S09:E15 - 2,4,6, Greaaat

[bigbertha 414]

 Just like almost every other newer episode, this one seems way more interested in hitting plot points than making the episode actually entertaining. That is what I'd say is the biggest problem with most newer MLP episodes. I can get over some wonky characterization and a messy story (to an extent) as long as the episode is fun to watch. Episodes like Bridle Gossip, Swarm of the Century, Feeling Pinkie Keen, MMMystery, and Spike at Your Service have gotten away with some pretty big problems because of their entertainment value. But since so many newer episodes are so boring, I can't ignore their bad characterization and bad stories. And even if the stories are fine, I still can't enjoy the episodes because of how boring they are.

This episode is a prime example of that. None of the jokes are funny, the structure is incredibly repetitive, and Rainbow apparently doesn't see the importance in cheerleading, a statement I wouldn't have even bought in season 1.

Score: 4/10

[BornAgainBrony 2,397]

7 hours ago, Dawn-Sunlight said:

I seriously seem to always have an unpopular opinion, but I loved this episode and thought it was a MUCH better version of the other buckball episode we got earlier this season.  I thought that this episode was amazing.  Although most of that might come from my love of Smolder.

That's kind of fascinating that we're on such polar extremes with this. The Quibblepants thing felt like a return to form for Dash. I found it refreshing, and it brought me back to the early episodes of Dash (the ones where she gives it her very best and doesn't have to be aggressively pushed). It was all the reasons she became my favorite of the Mane 6. This episode, was one of the worst that have ever been done for Dash, for me. It doesn't even feel like Season 1, it feels PRE-Season 1.

[Justin_Case001 4,881]

Yeah, Rainbow sure knows nothing about cheering...

Why don't the writers remember this stuff?  Just for once, I'd like to have show writers that are as big of fans as the fans.

What's poning, ponles?

Yay!  I don't need to review this episode!  Dark Qiviut did it for me! 

On 8/10/2019 at 11:59 AM, Dark Qiviut said:

This is Rainbow Dash’s Honest Apple. A pony who has a narrow, stereotypical perspective of cheerleading belittling those who were looking forward to making it good. The students wanted Dash, a TEACHER, to teach them how to cheerlead. Instead, like AJ with fashion, she almost singlehandedly ruined the event by viewing cheerleading and those who do it as inferior to her. Like NCC last season, she justifies Neighsay’s blasting of the teachers as unqualified. Until she wisened up, made up, and worked tirelessly with the students, she was getting close to that of 28PL, Mare Do Well, Rainbow Fails, and NCC as among the worst characterization of RD of the show.

Thanks, bud!

[Splashee 28,563]

3 hours ago, Justin_Case001 said:

Why don't the writers remember this stuff?  Just for once, I'd like to have show writers that are as big of fans as the fans.

Video proof. Oh my Writers, please.

 

The second time I watched the episode, I tried not to think of Rainbow Dash that much, and it got more entertaining. I still think that "sports" as a plot device is never a good idea for episodes in the first place. And that Smolder is way too perfect as a character (she should get wings and become the next princess).

[BornAgainBrony 2,397]

2 hours ago, Splashee said:

The second time I watched the episode, I tried not to think of Rainbow Dash that much, and it got more entertaining. I still think that "sports" as a plot device is never a good idea for episodes in the first place. And that Smolder is way too perfect as a character (she should get wings and become the next princess).

Sports is fine, if done right. For enough people, sports is the medium through which they will ever see or experience practical examples of teamwork from a "fly on the wall" perspective.

[KH7672 1,604]

On 8/11/2019 at 6:24 PM, Splashee said:

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?

Oh boy, I would love to rave about my favorite student 

Before that though I need to question this line of thought: "I mean, she seems to always have an answer for everything"

Of course like this episode and...........Father Knows Beast? (An episode that could only benefit from the viewpoint of another dragon which is ironic since she didn't contribute much in Sweet and Smoky) Yeah, I kinda hate these generalized objections without context of why she has the answers.

So what made Smolder work this episode. Well I think her first line says it all: "Eh. I just came with these two. Guess they think you can make cheer squad cool or something."

Did you see that! They literally used Smolder to exemplify the lesson from the very beginning. She wasn't interested in cheerleading but Yona and Ocellus were and she has no qualms about joining to support her friends, and to show support to Rainbow Dash making the squad awesome. This is why Smolder could give that lesson to Dash, this is why she would be the one to see the problem because she knows how Dash feels. 

But okay, you would like to know why Smolder projects this flawless persona. But what you see as flawless I see as developed because besides Gallus, Smolder is absolutely one of the most developed students beyond her concept.

What is she a young female dragon and dragons are raised to be tough. A static characterization of Smolder would mostly keep her as an aloof tomboy who is just getting by with friends, but she's not. She's not even a stereotypical tomboy. She likes girly stuff but not even because, "oh look she has a soft side cliche" no we actually get an explanation for this. Garble helped her open up a more sensitive side. However then that was a side that she kept to herself, until she got to the School of Friendship. She feels no shame in her appearance. She just does things regardless of being too weak or tough. She'll have fire-breathing contests, she'll have tea parties, she'll go lava boarding, she'll study for tests, she'll cause property damage for fun and she'll join and cheer squad with passion.

Smolder gains new interests and experiences not because a plot feels forced on her, but because she will genuinely be comfortable with doing them. It's her character one that has been built up for her from day one. Right now in this very episode at this very moment I could see her appearing flawless because of the lesson she taught to a teacher, but I reiterate she doesn't have this knowledge just from plot convenience but because I makes sense for her character to know this lesson. (Whether Rainbow Dash should have already known this lesson is a different point on characterization entirely).

Her flaws are still there: She could be lazy and slobbish as shown by her just sleeping under the bleachers, may disregard others property for her own confort as shown by previous episodes, may still get overly confident with a tough challenge like smashing a boulder to make a statue. Smolder has plenty to expand on her but this lesson was made for her by the progress she made with her friends. She may not be interested in the most frilly of things but that's not going to stop her for supporting her friends. Plus the fact that used her tough character in this role without bring up "Oh look how girly she is doing cheerleading," perfectly shows how well Smolder is written as a female in this show.

[Truffles 2,033]

On 8/11/2019 at 5:24 PM, Splashee said:

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.

For me, after 5 seasons of the contrivance of "Here's an example of a culture who isn't enlightened like ponies are" that was bestowed on dragons as a species, seeing another dragon besides Spike and Ember who is thoughtful, caring, and smart is unconditionally a positive aspect - even if it seems like she has all the answers.

Interestingly, I could say the same thing about Spike, since he's often portrayed as the voice of reason in many episodes. I suppose because he gets solo focus episodes and Smolder doesn't is why he is seen to have more character flaws than her?

But @KH7672 pretty much summed up everything I was thinking in response. About the only thing I can add is Smolder is still rough around the edges. In "Molt Down," while she was portrayed in a positive light, she is still coarse in demeanor, doing and saying things that seem normal to her but might seem mean to Spike and the ponies.

FWIW, Smolder has again become my favorite of the students this season after she had to share the spotlight with Gallus last season. However, since only Smolder and Yona really only got any deep focus this season, she's surpassed him in being the most interesting student again.

 

As for the episode itself, I saw it early during the Chinese airing. I didn't like it much then, even though Smolder did save it somewhat (and I was disheartened Smolder had her big speech in an otherwise disappointing episode). Seeing it again and knowing what to expect from Dash, I liked it somewhat better, though only enough to give it an "okay" rating in the poll. Really, the worst thing is how contagious Rainbow Dash's disinterest is in the earlier parts of the episode as it made ME disinterested in what was going on as well. =P

The third act helps, and I liked the routine - especially with Smolder's new ability to lay down a smoke screen. But I don't think this episode like "Non-Compete" is going to become a guilty pleasure. It's just too bland for most of the episode, with the only high points during the early parts being Snails proving once again he's the master of Zen. It was curious to see Snips also get some "redemption," though I'm not sure emulating Flim and Flam is an ideal to aspire to? His heart seems like it was in the right place, and both he and Snails have come a long way since their stereotypical behavior seen in seasons 1-3 so overall they were a positive addition to this episode.

Another thing that bothered me was Dash's sudden change of heart. While I realize it was Smolder's emotional speech that gave her the proverbial kick in the flank to get her straightened out, it was REALLY abrupt - like a total 180 of being disinterested to being enthusiastic. I wish they had modulated her with this more positive attitude earlier in the episode, as she would have come off as more likeable and less abrupt in changing when she did see the light.

As for Twilight's secret plan, I don't have much of an opinion of it. I have to admit @Dark Qiviut argument about how bad her actions were is pretty convincing. I guess balanced against that is the disarming (and charming) way she told Rainbow Dash in the end how it all worked out. I know it doesn't excuse her actions, but it's hard for me to stay mad at her, lol.

Besides, there will be plenty of opportunity for Twilight bashing soon enough... o_o;

Edited August 14, 2019 by Truffles
Note about Dash's abrupt change of 'tude.

[Dark Qiviut 22,378]

Got a true review for it!

To get the gist, 246G sucks, but Dash has had worse moments, appearances, and clunkers.

[JH24 385]

15 hours ago, Truffles said:

Another thing that bothered me was Dash's sudden change of heart. While I realize it was Smolder's emotional speech that gave her the proverbial kick in the flank to get her straightened out, it was REALLY abrupt - like a total 180 of being disinterested to being enthusiastic. I wish they had modulated her with this more positive attitude earlier in the episode, as she would have come off as more likeable and less abrupt in changing when she did see the light.

The same feeling bothered me as well. It was sudden and a 180 degrees turn. It just felt weird.

I really feel the episode would have worked better if Rainbow had started to question herself or felt guilt after seeing Yona and Ocellus cry. It doesn't need be her fully realizing she was wrong, but a feeling of guilt and doubt would have gone a long way in making her character more likeable. Smolder then could still have played the role of nudging her in the right direction but at least she would have come across as more sympathetic.

And yeah, Smolder's speech was touching and well-written. Like you said, a shame her great speech had to be in an episode like this.

Snip and Snails were a nice addition to the episode. I like their characters.

Edited August 14, 2019 by JH24

[Cash In 22,211]

I actually enjoyed this episode. I can see why people don't like it, as Rainbow Dash is pretty out of character here. On the other hand, I liked how the other characters were portrayed here. Particularly Smolder and Ocellus. I can understand Rainbow Dash's reasoning behind her actions in the episode, though I'll admit that it could've been don a lot better. Still, I enjoyed this one.

[Music Chart Fan 819]

Overall, despite a few good elements here and there, I ultimately don't care for this episode. Smolder is the best part of the episode, with her joining cheer squad with her friends because she thought Rainbow would make it awesome, and her getting angry and giving Rainbow a figurative kick in the butt. (I have to admit, though, that I think this idea of the students having to teach the teachers has been overplayed.) I liked the cheerleading outfits, and I found myself kind of liking Shimmy Shake and Lighthoof, even as they displayed the sort of "Valley Girl" stereotypes and speech style. And I did like seeing the cheer squad come together when Rainbow eventually changed her attitude. However, I really can't excuse just how bad of an attitude Rainbow had in the first two-thirds of the episode - how she put zero effort into coaching the team, and wasn't even honest enough to just resign if that's what she was going to do. Furthermore, though, I also didn't like how Twilight volunteered Rainbow for the coaching job, even after Rainbow expressed that she really didn't care about the job and didn't really know how to do it. And then Twilight apparently just left the students in the cheer squad to deal with Rainbow's bad attitude, and to take the responsibility of motivating Rainbow to do her job. I think that was unfair to the students for Twilight to foist upon them a coach who had already expressed a dismissal of (and even disdain for) the cheer squad, without any effort on Twilight's part to ensure that Rainbow would take her job seriously.

To start off, one pet peeve of mine in the show is when characters express total confidence in others being able to do things, and if questioned about that (which often doesn't even happen), they just provide shallow platitudes or quite debatable reasons to back that up. The first example of this in this episode is when Fluttershy expresses apprehension at being able to train a new buckball team in just two weeks, and Twilight says "Relax. You're gonna do just fine". And when Fluttershy (justifiably) asks what makes Twilight so sure, Twilight responds "Because I have faith in my friends, who also happen to be the best buckball players in Equestria!". But the mere fact that Twilight has faith in her friends doesn't necessarily mean that faith is justified, especially in this particular instance. And I can think of at least a couple of counterpoints to Fluttershy's and Pinkie's and Snails's being "the best buckball players in Equestria". For one, if professional buckball is a relatively new thing in Equestria, then being "the best" at it may not be a high bar to clear. But, perhaps more importantly, being good at buckball doesn't necessarily translate to being good at training others to be good at buckball, particularly in a short time span. Perhaps Fluttershy and/or her teammates just play on the basis of some combination of adrenaline, intuition, or even fear, and so they don't know exactly how or why they do what they do. Or maybe what Fluttershy and her teammates do when they play makes sense in their heads, but wouldn't make sense to the other players they're trying to teach. Perhaps Twilight could come up with answers to these objections, but they're not even brought up.

And this applies just as much, if not more, to Twilight's volunteering Rainbow for the job of coaching the cheer squad. The only reasons Twilight gives for doing this are that she can count on Rainbow's enthusiasm (just before Rainbow shows a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the job) and that this would be a good opportunity for Rainbow to find out why people like the cheer squad. But for her part, Rainbow pretty clearly shows that she doesn't care for this job. And she says that she's only casually seen cheer squads before, that she's not even 100% sure what they do, and that she'll probably just mess it up. But Twilight's only response to this is that Rainbow might be surprised, and that Twilight's even more sure that Rainbow's the perfect choice. Do Rainbow's objections count for anything in Twilight's mind? Do those objections not even merit a proper response? If Twilight thinks that Rainbow actually does know enough (or could learn enough) to do a good job coaching the cheer squad, shouldn't she give reasons for thinking that? And Rainbow isn't just a little unsure about whether she wants to do the job; she gives a long and derisive laugh to the idea, and clearly implies that she doesn't think that it's important. If Twilight believes that Rainbow can and/or should care about doing a good job coaching the cheer squad, then considering Rainbow's response, doesn't Twilight have some convincing to do? Instead, Rainbow's professing to not caring and not knowing about coaching the cheer squad only makes Twilight even more sure that Rainbow's "perfect" for the job, without any further justification for why.

At the same time, though, I don't think I can justify just how dismissive and disdainful Rainbow acts about the cheer squad. For one thing, shouldn't Rainbow have at least some appreciation for a good cheering section? How many times has Rainbow had people watching and cheering her on as she gives an athletic performance - including the rest of the Mane Six, Scootaloo, Rainbow's parents, and other Wonderbolts fans? Does Rainbow not get something out of that? And if Rainbow is really going to put zero effort into coaching, and just look for the first opportunity to run away from the job, wouldn't the honest thing be to resign - to tell Twilight that she really doesn't care for the job of coaching the cheer squad and just can't bring herself to do it? Instead, Rainbow nominally keeps the title of coach while pretending nothing's wrong, or trying to pawn off her job to Snips, or trying to make an excuse that it's entirely the cheer squad's responsibility to make and practice their own routine. It's very exasperating to watch, and even if that's arguably the point, that doesn't make it any more entertaining. Finally, I think the extent of how badly Rainbow acts in the first two-thirds of the episode serves to make her change of heart - her rapid and total 180 and commitment to give "120%" - less plausible, because of just how far Rainbow has to go to make that change.

Speaking of that, while I do appreciate Smolder's getting angry and giving Rainbow a figurative kick in the butt, I can't help wondering why things had to go that far. Should it really be the responsibility of the students on the cheer squad to motivate their coach to do her job? I was kind of surprised that we don't see any students on the cheer squad talk to Twilight (who could be considered Rainbow's supervisor) about Rainbow's refusal to coach the cheer squad properly. But then, if Twilight's ulterior motive was to secretly teach Rainbow this lesson about caring for things that her friends care about, then how would Twilight react to that? Would Twilight have actually talked to Rainbow in that scenario, and considered finding a new coach if Rainbow couldn't be convinced to do her coaching job well? Or would Twilight have continued to leave it to the students in the cheer squad to convince Rainbow to do her job, making the students potential unwilling casualties in her social experiment? I find Twilight's smugness about Rainbow's turnaround at the end of the episode to be unwarranted, particularly when it was Smolder and the other students in the cheer squad that actually did the work to change Rainbow's attitude, and who had to put up with Rainbow's bad attitude before that.

Finally, I'm not sure that I fully buy into the final lesson of the episode - as Twilight puts it, that "you don't have to care about a thing other ponies like as long as you care about the ponies who like it". That may be true to some extent, but it also seems like there should be some limit to that. If, say, a friend or family member really cares about something that you don't, then sure, it's probably good to let him or her like that thing without disparagement, and it would probably be nice to show some level of polite interest. But can you really be reasonably expected to show the same (or similar) level of interest in that thing, or to give that thing "120%", just because you care for the other person? Would there not be some point at which the other person is being a jerk if he or she continues to push that thing on you when it's known that you just don't care that much for it? This episode seems to portray Rainbow's change of heart about coaching the cheer squad as being motivated essentially entirely by her caring for the students on the cheer squad. But I might have preferred if Rainbow was also at least partially motivated by being convinced that the cheer squad does have value, that she herself likes being cheered on in her performances, and that she can like cheering others on in their athletic feats, too.

Now here are the rest of my miscellaneous observations:

Do Celestia's school and Twilight's school have students of similar age/maturity, such that a buckball game between the two would be fair? I suppose that that would be the case if (at least some) students at Twilight's school are of a similar age/maturity to Twilight back when she was Celestia's student.

When Rainbow says "I figured I'd better grab every piece of coaching equipment I could find", where exactly did she find all this equipment? Is this all stuff she owns? Did she ask others she knew to borrow some of it? Or did she "borrow" some of it without asking?

Is "20%" and "20% cooler" really as much of a meme in-universe in Equestria as it is in the fandom? I feel like those were kind of overused in this episode.

It's funny that after the whole kerfuffle about the Fetlock Fete/Amity Ball, trying not to make it too pony-centric, and everyone's (supposedly) trying too hard to make Yona fit in as a pony, Yona still ends up saying that she wants to make a "pony pyramid".

When the cheer squad first demonstrates their routine, does Lighthoof say "all we need is a little music" or "Muzak"? Because the latter doesn't seem well-suited to cheering or doing athletic feats, haha.

Did the cheer squad check if Rainbow was even paying attention before they demonstrated their routine?

The big game is supposed to be in two weeks, but Fluttershy and Pinkie want to see what the cheer squad has come up with after, what, one or two days? Even if the cheer squad didn't have coaching problems with Rainbow, they still likely would have needed more time to finalize and practice their routine.

I'm confused about the timeline of when Snips gathers the squad together after Rainbow's change of heart. First Snips appears to wake Yona and Ocellus up some time at night, when it's dark out and they're sleeping in their beds. But then, when Snips goes to get Shimmy Shake and Lighthoof, they're awake and stretching, and there looks to be daylight out. And finally, when Snips wakes Smolder up out on the field, it's definitely daytime. So how much time passed between those three scenes? Did Yona and Ocellus take a long time to get ready to go out to the field?

Also, why is Smolder sleeping under the bleachers outside? Did she get ready much earlier than the others, so she was just snoozing while waiting for the others to show up? Or is the episode implying that she actually slept outside overnight? Smolder said specifically in "Father Knows Beast" that she lives in the school, as opposed to living outside, so the latter wouldn't make much sense to me.

I'm not sure that a megaphone that isn't electrically amplified would help that much with Ocellus's cheers if she's that quiet in the first place.

The student on Celestia's team who's on the ground acting as an earth pony is wearing a magic-dampening ring, but shouldn't the student with wings acting as a pegasus be wearing a magic-dampening ring also? Pegasi can't cast magic with horns, either. Or does the student with wings need to keep use of her magic to maintain her wings, or to be able to save herself in an emergency, or something?

Celestia says that she appreciates Twilight's allowing Celestia's students to compete, even as unicorns. But is that solely Twilight's decision to make? Is this just a one-off game, or is this the start of a "scholastic buckball league", with other schools (such as those mentioned by Pinkie earlier) involved? If it is a buckball league, wouldn't there be some oversight committee in charge or something that would have determined that an all-unicorn team could play with the given magic restrictions?

Finally, the cadence of some of the cheers of the cheer squad did seem a little wonky, and sometimes seemed not quite in line with the music, so I wouldn't quite say that the performance was "flawless".

[Crimson Starlight 17]

I'll honestly say I am not enjoying the last few episodes, RD always takes what she has and makes it 20 % cooler but in this one episode she didn't even live up to her norm one little bit.

sadly the episodes look rushed and totally out of character just to bring plot ideas through that have not been addressed in the last 8 seasons.

 

[KatonRyu 1,033]

Honestly, I was with Dash most of the time. She doesn't care about cheerleading, so Twilight really shouldn't have made her the one responsible for training them. Smolder was dead on when she said that Rainbow could make anything she cares about awesome, but she shouldn't have to care about anything. Even when you're trying to help people you like, if you don't care about the subject it's better to get someone else to do it instead. It would have worked much better if Twilight would've been the one learning the lesson that making people do stuff they don't like just doesn't work. Dash solved the issue well enough in the end, but I still just didn't really feel this episode.

[MangoFoalix 24,942]

Not sure why people thought this was an awful episode. Spoiler alert: it isn't.

I can resonate with Dash a lot because there are just things that I really can not care about at all, but I do care about people so that would be my only other way of doing something I hate so much.

[Truffles 2,033]

8 hours ago, TheTaZe said:

Not sure why people thought this was an awful episode. Spoiler alert: it isn't.

I can resonate with Dash a lot because there are just things that I really can not care about at all, but I do care about people so that would be my only other way of doing something I hate so much.

The biggest problem with Dash in this episode is that along the way to her learning the lesson, she managed to belittle her own students over their liking cheer squad. Teachers may not enjoy every topic they have to cover (or coach in this instance) in a curriculum, but insulting students who happen to be interested in said topic crossed a line too far with many viewers.

[Megas 27,563]

5 minutes ago, Truffles said:

The biggest problem with Dash in this episode is that along the way to her learning the lesson, she managed to belittle her own students over their liking cheer squad. Teachers may not enjoy every topic they have to cover (or coach in this instance) in a curriculum, but insulting students who happen to be interested in said topic crossed a line too far with many viewers.

I mean if I'm being honest, she pretty much mirrors my thoughts on the friendship school in general xp

Edited August 19, 2019 by Kiryu-Chan

[Truffles 2,033]

4 minutes ago, Kiryu-Chan said:

I mean if I'm being honest, she pretty much mirrors my thoughts on the friendship school in general xp

It's probably good Starlight is being given the school now that the Mane 7 are being recruited to run Equestria. She'll staff the school with actual teachers who have professional training rather than teachers who have regular jobs and are by all accounts just winging it for their friend/family member Twilight. XD

[MangoFoalix 24,942]

6 hours ago, Truffles said:

The biggest problem with Dash in this episode is that along the way to her learning the lesson, she managed to belittle her own students over their liking cheer squad. Teachers may not enjoy every topic they have to cover (or coach in this instance) in a curriculum, but insulting students who happen to be interested in said topic crossed a line too far with many viewers.

It was pretty obvious from the beginning that Twilight basically forced Dash to do something that she wasn't interested in. I probably would of reacted somewhat the same way. Yeah, she could of handled it better but that is Rainbow Dash for you. She is blunt.

[Thrond 3,263]

On 8/18/2019 at 9:20 PM, TheTaZe said:

I can resonate with Dash a lot because there are just things that I really can not care about at all, but I do care about people so that would be my only other way of doing something I hate so much.

I just don’t think it fits a story where she’s supposed to be a teacher. I mean, just do your job. 

[qwerE 96]

I always feel bad when I have to say this, but this episode was boring. It was just 17 minutes of RD being annoying and irresponsible (I do not dislike her at all, but that was how she was portrayed) along with a cheerleading song that didn't sound that good. 

[VeroxVitrus 70]

This episode shouldn't even exist, as much as I think twiliight is best pony I thought she should of asked dash if she would of liked to coach the cheerleading squad instead of shoving her into something she has no interest in doing. Rainbow Dash's argument against coaching was extremely justifiable.

[CinnamonSwirl 90]

I honestly didn't like this episode. Rainbow has to be the coach of cheer leading, that she hates, because Twilight wanted to teach her a lesson? What kind of friend is that?  I think that was rude as heck and Twilight should have asked Rainbow first.  I can understand why Rainbow didn't want to coach.  It's suppose to be fun for all people, not just the players.  How can you coach something and show enthusiasm if you do not like it?  Absolutely hated this episode. Made me highly dislike Twilight.

[Senko 459]

Hmmmm . . .

1) I see they're still having Dash make the same msitake and learn the same lesson, wonder if like Fluttershy she'll ever be shown to actually improve a bit.

2) Odd that they had Dash so bad on cheer squads considering she essentially did it as a foal for the Equestria games, helped coach the ponyville foals for their shot at being flagbearers and has asked her friends to come to her important events for moral support.

3) I wonder if the cute cheerleading outfits were part of Smolder's reason for being a cheerleader.

4) Funny how important it was made out to be when the school of magic (wonder when that changed from Celestia's school for gifted unicorns?) didn't even have a squad.

5) Those lead dancers were pulling off moves that looked painful.

6) Snips is starting to make me think he's like what Flim and Flam were when they were young.

7) It was interesting seeing that pegasus catch the ball with her wing at one point evidently magic play's an even bigger part in Pegausus flight than I thought.

8) Buckball seems to be growing more and more popular in these episodes I wonder if they even remember the other games ponies used to play?

9) So Celestia gets another new "interest" and aspect to her personality . . . I'm not sure how I feel about this.

10) Nice to see Dash considers Zecora a friend.

11) So we also get confirmation the students sleep 2 to a room, why was Smolder sleeping outside?

12) I find it interesting that all the cheer squad were female except for Snips who was there to sell merchandise I kind of thought Equestria would be less female focused there especially as mare's seem to outnumber the males.

Not a bad episode but not really memorable or something I'm likely to rewatch I think.

23 hours ago, ChocolateSwirl said:

I honestly didn't like this episode. Rainbow has to be the coach of cheer leading, that she hates, because Twilight wanted to teach her a lesson? What kind of friend is that?  I think that was rude as heck and Twilight should have asked Rainbow first.  I can understand why Rainbow didn't want to coach.  It's suppose to be fun for all people, not just the players.  How can you coach something and show enthusiasm if you do not like it?  Absolutely hated this episode. Made me highly dislike Twilight.

It's made worse by the fact she's essentially playing with her students interests as if Dash didn't learn her lesson it could potentially destroy the cheer squad they all are invested in.

Edited August 28, 2019 by Senko

[Singe 2,111]

If there was another season, having Twilight learn a lesson about being manipulative with her friends would be good after she takes it too far..

[Cirrus. 1,089]

LATER THAT EVENING...

 

Ultimately the moral/lesson of the episode was good, the execution was not. Rainbow Dash wasn't out of character- for an earlier season.

For goodness sake Rainbow Dash is a TEACHER now in TWILIGHT'S school. Doing things the Rainbow Dash Way™ is a good way to get fired.

I don't know. The episode wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it could definitely have been written better this late in the game. Rainbow Dash has been stupider in rather recent seasons.

 

 

Edited September 6, 2019 by Cirrus.