Due
to her heroic deeds, Rainbow Dash gains a reputation as a hero. But
she soon grows jealous when a new hero arrives in Ponyville and upstages
her.
Simply put, “The Mysterious Mare
Do Well” is a parody of the superhero genre. It pokes fun at almost
everything it can. From a superhero not saving anyone 'til after
saying her catchphrase, to the hill where baby carriages
inexplicably careen down and so much more. This episode is focused on
Rainbow Dash, which makes the most sense since she's the one most
likely to let it all go to her head (she might be tied with Rarity).
“The
Mysterious Mare Do Well” starts with a meeting of the Rainbow Dash
fan club. The scene perfectly demonstrates Rainbow Dash's enjoyment of
attention and having fans, while also showing that she doesn't always
have to rush in and demand center stage. I personally think it's a
great setup. From there the show moves to showing Rainbow Dash just
relaxing and having a great time, when suddenly there's a scream for
help. Rainbow Dash rushes in and rescues the young pony. And so it
begins. Emergency after emergency arises and each time, she rushes in and
saves the day. At first she's a bit taken aback by the attention it
gets her, in fact she's even a bit modest. But that quickly fades and
soon she's soaking up all the attention she can get. Her pride
reaches critical level when she gets complacent, and it's only a matter of time before the fall. This comes in the form of the
mysterious Mare Do Well, a costumed hero who keeps managing to save the day before Rainbow Dash. Each time the newcomer gets more and more attention, with Rainbow Dash becoming more and more jealous. This leads to Rainbow
Dash rushing off trying to find an emergency during a peaceful day,
and then finally resorting to trying to chase the costumed hero around Ponyville and unmask her.
This
episode is hilarious; I
haven't laughed so hard in awhile. Being a parody it's highly exaggerated to the
point of being semi-ridiculous, especially when all the emergencies
happened. It made Ponyville seem like a very dangerous place. However
it's held together and kept believable thanks to the characters, all
of which are perfectly portrayed as usual. I've also noticed that
this show is getting better and better at facial expressions both
serious and silly. I like the fact that Rainbow Dash has her own fan
club. I'm not surprised that Scootaloo is a member (I suspect she may
have started it), but I was surprised by how many members it had.
Rainbow Dash sure is popular! Another thing that interested me was
when a crane malfunctioned. It made me wonder the exact extent of the technology they have in the land of Equestria, and not for the first time.
The only thing this episode was missing was a cheesy over-the-top
villain, but oh well. Also the real identity of the mysterious Mare
Do Well was a bit obvious in my opinion. Not that they made it really
obvious or anything, I just watch a lot of T.V.
When
this episode was over, I had a big smile on my face that lasted for
awhile. I really enjoyed this one. It had a nice lesson at the end
about not being too prideful. Beyond fans of the series I recommend
this episode to fans of the superhero genre as well, even if said fan
doesn't normally like this show, since it has a lot of fun with its
parody.
