*sighs* Just as I was telling a friend that that maybe we're being too hard on the new season, along comes this.... mess. I should, perhaps, have feared the worst the moment I saw that the story was by Dave Polsky, and the script by Merriwether Williams. Polsky's previous episodes have been noticeable for their heavy use of slapstick comedy, and Williams has drawn considerable criticism for mis-characterisation. So this one has both...
Poor Spike - he really got handed the Idiot Ball in this episode. From being a highly competent assistant to Twilight, he suddenly has to become a bigger klutz than Derpy Hooves. You breath FIRE, Spike. The Timber Wolves are made of lumber. For that matter, everybody else was being uncharacteristically stupid, too. The whole Dragon Code thing I didn't mind so much - we already knew from Dog and Pony Show that Spike is very big on chivalry, but the Code was clearly a product of his own imagination - it was written in crayon, for Celestia's sake - so Twilight going on about it being a feature of all dragons was a load of codswallop.
But Rainbow Dash's Mary-Sue fanfic did make me laugh. And the Timber Wolves suddenly became even more horrifying than they were in their original appearance. But I really can't give the episode more than a 5 out of 10. Probably the weakest episode of the last three seasons.
But Rainbow Dash's Mary-Sue fanfic did make me laugh. And the Timber Wolves suddenly became even more horrifying than they were in their original appearance. But I really can't give the episode more than a 5 out of 10. Probably the weakest episode of the last three seasons.