Episode Re-Review: The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well · 2:43pm Feb 21st, 2021
Now we come to the big one. This was the first episode that no one was willing to defend back when it aired, and it still remains often among the show's worst episodes. This episode also marked the debut of the show's first new writer in the form of Merriweather Williams. She had previously worked on Spongebob Squarepants during its first three seasons and had more recently been involved with Adventure Time which sparked the cartoon renissance of the early 2010's. So you'd think she would've fit this show like a glove. But did she and has time lessened the sting of this episode? Well, let's find out.
The episode begins with Scootaloo hosting a Rainbow Dash fan club, and Rainbow Dash is basically spying on it from outside.
Sometime later, Rainbow's relaxing on a cloud when suddenly she hears a cry for help. A filly somehow managed to fall down a well. Rainbow flies down to the rescue as a small crowd gathers, and the filly is grateful for the rescue as she tells Rainbow Dash that she's her hero. Rainbow plays it off like it's no big deal despite the praise. But then later a runaway buggy with a foal inside it veers towards a cliff, and Rainbow stops it. She gets so much praise that she decides to tell a sick joke about how there's something wrong with the baby since she isn't cheering. The rest of the mane six start to get worried, talking behind Rainbow's back about her behavior and how she apparently isn't being modest and humble. This scene is basically rinse and repeat when Rainbow rescues a bunch of elderly ponies on a falling balcony. She starts milking the crowd's praise for all it's worth, and she goes on to get what I assume is a hero party at Sugarcube Corner. So you'd think at least one of the mane six might pull Rainbow aside for a talk here, but no the only thing we get out of the party is a "joke" about how Spike is Rainbow's ghost writer and Pinkie thinks Spike is an actual ghost because of that. Maybe she's just acting, but what exactly would she have a reason to do that for?
It's not clear how much time has passed before we get to another emergency, a pony in a hot air balloon that's falling out of the sky. Rainbow is busy signing autographs but appears to be keeping one eye on the balloon while doing so. But when she takes off to save the day, some mysterious pony in a costume shows up and manages to get to the balloon first, rescuing the balloonist. Interestingly, the design is based on a variety of different superheroes: Batman, Darkwing Duck and even Cybersix which got a cartoon show that never aired in the U.S. (owing to its subject matter).
Somehow, Mayor Mare knows that the hero is a mare and not a stallion and dubs her The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well officially.
Rainbow Dash quickly becomes jealous, especially since every time she tries to save the day Mare-Do-Well shows up and does it instead. And each time she does she shows off some new power: Whether it be super strength to stop a runaway carriage, a sixth sense when navigating falling steel pillars or even a horn for unicorn magic to fix a busted dam that Rainbow tried to plug up (somehow making it worse). Then, when Rainbow realizes she still has her wings, Mare-Do-Well reveals she's got wings too which should make her an alicorn. But for some reason no one treats the possibility like a big deal, so unintentionally this episode was the first to hint at the idea of alicorns besides Celestia and Luna and not "A Canterlot Wedding".
At one point we have a scene at Sugarcube Corner where the rest of the mane six are all praising Mare-Do-Well for her humility and how she lets her actions speak for themselves. Remember this because this will be important later on. Anyhow, Rainbow is obviously jealous and her friends basically tell her to get over herself rather than maybe take this opportunity to try and talk sense into her. As a result, Rainbow starts looking for ways to be a hero by doing things like helping an old lady (Granny Smith) across the road or trying to open the lid on a jar of peanut butter. This is probably meant to be humorous, but given what we saw in "Sonic Rainboom" this ends up playing into Rainbow's desire for attention because deep down she is very insecure about herself and doesn't take well to failure.
She eventually ends up isolated and alone, sulking to herself on a cloud when no one will pay any attention to her.
Then Scootaloo shows up, now dressed in Mare-Do-Well attire for some reason. They never bother to give an explanation, not even for Rainbow Dash's supposed number one fan who should warrant one if she's switching loyalties. Scootaloo is basically there to invite Rainbow to a parade being held in Mare-Do-Well's honor, which gives Rainbow an idea. She comes to the parade and when Mare-Do-Well shows up she leaps on stage and tries to unmask Mare-Do-Well. Rather than let that happen, Mare-Do-Well takes off and Rainbow gives chase.
Eventually, Rainbow Dash manages to get the drop on Mare-Do-Well and tackle her. She proceeds to unmask her and is shocked to discover that Mare-Do-Well is Pinkie Pie. Except it's not just Pinkie Pie, it's also Twilight, Applejack and Fluttershy. They all took turns being Mare-Do-Well at various points to make use of their natural abilities. Applejack stopped the carriage, Pinkie Pie saved the construction workers, Twilight fixed the dam and Fluttershy was there just to show off (Rarity designed the costumes). So what was the reason why Rainbow's friends decided they had to go behind her back and do this? They wanted to teach Rainbow Dash that a real hero doesn't brag. Except that's exactly what they were doing earlier at Sugarcube Corner, and they did nothing to stop Mare-Do-Well from becoming a public icon. Heck, Fluttershy's entire existence was just to one up Rainbow Dash at flying. And who says they needed to make Mare-Do-Well crazy strong or able to use magic? Why did they all have to take turns being Mare-Do-Well? And more importantly, who made them the judge of when Rainbow needed to learn? Yeah, she was being arrogant and boastful, which a hero isn't supposed to do. But she was still saving lives. Were they implying she was wrong to receive praise for that? Darkwing Duck is an example of how you can make a boastful or arrogant superhero work, the main character did what he did specifically for all the reasons one isn't supposed to be a hero. But despite that he did still do a public good by fighting crime, and he had others who could reign him if he ever got too self absorbed. What was wrong with Rainbow doing the same?
Despite having to hit Rainbow over the head with the message, the rest of the mane six still think she's learned her lesson. And then Rainbow Dash scares Spike away so she can write her own friendship lesson, a lesson that she potentially may not have learned. If "Feeling Pinkie Keen"'s moral suffered from poor wording, this one suffers from poor execution.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, let me begin by saying I get the intention behind this episode now. Thanks to reviews from the likes of Mr. Enter, Josh Scorcher (a.k.a The Fiery Joker) and Lilly Peet (before she destroyed her reputation) I understand that this episode was trying to set Rainbow up to learn a lesson the way she learns best, through direct experience. However, regardless of intentions the episode still falls flat on its face in execution. We get redundant scenes we didn't need rather than scenes that we absolutely needed like say the rest of the mane six trying to get Rainbow Dash to see sense and her refusing to listen. Or say a scene where Rainbow's ego interfered with her ability to save someone. The balloon scene doesn't count since Mare-Do-Well means we'll never know if Rainbow could've reached the balloonist in time or if that was what she was worried about. "28 Pranks Later" did try to fix this issue by having the rest of the mane six talk to Rainbow and that not working, but even then it didn't seem like the extreme measures they resorted to were the right call to make and it felt like the situation required dialing up Rainbow's flaws to make her be in such a state as to not listen. When South Park did a similar concept to this episode with the first Coon episode, it was already clear that Cartman was not interested in fighting crime or doing anything a hero should do. He just wanted to play superhero to boost his ego, so it was understandable why one of his friends decided to teach him a lesson by masqurading as Mysterion. And even then Mysterion didn't become a public icon like Mare-Do-Well does, Mysterion lurked entirely in the shadows specifically to annoy Cartman. None of that is what the rest of the mane six do here. They decided to teach Rainbow a lesson about how heroes don't brag by deciding to one up her in the hero department, and then brag about it while letting their hero become greater than Rainbow's image ever was. And by the end it doesn't even seem like Rainbow understand what she was doing wrong or why her friends would ever feel the need to resort to such extreme measures, specifically because of how the moral is executed. Regardless of intention, this episode bombed hard and thus gets an F+.
Now we have a rather interesting episode, though not necessarily for the all right reasons. We have "Sweet and Elite" where Rarity starts lying in order to forge connections within Canterlot high society.
Not a huge fan of this episode
Honestly, I actually find this episode to be a lot of fun, to the point that it's actually among favorite episodes of the season, even though it's actually among my least favorite Dash episodes
5458511 There really isn't much fun that I can find, not even when it's "trying" to be funny.
As bad as The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well turned out, there's one other Season 2 Merriweather Williams episode that I think is worse, and I'm pretty sure you know which one I'm referring to.
Cybersix actually did air briefly on Fox Kids,albeit heavily edited.
5458556 I just found out. They even changed the iconic theme song. But I would assume there are no real recordings of that broadcast.