This is an interesting review because, as you probably already know, there was no two-parter this season, but two standalone episodes.Gauntlet of Fire review · 6:59pm Apr 16th, 2016
Another episode, another review. This time we get to see Spike doing something that actually has implications for the whole of Equestria. I've never really cared about the Spike episodes very much. I don't hate them but I'm not a huge fan of them either. They always seem to have the same message: "You should think of others and how to do kind things without expecting something in return." Good message but that has been about all the Spike episodes.
The only ones I can think of that weren't were Equestria Games, Spike at your Service, and Dragon Quest. These ones explored other morals that seemed to be covered in much better episodes. For example, in Equestria games, Spike has to deal with his stage fright when he was asked to light the fire at the games. We saw this overcoming stage fright moral with Fluttershy in a couple of her episodes (fillie minelli and Hurricane Fluttershy). Dragon Quest's moral was doing the right thing even when you're pressured to do what you know is wrong. Again, I feel this was done much better in just about all of the 'Magical Key' episodes in season 4 (such as Applejacks key). Spike at your service was an episode where Spike was so completely useless that it went against his role as number 1 assistant. Now, it's time to throw down the Gauntlet.
I actually rather enjoyed this episode. It was good seeing Spike stand up for the ideals he has developed by living in Equestria. I also enjoyed seeing it be Spike that carried the message of friendship to another group of creatures instead of relying on one of the mane 7 to be the crux. Another character I enjoyed was Princess Ember. She is so eager to prove herself to both her race at large and her father in particular, which is something a lot of people can relate to, that I really ended up wanting to see her win the gauntlet.
It seems like the people behind the show are still working on expanding the world and continuing to bring friendship to other parts of Equestria and beyond like they did a little with the Cutie Map episodes last season. That's all I've got to say about Gauntlet of Fire, next week we won't be prancing around.
