My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic: Episode 216 - Read It And Weep

Rating:

By likely coincidence, M.A. Larson’s worst episode was aired immediately before Cindy Morrow’s best, which produced a rather bizarro feel.  While just about every other writer humiliated Rainbow Dash in some way during season two, Morrow actually showed she had an ability to grow.  Laid up in the hospital for a few days after injuring her wing, Dash reluctantly tries and loves reading.  After dissing it earlier, she now must hide this revelation from her friends.  As Dash reads, we see a movie version of Daring Do; an adventuring archaeologist clearly modeled on Indiana Jones.  While Daring Don’t establishes these adventures are apparently real, Read It And Weep succeeds because the action takes place in Dash’s head.  Every word produces fantastic images, and Daring Do is almost certainly a projection of Dash herself.  Even though the two parallel stories don’t really concern each other, they add up to an effective (if obvious) reading PSA and an exploration of being something against your image.  Even if the Daring Do sections aren’t exactly original, they remain very entertaining and focus on what Dash can imagine from a book.  Read It And Weep isn’t perfect with characterization and might seem to rely on Daring Do at the expense of story, but it’s also surprisingly effective at accomplishing its goals.  For both entertainment and a great lesson, Morrow’s outing is undoubtedly season two’s surprise episode and a guilty pleasure very much on par with its main character.

Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Twilight are watching Rainbow Dash perform some spectacular stunts, but before this becomes another Mare Do Well, Dash loses control and crashes (entirely off screen).  After being taken to the hospital, she groggily wakes up with only a broken wing.  Her injuries could have been much worse, but Dash is still frustrated that she’ll have to remain there at all.  Twilight spots a book cart and tries to console Dash with Daring Do’s first adventure.  Declaring reading is for eggheads, Dash wants no part of it even though her friends all enjoy the activity.  Unfortunately for Dash, visiting hours are soon over and everyone else is kicked out.

As is typical of many hospital stays, Dash fights her biggest battle against boredom.  She bounces a ball against the wall and tells some bad jokes, but nothing will make that clock move any faster.  With literally nothing else left to do (turning her light switch on and off multiple times received priority), Dash finally picks up the book and starts reading aloud.  She’s hesitant at first, but gets into it upon discovering Daring Do’s wing is similarly injured.

From here on, Dash’s real life only plays when someone interrupts her reading, which is frequently.  The mane six come in separate groups to visit their friend, but now she doesn’t want any company.  Dash rushes through a Cloudsdale game of Battleship and eating to send them home quickly.  They’re confused but don’t complain, and Dash picks the book up again as soon as everyone leaves.

Daring Do’s story mostly consists of variations on the opening scene from Raiders Of The Lost Ark.  She escapes from some predator felines (including a tiny but pissed house cat) and reaches an ancient temple.  Naturally this place is full of booby traps and puzzles, which Daring Do navigates more or less decently.  Finally approaching the titular Sapphire “Stone” (a two-headed blue statue), she just takes it rather than attempt to put something back of similar weight.  The temple then collapses into a pool of lava somehow, but Daring Do escapes through a hole in the ceiling.  Unfortunately, she lands in front of the dreaded Ahuizotl (a big blue monster essentially playing Belloq here), who captures her and takes the statue.

Is this the end for Daring Do?  Dash may never find out, because she’s discharged after an all-night session of reading.  The book has to stay, but at least Dash can just borrow Twilight’s copy.  Since that would mean telling Twilight she enjoys reading, Dash opts for breaking into the hospital at night.  This goes well enough, but her room of course has a new patient, and he wakes up at the sound of someone apparently stealing his possessions.  Attempting to fly away, Dash’s wing is not yet healed and she drops the book before getting very far.  With an alarm sounding now, she runs and eventually ends up in front of Twilight’s.  Now unmasked and having woken numerous ponies up, Dash must tell everyone about her new hobby.  Relieved that there isn’t a real problem, Twilight lets Dash borrow a stack of Daring Do books, and she can finally finish the story.

Tied up and close to death since the room is filling with sand and bugs, Daring Do takes her hat and yolos a shot off multiple walls toward a switch.  It hits just before she suffocates and reverses every trap.  Escaping through another hole, Do retrieves her statue from Ahuizotl and trots off into the sunset.  Dash squees and quickly picks up the next book.

Unlike other season two episodes, Morrow’s addition to Dash’s character actually sticks going forward.  She is shown to be an avid reader, especially in Daring Do’s fourth season return.  But more importantly, Dash learns she enjoys something ponies like her “shouldn’t” and tries to cover it up.  This kind of process can happen over many years for most people, as they don’t want to admit or reveal a facet about themselves.  We live behind an image that isn’t necessarily who we are.  Dash especially has this problem with being a cool athlete who isn’t into feminine things (such as the spa in Ponyville Confidential).  Having her take on such issues finally makes Dash feel realistic as opposed to the preening stereotype from earlier episodes.  It can take a long time to admit certain aspects, and Dash possessing such secrets is extremely revelatory.

While less obvious, Daring Do’s sections are hardly filler.  Movies and TV don’t necessarily allow for imagination, but Dash visualizing such a world inside her head is key.  Instead of some dull hospital room, Dash transports herself to a different world with strange creatures and hidden treasure.  And more importantly, Daring Do is also a broken-winged Pegasus who must deal with not being able to fly.  Dash’s condition is temporary, but it shows she wouldn’t be quite so handicapped as might be thought.  Frankly, this is a much better argument for reading than having the mane six say it’s cool.  Showing rather than telling works much better for Morrow.

Other characters don’t receive much attention with the focus on Dash, but that isn’t really important here.  Pinkie Pie does get off one good line in support (“Hey!  No pony invited me!”), but the mane six are mostly otherwise unspectacular.  Twilight is appropriately nerdy when discussing reading though, which as a librarian she probably should be more often.  While based off existing characters, the new ones introduced are solid enough to deserve a reprise.  Daring Do represents the smart and strong action hero, while Ahuizotl is a scary villain who clearly likes to monologue.  Even better is that house cat who hangs around her bigger brothers and is just as mad despite being much less scary.  They might be archetypes, but are still more interesting and watchable than certain other new characters introduced this season.

Even if Morrow’s dialogue isn’t always spectacular and part of the story is borrowed from an obvious source, Read It And Weep is finally an episode she can be proud of.  Most writers for this series have a difficult time proving one point, but Morrow manages to show two extremely well.  And all of it was done with a main character that had literally been dumped on for the entire season.  These characters are too good for what happened in Mare Do Well and Lesson Zero to be acceptable, and Morrow demonstrated that even the toughest challenge amongst them was doable.  Rainbow Dash improved greatly after this episode, and never had to suffer the indignities visited upon her earlier again.  In the space of 22 minutes, she went from an unrealistic stereotype to the mane six’s most human member.  That’s quite an accomplishment, especially from a writer who was otherwise terrible.  Even if Indiana Jones is responsible for half the story, its impact can’t be ignored.  Read It And Weep may not be the best episode in season two, but it is unquestionably one of the most memorable.