My Little Pony episode review--Daring Don't, Season Four, Episode Four
Spoilers, of course. Also contains some commentary on the comics, so fair warning if you're worried about being spoiled on those.
Also, fair warning: I loved this episode with a fiery passion, and nothing anyone says is going to change my mind. Also may contain some exasperation, because I love Rainbow Dash and Daring and Scootaloo. Best ponies.
[Spoiler for episode, comics, and some strong opinions!]
I'm pretty sure that "Read It and Weep," the first Daring Do episode, was the one that really made me into a fan. I didn't start watching from the beginning and go to the end and then stop. I'm pretty sure that what happened was that a few students mentioned they liked it, and then I read a purely fun crossover Avengers fanfic. In fact, I think I might have been the anon who wrote this:
I hope you realize that by writing this, you've made me curious about the brightly coloured ponies. I intend to go and google and/or youtube them now. If no one hears from me ever again, let this be my testament: YOU made me do it.
I'm not positive that was me, but I have the feeling it was. I know I didn't start watching until very close to Canterlot Wedding, and maybe not till after it, so I missed all the fan drama of the first two seasons. (I "missed" it. I know!)
Anyway, I do remember watching Read It and Weep and thinking "Good Lord, this is so good! It's so unnecessarily good for a kid's show!" Probably the popping in and out of reality appealed to me, plus I am a sucker for those old-fashioned archeology stories: less Indiana Jones, and more Elizabeth Peters. Jostled next to my tons of tweed, which I wear un-ironically, is a lot of safari-type garb, which I also wear un-ironically. So I have a big soft spot for Daring. She and Babs Seed (and My Little Remus) are the only custom ponies I own, and certainly the only ones I commissioned. (I won Daring in a giveaway and ordered Babs from the same customizer.)
You can imagine how excited I was when I heard that Daring would be coming back! I really don't like the word "headcanon," because it implies a level of official that my personal backstories don't reach. But the backstory I always had for Daring was that her novels were really her own adventures written under a pseudonym. (Actually, mine is that she's an archeology professor in a dry as dust department, and that she has one pseudonym for her novels, which is based on her exciting double life as Daring Do. But close.)
And you can imagine how excited I was to see this picture!
--which pretty much confirmed that yes, under the dowdy glasses and hat and cloak lurked:
And come to think of it, Daring is my wallpaper, too. I just haven't seen it in a while because I don't keep it as tidy as I should. Whoops! So neutral I was not.
And I wasn't disappointed! Oh, my gosh, it had nearly everything I could possibly have wanted. Isn't that great? I anticipated something great and I was more than happy with it.
Then people started to bitch about it, and I started to get mad. OK, I get it, mileage varies. I didn't like Magic Duel, and boy is THAT a minority opinion. But let's get some of this out of the way.
First, there are the people who say, "what a horrible moral! Stalk your favorite author, and you'll be rewarded?" Personally, I didn't get that at all. I thought it was clear that Twilight said over and over, "not cool," and that things cleared up when Dash started to act as herself, i.e., when she started to treat Daring the way she'd treat anybody else. Does she normally swoop in and rescue other ponies at great personal risk?
(DUH.)
But I could see that as a legitimate interpretation.
And I'm aware there are people who hate Dash because she's braggy and cocky and arrogant, or because she's popular (which has never made sense to me. My liking something isn't going to wear it out for you. It's not like I finished your ice cream.) But this, at least, makes some sense. If you don't like Dash, chances are you aren't going to like a Dash episode. If you hate the CMC, you're probably not going to like a CMC episode. De gustibus and all that.
Opinions that make NO sense to me:
1. Wahh nothing is good enough for me or it was by Dave Polsky and Twilight's an alicorn now wah. Frankly, I think if you've watched four episodes this season and you still don't like it, maybe the show isn't your bag anymore. I've seen people talking like this since the beginning of Season Three! Geez! "The food is really terrible here!" "Yeah, and they have such small portions!" Also, if you write your commentary thus:
i dont know the season is week i didn't you know belleeeve it and can't beelive not like the comic wtf just because not refeer to box and Twilight not alicorn doesn matter id ont know it jsyt locks somthin
--deep, deep down, way below my generous English professor's heart that is used to helping, not judging, I am judging you. Use punctuation, for Celestia's sake, and take a second to proofread. You have some balls, complaining that somebody else's writing is "week!"
2. "The comic books say Twilight's mother is the author of Daring Do!" First of all, no, they don't. It's a throwaway background gag in one of the comic books. It's cute as anything, but that's all it is. Even the comic book author and artist don't claim that it's canon. Secondly, the comic books don't share a continuity with the cartoon. No, sorry, they don't. The heavily implied Sparity, the "nightmare forces," Shining Armor as a D & D playing dork? Those don't work with the cartoon. And if you think about it for a second, you shouldn't want continuity between the cartoon and the comic books. It means the comic books aren't straitjacketed by the cartoon, which generally they don't get to know about nearly soon enough anyway. If Ted Anderson and Tony Fleecs, or Andy Price and Katie Cook want to send the ponies off on a pirate adventure or do a hilarious Harry Potter crossover or an eighties movie parody, they're free to do that! It's fun!
3. "It's unrealistic!"
It's a cartoon about candy colored ponies with heavy pop culture references, and you just decided NOW it was unrealistic?
EDITED TO ADD:
4. "But [fill in the video analyst Brony] didn't like it!"
What are you, a sheep? Honestly, if you look at the comments on Equestria Daily for this episode AND last weeks, you see a huge burst of enthusiasm as people rave about how good or how funny it is, and then as the comments go on, the negativity starts to spike up. It does affect people. Heck, it's even affecting me, and it's making very sad. And sick to my stomach, too, because I loved this episode and it's sad to see people peeing all over it. Someone suggested that it would have been better if Dash had woken up in an insane asylum! Dude, the grimdark fanfiction section is THAT way. That does not belong in this show. (I've also noticed that when people complain "it sounds like a bad fanfiction" from the canon source of a book or show, what they really mean is "it didn't sound like my fanfiction.")
Anyway--rant out of the way. It did throw a damper on my enjoyment, honestly. I should just steer away from that. On to review!
I love it when the show plays with genre: musical comedy, Western (ok, that one fell a little flat for me), haunted house Gothic, and this one: late 19th century/early 20th century adventure. I've been whining about how people don't want to recognize that this is first and foremost a kid's show, but this is something that works in kid's shows. I'm sure that if you watched "Scooby Doo" as a kid, you weren't thinking "aha! this is a classic Gothic setup! Apparently spooky haunted house/ghost/monster story, to be followed with 'there is a logical explanation for everything.' " You can enjoy it on its own terms, and it's got the side benefit that when you run into this later on, you can think "hey! This is just like Scooby Doo! I get it!" This happened to me when I was a kid. I used to love "The Perils of Penelope Pitstop." (Don't go and watch it. It won't hold up to the test of time.) My Dad walked into the room when I was watching it and said "oh, that's just like "The Perils of Pauline." Did I have a clue that I was really watching a silent movie melodrama when I watched that and Dudley Do-Right? Nope! But when I did watch them later (thank you, PBS), I immediately recognized it and fell in love and I've stayed in love with silent movies ever since.
And this one happens to be one of my favorite kind--the archeologist adventure pit-helmet wearing hero. They don't make 'em that way anymore. They didn't even make 'em that way anymore when Stephen Spielberg was making Indiana Jones, which is really self-consciously retro. I love the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. What's more, the line's usually pretty blurry between reality and fiction in those. People are always finding hidden valleys where there's a civilization apparently unchanged from ancient times. Howard Carter, Richard Halliburton, Richard Burton--all very real. I think what the Daring Do segments most remind me of is Purple Rose of Cairo. If you don't remember it, it's about a waitress in Depression era America who loves escaping to the movies. She especially loves "Purple Rose of Cairo," which is way over the top and stars an adventurer archeologist (sample dialogue: "I can't believe that twenty four hours ago I was in a tomb in Egypt and now I'm having a madcap Manhattan weekend!") She sits through it over and over, and finally, at the scene where the archeologist is scheduled to fall in love with the singer, he looks out of the screen and at the waitress and says "you must really love this movie," and proceeds to leave the movie. Chaos ensues. So I guess I can see this as a bit like this happening to Dash, although Purple Rose is way more sad and dark.
Dash as a fangirl: hilarious. Obviously, the name of the Daring Do author--"A . K. Yearling"--is a shoutout to JK Rowling, and the excitement as RD counts down to the book release should be really familiar to any Potterhead, as should her complete freakout when she finds out the book publication date has been pushed back. Some people were saying "oh, it's making fun of the fandom." THE fandom? There's only one fandom now? If anything, it reminded me most strongly of this:
George R. R. Martin is not your bitch.
Also, nerd fight!
(Twilight got you into the books in the first place, Dash!)
By the way, I love Pinkie's cheerful expression here. She has no clue what they're talking about and it does not bother her one little bit. She's even nodding as though she knows what they're talking about! Contrast Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack's confusion and discomfort. If you're not going to be with other geeks, someone who just brings cookies and smiles as you enthuse is your bestest best friend. Gosh, I love Pinkie. She was also thoughtful enough to bring along a can of red paint for the little Indiana-Jones "travel map" line.
The Daring Do insert: everything about the style changes. William Anderson gave us a John Williams score. You're welcome! As for the architecture, foliage, etc: we've stepped out of Mane Six territory into Daring Do territory. In fact, if this is anything like an Indiana Jones movie, that is a really long trek (cue pegasus ponies followed by a red line), so yes, they can be in a jungle now.
Daring Do's whip! Good lord!
Dash's repeated hoof-slaps to the face as she tried to get a grip.
Also, this face:
(Source)
in response to this line:
"Now, Ahuizotl, you know I love you, but I can't give you the ring 'til I've properly proposed."
God knows what THAT was supposed to be. Is Dash a shipper now? Or is she smirking because she knows that's snark and her personal headcanon is that Daring isn't into boys stallions gigantic blue monsters? And what about the giant hugfest with Daring at the end? Man, this thing is packed with Shipping Fuel even if you are not a shipper.
Incidentally, no, I've never thought Daring is really Dash's Mom. I've always liked Lauren Faust's original idea that Firefly is Dash's Mom. She couldn't do that because of trademark, but it's too bad. And there's some stuff I'm perfectly happy when it stays in my head and the show josses it.
The joint work dismantling Ahuizotl's fortess? Awesome. It really was cool that actually, no, Daring would not have been able to foil Ahuizotl for good without Dash's help. Once again, giant volcanos destroying the fortress is Daring territory. So Dash hasn't just met her favorite hero--she's stepped into her world. It's the difference between meeting Harry Potter and getting to go to Hogwarts. And Dash's saving Daring's hat? A damned good thing, even if it seemed stupid at the time, because Daring ain't zilch without her hat. As Dash knows.
Wow, the art style is so much better than it used to be! They actually can do a full-out action/adventure movie parody and have it look like something now. Speaking of which, Ahuizotl is so much more fully realized than he was before. AND, as someone on EQD remarked, "oh, my God! He's responsible for global warming!"
And Dash gets to be written into her favorite author's book and on the cover, which made me really happy for her, and no, I do not give a darn that it is supposedly a "bad message." If my nephew wants to know if he can go bug JK Rowling, I'll tell him he can do it when he's a cartoon horse.
Does it bother me that Daring Do is real now? Obviously not, but at the same time, I wouldn't want AK Yearling/ Daring Do to be hanging around Ponyville all the time. She belongs in her own kind of frame. Fanfiction's a different thing, but on the show I prefer our core group of characters doing different stuff, from over the top adventure to everyday stuff to the bigger problems in their own world.
Final comment: Dash's whole personality revolves around hero-worship. I know I mentioned this in my reviews of Sleepless in Ponyville and Wonderbolts Academy. With Dash, it goes:
|Daring Do
Scootaloo-->>>Dash--->>>|
|Spitfire
--and you'll notice, this has been evening out a bit? Scootaloo, back in Season One, was eager to take out Dash's trash, which made me rather sad for her, but Dash is willing to cook and clean house and shop for groceries for A. K. Yearling. She is ---was--in awe of Spitfire. And this was Twilight's explicit lesson: you are not less than other ponies, and you are not more than other ponies. You are still you. YOU happen to be a Big Damned Hero, but it kind of doesn't matter, since Daring is just a pony who needs help and you're going to be there for her the way Fluttershy was there for those baby birds at the beginning of the episode. Hero worship/hero-worshipping is not the most healthy way to pattern your life. And what's slowly adjusting this is Daring on one end and Scoots on the other. Scoots isn't just the president of the Rainbow Dash fan club anymore. She's Dash's surrogate little sister.
Do I think it's an accident that the Daring Do episode is placed right before the Scootaloo episode? Do I think it was an accident that the Wonderbolts episode was right after the Scootaloo episode last season?
No, I don't.
Are you allowed not to like this episode?
Nope!
I'm getting a critic proof raincoat for next week. There are ways I'd prefer that to go and ways I wouldn't prefer that to go, but for sure it won't be as dark as people's "headcanon," and then Princess Luna will be able to see the butthurt from space.
Maybe a review of Princess Twilight Sparkle later, but pony pictures for sure, including the new additions to my herd! Hopefully, that's something everyone can enjoy!
Also, fair warning: I loved this episode with a fiery passion, and nothing anyone says is going to change my mind. Also may contain some exasperation, because I love Rainbow Dash and Daring and Scootaloo. Best ponies.
[Spoiler for episode, comics, and some strong opinions!]
I'm pretty sure that "Read It and Weep," the first Daring Do episode, was the one that really made me into a fan. I didn't start watching from the beginning and go to the end and then stop. I'm pretty sure that what happened was that a few students mentioned they liked it, and then I read a purely fun crossover Avengers fanfic. In fact, I think I might have been the anon who wrote this:
I hope you realize that by writing this, you've made me curious about the brightly coloured ponies. I intend to go and google and/or youtube them now. If no one hears from me ever again, let this be my testament: YOU made me do it.
I'm not positive that was me, but I have the feeling it was. I know I didn't start watching until very close to Canterlot Wedding, and maybe not till after it, so I missed all the fan drama of the first two seasons. (I "missed" it. I know!)
Anyway, I do remember watching Read It and Weep and thinking "Good Lord, this is so good! It's so unnecessarily good for a kid's show!" Probably the popping in and out of reality appealed to me, plus I am a sucker for those old-fashioned archeology stories: less Indiana Jones, and more Elizabeth Peters. Jostled next to my tons of tweed, which I wear un-ironically, is a lot of safari-type garb, which I also wear un-ironically. So I have a big soft spot for Daring. She and Babs Seed (and My Little Remus) are the only custom ponies I own, and certainly the only ones I commissioned. (I won Daring in a giveaway and ordered Babs from the same customizer.)
You can imagine how excited I was when I heard that Daring would be coming back! I really don't like the word "headcanon," because it implies a level of official that my personal backstories don't reach. But the backstory I always had for Daring was that her novels were really her own adventures written under a pseudonym. (Actually, mine is that she's an archeology professor in a dry as dust department, and that she has one pseudonym for her novels, which is based on her exciting double life as Daring Do. But close.)
And you can imagine how excited I was to see this picture!
--which pretty much confirmed that yes, under the dowdy glasses and hat and cloak lurked:
And come to think of it, Daring is my wallpaper, too. I just haven't seen it in a while because I don't keep it as tidy as I should. Whoops! So neutral I was not.
And I wasn't disappointed! Oh, my gosh, it had nearly everything I could possibly have wanted. Isn't that great? I anticipated something great and I was more than happy with it.
Then people started to bitch about it, and I started to get mad. OK, I get it, mileage varies. I didn't like Magic Duel, and boy is THAT a minority opinion. But let's get some of this out of the way.
First, there are the people who say, "what a horrible moral! Stalk your favorite author, and you'll be rewarded?" Personally, I didn't get that at all. I thought it was clear that Twilight said over and over, "not cool," and that things cleared up when Dash started to act as herself, i.e., when she started to treat Daring the way she'd treat anybody else. Does she normally swoop in and rescue other ponies at great personal risk?
(DUH.)
But I could see that as a legitimate interpretation.
And I'm aware there are people who hate Dash because she's braggy and cocky and arrogant, or because she's popular (which has never made sense to me. My liking something isn't going to wear it out for you. It's not like I finished your ice cream.) But this, at least, makes some sense. If you don't like Dash, chances are you aren't going to like a Dash episode. If you hate the CMC, you're probably not going to like a CMC episode. De gustibus and all that.
Opinions that make NO sense to me:
1. Wahh nothing is good enough for me or it was by Dave Polsky and Twilight's an alicorn now wah. Frankly, I think if you've watched four episodes this season and you still don't like it, maybe the show isn't your bag anymore. I've seen people talking like this since the beginning of Season Three! Geez! "The food is really terrible here!" "Yeah, and they have such small portions!" Also, if you write your commentary thus:
i dont know the season is week i didn't you know belleeeve it and can't beelive not like the comic wtf just because not refeer to box and Twilight not alicorn doesn matter id ont know it jsyt locks somthin
--deep, deep down, way below my generous English professor's heart that is used to helping, not judging, I am judging you. Use punctuation, for Celestia's sake, and take a second to proofread. You have some balls, complaining that somebody else's writing is "week!"
2. "The comic books say Twilight's mother is the author of Daring Do!" First of all, no, they don't. It's a throwaway background gag in one of the comic books. It's cute as anything, but that's all it is. Even the comic book author and artist don't claim that it's canon. Secondly, the comic books don't share a continuity with the cartoon. No, sorry, they don't. The heavily implied Sparity, the "nightmare forces," Shining Armor as a D & D playing dork? Those don't work with the cartoon. And if you think about it for a second, you shouldn't want continuity between the cartoon and the comic books. It means the comic books aren't straitjacketed by the cartoon, which generally they don't get to know about nearly soon enough anyway. If Ted Anderson and Tony Fleecs, or Andy Price and Katie Cook want to send the ponies off on a pirate adventure or do a hilarious Harry Potter crossover or an eighties movie parody, they're free to do that! It's fun!
3. "It's unrealistic!"
Click to viewIt's a cartoon about candy colored ponies with heavy pop culture references, and you just decided NOW it was unrealistic?
EDITED TO ADD:
4. "But [fill in the video analyst Brony] didn't like it!"
What are you, a sheep? Honestly, if you look at the comments on Equestria Daily for this episode AND last weeks, you see a huge burst of enthusiasm as people rave about how good or how funny it is, and then as the comments go on, the negativity starts to spike up. It does affect people. Heck, it's even affecting me, and it's making very sad. And sick to my stomach, too, because I loved this episode and it's sad to see people peeing all over it. Someone suggested that it would have been better if Dash had woken up in an insane asylum! Dude, the grimdark fanfiction section is THAT way. That does not belong in this show. (I've also noticed that when people complain "it sounds like a bad fanfiction" from the canon source of a book or show, what they really mean is "it didn't sound like my fanfiction.")
Anyway--rant out of the way. It did throw a damper on my enjoyment, honestly. I should just steer away from that. On to review!
I love it when the show plays with genre: musical comedy, Western (ok, that one fell a little flat for me), haunted house Gothic, and this one: late 19th century/early 20th century adventure. I've been whining about how people don't want to recognize that this is first and foremost a kid's show, but this is something that works in kid's shows. I'm sure that if you watched "Scooby Doo" as a kid, you weren't thinking "aha! this is a classic Gothic setup! Apparently spooky haunted house/ghost/monster story, to be followed with 'there is a logical explanation for everything.' " You can enjoy it on its own terms, and it's got the side benefit that when you run into this later on, you can think "hey! This is just like Scooby Doo! I get it!" This happened to me when I was a kid. I used to love "The Perils of Penelope Pitstop." (Don't go and watch it. It won't hold up to the test of time.) My Dad walked into the room when I was watching it and said "oh, that's just like "The Perils of Pauline." Did I have a clue that I was really watching a silent movie melodrama when I watched that and Dudley Do-Right? Nope! But when I did watch them later (thank you, PBS), I immediately recognized it and fell in love and I've stayed in love with silent movies ever since.
And this one happens to be one of my favorite kind--the archeologist adventure pit-helmet wearing hero. They don't make 'em that way anymore. They didn't even make 'em that way anymore when Stephen Spielberg was making Indiana Jones, which is really self-consciously retro. I love the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. What's more, the line's usually pretty blurry between reality and fiction in those. People are always finding hidden valleys where there's a civilization apparently unchanged from ancient times. Howard Carter, Richard Halliburton, Richard Burton--all very real. I think what the Daring Do segments most remind me of is Purple Rose of Cairo. If you don't remember it, it's about a waitress in Depression era America who loves escaping to the movies. She especially loves "Purple Rose of Cairo," which is way over the top and stars an adventurer archeologist (sample dialogue: "I can't believe that twenty four hours ago I was in a tomb in Egypt and now I'm having a madcap Manhattan weekend!") She sits through it over and over, and finally, at the scene where the archeologist is scheduled to fall in love with the singer, he looks out of the screen and at the waitress and says "you must really love this movie," and proceeds to leave the movie. Chaos ensues. So I guess I can see this as a bit like this happening to Dash, although Purple Rose is way more sad and dark.
Dash as a fangirl: hilarious. Obviously, the name of the Daring Do author--"A . K. Yearling"--is a shoutout to JK Rowling, and the excitement as RD counts down to the book release should be really familiar to any Potterhead, as should her complete freakout when she finds out the book publication date has been pushed back. Some people were saying "oh, it's making fun of the fandom." THE fandom? There's only one fandom now? If anything, it reminded me most strongly of this:
George R. R. Martin is not your bitch.
Also, nerd fight!
(Twilight got you into the books in the first place, Dash!)
By the way, I love Pinkie's cheerful expression here. She has no clue what they're talking about and it does not bother her one little bit. She's even nodding as though she knows what they're talking about! Contrast Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack's confusion and discomfort. If you're not going to be with other geeks, someone who just brings cookies and smiles as you enthuse is your bestest best friend. Gosh, I love Pinkie. She was also thoughtful enough to bring along a can of red paint for the little Indiana-Jones "travel map" line.
The Daring Do insert: everything about the style changes. William Anderson gave us a John Williams score. You're welcome! As for the architecture, foliage, etc: we've stepped out of Mane Six territory into Daring Do territory. In fact, if this is anything like an Indiana Jones movie, that is a really long trek (cue pegasus ponies followed by a red line), so yes, they can be in a jungle now.
Daring Do's whip! Good lord!
Dash's repeated hoof-slaps to the face as she tried to get a grip.
Also, this face:
(Source)
in response to this line:
"Now, Ahuizotl, you know I love you, but I can't give you the ring 'til I've properly proposed."
God knows what THAT was supposed to be. Is Dash a shipper now? Or is she smirking because she knows that's snark and her personal headcanon is that Daring isn't into boys stallions gigantic blue monsters? And what about the giant hugfest with Daring at the end? Man, this thing is packed with Shipping Fuel even if you are not a shipper.
Incidentally, no, I've never thought Daring is really Dash's Mom. I've always liked Lauren Faust's original idea that Firefly is Dash's Mom. She couldn't do that because of trademark, but it's too bad. And there's some stuff I'm perfectly happy when it stays in my head and the show josses it.
The joint work dismantling Ahuizotl's fortess? Awesome. It really was cool that actually, no, Daring would not have been able to foil Ahuizotl for good without Dash's help. Once again, giant volcanos destroying the fortress is Daring territory. So Dash hasn't just met her favorite hero--she's stepped into her world. It's the difference between meeting Harry Potter and getting to go to Hogwarts. And Dash's saving Daring's hat? A damned good thing, even if it seemed stupid at the time, because Daring ain't zilch without her hat. As Dash knows.
Wow, the art style is so much better than it used to be! They actually can do a full-out action/adventure movie parody and have it look like something now. Speaking of which, Ahuizotl is so much more fully realized than he was before. AND, as someone on EQD remarked, "oh, my God! He's responsible for global warming!"
And Dash gets to be written into her favorite author's book and on the cover, which made me really happy for her, and no, I do not give a darn that it is supposedly a "bad message." If my nephew wants to know if he can go bug JK Rowling, I'll tell him he can do it when he's a cartoon horse.
Does it bother me that Daring Do is real now? Obviously not, but at the same time, I wouldn't want AK Yearling/ Daring Do to be hanging around Ponyville all the time. She belongs in her own kind of frame. Fanfiction's a different thing, but on the show I prefer our core group of characters doing different stuff, from over the top adventure to everyday stuff to the bigger problems in their own world.
Final comment: Dash's whole personality revolves around hero-worship. I know I mentioned this in my reviews of Sleepless in Ponyville and Wonderbolts Academy. With Dash, it goes:
|Daring Do
Scootaloo-->>>Dash--->>>|
|Spitfire
--and you'll notice, this has been evening out a bit? Scootaloo, back in Season One, was eager to take out Dash's trash, which made me rather sad for her, but Dash is willing to cook and clean house and shop for groceries for A. K. Yearling. She is ---was--in awe of Spitfire. And this was Twilight's explicit lesson: you are not less than other ponies, and you are not more than other ponies. You are still you. YOU happen to be a Big Damned Hero, but it kind of doesn't matter, since Daring is just a pony who needs help and you're going to be there for her the way Fluttershy was there for those baby birds at the beginning of the episode. Hero worship/hero-worshipping is not the most healthy way to pattern your life. And what's slowly adjusting this is Daring on one end and Scoots on the other. Scoots isn't just the president of the Rainbow Dash fan club anymore. She's Dash's surrogate little sister.
Do I think it's an accident that the Daring Do episode is placed right before the Scootaloo episode? Do I think it was an accident that the Wonderbolts episode was right after the Scootaloo episode last season?
No, I don't.
Are you allowed not to like this episode?
Nope!
I'm getting a critic proof raincoat for next week. There are ways I'd prefer that to go and ways I wouldn't prefer that to go, but for sure it won't be as dark as people's "headcanon," and then Princess Luna will be able to see the butthurt from space.
Maybe a review of Princess Twilight Sparkle later, but pony pictures for sure, including the new additions to my herd! Hopefully, that's something everyone can enjoy!