Ranking the Daring Do Episodes (From Worst to Best) · 2:57pm Mar 7th, 2019
Daring Do has gone from being a fictional character in-universe to a real one, and she has had a couple of episodes in the spotlight as a result. Interestingly, she's also a pallet swap of Rainbow Dash, but as far as we know she's not related in any way, shape, or form.
There's only 4 episodes to consider for this list, the same rules as always apply. This list is the result of my personal opinion so please respect it, and episodes are ranked based on how well they function as a Daring Do episode, not just as an episode overall.
4. Read It and Weep (Season 2, Episode 16)
Why it's on the bottom: Daring hasn't had any particularly bad episodes, but all the same something had to be on the bottom. The biggest thing is that we go back and forth between Daring's story and Rainbow Dash in the hospital, trying to hide her love of reading from her friends. Daring Do does alright here, but we only get to know a little about her. They kind of ease us into her character with Indiana Jones references, so we can assume her personality is similar.
3. Daring Don't (Season 4, Episode 4)
Why it's not on the bottom: With this episode Daring Do is established as real, something that strangely enough lots of fans had an issue with despite plenty of fanfics already exploring the concept to an extent. Daring goes through the usual "I work alone" routine, which is a definitive contrast to how she was depicted in her previous appearance. It does make sense given her line of work. But there's one problem that kind of hurts her character. Late into the episode she admits that she intentionally allowed herself to get caught so as to take down Ahuizotl's scheme from within, but in doing so she acted very rude to Rainbow Dash and told her not to bother coming after her. Yes, it was part of the act, but in doing so she made Rainbow feel guilty when she was only trying to help. It might have been better for her to give a reassuring wink or something to Rainbow, letting her know she had everything under control.
2. Stranger Than Fanfiction (Season 6, Episode 14 in production order/13 in airdate)
Why it's not on the top: Daring Do doesn't come into play until a ways into the episode, and even then she only really starts to take the lead towards the end when Rainbow Dash and Quibble Pants escape from Dr. Caballeron's forces. I do like her logic of taking the amulet with her to a fan convention, opting to hide in plain sight where everyone will just think it's a cosplay. And her bit at the end about not always needing a convoluted method to defeat the bad guy is funny, sometimes it's the simple solution that works best (if a bit anti-dramatically). But between Rainbow Dash being a pallet swap of Daring Do and Quibble Pants being a rule 63 earth pony version of Daring Do, are we sure Daring isn't secretly related to either of them just a little?
1. Daring Done? (Season 7, Episode 17 in production order/18 in airdate)
Why it's on the top: This episode is all about one of the most underexplored aspects of being a hero, the concept of collateral damage and what happens when innocents get caught in the crossfire. It's a surprisingly vulnerable side of Daring, as we see that being a hero is sometimes a thankless job. Even if most of the episode is spent trying to cheer Daring up from her funk, and we learn that the biggest conflict was a set up by Caballeron to break Daring's spirit, we know that at least some of the other complaints were justified. And Daring admits that even when you're doing good you're still responsible for the damage you cause, and the best thing you can do in that case is work to make things right. It's also interesting that this was the first odd numbered season episode to have Daring Do, prior to this point Daring appeared in one episode every even numbered season (she did not appear in Season 8 and I'd be surprised if she cropped up in any major way in Season 9). For all the reasons I mentioned above, I'm putting this one in the top spot.
And there you have it, come back tomorrow when we'll rank the Maud Pie episodes.
I agree with this one completely