While Rainbow Dash is a great character when written well and her relationship is Scootaloo likewise, it took until now for 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic' to introduce the viewer to the rest of her family. Very different to other Mane 6 characters, with Applejack's family being frequent recurring characters. Was worried about it being Wonderbolt Academy-set, with those episodes' track record of the supporting characters being so unlikeable (Season 6's "Newbie Dash" anyone?).
Despite the hate it's gotten from some fans, "Parental Glideance" to me actually was a very good episode and better than the previous two. Can understand why though some would find the parents annoying (personally didn't think so, though their behaviour was certainly over the top) and even more so the issues people had with Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash's anger reactions or their opinions on whether they were justified (agree mostly with this). So if people didn't like "Parental Glideance", that is not going to be held against them. It did though work for me, because it was great to have insight into Rainbow Dash's family and it was a scenario that actually resonated.
"Parental Glideance" is not quite great. Bow and Windy's over-eager behaviour is admittedly overdone, something that even the writers and most of the other characters acknowledge, and even those who have also experienced this in real life will cringe in their seats. So there was sympathy felt for Rainbow Dash here, being somebody that gets embarrassed at times when past videos of me in concert are shown.
The biggest issue is how Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash's anger is written, some have argued that one was not justified and the other was. To me, neither were justifiable though one was more understandable. Scootaloo's comes completely out of nowhere and to me it wasn't really for any reason seeing she was oblivious to the behaviour and the only one to be so. Rainbow Dash's was a little more understandable if one is in her position, but it had no tact whatsoever and in real life nobody could condone her saying something that is incredibly hurtful and for some unforgivable.
However, "Parental Glideance" has many excellent qualities. It is very nicely animated, with vibrant colours, meticulous attention to detail and character designs that are a lot more nuanced and not near as over-sweet as one fears. The facial expressions are done very well. The music has character and atmosphere, adding a lot to the mood and not being at odds with it. The voice acting from particularly Ashleigh Ball is excellent.
Furthermore, the writing is funny and often touching and mature. The story is exuberantly paced and immensely engaging, the embarrassment was fun to watch somewhat and did like how the problem was resolved with Rainbow Dash learning from her mistakes and wanting to make amends. While the characterisation is not perfect, most of it is extremely good and a great job is done with the character interaction. Rainbow Dash up to that part was easy to relate to as was Scootaloo who also had some illuminating development. Bow and Windy are mostly entertaining and just loved how supportive they are, it was great to see insight into Rainbow Dash's family and it was great to see the Wonderbolt characters not being jerks for the first time since forever.
In conclusion, very well done. 8/10.
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