Episode Re-Review: The Washouts · 5:39pm Jul 2nd, 2021
Season 8 seemed to hit an abrupt dry patch after "The Hearth's Warming Club". Not a single episode seemed to debut to positive reception as even "Road to Friendship" seemed to be panned upon release (though not quite as much as what had come before it). But this episode promised the return of a fan favorite villain in Lightning Dust, something fans had been wanting to see for years. Nick Confalone was writing this episode, coming off his less than stellar performance in "The Break Up Break Down" and on the Equestria Girls side of things the unbelievably awful "Rollercoaster of Friendship" that brought the spin-off franchise to a new low. And this episode seems to have continued Nick's downward spiral given how most people seem to really hate this episode for one reason or another. Has this episode deserved that reputation, or like "Road to Friendship" before it is it perhaps overhated? Well, let's find out.
The episode begins rather weirdly, it almost feels like the opening of "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well" almost shot for shot with Scootaloo hosting a meeting of the Rainbow Dash fan club. But she quickly adjourns it and ushers everyone out of the clubhouse so she can convert it into a fan club for the titular Washouts.
Rainbow Dash happens to have been spying on the whole thing and is quite shocked. Apparently, Scootaloo has had this interest in The Washouts for some time. They even have a motto in the form of "Leap Before You Look", and a lot of their memormibila is based on The Wonderbolts, which as we'll later see is far from a coincidence. Scootaloo also happens to have tickets and a backstage pass for an upcoming performance from these stunt ponies in Ponyville. But Rainbow Dash is in a state of disbelief at the idea that Scootaloo might have an interest that doesn't include stuff Rainbow likes. We get an interesting "joke" about Applejack apparently being on the lookout for Apple Bloom liking other kinds of fruits besides apples, as well as Twilight trying to save herself when she's impressed by one of the posters. However, most of the time we spend on this is Rainbow Dash complaining about The Washouts and how they're ripping off The Wonderbolts, which just seems to bring back the annoying, self-centered Rainbow Dash that no one likes.
We do get to see the student/young six cameo during the show, but this is the extent of their involvement and the only thing that confirms that this episode is indeed taking place during Season 8 as opposed to maybe earlier. Anyway, the show goes off without a hitch even when one Washout supposedly gets injured. Scootaloo then gets a chance to meet them backstage, encountering Rolling Thunder and the appropriately named Short Fuse. And both happen to have "washed out" of the Wonderbolts: Rolling Thunder for disregarding weather safety protocols and Short Fuse because of his anger issues. And who is leading the Washouts, you might ask? None other than Lightning Dust, much to Rainbow's surprise.
There's a bit of a continuity error when Scootaloo doesn't recognize Lightning Dust despite having provided a recap of Rainbow's progress towards being a Wonderbolt in "Parental Glideance", though honestly that recap scene was unnecessary. Anyway, Lightning Dust has apparently moved on and is now leading The Washouts. But pay attention to the first thing she says after Scootaloo notices that they know each other: "Your friend got me kicked out of the Wonderbolts." So in Lightning Dust's mind, she doesn't think she did anything wrong and blames Rainbow Dash for what happened to her. Lightning Dust also goes on to make it perfectly clear that she doesn't care about anyone else's safety or her own, even thinking that the Wonderbolts made up the safety rules just to hold her back. And as much as I was willing to play devil's advocate for her before, I can't deny that it's clear now that Lightning Dust is reckless beyond all reason and has no qualms doing anything to anyone. Before it was probably just for the sake of competition, but now it's trying to prove a point. And it's likely that being kicked out of the Wonderbolts led her to be consumed by her darker thoughts.
Lightning Dust even goes on to insult her teammates, and when Scootaloo offers to join The Washouts to take Rolling Thunder's place, she says that Scootaloo can't join because she didn't "wash out" of the Wonderbolts. Rainbow Dash proceeds to take Scootaloo up to Wonderbolts Academy in the hopes that Spitfire will knock some sense into Scootaloo. And Spitfire takes the whole "tough love" routine way too far.
Some even speculate that Spitfire's talk of "A full body wing and hoof cast, drinkin' through a straw" is related to her embarrassing Wonderbolts nickname that we never got to learn about. Rainbow Dash still thinks that that knocked some sense into Scootaloo, and opts to give Scootaloo a chance to gather up all her Washouts stuff and get rid of it. But when she comes back she finds that Scootaloo is missing. She soon finds Twilight and realizes that Scootaloo is taking an interest in The Washouts despite her best efforts to persuade Scootaloo away from them. Twilight points out that you can't control an individual's actions all the time, and even points out how this might be hurting Rainbow Dash because it may mean she no longer has her number one fan. However, Rainbow insists that she's really worried that Scootaloo (who she now calls Scoot) might get hurt. Yet she doesn't consider maybe talking to Scootaloo's legal guardians. I know her aunts didn't exist at the time this script was likely written, but I feel like this could've been the opportunity to at least confirm Scootaloo had parents instead of waiting until next season to do so.
However, Rainbow Dash and Twilight go to find Lightning Dust only to learn that she's recruiting Scootaloo into The Washouts ranks. Again, keep in mind that Lightning Dust has to be aware that Scootaloo is not only a child but also has no formal stunt training of any sort. If she was truly not hostile she would wisely realize that what she's doing is wrong and dangerous. Professional stunt teams almost certainly wouldn't recruit a child into their ranks, especially not one that had never practiced doing extreme stunts. It's clear that Lightning Dust is doing this specifically to drive a wedge between Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash, and enjoys doing it.
When Rainbow finds out about this she is naturally upset and specifically says to Lightning Dust that she can't let her do this. However, when Rainbow tries to drag Scootaloo away Scootaloo claims that Rainbow Dash wants her to be just like her and that will be impossible since Scootaloo can't fly. She just comes out and says it, more or less confirming her disability. Again, however, the problem is that Bulk Biceps being at least a decent flyer with his tiny wings means the show missed the boat on Scootaloo's disability. It does seem like they wanted to leave it vague, maybe even go for the "Late Bloomer" route. And then "Flight to the Finish" came around, and even though they tiptoed around the issue so many people thought they were confirming Scootaloo's disability. So from there they decided to more or less leave it at that. But much like with the scrapped episode involving gliders and other technology, there are plenty of ways Scootaloo could achieve her dream of flying if she really wanted to and we never saw her even consider them. I know that probably wouldn't be relevant to a lot of episodes, but they really needed to show these things even just in the background or on the side before it got to this point. Because in this case, it just seems like a case of confirming what some fans wanted but disappointing others and not really providing a definitive answer. It's just there to be there as a justification for Scootaloo to want to join The Washouts.
And Rainbow Dash and Twilight apparently are okay with letting Lightning Dust encourage Scootaloo to do something dangerous, Twilight not even batting an eye when Lightning Dust potentially tries to bribe her with tickets in order to get a packed stadium for Scootaloo's debut. Then we get to what causes many people to despise this episode. Scootaloo starts to have second thoughts about a dangerous stunt involving having her scooter be strapped to a rocket, but when she voices these concerns to Lightning Dust Lightning Dust just tells her "Too late!" and sends Scootaloo down the ramp.
Rainbow Dash fortunately swoops in to save Scootaloo, deciding that even though she has to let Scootaloo make her own decisions that doesn't mean doing nothing when the kid does something dangerous and life threatening. Lightning Dust then complains about Scootaloo bailing, right before she gets caught up by a rope and sent flying along with the rocket while she proclaims "Rivals for life!".
So the episode ends with Rainbow Dash presiding over the first meeting of the Scootaloo fanclub, though Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are strangely absent even when you'd think they would want to be there. I know again that the aunts and the parents didn't exist at the time of this episode's script writing, but surely they could've snuck the aunts in in the background at the very end even if it was just reusing and recoloring models. The show did it before to avoid a continuity error, but I guess the animation was done before the aunts were thought of. Anyway, Twilight is allowing Scootaloo to spy on her own fanclub as she comments on how Rainbow Dash was right and it isn't weird at all. And now everything has come full circle.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, I'm gonna be honest, this episode is way too overhated. Lightning Dust's character is not ruined here, even though I do think it was more vague in "Wonderbolts Academy" if she was truly a lost cause or could be saved. It's entirely possible that what bad behavior she had before was amplified as a result of her expellusion from the Wonderbolts' ranks. Lightning Dust truly is an example of what Rainbow Dash would be like if she never had her friends to help her or if she never opened up to anyone. Lightning Dust makes it clear throughout this episode that she's doing what she's doing to spite the Wonderbolts. And you'd be surprised at easy it is for people to pretend they aren't jealous or envious when they actually are. It's quite clear that Lightning Dust enjoys doing what she does to hurt Rainbow Dash, and delights in driving a wedge between her and Scootaloo. I still think Lightning Dust deserved a second chance back at the academy, if only because it wasn't clear if she knew or not what she did was wrong. But it's possible that she had no positive influences in her life. Putting aside Lightning Dust's character, this episode works because for once Rainbow Dash's arrogance comes back to bite her. By trying to persuade Scootaloo away from the Washouts, she drives her right into the Washouts' arms. And the moral about how you can't control what someone likes or dislikes and that sometimes you have to let them make their own decisions is a very powerful and mature one. Sometimes, the only way people learn is through experience, though that doesn't mean letting them do something dangerous or potentially life threatening. I'm not entirely sure Twilight needed to be in this episode though, other than to reiterate the moral and help Scootaloo see her own fan club. And the episode could've spent less time in the first act on Rainbow complaining, because that just wastes time and makes it hard to root for her. Still, this episode is able to score a B+. It's just too bad that we never got to see Lightning Dust come back and potentially make the Washouts into an evil clone of the Wonderbolts.
I don't have anything new to say on "A Rockhoof and a Hard Place", so we're next going to look at "What Lies Beneath" seeing as it served as a chance to see the student/young six in a more fleshed out light before Season 9 would bring them back only to do very little with them.
This is definitely one of the best Scootaloo episodes of the show, and I LOVE the "In a full body wing and hoof cast" bit.
As far as Scootaloo saying she can't fly, I'm always going to choose to interpret that as just her anger clouding her thoughts for the future. Especially with all of the magic Equestria has, I'm sure that eventually she'll be able to fly somehow.
Spitfire's "motivational speech" was easily the comedic highlight of this episode. It really did feel like Kelly Metzger channeled Chris Farley's Matt Foley character when recording that scene.
Also, Applejack's vendetta against bananas makes me wonder how she would react to Kamen Rider Baron from Kamen Rider Gaim.