Episode Re-Review: Top Bolt · 4:49pm Jun 4th, 2021
For the third and final map mission of Season 6, we were going to be playing it safe once again and visiting the Wonderbolts academy with Twilight and Rainbow Dash. The two had last been paired up for "Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3", not exactly the best outing for either of them. And Season 6 had last focused on Rainbow Dash during "28 Pranks Later" which was not a good showing for her. To top all this off, it would be our first Wonderbolts episode since "Newbie Dash". So a lot was working against this episode already. But luckily, veterans Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco were back to write for this episode, though the story also credited Meghan McCarthy who had provided story credits numerous times throughout Season 6, most of which had landed with little fanfare. But considering Lewis and Songco had worked with Meghan before and on their own had cranked out "Gauntlet of Fire", Season 6's best episode, maybe they could succeed where it seemed like others failed. Did they, though? Well, let's find out.
The episode begins with Rainbow Dash mentioning having just completed spring training with the Wonderbolts, and is now looking forward to, according to Misty Fly "a fun weekend". But Spitfire has to stay behind to host "Trials Week", and interestingly she appears here with nothing on ("Newbie Dash" had her with just a towel).
However, Rainbow mentions that Spitfire apparently loves "Yelling and blowing your whistle" and Spitfire willing admits to this. I guess she takes her drill sergeant role a little too far.
So Rainbow Dash leaves and is immediately called by the map, and by coincidence Twilight has been called as well. So where are they going? Why, back to the academy of course as Rainbow complains that she was just there.
The two still head up though right as trials week is getting underway, and we have some really weird buzzing sounds from the pegasi as they're flying. We also meet Angel Wings, a pony who much like Stellar Eclipse exists courtesy of the Make a Wish Foundation.
Spitfire is apparently totally okay with Twilight and Rainbow Dash just showing up uninvited during trials week now, so I guess the Wonderbolts don't care about you getting permission to be on academy grounds (until next season will suggest civilians aren't allowed to be there without prior permission). She even lets them take over the classroom portion when Twilight proposes that as a way of helping. To that end, they enter the classroom and Rainbow Dash insists on introducing them as "T Sparks and The Dashinator", before we meet Sky Stinger and his wingpony Vapor Trail. And you know they're going to be important when Rainbow Dash gets into an argument with Sky Stinger, who is just as much of a bragger as she is and seems to have picked up Zephyr Breeze's arrogance as well.
Later, after the classroom portion, Twilight and Rainbow Dash survey all the cadets ahead of their eventual solo trials. And then they notice something: Vapor Trail is positioning herself directly under Sky Stinger to keep him airborne, all the while he supposedly has his eyes closed. And this is happening in broad daylight when there is nothing around to obstruct the view. It's not like when Lightning Dust was doing questionable things, because it was occurring in places like crevices or clouds where Spitfire couldn't see. And I somehow doubt Sky Stinger doesn't know about this, even if his eyes are closed he should be able to feel currents directly underneath him and the sound of wing flaps. As a result, Twilight and Rainbow Dash think this is supposed to be the problem they're there to solve. But they disagree over how to solve it: Twilight proposes flat out telling Sky Stinger he sucks while Rainbow Dash insists that if you do that his confidence will be completely crushed. Except if his confidence is based on lies, then it deserves to be broken. He's not going to see any need to improve if he doesn't know he's not as good as he thinks.
So Twilight and Rainbow go to see Vapor Trial first to ask her why she's doing what she's doing, and Vapor Trial claims that it's because she and Sky Stinger were childhood friends. Sky grew up in a big family, neglected by his parents as a result and eager for attention whereas Vapor Trail as an only child was fed up with all the attention she got from her parents. But I think the episode has it backwards. It's usually the only child who grows up to be spoiled, arrogant and vain because they get their parents' undivided attention, whereas in multi-child families any children not the oldest or the youngest will tend to get passed over unless they have a very specific talent that makes them stand out. Usually, the only child becomes the Sky Stinger while the middle child that Sky Stinger supposedly was usually becomes the Vapor Trial. And apparently, because of this, Vapor is willing to sabotage her chances as a solo flyer just to make Sky feel better about himself. That's not sweet, that's abusive. Again, I'm pretty sure Sky knows what's going on since Vapor isn't bothering to hide her methods. Yeah, this probably wasn't the intention behind any of this, but yet again it must be stated that you have to think through your implications and double check what you've wrote. This is the kind of stuff you should be catching!
Again, I side with Twilight in telling Sky flat out how bad he is. It's not fair to Vapor that Sky's ego should be protected when it's based on a lie! If Sky needs to improve, he's only going to do so when he realizes that he sucks. But Rainbow insists on not telling him the truth so she can work with him one on one, which of course goes about as well as you'd expect when Sky is either unknowingly (or more likely intentionally) oblivious to how bad he is. So when Vapor finally tells Sky the truth and the truth hits hard for Sky, what does he do? He blames Vapor. Yes, that's right. Sky is so much in denial because he was apparently voted as the most promising flyer in his hometown that he's willing to attack others for refusing to nurse his ego. None of this is even a friendship problem, really. This has all the hallmarks of an abusive relationship, even down to the abuser blaiming the victim for everything bad. And yet, the episode turns around and has Spitfire berate Rainbow Dash for Sky Stinger suddenly not doing so hot during the solo trials. I'm sorry, but what does it matter to Spitfire if one cadet isn't doing good? It's no one's fault but Sky's if he can't handle the truth and doesn't want to improve! Even Applejack took coming in second place in a rodeo better, she only ran away from home because she didn't get any prize money like she promised.
But the episode insists on forcing a happy ending, so Rainbow Dash and Twilight force Vapor to get back with Sky who now magically is ready to accept the cold hard truth. And then they decide to make another joke at Rainbow Dash's expense, as if the entire episode hasn't already been spent making her into a butt monkey every chance they can get. Heck, the episode ends with Rainbow coming back to Ponyville after the job is done and thinking she can relax, right before Misty Fly shows up and mentions a "Wonderbolt Emergency" that we never hear about again.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, I don't know what happened here but I think something got lost in translation. What the episode is trying to tell me is not the same as what it shows. It wants you to believe this is a friendship problem, that Sky is just unaware of how bad he is or that Vapor has been helping him. It wants you to believe Twilight and Rainbow Dash are equal partners here and that both have valid points to make towards how to solve the problem. But what we see is Rainbow Dash being a butt monkey all the time, every joke ever made is at her expense. And for team-ups, that's a big no-no. You can't cheapen or weaken one side just to make the other look good, yet that's what they do by repeatedly having Rainbow be the butt of jokes from beginning to end. As for Sky Stinger and Vapor Trial, it's like someone took all the worst assumptions of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy and turned them into characters. I mean, Silverquill even mentioned Vapor Trial is Fluttershy taken to the extreme where her shyness would mean her own self worth means nothing at all and she'd happily let herself be walked all over. We don't even really see anywhere or anything new from the Wonderbolts or the academy here, which even "Spice Up Your Life" at least showed off a kind of new side of Canterlot with Restaurant Row. If this episode had to stay within the Wonderbolts academy, why not shift the focus to some of the other Wonderbolts? Why not have this episode be an addressing of "Rainbow Falls" by having some lingering bad blood between say Soarin and Fleetfoot, or maybe between Fleetfoot and Misty Fly (who's already in the episode)? It would be so much better, and they probably could've included an actual nod to Top Gun since this episode is in the same boat as "Castle Mane-Ia" in that it doesn't include any kind of reference to what it's named after. Ultimately, this episode gets a borderline C-/C since Twilight is probably the one good thing in this episode, though the Wonderbolts do look better here to an extent than they did in "Newbie Dash" (not that that's saying much).
Wow, it seems like after "Viva Las Pegasus" Season 6 just ran out of momentum right as it was starting to climb uphill. So, the finale would be tasked with stopping a skid back downhill, and it would be a finale focused on Starlight Glimmer instead of Twilight or the mane six (or even Spike). And that finale would be none other than "To Where and Back Again", the show's attempt at a sort of Suicide Squad story.
Honestly, I think this is the best map episode of the season.
So going by your re-reviews, your personal ranking of the Season 6 Map Mission episodes from best to worst are as follows: Viva Las Pegasus (A-/A), Spice Up Your Life (B+), and Top Bolt (C-/C).
Also, if it makes you feel any better, Josh Scorcher rated this episode low in his Every Episode of MLP Reviewed in 10 Words or Less (Seasons 6 and 7) video as well. He gave it a 4/10, which in his rating system means he considers the episode to be below average.
5529805 Yeah, that's pretty much it. The map missions were kind of a step down in quality this season, though not quite as bland as "Made in Manehattan".
5529815
Yeah, if there's one thing you can say about this episode, it isn't boring.