101 of Episodes (and writing this particular plot) · 6:04pm Jun 20th, 2015
Apparently I will end up commenting on every single darn Spike-centric episode of this series (maybe I wouldn't feel like doing it if they stopped writing the same plot).
Ok, let me get this out of the way: I don't mind that this is another "Spike screws up" episode. Those can work rather well. Just remember the sidekicks episode.
But this one irks me due to two very huge and glaring flaws:
*Spoilers*
A: This was all Cadance's fault! (And Twilight's to a lesser degree)
The crux here is that she brings and overworked Twilight to Spike and tells him to keep her safe. And then she leaves.
Here is what was missing:
"Oh and Spike, send any and all petitioners to me, Luna or Celestia, so Twilight can rest up. K'Thx!"
Seriously. Miss Mi Amore Cadenza! What was the guy supposed to do?
Its not his fault that Twilight and you have apparently never heard of "delegating" and "chain of authority". Where was Cadance when the ponies lined up a Twilight's door? Shouldn't Spike get some kind of letter or writ that gives him authority to send them all to another princess? Spike overstepped his bounds, yes. But Neither of them has the moral authority to call him out on trying to help when he thought he had no other choice.
And that brings me to my second problem:
B: The climax was not the result of power-abuse!
That may seem like a small thing, but it is a huge issue: What crashed the hall was not Spike going beyond his boundaries. It was Spike DOING EXACTLY WHAT CADANCE HAD ASKED HIM TO DO! IT WAS ALL IN SERVICE OF LETTING TWILIGHT HAVE A NICE REST!
This is problematic because the last straw is supposed to break the camels back. But here, they pile on and on and on and in the end, it turns out that the saddle had been poisoned all along (sorry for torturing the metaphor). If Spike had stopped the match because he didn't like it or kept the trees because he thought they looked pretty or something like that, fine, he would have gone too far. But again: At that point, he was doing exactly as ordered. This is literally on Cadance.
Further, the episode hollows out its own argument even more when Spike says that he knows Twi so well, he can rule on her part and as soon as Twi wakes up and talks to Fancy Pants, it turns out that HE HAD RULED EXACTLY AS SHE WOULD HAVE DONE, THUS IMPLYING THAT HE WAS NOT OUT OF BOUNDS IN THINGS THAT WERE ACTUALLY HIS CHOICE!
This episode wasn't too bad, but I feel that they didn't really consider their own implications when writing it. It feels very sloppily written.
I'd say you're piling it on, and then find out it's the wrong camel and the right one already collapsed.
Not the first time that happened - the first Trixie and Gilda episodes also had them doing something wrong and suffering consequences for something else they did.
He was outside of his boundaries, just a different kind. He should have went to Cadance or Celestia for help instead of lying about Twilight. Not that the episode bothers to indicate that. First time actually spelling out a moral at the end is something feels missing from an episode.
It's called a Broken Aesop for a reason. We're establishing the fact that they're very human in Equestria and don't see the big picture. Someone with a brain would notice that all the real crap happened before he let things get to his head but common sense ain't common. We learned that with the Gabby Gums incident.
3166666 Yeah. On the one hand, we have "Boasting is wrong but destroying the careers and reputations of people who make you feel insecure is A-OK!" and on the other, "Let's take a creamy dump all over someone who has no real idea of what friendship means for not wanting to share the only positive thing in her bleak existence."