S08:E09 - Non-Compete Clause

[Cash In 23,414]

Jesus Christ, this is how you don't make an episode. They somehow took the premise of an already good episode and made it about ten times worse. We seriously don't need to be repeating a stupid rivalry story that was told well enough as early as Season 1. Only redeeming factor was the Fluttershy gag at beginning.

[bigbertha 417]

Upon rewatch this isn't nearly as enjoyable as it was the first time.

Stuff like Rainbow and Applejack's expressions when Yona is drowning and Rainbow and Applejack being made into such idiots that they trap themselves and have to be rescued by their students are still amazingly stupid, but rewatching exposed how boring the first half is. It's just a very typical teacher/employee of the month competition story. The episode doesn't become guilty pleasure worthy until around halfway through. Also, I don't like the students. All they do is spout out unfunny one liners and their charm has worn out for me. Aside from Yona taking the lead during the nature walk, they don't do anything funny.

Score: -6/10

[qwerE 97]

Wow. What a bad episode. I understand that some episodes can be boring, but in this episode AJ and RD didn't even learn anything. The jokes weren't funny, either.

[Megas 28,368]

They could literally toke the Spongebob episode "Employee of the Month" and just crop RD and AJ's faces on top of Spongebob and Squidward and it'd still be an improvement

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,606]

On 12/12/2018 at 11:09 AM, This Whomps said:

They could literally toke the Spongebob episode "Employee of the Month" and just crop RD and AJ's faces on top of Spongebob and Squidward and it'd still be an improvement

That way they wouldn't be endangering the lives of minors.

[TBD 17,276]

Jesus Christ, worst applejack/RD episode ever.  

[bigbertha 417]

Yeah. It's as bad as everyone says. Rainbow and Applejack are made into complete idiots, the entire thing is just a poor man's version of Fall Weather Friends and the subplot from Castle-Mania, and Twilight is stupid.

The entire episode plays out in the most obvious way possible. Every single dialogue exchange and joke is so bland. And it doesn't help that the Student Six are here since they're just as boring as the jokes they're spewing out.

There is some entertainment on a guilty pleasure level of seeing just how stupid Rainbow and Applejack become, but it's not much.

Score: 3/10

[Rushing cash 845]

This episode is not as bad as people make it out to be, but RDs and AJs conflict is exaggerated too much and the story is just not interesting enough. Still, this episode had some entertaining moments. 4\10.

[dashie2020 86]

This episode sucked. This episode was like one of those S6 episodes where Dash was like her S1-2 self,  completely ignoring her character development.

 

I won't review this episode,  but I will talk about how much I hated it. 

 

Like really, Yona almost drowned, all because of RD and AJ's stupidity. And do you know what they did?  They just stayed there, instead of saving her. I love Rainbow Dash, but I really wanted to slap her this episode. Good on Twilight for calling them out.

 

The Young Six were much more mature than their "teachers" this episode. The teachers didn't even do the slightest bit of organization. I don't like Chancellor Neighsay, but he should be watching their school. He may be a little too obsessed with "Doing things by the book" and whatnot, but him inspecting the school is 300x better than nobody inspecting the school.

 

If I could, I would tell RD and AJ that they are *that* close to losing their jobs. I mean, they put Yona's life in danger. I thought you were past that,  Rainbow Dash.

 

Honestly, I think that they must have taken a rejected episode from Season 1 or 2, and decided to integrate the Young Six into the episode. There is no way they wrote this episode after all of RD's character development. Really. I don't often do this, but I'm not counting this terrible episode as canon. Like what the fuck. Crap, crap, crap. By far the worst episode.

 

 

Humour: 7/10 (+14)

Storyline: 2/10 (+6)

Execution: 2/10 (+10)

 

Total: 30%

Edited March 12, 2020 by dashie2020

[Splashee 28,602]

I have never before hated an episode of any show, the way I hated this one. From the beginning till end. It is my all time "worst FIM episode".

The most basic reasoning I have is that a show should never go back to basics, once it has already dealt with them. The competition between Applejack and Rainbow Dash is as unprofessional and children fighting over a toy, and at the same time makes the Student Six look as they were the smart and developed characters that has been with us since Season 1. It was very painful.
Also, this is one of those episodes where Yona is sacrificed as a weak character that needs help from basically dying, which kept going on for way too long, even into the season finale.

 

Review: BAD, HORRIBLE!

[HedonismBot 246]

On 4/1/2020 at 2:18 PM, Splashee said:

The most basic reasoning I have is that a show should never go back to basics, once it has already dealt with them.

Certainly not when it involves regressing characters to a worse state than when they were first introduced. So not only are Applejack and Rainbow Dash still obsessed with competing with one another, they can't even set that aside when the safety of their students is on the line? Horse apples.

[JMTV99 1,363]

Non-Complete Clause? More like Fall Weather Friends 2.

Yeah, I agree with the general consensus, it's basically Sponegbob's Employee of The Month episode, but with ponies. How original! /s

Plus, AJ and Dashie were so poorly written almost as if they haven't learned their lesson. As much as I don't like the Student Six, how come they were more mature than the Main 6, who were supposed to be professors? They should've known better. I find it very insulting that AJ and Dashie does absolutely nothing when Yona was drowning on a river and have Silverstream and Ocellus rescue Yona for them. I mean, how would they feel if Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were stuck in the same situation as Yona does? Yeah, I thought so.

(sighs) Great, another running out of ideas episodes, What else is new? /s

[Moony the Cat 3,707]

Hmm, i guess i am alone with my Opinion, but i adored this Episode.

Maybe its because i actually like the Student Six so every Episode that features them is just a joy to me. 

I like the Character dynamic between the Student Six and i enjoyed the Jokes.

[Tom Gallagher 33,638]

Probably the closest we ever got to having a ‘worst’ episode. I so wish they let the Students drown.  They had their chance and they blew it. 

 

Edited June 20, 2021 by TomDaBombMLP

[baba_booey 4,304]

Yeah... this episode isn't very good. The Student Six were pretty entertaining, but this feels like an overall worse version of Fall Weather Friends (which was an episode I was always pretty mixed on to begin with), and Applejack and Rainbow Dash's banter just gets so annoying here, and the fact that they don't even seem to learn their lesson at the end of the episode (especially after putting the students in danger multiple times, I'm sure somepony's going to get sued) just makes everything feel even worse.

There are worse episodes, but I'm not too surprised that this is the lowest rated episode on IMDB.

Edited August 17, 2021 by ExpitheCat

[HedonismBot 246]

Also, Applejack and Rainbow Dash arguing over who was more committed to putting a stop to their arguing got REAL annoying REAL fast.

[phantompone1148 126]

Well this sucked. AJ and RD are OOC. Like what ExpitheCat said, This is basically Fall Weather Friends but worse.

 

1.5/10

Edited December 19, 2021 by phantompone1148

[Gale Wind 83]

On 2018-05-12 at 2:36 PM, ggg-2 said:

Breakup Breakdown reminds us that SugarMac is still a thing that exists. And the less i'm reminded of that horrendous Hard To Say Anything, the better.

Yeah the episode was cringe but the pairing is still ok. 

[DoomBanana 2]

While this is a retread of FWF, there are a couple of key differences to this episode, making it unique enough and not simply a carbon copy of FWF. Considering these, i think, reframes the episode somewhat, and is important to be able to break away from comparing it to FWF and enjoying it on it's own

1. This episode portrays how AJ and RD tryinig to one up each other can put others at risk, whereas FWF completely skipped over this. Any of the traps set by RD and AJ in the latter could've easily gotten someone hurt, yet that idea wasn't explored. Here on the other hand, such dangers are the primary focus of the episode.
2. The idea of this is somewhat different too. How i see it, FWF was mostly about keeping competition friendly. On the other hand NCC seems to explore the idea of cases, where competition is detrimental to the core activity. In this case the school activity is supposed to be based around and promote cooperation. 
3. Some say that the episode is pointless because AJ and RD didn't learn anything. I think that it is simply natural for their characters (in terms of psychology) to interact in that way, simply put their competitive natures will always clash in some way and that is completely fine. Their arguing at the end doesn't necessarily conflict with the main idea of the episode either as described above. On top of that, while it's impossible to really confirm if the idea of the episode stuck with AJ's and RD's characters, this was as much of an episode for student six as well. Not that they are the only ones that learned anything, but it is something to take into account too.

The point about them "almost letting someone drown" is also somewhat misused i think. While it is true they probably should've made sure everyone was okay first, they took the necessary precautions beforehand(life vests) and what happened to yona's vest was very coincidental. However when they noticed something was wrong they didn't go on arguing and had started analyzing the situation and working toward the solution, they simply weren't quick enough to compete(ha, get it) with an actual fish and a shapeshifter. More importantly, it gave the episode a huge sense of stakes. Of course, not every episode in a show like this needs to threaten someone dying to create tension, however used sparringly it can become, i think, a strong x factor for an episode. If you actually expect someone to die in MLP of course.

The execution of the episode could've been done better, some of the humour didn't hit that well and the learn from the opposite idea could've probably been done a little better. It wasn't an exceptionally good episode, however i think it definitely wasn't as bad as many make it out to be. Perhaps the community just became much more keen on picking apart episodes it considers subpar due to how much people want to see the show do as well as it did in their favourite episodes. And, of course, constantly comparing it to FWF doesn't help either even aside from being used as an example for the previous point.

[Antiyonder 1,527]

One thing I imagine in light of the shows finale:

Smolder- Are you two having a lovers spat?

Applejack and Rainbow Dash- (Panick look) No!!!!

Applejack- What we mean is we're not lovers.

Smolder- If you say so.🙄

[Antiyonder 1,527]

The episode is present at the beginning of this video:

A solo video will be posted when uploaded.

[LHY228042 1]

I think it is good,tell us  the importance of teamwork,but on other hand,don't you think Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack seem a little OOC?

[Night Sky 1,207]

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Still, I can't help but think that the writers made RD and AJ act dumber and like they've learned far less about themselves and each other, just for the purpose of making this a funny episode. 

The AJ and RD I know have come further than this by this point in the series, both as individuals and as friends.

Ocellus once again shows herself to be intelligent, quick to act and clear headed and warmhearted. 

Even though she never bangs her chest, Ocellus is the closest thing to a Twilight Sparkle that the Young Six has.