A Dash of Awesome: Rainbow Falls

Hello & welcome back to Trotting Through Life as we continue soaring through the sky in the hopes of performing a Double Rainboo... 

No, no, nope...   Don't know why my mind went there but we are continuing A Dash of Awesome as we look at the season 4 episode, Rainbow Falls.  This episode is a key episode in season 4 as it is Dashie's key episode and yes, let's get this outta the way.  

It also featured the return of Derpy.  Yeah,  if you recall the whole Derpygate thing,   Muffins (as she's now known as) was used very sparingly because she sadly became a controversial figure due to no fault of her own.  So, Derpy/Muffins/Ditzy Doo's return brought a lot of fan rejoicing here and this did seem to be the show testing the waters before bringing her back with a voice-over role as we would see with the 100th episode as the muffin-eating and bubble loving fan fave was given a speaking role.   I'm bringing this up here instead of when it comes up in the plot section because while I do understand Derpy/Muffins (whatever you call her) is beloved by the large fan community,  this is really nothing more than a cameo and I don't want to take too much time away from the main plot here.

The Plot

It's fascinating to look at this episode right after Wonderbolts Academy as this episode continues to show Dash reaching towards her dream but this time at a cost.  And that is something that has come and will come up again with how Wonderbolts on more than one occasion have come off as antagonistic.  Military Bronies have explained that the nickname thing in Newbie Dash have explained that is a common thing in the Military lifestyle and even if I am not a fan of that, I can understand that.   This episode, however, I can't really excuse their actions because I won't say that they become villains but they are so close to being citizens that make you question why Dash looks up to them especially after it's revealed that Spitfire and Fleetfoot betrayed the trust of Soarin.  

These are perhaps some of the biggest issues with the episode.   If you follow my blog, A Look at Disney, I recently reviewed the Sofia the Fist episode, Cool Hand Fluke and brought up how the biggest problem with that episode was the ego of the main character.   Well, there is something similar going on here with Dash but there is a bit difference between Fluke and Dash here.   First off, Fluke was just a one-off character that was never seen again after his only appearance in that episode whereas Dash is a main character and it's been known for years now that Dash has such a big ego that it could inflate a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade or did rather.   She has learned to temper that ego quite a bit and it does come into play somewhat here as Dashie finds herself between a rock and a hard place.  Let's take a moment to consider the title of the episode, Rainbow Falls.  I could be off base here but I think that this title  has a bit of a double meaning here as Rainbow Falls is the name of the location that this episode is set but I think that it may also be referring to the idea that Rainbow finds herself between a rock and a hard place and her loyalty falters a bit.

Clearly, when the episode opens at Ponyville and we see the Arial team that Dashie has representing Ponyville, it's clear that she doesn't have the strongest team as it includes Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps. Clearly, not the greatest team in the line-up.  Even if Bulk was a Wonderbolts recruit in the last episode that I looked at.

Having said that, however, it is maybe a little clear that Bulk isn't exactly a top-tier Wonderbolt choice.  It's through no fault of his own really but his large physique and tiny wings might make it a little harder to keep air.  And well, Fluttershy is... Fluttershy.  I love her, she's my favorite character on the show but she's not a flyer.  And as the episode goes on,  you get one of the obvious tropes of an episode like this as you have a main character on an athletic team with uncoordinated team members.  Heck, The Loud House tackled this issue with Lynn in Net Gains.  And Dash much like Lynn is very competitive and will do whatever it takes to be the best.  But there is a minor difference between Lynn and Dash in these scenarios in that Lynn comes off as the aggressor more in her episode and Dash does attempt to be there for her team in the beginning but I do think that the situation is a bit more understandable as the ponies that contact Dash joining their team aren't only Dash's idols but also who she hopes to work alongside one day.  I understand the idea that the show is saying that Dash should stay loyal to her team.but at the same time, I do think that there is a bit more nuance to it than this idea.   Dash's dream is to become a Wonderbolt and her idols are offering her the chance to fly with them and I think that anyone would jump at the opportunity to get closer to the dream job they want. At the same time, however, Dash does make a mistake here as she decides to attempt to train with both teams instead of just choosing one team over the other. And Twilight does call Dash out on this and even states how she'd be letting Ponyville down.

If you fly for Cloudsdale, Pinkie Pie won't have anypony to cheer for. Rarity's uniforms will never be seen. And Applejack will have slaved over those apple brown bettys for nothing.

And I do get where Twi is coming from and she is also right when she states that Bulk and Flutters need more help than Fleetfoot and Spitfire but again, I return to what I said about jumping at the chance to want to work in the field that she has long desired to be a part of since she was a filly.  And this is when we come to the moment where Dash decides that instead of choosing, she won't choose and that is the crux of this episode.

 

One of the key (heh, key) things that is important here is when Flutters tells her that if they win, they'll give her their medals.   And this is when we find out what happened with Soarin.  

Soarin is envious of Rainbow Dash and her friends, noting that no one's visited him during his stay. When he tells Rainbow that his wing isn't hurt and that he's been benched due to Spitfire and Fleetfoot's concerns, Rainbow realizes both she and Soarin have been lied to.

Yeah, the idea that Fleetfoot and Spitfire are lying to both someone that works with them and someone that wishes to work with them does somewhat lessen the point I brought up about jumping at the chance to work with the ones that she wants to work with the future.   And after all this, Dashie decides to come clean and stick with her Ponyville team.  And we see the episode end with both teams qualifying and a look at Dash's key. 



Character



I'm only really going to look at Dash as I don't really have anything to add about the supporting characters and the same is true of the Wonderbolts but I will continue to say that they came off pretty bad in this episode.



Rainbow Dash voiced by Ashleigh Ball

This was a good episode for Dash overall and it did give me a lot to talk about.  I do think this issue have a somewhat similar issue to bad Pinkie Pie episodes as I discussed during my Party with Pinkie event, Dash is really good in this episode but there are elements around her that bring the episode down, namely how Spitfire and Fleetfoot manipulate (and yes, I stand by that word) Dash in order to get what they want out of her in order to keep competing.  While I do bring this up, this episode is still better than most bad Pinkie episodes as there is more going for it and Dash's supporting cast and elements aren't so overbearing.



My Final Thoughts



This is a good episode overall and it does test Dash in an important way to show how hard it is to be loyal and that you may falter but you can pull through but things and people will always come up and try and take advantage of you and you have to be stronger than that.  Yeah, that is my one sticking point with this episode.   Join me next time as we look at Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3