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MLP:FiM S4E4 - "Daring Don't" - Grade & Discuss

Grade & Discuss

  • Total voters
    10
  • Poll closed .
A

Amaris

Guest
Episode Title: "Daring Don't"
Air Date: Dec. 7th, 2013

Summary: "Rainbow Dash and friends offer to help their favorite author, A.K. Yearling, finish her latest book."

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We get to meet the author of the Daring Do series?! Make sure to watch, grade, and discuss! :D
 
I hope I don't have to miss it tomorrow morning. I have a babysitting job! And the boys I'm watching are not Bronies. Not yet.
 
Another good episode! I thought what happened would have been an elaborate practice. Oh, how wrong I was!
 
It was a nicce mashup episode, but I really wish they hadn't gone with the angle they did on Daring Do. They de-canonised one of the comics they went to some length to make semi-canon to do something so...predictable.

And the vanishing broken leg, mane6 allowing her to the gang beaten was...what the hell?

Rainbow Dash stole the show and was the really good half of the episode, for her perfomance alone and the mane6 once they finally do something it gets a B.
 
I really liked the twist. The fangirling got a little tiresome after a while, though - and the characters not running in to help was annoying. The final act was much better, redeeming the earlier irritations somewhat, and it had a nice ending. So, B.
 
Well, that was no Castle Mane-ia, that's for sure.

Twi and Dash in a nerd-off was by far the highlight of the episode.

Whatever the other merits of the story may have been, I couldn't past that the show has been running long enough that there's no way the mane 6 aren't internationally famous. They practically specialize in saving the world, and their leader is now an alicorn princess, one of only four in existence. That issue should really come up when they barge into a celebrities house and then need to go help her defeat a legendary monster, but the character interactions are still being written like they're nobodies. "Hey, Daring, just thought I should mention -- while you're trying to reject my help -- that we're kinda Princess Celestia's go-to team for this sort of thing. And one of us is her former student and a current Princess."

I dunno. It's just really starting to feel unbelievable now.
 
To be fair, Daring Do was a complete misanthropic bitch who rejected all company and listened to nopony. She probably did know who they were and didn't care.

Which just made her character worse, she sort of lightened up at the end towards Dash and the cover was cute, the hug was very grabby and awkward, but the first time we've see another pony shove away like that.

She has issues, so I wouldn't go by her reactions.
 
Keep in mind this is the same pony who claims she can't trust anyone due to her secrets and then writes about her adventures in a mega successful best selling book series that anyone can read. She probably thought Rainbow would just get in her way and just said whatever to get her to leave. That would explain why she planned to get captured and yet still felt the need to sarcastically tell on RD when she was caught.
 
Chemahkuu said:
To be fair, Daring Do was a complete misanthropic bitch who rejected all company and listened to nopony. She probably did know who they were and didn't care.
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True, and I wouldn't have necessarily expected Daring to be the one to bring it up, especially after her house got broken into. I'm bothered more by the fact that it didn't get discussed at all, even in ways that would have made sense. Dash wanting to impress her idol and all, you think she'd trot it out.

Granted, it's been a long-standing issue with the show since Sweet and Elite at least (the entire Canterlot aristocracy doesn't know who the mane 6 are? Seriously?). It's just harder to ignore the longer the series runs.

Plus, Twi's a princess now, so where are her guards? Why doesn't she have any responsibilities? The elements are gone now, which you'd think would change how the mane 6 feel about going on these big save-the-world shindigs. Daring Do gets home to find her place trashed and an alicorn hanging out in the aftermath and she doesn't find this even slightly odd? Even she must know who and what Celestia and Luna are. It'd be like me returning home to find my computer stolen and five random guys plus Dr. Manhattan hanging out at the crime scene. You bet I'd ask who they were and what was up with the glowing blue dude.

Ultimately, after three excellent episodes where the writers showed they were at least aware of the continuity issues posed by the series' now-inelegant mythology, I had really hoped they'd carry that awareness forward and have the characters discuss these things when appropriate. I guess not.

Time for Dashface.

 
Yeah, Dash throwing herself at Do was half the fun of the episode. :lol:

As for continuity, as I said the thugs even broke her leg, she sets it in a full on splint, then it vanishes Wolverine style 5 minutes later. Larger canon only seeps into this episode when needed, it was rushed enough as it was.

And are the mane6 not worried that a villain that powerful (Twilight knowing how bad he is) is actually real and wondering around? and the one Pegasus that is there to stop her should by all rights be in the hospital more than Dash?

Well, would be, but apparently she has instant healing powers. :lol:
 
I liked the episode. It's certainly not nearly as strong as the first three episodes of this season, but you can't win them all. On the plus side, LOTS of new pony expressions and behaviors (Dash begging on her hindlegs and crawling across the floor had me in stitches), as well as total nerdgasms from both Dash and Twilight. We also now know for certain, if there was any doubt, that Daring Do is based heavily on Indiana Jones.

So for me, there was plenty of fun and excitement, even though some of the continuity and storyline skewed a bit. The ponies' reactions (primarily Dash and Twilight) make the episode. All in all, an A- for me.
 
Gep Malakai said:
CorporalClegg said:
I can't find it anywhere. :(
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Thanks a lot!

But I was kind of disappointed.

And I totally agree with you on this:
Whatever the other merits of the story may have been, I couldn't past that the show has been running long enough that there's no way the mane 6 aren't internationally famous. They practically specialize in saving the world, and their leader is now an alicorn princess, one of only four in existence. That issue should really come up when they barge into a celebrities house and then need to go help her defeat a legendary monster, but the character interactions are still being written like they're nobodies. "Hey, Daring, just thought I should mention -- while you're trying to reject my help -- that we're kinda Princess Celestia's go-to team for this sort of thing. And one of us is her former student and a current Princess."

I dunno. It's just really starting to feel unbelievable now.
Click to expand...

All in all, I'd have to go with a B. Certainly a huge let-down from last week.
 
To be fair, while the episode has flaws, it would have been near impossible for the guys at DHX to keep the previous episode levels of awesome. I think, in comparison, this one rates lower because of the levels of success found in the previous episodes. On its own, it's certainly a better than average episode, but compare it to the ones that came before it, and it just can't hold to that same level.
 
It occurred to me that, with the conceit of "AK Yearling" writing a version of the episode as her book, this would have been the perfect set up for a Rashomon-style story. I.E the published version bears no resemblance to how Dash remembers it happening, and the whole episode is told in multiple conflicting flashbacks: Dash's, Twilight's, Daring Do's, etc. They could have gotten around a lot of the problems it had if they'd added an unreliable narrator. I'd have enjoyed that.
 
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