Episode Re-Review: Wonderbolts Academy · 6:47pm Mar 16th, 2021
So at very long last, Rainbow Dash was going to take the first steps towards becoming a Wonderbolt. But Merriweather Williams, the new black sheep of the writing staff without a single uncontroversial episode to her name, was in charge. And she was responsible for writing arguably Rainbow's worst outing to that point in "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well". So suddenly this episode wasn't looking so great. But was Merriweather able to defy expectations and actually crank out something good? Well, let's find out.
We begin with the mane six (Rainbow Dash included) waiting for an important letter. Apparently, Rainbow Dash is expecting to hear back on whether or not she can gets into the Wonderbolts, or at least take part in their own academy. Rainbow is convinced she's got the invitation all locked up but Pinkie Pie isn't so easily convinced. Fortunately, Rainbow Dash gets the invitation and all is well, though Pinkie Pie pulls out a megaphone to remind Rainbow Dash to write. And this is going to be somewhat of a problem throughout the episode.
So Rainbow Dash gets to the academy and we see some familiar background ponies, including Bulk Biceps which means he can fly at least decently and that in turn means it's not a size problem for his wings. And that in turn meant it was even harder to justify Scootaloo not being able to fly without some contrived reason (if pegasus magic were better defined it wouldn't be a problem). Anyway, Spitfire is in charge of the academy and this leads to the voice everyone associates with her as Kelly Metzeger opts for a more high pitched and angry kind of voice, kind of like a drill sergeant.
Some complain about Spitfire not recognizing Rainbow Dash here, but keep in mind that this is a professional interaction and Spitfire obviously can't be seen playing favorites. She has to treat Rainbow Dash the same way she treats everyone else. This is also where we meet Lightning Dust, who quickly establishes herself as a risk taker. The first task then presents itself, a contraption known as the dizzitron which is sort of like a centrifgue mixed with a catapult. The participants spin around and then are released, and have to make their way back to the academy runway as fast as possible. Fortunately, there's a safety net if a recruit wipes out and fails to recover. And when Lightning Dust takes her return, she requests setting the device to its highest setting. And she just barely doesn't break Rainbow's record as a result. This is also where the meme worthy line "That's an academy record" came from, though it does kind of lose its impact when Spitfire keeps saying it.
Soon afterward, teams are posted for all upcoming exercises and Rainbow Dash discovers that she's a wingpony and Lightning Dust is the leader. Rainbow complains about this to Spitfire but Spitfire says that she believes Lightning Dust likes to push herself a little bit harder. I do sort of wonder what sense it makes to have the two best performers on the same team, that kind of makes it hard for the others to keep up. But I also think that Rainbow Dash being wingpony was a guarantee no matter what, specifically because Spitfire already knows Rainbow is a good leader. And being part of a team means you not only need to know how to give orders but also how to take orders. And we've seen that Rainbow Dash doesn't always listen when others try to tell her what to do or not to do.
Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie is waiting impatiently by the mail box outside Sugarcube Corner for a letter from Rainbow Dash. And she operates on some rather insane logic about how if she isn't there when the letter arrives it'll inadvertently throw Rainbow off her game and cause her not to do well. It's not completely OOC for Pinkie to think this way, but when Applejack asks if anyone else is following the logic and her friends all say no it becomes kind of a problem. The bigger issue might be that this supposed clingyness comes out of nowhere, and again it's not completely OOC for Pinkie but it does feel like a stretch. And we see scenes like these multiple times throughout the episode, with her getting increasingly depressed and paranoid.
Back at the academy, team exercises get under way starting with a round of flag hunting. During the exercise, Lightning Dust aggressively pursues her target even into a narrow gorge, and Rainbow injures her wing trying to follow. But she hides it and she and Lightning Dust manage to win. Next up is an obstacle course through the clouds, and Lightning Dust becomes impatient with how slow the other flyers are (proving that just taking risks is not the hallmark of a good leader). After a bit of persuasion, she convinces Rainbow to fly with her right past the other contestants and people complain that Spitfire doesn't notice this. But there's no indication that she can see through the clouds where this all takes place. And I feel like that'll be important later on.
As for Pinkie Pie, she eventually has the idea to send a care package to Rainbow Dash. But rather than send it through the mail and risk it getting lost or misplaced, she decides to deliver it personally. The rest of the mane six decide to accompany her (but Spike is completely absent for unexplained reasons). Then we cut back to the academy for a cloud busting exercise and Lightning Dust convinces Rainbow Dash to literally blow away the competition by creating a tornado. So they do, but Lightning Dust loses control of her tornado and it gets loose just as the rest of the mane six happen to be approaching the academy in the hot air balloon from the opening credits.
The tornado pulls the balloon in and destroys it, and Rainbow, horrified, flies down to the rescue! She uses a bunch of clouds as springs to stop her friends' descent (despite no indication that the cloud walking spell was cast) and then a bunch of academy recruits come to lift them all to safety. Most interestingly, Rarity is saved by Thunderlane which kicked off an insane amount of ship fics for quite a while, before it dropped off completely after about a year or so. Kind of a shame, I think it was a nice ship and Thunderlane seems like a nice guy.
Lightning Dust, however, only seems impressed by everything that unfolded and Rainbow Dash calls her out for her apparent lack of concern. It's interesting though because it's hard to tell if Lightning is truly unaware of what her actions caused or if she does know and doesn't care, because not knowing and not caring are two very different things (though both raise troubling concerns). Her response to Rainbow basically saying "My friends could've been killed!" seems to be on the lines of "Yeah, but they weren't, so what's your problem?", and she even points out how Spitfire made her lead pony and assumes that means the Wonderbolts approve (one individual does not speak for an entire organization). Rainbow seems to believe this and goes to confront Spitfire, and we get the scene of her resigning from the Wonderbolts rather than be part of something that she believes goes against her values. It's a pretty emotional scene and a rather mature one at that, far too many are willing to compromise their beliefs to get ahead.
It should be mentioned that this is how the episode was originally going to end, Rainbow would resign from the Wonderbolts and that would be it. I'm glad they didn't go for that ending though, because it would've made the entire arc disappointing and pointless, yanking it away after Rainbow finally seemed to take her first steps toward achieving her dream. However, the ending we get is really rushed and it shows. Spitfire shows up, tells Rainbow off for not letting her speak and strips Lightning Dust of her status as lead pony (and we'd later learn Lightning was expelled from the academy all together). Then she lets Rainbow become lead pony instead and the episode just ends after Pinkie mentions Rainbow didn't open her care package.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, up until the very end it was pretty strong and could've made a run for best Season 3 episode alongside "Sleepless in Ponyville". But the ending alone hurts the episode with how rushed and poorly executed it is. It turns out that there was another ending besides the one mentioned above in which Lightning would be demoted to wing pony and Rainbow would take lead, and then a week would pass and Rainbow would be back in Ponyville. I do think that ending would've been a little too optimistic and happy after what Lightning did, but I feel like it's at least a step in the right direction compared to the episode just ending outright. The biggest problem is that Lightning Dust isn't given a chance to plead her case, especially not when she believes the Wonderbolts support her (and since Spitfire at least wasn't aware of Lightning's problematic behavior before, it's easy to see how Lightning took that as an endorsement). Even knowing what she ended up becoming later on, Lightning Dust still deserved at least the option of a second chance instead of being dismissed solely on the word of another pony.
And all it would've taken to fix the problem would've been to cut or even just trim the Pinkie Pie scenes. They were fine, but they took up way too much time that could've been spent polishing the ending. Even just a couple of extra minutes (like say three to five) could've been more than enough to make the ending stronger and more definitive, a chance for Lightning Dust to make her case and let us truly see if she was beyond salvation. Heck, TheFireyJoker mentions that Lightning Dust got off pretty easily given the Wonderbolts' military like conduct here (he speaks from experience due to his tenure in the military), and considering what she did that is kind of true even in light of her being ultimately kicked out. Aside from that, though, nothing is really wrong with the episode. Rainbow Dash got a chance to look in the mirror and become likeable, and Lightning Dust is very much what Rainbow could be if she didn't have her friends and didn't care about others. If the ending hadn't been so rushed and so abrupt and Lightning Dust's fate (and overall true nature) were properly defined this episode would've easily surpassed "Sleepless in Ponyville" for best Season 3 episode. As it is, due to the ending it is ultimately on the level of a borderline A/A+. Pinkie Pie sucked away time that could've and should've gone to better things.
But just as Season 3 seemed to be soaring to great heights, it was all going to come crashing down with an abrupt rough patch. And the first episode in that patch was "Apple Family Reunion" an episode that seemed to highlight a problem along the lines of what could be done with Applejack as a lead character.
Even with the ending, I still love this episode.
It's not quite as good as Sleepless in Ponyville, but it's definitely up there.
Believe it or not, this is my favorite episode of the entire season.
Maybe Spitfire chewing out Lightning Dust and Lightning Dust trying (and failing) to defend herself happened offscreen. I mean, at the episode's end, she looked properly chastised (aka like she had been verbally torn to shreds) even before Spitfire kicked her out. I agree that I would've loved to see that onscreen, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen at all.
Actually, I found a pretty great story here that shows that very scene. It's pretty awesome!
You can definitely see that some sort of conversation did take place given Lightning Dust's expression, and honestly, there isn't really anything that Lightning Dust could've said to justify her actions. considering just how many ponies she endangered. I wouldn't have HATED her being demoted, but I certainly don't think the harsh fast stripping of her badge worsened the episode. Also I strongly disagree that this episode would've been better than Sleepless in Ponyville with a different ending, or even this one. That one was so much more emotional and intense and dives deep into Scootaloo's psyche and is just a deep episode in general, is much more beautifully animated and composed, and the characters overall are much better written and enjoyable.
5477084 I still think "Sleepless in Ponyville" would've edged out this episode if the ending had been better simply because "Sleepless in Ponyville" had the benefit of being A. The first ever Scootaloo focus episode and B. A dream episode, neither of which had been featured before. But if this episode's ending had been better and they were more clear about Lightning Dust's personality and fate, it could've been on nearly the same footing instead of having to settle for second best.
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(I mean I'd place the crystal empire over either one but that's kinda irrelevant) Yeah I get that. I just think the advantages Sleepless in Ponyville has are too big for those relatively small changes to make it comparable.