Welcome once again fillies and gentlecolts to another edition of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Recap/Review. It has been quite the tumultuous week in the world of MLP. Mainly stemming from some big issues and controversies involving the possible removal of a certain cross-eyed pegasus. So, with that rather depressing thought on a lot of people’s minds this week, we certainly needed a new episode to get the negativity off our minds. But was this week’s episode able to deliver? Or was it just a case of some bad “booking”? Let’s find out with the review of “Read it and Weep”.
We open the episode with Twilight Sparkle joining Pinkie Pie and Rarity as they watch Rainbow Dash perform a number of amazing aerial acrobatics. Dash appears to be doing extremely well (I say “seems to” since we don’t see any of it) until she ends up crashing. She wakes up later at Ponyville hospital, where she learns that she has a broken wing, and will have to be cooped up in the hospital for a few days. This is torture for Rainbow Dash, who can get bored quickly with nothing athletic or cool to do.
Twilight comes up with idea to try and cure Dash’s boredom, and finds her a book to read called “Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone”, a book from a series that Twilight owns every copy of. Dash immediately turns down the idea since she thinks reading is uncool and for eggheads. But as the hours pass, and the boredom gets worse and worse for Dash, she finally gives in and starts reading the book.
In the story, we meet our hero Daring Do, a pegasus explorer and treasure hunter. And before you even have to say it, yes, this is an Indiana Jones parody. With a broken wing of her own, she tries her best to avoid the hazards of the jungle, including every type of cat imaginable, until she finally finds the temple of the sapphire stone. While reading the book, Dash begins to find the story awesome, and that she actually enjoys reading. This joy turns into fear immediately, as she fears that she’s become an egghead.
Back in the story, Daring Do enters the temple, and avoids every type of trap imaginable, including arrows, swinging blades, floor spikes, and ceiling alligators. She finally manages to make it to the room with the sapphire stone. However, as Dash gets further in the story, she’s visited by Twilight and Fluttershy. Trying her best to hide the book, she quickly rushes the two ponies out of the room so she can continue.
Returning to the story, Daring Do grabs the statues, but this causes the floor to collapse, and the room begins to fill with lava. Daring Do manages to escape through a hole in the ceiling with the sapphire stone intact.
But before she can call it a victory, Daring Do is encountered by her arch nemesis Ahuizotl. Dash is once again interrupted by her friends, and tries again to rush them out of the room so she can finish the story. Ahuizotl steals the sapphire stone and leaves Daring Do trapped in a room with every kind of trap imaginable. Closing walls with spikes, spiders, cobras, and quicksand. But before Rainbow Dash can find out how Daring Do can escape, the doctor tells her that she is healthy enough to leave the hospital, and quickly rush her out. This means that Dash can’t finish the story now.
Despite knowing well enough that Twilight owns a copy of the book, Rainbow Dash has no intention of revealing her egghead ways, so she tries to get back into the hospital. After her attempt at pretending to be sick is met with a diagnosis of “Lazyitis”, and is thrown back out of the hospital, Dash tries for another more dangerous plan. Dressed as a ninja, Rainbow Dash sneaks into the hospital at night and tries to steal the book. She is quickly caught and tries to escape with the doctors and nurses chasing after her. The chase wakes up all of Dash’s friends, and finally ends with Dash being cornered at Twilight’s house. With no way out of it, Rainbow Dash admits she enjoys reading, which is met with positivity from her friends.
Twilight gives Rainbow Dash her copy of the book to borrow, and says that she is welcome to borrow any book any time. Dash tells her moral for the week, being that she shouldn’t knock something until she’s tried it. She then tells Spike to go write up the letter to Princess Celestia as she goes to finish the story. Back in the story, Daring Do manages to throw her hat at the lever, stopping all the traps. She escapes, and manages to steal back the sapphire stone from Ahuizotl, ending the story. Dash immediately goes into the next book “Daring Do and the Griffon’s Goblet”, which she quickly proclaims as awesome.
We read it, but will we weep? Time to judge this book by more than its cover with Pros and Cons.
PRO
While I would originally have an issue with Rainbow Dash getting a third episode this season when the rest of the mane 6 have barely had two, this isn’t the case this time. Rainbow Dash was definitely toned down from her last two episodes, and was even kinda sympathetic. Hopefully this trend in making Dash somewhat more likeable continues.
This episode was littered with parodies, both subtle, and obvious as heck. Of course the major parody was Indiana Jones, but there were also what appeared to be very slight references to The Great Escape, the Harry Potter series, among others. It’s nice to see how well the show has handled parodies, and so far they haven’t been to overbearing or annoying.
The Daring Do story was really entertaining. Lots of action, adventure, and some interesting characters in both Daring and Ahuizotl. Like I’ve said before, I love seeing other worlds in Equestria, even if it’s just a world within a book. This is definitely a world and characters I’d love to see again in some capacity.
Now, while this could be massively subtle, this whole situation with Dash being ashamed of being a reader could be a very slight reference to bronies in general. Being a fan of something they once deemed uncool like My Little Pony, and turning into massive fans after giving it a chance. If that was the real intention of the episode, then I must say they handled it quite well. If not, it still feels awful subtle.
CON
Now while I say that, I will admit that maybe the Daring Do bits were too good for their own good. When you get all the action and excitement from those segments, then have to return to Dash in her hospital bed trying to lie to her friends and get them out quick, it doesn’t feel very even handed. though despite that gripe, I still loved the segments.
I kinda felt a bit cheated in the beginning due to them not showing exactly how Rainbow Dash got hurt. I know it’s a kids show, and sometimes they don’t want to show extreme violence like somepony being seriously hurt. But this isn’t the first time Dash hurt her wing. Remember back in “May the Best Pet Win!”, when she got her wing pinned to a giant boulder in Ghastly Gorge. So, having this happen again, and not being able to see it is kind of a cheat. Though we got some cute reactions from Pinkie and Rarity.
This was another solid episode for the series, and was filled with enough action and comedy, that should be enough for anyone to enjoy. I don’t think it’s as solid as episodes that we’ve seen this season, but it’s still a must watch nonetheless.
RATING: 7.5 out of 10
Next week, happy “Hearts and Hooves Day”! The Cutie Mark Crusaders try their hooves at playing Cupid, and try to get Big Macintosh and Cheerilee together as a couple. But could this romantic encounter turn into chaos thanks to the Crusaders’ use of a love potion? And will Big Macintosh finally get more than two or thee words in for once? We’ll find out in seven.
Till then, we’ll see you next time everypony!