So this has got to be one of the most smartly written, richly-textured episodes I've ever seen in this show. All of Troubleshoes' dialogue was absolutely masterful, right down to Polsky creating a whole unique
voice for him—not just generic countrified vocabulary, but a careful, measured articulateness that is really rare in stock cartoon characters. I loved turns of phrase he came up with like "from this vantage" and "I'm the fresh casualty of an unusually unfortunate circumstance" (combined, of course, with phrases like "like sour on old milk" that you'd expect from anyone in a place like Appleloosa). Polsky really went to the mat on this one, and he created a genuinely memorable one-off character the likes of which I don't think we've seen since Gilda or Trixie.
The whole "rodeo clown" angle came out of nowhere in the third act, but then that act just went on and on to the point where you felt that you knew all along that that was where the real crux of the episode's story lay. It did a neat job of figleafing the predictability of the "Boo Radley" premise, keeping it kind of in the background while we focused temporarily on the (very well orchestrated and, more importantly, convincingly funny) clown show. There was a lot going on in this part of the episode, with lots of unexpected layers all working together neatly.
And there was a lot going on throughout the rest of the thing too. Appleloosa felt like a bustling, crowded community, with all the action and noise and hoopla going on in the intro—it feels much more lived-in than during Braeburn's original tour-guiding of the town back in S1. There isn't a whole lot of
humor in the episode; it's more along the lines of some of the "serious" episodes we've seen lately like Rarity Takes Manehattan or For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils or Somepony To Watch Over Me. They seem to be getting better every time they attempt one of these kinds of episodes, too; all three of those previous ones had some weird missteps that drew down my enjoyment of them somehow. But this one was close to pitch-perfect, the way it kept me glued to the screen to see how realistic they were making the pouring rain or how fucking huge they were making Troubleshoes (they never mentioned "Clyde" in the episode, did they?) or all the great little Sweetie Belle moments, both her adorable clumsiness and her fantastic progress with magic.
Great to see more Braeburn for the first time in forever; his characterization is only getting better, what with his well-meaning but utter uselessness (I guffawed pretty good when he fell asleep flat on his face trying to keep an eye on the kids). Applejack was well handled too, with an air of authority about her and yet a welcome sense that she's not so much a celebrity here, but just one member of a hay-bale-stacking team, one who really has to strive in order to get that trophy she's been after. Speaking of which...
The more I think about this episode, the more the dialogue—and the staging and presentation of the dialogue—is really what impresses me. Like the bit when AJ shows up with the trophy:

There y'all are! How 'bout your big sis, huh?

Yeah, way to go.
It isn't the dialogue itself, it's the timing; it's what's left unsaid and staged through visuals; it's what's implied by context. I don't know if there was a time when the show relied less on the storyboarders to help convey the meaning of the dialogue visually and said more stuff explicitly, but this episode right here does a damn fine job of telling a story by showing, wherever possible. Like how briefly and matter-of-factly it establishes why Braeburn has a broken leg and Applejack is there competing. "Well, I guess havin' injured kinfolk in Appleloosa sure paid off then, huh, cuz?" Or the premise of Troubleshoes being in town: "We need a big presence at this here rodeo, so make yourself plenty seen! I want that low-down varmint to know we mean business!" That kind of dialogue takes some effort to pick up, and I hope it isn't lost on kids. But it's just the right kind of implied context for an older audience. Either the show is outright acknowledging that it's writing for adults as much as for kids anymore, or it's giving kids even more of the benefit of the doubt than it ever used to. I kinda hope it's more the latter than the former, but either way I'm finding it way easier to enjoy an episode like this that doesn't dumb itself down even slightly than something as treacly as, say, the first few minutes of Fall Weather Friends.
Fleeting things I enjoyed:
- Possible callback to Applebuck Season: Applejack poking thoughtlessly at her relative's injury.
- The guy playing the harmonica to punctuate the Sheriff's dark foreboding "Troubleshoes

"
- The torch and pitchfork ponies (Aww, we came all dressed up for a mob scene!)
- "Foreleg". Thanks, show, for keeping things horsey.
- Sweetie Belle's first use of magic in the episode—closing the door—doesn't even get remarked upon. It sets the stage for the later ones, though, and keeps them from coming from out of left field. Same way the hay bale stacking is set up at the beginning of the episode and then forms the conclusion too. Good story structure.
- "Sugar and salt licks!"

- AJ and Braeburn's dynamic is great. I love how much it implies about their relationship, how much history there is, how much mutual respect and yet how prone to fuckups Brae is and how AJ knows it.
- The way the rain is handled. To Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, it's an obvious sign that it's time to turn around; but to Apple Bloom, it just means they're about to lose the trail, so let's go faster!

-

"Whew! Good job, y'all. I know they need lots of mud for the rodeo tomorrow, but I wish they would've warned us about this rainstorm." Ah hah: "They" meaning weather pegasi, or whoever is scheduling them to show up with some rain clouds. Just look at all that implied texture and context.
LOOK AT IT.- "Fish my wish!"

And here Polsky invents alt-universe western poker slang in a world where jailhouse horses play Go Fish.
- "Let's ride!"
- "You sure about this, Scootaloo?" Ah yes, the opening line from The Cutie Mark Chronicles, which I remember some early blogger bemused by the brony "thing" quoting as if it were an example of dumb kiddie-show dialogue that really shouldn't be holding legions of adults spellbound.
- Also I like how Apple Bloom directly cops to being the one who got them lost.
- The "ringing in the ears" sound when we get the Troubleshoes'-eye view of him waking up was a beat that they held unexpectedly long, and really created a great disorienting effect.
- I like how Troubleshoes' lonesome life features a lot of cider and pie.
- "What do we do if he takes us back to Appleloosa and the sheriff arrests him? If I get a cutie mark for that, I'll feel guilty every time I see it." This, plus a lot of what the episode has to say about cutie marks, is a new fresh perspective on the whole concept. Like they're merit badges for skills you never wanted to have.
- Troubleshoes was a cute kid.

- "And... generalized mayhem!" I like how Sheriff Silverstar is like a combination of Pat Buttram and the sheriff from the Apple Dumpling Gang.
- "I'm running out of mattresses!" Nice visual gag, and one that underscores how little actual slapstick comedy there is in this episode. It's all but crowded out by actual well-told story.
- The wordless way they show Scootaloo congratulating Sweetie Belle on successfully using magic is like the best thing ever.

- Even after they got him all dressed up, Troubleshoes doesn't simply take right to clowning; the episode directly points out that it's a half-baked plan and he still needs to have an innate gift to excel at something they're gambling that his cutie mark means.
- "Just leave me be, cutie mark!" The way this show has come to treat cutie marks, and how forthrightly it addresses the role they play in ponies' lives, is really standing out to me. They're still rather inscrutable magic badges that are not very well understood in-universe, and it all contributes to the feeling I got back in the S1/S2 timeframe that even magic is a poorly understood discipline in this magic horse world. I'm so glad they're still finding ways to make it seem mysterious, along the same lines as "Magic is as magic does".
- "If I done wrong, I'll see to it that I take my medicine and square my accounts." What a great line. Polsky, I take back anything bad I ever said about you.

- I love how Applejack is perched on that hay bale.
