has going as usual.
Speaking of CGI, I know a guy who combined Flash with a 3D software called Blender.
Wow. The scripts in this season really are starting to read like bad fanfics...
My thoughts can be found here. To put it simply we are in complete agreement. Spike was utterly ruined for the sake of a stpud cliche plot. He's not Spongebob!
This is the first time I agreed with you on everything . I just sighed after watching this episode.
I find it hilarious that it was a joint effort by none other than Dave Polsky and Merriweather Williams
659978 It has Spike in it. The only thing it CAN do is suck.
I just don't understand why they give Spike TWO WHOLE EPISODES in this season? It's only 13 episodes long, with probably two twoparters bringing it to a measly 11. Inexcusable. And this comes on the heels of the Applejack's no-plot funny vignette collection. Bleigh. And the middle of the season was SO promising with Magic Duel, Wonderbolt Academy and especially Sleepless In Ponyville.
Just watched Sleepless in Ponyville again btw. This ep and SIP are from completely different shows.
Harsh. I loved the episode.
Orrr, all the GOOD writers were working on the tentative MOVIE....
Well, this is the first time where when I heard the synopsis for an episode, I was completely right on how I predicted it was going to play out and resolve itself. I've had a history of thinking certain episodes were going to be one thing, and then they turned out to be something completely different. When I first heard the synopsis for Magic Dual I thought they were going to do a sort of Rocky III thing where Twilight duals Trixie, loses, has to retrain herself, comes back and beats her, and the moral would be something like picking yourself up after you fall. Not sure if that would've been better or worse than what we got, but whatever. I enjoyed that episode for what it was.
But for this episode, I was honestly hoping I'd be wrong. I was really hoping they'd have come up with something better, but I guess it was only a matter of time before I was right about something.
659983
I would jump in and agree...except for the fact that the argument's kind of meaningless. The reason so many of this episodes sound like fanfics is because we've basically written them all dozens of times. It's part of the curse of having a large, active fandom; you end up treading ground long before the production team can. And as for the bad part...this episode and TCE are pretty much the only disappointments so far. Everything else has been decent to excellent, in my opinion.
659996
I'd argue that point...but so far, Spike's missed every time he went to bat. He's good as a supporting character, but I just can't see him pulling off a starring role anymore.
660018
Or, all the good writers have been drafted to work on "Littlest Pet Shop" (I know M. A. Larson is involved, at least), leaving us with what few scripts and writers remain.
I want to like Spike, I really do. I liked him at the beginning of the series, but they just keep making him worse and worse! It's like with Pinkie: the writers only seem to be able to work those characters correctly when they're not the focus of the episode (with an exception or two). In fact, they used Pinkie perfectly here; silly, without being overbearing. Really, every character besides Spike (and maybe Twilight) was in absolute top form.
Honestly, it's gotten to the point where I'm dreading the next Spike episode. It's not a good feeling.
Between the animation WTF and the non-story, this whole episode felt like filler. And not good filler, like the stuff inside an Oreo. No, it's more like the stuff inside knock-off twinkies. Seriously, what is that stuff?
659996
Spike is essentially the 7th member of the Mane-6, but compared to them he's extremely underdeveloped. That's why.
But...they could have done a better job.
Still, the Timberwolves were neat, at least.
660044 Agreed. Pinkie has been a horrible influence lately. Her own episode this season was mostly meh, but she really took the cake (tehee) with the Wonderbolts Academy. They had to shorten the real story to fit in more of her paranoid antics. Did RD become a Wonderbolt? Did Lightning Dust really get kicked out of the Academy? Did Spitf—OMG DASH HAS FORGOT ME AFTER THREE DAYS WE MUST GO OUT TO MEET HIM AND I HAVE TO TALK ABOUT IT FOR HALF THE BLOODY EPISODE JUST SO WE WOULDN'T HAVE TO SEE HOW AWESOME DASHIE IS WHEN SHE FINALLY GETS TO BE IN HER OWN ELEMENT AND FULFILLING HER DREAM! WHO CARES! CAREPACKAGE!
On the Twilight part though, that's her usual OCD working up again, and Spike should have known better than to just walk away like he did with Owloyswichiswous. He KNOWS Twily. Why not just, youknow, tickle her with his claws until she listens?
But this IS a character that has been waiting for weeks to smell his own feet. Egads what have they done.
For the most part, you're spot-on. Except the golem at the end. It choekd to death on a rock. An animated golem choked to death... on a rock.
Yeah, no.
This episode's story was done by Dave Polsky and was written by Merriweather Williams? Shame they had to reruin their reputations after redeemed themselves earlier this season.
I personally didn't particularly despise this episode. Though I'm not one to think too hard about character details until after the fact or let it ruin my enjoyment unless it's a serious story. I can't really disagree with what you said about the episode except about the beginning (I thought it was a quite funny way to start.).
Would you say this better than Dragon Quest?
I just figured that Spike was just extremely over zealous when helping Applejack. He tried so hard that it had the opposite effect. With Twilight, he's calm and can take his time.
As for the dragon code, I figured each dragon makes up his or her own code, but they have to follow it without exception.
I agree with your view on Spike's "dragon code." I actually liked it at first. I saw it as a device Spike used to move on from the point he was at during Dragon Quest. Later, of course, Twilight had to completely ruin it.
Perhaps he intends to burden her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and so forth with his life debt.
Conspicuous CG is Conspicuous. All the more jarring since it's not the first time such has been used in the show, though I do suppose it's the first time that such objects were made the central focus of a scene. Usually they're either small and/or fast moving, but here the effects are put on full and detailed display for us to scrutinize and ridicule.
This, full stop. Seriously there were ways to work Spike being more nuisance than help, but this was just cheap generic trash that flies completely in the face of his normal status as Twilight *#1 assistant*. A better way to handle it would probably have been to focus on how being an assistant to a librarian is nothing like being a farmhand, and maybe also show that his skill at facilitating Twilight's OCD is of little benefit to the more practical and level headed AJ.
I really, really wanted her to take a bit, and then as she struggles to keep it down without hurting spikes feelings have her say something like... "Mmm, delicious, just like mother used to make."
You and just about every other brony since Read it and Weep, but yes, it was good to see that theory confirmed.
Though if Spikes personal code is older than Dragon Quest maybe Twilight is just speaking from personal experience about how seriously Spike takes it. Unfortunately the dialogue gets pretty lazy here so it takes a bit inventive reading between the lines to make such a reasoning bear out. A shame really as making the so-called dragon's code into actually just Spikes made up imagining of was one of the things that helped almost make this episode work.
I actually find it to be far worse than both, but then again as previously established, neither of those episodes bugs me, and I actually rather enjoy the first. Still this episode is bad, nearly as much so as OaB, to the point I have trouble deciding which one is worse. OaB suffers from poor execution in the third act, but it was still a pretty good high concept episode. SaYS though, it's both poorly executed and rather ill-conceived, though the part of it I enjoyed I generally enjoyed quite a bit.
That one actual sounds pretty interesting.
659996>>660027
See though, that's the problem: Spike COULD be a great starring character, as at least DOZENS of fics on this site can attest to...the problem lies not in spike as a character, but in the fact that the writers seem solely intent on shoehorning him into every possible 'little boys as seen by little girls' trope ever - i.e. generally just stupid, clumsy, and disgusting. And yes, this is a show originally designed for little girls, but come on.
so yes, "character assassination" is pretty much the ONLY thing spike has done (or had done) to him since episode 1
Also, am I the only one who took RD's comment about finishing a book to mean that AJ was the one writing, and not Dash?
Damnit, Polsky! You were doing so well!
And Merriwether . . .
I didn't like this episode either, although I didn't have expectations for it in the first place.
It feels like whenever Spike is the center of an episode, shit gets fucked up.
I'm not sure if he's just a bad character or a decent character that's poorly written.
Onto the Discord/Fluttershy episode! (I'll admit, I have high expectations for this one)
I need to stop reading these, they're good, but they ruin it for me. I usually love all the episodes of MLP when I watch them (the exception being the crystal empire, they crammed to much information, explanation and history into to short-a time). I guess I just go for the more childish theme's and stuff, use it to escape the real world. Either way, I enjoyed this weeks episode, but I do agree that the plot is weak IF i am asked to think about it, otherwise it was just another good episode from my favourite show.
660326
I'm sorry if I do that. I don't intend to ruin anyone's experience with my nitpicking little analysis, but as shown is the past, I've apparently done that a lot. Still, if you like the episode, that's fine. There are a few worthwhile things in here, and if the part that bugged me to death doesn't bother you, that's wonderful.
Possibly for the first time ever, I hated an episode on my initial viewing instead of after rewatching and thinking about it. Dash and Rarity and Pinkie and Twilight's little moment with the inkpot tried their best to salvage it, but to no avail. This may be my new least favorite episode.
NO! Dammit, I haven't seen the episode yet, and I'm damned if your tricksy ways of updating in good time is going to get me to read spoilers.
659977
I'll give you the fruit bats, and even the idea of silicon dragons sounds pretty cool, but after this episode I don't think I can view Timberwolves as any kind of biological lifefrom. Rather, like Windegoes, they seem to be some kind of elemental spirit, that just happen to construct bodies out of scraps of wood and other assorted foliage for whatever reason.
660363 What does MMDW stand for?
660542
Mysterious Mare-Do-Well.
660558 K. Also,
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TImberwolves are made of WOOD. Spike can breathe FIRE. FIRE>>>>>WOOD. The whole premise of this was flawed to begin with.
perhaps Celestia told Spike about the Dragon code. She also would have told Twilight if she did. From there it doesn't matter if it's real or not. They both think it's real. The teenage dragons either are losers who are to young to care about it or they don't follow it.
wasn't the best episode, but I enjoyd it. Especially like the way they managed to encourperate all the mane 6 and their attempts to fake AJ's distress.
I agree with pretty much everything you said here, for possibly the first time in history, it's a bad sign for an episode when I can predict the entire story line form the first 5 minutes with Spike swearing his life and then generic clumsiness (seen that plot before, didn't like it when I was 5 don't like it now), they could have done a decent job on this episode but failed sadly.
The other characters helped make it better but yeah I feel it wasn't quite enough and Twilight completely ignoring Spike deciding to leave home, eh not so sure I like it.
Then the dragon code, I still read that as a purely Spike thing that he's had going for awhile but had no reason to bring up before so Twilight knows it's a big deal to him but no one else.
Or maybe it solely refers to life debts and nothing more, that could work. maybe?
I did like the Timberwolf sans it choking on a rock even with the CGI.
660068
without Pinkie's paranoid antics Lightning Dust would never have endangered civilians because no civilians would have arrived there, so they would have totally had to change everything at the end to have Dust get her comeuppance.
And considering the Wonderbolts perform in front of audiences constantly it actually did matter id she was careless around civilians so I don't think you can bash the Mane6 to much for going there.
660033
I checked and all I could see was Cindy Marrow and M A Larson, but even then they could still write for FIM. And I thought you liked most of the season 3 eps so far. This one is the only real dud for me...I didnt hate it, just didnt like it and mainly because of how I have seen this plot before. I also take objection to the running...Really? Dragons, Cerebus, and Discord-no problem? but Timberwolves?
661137
I do like the season so far. But Polsky and Williams have had a rather large presence this season, and even after improving, they can still produce an episode like this week's. It's just a little distracting, that's all.
661156
It could be worse though...it could turn out like the second half of the second season of Jake Long...ugggggggggggggggggggh.
660145
We all saw what happened when Spike tried petsitting for Fluttershy in Dragonshy...
660563 Black Butler reference?
I didn't think it was terrible, just week on plot and character. My only real compliant is Spike's incompetence, there are so many other ways they could have made him a nuisance without making him look stupid. Otherwise, I actually like a lot of the humor in this episode. The plot was just kind of there though.
Forget the drink someone get me a goddamned keg of beer
I think the Timberwolves were animated the way they were on purpose. It makes them seem a bit alien to the world they are in, kind of like the uncanny valley effect, probably to fit with how the Everfree is itself something of an aberration. And the CGI, while not Pixar level, didn't seem bad, just conspicuous. Now, granted, they never did anything like that with Everfree creatures before, from the manticore up to a bleeding dragon, and including the previous appearance of the timberwolves. Just trying something new would be my guess.
660015
I didn't hate the episode as much as some others, but... it was utterly forgettable.
I mean, I flipped over to an episode of Leverage during one of the commercial breaks, coming back when Spike was trying to count grass and cook... and I didn't feel like I'd missed anything.
661242
imageshack.us/a/img252/7466/kuroshitsujiscanssebastq.jpg
(Also, the artist confirms that Spike is wearing Sebastian's suit in the comments for the image.)
While I definitely don't think this episode is perfect, I don't think it's utterly terrible. Spike is indeed generally a comptent caretaker and housekeeper, which makes his antics in this episode so strange. However, as the Cutie Mark Crusaders have shown us time and again, an excess of enthusiasm can lead to a situation where one can botch something one is generally very good at. The only major weakness I feel in this respect is Spike's complete lack of awareness of how much havoc he's wreaking. That's what threw me. Like you said, Twilight's sudden affirmation of the Dragon Code after it seemed like something Spike had made up on his own also kind of messed things up. There are also a couple of things that jumped out at me in a good way.
In the beginning of the episode, we see Twilight apparently studying a number of books from Princess Celestia. As you noted, this is mostly just a device to write her out of the episode. However, it also seems like a continuity nod to me. After the whole afffair with the Crystal Empire, Twilight's studies are supposed to be moving to the "next level." Is this perhaps a subtle example of what Princess Celestia meant when she said that? A pity we don't learn anything about the book's she's plowing through.
The other thing I really liked was how, after Spike finds out he has the day off, the first thing he does is consult a list. It's a perfect nod to how his life with Twilight influences him in some ways. The fact that he has a massive role of parchment for said list, but only three items on it also shows that while Twilight influences him, Spike is definitely not her.
Oh, and Pinkie Pie's mustache...'nuff said.
661137
Instinct. Humanized as they may be, they are still ponies, complete with all the fear of predators.