S02:E08 - The Mysterious Mare Do Well

[weegeez 150]

Not a good episode IMO but yeah, the superhero references were well thought out and subtle

[Yellow Diamond 7,579]

I like how Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins film was referenced in the episode - the one where the filly was saved by Rainbow Dash from inside a well. In Batman Begins, a young Bruce Wayne falls into a well at the beginning of the film and had to be rescued by his father. Eventually, he becomes Batman later in his life. Seeing how Mare Do Well looks to be based off of Batman, I'd have to say the developers really did their homework here by referencing superhero movies.

 

Rainbow Dash: "Why do we fall, Scoots?"

 

Scootaloo: "So we can get back up."

 

You know, it all comes together when you think about it.

[snakeman1992 7]

I'm always hearing people talk about this episode being terrible, but I absolutely love it. It’s my 13^th favorite episode of the series. To all of you who say this episode showed Rainbow at her lowest, remember this phrase: 15 minutes of fame. When someone who isn't a celebrity suddenly becomes a celebrity, they often get a taste for that attention. Even if they weren't trying to get it at first, they like it a lot when they get it and then become desperate to get it back when they lose it. When Rainbow saved the filly from the well at the beginning of the episode, she actually said it was "really no big deal," but everypony kept cheering for her anyway, and she even blushed because she was feeling bashful about the sudden attention. Then, when she saved the baby, the crowd was there cheering for her again, and then again with the seniors. She's a competitor; she loves having the support of the crowd, so now that everypony was cheering her on and calling her a hero she became absorbed in her 15 minutes of fame. Later, when Mare-Do-Well showed up and stole her 15 minutes of fame, she became desperate to get it back.

Either way, would you guys feel any better about Rainbow if she had just left the filly in the well, let the baby carriage fall off the cliff, let the seniors fall to their death, ignored the tour bus, let the construction workers get crushed, and ignored the break in the dam? Ulterior motives aside, every time she saw an emergency she acted on it and did her best to save those in need, which is the right thing to do. And, at the beginning, before everypony was cheering for her and feeding her 15 minutes of fame, she was just doing these heroic acts because they were the right thing to do. Despite the cons of this episode, it has more than enough pros to make up for them:

*Super-ultra-extreme-AWESOMAZING

*Rainbow swimming in the clouds

*Rainbow saving the filly from the well

*Rainbow saving the baby and the senior citizens

*Rainbow making a catch phrase for herself

*Rainbow tripping on the remains of the balloon

*The failed attempts to save the tour bus and construction workers

*Rainbow catching a fish in her mouth after the dam breaks

*Rainbow chasing Mare Do Well

*Spike’s a ghost

*Rainbow scaring both Spike and Pinkie

[khaine21x3 789]

The writing, action, moral of the story are pretty weak.I think a villain, darker themes and dc/marvel style progression would've been better.

[DashieDude 12]

I was just glad that they had an episode with more Rainbow Dash for a change and let her be the focus of an episode for once. And she is still the hero of Ponyville.

[CaptainLuna 50]

this may be late ,not sure if someones brought this up but i just realized mare do well may be an actual pony. see the other mane 5 explained all of Mare do wells events except for the one when she reveled herself saving the pony in the blimp. that mare do well was extremly agile leaping from tall building to tall building and they never said who it was. i doubt that any of the mane five could posses this much agility. Could it be the writers forgot about this one or that they were implying mare do well is an actual pony and the mane 5 just copied her image. if its the second one they could certainly use this to include mare do well in other episodes.

[Moon Rat 4,773]

I honestly kind of liked this episode a lot though I did not like the way Rainbow Dash acted all cocky throughout almost the whole episode.

 

I did however, like the way the Mane Six used each other's strengths to become one known hero.

 

This really was not a bad episode, I really kind of enjoyed it

[NavelColt 22,883]

Eh. This episode gets shittons of hate and I honestly did not enjoy it that much either. Even I completely understood people hating on Dash for being bitchy in this episode, because, of all the episode she's been in, this is one of the ones in which she was constantly selfish throughout the entire thing. That said, I didn't particularly enjoy the way in which her friends went about showing her the error of her arrogance, either. It's best explained through this particular comic, which makes fun of it.

 

Thus, I guess you could say this entire episode sucked throughout xD

 

Also, being a Scootalove fan, my attention was obviously caught at the noogie scene in which Scootaloo invites Dash to go to the Mare Do Well parade. Now, while it's obvious that the entire Mare Do Well craze was nothing more than a fad, and thus Scootaloo went back to worshiping the ground Dash walked on, afterwords, I really think this scene would have been cuter and more meaningful if Scootaloo had been the only one still a fan of Dash, amidst this entire craze. It would have demonstrated loyalty, Dash's own element, to her, and I think that's something I could see Scoots doing. Especially considering we now know Scootaloo's wanted Dash as a sister figure for an unknown period of time, presumably at least thinking about it since she first became a fan of her.

 

Anywho, here's that scene:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toFhxVmzn4A

[SharkJump 14]

At first I was confused at why this episode was so poorly received when I thought it was a pretty average one, so I watched it again to make sure I didn't miss anything particularly bad.

...and I didn't. The episode was average, no more and no less.
There is no reason to consider this the worst episode in the series.

The moral of the episode can be summarized with "Don't brag about things a large number of people is capable of doing, especially when you only care about the attention".
It might be a harsh message, but it's true nonetheless, especially given how the real world works.

Were her friends jerks? Yeah they were, so what? Rarity was a jerk to Fluttershy in Green isn't your color, Fluttershy was a jerk to Pinkie and Rarity in PYHD, RD was a jerk to Fluttershy in Dragonshy and so on. It's really nothing new, nor a reason to consider this episode a bad one.
The point is that these ponies aren't meant to be saints, they're meant to be flawed, else we wouldn't watch FiM to begin with.

And honestly, RD had it coming. She acted like a complete self-absorbed jerk at the beginning, considering herself like a superhero, when in fact she only cared about the attention (signing autographs while ponies fall to their death, really?).
Then the rest of the episode showed that she wasn't a beautiful unique snowflake and forced her to eat some humble pie.

Another thing this episode did well was pointing how at how quickly Ponyville shifted their attention to the Mare Do Well, quickly forgetting about RD's deeds, something that happens all the time in real life.
Ponyville's minor characters are well known for acting like selfish hypocrites either way (*cough*The Last Roundup*cough*Super Speedy Cider Squeezy*cough*) so I can't say that behavior was unexpected.

The main problem with this episode is being redundant with Boast Busters, who has a similiar message.
Then again many recent episodes have started to recycle morals from earlier ones (like Lesson Zero -> It's about time and Ticket Master ->Too many Pinkie Pies) so it's more of a problem of the show itself.

I understand the complaints about this episode being perhaps the most cynical in the entire series, but it does still manage to send one of the most useful messages in the entire show, as well as having a decent dose of humor and nice shoutouts to the XX century's superhero cartoons and comics.

Overall, a decent episode. I'm giving it a 7/10.

Edited February 4, 2013 by SharkJump

[Buttonmash1973 1,026]

 

Lol I just exposed Applejack for kissing RD. I have no idea why, But I just wanted to do it. X_X

I did take the picture from my iPod.

 

 

 

And then the AJ and RD shippers went wild.

 

I'm into Scootalove too.

 

I think that The Mysterios Mare Do Well is not so bad of an episode, as I wanted a MLP superhero episode.

Edited February 4, 2013 by Ulrik Raben

[BlueEyedPegasus 60]

I'm gonna perfectly honest with all you bronies and pegasisters. I do actually find this episode's concept quite morally questionable, to say the least.

Although to the episode's credit, the mare-do-well costumes do look great.

[Thundershock 310]

Yeah,its a pretty good episode that also teaches rainbowdash a valueable lesson for showing off way too much.

[BlueEyedPegasus 60]

Yeah,its a pretty good episode that also teaches rainbowdash a valueable lesson for showing off way too much.

By pulling off trickery? What kind of value is that?

[Starlight Song 44]

A little redundant this episode, hmmm?

Two bragging episodes?

Two rainbow dash episodes? In a row?

And wjere did that random fan club for Rsinbow Dash come from anyways?

[NomDeSpite 452]

One of the lesser episodes of the show, for sure. It features Rainbow Dash at her worst, i.e. an egotistical spotlight hog and just doesn't interest me in its theme or plot. A show can still be good when it features someone "at their worst" obviously but nothing about this episode is really that compelling or memorable. The line "never fear, your friendly neighborhood Rainbow Dash is here" is particularly cliche. And what makes this even more disappointing is that this episode was written by Merriwether Williams, who was a writer for Spongebob Squarepants during the show's "glory days" (2000-2004).Thankfully she later wrote "Hearth Warming's Eve" which is much better.

[True Rarity 1,240]

This is a really cool episode!

When the Mysterious Mare do Well (MMW for short) showed up the first time, I recalled seeing a picture of Twilight as the MMW on the wikia. Then, when she stopped the runaway carriage, I thought, "Wow, maybe she's Applejack!" When she was flying, I thought, "Twilight's used her magic to make wings before..." When she predicted the falling tower, I thought, "Hey, Pinkie sense!" And, of course, the magic was a dead giveaway. When Rainbow Dash was chasing the MMW near the end, I thought Twilight was teleporting. Right before RD caught PP, I thought, "Hey, maybe it's all of them at once!"

Overall, this episode was flat out epic!

[Mzukiller 233]

Honestly, I think the haters for this episode overreact. A lot like FPK haters overreact by bringing in...certain topics that can be "interpreted" by the episodes message. Look, I think that RD may have deserved the little snap back to reality. I mean she was gong to hurt someone if this little Superhero shtick of hers kept on going. Now the way I see it, her friends tried to talk to her offscreen but let's be honest here, we all know RD's character, I sincerely doubt she would have listened.

 

And it's not like Dash ended up crying on the ground and everyone was laughing at her. Now IMO, this episode should've had a nice Superhero/Villain relationship between RD and MDW, and some Silver Age comic book style antics. But I don't write for the show, even though I really want too, so I couldn't make that call.

 

So ultimately, were the Mane 5 too callous towards Dash? I don't think so.

Edited May 9, 2013 by Mzukiller

[Dr. Eggnog 203]

I thought this episode was okay.  I saw what was wrong with it, but it didn't just cripple the episode for me like it did with so many others.  It was a dumb episode but I still enjoyed it alright.  I was kinda able to see where it was going, but it didn't feel TOO predictable, and even if Rainbow Dash's friends went too far, it's hard for me to hate them for it when her bragging was genuinely annoying.

 

Also, gotta love Spike in his little reporter outfit!

[Power of Dashie 18]

I thought this episode was okay.  I saw what was wrong with it, but it didn't just cripple the episode for me like it did with so many others.  It was a dumb episode but I still enjoyed it alright.  I was kinda able to see where it was going, but it didn't feel TOO predictable, and even if Rainbow Dash's friends went too far, it's hard for me to hate them for it when her bragging was genuinely annoying.

 

Also, gotta love Spike in his little reporter outfit!

I must agree with much of this. I found that they overdid Rainbow's character a bit too much. Like, they took her character, and multiplied the summary by 20.

 

Anyhow, I was loving the episode up until the end...

[Scootalove 10,692]

I can see why people hate this episode but to me, I still give it a chance. Sure it pretty much boosts Rainbow Dash's character and personality a bit too much but, the episode overall is good to me.

[BlueEyedPegasus 60]

I still find this to be a morally corrupt episode, same applies to "Feeling Pinkie Keen", but as much as I hate to admit it, this episode DOES provide some guilty pleasures for me. I've even written a journal entry on Deviantart about it:

 

http://rkerekes13.deviantart.com/journal/The-guilty-pleasures-of-Mare-Do-Well-378447953

 

Feel free it give it a read.

[BlueEyedPegasus 60]

Major update: if you go to my new Dailymotion channel:

 

http://www.dailymotion.com/BlueEyedPegasus

 

You'll find my own edited version of it made to make it less controversial, to a small degree, at least. Most notable is the absence of the scene at Sugarcube Corner with Rainbow Dash's friends bragging about Mare Do Well's deeds and attributes to which they each contributed themselves.

 

P.S. I no longer consider "Feeling Pinkie Keen" to be morally corrupt, eventhough I still feel sorry for poor Twilight.

Edited July 14, 2013 by BlueEyedPegasus

[Declen 118]

Misterious Mare Do Well it's a great episode, actually. Because it trashed that whole idiotic idea of superheroes. The moral of it isn't "be hamble" - it's "we don't need those freaks!" And this strike came from the Girly Site of Power. But many americans still obscessed with that stupidity, so, they hate this episode. Unwilling to admit the real reason why, they start to peak on the eapisode with "acting out of character" stuff.
 

[BlueEyedPegasus 60]

Eh. This episode gets shittons of hate and I honestly did not enjoy it that much either. Even I completely understood people hating on Dash for being bitchy in this episode, because, of all the episode she's been in, this is one of the ones in which she was constantly selfish throughout the entire thing. That said, I didn't particularly enjoy the way in which her friends went about showing her the error of her arrogance, either. It's best explained through this particular comic, which makes fun of it.

 

Thus, I guess you could say this entire episode sucked throughout xD

 

Also, being a Scootalove fan, my attention was obviously caught at the noogie scene in which Scootaloo invites Dash to go to the Mare Do Well parade. Now, while it's obvious that the entire Mare Do Well craze was nothing more than a fad, and thus Scootaloo went back to worshiping the ground Dash walked on, afterwords, I really think this scene would have been cuter and more meaningful if Scootaloo had been the only one still a fan of Dash, amidst this entire craze. It would have demonstrated loyalty, Dash's own element, to her, and I think that's something I could see Scoots doing. Especially considering we now know Scootaloo's wanted Dash as a sister figure for an unknown period of time, presumably at least thinking about it since she first became a fan of her.

 

Anywho, here's that scene:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toFhxVmzn4A

It's still unsurprising how much hatred this episode receives due to the way it gets its moral across being interpreted as, well, highly questionable and unacceptable. However, I can honestly say that while Rainbow Dash's friends could have tried talking to her first, there's still a chance that it still wouldn't do much good. It's also possible that her friends may have somehow been inspired to become local heroes themselves, so I can more or less defend their actions. However, I CANNOT defend the part at Sugarcube Corner where they're bragging about their contributions to Mare-Do-Well as if they aren't theirs. To me, that part, along with the scene that follows with Rainbow Dash becoming desperate for heroic praise, is the low point of this episode for me, which is why I've created my own edited version which I think makes it less questionable and mean-spirited:

 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x11kmii_the-mysterious-mare-do-well-experimental-edit_shortfilms

 

As you watch it, you'll probably notice the edits I've made which I think make it a LOT more watchable.

 

Also, regarding the Scootaloo scene you mentioned, well, I know it may seem rather OOC on her part since it seems rather unlikely for her to pass up an opportunity to hang out with Rainbow Dash, let alone offer her some sympathy or support, but here are three theories I have on that part:

 

1. Scootaloo actually expected Rainbow Dash to follow her after she bid her (Rainbow Dash) goodbye.

 

2. Scootaloo was trying to hide how hurt she was after hearing Rainbow Dash point out how she wanted to be alone.

 

3. Scootaloo was just naturally being a kid.

 

It's also worth noting that it's never made explicitly clear that Scootaloo viewed Mare Do Well as her new idol (I HATE the word "idol"!). In all honesty, though, it's not really a huge deal for me. Hope that helps.

 

Finally, I can agree that saving ponies in danger seems like a natural thing for Rainbow Dash to do, even if I can get upset about her bragging. On the other hoof, though, after watching my edited version of the episode, the bragging did kinda rub me the wrong way a little. Guess I've talked enough.

[Batbrony 16,088]

 

Oh boy, controversial episode ahoy!!!   "The Mysterious Mare Do Well"... where do I begin?  I suppose I should start by saying that I absolutely adore this episode, but that's not to say that there isn't plenty wrong with it.  My adoration largely stems from all of the superhero references: there's (1) at least one Spiderman reference, (2) a very blatant Darkwing Duck reference in the costume design (never watched that show myself but the reference is still awesome), and (3) TONS of Batman: The Animated Series references, from the costume to Mare Do Well posters towards the end of the episode, but most epic of all, Mare Do Well's theme music distinctly resembles the main themes of B:TAS that you would've heard in that gem constantly during the early 90's.  So yeah, seeing as I'm, well, me, how can I not love this episode just for that alone????  But that said... where does this episode work and not work?

 

I feel like I've seen this before. 

 

Well, I'm going to be a bit different and say that... I think the lesson is just fine.  Bronies complain all the time that the Mane 6 are extremely mean-spirited in how they teach the lesson, but I really don't think they are.  The lesson is this; there's nothing wrong with being a hero, or just helping others out, as long as you don't brag about it.  Humility and the contentment one gets from doing something good for others is its own reward.  The superhero identity works great with this, because a major result of the secret identity that all superheroes maintain is that they maintain anonymity, and as a result do not usually allow themselves to revel in glory.  They do what they do because it's the right thing, not because they want the public's adoration.  The girls teach this to Rainbow just fine, especially in their actions in the first half of the episode; it's not like they went out of their way to create those emergencies on purpose or anything, they were just helping resolve crises that Rainbow herself couldn't, showing Rainbow (1) that there are plenty of ponies better than her at certain things, and (2) that a hero does not need to bask in the spotlight.  THAT SAID, I will also admit that I understand why people do say that the Mane 6 are douchey in this episode: there are two completely unnecessary scenes in this episode that ALMOST undermine the girls' lesson, (1) when all the girls are talking about how great Mare Do Well is in Sugarcube Corner (yeah, nopony may know they're talking themselves up except for themselves, but the writers still could've just had other ponies in Ponyville doing it instead rather than have the girls make @$$es of themselves), and (2) the parade held in honor of Mare Do Well (yeah, not really not basking in the glory, are we now girls?).  Those two scenes are completely unnecessary and almost undermine the Mane 6's lesson, but again, me, I still think the girls teach a fine lesson and get their point across just fine.

 

Now, I will agree with the majority in this regard... RAINBOW DASH IS COMPLETELY OBNOXIOUS IN THIS EPISODE!!!!!!!!   Holy crap, she is bucking annoying!!!  She goes from being boastful of her feats (when she's been friends for over a year with five others who she defeated two godlike beings with and are just as awesome as her and better at her in a variety of other activities), to being jealous of somepony doing a better job at saving ponies than she is, to being even more jealous of her, anti-social, and trying to unveil the Mysterious Mare Do Well's identity!  So basically, she goes from being a douche, to even more of a douche, to finally reaching Queen of the Douchebags levels!!!  Yeah... this is not a flattering episode for RD.   What I really think the problem of this characterization really comes down to is timing; if this episode had debuted in Season 1, when RD hadn't known the Mane 6 for quite as long or learned as many friendship lessons, then I think people, myself included, would have less of a problem with it.  But instead, we get RD being a completely asinine fool so full of herself it hurts to watch in the middle of Season 2?  Ughhh, no, that doesn't work, she shouldn't be this stupid or jerky at this point!  Like I said, I like the lesson, I think it's executed fine and that it's one that RD especially should learn; I just think she shouldn't have had to learn it at THIS POINT!  She should've known it by now, so instead of coming across as a natural progression in character growth for RD, it's more like she took about 50 steps backwards before this episode and then relearned something she should already know.  THAT is a major problem with this episode, and one I completely sympathize with at that.

 

In the words of YouTube's Sassy Gay Friend *ahem* "WHAT ARE YOU DOING???  WHAT, WHAT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING??????"

 

 

As for the rest of the episode, the comedy is great (between the amazing superhero references, RD's increasingly erratic behavior, and some of the emergency scenes, there's a whole lot of fun in this episode to be had), the animation is very, very impressive, especially during some of the big crisis scenes (plus I love Mare Do Well's suit), and the music is solid and, for people more around my age, extremely nostalgic.  While there may be some things wrong with both the execution of the episode's theme and its characterization of RD (surely subpar to her characterization in her own previous episode, "May the Best Pet Win"), overall I will never be able to not love this episode simply because the superhero references make it for me, and to any other superhero lovers out there like myself, I cannot recommend this episode enough! 

 

That's bucking awesome!!!