Even as a child that never liked 'Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain' on the whole, "My Fair Brainy" was one of the show's best. Seeing it as a young adult after 10 or so years or something like it, part of me thought strongly that this could be a more watchable episode to usual from even reading the premise. It is a familiar one, but it is a lot more mature than most scenarios for 'Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain' and is the sort of scenario that wouldn't be too out of place in either 'Animaniacs', 'Pinky and the Brain' and 'Tiny Toon Adventures'.
"My Fair Brainy" is still not a particularly great episode, but it is infinitely better than all that came before it. It is the first 'Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain' episode to be watchable and despite being very flawed still it is one of the better episodes, as well as one of its most self-aware. The premise was an appealing one and while not executing it perfectly by any stretch "My Fair Brainy" doesn't squander it either and does things that few other episodes of the show did.
Am going to start with the good. Brain (in the spotlight) is spot on in characterisation, he was always an interesting and funny character and one of the few things the show ever did right. The writers clearly had fun with Brain in the Professor Higgins-like role that he was the perfect fit for. Maurice LaMarche also clearly has fun voicing Brain, it was a genius move bringing him back to the character and it is one of those cases where it is very hard to imagine anybody else as the character. Everybody else is good but LaMarche is something else. Did like that the setting was more confined than usual, which was closer to the intimate roots of the original 'Pinky and the Brain'.
The animation has moments of vibrant colour and careful attention to background detail. "My Fair Brainy" is one of the funnier 'Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain' episodes. There is less cutesiness and childishness (though they were still there with Elmyra) and there is more of a satirical edge, a satirical edge that has genuine sharp wit surprisingly. Absolutely loved the "Rain from Spain" satire, that was surprisingly inventive and is one of the show's best moments. As said, it is also quite self-aware as an episode, with it seemingly to acknowledge how annoying Elmyra is and how she comes over to other characters. Her chemistry with Brain connects a lot more too, as he is more the guiding role here than the chief sufferer of Elmyra's abuse.
However, Elmyra still comes over as one-dimensional in personality and is still annoying for the same reasons. Her cutesiness and childishness did feel at odds with the writing of everything else, which may have been the intent but there was too much of a disconnect there. The other characters have very little to do. The songs were not quite my cup of tea always, there are parts that are brilliant ("Rain in Spain") but there is a bit of a try too hard feel too.
While enjoying the scenario and it is a lot more mature than the usual 'Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain' episode, it could have had a wackier pace and had more of the surprise factor. The biggest surprise being the ending, which was not expected though that was a bit out of left field. The animation also could have afforded to have been bigger and wilder, it's competently done as said previously but it doesn't wow.
Overall, nice and refreshing to see a watchable episode of a pretty poor show, while still being a bit mixed on it. 5/10.
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