Episode Reviews: Just for Sidekicks

And so we get another Spike episode. Let's prepare for the suck as we get into “Just for Sidekicks.”

TECHNICAL SPECS:

Season: 3

Episode: 8*

Written By: Corey Powell

First Aired: January 26, 2013

* This was the eighth episode in production order, but the eleventh aired. It also ties into the twelfth, so it doesn't make as much sense if viewed out of that order.

SUMMARY:

Spike decides it's time to bake himself a gemstone cake, while Owlowiscious watches over him and hoots. Unfortunately, the little dragon forgets to not touch the decorations, and ends up eating all the gemstones before he can even finish mixing the batter. Just as this leaves him in despair, Fluttershy and Angel arrive, reminding him that he's once again been uninvited to another important event in Twilight's life – in this case, the Mane 6's trip to the Crystal Empire to set up the Equestria Games. Fluttershy, however, needs somepony to take care of Angel, and is willing to offer Spike a big gem in exchange. This sets off Spike's greed once again, and he accepts the job...but not without thinking about the other pets he could be paid for...

Before long, all of the Mane 6 have entrusted their critters to Spike for safekeeping, despite Twilight's belief that Spike isn't really ready to watch over six critters. Her fears are well-justified, as Spike isn't the least bit interested in actually taking care of the pets; he just wants the gems for his cake. But as soon as the ponies leave, the animals begin to run amok, spreading chaos and disorder across the entire library. Spike tries to restore order, but Angel escapes, forcing Spike to get dragged along by the other pets to find him.

They spot Angel in the CMC Clubhouse, where the fillies were just about to go for their skydiving Cutie Marks. Sensing an opportunity to get rid of the pets, Spike offers to let them take care of the animals and get a petsitting Cutie Mark, and they agree...but they need something to pay for the supplies. And thus, Spike loses a gem.

A few moments later, however, the CMC have already failed, and Spike is forced to pick up the pets to save their lives. On the way back, though, Spike gets tangled up to a tree with their leashes, prompting a visit from a nearby Zecora. She offers to help deal with Spike's bad mojo, in exchange for a gem...which she then donates to a nearby Filly Scout to alleviate his greed. And when he decides to roll them all in a Katamari ball, he runs into Granny Smith, who he has to bribe to keep quiet. Even worse, Angel takes the opportunity to jump onto the train to the Crystal Empire, and Spike needs chaperones and tickets to get on. Fortunately, the CMC are nearby, so he grabs them and pays with another gemstone, leaving only two.

He manages to grab Angel, but not before the train departs. Even worse, the pets escape again during the ride and jump Doughnut Joe's doughnut cart, costing him another gem. He tries to trap them all in the car until the train departs, but the CMC tickle him with a feather and Angel dropkicks Tank through the door. Even worse, the Mane 6 are on the platform to go back to Ponyville, and Angel centers in on Fluttershy. With no way to catch him, Spike sacrifices his last gem to take out the latch holding a giant pile of luggage (probably Rarity's) together, causing an avalanche that blocks the bunny's path. Unfortunately, the Mane 6 decide to sit in the same car Spike, the pets and the CMC are hiding in, forcing them to say under the seats to avoid detection. But again, Angel is a dick, and is ready to expose them all to spite Spike...

But then Spike hears Twilight talking about how good a leader he's be, and he gives up. Spike tells Angel to go ahead and reveal them, since it's his fault for not doing his job. This gets Angel to finally stop being a jerk, and he even runs out to grab the last gemstone to stop Spike's stomach from rumbling. They make it back to Ponyville undetected, and fake a surprise train station reunion. Unfortunately, karma still has one last trick for Spike; just as he gets back to the library, he eats his last gemstone...and lets out a mighty scream to the heavens.

REVIEW:

The episode gets off to a great start by showing that rarest of all FiM things: continuity. Remember Peewee, Spike's little baby phoenix that he kidnapped? The very first thing the episode does is address this little plot point, as a series of photos reveal that Spike gave the little guy back to his parents. While it's a bit sad that the one positive thing from “Dragon Quest” is gone, I can see the two being reunited down the road, perhaps when both of the little guys are grown up. A phoenix would still be a great pet for a dragon like Spike, especially when he's fated to outlive his pony friends.

We also get Owlowiscious here, and...well, he's improved. He actually has a bit of a personality here, unlike in his first episode; he feels like he's emulating Twilight a bit, pointing out Spike's stupidity in eating all the gems he needs for the cake. If you have ever baked anything with a small child, you have been here; always keep a spatula over the chocolate chips to thwack away unwelcome grubby little fingers, and you'll be fine. I also loved Spike's little song as he sinks into total depression over his sweet tooth.

There is one other major bit of continuity that needs to be addressed, however, and it's probably the weakest part of the episode's setup for me. Fluttershy and the others are going to the Crystal Empire to meet with the head of the Equestria Games committee. Guess what the next episode is about. Yep, these two are intertwined, with the two episodes occurring parallel to each other. (I guess we'll talk more about that in two weeks.) Of course, Angel needs no introduction; he's still just as big a jerk to Spike as ever, but then he runs into Owlowiscious. Fun fact: owls eat rabbits, and it's obvious that Owlowiscious is not going to take Angel's crap sitting down. We also get to see the return of Spike's greed, as he begins to think of a way to get new gems to eat before putting them in a cake.

The scene with Rainbow Dash and Rarity reintroduces us to Tank, still flying around with his little propeller harness. Unfortunately, he's not very good with it, crashing into walls, banging his head against the well, and constantly flipping on his back...but not before he can drum up some adorable points by licking Rainbow Dash's face and making her blush. We also already know Opalescence, and Rarity's Twilight-sized list of steps and precautions in taking care of her makes it pretty clear how she got to be as bad as she is. Rarity just can't help but spoil her little devil cat.

Oh, and the pony who represents Generosity? She gives just a tiny shard of a gemstone. Of course, this is Spike, so he's not going to object to his beloved's selfless act. Still, it's balanced by having Spike ignore Opal and Tank going at it, again revealing his true intentions with this whole exercise.

The Pinkie scene is just there to remind me of how awesome Gummy is, which is sad because he doesn't have a whole lot to do in the episode. Still, Pinkie's interactions with him are just perfect here, as Gummy just don't give a buck about what's going on and she's super-hyper-active as always. Unfortunately, we don't get to see his actions with Applejack, but she apparently agreed to let Spike take care of Winona as long as she gets plenty of exercise. Twilight, of course, sees through this charade almost immediately, but agrees to let Spike take care of Owlowiscious anyway. And thus we get a scene of pure adorableness, as our faithful heroes say farewell to their loyal comrades. (The best two for me are Pinkie arguing with Gummy over who loves who more and Rainbow Dash giving Tank a quick nuzzle before quickly turning away.)

Of course, the pets immediately cause chaos and destruction the minute everypony's back is turned, turning the episode into another rendition of “Baby Cakes.” That is, until Spike puts his foot down almost immediately and gets the animals in line...except for Angel. Yes, that stupid little bunny is going to be the cause of the episode's conflict. Why? Well, most of it's because he's just a flankhole, but there's two more reasons we'll get to later. Spike sets out after him immediately, using Winona as a bloodhound and getting dragged around by all the pets and their mass of leashes. Again, if you've ever tried to walk more than one dog at once, you have been here.

The CMC, surprisingly enough, also play a rather large role this episode. Angel instantly fawns over the attention they give him, both because that's what he loves and to spite Spike. Again, though, Spike decides to be lazy and greedy and pawn the pets off on them, using their Cutie Mark Crusading to get them to accept. But unfortunately for him, Apple Bloom was privy to his deal with Applejack, and knows he has gems they could use to buy pet supplies. So we get to the inevitable running gag of Spike losing the gems he had so greedily obtained. Fortunately, he gets a decent moment a bit later, where he freaks when the three start shouting about losing Tank's head. I...have to say I'm impressed with how epically the CMC fail to take care of them all, especially Owlowiscious getting covered in pink...stuff and Winona under the industrial-sized blow dryer. (And all this from the smallest gem in Spike's collection? Speaking of which, that's the one he got from Rarity, so...why did he part with it so quickly? Or is this just a side-effect of his greed?)

Spike thus saves the pets...only to get tied to a tree and run into Zecora. She offers to help deal with his bad mojo for payment...but then just donates the gem to charity. Of course, Zecora is also the most knowledgeable cast member when it comes to dragons, and she was able to identify the cause of his growth in “Secret of My Excess,” so it makes sense that she'd try to cut it off at the pass here. But then Granny Smith spies him going Katamari Damacy on the critters and forces him to pay up to keep her quiet...right as the pets escape anyway.

And so we enter the final act, with Angel boarding a train to the Crystal Empire. Spike and the animals can't board, so they grab the CMC (who were about to go skydiving off a bridge), force them to come along, and lose another gem. Unfortunately, this is also where the animals in general start to lose their importance in the episode, as it shifts to just being about Spike dealing with Angel. The CMC also don't have a huge role in events, but they do help advance some of the humor, such as when Scootaloo lets Apple Bloom pull one of her feathers so they can tickle torture Spike.

Oh, and Doughnut Joe's shop apparently went under, as he's now forced to cart doughnuts for hungry passengers aboard the Friendship Express. So sad to see such an established business fail, but that's what you get when you recycle character models.

This is also where we finally figure out (part) of Angel's problem. When he sees Fluttershy on the train platform, he immediately breaks free and charges towards her. Part of this is obviously just to get Spike in trouble, but at the same time, the dragon hasn't been the least bit interested in taking care of him. As shown with the CMC, if you shower him with affection and do your job, he's actually pretty pleasant, and now that he's stopped slapping Fluttershy so she'd make him fancy dinners, he's also much better behaved with her than anypony else. That, and he just doesn't like Spike. Remember back in “Dragonshy” how Spike utterly failed to take care of him? Yeah, it's kind of like that.

(And the first person to make a “Buffy” reference dies. Painfully.)

Fortunately for Spike, he manages to stop Angel, but now has lost everything he did this for. Even worse, he's forced to hide as the Mane 6 board the train, sitting right on top of him and the pets. And of course, Angel is still a dick...until Spike finally admits to his failing. This somehow convinces that accursed bunny to give the poor dragon a break. He even runs out and grabs the gem so that Spike's stomach won't rumble. So again, Angel actually can be a fairly nice bunny if you treat him properly, which Spike didn't do. He's still a jerk, though.

And so the episode ends with Spike learning his lesson, Sweetie Belle almost giving away the whole enterprise, and Tank spinning Opal around and around and around. But of course, Spike blows it again by eating the last gem, thus ending the episode right back where he started. Poor little guy...

CONCLUSION:

While the story itself isn't anything to scream about, the way it all comes together turns this into a near-perfect episode. Spike is in top form, being greedy but also not being openly antagonistic or evil like a lot of his other episodes. The animals are all given a good amount of personality and their own time to shine, and the way Peewee was written out is at least touching. The CMC were kind of shoehorned in, but they're also a lot of fun, and Apple Bloom shows her dominance here with Spike. There were tons of continuity nods, and I hope the next episode helps tie everything together. And need I even mention that it's funny as heck?

So yes, this is Spike's finest moment. It took five tries, but he finally got a good episode he could call his own.