You may recall last month, I reviewed Ashima's big debut in All Engines Go!, "Ashima's Amazing Arrival". It was an okay episode that had a sweet ending, but you may recall me saying it wasn't the only episode to focus on Ashima. That's where "More Than a Pretty Engine" comes in. Now, I talked this episode up big time, but does it actually live up to the hype? Let's begin.
Ashima offers to help clear a rockslide after a storm, but Thomas is concerned about her ruining her paintwork. So Ashima has to show Thomas that she's more than...well, you can probably guess.
This episode follows a fairly standard formula - they come across a mess, they try to fix it, but Ashima gets it done, rinse and repeat. The big conflict they face is getting her paint dirty, which adds a dash of flavor to it, but overall the plot does become a little repetitive and a touch predictable with its moral.
However, what saves this episode is the development it gives to Ashima herself. One thing that was briefly touched upon in the original series was that she's a mountain engine, but they never do anything with it. They touch on it a smidge with her strength when stopping Vinnie, but other than that there isn't much that they do with it. Here? It's part of her core character - she brings up that she has survived way worse than just a scratch on her paint and that there's much more to her than her looks. This isn't just a great look into her character, it's also exactly what I wanted the original series to do with her. Why they waited until All Engines Go! to do this instead of doing this in the episodes where Thomas showed up in India I haven't the foggiest, but it's brilliant stuff. Also, this doesn't affect the story, but if you're watching the US dub, listen to how Meesha Contreras says "sorry", bro goes full Canadian. What does this add to my thoughts? Nothing, I just found that funny.
Overall, More Than a Pretty Engine is a pretty solid episode. It's not got that great a story, but the development on its lead elevates it a ton to make it a very enjoyable watch. I'd honestly recommend it over Ashima's Amazing Arrival, since it brings her into an intriguing light that I'd wanna see explored further in the future. As a result, I'm gonna give this a 4/5.
Final Rating: 4/5
