Rainbow Falls

Rainbow Falls
Story: Rainbow Dash has to choose between flying with her Ponyville friends and the Wonderbolts when Soarin injures his wing at the Equestria Games qualification race. Even though the setup, while contrived, is pretty good, everything beyond that is just DESPICABLE! There's unnecessary sub-plots, unnecessary dialogue, and some of the characters are written as ASSHOLES! And yes, the ending is what we expect, but everything before it just leaves a bad after-taste. I have nothing else to say about the story, other than it deserves a 1.5.

Characters: As I said before, some of the characters are written as unlikeable assholes in this episode. Let's start with Rainbow Dash: she keeps switching back and forth between helping Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps for the qualification race and practicing with Spitfire and Fleetfoot until she decides to fake being injured to avoid not choosing. This was not the same Dash we saw in Wonderbolt Academy, or Friendship is Magic Part 2, or any other episode where she keeps her loyalty to her friends. Next, the Wonderbolts: Spitfire and Fleetfoot abandon their teammate Soarin when he injures his wing, then ask Rainbow Dash to abandon HER team and replace Soarin. That's incredibly out of character for them, especially considering that the Wonderbolts operate like the military. So you can imagine how that kind of disrespect paints a character as an asshole. Twilight's performance is just as bad too, by telling Rainbow Dash that she can make her own choice, when the right thing to do would be to come straight out and say, "Hey, your friends need you, don't join the Wonderbolts' team." The rest of the main 6 are just there for filler, having no real purpose other than to show what would happen if they were Flanderized. But, the only character I really did like throughout this train-wreck was Bulk Biceps, only because his comedy was the only thing I laughed at. But even with that, it doesn't save the rest of the characters from earning a 1.5.

Ending Morals: Rainbow Dash learns that while she likes winning, she'll always choose her friends over winning any day. While it's a good moral, it's not one that Rainbow Dash needed to learn, because she already knew it. It's only in there to serve the contrivances of the episode. If anything, the Wonderbolts were the ones who needed to learn a lesson here. Though technically, they did when Rainbow Dash chose her friends at the end, but this episode wasn't about them, so it doesn't count, which means the moral gets a 1.5.

Final thoughts: If Putting your Hoof Down was the episode that almost ruined Fluttershy, Rainbow Falls was the one that almost ruined Rainbow Dash. The story was poorly written, the moral left a bad after-taste in the end, and it does something I'd never expect: corrupt Rainbow Dash to the point of indifference. Making her indifferent in this episode was perhaps the worst mistake this show could make. All I can say is that I hope this season has a Hurricane Fluttershy to fix this mess. Final Score - 4.5/15