Just For Sidekicks Review · 6:30pm Jan 26th, 2013
Yes I am making these reviews a thing. Tune in next week to see me start reviewing all three seasons with the Season 3 review coming out right after the finale.
First thing's first about this episode we all had high expectations considering who wrote this Corey Powell who wrote the beautiful "Sleepless in Ponyville". So did she do a good job again or has even Corey Powell slipped up?
Well I could just answer the question but where's the fun in that?
Anyhow the episode starts off by showing what happened to Pewee. As it turns out Spike gave him back to his rightful parents at some point before this episode. Then we see Spike baking (or trying to bake) a gemstone cake but his appetite for them casue him to eat them all before he can put them in the cake. At first he things Owlowiscious took them but the wise owl is quick to disprove and shows Spike who the real criminal is.
Upset by the fact that he has no gemstones Spike is busy sulking when Fluttershy comes by and after being reassured by Spike that she's not interrupting anything she asks him if he'd be willing to look after Angel Bunny while she and the rest of the mane six head to the Crystal Empire to welcome the games inspector. This means that this episode and "Games Ponies Play" take place at the same time and that next episode we can be srue we won't be seeing Spike (unless they decide to remind us about the pet sitting thing).
Spike is obviously not thrilled to be looking after Angel but he changes his mind when Fluttershy offers him a gemstone. The animation on it is beautiful. Anyhow Spike quickly gets an idea in his head about pet sitting for the mane six in exchange for some gems and one by one Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and even Twilight decide to let him look after their pets. During this point we get to see that Tank's propeller is magically powered and that Tank is a little bit clumsy.
So once the mane six leave Spike quickly realizes he's gotten in over his head. To make matters worse Angel quickly runs off, teasing Spike while doing so. Spike and the others pet pursue Angel Bunny and find that he wandered into the CMC's clubhouse. The CMC instantly fawn over how cute Angel Bunny is and Spike decides to let them watch over the pets while he goes to get baking supplies for that cake of his. The CMC are hesitant at first because they were planing on earning sky diving cutie marks but quickly change their minds once Spike says they could a cutie mark in pet sitting. Of course the CMC's services come at a price and that price is one gemstone which Spike is forced to fork over after Apple Bloom calls him out on his poor job and so that her and her friends can pay for supplies.
Upon returning Spike finds out the CMC have gotten up their usual highjinks and they used the gemstone to buy a pet drier that Winona seems to like. Spike then takes the pets back but is forced to cough up more gemstones along the way to Zecora and Granny Smith both of whom show off their inner troll. Spike finally tracks Angel Bunny to the train station but the conductor refuses to let him and the pets on without a chaperone. Spike races over to the nearby bridge where the CMC were going to try and earn their sky diving cutie marks and with their help he manages to board the train, losing another gem in the process.
Alas Spike and the CMC are unable to get off the train with Angel before it leaves for the Crystal Empire. Spike tries to convince the CMC that they are not leaving the train when it stops but through the use of a feather from Scootaloo Spike is tickled into submission which gives Angel the chance to escape. The CMC are amazed by the snow globe at the train station in the Crystal Empire so Spike has to stop Angel Bunny on his own. Having already coughed up another gem stone on the train to Donut Joe to pay for damages Spike has only one gemstone left and he is forced to scarifice it so that Angel won't meet up with Fluttershy and the rest of the mane six.
But Spike and the CMC aren't out of the woods yet as they are forced to hide under the benches as the Mane Six return home. Spike finally gives in just as Angel is about to reveal himself and Spike confesses to doing a cruddy job on looking after him and the other pets. This confession is what causes Angel to stop and he even gives Spike the gemstone he scarificed earlier.
Spike and the CMC along with the mane six's pets barely manage to get off the train before their cover can be blown and they act is if nothing ever happened although Sweetie Belle accidentally lets slip about the snow globes at the train station in the Crystal Empire which causes Rarity to grow suspicious. Looks like Sweetie Belle has some splainin to do.
In the end Spike is thrilled to be able to finally make that gemstone cake but once again he devours the gemstone before he can include it in the cake and Spike lets out another big no as the episode ends.
Well that's the episode for you so what did I think of it? Well I thought it was pretty good, not as good as "Sleepless in Ponyville" Corey Powell's previous work but still pretty good and an improvement over Spike's last episode "Spike at Your Service".
Corey Powell did not disappoint and aside from perhaps the joke about Spike eating the gemstones I think this episode had no flaws.
There were some intresting background events including Big Macintosh and Cheerilee walking past in a cameo and the tons of background ponies that had cameos on the train. I also loved seeing both Zecora and Granny Smith troll Spike if only because it goes to show that even they have their dark sides. One thing that I found intresting was the fact that the CMC were thinking of getting sky diving cutie marks, I'll admit that until I saw they where about to jump off a bridge I was worried about what might happen to them if they went through with the sky diving plan.
The pacing and animation were both really good. It's intresting to know that this episode and the next episode will both be taking place in the same day which makes me wonder why they didn't air both episodes back to back today, next week, or even the week after next week.
So what were my final thoughts on this episode. Well I think this just might be the best Spike episode of Season 3 unless you count "Crystal Empire" as being a Spike episode. This episode is yet another example of perfect writing. Hasbro is really getting the hang of writing every character. This show just keeps getting better and better.
So it should come as no surprise that I give this episode an A+ rating. This episode is another episode that you could watch over and over again without getting bored. So now we have a week long break and then Season 3 will draw to a close. We're getting closer and closer to finally finding out what this "Princess Coronation" thing is about.
And as I said earlier tune in next week to see me review Season 1. Then the week after that will be Season 2. And then the week after that will be Season 3.
See you then,
SuperPinkBrony12
754509 Yeah plus she actually gave him a reason to misbehave, in this case he was doing so because Spike wasn't taking care of him and he felt that Fluttershy could do a better job.
Also between you and me I don't think anyone should tell the CMC how sky diving really works. You know just to be safe.
754798
Some people still claim that Spike never had a good episode before Season 6, or 4. (Of course, I liked most of his early ones.) And this episode is definitely an example of the continuity-rich detail that Season 3 brought to the show, just like Magic Duel.