Ah, so everything good about the episode is due to the other writer, or is a fluke, and everything bad about the episode is from that one writer? Huh. Really.

Fascinating.

Grudges never die.

@terl

Average is bad now? I'd think that a bad writer would, you know, write badly, not "average".

Overall, I liked this quite a bit, actually. The gags and general cast interaction was all amazing, with the only real iffy bit being just how clumsy Spike was, but it didn't bother me that much.

Seriously? Goddamn, man, Merriweather wrote one below-average episode and she's forever shit? I'm sorry, but holy fuck she cannot catch a break. Really, I didn't see anything wrong with any of the episodes she's written save for MMDW, and even then, MMDW wasn't absolutely horrible.

edited 29th Dec '12 10:07:11 AM by DemonSharkKisame

Oh Spike. Honestly he's much better behaved than a majority of dragon hatchlings :V

Dear god Terl, way to kill the mood...

I don't get the hate either. MMDW and to a slightly lesser extent DQ weren't the show's best efforts, but she's hardly a terrible writer because of hat. More than anything it's probably more that terl just doesn't care for her writing style or something. HWE, Wonderbolt Academy, and this episode were all pretty solid, IMO.

edited 29th Dec '12 10:10:18 AM by JapaneseTeeth

@Ace: I bet Cherry Fizzy◊ and Goldengrape◊ might go to those joke competitions, since Cherry Fizzy "loves to tell jokes and riddles to his friends!" and Goldengrape "loves telling and hearing jokes."

edited 29th Dec '12 10:13:23 AM by Whatshisgame

Sorry my expectations were highered after "Wonderbolts" for Williams and that the slough of good episodes recently raised my expectations anyway. Are you suggesting everyone should just have a pessimistic viewpoint for these things?

edited 29th Dec '12 10:14:29 AM by terlwyth

@Whatshisname: Them too? Well, now we need a joke competition fanfic. Also Trixie needs to join in,

No, we're saying that maybe it wasn't entirely William's fault, and that making an average episode doesn't make the writer bad.

Um, no? Nobody said anything about being pessimistic, just that not enjoying a particular writer's episodes doesn't make them a lousy writer.

I actually think this is one of the best episodes for pure characterization in the show so far, really. Each and every one of the mane six got great moments that all fit, and despite being clutzy, Spike's character was actually expanded on quite a bit. His quest for self-identity isn't entirely over yet, and if the real way most dragons live isn't to his tastes, then he'll make up a "Dragon Code" for himself that does. The fact that the one thing he's ever really done with his life, assisting others, is unwanted despite how much he tries just crushes him. In the end, though, he learns to lighten up and just do favors for friends as normal, but he's still utterly dedicated to serving Twilight. I especially love how at the end he almost grabs AJ's hoof to shake it, but hesitates before opting to go for the hoof-bump, a decidedly more "pony" gesture.

edited 29th Dec '12 10:16:44 AM by PerpetualLurker

Yeah, the fact that the plot is rather standard takes a backseat to the character writing as far as I'm concerned. And I think this episode gave us a better handle on Spike's personality than just about any other episode. He's very enthusiastic about helping out, but doesn't quite know when to rein it in. He's still trying to set a standard that he wants to live his life by, and this episode is all about his coming up with such a standard that's appropriate for his situation. It's just as much about Spike's attempts to figure out his own role in society as it is about the fact that he's making a mess of the farm.

edited 29th Dec '12 10:19:36 AM by JapaneseTeeth

Previously the target of his attempts to help was Rarity, and during times when she was busy, so she greatly appreciated his help because she had lot of dresses to make to fill in orders.

And I'm done with the preparations. Great points all around, so far. I think it's to the writers' credit that they take such a generic and standardized plot and give us some more insight into the characters. Basically what JT said.

edited 29th Dec '12 10:25:23 AM by HouraiRabbit

That's just it, AJ was a stick in the mud which is kinda jarring after all that development given to her last episode and even moreso when the synopsis could be interpreted to be a major character episode for her.

And instead of really exploring Spike's need to assist, they just Hand Waved it with "Dragon Code", which itself was outta nowhere. A Nd the whole klutz thing was a little "off", not necessarily unbelievable, but not really seen before.

Pinkie Pie was somehow not hilarious, and Rarity was also very one-note.

Rainbow Dash, Apple Bloom, Granny Smith and Twilight had good bit parts though. But it was jarring to not see Big Mac on the Apple Farm.

Yeah, execution always trumps concept, as far as I'm concerned. I'd much rather have them take a hackneyed plot and execute it well than write something more original, but flub the nuances of the characterization.

Clearly we simply need more Comedian Cherry Berry the Hot Air Balloon Rental Owner.

Small detail I didn't catch on the first viewing. At the beginning, Twilight says Princess Celestia assigned her all those books to read. She's not reading those books cause she's Twilight and oh god she loves books. They're part of her studies.

What is she studying? Is it tied to Luna's Black Tome of Plot Relevance? Does it even matter? Is Friendship really Magic? Can I come up with more arbitrary questions about the craziness of this show?

You know what this calls for?

NOTES!

I'm sorry, but I got to say something about this one (and yes, these words are negative, unfortunately!)

This episode was down right, rage-inducingly disappointing at its worst roots for me. Once again, Merriweather Williams sacrifices consistency for the sake of funny. WTF - This isn't FUCKING Spongebob! Once again, she writes an episode filled with inconcistencies (even within its own narrative!) that can easily leave a bad taste in your mouth afterward.

For the love of Christ: TIMBERWOLVES ARE MADE OF WOOD, SPIKE! WOOD! JUST USE YOUR F-ING DRAGON BREATH AND BURN THEM! You set fire to a bunch of logs LAST EPISODE! Seriously!

Seriously that easily pissed me off and took me out of the episode to see it happen at EVERY FUCKING SINGLE Timberworlves scene. The Spike I know would've proudly burned these a-holes, had he been written better, that is!

Even with decent enough interactions from the Mane 6 themselves, it pissed me off royally that Spike is basically the one who takes cares of the library and somehow can't even clean a room without making more of a mess! WTF, man?! I know he's not perfect at caretaking/housekeeping and can be clumsy at times but this incompetence and downright stupidity at worst really pissed me off! I'll let his lack of experience with farm-work slide (but only because since Winter Wrap UP, he hasn't been shown to be a completely capable farmhand, looking back far enough), but NOT the scenes of him doing housekeeping - SOMETHING SPIKE OTHERWISE KICKS ASS AT and was trained properly to do, in terms of doing his part! Couple this screw-up in writing from Williams with the idea that the Noble Dragon Code, which Spike came up, NOT being expounded upon and (at its worst) it's just apparently a generic trait dragons have. BS!

And WTF with the running away, man! Williams, THOSE ARE OUT HEROES! Williams needs to learn how to truly write female protagonists (which she apparently/unfortunately sucks at, as displayed here/if this is any indication!) She could start by NOT HAVING THEM FLEE LIKE COWARDS AT THE DROP OF A HAT, for one example!!

Examples of the Mane 6's (and Spike's) badassery: -Rarity bucked a fucking Manticore in the face in the second episode of the entire series (and you have her act like a goddamned wuss here!). -All of them were in the middle of the action, kicking MASS AMOUNTS OF ASS during the changeling invasion at the end of season 2. -They took on the Diamond Dogs among other things, even when odds seemed against them, dammit!

All of those examples of true heroism, plus more that I;m unfortunately forgetting/don't need to be elaborated on all that much, only to have Merriwhether Williams (AGAIN) make them run away like FUCKING SCARED SCHOOL GIRLS out of some really misogynistic fare from Butch Hartman or someone lesser than even him! Twilight alone could have gone all magical machine gun on those damned things!

Even for all this episode's great moments and jokes, for me it was weighed down with too many horrible and stupid ones, as well. This is easily my vote for worst episode of Season 3 - I'm confident nothing else will top this, and is another weak/bad episode for my favorite character, Spike. Damn it, Williams!!!

I mean, seriously. Williams can actually write a decent-to-awesome episode for shows nowhere near as popular or fondly respected as this (Pound Puppies (2010) and Littlest Pet Shop (2012)), yet most of her stuff for this show is either decent to fail. Such incompetence displeases me... I know these words are harsh, but the truth hurts!

edited 29th Dec '12 10:47:06 AM by LostAnarchist

I liked the episode.

Stick in the mud? If anything, her reaction to Spike here was as tactful as she could have been.

Given that it's, you know, subjective, I can't really see how this is "the truth". I mean, you're free to dislike it, but I don't find it objectively bad.

Concerning the wood burning, have you ever tried to light a green piece of wood on fire? It's not that easy.

As for the running away thing, the difference in those cases is that with the Manticore and the Diamond Dogs, the enemies were standing between them and their goal. They ran because there was no reason to stay around and pick a fight. That's not cowardice, just good sense. Also, you missed the bit at the beginning, where AJ kinda owned the three timberwolves.

About his incompetence... yeah, you have a bit of a point there, but I feel like you're overstating it. There have been more than a few scenes in the series where Spike drops books, falls off of his ladder, accidentally sets things on fire, etc. He is less competent than usual, but it's not like he's never been klutzy before.

edited 29th Dec '12 10:51:33 AM by JapaneseTeeth

Geez, as much as I didn't like it, I can totally see why people would. I don't think it was that terrible, just not the kind of episode I like.

It was a pretty okay episode, I think.