As of now "Non-Compete Clause" is the lowest rated episode of 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic'. The thought that came into my head on re-watch, hated it first time way back in 2018 by the way, was whether it was on the same level or worse than "What About Discord" and "28 Pranks Later". Which would have been a not easy feat. It really would have been a shame if so as actually the show did progress massively in storytelling and characterisation since with a few blips along the way (things that it was frequently great at).
On re-watch sadly, "Non-Compete Clause" turned out to be even worse than remembered. Absolutely agree with it being the lowest rated episode of Season 8, while to me it is easily the worst episode of 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic' since "28 Pranks Later" and one of the worst episodes of the show (bottom 5). Whether it is worse than that episode and "What About Discord" is up for debate but it is right down there and is in a way more pointless than them. Am not saying this at all with pleasure, this low rating is the rarest rating for all the ratings given for the show's individual episodes and because of being a fan of the show from the beginning.
"Non-Compete Clause" is not a complete bust. The animation is still beautifully detailed and full of vibrant colour. The character designs as said already came on a long way overtime and that is evident already, and the strong quality of the animation was obvious from the very beginning. The music is lively and charming throughout.
The voice acting is also not a problem, how Ashleigh Ball brought so much individuality to two completely different characters is just amazing. It was nice to see the Student Six again and they make some nice side commentary.
Sadly, all of that is ruined by so many drawbacks. The storytelling and character writing completely sink "Non-Compete Clause". The story felt like "Look Before You Sleep 2", except that was a much better episode and executed what didn't work here a lot better. The biggest problem is how much the quality of most things went so far backwards, this did not feel like a latter seasons episode where so much had progressed but instead like the show very early on in its first season but worse. The story is paper thin and is basically Applejack and Rainbow Dash constantly bickering over something that is not enough to be arguing to that extent about. Their competitiveness is far too over the top here and makes the even worse mistakes of having dangerous consequences. Their bickering borders on being too mean spirited too.
Both of them are screwed up big time here, both of them were inconsistently characterised throughout the show (especially Applejack, whose episodes centering around her and her family being variable) and both had both great and mediocre at best episodes but actually on the whole they had progressed a lot as characters. It sure doesn't feel like that here in "Non-Compete Clause", the character flaws for both are taken to extreme levels with few redeeming merits which makes them very unlikeable. It is like their development had not happened and is a lot worse than it was in Season 1, which it is closer to than their writing later on.
Despite the moral actually on paper being a good one and a relevant and important one, in the context of 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic' it is pretty much a rehash. Meaning that it felt like Applejack and Rainbow Dash had not learnt anything from "Look Before You Sleep", which was rather criminal seeing as they were characters that learnt from their mistakes but one doesn't get that impression here. It was, as said already, great to see the Student Six again and they are true to character, but they don't really progress and are a bit too one-dimensional in the episode. Gallus particularly and the personality is not an appealing one. The writing is completely bland and ham-fisted.
Overall, not irredeemable but for the show and for a latter season episode this is well below the level one comes to expect at this stage. 3/10.
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