My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic: Episode 410 - Rainbow Falls

Rating:

Corey Powell’s lone solo effort for season four echoes the previously heralded Sleepless In Ponyville in that the episode veers wildly between boring, clichéd, and some of the best moments ever aired on the series.  Rainbow Falls takes a while to get going though, as the first two acts fail to inspire much interest in these qualifiers for the Equestria Games.  But the third act is shockingly better, even if it’s not quite enough to elevate the rest.  Powell’s take on sports is a bit more accurate and surprisingly prescient.  Rainbow Dash’s decision between dominating with the supergroup Wonderbolts or trying to win with a lesser team at home definitely mirrors Lebron James’ 2014 decision to return to Cleveland.  Perhaps this episode inspired the King, even though that also includes the last minute replacement.  The third act changes tone as the snarky, win-at-all-costs Cloudsdale team morphs into a group cheering for everyone to do their best.  No doubt this is a utopian ideal, but it also reflects the series’ spirit better than most episodes.  Rainbow Falls might not be entirely believable and the humor is a bit suspect, but characterization (once again) and tone take the day, even if Ponyville only qualifies because of a magic countdown stopwatch.

Rainbow Dash’s chances for making the Equestria Games come down to a relay race, and the options within Ponyville are slim.  Her near equal Fluttershy is an easy choice, but with other Ponyville Pegasi busy elsewhere, the third is left to the roid-raging and newly rechristened Bulk Biceps.  Usually the steroid-infused athlete is a good choice (as long as they don’t get caught), but Bulk’s commitment to a “workout regime” has left everything enlarged except his wings.  Fluttershy’s competitive spirit isn’t exactly high, so the team’s likelihood of making the games is remote unless Dash can fly a god-like final leg.  She figures this is cake, but practice is still necessary since Bulk can barely get off the ground.  While starting in Ponyville, they soon relocate to the eponymous Rainbow Falls to train where the event will be held.  The rest of the mane six are on hand to lend moral support, with Pinkie Pie cheerleading and Applejack responsible for carbo-loading.

After arriving, most of the attention is dominated by Cloudsdale’s Wonderbolts team.  They’re naturally a lock to qualify, but potential tragedy strikes when a certain horny philosopher is distracted by the cheerleaders and injures his wing.  Rainbow Dash performs another trademark saving of a pony falling to his death, but Soarin might not be able to recover in time.  Fortunately, most of the Pegasi are from Cloudsdale, so Spitfire and Fleetfoot offer Dash a spot on the practice squad.  Since the other two Ponyville team members are beyond hope and need more practice for themselves anyway, Dash temporarily accepts to train with both teams.

As she and others will do many times in the episode, Twilight groans at this development, but she doesn’t out Dash or give an ultimatum.  Dash does love to win after all, and the Wonderbolts provide a much better opportunity for that.  Their fliers, uniforms, and cheerleaders are all more professional, and the group could easily clinch the gold medal.  But Ponyville doesn’t have a prayer without Dash, and the rest of the mane six’s support would be meaningless if they can’t even field a team.  Understandably, the Wonderbolts soon offer Dash a permanent position, so she’ll have to decide which team to play for.

Or fuck that.  Dash soon appears in a wheelchair with all of her hooves and wings bandaged, although she can only mumble an excuse as to what happened.  Hilariously, Pinkie Pie echoes this muttering in a demand for revenge, so the ruse works momentarily.  Dash is shipped off to the hospital, but she certainly won’t be able to fly for anyone now.  The mane six offer what support they can, while the Ponyville team soldiers on with the addition of a replacement.  In a shocking reveal, the pony is none other than Derpy.  After a criticized and redacted performance in The Last Roundup, her canon return is delightful.  She has no lines and can’t get a name drop, but still provides a boost that the episode needs.  Unfortunately, Derpy will no doubt be unable to replicate this in the air.

Twilight ushers the others out to inform Dash that she is accomplishing nothing by refusing to decide, but a second strong scene occurs immediately thereafter.  Soarin slides the drapes over to reveal himself to be Dash’s roommate, and admits he has been as forgotten as the episode seemed to have found him.  He also divulges that his wing has healed, but the Wonderbolts didn’t want him back if he wasn’t going to be 100%.  This conflicts with what Dash was told by them, but now both teams are screwed due to injuries.  Given the facts (and a “subtle” rainbow appearance), Dash finds a quick and easy solution.

Returning to the field under her own power, Dash stuns the crowd by admitting her injury was faked, and announces her own version of The Decision.  Spurning a big three in Cloudsdale, Dash will fly with Ponyville since that’s where her friends are.  Instead of reacting hurtfully to the news, Spitfire is inspired by this display.  She invites Soarin back onto the team, and the two groups cheer each other at the upcoming event.  The Wonderbolts easily qualify of course, but Ponyville must eke it out.  Mostly this is because of Bulk Biceps’ slow gymnastic moves through the hoops, as Equestria’s best two fliers do the job expected of them.  Despite the necessary time passing long ago, Dash finds a final burst of speed to hit the split on the dot.  Along with more competitors than previously announced, Ponyville will indeed be representing.

Since it mirrors real world events (intentionally or not) and doesn’t entirely rely on a miraculous underdog finish, Rainbow Falls is a truer depiction of sports than the horrendous Fall Weather Friends.  The “big game” is irrelevant right now, so the focus is instead on practice and character relations.  Powell continues a renaissance for Rainbow Dash, who must struggle with a decision she was no doubt going to make.  Having conflict in a presumed forgone conclusion produces a far more interesting episode, and each decision feels believable instead of contrived.

Not every character fares as well though.  On the plus side is definitely Bulk Biceps, whose increased dialogue ends up being better comic relief than the pony usually charged with it (“P IS FOR RAINBOW DASH!”).  Pinkie Pie might not be an obvious cheerleader, but she still looks to improve by observing the Cloudsdale crew, and her aforementioned echoing of Dash’s mumble is the strong moment we’ve come to expect.

Twilight finds herself in the middle by playing Dash’s conscience.  Thankfully Powell keeps this restrained, as Twilight lets Rainbow decide things for herself without being too preachy or announcing her deception to everyone else.  Such a deed would have been typical of a three-act structure, so Powell’s aversion is appreciated and more effective.  Spitfire has yet another character reinvention, as she’s not quite the same drill instructor from Wonderbolts Academy but at least still remembers those events.  Along with Fleetfoot, they function as one-dimensional villains, but do find development at the end.  Soarin also benefits from increased dialogue, even if it’s only in one scene.  We probably didn’t notice that he wasn’t visited in the hospital by anyone on screen, which makes his expression of pain felt more by the audience who are equally as guilty.

Less strong are the other mane six members.  Rarity offers to design uniforms for the team, but her creations are surprisingly old-fashioned and ugly.  Plus, she apparently forgets that Bulk Biceps is a rather masculine male, and gives him a muumuu to wear instead of something more fitting (he likes it though because trannies are funny and every guy is secretly one, probably).  Applejack contributes Brown Betties to the cause, but only introduces them at inappropriate moments.  No doubt they go along with little chocolate donuts on every athlete’s training table.  And Fluttershy seems a bit too understanding with everything that happens, which makes her lack the dimension other characters are given (even if this might be due to her attitude regarding the situation).

Like Just For Sidekicks, Powell was stuck with a premise that could have gone very wrong in Rainbow Falls, but she found a way to avoid the usual pitfalls.  Her sports story features a ragtag group of amateurs who must go up against an evil talented professional team, and the main group pulls together to complete an improbable finish.  But notice how the details and focus never feel like this well-worn trope.  The episode is more about Rainbow Dash dealing with internal conflict than if her team wins, and since we’re still in the qualifying stage, nothing is actually won.  Ponyville’s squad doesn’t come close to beating the Wonderbolts, but that’s not important (yet).  Powell’s vision in the final act may never happen, but it’s hard not to prefer everyone cheering each other on rather than the angered heckling we can expect from most professional sports.  This might not be enough to excuse the unevenness in plot and characterization, and that certain tropes are still present.  But Rainbow Falls is still an enthralling adventure episode for the mane six, even if the quest is only overcoming a single pony’s inner struggles.  Such an effort confirms Powell’s status as one of the better writers on the series, even if she hasn’t quite put everything together yet.