My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic: Episode 311 - Just For Sidekicks

 

Rating:

How good an episode is going to be can often be told just from the premise, or at least its range of potential.  Corey Powell really got the shit end of the stick here, as Just For Sidekicks sounds like another two star or worse outing at best.  Spike has to take care of all the other pets who aren’t worth hav­ing on the show most of the time, and since he’s obviously going to be ex­tremely incompetent at this, hilarity will certainly ensue.  Every other terri­ble Spike-centric episode focuses on what a disaster he is, so it’s to Powell’s credit that she found a way to write a decent episode from a storyline that shouldn’t be part of the series.  Still, there is only so much that could be done with this premise, and the episode can never shed the feel­ing that it’s mostly meaningless filler.  It’s doubtful that any of the other writers could have done bet­ter though, so Powell’s second effort proves she belongs on the writing staff even if Just For Sidekicks is no more than an average episode.  Her cin­ematic style really suits the show very well, and she found a way to in­corporate a large amount of the characters (mane six, Cutie Mark Crusaders, and all six pets plus Spike) and an impromptu trip to the Crystal Empire.  Powell’s characterization is again excellent, although the dialogue is hampered by a few too many clichés (“am I right or am I right?”, “you wouldn’t dare”, “lucky guess”) and the plot is a bit predictable in that Dis­ney sort of way (the ragtag group of misfits naturally reconcile at the end).  Despite be­ing rather painful and Spike proving once again that he can’t carry an epi­sode, Powell’s solid writing and some fun touches from the animation staff (like Spike’s “bionic” throw sound effect) make Just For Sidekicks better than the disaster it was otherwise going to be.

The teaser actually threatens to sink the episode before it starts, but Powell managed to control the damage despite some unfortunate choices.  Presumably she watched Owl’s Well That Ends Well before writing this epi­sode, but somehow didn’t think Spike hearing Owlowiscious saying “who” was overdone.  Spike hasn’t figured it out in a year and a half of liv­ing with him either, but Powell shifts that bad joke into some more crea­tive territory.  This comes after we’re introduced to the plot point of Spike making a jewel cake, but he quickly runs out of gems since he won’t stop eating them.  Perhaps this is a comment on snacking and overeating, but it soon grows stupid as Spike catches every gem with his tongue that he was trying to plop down into the cake mix.  This same routine happens multiple times in the teaser, and isn’t confined to it either.  Unfortunately, Spike is proving once again to be an idiot whenever the spotlight finally ends up on him.  Thankfully, he realizes he ate the gems after all despite ac­cusing Owlowiscious of taking them, which is also one of the more creative “who” moments.

Spike flirts with a Broadway song before and after the titles, but thankfully it isn’t really developed past a few lines.  The beginning is no doubt inspired from the classic Bill Cosby routine (“Dad is great!  Give us the chocolate cake!”), while the part after the teaser neatly segues an Owlowiscious hoot into a question regarding the recent knock on the door.  With one plot point down, Fluttershy arrives to deliver the second.  She needs someone to take care of Angel while she’s away for the day with her friends, and offers a decent sized green jewel as payment.  Naturally it captivates Spike so much that he’ll agree to whatever.  Although I had speculated that the abundance of gems in Ponyville meant they weren’t worth as much as in the real world, apparently this isn’t the case.  Smaller gems will purchase an industrial-sized hairdryer and four round-trip tickets to the Crystal Empire, so the value of a larger one would likely be in the four-figure range at least.  While this seems absurd for a day of daycare, having to look after the ironically-named Angel should prob­ably pay about that much.  Of course, Spike soon realizes the rest of the mane six all have pets now, and he can probably weasel gems out of them too simply by agreeing to babysit.  So the entire plot happens solely be­cause Spike is trying to bake a cake he is physically unable to make.

At least this setup makes more sense than that time Spike was “out of town” (Look Before You Sleep), and it does give us a chance to see how the other pets are doing after the lackluster and presumably filler May The Best Pet Win.  Most interesting is Rainbow Dash and Tank, since we haven’t yet had the pleasure of observing their unworkable dynamic.  It turns out Dash is doing her best to ignore she chose a turtle for a pet, since Tank now sports a magic pinwheel on his back.  Dash is apparently giving Tank flying lessons, but they’re going about as well as you’d think, which fortu­nately ends up being beneficial for Spike.  Although Dash and Tank have no business being together, watching them trying to work out their differ­ences is actually quite touching, especially when Dash tries to hide her feel­ings as usual.  While I had little desire to see Tank again after his silly de­but, this is actually a very satisfying return that wouldn’t have happened with all of those cooler and much better pets Dash was trying out.

Fewer surprises are in store for the other pets, but the scenes don’t suffer in qual­ity.  We’ve already seen that Opalescence is more of a diva than her owner, so the lengthy list of instructions Rarity issues on how she should be taken care of doesn’t seem that ridiculous.  Pinkie Pie is again spectacular in a supporting role, as she misinterprets Gummy’s only means of com­munication (blinking and moving eyes) and later angrily insists that she loves him more.  But a similar scene with Applejack was possibly cut for time (or sucking), which is only slightly awk­ward when she immediately mentions it in the next scene.  With his small fortune in gems swinging free in a measuring cup he holds by his tail, Spike bids the mane six goodbye and turns to face the hell he has sold his soul for.

The final two acts largely show Spike trying in vain to control all of the pets.  Most of them are content with just destroying wherever they are, but Angel is constantly trying to escape.  He first runs off to the Cutie Mark Crusader club­house, where Spike uses their cutie mark idiocy to pawn the other pets off on them.  They don’t fare any better as caretakers, and Spike has no choice but to accept the pets back and continue the struggle.  A walk around town allows Angel to hop aboard the next train bound for the Crystal Em­pire, so Spike saves the Cutie Mark Crusaers’ lives (they were going to “skydive” off a small bridge) to co-opt them as “chaperones” for the other pets while he looks for the malevolent bunny.  Naturally the train leaves before they can get off, so now they’re all stuck making a trip to the wall.  Spike is sure to inform the assembled that none of them have taken the black, and that they’ll all be returning on that very train.

Despite Spike commanding otherwise, every­one wants to get off the train and look around even if it’s only the sta­tion located far outside of town, which turns potentially disastrous be­cause the mane six are finished with their adventure and about to return home.  If any of them see any of the pets, Spike’s plan and respect are com­pletely blown, but none of his other companions seem to care all that much.  Angel rushes to Fluttershy as soon as he sees her, but a bionic jewel toss empties a luggage cart and obstructs Fluttershy’s view of the situation.  Spike returns everyone to the train in presumably a different car from the mane six, but Twilight’s voice soon announces they’re about to enter af­ter all.  While this may seem like a plot contrivance to keep the tension up, it’s actually common to enter a train and then move a number of cars down in search of a seat, especially if it’s a rush hour train and you’re close to missing it.

Spike is forced to hide everyone under the seats, and they all mercifully comply this time.  Even still, Angel is just about to ruin everything when Spike pulls the reverse psychology speech.  He finally admits that this whole pet watching thing was only for the Benjamins, and tells Angel to go ahead and bump the seat.  This takes all the fun out of it for Angel, who can no longer go through with the deed, but he only turns to the other side when Spike almost inadvertently fluffs his tail.  Since this is all Angel ap­parently wanted anyway, he saves the day by retrieving the thrown jewel and feeding a hungry Spike, whose growling stomach was starting to attract attention.  They “decide to meet” the mane six at the Ponyville station, and don’t act too suspiciously about everything that just happened.

While watching multiple pets of different species probably won’t happen to most people, the obvious allusion is to taking care of children when you might not be ready for it.  Perhaps this goes further to the “welfare parents” who only have children for the credit, when it’s actually preposterous to think a child will make you more money than they cost.  Thank­fully, this isn’t a sternly worded diatribe but a rather elegant metaphor in that taking care of children means putting them first even when you don’t want to.  Not that Just For Sidekicks is an enjoyable or realistic portrayal of this point, but at least it’s still made.

Technically speaking, Powell’s second act once again doesn’t measure up to the outer two, but she also never reaches the heights of her first effort even in those better parts.  Powell can’t really be blamed though since her writing made for a better episode than the premise would have been in the hands of most others, but there are still a few sloppy parts that should have been cor­rected (Sweetie Belle needed to have any other response than “lucky guess”, which just feels lazy).  The animation team also deserves recognition for the work they put into this one, which was probably a bit better than their usual quality outings.  All of the pets made for a lot of action on the screen, which meant some fun moments could be missed if you were only paying attention to whoever was talking (like Owlowiscious towering over a misbehaving An­gel, or politely moving over as Tank is about to land on his perch).  None of this makes up for the story and premise faults, but they all definitely help.

Spike is again his proverbial worst enemy in Just For Sidekicks, but Powell tempers him enough to make the episode passing.  It’s still a bit absurd that the pets would all act up or behave at the exact same time, and Spike’s stupidity act grows tiresome before the opening credits even start.  These lapses pre­vented Powell from matching her first episode’s quality, but even mak­ing this dull premise decent is enough to prove that she belongs on the writ­ing staff.  There’s an intelligence and feel for the characters that cer­tain other writers don’t have, and finding a point in a premise clearly intended as filler is much appreciated.  Even with its flaws, Just For Side­kicks confirmed Powell’s surprising but deserving claim on the #2 writer’s spot, which is what the series desperately needed to this point.