Saturday, August 10, 2019

MLP Episode 915: 2, 4, 6, Greaaat

If we count Rainbow Roadtrip as an episode, then this marks seven episodes in a row ranging from mediocre to awful. Just goes to show that seven isn't always a lucky number, am I right?

2, 4, 6, Greaaat
Written by Kaita Mpambara

So the overall plot is Rainbow Dash being asked to train the cheer squad instead of the buckball team. That's it. There's nothing about it that stands out. It all happened because Twilight (from what I understand) wanted to test Rainbow Dash, a pony who knew nothing about cheerleading. But at least this time around, Rainbow wasn't reckless enough to endanger anyone's life.

The themes about working together and responsibility aren't that interesting either. Seriously, they're both lessons that Rainbow Dash (and kids, since it's been taught so much in the show) didn't need to learn! Can't the writers at least try to come up with themes they haven't tackled before?

There's honestly very little else I can say in terms of story or theme. And that's what I've been finding so frustrating about season nine. Even the episodes I ranked good or excellent like Sweet and Smoky and Common Ground just don't stand out on their own; they just rely on tropes that worked just fine in the past eight seasons. Is it just one or two bad episodes that stick out and that the rest are just coasting along? I don't know.

Final Thoughts
In the post-McCarthy era, there seems to be some kind of formula for Rainbow Dash; for every good episode she gets (Common Ground), a bad one seems to cancel it out. There's nothing "great" about this episode, especially as it's another episode with Rainbow Dash acting like an idiot.

When the Young Six (in this case, just Yona, Ocellus and Smolder) are the best part of your episode, you should seriously consider how to handle the characters we've known since the first season better. And considering this is from the writer that gave us Horse Play and A Rockhoof and a Hard Place (both of which I loved), that's saying a lot.

Rating: Terrible (-3/10)

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