Bueno Dias, my friends.

This is your friendly group administrator here with another thread.

Today, I'm gonna give you guys my take of "Daring Doubt". The 21st episode in the ninth season of "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" to be precise.

Here’s the rundown of it:

Having recently become a fan of the Daring Do book series after reading them herself, Fluttershy also comes upon a Daring Do book written by another author named Groom Q. Q. Martingale, which portrays the pony adventurer in an entirely different light compared to the books by A.K. Yearling (Daring Do herself).

When Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash later visit the bookstore that Martingale is autographing his books at, the two of them discover that the author is really one of Daring Do’s archenemies, Caballeron, who is once again out to tarnish Daring Do’s good name. Ironically, while Rainbow Dash is able to see through Caballeron’s scheme, Fluttershy believes that Caballeron is displaying an entirely different side to himself. Especially after he tells her that he’s an archaeologist whose museum went out of business because of Daring getting the relics before he could, despite his past actions and the fact that he’s really a thief.

Convinced that he’s a good pony, Fluttershy decides to aid Caballeron in recovering the lost Truth Talisman of Tonatiuh, much to Rainbow Dash’s shock.

Will Caballeron and Fluttershy succeed in their quest? Or will they fail?

I’d to be honest, I didn’t originally intend on making a review on an MLP installment outside of the movies and TV specials. In fact, I really planned on analyzing “Friendship is Magic” in a TV show review separated into two parts. One part for Seasons 1-7, and the other part for Seasons 8-9.

However, after I kept thinking about the episode more and more, and as I started looking back on the times I negatively commented on this episode, something began building up inside of me. What started in my head as merely small thoughts...grew into something bigger and more constructive. So much, that I decided to make my own analysis of the episode.

So, what do I think of “Daring Doubt”?

*sighs*

To be honest, I found this episode to be a mediocre end for the Daring Do saga.

Before I get into why this episode is one of my least favorites of the show, though, I’d like to point out the many things I did enjoy about it.

For starters, the humor and comedic-timings revolving around the Truth Talisman and the ponies wearing it were nicely done and funny. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t help but laugh so much at the part where one of the henchponies says he wants to be an opera singer.

Along with that, Caballeron’s reformation and development throughout the episode was surprisingly well-worked. Even though he was one of the last villains I expected to have a change of heart, it was amazing to see how much of an impact Fluttershy’s kindness had on him and his lackeys. It was also interesting to see Caballeron’s henchponies be upgraded from mere minors to ponies with a sense of life and personality.

And like many episodes of the show, Fluttershy’s acts of kindness throughout were a pleasant thing to see. I admired her determination and how far she was willing to go for her friends as well. Plus, she sure did look cute with the hat she had on after joining Caballeron on the expedition.

I’d also like to point out that the episode’s message to “treat others with kindness no matter what” was definitely a meaningful one to live by.

In spite of these positives, though, the episode...was nothing but a muddled mess. Sad to say, the biggest blame for it all goes to the writing by Nicole Dubuc.

Some have told me that the other messages of the episode was to “give others the benefit of the doubt” and “listen to their side of the story”. But if that really was the case, I find that the former message was done much better in Season 3’s “Keep Calm and Flutter On”, and the episode hardly did a great job at getting the latter message across.

In terms of the latter message I mentioned, it seemed more like the episode was saying that we should immediately trust strangers without being cautious or thinking about if the stranger can be trusted, which was completely immoral and wrong. Much of that particularly comes from how everything was playing out and how befuddling the narrative was. The reason I’m saying that the narrative was confusing is because amidst trying to prove whatever points Fluttershy and the episode were trying to make, Nicole Dubuc left behind a great many plot holes that made the story implausible and questionable.

In addition to that, Daring Do seemed to be getting painted as one of the biggest dunderheads around. I get that before she met Rainbow Dash and the rest of the Main Six, she didn’t trust anyone or think to ever talk and listen, but still...Caballeron and Ahuizotl hardly gave any reason to be the trustworthy types before. The lesson regarding the whole thing even painted Daring Do’s epic adventures as a list of mistakes and debts she made in the long run, which was a lot like saying she should never have been an adventurer to begin with or ever existed.

The way Daring Do’s reputation was getting tainted again, especially compared to Season 7’s “Daring Done?”, felt completely mean-spirited and heartless, like Nicole Dubuc apparently hated the character and didn’t care about how she was treating her. A prime example comes from the part involving her “kicking puppies”, which was frankly a flat and cruel joke for her to incorporate.

Plus, despite the episode’s references to Season 4’s “Daring Don’t”, it carried little acknowledgement or continuity with it. In this case, it contained a lot of contradictions with its predecessor.

If I recall correctly, Fluttershy met Caballeron and Ahuizotl in “Daring Don’t” and got to see firsthand what they were like outside of the books. And believe me, I studied the episode closely and made comparisons between it and this episode to know.

How could Fluttershy suddenly forget all about Caballeron, Ahuizotl, and the adventure? Or act like she hardly knew them and what happened then? Or be so careless enough as to fall for Caballeron’s lies?

And yes, I thought that Fluttershy’s heart was in the right place to be extending kindness and friendship to Caballeron and Ahuizotl, but still...she was way too naive and gullible, which was completely out of character of her. Fluttershy is a kindhearted individual, but she would never be quick to trust someone outside of her friends or without getting to know someone new for longer periods of time. Considering Caballeron was up to no good again, I’m pretty sure she’d suspect that foul play was afoot by making comparisons between both his and Daring Do’s books instead of being easily duped by Caballeron’s treachery.

The biggest elephant in the room, though...was when Ahuizotl said that he was a guardian of artifacts after touching the Truth Talisman.

Everything about what he said hardly tied in at all with his previous appearance in “Daring Don’t” and his aforementioned intention in Season 7’s “Daring Done?”, each of which showed him to be a villain through-and-through. It was literally nothing more than an idiotic and nonsensical retcon that held no correlation with the overall continuity to begin with.

How does Ahuizotl being a guardian tie in at all to the fact that he tried to bring 800 years of sweltering heat onto Equestria in “Daring Don’t”? And was mentioned to be trying to cause eternal night in “Daring Done?”? If he really was supposed to be guarding the jungle’s artifacts, then why was he traveling outside of it? Wouldn’t he have known that bringing eternal night and 800 years of sweltering heat would cause more harm than good and do more than just keep thieves away?

Even if he really was a guardian, there’s no justification behind all that he did. None of what he did wouldn’t have benefited him at all in his duties. If part of being a guardian of artifacts would literally include putting the world on the verge of destruction or endangering the lives of others...then I’m sorry to say he truly is a monster, is unfit to be a guardian, and has proven himself to be no better than the thieves who try to steal the artifacts. With all that said, I’m pretty sure his boss and co-workers (if he had any at all) would’ve been displeased by what he was doing.

All in all, it was like the episode was saying there’s no such thing as right and wrong, and that it’s okay to be doing bad things as long as you have a good reason for doing it, which is completely incorrect. There’s no excuse for committing acts of villainy, no matter what one says. The worst part is that it goes against everything the show was teaching before, which is that there’s such a thing as right and wrong.

In the end, there were things about “Daring Doubt” that I enjoyed, but the episode as a whole...was one of the worst I ever saw. And because of the gigantic amount of plot holes created, everything about it felt like the beginning of an incomplete story that Nicole Dubuc and Allspark were either too lazy to finish or didn’t care to complete. Until they actually do something to fix what they messed up, and since there are no references and acknowledgements in any episode after it, I refuse to count “Daring Doubt” as officially canon.

So, I rate “Daring Doubt” 2½ out of 5 stars.

The few things that I will admit is that if it wasn’t for this episode, I would never have made “A Moment of Truth” nor be developing its sequels. The story is available on FiMFiction.net, Fanfiction.net, and Wattpad.com, and the same will be done with the sequels.

Likewise, making this review deeply inspired me to do an analysis of every other episode of “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” in the future. The same with the episodes of other animated programs, if I may add.

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I see "800 years of sweltering heat" as The Nuclear Option. If you're tasked with making sure people don't steal the stuff in the temples, then make it inhospitable to those not native to the area. It's a jungle, its only going to make the jungle hotter.

Also, when did we ever see Ahuizotl leave the jungle?

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He was mentioned to be in Somnambula trying to bring eternal night, remember?

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When was that?

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In Season 7’s “Daring Done?”.

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Maybe it's a plot hole?

It's based entirely off a chapter in a book that was written by Daring Do/A.K. Yearling.

And even from a writing perspective, the set of lines from the transcript doesn't make sense.

Rainbow Dash: [squealing] This is so cool! It looks just like that village in your last book where Daring Do recovers the Doomed Diadem from the Wild Bunch Gang who chase after her through the desert!
A. K. Yearling: It should. I based that entire chapter on my experiences here in Somnambula.
Pinkie Pie: What happens? No, wait, don't tell me. I changed my mind! Tell me!
Rainbow Dash: Daring Do thwarts Ahuizotl's evil plot to separate the Sister Crown Relics. And if it wasn't for her, the region would be cursed with eternal night, and the entire town of Somnambula would have sunk into the ground!

For all we know she could be embellishing events.

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But Daring based her stories entirely off of her adventures. Therefore, everything she wrote actually happened.

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Witnessed from the perspective of the pony who breaks into tombs/temples to steal artifacts.

In hindsight you could say that Ahuizotl left the basin/jungle to steal an artifact back from Daring and/or Wild Bunch Gang. That is if we want to try to use the context of Last Season Ahuizotl (The Temple/Basin Guardian) as opposed to how he was portrayed up to that point.

He has had 3 on-screen appearances. The first being from the book that Rainbow read. The second was his first appearance in person, again he's in the valley and there's a lot you can imply if you use the Season 9 context. And the last time is the Season 9 episode.

Then again, he probably didn't have any set character development and so the Season 9 iteration may or may not have taken every episode where he's mentioned into account.

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In whatever case, him saying that he was a guardian after touching the Truth Talisman hardly made sense, and it didn’t tie in at all with his in-person appearance in “Daring Don’t” and the fact that he went to Somnambula. If anything, it just opens up more plot holes than anyone could count.

Did you even read the review?

I did, I'm just biased and tend to think deeper than what the canon explanation says.

Also I'm of the opposite thought that I find Daring Don't fits fine with the context of Season 9.

How does Ahuizotl being a guardian tie in at all to the fact that he tried to bring 800 years of sweltering heat onto Equestria in “Daring Don’t”? And was mentioned to be trying to cause eternal night in “Daring Done?”? If he really was supposed to be guarding the jungle’s artifacts, then why was he traveling outside of it? Wouldn’t he have known that bringing eternal night and 800 years of sweltering heat would cause more harm than good and do more than just keep thieves away?

Even if he really was a guardian, there’s no justification behind all that he did. None of what he did wouldn’t have benefited him at all in his duties. If part of being a guardian of artifacts would literally include putting the world on the verge of destruction or endangering the lives of others...then I’m sorry to say he truly is a monster, is unfit to be a guardian, and has proven himself to be no better than the thieves who try to steal the artifacts. With all that said, I’m pretty sure his boss and co-workers (if he had any at all) would’ve been displeased by what he was doing.

Okay, no. I. Hate. This. Point.

He's a Guardian of the ARTIFACTS THEMSELVES, NOT THE F*CKING PONIES. There is literally no reason for him to care if anyone dies as collateral in his protection of the artifacts, and the fact that he's willing to go so far is the epitome of why he's an EXCELLENT Guardian. The idea that someone has to have absolutely perfect morality is ludicrous.

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So you're more willing to trust a completely one-sided, biased story literally labeled as "FICTION" sooner than a magical artifact that forces people to tell the truth?

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I’m willing to trust Daring Do more than to trust Caballeron (at least before he reformed) and Ahuizotl and overlook obvious plot holes and retcons.

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And yet that’s what makes everything all-the-more nonsensical and unbelievable, and why it’s overall like saying there’s no such thing as right and wrong.

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Plot holes are common for shows that change writers every season, alternating between episodes, and the retcons only exist because we only knew the story from a completely biased individual. Of course she'd seem more like a hero, considering she wrote the thing. It's like asking a Federal Officer to investigate their own criminal charges and sentence themselves, of course they'd frame it like they're the good guy.

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But she is a good guy. And a hero. Not a screwup who’s adventures turn out to be a list of mistakes.

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Because there really isn't. It's a construct created by mankind as we've developed over the millennium. Good and Evil are malleable concepts that aren't totally applicable to everything. People do good stuff for bad reasons and bad things for good reasons, like a homeless person robbing a Dairy Queen so they can feed their family, or a person donating a million dollars to charity so they can write the expenses off on their taxes for their own pockets.

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She's absolutely a screw-up, since the episode Daring Done shows that she doesn't give a shit about collateral, JUST LIKE AHUIZOTAL.

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So you’re basically saying that we should all do things like go rob banks or murder people?

If that’s really the case, then why do we have rules? Or moral codes? Or values for that matter?

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Literally not at all what I'm saying, and we develop morals and codes as we mature, but as mankind itself has matured, morality has become more nuanced and intricate. I'm not saying that specific things are completely justifiable with certain backgrounds, just that there's more to humanity than just either a blank sheet of paper or a completely soaked parchment in ink.

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But she does care. She cares a lot more for the well-being of others than you think.

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Not enough to try and make ammends herself for the wrongdoings she did unto those villagers and literally had to be forced into paying off the damages she could have easily paid off herself.

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Maybe the only reason you think that is because you don’t care for her as much as others do, because from what I’m seeing...you’re misjudging her character entirely.

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Or maybe you're literally missing the entire point of her character arc and neglecting the lessons in lieu of wanting to keep a perfect ideal of what she was in a vacuum as opposed to being an actually interesting character with flaws and conflict.

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You say that, yet right and wrong still exists. It’s still too much like saying things such as murder is okay.

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Quite the opposite, really.

As a fan of the show and characters, I’ve devoted my time to studying the episodes very closely and getting to know the characters personally.

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I am NOT. SAYING. THAT. Please stop putting words in others' mouths, I am saying that yes, right and wrong exist, but they're constantly evolving and shifting. It was once perfectly alright to engage in intercourse with anyone at any age, as laws of consent didn't exist. It was once totally appropriate to own slaves and sell another human being like cattle because that was the norm. We do in fact have a sense of right and wrong, but what I've been saying is that they're not absolute definite things that have concrete fixations, they're changing values that adjust according to what we perceive as people.

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Yet you outright refuse to acknowledge the tone and message that they were going for in this episode because it conflicts with what you seem to want Daring Do to be despite the canon.

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Now I see.

Of course, not everyone thinks the same as another. Obviously what’s right and what’s wrong is something people are divided over.

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Perhaps that’s because the way I interpreted things from this episode is different compared to you.

Aside from that, weren’t you ever able to see that Caballeron was lying about being the owner of a museum and Daring Do being the villain?

It was even confirmed to be so after he started wearing the Talisman.

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It just means that they're on the same level, lying and stealing ancient stuff for their own benefit so they can make loads of cash.

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Except that Daring wasn’t stealing artifacts to make money off of them. She merely wanted to protect them and keep them from falling in the wrong hands.

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She still used her exploits as a means of making money, through monetizing her adventures. Plus, putting everything on a shelf that's directly across from a window in her house doesn't seem like very good protection as opposed to, I don't know, giving them to Celestia and Luna to safeguard.

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You know, in the end, there’s always going to be a right and a wrong. And you’re incorrect about one thing:

Morality has never changed. It’s been the same since the very beginning of time. What’s right will always be right. And what’s wrong will always be wrong. And everything Ahuizotl did was wrong with a capital ‘w’, which makes his claim to be a guardian all-the-more nonsensical, leaving behind a plot hole bigger than a pit.

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So slavery is morally justifiable since it was a proper business in the 15th century? Public executions are morally just since the French Revolution? Morality is constantly changing with mankind, and just because someone has an agenda that doesn't line up with your perception of right and wrong doesn't mean that what they're doing is 100% wrong, especially considering the shit he's guarding can ruin the world. What was once right and justified 150 years ago would land you in every kind of prison in the world thrice over today. Something totally fine a thousand years ago automatically establishes you as a villain in today's media, like pedophilia. Is that still morally right? Since it was okay in ancient Greece and Rome? Killing someone for barely slighting you and murdering their family for opposing you is completely legit since people thought it was proper at one point in history, right?

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No. But there are things that are wrong that people have always classified as crimes. Even in the time periods you mentioned. Stealing, murder, rape, lying, and sexual immorality are among them.

People say that the world changes entirely, but there are many things that haven’t left.

Ahuizotl saying that he was protecting the artifacts still doesn’t justify all that he did in “Daring Don’t”, particularly because he nearly destroyed the jungle he was oh-so claiming to be protecting and tried to use an artifact for his own selfish purposes.

Is that not something that you find to be pure evil? Or for that matter makes you question the canonicity of this Season 9 headache-inducer I reviewed?

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Except all of those things were not only legal and justifiable, but commonplace in some cultures across the world in different time periods. Over time, we saw them for what they were because of the context of the situations and how our definitions of right and wrong change.

Ahuizotl being willing to destroy the jungle to protect the A R T I F A C T S gives context to why he does what he does, and no, it's not "pURe eviL!" because there's clearly a completely separate culture and civilization that exists somewhere within the deeper parts of the jungle that made the artifacts and deemed them too dangerous to be left unprotected, so it's his duty to ensure that they're not abused. Evil is subjective.

A far more articulate man than I discussing the nuances and intricacies of humanity's perception of morality:

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Ahuizotl being willing to destroy the jungle to protect the A R T I F A C T S gives context to why he does what he does, and no, it's not "pURe eviL!" because there's clearly a completely separate culture and civilization that exists somewhere within the deeper parts of the jungle that made the artifacts and deemed them too dangerous to be left unprotected, so it's his duty to ensure that they're not abused. Evil is subjective.

That still doesn’t make things any clearer. If anything, it only generates more holes and questions.

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That's the point of lore, it expands what we perceive in a world. It gives root to what could be beyond what we know, and generates thoughts of how not only would he justify his actions, but why others appointed him to be the chosen Guardian in the first place. Because we can't see their civilization, we don't understand their methods, thus we don't understand their perception of right/wrong. It opens the gate to what could be an entirely new perspective on morality, and thus shows how complex it truly is.

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Honestly, that makes everything all-the-more infuriating. The only thing it’s done is show how morally incorrect this episode was, and it makes me think Ahuizotl was nothing but an incompetent that should be fired from his job. His actions are still unjustifiable. And if there really is another culture who thinks killing innocent lives that aren’t trying to steal artifacts is right, then they’re seriously messed up and should be eliminated for good so that they wouldn’t cause anymore damage.

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morally incorrect

So you choose to learn nothing from this episode or this entire conversation, then.

then they’re seriously messed up and should be eliminated for good so that they wouldn’t cause anymore damage.

I'm going to let YOU explain how morally bankrupt the statement you just made is.

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I'm going to let YOU explain how morally bankrupt the statement you just made is.

I made the statement because it’s exactly the kind of thing this ‘supposed’ culture would want to do. And what Ahuizotl would want to do. They’re as morally bankrupt as the statement.

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So you admit that your morality is as garbage as his, then? You admit that you'd rather exterminate an entire species rather than try to inform them of how everyone else sees their decisions, bring them to trial and justice, and that you wouldn't even TRY to help fix their broken ideals, or teach them better morals?

Don't try and scream about how absolutely perfect your fucking morals are when your immediate decision is genocide. I'm done here. Have fun tasting your own farts while you're trying to get your head out of your ass.

And next time, don't fucking PM me if you're not even willing to try to understand anything anyone's trying to help you with.

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So you admit that your morality is as garbage as his, then? You admit that you'd rather exterminate an entire species rather than try to inform them of how everyone else sees their decisions, bring them to trial and justice, and that you wouldn't even TRY to help fix their broken ideals, or teach them better morals?

No.

The statement was merely something that I played with for the conversation. I’m saying that Ahuizotl and his supposed culture’s “morality” is garbage, and that everything you asked me is exactly what they would do. Not me.

Even if they were just protecting artifacts, they would want lives to be taken and the world to be destroyed.

Don’t ever tell me again how any of what they’d be doing is justifiable, because it really isn’t. Don’t ever tell me that there’s no true right and no true wrong, because there really is. Don’t ever tell me that there’s such a thing as doing the wrong things for the right reasons, because it’s frankly the opposite.

I’m done talking with you too.

Have fun tasting and smelling whatever polluted air you’ve wrapped your brain in, as well as wearing underwear for a hat.

And for the record, the reason I can’t understand the whole thing regarding Ahuizotl is because no matter how hard I try to do so and how much you explain it to me, I just get more confused.

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People do good stuff for bad reasons and bad things for good reasons

Story of my life.

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Morality is complex even in real life today we see the results of conflicting morality. People can be right on one thing and wrong on another so too can fictional characters.

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You wouldn’t mind giving my review on here an upvote, would you?

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Oh, of course.

Surprised I forgot to do that. I usually give people an upvote when their comments have one downvote in order to even things out.

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Thank you.

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Are you saying that you agree with the other guy or something?