Episode Re-Review: Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3 · 5:17pm Apr 13th, 2021
So now that the key episodes were all done, what was left for Season 4 before the finale? The short answer, not much. The Equestria Games would ultimately get their own conclusion in the penultimate episode, but this and the next episode would be left to their own devices. We'd already had a supposedly "Very Special Episode" about Scootaloo's potential disability in "Flight to the Finish", but now this one was going to focus on Rainbow Dash and on studying for a test. Amy Keating Rogers was picked to write this episode, perhaps because she had a son and thus had experience dealing with the education system. With the controversy over "Filli Vanilli" now having settled, was Amy able to get back to where she was after "Pinkie Pride" or did she only prove that "Pinkie Pride" was a fluke for her? Well, let's find out.
The episode begins with Rainbow Dash just flying around and not doing much while Twilight sloppily exposits about Rainbow needing to take a test to get into the Wonderbolts reserves. Already that's kind of a stretch, because we soon learn that it's a history test. Not only do the reserves feel like a step back after making it into the Wonderbolts' exclusive academy, but given the Wonderbolts' military like command structure (even if they aren't directly militaristic) why is a history test a requirement for making it into the reserves? Wouldn't a more physical or psychological kind of test be needed to determine if you had the skills and mind set to potentially be on the team one day? I'm not saying that reserves shouldn't study history, but I don't see how knowing about history is supposed to help you make the reserves for a military unit or a sports team. Anyone can learn history with the right incentive, that's not going to be what you'll be most required to know to succeed. A few lines about why this is necessary and what Rainbow was hoping to achieve by making it into the reserves would make this feel like less of a contrivence.
So Twilight basically kidnaps Rainbow Dash in order to help her study. And we run into what's going to be a major problem with the episode's moral later on when we see Rainbow look for any excuse to weasel out of actually studying. She repeatedly blows it off, treating it like it's no big deal and doing class clown things like launching spitballs or planting a whoppee cushion on the teacher's desk (though here they use a bike horn even though a few seasons later we'll see actually whoppee cushions. I guess maybe standards changed?). So Twilight gives Rainbow a pop quiz, and Rainbow fails it outright with breakfast related answers. You might think this is the set up to a joke about skipping breakfast but nope, it's got no relevance to the episode outside of Rainbow getting the answers wrong. Then Rainbow Dash immediately lashes out at Twilight because she's convinced that she'll fail, which is what a bad student does. Earlier, we did get a meta joke about Twilight's freak outs, and now we have Twilight commenting on how she knows history and can fly and perhaps should be a Wonderbolt instead. As far as I know we never got fan art of that even though fan artists have gone nuts for far less. However, the argument is broken up by Fluttershy who actually remembers her character growth here.
Fluttershy also happens to know about Rainbow Dash's test, and just so happens to have a way to present the knowledge to Rainbow. The intent is to use a play performed by the pets (with Spike directing). Now, I can buy Fluttershy knowing this history since she grew up in Cloudsdale and the Wonderbolts are public figures. It's natural that their past would probably be a part of any kind of Cloudsdale public education cirriculm, but if anything that means Rainbow should already know at least some of this unless the history is not well known. Anyway, the play goes awry and Pinkie Pie shows up to demonstrate her own way of learning, through musical production. This launches into a rap number moddled after 90's PSAs, including the granny feel of VHS tapes. The most specific reference though is to a relatively outdated PSA on digital piracy called "Don't Copy That Floppy".
Pinkie Pie also happens to know everything about the Wonderbolts, which is a stretch. Maybe she picked up a thing or two if she had some pegasus friends besides Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, but I don't think she would know the entire material and neither is it made clear that Twilight filled her in on it. Of course, the key to musical learning is repetition, meaning you usually need to listen to a song multiple times to get all the information. Then Rarity shows up and offers her unique style of learning, a more kinetic approach involving the history of Wonderbolts via fashion. I think the idea is to use this as an example of where to start your research, using an area or topic that interests you on a particular subject. I could buy Rarity knowing about uniforms, but I don't know if I can buy her being able to exactly recreate them unless she was borrowing them from a museum for restoration. Applejack is present as well, and demonstrates the only true way to know anything, direct experience. If you're just memorizing answers for a test you're not really learning the information they're testing you on. That's kind of why college classes often prefer essay exams, so that way you have to demonstrate actual knowledge. But Rainbow rejects every type of studying and flies away.
Twilight stops by later to go for a fly with Rainbow Dash, hoping to cheer her up. And the episode and Twilight try to claim that Rainbow might have some kind of learning disability, which would work if not for the fact that she repeatedly gave up the moment she didn't get something exactly right the first time she tried it and spent all of Twilight's tutoring time slacking off and goofing around. Then, Rainbow shoves Twilight out of the way of an approaching helicopter and reveals that she multitasks while flying in order to look for any possible obstacles or obstructions. Twilight is inspired by this and flies away, roping her friends into helping Rainbow learn. To that end, Twilight goes for another fly with Rainbow Dash and then it's revealed that by using Rainbow's method of multitasking it was possible to give her the knowledge needed. We also get a return of the costumes from the play, complete with Rarity playing Princess Luna (I guess it's a meta joke about them having the same voice) and Fluttershy playing Princess Celestia, which she would go on to do again in "Horse Play".
Twilight then writes in the friendship journal about how she learned from Rainbow about how there's more than one way to study, and Rainbow Dash not only passes her test to get into the reserves but manages to get 100% which paints a very unrealistic picture. Most students who just learn something will seldom get 100% on their first try or even close to that. This is one instance where the need for a happy ending works against the intended moral, creating unrealistic expectations.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, this is in the same boat as "Read It and Weep" in that this is not something Rainbow Dash needs to be learning. This is a kids' moral in a show where there are established kid characters. This is an episode that has to treat the mane six like children (or at least Rainbow Dash like a child) for the sake of the moral. I think I know why they did so, they want Rainbow to be a role model for this and have kids feel inspired. If it were Scootaloo the kids would just feel like she got lucky regardless of what happened, whereas seeing someone like Rainbow Dash that they look up to would make them believe that they could do it too. However, even for the time this episode was written the moral is far too rosy and is ignorant of a crippling flaw within the American education system at least: The only method of learning that gets promoted is the Twilight method (and maybe sometimes the Applejack method). If you can't learn that way you're deemed a failure even before you do anything, and that's just in public schools. There are charter and private schools that can decide what to teach, who to admit and even how they teach what they teach which can make the education you get there not worth the paper your degree would be printed upon. And the pandemic has only made it worse due to online schooling, removing the ability of teachers to catch plagerism or give them any control over the classroom which means students already not inclined to do well will just slack off while those already motivated to do well will pay attention. Heck, they're not even letting schools waive the standardized testing despite the fact that schools have not held in person learning in most places for over a year now. So a moral like this unfortunately isn't going to actually help the ones it's supposed to help the most because of circumstances outside the control of this episode.
Putting aside the episode's moral and the real world circumstances surrounding it and putting aside the need to have this be Rainbow Dash and not say Scootaloo who learns the moral, this episode still has lots of problems. Somehow, everyone but Rainbow Dash knows what Rainbow needs to know in order to pass her test. It's never made clear why the reserves are a big deal (subsequent episodes would do that but at the time there was nothing explaining how they worked) or why a history test is needed to get into them. Rainbow Dash spends the episode just goofing around or not really trying, giving up as soon as she doesn't get it right the first time. And much like Scootaloo's disability, the episode hints that maybe Rainbow has a learning disability but then it backpedals and has it so that she just learns through multitasking. And somehow, that knowledge is enough for her to learn what she needs to learn to pass her test. There is some good humor, but unfortunately the subject matter and the moral end up working against this episode, so I can't give it a grade above C-.
Well, thankfully it's all uphill from here for Season 4 although that doesn't necessarily mean we'll see an automatic return to the level of "Maud Pie" or "For Whom The Sweetie Belle Toils". But up next we do have a Spike and Rarity episode in "Inspiration Manifestation", featuring a mental breakdown for Rarity in a different way.
Last time I watched this, this was one of the more middle episodes of the season, though still pretty enjoyable.
This episode gives some backstory for the Wonderbolt which I like even thought the Wonderbolt are not well written in most episode
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Yeah.
On an unrelated note, yeah, the American education system is heavily flawed. And in regards to plagarism, some teachers do have some software or the like the detects for any similarities between a students' work and others or online sources, with say, over 30% getting a 0
No matter what your thoughts on this episode may be, I think we can all agree on one thing: Amy Keating Rogers did a better job characterizing Pinkie Pie here than in her last episode.
Are you kidding me? this episode is the most relatable episode to me from beginning to end. I always considered Rainbow Dash the least relatable to me out of the Mane 6 mostly due to her being athletic and I'm not. But practically every line she had said reminded me of my childhood growing up in school. Especially when she felt like she was never going to get it and started moping. Plus the episode shows that everyone has their own method for learning stuff. And that it's Twilight who learned a lesson just as much as Rainbow Dash does, being the one to write in the journal at the end. Best Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash episode I've seen
I mean, since the Wonderbolts are organized and acting like the military and most likely take on officer roles in a warzone, it's not a hard stretch to see them as an elite troop. It's normal for officers and more elite troops in the military to need further education, especially history. Especially for a group that takes the role of aircraft, historic strategies for them would be more useful than anything else.