S07:E07 - Parental Glideance

[Thrond 3,263]

2 hours ago, HedonismBot said:

Either Scootaloo has no concept of appropriate and inappropriate ways of expressing love, or she was so jealous of somepony having parents who actually parent that she was blinded to what should have been major red flags.

I think the former leads to the latter; her parents suck, so she doesn't know what appropriate parenting looks like, so she's jealous of Rainbow having parents who are actually supportive and present in her life. Which I think is fair to an extent - at least Rainbow's parents are better than Scootaloo's, and Rainbow probably shouldn't have bottled up her feelings - but that doesn't mean that Rainbow is wrong to be upset. 

[JMTV99 1,353]

The episode was okay. It's great to see Dashie's parents for the first time, even if they can be a bit over the top. Although, I do have a problem with the ending. It would've been nice if Dashie said sorry to her parents for yelling at them and have her parents said sorry to Dashie for embarrassing her. If they did that, then this will make the episode very good.

[Astralshy 26,729]

This episode is especially interesting for meeting RD's parents and getting a look inside her early years. Her parents really adore and love her daughter. It's hard not to like them immediately. In the beginning the keep on topping themself until Scoots open the door. Honestly this door! For miss awesome herself this is of course not as amusing. I can see and feel her frustration building up for the episode. So it was quite obvious what was going to happen at some point. The clash between two loving parents who would do literally everything for their child who is grateful but don't know how to respond, is nothing which is too uncommon. So this is good episode and lessen in my opinion. And yes: I also think RD should have not shouted at her parents and should have apologized at the end.

What I also really loved was the seeding the idea and RD realizing that it's exactly this support by her parents which made her so awesome.

The second conflict between RD and Scoots was also really interesting to see. I also liked how they inter weaved these two conflicts. I'm a bit sad of something from episode nine because I think this takes something away from this episode.

What I loved even more was the ending of this episode. Scoots getting the love and support from RD and her parents was really lovely to see.

So overall I really love this episode and I think it's quite an important and great one.

[bigbertha 414]

This is not nearly as bad as I thought it was. I still don't like the ending and the moral is too one-sided, but everything building up to Rainbow yelling at her parents is decent. I like Scootaloo's fangirling, there are a lot of good jokes, and the conflict is well set up. I find Rainbow's parents to be more endearing than I used to so I can sympathize with them more. I'd put this on the same level as Tanks For the Memories. It's mostly solid, but fumbles at the end.

[JMTV99 1,353]

Looking back on this episode again, it wasn't that good. The first half was fine and I do like Dashie's parents. But once the second half came, it went downhill from there. I understand Rainbow Dash getting tired of her parents giving too much support for her, but how's yelling at them make things better? It doesn't. If any parent in the world saw their kid yelling at them? They barked back and defend themselves showing that you are disrespectful. Not freaking crying for getting called out on their behavior. That just makes themselves look like sensitive snowflakes. Then again, her parents are no better either since they don't consider other ponies' safety. The ending was really disappointing. While it was nice Dashie did apologize to their parents by having a make-up show, but it didn't feel all that genuine.

Overall, this episode was a huge disappointment. Honestly, this episode could've worked better if this focus on Rainbow Dash's perspective on her life with her parents, having a traumatic past (that is not Rainbow Crash) that is actually affecting her and making her cry, having her parents comfort her and showing her guidance along the way. But no, it didn't.

On side note: What is up with Josh Hamilton's writing on Rainbow Dash in Season 7? First, she's lied to Pinkie Pie in Secret and Pies, and now she's straight up yelling at her parents in this episode. I don't get why he tried to write Rainbow as the bad guy for some reason. I don't get it.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

Looking back at this episode, I can safely say that there were two lessons here. One focused on Dash and the other on her parents. For Dash, it was about not taking things for granted and that every set of parents does something different to express their love. It may be annoying and embarrassing (and even obnoxious) at times, but they're your parents and they love you. Yes, Dash had a reason to be upset, but there was absolutely no reason to yell and basically kick her parents out of her life. That was just cruel. I definately understand why Scootaloo got upset over this, since she looks up to Rainbow Dash as a model. All in all, this was a really great episode that showed the importance of cherishing every moment you have even if you consider it the most embarrassing. 

[HedonismBot 239]

On 2021-06-26 at 5:49 PM, JMTV99 said:

I understand Rainbow Dash getting tired of her parents giving too much support for her, but how's yelling at them make things better? It doesn't. If any parent in the world saw their kid yelling at them? They barked back and defend themselves showing that you are disrespectful. Not freaking crying for getting called out on their behavior.

Well, Rainbow Dash was well into adulthood at the time. But you're right to the extent that blowing her stack was not the proper way to handle the situation. The problem is that the episode clearly wants us to believe that her parents did absolutely nothing wrong, as if having good intentions is a free pass to do whatever you want regardless of its actual effect on whomever you're trying to help.

The episode would have been much, MUCH better if her parents had acknowledged that they went too far while at the same time having Rainbow apologized for her reaction. Which is how things were handled in "The Parent Map", suggesting that the writers learned their lesson from what happened in this episode.

[JMTV99 1,353]

5 hours ago, HedonismBot said:

Well, Rainbow Dash was well into adulthood at the time. But you're right to the extent that blowing her stack was not the proper way to handle the situation. The problem is that the episode clearly wants us to believe that her parents did absolutely nothing wrong, as if having good intentions is a free pass to do whatever you want regardless of its actual effect on whomever you're trying to help.

Which fails miserably considering that they're just as reckless as their own daughter, if not more so, without any self-awareness.

5 hours ago, HedonismBot said:

The episode would have been much, MUCH better if her parents had acknowledged that they went too far while at the same time having Rainbow apologized for her reaction. Which is how things were handled in "The Parent Map", suggesting that the writers learned their lesson from what happened in this episode.

Yeah, that would've been really nice. Damn, it's like the new writers and showrunners are going out of their way to bastardized the characterization of the Main 6 in order to make Starlight look good. If Josh Haber flat out hate the Main 6 and love Starlight, why can't he just flat out say it?

Spoiler

 

Oh, here's a fun fact about Parental Glideance, and this is from I saw from the leaks. Originally, Rainbow Dash lied to her parents that she got kicked out of the Wonderbolts show in order for them to stop bugging her. Once she came back on the team, her parents are nowhere to be found, and she feel bad about it.

TBH, I don't know which one is worse. Lying to her parents or yelling at her parents? Pick yo' poison.

 

 

[Megas 27,653]

Just want to point out that RD never told her parents that she became a Wonderbolt. That's a really shitty thing no matter how you slice it. not that I blame her not wanting to tell them about Newbie Dash

Spoiler

On 2021-07-15 at 9:05 AM, JMTV99 said:

TBH, I don't know which one is worse. Lying to her parents or yelling at her parents? Pick yo' poison.

 

Spoiler

Lying to your parents is a lot harder to make amends for than snapping at them

On 2021-07-15 at 3:40 AM, HedonismBot said:

Well, Rainbow Dash was well into adulthood at the time. But you're right to the extent that blowing her stack was not the proper way to handle the situation. The problem is that the episode clearly wants us to believe that her parents did absolutely nothing wrong, as if having good intentions is a free pass to do whatever you want regardless of its actual effect on whomever you're trying to help.

On 2021-07-15 at 9:05 AM, JMTV99 said:

Which fails miserably considering that they're just as reckless as their own daughter, if not more so, without any self-awareness.

RD was the only one with the problem. For all they know they didn't think they were doing anything wrong. No one else ever bothered to tell them anything, and no one seemed bothered by it either. Not the CMC, not Scootaloo, or even the Wonderbolts. RD never once actually thought about actually addressing her problems with her parents, they're her parents! They should(and seem) be willing to understand. Instead she chose to bottle up her frustration and just exploded when she couldn't take it. Honestly the worst thing they did was cheering her in the locker room, that was just a really dumb thing to do.

"But Megas, what about the fireworks?" For us pleons in the real world, that shit is probably 10 years of jail time. In context of the show and the episode, that shit is merely excessive cheering

On 2021-07-15 at 3:40 AM, HedonismBot said:

The episode would have been much, MUCH better if her parents had acknowledged that they went too far while at the same time having Rainbow apologized for her reaction. Which is how things were handled in "The Parent Map", suggesting that the writers learned their lesson from what happened in this episode.

1) They did. Roughly quoted from the episode
Windy Whistles - "Honey, you didn't have to do all of this. To tell you the truth, it's a little embarrassing"
Bow Hot Hoof - "Eh, it's a bit much"

2) I don't know why people keep saying this. Unlike RD's parents, Starlight's and Sunburst's parents were actively detrimental to their childhood growing up, we all know how messed up Starlight ended up and how sheltered Sunburst became. In contrast RD's parents supported RD and it drove her to improve, honestly the worst they did was feed her ego.

 

I keep seeing people complaining about how it made RD the bad guy but in this episode that's not an issue. There's a huge difference between a character making the wrong decisions and choices and calling them out, and the writers punishing the audience for liking the wrong characters. RD never told her parents she was a Wonderbolt, but the episode offers a reasonable explanation, RD snaps at her parents, which was also explained. She explains why she was embarrassed by her parents. And she shown what she did wrong and how to approach it. RD makes the wrong choices throughout the episode but not once does the writers go out of their way to punish the character like they did in select other episodes in the second half of the show(Newbie Dash, 28 Pranks Later, 246 Great), unlike those episodes her character here is still treated with respect and actually adds to her character

RD was "the bad guy" in the episode, but that isn't a flaw and shouldn't be seen as one. And coming from me that says a lot

Edited February 9, 2022 by Megas

[JMTV99 1,353]

37 minutes ago, Megas said:

RD was the only one with the problem. For all they know they didn't think they were doing anything wrong. No one else ever bothered to tell them anything, and no one seemed bothered by it either. Not the CMC, not Scootaloo, or even the Wonderbolts. RD never once actually thought about actually addressing her problems with her parents, they're her parents! They should(and seem) be willing to understand. Instead she chose to bottle up her frustration and just exploded when she couldn't take it. Honestly the worst thing they did was cheering her in the locker room, that was just a really dumb thing to do.

"But Megas, what about the fireworks?" For us pleons in the real world, that shit is probably 10 years of jail time. In context of the show and the episode, that shit is merely excessive cheering

Okay, that's fair. I just wish her parents could've at least be self-aware about it, but that's just me.

Edited July 16, 2021 by JMTV99

[phantompone1148 126]

It was nice to see Rainbow Dash’s parents. Really like the storyline And touching moments here. Though, my only gripe is that RD’s parents tend to get annoying at times.

 

8/10

[Whirlwind 1,057]

I used to not really care too much about this episode as I found it kinda disappointing the way Rainbow's parents where designed to be this super proud 
over obsession with what your Daughter does. 
 

Over time however I began to appreciate this episode a lot more for what it is. It's almost like the sense of "yeah my parents I can't stand, but I can't erase the fact they supported my journey all the way to now". 
My favorite moments of this episode though is Scootaloo's discovery and interactions with their parents. It's like bringing someone else into their life to the point where you can firmly 
stand on Scootaloo being a family member to Rainbow. 

[Gale Wind 82]

This is another where I can see both sides. It was good that her parents were supportive but they got annoying at times too. 

[Antiyonder 1,153]

The episode is present on this compilation at the 43:07 mark:

A solo video will be posted when uploaded.