I tend to stay away from episode spoilers so that each episode is new and exciting for me. It wasn't hard to guess that this episode was going to deal with Rainbow Dash due to the title "Rainbow Falls," and that filled me with a little bit of dread. Previous episodes focusing on Rainbow were hit-or-miss for me. Some I enjoyed quite a lot ("Fall Weather Friends" is still one of my favorite episodes), while others were not so great, like "Daring Don't." So when I first watched this episode, I didn't expect anything from it, either good or bad.
The Equestria Games are continuing to be a plot point in this season, with this episode focusing on Rainbow Dash building a team to participate in a racing event. This makes sense for her character. She likes speed and she likes competition. Which makes the fact that her team is made up of the two weakest fliers in all of Ponyville strange. What makes it stranger is that Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps are made out to be worse fliers than how they were previously shown.
Fluttershy isn't much of a competitor. She can at least competently fly, though. Here in "Rainbow Falls," she has problems simply hovering a few inches off the ground. This episode takes place after "Hurricane Fluttershy," which means that this episode takes place after Fluttershy put in a lot of training in order to due her part to help her town.
This episode also takes place after "Wonderbolt Academy," where Bulk Bicep's flying skill was shown. It's safe to assume from the opening of "Wonderbolt Academy" that in order to get into the school, a pegasus has to go through an application process. This means that potential students have to be able to perform well enough to get in and be able to handle the rigorous training that it takes to become a Wonderbolt. Bulk Biceps was in this school, and he was able to perform as well as any other student. Now, he's being taken out of commission by a stray apple brown betty.
Yet here in "Rainbow Falls," he can't control the direction he's flying in and can barely get off the ground. Despite his tiny wings, he's still capable of flight as seen in previous episodes, but now he's made out to be the absolute worst in all of Ponyville.
Where's any of the pegasi that were seen in "Hurricane Fluttershy"? Yes, two pegasi had an explanation that they couldn't take part in the race because they were already competing in another event. But there were so many other pegasi seen wandering around Ponyville, but none of them were willing to be part of a team with Dash?
A lot of the other Ponyville ponies were shown to be rather incompetent compared to previous experience. Rarity, the costume designer, has shown that she understands that Dash likes sleek designs that won't slow her down in flight even while wearing clothes. But in "Rainbow Falls," Rarity creates just the oddest dress that would only hinder Ponyville in flight.
This whole situation makes Ponyville look like a giant fish out of the water when it comes to the Equestria Games. Ponyville does have athletes to participate in the Equestria Games for other events. The two pegasi on the train showed that. So it's just odd to see that everything is riding on Rainbow Dash winning this one gold medal for the town. If Dash winning the gold for Ponyville was so important to the entire town, then why isn't the support for the relay fliers better? Cloudsdale is just a better prepared team because flying is what they do. That's why the Wonderbolts were chosen for the relay race. The Wonderbolts are a team who can work together under various situations, whether that's fighting a dragon or playing sports. Cloudsdale throws everything behind the team because that's Cloudsdale. They fly. Ponyville has several different athletes to support when it comes to the Equestria Games.
Take Bulk Biceps for example. His cutie mark and body shape show that weight training is his passion. It's what he does. It's what he loves so much that it's his cutie mark, and the question is raised as to why Bulk Biceps doesn't take part in a weight-lifting competition, which fits him better.
Then again, having Dash be the one to make the choice between the two teams worked better to develop her character. When she decided not to choose between Cloudsdale and Ponyville, I liked that scene because it shows that she doesn't want to hurt either side of friends. She's loyal to everyone.
It's not until her conversation with Soarin in the hospital that we see that Dash is really loyal to her beliefs. She likes things fair and honest. We saw it before in "Wonderbolts Academy" and we see it again here. When she finds out that the Wonderbolts are liars, she breaks herself away from the team to the side that's more honest and willing to listen to her more positive leadership ideas.
Speaking of honesty, Applejack is still hilarious this season with her blunt self. "They just got better aim!" had me laughing. I also enjoyed her expression at the end of the episode where she just munches on a brown betty. It's like she knew Dash was going to make time and had no reason to worry. Also, there was her feeding Dash a brown betty in the hospital to make Dash feel better. I just absolutely love Applejack and Rainbow Dash together, and any scenes that show their friendship is an absolute delight to me.
We're getting into the tinier details here.
Pinkie Pie's cheering made me regret watching this episode with headphones on. I'm really hoping that the show takes better care of Pinkie's characterization through the rest of season four instead of just making her into a wacky random yelling character, but the Discord episode squashed some hope of that. Maybe another episode actually focusing on her will be better. Please.
This episode is actually the first one that I ever watched in full screen mode. I'm glad I did. Rainbow Falls is a beautiful location. Seeing the animation better showed just how good it is, and I can appreciate more the work that goes into each episode.
Animation-wise, Bulk Biceps was adorable. I love how he could quickly shift from a tough persona to his gentler self. His dialogue began to grate on me towards the end of the episode. If he returns in future episodes in the background with as wide a range of expressions as he had here, I'd be happy.
For returning ponies, I loved Bubbles's reappearance! She was adorable, like when she dropped the flag or just shrugged at Twilight's comment. Bubble's use shows in her own way how Ponyville's team was relying on Dash. I'm really hoping that Bubbles continues in this manner, especially since she was part of the group shot at the end of the episode. If she's this well-handled again, I'll join the "more Bubbles" team.
The team of griffons made me happy. I'm hoping that they'll use them again, or that even Gilda makes a return.
Dash is still awesome in shades. My feelings that everyone looks better in glasses holds true even for multi-colored ponies.
"Rainbow Falls" was fun romp through a new location in the series and it helped to further the season's story. But it's an episode better enjoyed with the mind more turned off, since actually thinking about the episode ruins some of the fun.
