Episode Re-Review: May The Best Pet Win · 6:15pm Feb 20th, 2021
So, after Season 2 had its first true dud in the form of "The Cutie Pox" what was next? Apparently this, an episode about Rainbow Dash wanting a pet, which is something fanfic writers had already explored (not much but it was there). And who did they pick to write the episode? Charlotte Fullerton, whose track record consisted of "Look Before You Sleep", "Suited For Success" and "A Bird in the Hoof" in that order. Not exactly a record of high quality, but then again maybe she could turn in another winning performance like she did in "Suited For Success"? Well, let's find out.
We begin with Rainbow Dash flying by herself when suddenly Owlowiscious shows up and challenges her to a race. Rainbow agrees, but then suddenly Winona's face appears, then Gummy's body and Angel's face before Opal appears from the tongue. Rainbow Dash wakes up as she realizes it was a dream, and it turns out her friends have all gathered in the park for a pet playdate. They decided not to invite Rainbow since she didn't have a pet, and I guess they just happened to pick the spot where Rainbow was napping. Rainbow Dash tries to play off her jealousy and envy, but naturally she feels left out and in her own way suggests she wants a pet. Fluttershy is enthusiastic about the idea and takes Rainbow to go meet some potential candidates. I guess that means Fluttershy is a professional breeder or something since you can usually only get pets through a pet store or a licensed breeder.
And now, seven episodes into Season 2, we get the first song in the form of "Find A Pet". It's got great instruments and is a pretty good duet between Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. However, the lyrics and the overall direction of the song hold it back. Basically, throughout this song Rainbow Dash keeps proclaiming herself best pony and Fluttershy takes forever to clue into the fact that her friend wants a pet that can fly. So when Rainbow is presented with a variety of candidates that meet her very narrow idea of what she wants, she decides the only solution is to hold a contest to determine which animal will be her pet. Or you know, she could do a trial run with each and get to know them better to see if they're compatible with her. In fact, the rest of the mane six express their concern about whether Rainbow knows what a pet really needs. But do they do anything about it? Not really, they just stand there and let it unfold.
Contrivence then rears its ugly head when Fluttershy, for no other reason than because the plot says so, introduces a tortoise into a competition with several flying creatures. And if it's not already obvious enough what's going to happen, the episode's working title was "The Tortoise and the Mare" which, if they were going to be this predictable they might as well have kept that title. We also get the constant running joke of the tortoise being confused with a turtle, which at least isn't as annoying as Owlowiscious' constant, flat "Whoo" jokes. There is also a funny joke when Twilight asks a question about whether coolness and awesomeness are the same thing, and Rainbow replies by saying "That's why you would never qualify to be my pet."
We get treated to a variety of relatively unrelated events that include a talent show, a flying contest and trying to retrieve a toy from Opal. But when all the contests are done, there are still some candidates left in the running. And so Rainbow Dash decides to hold a tiebreaker in the form of a race through the Ghastly Gorge. We do see some of the remaining contestants back out when given the chance, meaning most are participating of their own free will. But again, no one seems to step in and say "This is going too far.", not even Fluttershy. So the race gets under way and oddly enough "The Flight of the Valykeries" actually plays in the background and Rainbow hums it. I'm not sure how they were able to get away with that. Anyway, as the race continues Rainbow reveals that there are quarry eels that jut out from the rocks if you get too close to their nests, and reveals that there's a bramble of thorns that you have to get through.
Suddenly, Rainbow tries to make things more interesting and causes a rockslide. She ends up getting pinned down by a rock and all the participants fly past her, leaving her stranded.
Fortunately, helps soon arrives in the form of the tortoise. And somehow the tortoise is able to lift the boulder with its neck, freeing Rainbow. It's only now that any of the mane six realize there was a rockslide in the gorge and that Rainbow might be in danger. However, Rainbow is brought to safety by the tortoise (who also must've somehow bandaged her given she has bandages all over her and didn't have them on her) and they move the finish line to meet them halfway. The winner of the race is the eagle, but Rainbow reveals a technacility: She said whoever crossed the finish line with her would be her new pet. So since the tortoise was the only one who did so, it becomes her pet. Except of course there's the dilemma of having a non-flying pet for a pony like Rainbow Dash who loves to fly. The solution, however, is simple: A magical propeller that can attach to the tortoise's shell and carry him. Rainbow even takes the liberty of naming him Tank because of how durable he is.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Quite honestly, this episode is really weird. It's obviously not good but it's not necessarily downright bad either. There are some unfortunate implications, but most of the pets do seem to participate of their own free will and back out when the danger is too much for them. And aside from the race and maybe the toy stealing with Opal nothing seems to truly dangerous or harmful to any of the candidates. Rainbow Dash definitely needed to learn to look beyond outward appearances, but I'm not sure a pet episode was the right episode to do that in. People usually want pets that are like them or at least are compatible with their personalities and life styles. And an eagle would definitely match Rainbow's personality and laid back attitude quite well. If they really wanted to give her a tortoise that was fine, but they needed to come up with a better way to do it than to just throw it into a contest it had no reason to be part of. The rest of the mane six though feel completely unnecessary outside of the set up, only Fluttershy has any need to be involved and even she could be written out once the contest gets underway. But honestly, the contest itself might as well be a montage considering almost nothing of substance happens during it. Why not start at the climax of this episode and have the tortoise save Rainbow Dash, and then she could feel like she owes it and considers taking it in as a pet? Maybe an angle like that would work, because otherwise this episode just feels likes a bunch of ideas tossed in with no thought as to how they might fit together (if at all). This episode gets a borderline C-/D+, it's quite weak but not automatically bad, though that may be because of what's going to happen next.
And you all know what's coming up next, the Batman and Robin of the show's original run and still one of the most infamous episodes of all time "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well". So come back tomorrow when we'll delve into that episode in all its unholy glory.
I enjoy this episode since Rainbow is a speeder and all but gaining a new pet help her to slow down at time. Not the best, but it one of those I don't mind watching again
Believe it or not, The Fiery Joker actually gave the next episode a rather positive review:
This is one of the weaker Dash episodes, but I enjoy it a fair amount.
It's not among my outright favorites of the season, but there's much worse Dash stuff coming next (funnily enough, MMDW is NOT one of them for me).
As for next time, one of the most overhated episodes of the series.
As Keyframe brought up in the (discontinued) Roundtable is Magic's podcast on this episode, you could somewhat excuse Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie not doing anything to stop Rainbow Dash's harsh treatment of the animals as they don't have a personal connection to any of them like Fluttershy.