Dark Qiviut

MDW!AJ hops in and rescues Cherry from her carraige of doom. Everyone raves her for her bravery, and Mayor Mare suddenly shows up to declare her a "new hero" and the Mysterious Mare Do Well.

*ugh* Episode, why do you ham-fist the MDW so much, and she only appeared for one half-minute in this scene?!

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*Cherry Berry screams; the hot air balloon she's in popped, and she's falling*

Snips: Uh, don't you think you should go and help?

Rainbow Dash: [muffled] Yeah, yeah. I've got a good ten seconds to spare. Just a couple more.

FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE, DASH! You sticking back for a second or two could determine whether she'll live or die! GO!

Also, when the hell did Ponyville suddenly become a death trap? The filly trapped in the well makes sense, but add the baby rolling down the hill and the balcony cracking from excessive weight (all within a few hours of each other), and the conflict becomes really contrived. If it were a bigger town or a city, it'd make more sense, but considering that Ponyville was supposedly a small town, it's a major headscratcher. Add how DHX doesn't write Ponyville like this again, that says a lot about MDW's poor attention to continuity.

There's another major flaw in the episode, too, but that'll be mentioned in a later status. In the meantime, since the RM5 began to act like sneaky, passive-aggressive bitches once the scene transitions from Sugarcube Corner, I'm gonna need to paste this pic for a while:

(Credit to a conversation with @Captain Clark on Discord for this.)

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Rainbow Dash: [gasps] Oh no! There's something wrong with the baby!

[crowd gasps]

Rainbow Dash: She's not cheering for everypony's favorite hero, Rainbow Dash!

…

…

Really, Dash? You played up the thought that the baby might've been injured in the bumpy tumble down the hill, only to serve your own ego? Her mom almost lost her, and you probably scared the shit outta her for that insensitive joke.

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Scootaloo: There just aren't enough words in the dictionary to describe Rainbow Dash's awesomeness.

Twilight Sparkle: I can think of a few new words.

Applejack: And I bet 'modest' is not one of them.

Twi and AJ have a good point here. The dialogue and criticism are passive-aggressive *cough*talking behind her back*cough*, but not without merit.

Not to mention, the dialogue in this small scene is really poor.

And now Mare Do Well!

…meh. Dialogue inside the CMC Clubhouse is forced (and it's not explained how the fanclub began, though I'm really nitpicking here), but nothing too bad here.

With Boast Busters finished, here's my bottom-13 now:

1. One Bad Apple
2. Newbie Dash
3. Fame and Misfortune
4. Bridle Gossip
5. Dragon Quest
6. The Crystal Empire
7. Rainbow Falls
8. 28 Pranks Later
9. Princess Spike
10. Owl’s Well That Ends Well
11. P.P.O.V.
12. Boast Busters
13. The Mysterious Mare Do Well

BB was at #15, and Show Stoppers has been pushed off to #14.

Now, I'm in the mood to do more comparisons of good and bad episodes. I'm gonna do another bad-vs-bad comparison.

For this one, which is worse: Mare Do Well or 28 Pranks Later? The latter's so awful, I stopped watching it midway and never went back to it.

Finished with Boast Busters. Everyone has already covered it, but…oh, my GOD, this episode sucks!

1. Lethargic, thin story that makes no sense at all.
2. Unlikeable and hypocritical mane cast. AJ, Dash, and Rarity have their worst appearances of the season at this point. To this day, bottom-five (if not three) performances for each of them. The good guys behaving worse than the antagonist (and still acting like they were in the right, with the story backing them up) breaks the story's theme of "boasting vs. confidence."
3. Stereotypical dumbshit boys in Snips and Snails. They affect the plot, but are an automatic hindrance to the plot. Cutting them completely out of the story would make this story much better, though it'd still suck.
4. Trixie written as the antagonist, but was in the right to call them out for interrupting her show and trying to one-up her. Trixie's magic is unimpressive, but ponies are still enjoying her show. And now she's homeless and without her job.
5. One of Spike's worst appearances in the series, and he has a lot of them. Nagging her made me really cringe.
6. spike hypes Twi as an excellent magician, but only performed 25 tricks leading up to Act 1. If you're gonna tell us how impressive she is, show it early.
7. The moral's execution of being able to be confident in your abilities is broken, because of how the story treats Trixie and hammers in the "boasting" angle.
8. The jokes are terrible. Each of them are one-dimensional with no long-lasting value.
9. The stage show scene is one of the worst in the entire series. It lasts way too long and breaks the story before it ends.
10. The dialogue is forced, expository, and extremely repetitive. Some of the worst of the show.

For a while, I disliked this one. After rewatching it with fresher eyes, this episode's much more worse than I once thought. Right now, I hate this episode.

Now, as for whether the writing here is worse than Owl's Well…well, that answer isn't as clear-cut as I once believed. I still hold this one to be worse written, but if you think OW's is worse, I can't blame you.

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Twilight Sparkle: Just let her go. Maybe someday she'll learn her lesson. Now, about you two.

Had your sorry friends not help cause this shit in the first place, she wouldn't be in a position to learn a lesson in the first place. Thanks to them, Snips, and Snails, Trixie's homeless and no longer has a damn job. Once more, we're supposed to be A-OK with this? What the hell?!

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Rainbow Dash: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Magic's got nothing to do with it. Trixie's just a loudmouth.

Rarity: Most unpleasant.

Applejack: All hat and no cattle.

>bashes Trixie for boasting, yet starts boasting in front of her

>their words and actions make TS afraid of performing tricks

>once again

…

…

…

Snips, Snails, you truly believed an illusionist defeated an Ursa Major and that she wasn't merely telling a story to impress her audience?

*facehoof* Then again, FIM dropped the ball massively by turning her act into part of a scheme to one-up others.

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Snips: The Great and Powerful Trixie vanquished an Ursa Major. Can your Twilight claim that?

Spike: Oh really? Were you guys actually there?

Snips: Well, eh, uh... no, but—

Spike: But nothin'. The proof is in the pudding.

…wut? Spike actually asked them if they were there when Trixie beat him? This doesn't make sense and only makes the "boasting-is-bad" story look even worse.

FINALLY, the stage show scene is over! It only took about 7.5 minutes to complete. This scene is one of the worst in the entire series and ruins the rest of the episode that follows. It's spread way too thin, and the pacing is so lethargic that Dopey would be bored to tears.

Trixie is written and portrayed in the episode as the villain, yet Rarity, RD, and AJ behave just as poorly as she. Oh, wait, scratch that, they're worse, because they heckle her and encroach into her show, which the audience clearly enjoyed. If you don't like the show, walk away or provide constructive criticism to improve it. Neither Pinkie nor FS say anything here, which kinda helps them.

Spike is at his most annoying here, and Twilight fears are absolutely justified because of how her friends portrayed magic usage.

So…Rarity's upset not because Trixie changed her mane to a rat's nest (which she has no idea about), but because she turned it green?

*facehoof*

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Rarity: Enough. Enough, all of you. I take your hint, but Rarity is above such nonsense. Rainbow Dash and Applejack may behave like ruffians, but Rarity conducts herself with beauty and grace.

>Dash boastfully creates rain and a rainbow over her head

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Rainbow Dash: They don't call me "Rainbow" and "Dash" for nothin'!

*groan* Oy! The dialogue's a mess, but this awful one-liner takes the cake.

>Trixie twirls her away with rainbow, then zaps her behind with a mini-thundercloud

Trixie, thank you!

Ah, another more thing about Boast Boogers. (Thank Robin0928's review for reminding me.) Trixie was in the right, even though Savino wrote her as the antagonist. Rarity, AJ and RD heckle Trixie, who rightfully calls them out. When they try to disrupt her show, they get the needed comeuppances…but the episode is supposed to make the audience feel sorry for them? And we're supposed to be okay with them boasting, but not her? Seriously?

Jesus, episode, laying the "Trixie's-a-boastful-antagonist" paint really thickly, aren't ya? The musical score also hammers in that mood.

Five minutes into Boast Boogers. *groan* Can this shitty scene end quicker?

Spike…SHUT UP!

And Dash, AJ, and Rarity accuse and criticize Trixie (who was doing a performance before they blabbered) of being boastful…when they're boasting just as badly themselves. They're a buncha hypocrites.

*groan* Snips & Snails. Two obnoxious "stupid boy" stereotypes.

As for Trixie, I know she's supposed to be an illusionist, but when basically 1/3 of the pony population is a unicorn and her illusions are weak, then the Ponyville audience is so complicit, Trixie's unimpressive, or both.

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Rarity: Just because one has the ability to perform lots of magic does not make one better than the rest of us.

Nice job laying thick the idea that Twilight showing off her magic is undesirable.

Now I'm rewatching Boast Busters! There's one bewildering point early. Twilight performed 25 types of tricks as practice, but it doesn't clearly indicate whether she practiced all these types in one day or a course of several days. Kinda implies the former, but you can deduce the latter.

And Spike exposits how special Twilight is at multiple forms of magic, something many unicorns can't do. From a self-contained perspective, showing off one type of magic and showing only scribbled lines on large paper hurts that point, not helps.

Finished. Owl's Well is complete shit. Nothing about this episode makes any sense. Many of the flaws have already been described long ago.

1. Spike is abused and treated in the wrong, even though he has valid reasons to fear being replacement.
2. Twilight is OOC. Insensitive, dense, unobservant, ignorant, and abusive. She acted like a terrible motherly figure to him. It's her worst appearance in the series.
3. Owlow acts like a complete antagonist, yet treated as a hero here, and his actions and appearance were celebrated. The Halloween-like imagery of him and his eyes/head is so contrived. All it does is make Owlow look like the bad guy to Spike, but the episode pushes the narrative that Owlowiscious is a protagonist. It's confusing and makes no sense.
4. She needs Owlow for his night work? Then why do you act like he's your slave when your scroll glides away, and why does most of it take place during the day? It's an outrageous plot hole, and how come neither Faust nor Renzetti caught that? The BS excuse hurts worse, because Owlow acted like he WANTED to replace Spike!
5. The dialogue is expository, hammers in Spike's role, and lays out Spike as dense because the story says so.
6. The jokes suck. "The punch as been spiked" gives me a chuckle, but hasn't aged very well.
7. The "jealousy" plot and plot are broken, because Spike feared being replaced, yet the episode hammers in "jealousy" for the sake of the moral.
8. Her friends are petty. Took a season to be impressed by Spike, but impressed by Owlow on their first viewing? The RM5 come off as unlikeable. FS was actually right to believe Spike feared he's being replaced, but TS dismisses her.
9. The episode conveniently uses the Everfree Forest to hammer in Spike's self-pity and the action sequence. This trend got very old at this point.

Here's my bottom-13 now:

1. One Bad Apple
2. Newbie Dash
3. Fame and Misfortune
4. Bridle Gossip
5. Dragon Quest
6. The Crystal Empire
7. Rainbow Falls
8. 28 Pranks Later
9. Princess Spike
10. Owl’s Well That Ends Well
11. P.P.O.V.
12. The Mysterious Mare Do Well
13. The Show Stoppers

Owl's Well was at #12 previously.

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"This is NOT the Spike I know and love!"

NOW you notice Spike's change in personality! Are ya really this thick, Twilight?

>Spike falls asleep

>wakes up w/ start after Twi slams book down in front of him

>accuses him of sneaking around and lying

Twilight, you should know better than to accuse him of sneaking around behind her back. Maybe you shouldn't wake him up from his dead sleep. After all, he's a baby dragon, not a shithead like you.

>Spike tries to find a quill, not hearing Twi calling him back

>first shop ran out of quills

>Pinkie completely mishears "quill" about a half-dozen times…even though Spike said the word loudly and clearly

Pinkie, stop acting stupid.

"Who."

That joke died after the first "who," and it zombified after Spike kept mistaking his natural sound for asking a question. He looks like a colossal idiot in that scene.