Defending Owl's Well That Ends Well · 8:16am Sep 14th, 2014
Ah yes, "Owl's Well That Ends Well". The 24th episode of Season 1 written by Cindy Morrow that people either love for diving into Twilight and Spike's relationship or hate for making Spike the antagonist during his first time in the spotlight. I myself usually like to be neutral with most episodes of the series, with some exceptions being "The Mysterious Mare Do Well", Spike at Your Service", and "Somepony to Watch Over Me". But we're not here to talk about the problems with those episodes, mainly because they've already been done to death. I'm here to discuss what everyone who doesn't like this episode take the most issue with: the second act. Specifically, from when the Mane 6 are showering Owlowiscious with attention to when Spike says "She... She doesn't love me anymore".
First, Owlowiscious was hired to help Twilight during the night, yet he's constantly used during the daytime. Believe it or not, the Fridge Brilliance section of MLP: FIM's TV Tropes page already has an answer for this. Here is the entry:
* "More Owl-based Brilliance: According to Twilight, Owlowiscious was hired so Twilight would have someone to help her out during night (in itself Brilliance due to an owl's nocturnal status). So why was Owlowiscious so keen to help Twi during the day? Because the other reason he was hired was because Spike was exhausted from overworking... the owl was putting in some extra hours to give Spike a chance to catch up on lost sleep! Shame Spike didn't see it that way, but the road to strife is paved with good intentions…"
Next, Twilight not fully explaining Owlowiscious' purpose to Spike, brushing off Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy's warnings of his concerns of being replaced, and being insensitive to his plight. Keep in mind, this episode is set during Season 1, which at the time was when Twilight's social skills were still rusty. So you could say that she was still having trouble communicating with others at the time. Plus, her claim that Spike knows he could never be replaced might have been her assuming that she gave him enough info about Owlowiscious' purpose and that he would be smart enough to figure it out the rest on his own, as well as thinking he would appreciate having some help with his chores. Also, you know how in some episodes like "Griffon the Brush Off", "Dragonshy", and "Spike at Your Service", whenever Twilight is studying or just reading in general, she tends to not really pay attention to what's going on around her? Well, what if that was the case here? She might have only realized that Rainbow Dash was right about Spike being jealous of Owlowiscious when she saw the former trying to frame the latter with her own eyes. I mean, we don't how long she was standing there. For all we know, she could've came into the room shortly after he did and started putting 2 & 2 together while she was watching him set up the ruse.
Lastly, the jealously story in general. Now, I've recently had a little bit of a theory as to what the angle of this episode's plot was. While the jealously story in "Green Isn't Your Color" was meant to parallel how one reacts to a friend becoming famous, I believe the jealously story in "Owl's Well That Ends Well" was meant to parallel how one reacts to having a new addition to their family, with Twilight as the representation of a mother, Spike as the representation of an older brother, and Owlowiscious as the representation of a newborn baby brother. Here are some notable aspects that can help support this theory:
1. The Mane 6 are showering Owlowiscious with attention symbolizes how a mother shows off her baby to her friends and they all start to smother said baby with affection. Heck, even Rarity giving him that bow tie can be seen as a friend of the mother giving the baby a new toy.
2. Spike trying to best Owlowiscious for Twilight's attention is similar to how an older sibling competes with their younger sibling for their mother's attention.
3. Owlowiscious being portrayed as too perfect could be a case of him being seen as "Mommy's Perfect Little Angel".
4. Twilight spending so much time with Owlowiscious that she ignores Spike resembles how a mother devotes all of her time and energy into taking care of her baby that she disregards her older child.
So there you have it. My counterpoint on the most complaints people have with "Owl's Well That Ends Well". Do you agree or disagree with everything that I said? Feel free to voice your opinions in the comment section below. Until then, this is BronyRanger signing off.
Great first blog.
I agree with your points and they've actually helped me like the episode even more. I can definitely say the episode is no longer a mixed bag for me, as it was back when I wrote my review of it, and has now grown to be an episode that I genuinely like. 
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Thanks, DP. Oh, and guess what? Sometime before I made this blog, I messaged Cathy Wiseluck, the voice actress for Spike, on Twitter asking her if the jealously story in this episode was going for the angle I described. This was her response:
* "Very much a parallel, I believe! :)"
So yeah, it's pretty much confirmed by one of the people for the show itself that this episode was meant to be symbolize how kids deal with having a new sibling. Also, a little bit of trivia for those who are unaware. Cathy mentioned in one of the Brony Con panels that "Owl's Well That Ends Well" is her favorite episode.
This is a good defense here. If I can add some things to it here, here is one thing I thought up. You see the episode dragon shy they show how dragons can be greedy and I think Spike is getting some of that. It could possible mean he imprint twilight as his property which can be a bit dark there but I know for a fact he still love hers a friend and as a mother and would never want to leave her side.
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Thanks, Mark. Good point about Spike's dragon greed BTW.
You know, I've read some people compare this episode to the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "A Pal for Gary". But I'm pretty sure even people who didn't like OWTEW would agree that it's nowhere near as bad as APFG. I mean, at least OWTEW had some redeeming qualities, most notably being the ending where Twilight saved Spike from the giant creature that attacked him and apologized to him for not being sensitive to his plight earlier, as well as Spike making peace with Owlowiscious. APFG on the other hand had SpongeBob acting oblivious throughout the entire ordeal by blaming Gary for everything Puffy Fluffy did, including when it was about to EAT HIM, and ending with him punishing the poor snail even after he saved his life. So yeah, when you think about it, Twilight was much more redeemable than SpongeBob.