Prior to this episode, I was rather disappointed with the Season 4 Spike episodes. Power Ponies was okay, but the plot was on the weak side and Spike didn't receive all that much character development beyond "you can be the comic relief AND useful sometimes". Inspiration Manifestation was pretty good, but it didn't really showcase the friendship of Rarity and Spike as much I had hoped it would before having Rarity became brainwashed and crazy, and the lesson of the episode was exactly the same as that of Leap of Faith.
Equestria Games finally managed to do a lot of things right that I have wanted in a Spike episode: continuity recognizes the events of the Season 3 premiere, as Spike is beloved in the Crystal Empire for saving everyone; Spike conflict occurs for fairly justifiable reasons (i.e. stage fright in front of a bajillion ponies) and not purely because of incompetence; the Cloudsdale Anthem scene was just as embarrassing for the viewer as it was for Spike himself, so it wasn't just a scene of "hey, look at Spike do a dumb thing without even realizing it!", and was instead a scene that managed to make the viewer feel just as ashamed and awkward as he does (god, I literally had to pause the episode THREE TIMES during that scene due to how awkward it was), giving the viewer empathy for Spike's desire to leave the Crystal Empire as soon as possible; and the episode ended with Spike proving himself, not to the Mane Six, not to the viewer, but to himself, his harshest critic throughout Season 4 (in the beginning of Power Ponies, he clearly viewed himself as the Mane Six's Hum Drum, the useless sidekick who can't do anything right, even before donning the role in the comic. Ouch).
I am so glad that the second-to-last episode of the season finally gave Spike the episode he very much needed.
It is sad to see that quite a few people have been annoyed that the episode didn't make the Equestria Games themselves the focus, but honestly, I can't really imagine a strong enough plot centering around the games, since only one event included characters we knew well enough to want to root for.