Ranking the Parents Episodes (From Worst to Best) · 2:05pm Mar 12th, 2019
It's interesting to know how the parents of the mane six came to be, if Lauren Faust had had her way all of the mane six's parents would've been either dead or traveling. Yet especially in the last couple of seasons we've had the good fortune to get to know the parents more in depth, even ones we never thought we'd see. But which ones were truly the best introductions for the parents, which ones were the kind of appearances fans were craving? Well, that's what we're going to find out.
The same disclaimers as usual apply, since we're not talking about "Sisterhooves Social" or "Flutter Brutter" (in which Rarity and Fluttershy's parents respectively appeared) we've only got 5 episodes to consider.
5. Parental Glideance (Season 7, Episode 7)
Why it's on the bottom: This episode succeeded on one front and one front alone, explaining why Rainbow Dash never talked to or mentioned her parents at any point prior to this. Considering the way her parents act throughout the episode, it's easy to see why she never wanted to tell them she was a Wonderbolt. Not only are Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles obnoxious but their antics border on dangerous and ruin the fun for everyone else. Yet the episode seems to think Rainbow Dash is in the wrong for chewing them out over it, never mind the fact that she's been putting up with them for the entire episode. And in the end, Bow and Windy simply switch to an acceptable target when their daughter is no longer considerable for their excessive fanponyism. All that could've been fixed had someone told Bow and Windy what they did wrong, which thankfully you can see in the fic I've attached to this blog.
4. The Parent Map (Season 8, Episode 8)
Why it's not on the bottom: This episode is a double helping of "Amazingly Embarrassing Parents", between Firelight's babying of Starlight and Stellar Flare's control freak tendencies there's no shortage of parental interactions to consider here. The problem is that when the parents finally get called out it comes way late into the episode and is hastily resolved just a few minutes later. Meanwhile, the episode opens a huge can of worms by having Sunburst be called by the map alongside Starlight, which reduces the map's appeal down to a cheap plot device since if it can call Sunburst it can call anyone at anytime for any reason. We also never quite get a mention of what happened to Starlight's mother or where Sunburst's father is (there is apparently one line towards the end that could imply Starlight's mom is dead).
3. Hearthbreakers (Season 5, Episode 20)
Why it's in the middle: I actually forgot about this one originally, which is a shame because it's a really good one. Pinkie's parents are a little bit one note in personality, but we get enough of them to see what makes them tick. I think it's clear from this episode that Pinkie is on good terms with her family and the same is true in reverse, so I don't think she was forced off the rock farm she simply chose willingly to leave. Considering Maud has also left the rock farm by this point, it doesn't seem like any of the Pie children are bond to the whims of their parents, though it does beg the question of why Limestone has such a good grip on modern Equestrian despite never having left the rock farm like either Pinkie or Maud.
2. Once Upon a Zeppelin (Season 7, Episode 21 in production order/22 in airdate)
Why it's not on the top: We'd already gotten to meet Night Light and Twilight Velvet prior to this episode so this was more of a reintroduction to them, a much appreciated one at that. Both characters were fleshed out and given their own personalities, Night Light is fond of organizing and Twilight Velvet is a thrill seeker. There's lots of little details here and there that really add onto them, such as Twilight Velvet being the only one who notices Twilight crying and the one who tries to heal Star Tracker's stubbed hoof, or Night Light supporting his wife's thrill seeking ways (that's the sign of a healthy relationship right there). Of course the focus is on Twilight, and Cadence gets a large role in the episode too, so it's not just a parents episode.
1. The Perfect Pear (Season 7, Episode 13)
Why it's on the top: The Apple siblings' parents was something fans were speculating about and clamoring for almost from day one, and considering so many flashbacks before seemed to ignore prime opportunities to introduce them when word finally got out that we were going to have an episode all about them the fandom went crazy. Yes, the story is on how Bright Macintosh and Pear Butter fell in love and we don't get to see them as actual parents, but as characters they feel whole and fleshed out. We get to see how parts of them may have been inherited by their children (physically and mentally), and its such a compelling story. There really is no way it could be anything other than number one for this list.
And there you have it, now we're moving on from character episodes to episode types, so come back tomorrow when we'll rank all the two parters in the show to date.
On the Parental Glideance episode, thank you!
I am sooooo glad someone agrees with me both on how obnoxiously over-the-top Dash's parents are, and about how agrravating it was about the way the aftermath of her chewing them out went.
I finally talked myself into finally watching that episode online, and my first impression (to say nothing of my intense dislike of those two) was definitely reinforced, and Parental Glideance remains firmly on my list as my very least favorite MLP episode.
Ever.
To the point that while I generally try to stick with a show's canon for character and such as much as I can in my own stories, with these two, I'm sorry, but I just can not.
So I plan to continue using Firefly as her mom and Rainbow Burst/Blaze as her dad.
Reason being that I just like them better.
Windy and Bow?
They're like the worst "stage mom/parents" you've ever heard of dialed up to about a thousand.
For me, it goes:
Parent Map
Perfect Pear
Parental Glideance
Once Upon a Zeppelin
And of the 4, the only one I don't absolutely adore is Once Upon a Zeppelin
What about Pinkie's parents, Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz, in Hearthbreakers?
Flutter Brutter and Sisterhooves Social shouldn't be disregarded, either.
I hope we get actual Rarity and Fluttershy´parent episodes in season 9 (not that the Sweetie Belle and Rarity episodes aren´t good)
5027044 The problem is, in those episodes the parents just show up with no fanfare and they're not really the focus. Heck, in the case of Rarity (and Sweetie Belle)'s parents they just pop up on-screen for one scene and then they're gone and we don't see them again all episode. They've appeared only sparodically since, never in any meaningful way.