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Metaright

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Your take  

11 users have voted

  1. 1. What did you think of The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well?

    • I liked it!
      3
    • I didn't like it.
      6
    • I don't care either way.
      1
    • I don't know what to think.
      1
  2. 2. What did you think of my analysis? (Please leave criticism in a comment so I can improve!)

    • I liked it!
      11
    • I didn't like it.
      0
  3. 3. What kind of analysis would you like to see from me in the future? Leave a comment with more specific suggestions!

    • More about specific episodes.
      8
    • More about individual characters.
      1
    • More about the pony fandom itself.
      2
    • Other (leave a comment!).
      0

If there's anything infamous in the brony community, it's the tale of Rainbow Dash's heroism gone sour. Season 2's The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well, written by Merriwether Williams, may be the episode most notorious for being disliked. The episode is notorious for having a regular placement smack at the bottom of "favorite episode" lists the world over. But what exactly about The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well rubs people the wrong way?

 

The moral of the episode, wrapped up near the end in the show's signature letter to Celestia, is that acts of bravery and heroism are great, but they should be handled with "grace and humility".

The Mane Six (sans Rainbow Dash) realized quickly that her status as Ponyville's number one heroine was quickly going to her head. Determined to set her on the path of righteousness and humility, the Mane Six concoct a plan: to pool their talents to create a hero unlike anything Ponyville has ever seen. Now outmatched by a veritable superhero, the wind is completely ripped from Rainbow Dash's sails.

 

One huge problem with the episode is almost immediately apparent: the Mane Six's plot to put Rainbow in her place is incredibly mean-spirited. The only thing that they seem to have in mind to accomplish with their mysterious persona is to put Rainbow Dash in her place. From what they explain to Rainbow during the heartfelt conclusion, they were only trying to make her ease up on the bragging.

 

But for a show that so emphasizes civil relations between friends, does it ever occur to the Mane Six to just talk to Rainbow about the problem? Throughout the episode, they aren't shown talking to Rainbow about their concerns even once. In this episode, the ponies are just zero-to-sixty with little to no provocation. Rainbow Dash acting pompous? Better create an elaborate superhero persona to make sure she doesn't get too confident! Their first instinct, apparently, is not to make Rainbow aware of their concerns so she can correct herself. The ponies going behind Rainbow's back to undermine her self-confidence through deceit and malice is not what fans expect nor desire to see from our normally cheerful protagonists.

 

Does this plan even make sense, though, given Rainbow's overall nature in the show? No, not really. One of the core facets of Rainbow Dash's character is her great amount of confidence. Rainbow acting arrogant was not novel for the show, even at the time when Mare-Do-Well was first aired.

 

This raises the question of whether or not the plot of the Mane Six is even effective in the first place. Does Mare-Do-Well begin to shake Rainbow's confidence? Yes. But does this lead Rainbow to ease up on the bragging, and to start acting with more humility? Far from it. Rainbow Dash does begin to act in cringe-inducingly pompous ways later in the episode, but this occurs as a result of Mare-Do-Well. Rainbow doesn't scour Ponyville for villainous jars of peanut butter to open (and demanding praise after the fact) until after the Mane Six begin to interfere. In effect, then, the plot of the Mane Six actually causes Rainbow to act even more arrogantly than before.

 

For all of this trouble, is Rainbow even in the wrong for acting arrogantly in the first place? On closer inspection, her actions seem almost entirely justified given the rather unforgiving nature of Ponyville's equine denizens. Even in light of Rainbow rescuing a baby and several elderly ponies from death or grave injury, Ponyville is quick to declare her yesterday's news as soon as Mare-Do-Well shows up on the scene. They even go as far as to claim that they had "never seen such bravery" in their entire lives. They seem to forget Rainbow Dash completely, so is it any wonder that she tries to salvage her reputation? Bragging may not be the best way to go about this, but it makes sense that she would attempt to remind Ponyville that she saved lives before Mare-Do-Well even arrived on the scene.

 

And such heroism in Ponyville is compounded given how terrifyingly frequent disasters appear to be. Even if the perils shown left and right in the episode aren't indicative in themselves, Rainbow approaches a cliff and says that "buses and baby carriages are always careening down this hill!". Even if she were exaggerating, it would seem that such events occur often, as she would have no reason to say that at all if those incidents were not at least somewhat commonplace.

 

In light of this, it becomes even more understandable that Rainbow Dash would desire some recognition, and even more befuddling that the Mane Six would find her actions so inexcusable. This befuddlement comes to its zenith near the end of the episode, when Ponyville holds a large parade of Mare-Do-Well, which the masked heroine herself attends. Apparently being caught up in your accomplishments is okay as long as you're not Rainbow Dash. The double standard the Mane Six create is a slap in the face both to Rainbow and to the viewer.

 

The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well does not sit in good standing with a significant portion of bronies, and it's not difficult to see why. The conflict of Rainbow becoming too pompous doesn't hold up, and the solution that the Mane Six concoct is not only arbitrary, but frighteningly out of character. It almost seems like the episode revolves around mere caricatures of the ponies we've grown to love. The Mane Six are cruel, Ponyville is unforgiving, and Rainbow Dash is singled out and pays a hefty price for daring to acknowledge her feats while simultaneously being Rainbow Dash. There are good laughs to be had in the episode, certainly, and taken on its own it's not impossible to enjoy. But when the ponies' actions and attitudes fly in the face of what we've come to expect, the experience feels more than a little disconcerting coming from a show whose fandom was almost singlehandedly created due to the characters.

 

Merriwether Williams, your attempt is respectable and your writing is by no means terrible. Just don't expect us to invite you to any parades.

  • Brohoof 6

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Hipster Stellafera pipes in that this is her favorite Rainbow Dash episode.

 

For all of this trouble, is Rainbow even in the wrong for acting arrogantly in the first place? On closer inspection, her actions seem almost entirely justified

 
OMG FINALLY I'VE BEEN TRYING TO SAY THIS FOR FORE-
 

given the rather unforgiving nature of Ponyville's equine denizens

 
Not quite what I had in mind, but good point...
 
While the behavior of the town certainly spurred on Rainbow's behavior and made it far more serious than it needed to be, I say that her "arrogance" this episode stems primarily from Rainbow Dash herself. You make her sound too cunning. What she was was insecure. This is, I think, what RD was effectively saying with all of her showing off:
 
"Did I do it right? Please tell me you like me. You like me, right? I'm a good guy, aren't I? Say I'm a hero. Say something. Anything. Please pay attention to me..."
 
Therefore, the ending is kind of heartwarming in that light. Her friends tell Rainbow that she doesn't have to do special heroics or mug the spotlight for them to appreciate and care about her. Even if the rest of their actions were rather terrible for the rest of the episode, that redeemed them a bit in my eyes.

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Therefore, the ending is kind of heartwarming in that light. Her friends tell Rainbow that she doesn't have to do special heroics or mug the spotlight for them to appreciate and care about her. Even if the rest of their actions were rather terrible for the rest of the episode, that redeemed them a bit in my eyes.

 

That's an interesting way of looking at it. This viewpoint didn't occur to me before, but I see what you mean. Depending on how you look at it, then, Rainbow Dash's pompousness could actually be hinting at a weakness, like you say. That's definitely something I'll take into consideration when writing about her in the future.

 

And on a somewhat related note, thank you for the feedback!

  • Brohoof 1
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If that new author think that she could "made anybody who is like Rainbow dash lern her place" then she's one big douche.

 

I made a new account just to say that I totally agree with you!

 

At the beginning (before Mare-douche-well) appear, she brag, sure, but it was not THAT bad. It's on the moderate level, like any decent person would still act. She didn't caused any trouble, she didn't make anybody suffer, she didn't even talk bad to anybody. Why do she deserve such punnishment! If she did act like Trixie then that is another story.

 

Also, if they really think that she's wrong, then why don't they let her learn it the hard way by herself. then support her and explain to her waht she did wrong, like what they did to anybody before, but nope, the author have to made them "put Rainbowdash in her place". Imagine what it would be like if, when other ponies lern the mistake n their lesson in previous episodes, it was all staged by their friends ? That would make the mainsix the most devious group of ponies ever. -_-

 

Also, I've noticed that people who let their success get in to theior head always get severe punnishment. Trixie when she first appeared for example. She got excommunicated as if she's a murderer or something.

 

The most disappinting part was when the EP ended and Rainbowdash didn't write anything aabout the lesson at all. I would like to see any explaination to jsutify the doucbaggery of the Mare-Douche-Well.

 

 

Oh boy.... I guess it's a women thing (I mean the new author's thing). Their jealousy is too great to be able to stand anybody who succeed and celebrate on their own success.

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