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Poll MLP:FIM S09E06 - "Common Ground" (Spoilers)

Episode Grade

  • A

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • A-

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  • B+

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  • B

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • B-

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • C+

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  • C

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  • C-

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • D+

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  • D

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  • D-

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  • F

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  • Total voters
    2
A

Amaris

Guest
Episode Name: "Common Ground"
Air Date: May 4th, 2019 @ 10:30 AM (ET)

Where You Can Watch Live:
Spazz
Otaku Ascended Live
Brony Network
Brony State
Brony TV
S&B Network

Summary: Rainbow Dash's old pal Quibble Pants needs help to bond with the daughter of his new special friend because she's a sports pony, too.

Ruminations: Quibble Pants is back! Which means we get Patton Oswalt guest starring once again. Ooh, this sounds like it's going to be as fun as "Stranger than Fanfiction" was. It seems that Quibble Pants has found himself a special somepony, and needs Dash's help to woo her by getting in good with her daughter. Well, if you were shipping Quibble Pants and Dash, sorry folks. Don't stop, though, because when has show canon stopped any of us?

On to the episode!
 
SPOILERS!




So it seems that Buckball has finally caught on as a major sport in Equestria, and Appleoosa has built the first sports arena dedicated to it, along with a hall of fame. Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Snails are there to play against Appleoosa's team, while Rainbow Dash is there in Applejack's place and promised to tour the new museum and tell her all about it. Snips is also in tow with his friend Snails.

Dash goes to wait for the museum to open and sees a tent camped out in front. Of course it ends up being Quibble Pants (Patton Oswalt), who is there to show the daughter of his new special somepony that he is just as athletic and sporty as her father, who is no longer in the picture (whether divorced or deceased I'm not sure).

Quibble Pants has no actual knowledge of sports, or any kind of sports skill, so when his gift of a sports stats book to Clear Sky's (his special somepony, voiced by Meredith Salenger, Patton Oswalt's wife) daughter Wind Sprint (voiced by Alice Oswalt, Patton's real daughter) bombs, he secretly enlists Rainbow Dash to help him. So while Clear Sky and Wind head off to the game, Dash has an idea to find out Quibble's sports ability and help him gain the good will of his special somepony's daughter.

After attempting a marathon, an impromptu game of buckball, even weight lifting, Dash and Quibble find out rather quickly that he has no skill or talent in sports.

Dash's second plan is to get him and Wind Sprint into the game itself together. So after Ponyville wins the game, they hold a "fan match" which just happens to include Quibble and Wind, along with Snips as an assist for the third player. Of course, even with the Ponyville team going SUPER easy on him, Quibble manages to flail and flop every time, only managing to make one goal, and it was the other team's basket.

All of this has made Wind angry, and she storms off. Clear Sky tells Quibble he needs to stop trying so hard and that they need to rethink things. She leaves to find her daughter. Quibble assumes that this means his very relationship is in jeopardy, and it's the last straw. A few minutes later, Dash finds him outside the hall of fame building, reading the sports stats book, and he finally comes clean that he isn't sporty, doesn't know anything about sports, and that Sky and Wind are better off without him.

Rainbow Dash convinces him that he needs to be honest with Wind Sprint, and maybe open up to learning from her, since she does know so much about sports. They find Sky and Wind in the museum, and Quibble tells the whole truth to Wind, explaining that he doesn't know anything about sports, but he wants to learn, and if Wind would teach him. She opens up to this idea, and they go to watch the next match between Ponyville and Appleoosa.

While they watch, Wind points out what the plays mean, which basket is the other team's, and Quibble points out that Pinkie's about to make a play and score. When she does, Wind is surprised, and Quibble explains that the book of stats shows Pinkie Pie's statistical plays. Wind starts to warm up to him when she reads Fluttershy's stats and realize she will score. When she does, this convinces her that maybe books are okay, and she moves to sit in between Quibble and her mother (I totally didn't tear up at this scene). When Quibble thinks Clear Sky might want to leave him, she corrects him saying she meant that he should have been rethinking the idea of trying to get his friends to make him look good, which he and Rainbow Dash abjectly deny, though it's clear they're guilty. She loves him, and it's clear that Wind has already been warming up to him, and the episode ends on a high, happy note.

Firstly, Patton, his daughter Alice, and his new wife Meredith are wonderful. I love this for a whole different reason that the episode itself, but because Patton and his daughter faced a terrible tragedy when his first wife, Michelle, died in 2016.

Secondly, his daughter is so adorable, both here and in real life, and I just love how their dynamic adds to the overall characterization. This has some great lessons in it (you don't have to try hard to be loved and accepted, just be yourself), and great chemistry between the Oswalt family that shows up on screen.

The story itself is a sweet slice of life, and I had fun watching it. It's great to see our ponies just living, and that we see more continuity is always enjoyable. Put it all together, and you get a great episode. A+.
 
Couldn't have said it better! A+ here too.
Thank you! :D

I always enjoy slice of life episodes more than huge adventure ones, because I'd rather huge adventures be saved for premieres and finales. I mean, we are going to have the most epic of finales for this season, since it's the last, so I say let's see some more slice of life, and savor as much as we can while it's still here.
 
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