MLP Episode Review - Season 6, Episode 14 - The Cart Before The Ponies

It's our second weekend back from the summer hiatus and that means a new Pony episode is due. This week, we’re focusing on the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Last week’s episode was excellent...did this episode keep up the quality?
In this episode, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle learn that the Applewood Derby is coming up and they need to build a cart for each of them to race in within 24 hours. It's quite a daunting task, so they each ask their older sisters for help (except Scootaloo, but can’t Rainbow Dash be called Scoots’ honorary sister by now?). This turns out to be a big mistake as each older sister takes complete creative control over the project.
I didn't find this episode to be nearly as entertaining as last week’s episode. The main problem for me was characterization. It constantly annoyed me that Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash acted the way they did, never taking into consideration what their younger sisters wanted to do with their carts. This seemed very out of character to me, especially for Rarity. We've already had a few episodes where her not listening and caring for Sweetie Belle was a problem. You'd think she would've learned the lesson by now.
Anyway, on to what I enjoyed. There's a few jokes in this episode, one in particular, that made me laugh out loud for a while. You'll know the one when you see it. It's amazing. Also, there’s a very unexpected song in this episode, and I liked it. It's catchy. And finally, there's more Cheerilee in this episode. That's automatically a pro. We even see her in a cheerleading outfit. It's adorable.
This episode wasn't the greatest, but it certainly wasn't the worst (I leave that award with Season 5’s What About Discord? I shudder just thinking about it). There's good laughs and a good song, but the characterization of Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash significantly reduced my enjoyment of this episode. I hear next week we might be getting some “zom-ponies.” Now that sounds interesting…

PROS:

Good laughs spread throughout, including an amazing bit near the beginning

New song is unexpected but catchy

Cheerilee!

CONS:

Some characterization is flawed and annoying throughout

Plot suffers from said characterization, could've been better

Valiant’s Score: 6.5 / 10