Parental Glidance Review · 5:06pm May 20th, 2017
*Sigh*. Wow, just wow. I can't believe that the 150th episode of the show, turned out to be like this. And from a writer who all by accounts, should've been much better suited to the task. We've got our first Rainbow Dash episode of the season, which coincidentally is in the same slot as "Newbie Dash" last season, and features The Wonderbolts (as well as Scootaloo). The new writer is Josh Hamilton, who previously wrote for Avatar: The Last Airbender, Avatar: The Legend of Korra, and Voltron: Legendary Defender. Don't know much about the last one, but the first one was praised for being an amazing show for all ages, and the middle one was a sequel that never got the love it deserved thanks to Nick screwing the pooch and ultimately shunting it off to online only for its final season. So you'd think that with at least the first two writing credits under his belt, Hamilton would be more than qualified to write for the show. Well, not really, but we'll get to that eventually. For now, it's time for an episode review. Ready?
We begin not with Rainbow Dash, but with Scootaloo, who is going to Cloudsdale to complete a report on the most supportive pony in her life. She decides to use a giant slingshot, rather than any number of safer options, including the hot air balloon. She is launched straight up to Cloudsdale, and as luck would have it, she ends up on the front lawn (cloud lawn I guess) of Rainbow Dash's childhood home.
Then after a bit of Scootaloo screaming her head off (probably should've cut it down because the joke goes on for far longer than necessary), Scootaloo apparently recognizes Rainbow Dash's parents, and the episode doesn't address how she knows that, which is a problem considering what we'll learn later on. Apparently, Rainbow Dash's parents are super over supportive and have kept all kinds of memorbila from when she was just a child (including the diaper she was in when she said her first word, a lamp she broke when she first learned how to fly, and an apple she bit into when she got her first tooth). We do get a kind of funny joke about an angelic choir for a trophy room, but all in all this set-up takes up the entire first act of the episode and doesn't accomplish anything other than establish Rainbow Dash's parents as super fans and overly supportive. Considering what happens later on in this episode, that's a problem.
The episode doesn't REALLY start until Rainbow Dash's parents and Scootaloo show up at the Wonderbolts Academy, while the Wonderbolts are in the middle of flight practice. And unfortunately, Rainbow Dash's parents loud cheering creates turbulence that ends up disrupting the bolts, Spitfire even points out that civillians aren't allowed on academy grounds without permission. To this episode's credit, the Wonderbolts act rather nice, they're not snarky and mean, or quick to turn on Rainbow Dash, they act like the proper teammates they're supposed to (though I wish Spitfire would've gotten a bigger role later on). Rainbow Dash is a bit unhappy to see her parents again, but rather than immediately lash out at them and Scootaloo, she keeps it in.
Both Bow Hot Hoof and Windy Whistles meet Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle (not sure why they're in the episode at this point, we had all three of the CMC in the previous episode and they'll all be in the next episode, plus they've got two more coming up later this season, so it's not like there's a quota that needs to be filled. They only got three episodes last season, and the season before that only two), who decide to show up to every Wonderbolts show from now on simply because they know their daughter's a part of them, whereas before they couldn't care less (not really helping their case, especially if they knew their daughter idolized the Wonderbolts which they apparently do). We also get a pointless recap (when The Last Airbender did a recap it found a creative way to do so with "Ember Island Players", and Legend of Korra was probably forced to have a clip show episode to save on money when the animation budget got slashed thanks to Nick's meddling) of Rainbow Dash's arc to join the Wonderbolts. Then we get to something that the episode apparently seems to forget about afterward, Rainbow's parents start shooting off fireworks as a show of support, which I'm pretty sure is illegal to do if you're not a licensed pyrotechnician, and it's clear that doing so could put the Wonderbolts in jepoardy. And like I said, the episode doesn't seem to acknowledge this at all afterward, it's almost as if it were:
Anyway, Bow and Windy keep piling on the over supportive, never leaving Rainbow Dash alone even for a minute. And she finally snaps at them and tells them off, yet when her parents start crying and leave (even though Rainbow Dash takes a moment to compose herself after the initial yelling before calmly telling them to go) their words make it seem like a subtle guilt trip. Not helping is that Scootaloo somehow sides with them even knowing full well what they did. And the episode seems to think the problem is that Rainbow Dash took her parents support for granted, which she did NOT do!
So in a flashback with questionable cameos (featuring the Wonderbolts as fillies and colts, and a filly Lightning Dust, though we also get a filly Derpy who slowly becomes more and more cross eyed, and falls from her position at the pedastal as a result), we learn that Rainbow Dash's parents were always over supportive of her in every thing she did. This apparently is supposed to explain how Rainbow Dash could become such an ego maniac, but it feels more like an excuse. Then we get to Scootaloo's line that I'll talk about later. So, much like "Flutter Brutter" and "Top Bolt" it becomes kind of hard for me to root for these characters to be given another chance, even though I don't think they're as bad as Zephyr Breeze or Sky Stinger. Rainbow Dash holds a private performance for her parents, and apologizes to them for taking their support for granted, but never is it seen or implied that her parents learned any kind of lesson about their over support and how much of a danger it was becoming (not to mention an annoyance for others). The entire resolution clearly feels rushed, which could've been fixed had they cut the set-up down, particularly since we know Rainbow Dash never told her parents she was a Wonderbolt, and probably didn't mention them all that much considering the way they act. I really think they needed to devot some time to having Spitfire address what Bow Hot Hoof and Windy Whistles did, so we could see for ourselves how the two had changed, and thus making the resolution feel more appropriate and believeable. It doesn't really help that they seem to just change their target of affection to Scootaloo when she gives her presentation at school and gets a B.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, I don't know if I would say it's disappointing or bad, but at the same time I can't call it very good. It's probably the very definition of a mixed bag, there are some things it does good, but other things it really screws up. Rainbow Dash and The Wonderbolts are handled flawlessly here, sure Rainbow Dash may have overreacted a tad, but she had every right to chew out her parents for their behavior. They should know better as adults, yet they act like little kids idolizing a wrestling or sports star. Bow Hot Hoof and Windy Whistles are probably supposed to be sympathetic, and to an extent they are, but they go way too far with making them obnoxious and over supportive and embarrassing, so we clearly end up sympathizing with Rainbow Dash when we were probably supposed to root for both sides (like last episode did). On the subject of Scootaloo, I really can't believe she'd be this blind to the problem, if anything she should be taking Rainbow Dash's side. Yes, I know she mentions never having that kind of support growing up (she's pretty much a teenager now), but I feel like she's ignoring the fact that she's had the support of her friends and Rainbow Dash, her more or less adopted big sister. You'd think she'd be a tad more sympathetic towards Rainbow's cause, rather than immediately siding with her parents. I already talked about the excessive jokes about Scootaloo's screeching, and how the set-up needed to be toned down so the resolution could be given more time to work properly. So now we have to discuss Scootaloo's line. Well, basically, you can interpret it however you want. There's nothing that says one way or the other what kind of family (if any) she has. Me personally, considering how much Scootaloo idolizes Rainbow Dash and still very much wants to be like her, I could imagine her own desires being projected onto her parents. If they were even slightly less supportive of her dreams and ambitions than Rainbow Dash, to her it would seem like they don't support her. I like to interpret this as pretty much what my headcanon already suspect, she has parents, but they're the overly embarrassing kind (though not as bad as Bow and Windy), and more recently given their daughter's love of extreme sports, kind of over protective (not to the smothering level, but they do lecture her a lot about proper safety procedures and insist she be home at a reasonable time). Plus, Scootaloo's a teenager now, and teens often tend to be the ones who most often find themselves on the outs with their parents, because they feel like they're more mature and deserve to be treated as such, but their parents usually still air on the side of caution (the entire concept of the teenager first came about in World War II and the 50's soldified it, in recent decades pyschologists have upheld as a recognition that there's a time frame for mental development between childhood and adulthood, when things such as critical thinking and concerns about morality and judgement may still not quite be fully developed). But if you want to interpret the line as Scootaloo having unsupportive parents, or being an orphan, there's nothing stopping you. In the end, I give this episode a borderline B-/B, just narrowly putting it above "Fluttershy Leans In" but below "Celestial Advice" which at least knew what it wanted to do but like this episode would've benefitted from a rewrite. Season 7's kind of bobbing up and down in quality right now, which could be a problem.
Well, maybe next week things will be better with "Hard To Say Anything", in which the CMC find out Big Macintosh has a crush on Sugar Belle, and must help him win her over before Feather Bangs does. I just hope they don't make Feather Bangs an unsympatehtic jerk in this love triangle story. They managed to avoid it with Trenderhoof, though poor Cheerilee's going to have no one.
I personally found Scoots' excessive screeching to actually be pretty hilarious instead of annoying.
For me, this was easily the best episode of the season until today's Canadian episode came out.
It's still the second best, though.
Yeah, I had problems with this episode as well, treating Rainbow's parents in the right was not the (Ahem) "Right" move to do. Honestly, I was on Rainbow's side this entire time. Those moves they pulled, and how they raised her, I'd want to smack them both upside the head Gibbs style. (Also, it's kinda funny and yet sad at the same time how Derpy was better than LIGHTNING DUST at one point at flying.)
Well, couldn't say it much better than that. Rainbow's parents were the worst kind of obnoxious: Always getting in your face yelling stupid chants whatever you did and refusing to respect basic boundaries. Yet, the show acted as though this was a GOOD thing, and painted their daughter as being in the wrong for wanting a bit of privacy and quiet. No dice, writers.
I can appreciate Scoots being a bit put out by Rainbow shouting at her parents considering she apparently had none of her own, but didn't she find their behaviour a tiny bit inappropriate? There should've been a scene where Dash sat down with her to explain that sometimes too much raucous attention can be a bad thing, along with another at the end where Mr and Mrs Dash apologised for being WAY over the top.
Instead, we get that stupid moment in the school where their annoying behaviour is not only encouraged, but reinforced. Great message there for all the kids who WOULD be bullied if their parents went around acting this way. I'd give it a C at best.
4540095 4540102 Also, something I just now noticed by looking at the TV Tropes page. Apparently during the ribbon cutting ceremony Rainbow Dash was a part of, her parents made her slip up and cut part of Spitfire's tail by accident. THAT, should've been addressed. In that case, even if it just part of a tail, somepony got hurt. And somepony could've gotten hurt FAR worse with those scissors! I mean, this is the other extreme of bad parenting, from parents like Spoiled Rich who abuse their child and just use them to further their own social standing, to parents like Bow Hot Hoof and Windy Whistles who are overly enthusiastic even to the point of putting others in danger. What's even more irking is that Spoiled Rich got called out on her behavior, whereas Bow and Windy didn't, and I'd say you're far more likely to see parents like THAT these days, rather than parents like Spoiled. Why else do you think there's a ton of articles warning against the idea of "Spare the rod, spoil the child"?
There is a problem with being over supportive. Because Rainbow Dash has been raised to think that she's awesome at everything, she lacks humility and modesty.
https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/737284/crazy-parents- - My review of it. This was a fair episode that provides some great laughs (especially where her parents are concerned) but they end up burying that all-too-common (and never aging) "you must believe in yourself all the time" storyline. Good lesson but we've seen it way too often. Since it was unprepared to teach that lesson, this show requires another episode that IS prepared to teach that lesson.
4540113 Superpink, I normally loathe these kind of fics for obvious reasons, but can you please do a accusation fic with these two poor excuses for parents with both Rainbow and Spitfire calling them out?
I don't think the writer are going to make her an Orphan, especially since not only did Laren Faust say she has parents but writers of the show have stated their still with her, I think people just misunderstand what she meant, still hoping we see them, either in the background with Scootaloo or an episode that finally destroys the ScootaOrphan theory. Either way I wait for that episode to happen, there is just still no proof to prove she's an orphan, there seems to be more proof pointing that she has parents but they don't support her because their jobs keep them super busy.
4540150 Yeah, I was going to do that anyway. Probably in June before my big padded pony project for the Summer.
I agreed with everything you said in this review, except Scoots being a teenager, she more likely a pre-teen.
4540185 I don't know why most fans keep thinking Scootaloo being an orphan, while the show do not support that theory, just because we hadn't see her parents yet doesn't mean she an orphan
4540735 There are also other fillies on the show who's parents we haven't seen, wonder why no one assumes their orphans? why must Scootaloo always be the one to be an orphan... I mean technically Apple Bloom, AJ, and Big Mac are orphans since their parents are dead. (Yes it was confirmed 3 times, two times on the show and once on twitter)
4540974 I think those are background fillies and colts that the fandom has assigned parents to. For example, Dinky is usually Derpy's daughter. Ruby Pinch is often seen as Berry Punch's daughter (with a variety of headcanons about the father). And Noi has Carrot Top as a sister.
4540974 That is so true, the real orphans in the show are probably the Apple siblings, but almost nobody in this fandom never pointed that out.
Great review, I do respect you seeing the flaws in the epiosde and I see why you were dissapointed. But for me I think this was my favorite episode of the season mostly it touches on somrhing ive dealt with my entire life. I envy kids with parents going to kids sport games and cheering them on. I never had that and as much as Rainbow Dash's parents were excessivly annoying Scootaloo talking to Rainbow Dash how she took them for granted really hit home for me. So on personal bias this episode to me is my favorote of the season mostly due to the message.
4541230 I don't have a problem with what they were trying to teach, but the execution made it sound like you should just accept everything your parents do, even if it annoys or embarrasses you, because otherwise you're taking their support for granted. And that's just not true, parents should be supportive of their child, but not to the extent of overpraising them for everything they do, it doesn't prepare the child for failure.
4541255
I get you point. But id rather have any parents then the ones I had. So its more emotional for me I guess.
I cant form a bad opinion on this episode. I could ramble why i like it but its all due to a personal bias. So ill just leave it at that. But I still enjoyed the review.
4541261 I'm sorry if you were like Scootaloo and didn't have supportive parents (or any parents at all), but having parents to the extreme shown here would've been just as bad.
4541367
I dont know. I have low self esteem i have anxiety issues and low self confidence. I dont know if having parents that are oversuportive is a bad thing. And it could be, but I think this episode just hit somthing in me. Made me rethink alot about my past. If anything I liked how scootaloo reacted to rainbow dash yelling at her parents, I would've done the same thing.
4541367
But thanks for caring. Fim really has changed my life and writing has really boosted my slef esteem and confidance in myself.
I'm not gonna lie, it wasn't as bad as I thought, but it could've been a lot worse. I too am beginning to question the standard of writing in Season 7 so far, a lot of ups and downs which does not bode well for the future of the MLP franchise.
4541789 Well, hopefully it's just a fluke for this season, because from what I know Hasbro ordered this season while Season 6 was still in production. So that probably explains why most of the veteran writers couldn't return for this season.