Animated Atrocities: Parental Glideance

Show: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Episode: S7 E7
Year: 2017

Writer(s): Josh Hamilton
Director(s): Kaylea Chard, Jae Harm


I'm not even going to beat around the bush here, this episode might very well be the worst in the entire series! I have a lot of problems with Season 7 whether it was forcing Starlight Glimmer into episodes where she didn't belong or putting the idea of lore and mythology over an actual story giving us a terrible arc and the worst season finale in the show. But to me, the worst episodes of MLP: Friendship Is Magic will ALWAYS be the ones that manage to either completely botch a lesson or successfully teach a fucked up and reprehensible lesson! Now I'm a lot smarter than some people, and truly believe children are smarter than we give them credit for and that they won't automatically take to everything they see or hear at a young age. With that said, telling them shit like this just...

 "UNACCEPTABLLLLE!!!!!!"


MLP: Friendship Is Magic has always been a show aimed at children, particularly little kids in the preschool-first grade area, and there's are things you just don't tell kids, especially when you don't know how to properly teach that moral. "Dragon Quest" wanted to teach that boys don't always have to be masculine by depicting boys (or dragons) as brutish thugs who won't hesitate to murder. "One Bad Apple" states that going to an adult is the first and ONLY step needed to stop a bully when in reality many of them can't or won't do jack shit! This episode teaches what I believe to be the worst lesson in the entire series beyond the shows flimsy and limp-handed method of the quick redemption and easy forgiveness.


I now understand why Rainbow Dash moved to Ponyville on her birthday... her parents are fucking NUTS! Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles aren't exactly the worst parents I've ever seen in a children's cartoon, but the fact that they seem to be totally OBSESSED with their daughter to one of the unhealthiest degrees while still keeping this a Y-rated show is off-putting. There's the idea that your child means the world to you, and then there's THIS! I guess I can buy that they’d be proud of all her accomplishments, but they take it to disturbing levels. Framing one of her diapers? Really? Scootaloo... I don't think you want that in your scrapbook... it'll ruin the sandwich...


Ah yes, Scootaloo... I know she's a fangirl over Rainbow Dash and everything to the point of making a fan club for her, but there’s a key difference between Scoots and Mr. and Mrs. Dash: Scootaloo is a CHILD! Scootaloo also understands things like boundaries and... personal space, concepts Bow and Windy just tune out towards their daughter! I feel the same way towards this episode in the same way Mr. Enter feels about the SpongeBob atrocity episode "Boating Buddies": there's just an ever-present claustrophobic vibe whenever Bow and Windy are on-screen as we delve more and more into their obsession because that's what they have… an OBSESSION! Yeah, I have no problems calling this the most disturbing episode of the show... the tour of their house feels like something out of a horror fanfic.


One of the biggest problems is that throughout the episode, we don't really learn anything about Bow and Windy beyond their obsession with their daughter! Even in other episodes with one-shot ponies, we are given much more to what the episode uses them for! For reals though, what ARE Bow and Windy into besides praising their daughter? I don't know... and it honestly makes them worse for this.


I find it very hard to believe that Bow and Windy didn’t know that Rainbow Dash is a Wonderbolt considering that's been her DREAM SINCE CHILDHOOD! You think they'd have been keeping tabs on that considering they live in CLOUDSDALE! They seem like the type to stalk out that sort of info... although if they had known prior to Scootaloo telling them... yeah... I understand that their obsessiveness and childish behavior is supposed to be comedic, but I don't find this funny or endearing in the slightest. Quite honestly, this episode makes me SICK with how Bow and Windy hang on their daughter every moment like leeches screeching in the bleachers! Their presence during very delicate and precise drill instructions is a major distraction, and they don't think that MAYBE it's a good idea NOT to shout and cheer like this is a game of buckball?! Or maybe they are right because the Wonderbolts suck! I mean, beyond the awful hazing, these guys are not an efficient military force in any way!


Still, I've gone over this before: there's a time and a place for this sort of behavior, and you're expected to act a certain way while in public! ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE AN ADULT! This is one of only TWO episodes where Rainbow Dash is indisputably in the right, and she gets shit on for it in both! While I fundamentally disagree with the episode "Newbie Dash" for how it's so lax about the militaries terrible treatment of recruits, this episode is actively insulting! Rainbow Dash has every right to be angry and resentful and kick her parents out of her life for their awful behavior! Their behavior could've gotten her or her fellow trainees seriously hurt! But beyond that, I think Rainbow Dash realizes that this constant praise has warped her!


When you praise someone for getting last place like they got first, that's not healthy. When you praise someone for folding a towel, that's not healthy! When you're CONSTANLY PRAISING SOMEONE like they just won an award over every little thing they do, you need some serious therapy! There's a point where you have to be able to explain to your children about the concept of losing and the prospect of doing better next time. Losing will hurt, but the pain fades with time, and you'll always have that next shot someday maybe. How do you think the Chicago Cubs felt losing so many World Series believing in that curse? But they still didn't give up, and they finally broke their bad streak! You can't shower someone constant praise over the mundane, especially on this level! THIS! THIS is the type of behavior that leads to inferiority or superiority complexes!


The ending legitimately pisses me off because Rainbow Dash was right in being so harsh to her parents! Sometimes a harsh tone is necessary! Anger is necessary! Frustration is necessary! When dealing with people like this, you CANNOT back down! When you deal with or learn of things that are serious problems in your life like abuse or sexual assault, you cannot be anything but upfront and furious towards the people causing it! You have to do this to let the people affected know that this is not ok! You act like this to tell the people DOING THIS isn't ok! Calling what Bow and Windy have been doing abuse might seem ridiculous to some, but you must remember this: abuse comes in all flavors and varieties. Sometimes the abusers aren't even aware of what they're doing, sometimes it can come in the form of high expectations, there's times where abuse goes down to an emotional and psychological level like here! I can see Bow and Windy's content praises as nothing short of harmful towards their daughter and the root cause of her inferiorities and ego.


What this episode is trying to teach, more specifically, what it's trying to teach CHILDREN—LITTLE CHILDREN—is telling them to shut the fuck up and accept their parents' behavior no matter what! That you shouldn't expect your parents to behave like human beings when in a public setting, to expect them to behave with DIGNITY OR HUMANITY! "Hurricane Fluttershy" taught the moral that this episode SHOULD'VE BEEN a corollary to: that you should still persevere and not give up even if you're going to lose or have lost. This blames Rainbow Dash for her parents’ behavior! It absolved Bow and Windy for any and all of their obnoxious behavior throughout the episode and for warping their daughter! And if you can't tell how fucked up this is… well, that's on you, mate.


Cringe-Inducing Audio: 5
Cringe-Inducing Visuals: 0
Lackluster Writing: 7
Annoyance: 10
Disturbing Content: 7
Unnecessary Cruelty: 8
Rancid Morality: 10
Low Production Values: 0
Unforutnate Implications: 8
Character Derailment: 6

Final Score: 61/100


My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro and DHX Media.

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