This is your friendly Phantom of Stories here with another review and chapter of this book.
Today, I'm gonna give you guys my take of "Daring Doubt". The 21st episode in the ninth season of "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" to be precise.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Here's the rundown of it:
Having recently become a fan of the Daring Do book series after reading them herself, Fluttershy also comes upon a Daring Do book written by another author named Groom Q. Q. Martingale, which portrays the pony adventurer in an entirely different light compared to the books by A.K. Yearling (Daring Do herself).
When Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash later visit the bookstore that Martingale is autographing his books at, the two of them discover that the author is really one of Daring Do's archenemies, Caballeron, who is once again out to tarnish Daring Do's good name. Ironically, while Rainbow Dash is able to see through Caballeron's scheme, Fluttershy believes that Caballeron is displaying an entirely different side to himself. Especially after he tells her that he's an archaeologist whose museum went out of business because of Daring getting the relics before he could, despite his past actions and the fact that he's really a thief.
Convinced that he's a good pony, Fluttershy decides to aid Caballeron in recovering the lost Truth Talisman of Tonatiuh, much to Rainbow Dash's shock.
Will Caballeron and Fluttershy succeed in their quest? Or will they fail?
I'd to be honest, I didn't originally intend on making a review on an MLP installment outside of the movies and TV specials. In fact, I really planned on analyzing "Friendship is Magic" in a TV show review separated into two parts. One part for Seasons 1-7, and the other part for Seasons 8-9.
However, after I kept thinking about the episode more and more, and as I started looking back on the times I negatively commented on this episode, something began building up inside of me. What started in my head as merely small thoughts...grew into something bigger and more constructive. So much, that I decided to make my own analysis of the episode.
So, what do I think of "Daring Doubt"?
*sighs*
To be honest, I found this episode to be a mediocre end for the Daring Do saga.
Before I get into why this episode is one of my least favorites of the show, though, I'd like to point the many things I did enjoy about it.
For starters, the humor and comedic-timings revolving around the Truth Talisman and the ponies wearing it were nicely done and funny. As a matter of fact, I couldn't help but laugh so much at the part where one of the henchponies says he wants to be an opera singer.
Along with that, Caballeron's reformation and development throughout the episode was surprisingly well-worked. Even though he was one of the last villains I expected to have a change of heart, it was amazing to see how much of an impact Fluttershy's kindness had on him and his lackeys. It was also interesting to see Caballeron's henchponies be upgraded from mere minors to ponies with a sense of life and personality.
