Episode Re-Review: Spike At Your Service · 4:51pm Mar 18th, 2021
Poor Spike just couldn't catch a break. Just when it seemed like things were finally looking up for him in Season 3, this episode came along. It's rather interesting to note that it started life as a Rarity episode and was written originally by Dave Polsky, who is still credited with the story here. However, Meghan McCarthy rejected the script because she thought Rarity came across as too mean. She then had Merriweather Williams (not sure why you'd pick her) rewrite it into an Applejack episode in time for the deadline. This changing of the guard meant that Rarity was in fact being denied a focus episode while Applejack was getting two. Alongside "Owl's Well That Ends Well" and "Dragon Quest" is part of the unholy trilogy of bad Spike episodes that everyone remembers. But is it possible that maybe, just maybe, this episode isn't completely beyond salvation? Well, let's find out.
We begin with Twilight being assigned a whole bunch of books to read courtesy of Princess Celestia, so she decides to give Spike the day off to do whatever he wants. Spike does so, but his to do list is pretty short: Smell his dirty feet (because "boys are gross" is funny, except it's not) and play bongos on his belly, that's it. It should be mentioned that the script originally was going to start out with Spike helping Rarity, and was going to dive right into him messing up and Rarity sending him into the Everfree Forest for something that didn't actually exist with Applejack calling her out for it. In order to achieve the same result of Applejack finding and rescuing Spike, there's an entire scene of Spike bumping into the balloon and chasing after it to try and catch up with it. It already sets a bad precedent, but if this was the extent of Spike messing up it wouldn't be so bad.
Spike does eventually catch up to the balloon in the Everfree Forest but encounters timberwolves and runs away, at no point does he think to use his fire breath despite the wolves literally being made of sticks. I guess maybe they didn't wanna encourage cruelty to animals or something? But Spike could easily just set one of their paws on fire and make them run away, or use his flame breath solely to hold his ground and make them back off. But no, instead Spike runs away and gets cornered, and then Applejack shows up to save the day. Apparently, it's okay for her to throw rocks at the timberwolves and even hit them with tree branches, shattering them to pieces. But only because we see that the timberwolves can later regenerate via magic. It's nice, but if Applejack can fight back then Spike should be able to as well instead of being completely helpless. Just last episode we saw him be used as a lighter.
Remanents of the original draft seep in here when Applejack mentions that she came into the Everfree Forest. The original draft was going to have her be there specifically to rescue Spike, but because he's not serving Rarity here it's changed to her needing to see who was in the balloon when it went into the Everfree Forest. Spike then basically tells Applejack that since she saved his life he's basically obligated to serve her for the rest of his life.
And we run headlong into the problem with this episode, a problem that exists solely because of Merriweather's revisions to Polsky's script. Spike is now unable to perform even the most basic of tasks or household chores. He can't cook, he can't mop up, he can't do anything. And it's not like this is a one off thing either, it'll happen again later on. It's not completely bad at first, but once Spike tries to help with pie making his sudden imcompetence stops being funny. Naturally, because of this, Applejack wants Spike to stop helping her. But Spike pulls out this never before seen card entitled "The Noble Dragon Code" which insists he must serve Applejack. Even if the design of it makes it look made up it is still something that inexplicably exists with no prior build up. Applejack does find a loophole by sending Spike to Twilight and get her blessing to serve Applejack, which is ruined by Twilight refusing to look up from her books when Spike is pouring his heart and soul out to her. And by this point she knows full well how much she means to him, she's seen it for herself.
So Spike goes back to serve Applejack and she takes him to Rarity to discuss what to do. And the implications just fly right off the page as Rarity fondly expresses her desire to have someone serve her for life. And it gets worse when Spike goes to wash a dish and somehow breaks a kitchen sink (don't tell Rainbow Dash). Rainbow Dash then stops by and reveals that she basically writes self-insert fanfiction, and at this point people had been accusing Season 3 of being too fanficy and stuff like this certainly didn't help. Anyway, Rainbow suggests making Spike do a task that's so hard he'll give up and want to stop serving Applejack. But of course, this is the one task Spike can actually do effectively (building a tower of rocks). So Rainbow has to knock over Spike's creation.
Fluttershy comes by and says that if it had been her she would've just said she didn't have anything to do, which Applejack already tried and it didn't work. And when she tries it again Spike insists on helping her anyway, doing things like giving her a back scratch or helping her with breathing (which he does by using a bellows to inflate her like a balloon). So Applejack decides to do what she probably should've done in the first place and talk to Twilight. It's probably supposed to be funny that Applejack only gets Twilight's attention by nudging an inkwell out of place, but considering what we saw earlier this only makes Twilight's priorities look incredibly skewered. And apparently, this never before mentioned code is somehow the most important thing ever and it can't simply be ended. Spike must save Applejack's life, and you can probably guess where this is going. If you've seen any sort of life debt plot before you can tell how it's going to end. Anyway, Applejack decides to fake a timberwolf attack and Rarity has to provide lessons on how to act like a damsel in distress.
But of course the fake attack lures a real timberwolf (after Spike is smart enough not to fall for the fake one) and Applejack gets stuck for real. So what does Spike do to save the day? He doesn't use his fire breath, not even when the timberwolves merge into one giant timberwolf.
No, Spike instead chucks a rock into the giant timberwolf's mouth and that causes it to choke and fall apart. And then Applejack just flat out says she doesn't want Spike helping her anymore and Spike agrees, making the entire conflict pointless and contrived. There was going to be a much different resolution under the original Rarity plot, including Rarity actually feeling guilty for what she'd done and apologizing to Spike for taking advantage of him. So I have to ask, how was that "too mean"? It's leagues above what Spike endured in "Owl's Well That Ends Well" when Twilight refused to listen to him or even give him a chance to speak his mind. Speaking of Twilight, the episode ends with Spike serving Twilight again and acting rather clingy for no reason. It ruins what could've been a heart warming scene.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Quite honestly, it's a mess. I have no idea how Merriweather Williams could take what had been a decent sounding Rarity episode under Dave Polsky, and revise it into this fiasco. Isn't the point of revising a story to make it better, not worse? Changing the focus from Rarity to Applejack meant adding in stuff that was completely unnecessary and made Spike somehow completely unable to function normally. And the "Noble Dragon Code" is a very obvious out of nowhere addition that is just used whenever they need to advance the plot, which is also the only time anyone ever acts out of character for any reason. I'm not saying the Rarity draft originally would've been the best thing ever, and in its original state it probably couldn't have passed for above decent. But that's the thing, this episode got a chance to be revised and it didn't need to switch the focus from one character to another to fix the alledged problem. In fact, by trying to fix that problem the episode ends up creating problems even worse. And there's a lot of unfortunate implications during Rarity's reduced role. Maybe the intent was to go for comedy, which Dave Polsky still excelled at, but if so Merriweather's idea of comedy seems to be making everyone stupid and thinking that that makes it funny. There are a few good moments here and there, mostly when they aren't trying to advance the plot. But I can't give this episode a rating above an E. The knowledge of what we could've had only serves to make this episode as it is look even worse by comparison.
Well, now things are going to get interesting since we have "Keep Calm and Flutter On", where Discord not only returned but was "reformed". But considering a lot of the things he would go on to do while "reformed" perhaps that's going to retroactively taint the episode?
While I'll admit that this episode IS unequivocally a mess, it's also the kind of mess that I actually kinda enjoy, to the point where, even though it IS admittedly one of Spike's weaker episodes, it's also the other episode alongside TMPP that are right in the middle of the season for me. And if I counted Crystal Empire as two separate episodes instead of one, it'd be the sole episode in the middle of the season for me.
Plus I headcanon that Spike's incompetence is some subconscious self-sabotage. Like part of him KNOWS this isn't where he should be.
So going by your re-reviews, your personal ranking of the "Spike Trilogy" episodes from best to worst are as follows: Owl's Well That Ends Well (D), Spike at Your Service (E), and Dragon Quest (F-).
Also, I agree the scene where Twilight dismisses Spike felt like a spit in the face to anyone who liked that heartwarming moment between them from The Crystal Empire.
5478087 More or less.
Twilight didn't ignore Spike on purpose. She was so in the zone with reading that she didn't really hear him. It basically says that in the episode! And I think a LOT of us have had that happen to us at least ONCE.
Seriously, do you rewatch the episodes you review to refresh your memory before posting these? I suggest you do before painting certain characters with a black brush when they don't deserve it...
5478385 I don't care if she was "In The Zone" she knows how much she means to Spike and she is acknowledging him. She could at least actually listen instead of focusing on her reading.
5478410
Have you ever been in the Zone before? Many times it's like being in a soundproof room. What other people are saying doesn't really register until you pop the bubble. Twilight LITERALLY didn't hear what Spike was really saying, like she wouldn't have with ANYONE ELSE trying to talk to her. If anything, the writers should've had Spike remember that Twilight could get THAT far into the Zone when studying instead of just jumping to the conclusion that she didn't want him there anymore. Especially after she told him that she would NEVER leave him behind or send him away in the Crystal Empire. So quit painting Twilight as the bad guy here...
5478467 There is no reason Twilight could be so in the zone she couldn't hear Spike. And if it was that easy to get Twilight not to care then the scene might as well not have existed.
5478477
Wow, you REALLY don't like Twilight, do you? No one said she didn't care!! And apparently you've never been in the Zone or met Twilight. She was studying books that her mentor/ idol PRINCESS CELESTIA assigned to her. Twilight takes her studies VERY SERIOUSLY. So it is NOT SUPRISING that she got that deep into it!
And don't think I didn't notice that you completely dodged my suggestion that the writers completely overlooked Spike knowing Twilight could get that deep into her reading and knowing she wouldn't abandon him after the Crystal Empire. No response huh? Maybe because you know it's true..?
5478479 It's still a slap in the face after what they wrote in "The Crystal Empire". And do you mean to tell me that Twilight is so in the zone she can't hear Spike pouring out his heart and soul, but she can hear an inkwell being nudged ever so slightly out of place which I'm sure is far less audible?
5478514
Doesn't change the fact that Spike should've known that Twilight was in the Zone like she could often get into and should've known NOT to jump to conclusions about her abandoning him, especially after what happened in the Crystal Empire.
You'd be surprised. Voices can be registered as white noise at times when we're hyper-focused on something, especially with someone like Twilight who has that to the MAX. And there's times when a noise that could register as a sign that something could about to be, or is falling over to break us out of that bubble to see what happened. I should know. It's happened to me LOADS of times...
And also, it's Twilight. Hyper-organized to the point where she'd notice a single speck of dust out of place let alone an inkwell...?