Ranking the Spike Episodes (From Worst to Best) · 7:16pm Feb 27th, 2019
Poor Spike, he just can never seem to catch a break in the show. Much like Applejack he tends to get the most throwaway episodes and many of them tend to be among the worst the show's ever produced. In fact, fans can probably count on one hand the number of episodes Spike has gotten that haven't sucked.
Not surprisingly, Spike has the least number of episodes out of all the mane seven (and probably the mane eight considering how many episodes Starlight has gotten since her debut), only 16 total episodes after eight seasons. And today I'm going to do my best to rank them all. The same rules as the lists for the mane six's episodes apply, including my personal opinion and the fact that we're looking at how the episodes function as an outing for the character. Plus, we're only looking at episodes where Spike is directly involved and/or contributing to the story and moral (so episodes such as "A Dog and Pony Show" and "The Crystal Empire Part 2" will sadly not be on here).
16. Dragon Quest (Season 2, Episode 21)
Why it's on the bottom: One third of the unholy trilogy of infamously bad Spike episodes, this one remains a permanent stain on his character that even years later has not been washed clean. The episode teases us with the premise that it'll delve more into Spike's origins and have him learn what it means to be a real dragon, and then it all gets thrown out the window in favor of stereotypes. And to top it all off the episode expects us to sympathize with the mane six who insult Spike to his face, and implications just fly right off the page with the line about Spike not being like other dragons.
15. Father Knows Beast (Season 8, Episode 24)
Why it's not on the bottom: Basically "Dragon Quest" with different window dressing to fool you into thinking it's going to be any different. It's got all the trappings of a bad Spike episode, right down to his stupidity infecting others. No one in their right mind should've swallowed Sludge's lies, and yet just because Spike out of the blue believes him that's good enough for everyone else. And the bit with Spike breaking Twilight's heart? It's there just for shock value, they're not actually going to address it in any meaningful way. At least the very beginning with Spike learning how to fly was nice.
14. Spike at Your Service (Season 3, Episode 9)
Why it's in the bottom three: The noble dragon code is clearly something the writers made up on the spot, but if that alone was all that this episode did wrong it wouldn't be anywhere near as bad as it is. No no no, this episode ends up where it does because Spike is completely and utterly incompetent at even the most basic of chores for some reason. Chores we've clearly seen him do with no trouble under Twilight. And only when the plot isn't trying to move forward is anyone at all in character, especially when you've got Twilight completely ignoring Spike because she's too engrossed in reading. It's still not known if the original script with Rarity explained some of these things in greater detail or not (maybe with Rarity it would make sense for Spike to mess up and make up the code).
13. Owl's Well That Ends Well (Season 1, Episode 24)
Why it's not in the bottom three: If only this episode hadn't dropped the ball so badly, maybe the fandom wouldn't find it so easy to believe Spike is being abused by Twilight and that Twilight isn't a good caretaker/mother/big sister to him. Really, the biggest problem is that this episode tries to tell a story from Spike's perspective, but in doing so it makes everyone else look stupid for not noticing what's painfully obvious. It's the cliche "Old guy is jealous of the new guy" story we've seen over and over again. Not to mention the fact that Owlicious is a gary stu that they keep trying to make creepy.
12. Princess Spike (Season 5, Episode 10)
Why it's in the bottom five: Yes, "Slice of Life" was a tough act to follow for any episode and it was the bad luck of this episode to be the one chosen to come right after it. But we know the episodes aren't worked on in any particular order, they're rearranged into one later on (though I suspect they did in fact know "Slice of Life" would occur when it did in the season because of what it was celebrating). So this episode doesn't have any excuses for what it does. The idea of Spike filling in for Twilight was nice and if it was just about him getting in over his head and making bad decisions that he gets called out for, that would've been fine. But the episode instead punishes Spike for the good decisions he made in Twilight's name that went wrong, while ignoring all the bad things he did after Cadence stupidly planted the idea in his head for him to abuse his connection to Twilight. And to top it all off, Spike isn't even allowed to fix his own mistakes, they even end the episode with him about to undo the hard work everyone else put into repairing the statue for the sake of an unfunny joke.
11. Just for Sidekicks (Season 3, Episode 11)
Why it's not in the top ten: It was this episode that stuck Spike with the label of "sidekick" and started to demote him as a character. The whole episode seems to think that just putting Spike through the wringer while he's trying to care for the pets is going to automatically equal funny. And maybe if Spike was indeed thinking only of himself and his jewel cake the episode would be funny. But we see over and over again that Spike does in fact care for the pets, yet the universe seems intent on screwing him over repeatedly.
10. Triple Threat (Season 7, Episode 15)
Why it's low: Despite being in the top ten this episode really isn't all that enjoyable. At first it's actually not bad, Spike makes a mistake and overreacts to it, but he has reasons to think so. It's just that before long the episode devolves into very predictable territory, and it tries to mask itself by having Spike get called by the map. But in doing so it makes the conflict very obvious to everyone except Spike, who somehow doesn't think the problem he created is the one he's supposed to resolve. Aside from that it's just a friendship equivalent of the whole "Two dates for the same guy" plot which we all know how it's going to end.
9. Power Ponies (Season 4, Episode 6)
Why it's in the bottom half: What they tried to do in this episode was show that Spike isn't useless, that like a sidekick he's helpful to the group even when he's not the character of focus. But unfortunately because of how the episode is set up it makes it seem like Spike is only useful if the mane six are rendered useless. The entire episode is supposed to be an homeage to the Silver Age of comics but it comes across as a lazy, uninspired, bad parody of them. And the intended message gets thrown right out the window when in the end it's revealed that the whole ordeal was Spike's fault because he stupidly thought "Enchanted Comics" meant something besides the fact that they were literally enchanted.
8. The Break Up Break Down (Season 8, Episode 10)
Why it's in the middle: You would think that only the second guys focused episode of the entire show would give Spike some love or have him be somewhat helpful. But not only is the episode cliche to a fault, it is also full of subplots that go nowhere. We have Spike's bet with Discord that is completely forgotten about and never mentioned again. And of course we have Spike giving Big Macintosh the incredibly stupid advice "If she can't find you she can't break up with you". He in fact does almost nothing for the entire episode aside from contributing to the misunderstandings.
7. The Times They Are A Changeling (Season 6, Episode 17 in production order/16 in airdate)
Why it's in the top half: While it is nice they finally gave Spike a song, it comes at the worst possible moment from a story telling perspective. It comes right when we should be seeing Spike make an emotional plea and confess to what he did, and make an effort to convince others to change their minds about Thorax. Part of that problem stems from this episode wasting its time on Spike being annoying, and when we finally meet Thorax they just quickly gloss over him establishing a friendship with Spike. They do give Spike the chance to face the consequences of his actions, but it all happens so quickly that it's hard to get invested. Spike never really has to give up anything of significance to befriend Thorax, and just on a whim his song convinces everyone.
6. Secret of My Excess (Season 2, Episode 10)
Why it's not in the top five: Now we're officially crossing into the good stuff, the Spike episodes that are actually not a chore to get through. This episode even revealed that Rarity knew about Spike's crush on her, though sadly they have yet to ever actually follow up on this. It's sweet to see Twilight care about Spike and want to help him despite not knowing what he's going through. And you really do feel sorry for Spike by the episode's end. What keeps this episode out of the top five though is the clunky world building that makes it seem like Spike will never grow unless he starts hoarding stuff, and it would take several seasons to contradict that lore.
5. Inspiration Manifestation (Season 4, Episode 23)
Why it's in the top five: This episode is slow to start and the ending gets repetitive and confuses the moral (there's a difference between being honest with someone because you're worried about what they're doing and being honest just to be a jerk), plus Spike is sharing the spotlight with Rarity. At times Spike does feel a little too on the naive side, but it's understandable since he wants to help Rarity and his affections are probably getting in the way some. The constant "friend" mentioning gets repetitive though, and there are times where they try to repeat the annoying "Whoo" joke that was never funny to begin with.
4. Dungeons and Discords (Season 6, Episode 18 in production order/17 in airdate)
Why it's not in the top three: Spike, Big Macintosh, and Discord were a fine pairing together, even if the focus is mostly on Discord being a self centered jerk. Spike always seemed to do better when he's playing the straight man to someone else's obnoxiousness or obliviousness and it's a shame he doesn't get that role more often. I just have to wonder why Spike and Big Mac like to pretend their "Guy's Night" is a secret when everyone knows about it, who are they really fooling?
3. Molt Down (Season 8, Episode 11)
Why it's in the top three: Even if this episode feels like an unpolished rough draft with some humor that is really reaching (particularly in Rarity's case) it deserves praise for offering a much better world building explanation for how dragons grow and mature compared to "Secret of My Excess". And although it got leaked ahead of time, Spike gaining wings was still very much a surprise and a welcome one at that. It's just a shame that him gaining wings didn't come with a change in height and voice, so as to signify a more noticeable sign of maturation for him. It's an example of what we needed to see more of in Season 8, more interactions between the established characters and the new student six that allows us to see how our main characters have grown and matured.
2. Equestria Games (Season 4, Episode 24)
Why it's not on the top: You've really gotta give Cathy Wesluck props for being able to improvise that bit of Spike botching the Cloudsdale anthem, but even so it would've been better to just cut it out entirely. It's another case of the show proving it can't do cringe comedy because we just get too invested in the characters and can't bear to watch them make fools of themselves in public. It was also kind of jarring to make the episode a Spike focused one of all things, especially one that suddenly introduces his stage fright out of nowhere. They thankfully do enough to make you care about Spike, particularly by the end when he still feels like he's let everyone down. But of course, there can only be one top pick and you can probably tell which one it is.
1. Gauntlet of Fire (Season 6, Episode 5)
Why it's on the top: Was there ever any doubt? Even the best of Spike episodes prior to this one had something holding them back, something that prevented them from truly showing Spike at his best. This one played to Spike's strengths as a character, not just with established characters but also a new one. It's the Spike episode we waited over five seasons for, and when it arrived it was well worth the wait. Spike's concerns are taken very seriously and the stakes are most certainly high. They do a lot to make it more than a typical underdog story, including showing how Spike being raised by ponies can be a plus. In fact this episode did right everywhere that "Dragon Quest" did wrong, even turning Garble into a well deserved butt monkey (though you gotta give him credit, no matter how many times he gets knocked down he just keeps on coming back like it's no big deal). So for all those reasons, I'm putting this episode in the number one spot.
And there you have it, come back tomorrow when we'll rank the CMC episodes (that one will be a little bit different, but you'll see how when it comes out).
Yeah, Spike has it rather rough.
My personal ranking:
Molt Down
The Times They Are a Changeling
Gauntlet of Fire
Triple Threat
Inspiration Manifestation.
Equestria Games.
Just for Sidekicks
Dungeons and Discords
Power Ponies
Secret of my Excess
Father Knows Beast
Owl's Well That Ends Well
Princess Spike
Spike at Your Service
Dragon Quest
I agree; Spike needed some more love. Maybe we'll get a good Spike episode out of season 9. Another thing: I, personally, loathed Father Knows Beast because of how it treated Spike; Sludge was a real piece of work who really hurt Spike for his own ends.
5021113 Tell me about it. I despise Sludge so much he is my number one least favorite character, there is not even remotely redeemable about him.
5021144
My headcanon has Spike's mom, along with her unhatched baby sister, being raised by a pony couple. Spike's mom and his aunt get bullied for being different, even as Spike's mom grew into a young adult; Spike's dad comes to her aid one day, and they teach each other things while becoming closer. Spike's dad teaches his mom about what it is to be a dragon, while his mom teaches him pony values. The two of them get married and they have Spike's egg. A short while before Spike's egg hatched canonically, his parents perish at the claws of another dragon.
Triple Threat is one of my favorite episodes (I mean, Thorax is in it, and he's my favorite character), but I can admit that it doesn't show Spike at his greatest at all. He makes a foolish decision and basically ignores both of his friends' problems. While I like the conclusion, it's kinda hard to ignore Spike's role in this episode.
The Times They Are A Changeling is better for Spike in my opinion because he actually is shown making up for his mistake, and I prefer that than most other episodes where he usually doesn't do anything to fix his mistake and usually becomes the butt monkey. I actually do like his song, though I think it was put in an awkward place in the episode.
I can agree with you that Gauntlet of Fire is his best episode, despite my being neutral to the episode itself.