S09:E15 - 2,4,6, Greaaat

[YoshiAngemon 223]

According to @SaburoDaimando, it ranks between the Theatrical Cut of Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice and the Ultimate Edition! A 3.5 out of 5 at best on his book. But I'd rather say that this is the "Batman vs. Superman" of My Little Pony!

[Solar Power 293]

A below average episode I thought. Not all that good, but not terrible either.

[ImpctR 155]

Buckball, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Snails, sports where Rainbow Dash needs to help? Umm Common Ground was just not long ago? I was not fan of Common Ground because i dont find it interesting to feature Quibble Pants but this is like pasted from Common Ground and changed a bit. There are things I liked in 246 Great and things that were better in CG. I would take the better of both episodes and make 1 really awesome episode because why have 2 so similar episodes in the final season where you want to say bye to some things?

Speaking of similarities and the unexpected position Rainbow is assigned, a lot felt similar like again we see Snails, Pinkie and Shy being the team of course but once again Snips trying to make $$$$ (and I personally dont care about Snails/Snips i'd rather have Lyra that is mostly for the gags duh)

In this episode (can't miss a cheer leading episode in such a long show) I liked the plot itself much more than in Common Ground 'Help Quibble bond with the lone mom's daughter... because im not watching MLP to watch REAL LIFE stuff but to watch this adventure, slice of life things in fantasy world, not how it is supposed to be IRL or how it matches whose laws and regulations. And because I have my own stories too not with ponies but fantasy stuff, it's the idea to watch something magical and different.

I know it's made to teach kids some of these family cases... but there are other things for this, even though with a fave show it's supposed to bring their attention.

So I mentioned the episode difference it is about cheer leading. Well I find cheer leading cute, the episodes about them too, and so were the two cheer leaders here: so this was one cute episode about cheer leaders and I liked the idea of the episode and these new ponies!

 

Spoiler

 

What felt better in Common Ground than here, well... I do not think Rainbow Dash would be so ignorant even rude. In CG she was the smart adviser to Quibble Pants here we see the child in RD rising again and the School Six (good to see them again btw)

 

Spoiler

 

being the ones who have to teach the PROFESSORS what the latter have to do! (Non Complete Clause?)

It's like there's an evil version of RD that is more childish, mocking, and all that and is used for certain episodes.

And yet another thing Yona ruins with tremors resulting of the stampede. Yes as we saw in the She's all Yak.

Even Snips has to teach Rainbow Dash some reason? That felt so off.

 

Spoiler

 

 

Yes that's the part where I don' think this was Rainbow Dash... she was trying to support even in less favorite things she has to do, why the whole behavior  just to make an episode:

 

Spoiler

 

At least the performance of the School Six did not turn into - DISASTER - NVM ALL GOOD YOU tried cause Friendship is Magic - End of episode

Perhaps would have been helpful to see HOW they became so good because as I expected returning to my words: it did not turn into disaster since the day before they were wayy unprepared.

OR I didn't get it ? How they prepared their routine so qucikly and so well, who is 'the coach of  RD? '

I'd give it a 4/5 because of these things otherwise it was a cute episode better than the plot of Common Ground, just the problem had to be different, so that Rainbow Dash makes another mistake in something that would have made her act differently.

Edited August 10, 2019 by ImpctR

[Sonic5421 423]

This episode was a nice way to relax after the excitement of Cheese Sandwich's return in the previous episode.

Rainbow is given the task by Twilight to help out the school's cheer squad to help encourage the Buckball team being trained by Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Snails, while Snips offers to work as Rainbow's assistant coach, along with the prospect of earning some bits on the side as well with all his merchandise. Among the members include Ocellus, Yona, and Smolder, but it is clear that Rainbow is not even trying to support and coach the cheer squad, thinking it is under her.

After most of the members quit, Smolder gives her a good telling-off of her lack of support with being coach and what she should be doing to help the cheer squad out, adding in that she joined because she learned Rainbow would be coaching them and make them awesome. Realizing her error, Rainbow has Snips regroup everyone so she can apologize and train them properly.

As for the match, I did enjoy Celestia going all Royal Canterlot Voice as she cheered on her team representing the School of Magic, and being impressed with the cheer squad's performance and actually joining in. Not to mention the hoof-bump with Twilight at the end of the episode.

Overall, I enjoyed this episode, so I'll give it a 9, possibly a 9.5/10.

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

Wow, I found a perfect skippable episode this season. It took me 18 minutes to find something enjoyable about it (the cheerleading is enjoyable), and it just OK at best. Rainbow just keep refusing to do anything until near the end, and it just dragged on and on. No good quirky humor, no good dialogue, not any meaningful character interaction to distract me from this boredom, what an episode to watch after waiting for a week. This is the final season and they waste their episode slots for this, they sure 'try' a lot for this final season, I can see it now.This is the worst episode of season 9, even worse than She's All Yak because at least She's All Yak is an average episode and anything worse than that ep is FATAL.

Let hope the next episode will make me happy again.

[Will Guide 21,359]

There was something pointed out on the YMMV page on TVTropes for this episode in Rainbow's defense (I bold the more important parts)

Quote

Informed Wrongness: Rainbow Dash is chewed out by multiple other characters for shirking her duties to the cheer squad to watch the buckball game. However, as Rainbow herself readily admits, she has no knowledge of cheering, has no interest in learning, and doesn't see the point of cheer squads. Twilight's Trickster Mentor act aside, Rainbow makes a very good case for why she should not be put in charge of the squad, so it's hard to blame her when she repeatedly shows no interest and no aptitude in a job Twilight volunteered her for.

And I have to admit, Rainbow likely would have been less out of character if she was trying to lead the cheer squad because SHE Choose to try something new instead of being forced into it.

 

@Zantetsuken brought up a much better way the episode could have played out without ruining Rainbow's character on the previous page

[Jeric 46,850]

I just added the poll. Cute episode 

[azbat 305]

S09:E15 - 2,4,6, Oookay

Title fixed.

[Light Blade 8,672]

Yeeeah, not exactly a good one when it comes to portrayal of Rainbow Dash. Not much to add here: disregard to cheerleading squad to the point of others having to tell her that it's not a way to go (smells like Non-Compete Clause). Just...ouch.

In other news:

+ Pretty unusual it felt seeing Snips balancing between "make money" and "team needs a good cheerleading squad"

+ Them cheerleading girls look pretty cool

+ Well aren't you a cheeky one, Twiliedorbs. Also, her "Best buckball team" moment was so adorky 

+ GOODNESS GRACIOUS, YOUR HIGHNESS, WHY ARE YOU SO ENTERTAINING LATELY??? 

 

I gonna give it 6/10. At least Dash managed to wake up in the end.

Edited August 11, 2019 by Light Blade

[Oleks 1,993]

After watching this episode I still don’t quite get the cheerleading. I guess it’s an American thing, or maybe it’s just me. Anyway, the episode was OK, it had its good moments. My favorite are Celestia cheering and the exchange between Rainbow Dash and Twilight about the episode’s lesson. It’s also good to see Snips and Snails having some more screen time. And we finally get to know some more Friendship School students. I still can’t get over the fact that we have no idea who half of the characters on the current opening sequence photo are.

Also, Smolder, Yona and Ocellus are really cute in cheerleaders outfits. 

[Lord Valtasar 12,690]

2 hours ago, Oleks said:

After watching this episode I still don’t quite get the cheerleading. I guess it’s an American thing

i believe snips summed it up just right, it's there to sell stuff

[DonMaguz 1,023]

14 hours ago, Will Guide said:

And I have to admit, Rainbow likely would have been less out of character if she was trying to lead the cheer squad because SHE Choose to try something new instead of being forced into it.

She's in character the whole episode, though.

[BornAgainBrony 2,397]

What have they done to my Dashie?! Just... wow. This doesn't even feel like season 1. It feels like pre-season 1.

@Will Guide. " she has no knowledge of cheering, has no interest in learning, and doesn't see the point of cheer squads. "

Whaaa? After trying to teach Fluttershy how to cheer, she doesn't understand cheer squad? After the support from her parents doing that very thing and then giving that same support to Scootaloo? After being a part of the Wonderbolts for years, a flight demonstration team that is basically a glorified cheer squad for the might of the EUP, she doesn't understand it? The value of rallying of a crowd was part of the history of the wonderbolts course, it was during their first show when Ponies witnessed crowd energy manifesting as actual magic. Yeeeah, uhh..  no.  Someone didn't do their homework on Dash. Then halfway through, doppenganger Dash gets swapped for the real one. 

Kinda cool how far Snips and Snails have come though. I loved Snips in this episode and seeing him legit trying to help.

Also... Trollestia has been replaced. The Student is now the teacher. Well, hello..  Trollight Sparkle.

[ChB 18,550]

On 8/10/2019 at 9:14 AM, Sparklefan1234 said:

 

I wish this episode was a sequel to "Testing Testing 1, 2, 3".

 I probably would have enjoyed it if it was. 

I pretty much stopped taking Rainbow Dash focused episodes seriously, after Spring Breakdown. It became clear to me that the writers are not interested in making a long-term character development and decided to just use her for comic relief. Approaching the episode from that angle made me much less bothered by the attitude Rainbow Dash gave in most of the episode. I mean, she clearly didn't see the value of cheer-leading from the get-go, so did we really expect anything else from her afterwards? I like how we were only given a vague reason from Twilight why she sees value in Rainbow Dash, for it to be later revealed by Smolder (however predictable it was).

So basically, I came to watch with low expectations, only wishing to see a good cheer-leading show at the end. It paid off well for me.  

[JH24 385]

Rainbow Dash making Yona and Ocellus cry should have been a wake-up call for her, and yet she still didn't care. She even made a joke about it at Ocellus' expense. That moment ruined the episode for me.

 

Edited August 11, 2019 by JH24

[DonMaguz 1,023]

@BornAgainBrony The big differences with Dash in all your examples are Dash's goals and interests.

> Teaching Fluttershy to cheer, because she was going to cheer for Dash. Dash still gets to compete as a flyer.

> The support from her parents, same case as the one before.

> Her support to Scootaloo. This one is interesting because Dash herself becomes the cheering pony. But at the end it is to make her honorary sister feel as appreciated as Dash. Of course Dash was going to do it, she loves Scootaloo!

> The Wonderbolts as a glorified cheer squad. The thing is that it is still the most elite group of flyers in Equestria. Being in the Wonderbolts already means being one of the best.

Now, about the episode itself, there was an activity which had Dash's full interest, the buckball game itself. Being a part of it was important, she's then assigned to something that's not in her interests.

She just didn't care about cheerleading. when she said she knew nothing about cheerleading, she didn't analyzed her words, she just wanted and excuse for other ponies to believe so she could be at the practice, either as a coach or even as a fan, that's what had Dash's interest.

[Will Guide 21,359]

5 hours ago, BornAgainBrony said:

What have they done to my Dashie?! Just... wow. This doesn't even feel like season 1. It feels like pre-season 1.

@Will Guide. " she has no knowledge of cheering, has no interest in learning, and doesn't see the point of cheer squads. "

Those aren't my words. They're just an interpretation of Dash's character I found on the Your Millage May Vary page on TV Tropes, meaning it was just a possibility depending on the viewer's opinion. I was simply pointing it out, not necessarily agreeing with it

[JH24 385]

After re-watching the episode I realized I wouldn't have mind Rainbow's "redemption" as much if she had realized herself she was wrong after seeing Yona and Ocellus cry. But instead she needed Smolder to spell it out for her which made her change of heart even worse. 

 

Edited August 11, 2019 by JH24

[Splashee 28,563]

I realized something when I was watching this episode. It's about Smolder. Is she even having any flaws at all? I mean, she seems to always have an answer for everything, and sees the obvious even when our beloved Rainbow Dash (which had 9 seasons to get out of her flaws) doesn't.

Who is the teacher, and who is the student? Why is Smolder even in this friendship school if the only thing that makes her unfriendly is that she was born a dragon?

Well, as for the episodes. My opinion is so alike many other posts in here that I brohoofed the ones that I agree with. You all have really great points even when I might not agree on some of them.
I just feel I have been very negative on the last episodes, and I don't want to look like I hate the show.

[ChB 18,550]

I wonder if the reason the episode was written the way it was is that a lot of little kids can actually sympathize with Rainbow Dash's sentiment? After all, cheer-leading is a pretty under-appreciated job in sports culture, and may be a lot harder to plan and execute than many people think. Could it be that the writers are teaching our young audience the value of fan support in sports, and how much of an impact cheer-leading can make on that aspect? 

The episode may also be touching on a lesson of the working world. You may be placed in a job position that you didn't expect to get, whether by recommendation from your manager or some other set of circumstances. Perhaps the episode was teaching Rainbow Dash how to deal with something like that, and (instead of complaining about it) use her new opportunities for the benefit of the team and the people around her.  

[BornAgainBrony 2,397]

4 hours ago, DonMaguz said:

@BornAgainBrony The big differences with Dash in all your examples are Dash's goals and interests.

1 Teaching Fluttershy to cheer, because she was going to cheer for Dash. Dash still gets to compete as a flyer.

2 The support from her parents, same case as the one before.

3 Her support to Scootaloo. This one is interesting because Dash herself becomes the cheering pony. But at the end it is to make her honorary sister feel as appreciated as Dash. Of course Dash was going to do it, she loves Scootaloo!

4 The Wonderbolts as a glorified cheer squad. The thing is that it is still the most elite group of flyers in Equestria. Being in the Wonderbolts already means being one of the best.

*****************

Now, about the episode itself, there was an activity which had Dash's full interest, the buckball game itself. Being a part of it was important, she's then assigned to something that's not in her interests.

She just didn't care about cheerleading. when she said she knew nothing about cheerleading, she didn't analyzed her words, she just wanted and excuse for other ponies to believe so she could be at the practice, either as a coach or even as a fan, that's what had Dash's interest.

1. Therefore she knows she's stronger with crowd support. She knows cheering is important.

2/3. Same thing. Crowd support. Having fans in her corner helped make her what she was, and then wants Scoots to have the same. "Adopting" her didn't replace being part of the cheering section, and neither did starting up the Scootaloo fanclub.

4. And being a Wonderbolt isn't about being competitive. As a detachment (slightly FANON) of the Pegasus portion of the EUP, the Wonderbolts aren't in a combat role, nor are they playing against other teams of flyers. Their purpose is to entertain the masses. Just as a cheerleading squad encourages support for a team, a flight demonstration team (a royal EUP one anyway) is encouraging support for the equestrian military and/or national pride. A "team" just the same. Rainbow Dash's dream was to be a member of the most famous cheer-leading squad in Equestria. Did she never actually grasp what it meant to be a Wonderbolt, beyond "they were the best fliers?" This could have been a cool thing to do, especially if one of the other Wonderbolts had been around for doing a school seminar or something, "Dash, don't you get it yet? You've been a cheerleader the whole time!"

************************

This is a bit more believable, but at what expense? I haven't seen Dash in this kind of a conflict since Rainbow Falls. But she was far more empathic there, dividing up her time between two teams, not wanting to let anyone down. And when push came to shove, she faked injuries so she didn't have to choose. She earned back the Loyalty element in that episode. Here, she practically betrays it, even when (as has been pointed out in this thread multiple times) she sees how hurt the squad is that she doesn't care.

1 hour ago, ChB said:

I wonder if the reason the episode was written the way it was is that a lot of little kids can actually sympathize with Rainbow Dash's sentiment? After all, cheer-leading is a pretty under-appreciated job in sports culture, and may be a lot harder to plan and execute than many people think. Could it be that the writers are teaching our young audience the value of fan support in sports, and how much of an impact cheer-leading can make on that aspect? 

The episode may also be touching on a lesson of the working world. You may be placed in a job position that you didn't expect to get, whether by recommendation from your manager or some other set of circumstances. Perhaps the episode was teaching Rainbow Dash how to deal with something like that, and (instead of complaining about it) use her new opportunities for the benefit of the team and the people around her.  

It could've been an interesting angle to play, with what I've already mentioned about the Wonderbolts. The flight team got its name while building a crowd up into a frenzy. The message would fit particularly well with the message of harmony. While it might tread slightly into metaphysics and philosophy, there's probably some solid psychological research done on this subject. I think it's pretty obvious that teams perform better when they have the support of their fans. And in an odd way, that means fans are part of the team, and cheerleaders can play a huge role in keeping the energy going, especially when morale is low (this works better in small venues, but that's mostly what we see in MLP anyhow). Even in big arenas though, you have an organ player, or a DJ, or someone flashing messages on the screen prompting the fans when it's time to start yelling.

Gotta say, the timing of the episode making me ponder these things though, is impeccable, after doing a pseudo "color guard" thing at Bronycon. That experience already had me contemplating questions like this.

One thing that would've been really funny though, I'm almost surprised nobody tried it, was to bring in a new "coach," someone in on the gag, and be like, "Sorry Rainbow Dash, but we found a much better coach." If her usual common sense was absent enough in this episode to make such a huge mistake in the first place, then, "What? Somepony better at this than MEEEEEE?" surely would've been enough to get her trying harder.

[Thrond 3,263]

Did not like this. Dash being lazy and dismissive was annoying. The students shouting at her was annoying. Twilight setting the whole thing up to teach Dash a lesson was extremely annoying - if you're going to do that, cut the attitude and just have her be a nag. But what really bothered me was how basic it is. I kept thinking there would be some twist about Dash's avoidance, not only because her attitude doesn't fit her current place in the show - I would have been a little easier on this she weren't, you know, a teacher - but also because there's barely any arc to it. Rainbow ignores the students, the students get mad at her, rinse and repeat until suddenly she decides to care, because... reasons. This is bad characterization for Dash because it seems inconsistent with everything we've seen with her lately - even the bad episodes, which have been basically all of them, don't show her being lazy about her own responsibilities. But it's also bad because there's nothing relatable about what she's doing here. She's just being a jerk, and I don't want to see that. 

Oh and what's with Celestia being super into sports out of nowhere? That feels way more tossed-off than, say, her being super into theatre in "Horse Play." Man, I should watch "Horse Play" again. 

21 minutes ago, BornAgainBrony said:

This is a bit more believable, but at what expense? I haven't seen Dash in this kind of a conflict since Rainbow Falls. But she was far more empathic there, dividing up her time between two teams, not wanting to let anyone down. And when push came to shove, she faked injuries so she didn't have to choose. She earned back the Loyalty element in that episode. Here, she practically betrays it, even when (as has been pointed out in this thread multiple times) she sees how hurt the squad is that she doesn't care.

That's always been a saving grace of "Rainbow Falls" for me. As contrived as that episode is, at least Dash is relatable and sympathetic in it. 

Edited August 12, 2019 by AlexanderThrond

[Ganondox 899]

Why is there two buckball episodes this season? They should have spread them out more. Better yet, they should have just not done this episode at all, because it's the last season, and there is much ideas they could have explored rather than wasting an episode on this. Not only is it by far the worst buckball episode, but it's completely pointless. It's mildly entertaining, but it's not anything anyone wanted. I liked the design of the dancer ponies and their jump was pretty cool, but there is too many annoying valley girl stereotypes as it is. While a bit exaggerated, I don't find her reaction out of character for being assigned to do something she has zero interest in (one thing I do like is how they portrayed it as Rainbow Dash thinking she was being helpful with her minimal effort), but as other people have pointed out, it makes zero sense that she doesn't understand the function of a cheer leading squad as there is some many episodes with Dash and cheering, and that the pick makes sense in that The Wonderbolts and Cheerleading are both based around choreographed routines. The real issue I had was with the climax and how Rainbow Dash made her decision. She didn't appear to be affected by hurting the student six in the slightest, she didn't appear to labor at all over what she should do in response to her failure, it looked like she was just doing another scheme like earlier, and then her apology really didn't come across as very sincere. It just wasn't executed very well. All that struggle wasn't even for an interesting moral, it's basically the same general idea as Maud Pie's moral, only that one has real weight for why they needed to be invested rather than it just being contrived. All that build up didn't even lead up to a good cheer routine, though I appreciate that Yona got her pyramid at the end. Finally, if anyone was out of character, it was Twilight. She wouldn't risk anything on Batman gambit just to teach a lesson. Celestia would, but not Twilight, Princess of Friendship or not. 

Edited August 12, 2019 by Ganondox

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

I'm not a fan of this episode. It had it's cute moment that I enjoyed, but the overall story felt weak and Rainbow Dash came off WAY too much as a jerk in my eyes. Almost felt like it was treading NCC waters again; in a sense. :/

[Dark Qiviut 22,378]

Yesterday’s episode was a terrible appearance for Rainbow Dash. Completely selfish and unaware of how hurtful her behavior toward her students were. Despite Twilight tricking Dash into learning a lesson and artificially putting her whole tournament at risk of cancellation to accomplish her objective, Dash should’ve been way more mature by working with her student and teach cheerleading from the start. This episode, as I already stated, is her own Honest Apple.

However, despite her being out of character and unlikeable, I can’t place her appearance or the episode close to the worst. Several episodes prior handled her worse than this.

1. May the Best Pet Win, Tanks for the Memories: abusive to animals. The former by being cruel to those who want to be her pet and dismissive toward Tank. The latter for treating her company with Tank to be more important than keeping her alive. Sorry not sorry, I don’t pity Dash over having to wait three months during the winter!
2. Rainbow Falls: Gaining an ego and then actually thinking about abandoning the relay team representing her town in favor of the “cooler” Wonderbolts squad.
3. Mare Do Well: No explanation needed.
4. 28 Pranks Later: jumpstarted the MDW ripoff by scaring the daylights out of FS while knowing she hates being pranked.
5. Newbie Dash: What supposed to be her milestone episode turned out to be one of the biggest torture porns of the entire show. It remains the show’s biggest black mark.
6. Compete Crap Clause: Lusting to win Teacher of the Month, she and AJ focus more on winning than the Young Six’s safety, causing a Yona to nearly drown! Rather than learn their lesson, they act passive-aggressive toward each other and nearly became bite-a-cuda dinner!

When Rainbow Dash wisened up, she worked hard to help the students make the cheerleading become the go-to moment of the tournament, and there were many other moments here that worked. It’s the worst episode this season, sure, but compared to almost the rest I listed, it’s not terrible.