Discussion Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E16ReadItAndWeep

Also removed:

• Breather Episode: Dash reads a book, and... scene.

Breather from what? The intense darkness and action of the surrounding equally light episodes?

If you want to express an opinion like "nothing happened in this episode", write a review or something. I don't know if that's the reason here, but in general people seem to keep trying to find tropes to express their complaint or other opinion about a work, which is not how it works.

• Doctor Jerk: More like Doctor Stern; Doctor Caramel is a bit of a hard-ass, especially when Rainbow Dash tried faking illness. Justified, since he could tell Rainbow was malingering; he has an obligation to free up resources for ponies who need them; and up until that point Rainbow had hated being there.

"Trope: Well, it's actually not this trope. Also not for this and this reason."

• Even the Rats Won't Touch It: Not surprisingly, the hospital food given to Rainbow Dash. It looks plain enough, but when she starts eating it, even the gelatin looks as if it were made of red gruel.

There were vermin in the hospital? I don't think so, but correct me if I'm wrong. (Also, it probably only looked unappetising because of the way she ate it, but that's not relevant since the trope description specifies vermin.)

• Faux Shadow: The Bandage Mummy pony who shares the room with Rainbow Dash gets a few minutes of focus but has little relevance to the plot.

This one is open to debate, but what focus? He's just part of the scenery and a couple of jokes. None of it looks like foreshadowing to me.

• Faux Horrific: The entire crux of the plot. A non-egghead being into reading? Perish the thought!
  • Also, when Rainbow Dash is discovered after sneaking into the hospital, the patient thinks she was trying to steal his slippers.
    • Which causes a chase involving Dr. Caramel, two nurses, a number of hospital security guards, and the barking patient.

The trope is about faux horror. You know, as in scariness.

• Made of Iron: The ponies exhibit this quite often, but this episode really drives it home. Rainbow's wing is shown on the x-ray clearly with a fracture, yet was released after only a few days without even a cast.

The trope is about not getting hurt in the first place, not fast healing, so this episode is actually an aversion. I checked whether this could be Hollywood Healing instead, but apparently not.

• Not So Above It All: Rainbow Dash initially scoffs at the idea that reading is fun, but she eventually gives in when the boredom becomes too much to handle.

What, she's being the one who's above the craziness (which is not the Straight Man, mind, even though that page uses that term incorrectly) because she won't read? Nothing to do with the trope.

• Wrongful Accusation Insurance: Rainbow Dash may have convinced everyone that she wasn't trying to steal a patient's slippers, but the fact remains that she should still be in trouble for breaking and entering into the hospital after hours to steal hospital property (the book).
  • Well, more just "entering" than "breaking". And she did at first just try to finish reading the book where she found it (under the bed), and only after she was suddenly busted did she combine her denial of slipper stealing with her reflexive grasp on the book into "...I'm stealing this book!"

Wrongful Accusation Insurance: "A wrongly accused character isn't charged for crimes they committed to prove their innocence." Rainbow Dash did not... do I really have to spell this out?

• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Not word-for-word, but Daring's expression clearly said this.

This might sound a bit surprising (though not if you're in the habit of actually reading trope descriptions), but Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? isn't about snakes, not even not liking snakes, but about someone having a particular thing they're scared of. So it hasn't got anything to do with this. It's not like Daring Do never looks scared at all except when seeing the snakes.

• Temporarily a Villain: Rainbow Dash becomes this when she sneaks into the hospital at night, goes into a room she was previously in, while other patients are sleeping there, to steal the Daring Do book she knows is there, waking and frightening one of the patients and setting off the burglar alarms... and instead of coming clean about what she did, trying to get away. note
  Once she gets caught, however, she explains why she wanted to steal it, and then the scene cuts to Rainbow being given a Daring Do book inside Twilight's house, implying that she didn't get in further trouble and that the hospital security let her go.

This is another one (only the second one so far) I could actually see some debate about, but it's hardly villainous... minus the patient she didn't know about, she could have just sneaked into the hospital, read a book there under the bed and sneaked out. And trying to run away when caught is just gut instinct, not to mention that she didn't want to explain what she was doing because she was ashamed of it. Even if she had planned to do it all more like considering all that mentioned above in hindsight, it still wouldn't be more than rather unlawful and inconsiderate, the worst part being stealing a book.

I liked "Read It And Weep", but I also felt it was a weaker episode that relied too much on the Show-Within-A-Show factor. I think an *actual* action-adventure episode featuring the Main 6 would have been better. Of course, I'd also like to see multi-episode story arcs, but now I'm wishing for a pie in the sky.

It seems like the fans on TV Tropes hate the episode a lot more than the ones I've seen on Ponychan or Equestria Daily, for whatever reason. I happened to like it. Maybe it's just a Vocal Minority.

It usually is.

Do you have to be a book lover to get it? Twilight's reaction to the events is the one that makes sense to me.

That aspect was downplayed more for the "don't knock it until you try it" aesop, but it's still there and Rainbow Dash is still an easy Audience Surrogate.

(Oops.)

She does sound slightly like Rainbow Dash at points. My guess is Ashleigh voices her, and just made her voice less scratchy for Daring Do.

People have been saying she sounds like Spitfire; maybe it's her VA?

It sounded a lot like Ashleigh's normal speaking voice to me, without the scratch she pumps in for RD.

Jason Theissan said he couldn't remember what the persons name was off the top of his head and that this was so far the only time that VA has worked on the show.

Good point. So what should her name be? I'm partial to the idea that she's a relative of Trixie (Trixie's trying to raise the money to pay for her psychiatric treatment.)

Ruff Stuff?

I think it's inescapable that her name be Barking Mad, vibe or no vibe.

Barking Mad, Ponyville's dog obedience trainer and "puppy drill sergeant". KA-HEADCANON!

Barking's Cutie Mark? A dog whistle.

YES. I like where this is going.

Why are we arguing about naming a background pony here? The result will be decided elsewhere and we really don't need to include a name on the page anyways.

I'm the one who came up with Screw Loose. Personally, I think Barking Mad is a better name, so I'm willing to accept the change. Screw Loose could be misconstrued. However, for the OP, the name is irrelevant. The fact that the cutie mark is a screw already gives the vibe PC is worried about (haha, see what I did there?) Barking Mad is fine.

Surely Filthy Rich is wealthy enough that his wife needn't work. And the roommate appears to be male.

That she doesn't need to work doesn't mean she might not still do work anyway. She might've worked before they got married and enjoy it even though she doesn't need to work.

It could also explain why Tiara acts out- Her dad's a nice enough pony, so we know she's not emulating him. But what if her mom's preoccupation with helping other ponies means she doesn't spend much time with her daughter? The Tiara's going to associate being nice with the feeling of loneliness, which would manifest as being a total brat.

Hmmmmmmm.

Speaking of the doctor, can anyone confirm who did his voice? I swear it sounld like Paul F Tompkins, but I can't find any information about it anywhere.

Let me throw down the WMG that Screwball is Tiara's sister, and their mother works in the hospital to keep an eye on her, something that Tiara resents because of the lack of attention being focused on her.