Unpopular opinion time

@Myoozik  
Depends what you think the point of the episode was, doesn’t it? It’s hard to imagine how it could have been done without him.

General reminder that the show promptly retired Diamond Tiara right after she had gained some actual depth.

@Latecomer  
There really was no point to it
 
@Spinny  
We know that, no need for the reminder

@Spinny  
Useless reminder, you mean.

@Spinny  
It’s difficult to forget something that frustrating and infuriating.

@Spinny
 
What’s left when you remove the evil from a being made of evil?

@Dustcan  
A redeemed character, which I thought was something immensely popular in here.

@Dustcan  
A little rich kid?

@Anonycat  
Some like it for the letter rather than the spirit of the thing.

@Dustcan  
Just a regular filly?

Being a redeemed character only gets another chance if you’re a unicorn or are voiced by a famous celebrity

@Myoozik  
Not even to explore Spike’s feelings about his family? Or to teach a lesson about sucky parents? In that regard, I admit it would have worked better if he was the real deal.

@Latecomer  
If they wanted to do that, I feel like they could’ve done a much better job at it.

@Myoozik  
Maybe. How would you have done it?

@Dustcan
 
Probably this:
 

 
;P

@Spinny  
I wonder if we will ever gonna have a FIENDship comic for Cozy Glow.

@Latecomer  
Honestly, I can’t think of anything at the moment. But the bottom line is that I didn’t like the episode myself.

If it wasn’t for Princess Spike, Father Knows Beast would be the worst episode of the show.

@rdibp  
Father Knows Beast could have worked until season 05, when the series still had plenty of spare time to afford on dumb episodes like that. On the other hand, Princess Spike is completely undefendable.

@rdibp  
Really? I know there’s no accounting for taste, but I can think of worse Spike episodes than either, let alone episodes in general.
 

 
@Anonycat  
I don’t think the show was on a deadline at any point short of the last season, really (and even then they mostly ignored it). Nor do I see what’s such a waste about if you’re not really looking to find out about Spike’s origins.
 
And Princess Spike has only one real flaw, though a big one - Spike’s misdeeds are not linked to the consequences he suffers, but the episode acts like they are. Besides that, it’s great.

@rdibp  
I really liked “Father Knows Beast” quite a lot. It gave Spike and Twilight character development of the meaty kind for the first time in a while, it gave Spike’s history some context, and overall was heartwarming in a nice way. And yeah, Sludge was a jackass, but that’s the point. He is a “normal” dragon, but that’s not who Spike wants to be.

@GenericArchangel  
Rather, as Smoulder points out, he’s a jackass even by dragon standards - Spike is just has too little understanding of what dragon standards are to tell.

@Latecomer  
Notably, Dragons don’t lie. They seem to find it beneath them. They’re also not particular tolerant of laziness, or riding on the charity of others.
 
Sludge was a shitbag in both cultures.

@rdibp  
Not one of the worst, but still up there.

Torque Wrench was the best thing to come out of Rainbow Roadtrip.