Season Five Episode Reviews: Tanks for the Memories · 12:38am Apr 29th, 2015
And all of the ponies in Ponyville loved Winter a lot,
But the Rainbow Dash, who lived just above Ponyville, did not.
For soon her turtle friend would fall asleep for the season,
And the Dash raged at this natural treason.
“We're far too attached to put up with that now.
I must stop this Winter from coming...but how?”
This is “Tanks for the Memories.” Be glad I didn't start quoting Fall Out Boy.
TECHNICAL SPECS:
Season: 5
Episode: 5
Written By: Cindy Morrow
First Aired: April 25, 2015
SUMMARY:
It's time for the changing of the seasons, and as the Running of the Leaves proceeds beneath her, Rainbow Dash watches with pride as Cloudsdale pulls into position to deliver the snow clouds. She's bustling with excitement as she tells Tank about all the fun things they'll do...but all the turtle wants to do is sleep. Alarmed, Dash takes her to Doctor Fluttershy (who is totally licensed, she swears), who tells her that the turtles perfectly fine; he's just getting ready to hibernate. Rainbow Dash, who had no idea turtles had to hibernate, rebukes Fluttershy's expert opinion on the grounds that Spike is a reptile too, but when the dragon says that they're different species and Fluttershy's probably right, she dismissed him as well.
Dash continues to try and force Tank along, but he just wants to burrow and sleep through the cold Winter months. Pinkie baby-talks the turtle about his upcoming hibernation, only for Rainbow Dash to explode at her and, in turn, the rest of her friends for daring to insinuate that Tank will not be there every waking moment for her. Still, she can't ignore the obvious...but she can stop Winter from happening to keep Tank from ever hibernating.
Rainbow Dash quickly begins to stash away snow clouds, disrupt migration patterns, and pretend like it's the middle of Summer, but her actions are not enough to prevent the steadfast and industrial ponies from bringing on Winter. Rainbow steps up her game: she will destroy the weather factory and shut down production. She and Tank successfully infiltrate the weather lab, and she manages to disrupt the machinery, but Tank falls asleep and absentmindedly pulls a lamp into a fan. This causes a chain reaction that results in the entire factory exploding, sending a snowball that smashes into Ponyville with the force of a nuclear explosion and causes Winter to come all at once.
Defeated, Rainbow Dash takes Tank and retreats to her room to sulk. The rest of the Mane 6 follow her and try to cheer her up, but Fluttershy, having had enough of her crap, tells her to just shut up and accept that Tank cannot be with her for the Winter. This causes Rainbow Dash to break into hacking tears and sobs, followed by the rest of the ponies save for Twilight (who just wants to be the voice of reason, and throws the other non-crying pony under the wagon) and Applejack (who cries on the inside.) Still, Fluttershy's talk has had positive results: Rainbow Dash has finally accepted that Tank needs to go away for a few months. Finally out of her funk, she and the others see Tank safely into a burrow, and she goes on to live the next few months with her friends...but not before reading her turtle friend a bedtime story.
REVIEW:
“Tanks for the Memories” is a bit of an odd outing because it feels like they were going for two opposing visions. On the one hand, this is an episode where Rainbow Dash plays the role of the villainous jerkass, progressively making things worse until reality finally confronts her and she learns her lesson, with plenty of goofy antics and actions along the way. On the other hand, it wants to use hibernation as an allegory for a pet's death, and whenever that's the point of discussion, things feel much heavier and more somber in tone.
One aspect that has been touched on to death has been the episode's utilization of the Kübler-Ross five stages of grief, a common model often utilized as a tidy ordering of the various emotions people go through when confronted with something terrible, up to and including death. Rainbow initially goes into Denial when Fluttershy tells her about Tank's hibernation, dismissing both her and Spike when they don't conform to her bias. She then slips into Anger when Tank continues to exhibit signs of wanting to hibernate, yelling at her friends for daring to even use that word in her presence. For most of the episode, she's operating under the assumption that stopping Winter from coming will make everything better, aka Bargaining. When that ultimately fails, she falls into a Depression because she realizes there's nothing she can do. It's not until she's finally able to let out her sorrow that she finally has Acceptance for what Tank needs to do.
This begs the question of why Dash is so broken up over Tank hibernating, but I believe this fits her character quite well. Rainbow Dash is proud, arrogant, aggressive, and competitive, but she also has deep-seated issues with rejection and abandonment. In “Sonic Rainboom,” her inability to perform the titular maneuver and fear of failing in front of an audience (and Rarity being a horrible pony) caused her to eventually curl into a fetal position, and in “The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well,” the entire town switching to worshiping the new hero caused her to sink into another depression and hang out on a black cloud. She's also deeply attached to Tank, despite her attempts to act cool and hide it, such as when she very quickly nuzzles him in “Just for Sidekicks” before acting like it never happened. Her beloved pet abandoning her for months because nature says so is basically a rejection in her eyes, and she can't stand being separated from someone she loves enough to give personalized slippers to.
Now channeling her frustration and grief into industrial sabotage? That's a bit extreme.
The factory scene is one of the more problematic, but not just because of how easy it is for a rainbow-haired pegasus and a flying, sleeping turtle to sneak inside. The bigger issue is that Rainbow Dash has gone from causing inconvenience to full-scale destruction, but even that is not inherently bad, and there are some amusing antics. No, the problem is that there are no repercussions for this. I didn't expect Dash to have to serve jail time, but there's not even anything about having to help fix the factory, or the impact her selfish actions would have on the rest of Equestria. Heck, they seem happy that she blew it up because it ends up getting the entire job done in one go. I get that they were going for the goofy comedy there, but there's only so far you can stretch stuff like that before it begins to undermine your story.
The episode turns the spotlight back onto a long-neglected part of Equestria's lore: the ponies control all aspects of the weather. While we've seen clouds being bucked and moved, and Rarity apparently was hurling fiery balls of death back in “Magical Mystery Cure” (note: she wasn't, but that bit of fan-produced insanity is too much to forget), this episode brought up the sheer industrialization of the process, something that hasn't really been touched on in a while. The Weather Factory was established back in “Sonic Rainboom,” and we know they produce clouds because of “Hurricane Fluttershy,” so it makes sense that what is essentially a mobile city would be a weather delivery station for converting the land into its snowy form. We even have a return of the Running of the Leaves. I like touches such as this because they help to establish Equestria's uniqueness as a magical land. It's a world where the ponies literally manage everything, from the sun and moon to the individual clouds and rain.
The episode also has a “Who's on First?” routine that's genuinely funny. Owlowiscious would hang his head in shame if he hadn't been torn to shreds and eaten by a Timber Wolf off-screen. Nature is so fascinating.
The biggest problem with the episode is Dash's characterization. While the intent was for her to go through these stages and feel bad at the end, and there isn't anything that technically breaks her character, this is still an episode where she acts like an entitled, selfish child that seeks to ruin everyone's fun because she can't get what she wants. Again, Rainbow Dash is very immature, but the way the episode shoves it into the forefront is off-putting, especially after so many seasons. The only justification they can muster is that she didn't know Tank had to hibernate because it's their first Winter together, once again throwing the show's timeline into flux and making things all the more confusing.
A character that was handled well? Fluttershy. She starts as her typical animal-loving self, but by the end of the episode, she's the one that lays down the tough love and gets Rainbow Dash to cry it all out. This ties in well with the Key lesson from last season (“sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind”), and given the foalhood relationship the two have had, she is in the best position to tell Dash to suck it up and get over it. The fact that Rainbow's actions are causing an animal pain (Tank just wants to sleep but his owner won't let him) probably contribute to that “I have no more time for this” attitude. And of course, she joins in the crying, too, as does everyone...save for the heartless Twilight. (And Applejack, but that's because she is Cimmerian.)
The ending is typical, but still charming in its own way. Rainbow Dash says farewell to Tank, gets to read him a bedtime story, and all is well until they are reunited in the Spring. Good old Rabbit and Kessie – I mean, Rainbow Dash and Tank.
CONCLUSION:
This episode is a mixed bag. When it's focused on Rainbow Dash being a villain, it's annoying, and the factory nonsense really needed some kind of fallout. When it's focused on the emotions, I freaking loved it. I can't call it a bad episode, so I'll just settle on good-but-still-with-some-not-so-good-stuff.
Next time, another CMC episode. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why.
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Because they are so cute.
~Leonzilla
This is my biggest problem with it, too. And it ruins the episode for me. Other than this, I didn't have much of a problem with Tanks for the Memories. But it still dragged it down.
This is the third time in a row this season Fluttershy has stood up like this. Do you think the writers are foing out of their way to mature her this season?
I think you're getting too hung up on this. Sure, character responsibility is a thing. However, I don't think it belonged in the episode. To me, it very much seemed like it was something that belonged off-screen.
3027277 Na I think is just because is cool to have Fluttershy take charge of things.
Applejack! What is best in life?
"Ta crush yer enemies, ta see 'em driven before you, an' ta hear the lamentation of their mares! Yee-haw!"
Yeah, I can see it.
3027294
I still enjoyed the episode for the most part. It just had some things I didn't care for.
3027273
I said this elsewhere but it bares repeating.
This is the show where...
Twilight has gotten away with severely brainwashing the entire town, including children
Fluttershy being the cause of the resurgence of the Parasprite population
Rarity destroying the town while using Dark Magic
Pinkie Pie destroying the town by using Ancient Magic
Applejack causing shit tons of damage as well as making the population sick because she's an idiot sometimes
Rainbow Dash going out of her way to put ponies in danger
Spike because Twilight won't let him grow naturally so he can learn to control his Dragon's greed, instead opting to keep him the perfect slave labor child size he is, thus causing him to grow uncontrollably and, you guessed it, destroy the town and actually put a number of lives in danger
Either nobody gives a shit about what the mane six do or they're legally immune to the law. I'd say its bad writing but this sort of shit has happened time and again, that it just can't be.
Wait another CMC episode? Are we going to see Babs this time?
3027315 What was that about Twilight brainwashing?
Also are you talking about too many pinkie pies?
Say what?
The rest I recalled but they where all accidents, except for Spike which would be an issue of personal ideology.
and in the case of Rarity she was being manipulated by dark magic it wasn't her fault.
3027315
You're missing the biggest reason nothing seems to happen: None of these repercussions belonged in the episode. It just wasn't something that needed to happen on-screen. That happens. People make things like this a much bigger deal than is really necessary.
3027338 That's right "justice"or "karma" were not the focus of the those episodes.
3027315 Yes, and it sucks with those, too.
Holy shit! That episode made me cry. Just like this one.
Rainbow Dash getting out with no repercussions was a bit confusing to me too, even though I didn't notice it at first. I recently heard a good explanation for it though: now one caught her in the act. See https://youtu.be/23ARq98rQAk?t=5m7s for a good explanation of this. Dash getting away with it is still weird though.
3027315 For me, this was the episode that broke the camel's back.
The fact that Dash did some pretty villainous stuff to stop Tank from hibernating and not face any real consequences just really... it's slowly making me realize that Dash isn't that good a character. It's not that she's really OOC in this episode, she's just a terrible pony a lot of the time.
When the heroes in your series inflict more damage than the villains do, something's wrong in the writing department.
3027441
As someone who spent their early childhood on Winnie-the-Pooh, that episode was the first thing I thought about when this was announced.
3027332
The first was the want it need it spell. If that isn't blatant fucking brainwash/mind altering BS magic worthy of being thrown in the deepest dungeon with your horn cut off and the wound cauterized, then fuck, Equestria is fucking warped.
Yes, this was too many pinkies. What with the mirror pool and all.
For Dash, it was the Mare do Well episode where Dash went out of her way to start creating scenarios where she could play a hero.
Otherwise, Flutttershy KEPT one of the parasprites cause "AW IS SO CUTE N SHIT," and for Applejack and Rarity, the law doesn't forgive drunk drivers, accidental homicide or people who break the law even if they didn't mean to or didn't know it was illegal. AJ's case is no different than hitting someone with your car while you were too tired. Rarity, second verse same as the first, except with alcohol. Doesn't matter if you didn't MEAN to, you still DID it.
Spike, Spike is more a victim of Meghan's bad writing as being a focus to vent her sexual frustration, but everything surrounding his episode should have raised more eyebrows than it did, in the fandom, especially among those who do the Spike/Rarity ship, and in the conversations that try to pinpoint just how old he actually is.
3027338
Remember Sombra?
Remember how he enslaved his entire kingdom?
Remember how Twilight used mind magic to brainwash the entire town to suit her own needs?
Yeah, I do.
Funny what kind of parallels one can draw up when you start realizing that the mane six have the foresight of a fucking mentally disabled brick.
3027513
Its sad because we can see that there are some legitimately good characters here, but the incidents revolving around them just blur the lines between legitimately evil characters and stupidly bad writing.
Twilight used to be adorkable, intelligent, well spoken but reserved and socially stupid. Now? DRAGON BALL Z FUIGHTS! FRIENDSHIP BATTERIES! MUH PRINCESS BITCH CANT HELP MUH FRIENDS! BACKPEDDLING AND ACCELERATING ON THE PRINCESS TRAIN, BACK AND FORTH SO MUCH WEVE MELTED THE RAILS.
Fluttershy should have been a quite, kind hearted, but stern character. But we need to make her have the spine of a noodle for the 15th fucking time in a row so the writers can fucking shove the same damn morals again.
Pinkie Pie used to have brilliant dialogue and was one of the reasons why I started watching the show, because of her timing, her dialogue, the wit in her humor as well as its ability to be ageless. Now she's more meme spewing idiot who repeats the same damn jokes of, LOL 4TH WALL!
And so on and so forth. The longer this goes on, the more we see the writers struggle keeping a consistent fucking tone and character arc with the characters. With Twilight, I fucking KNOW its because Hasbro's Captain Corporate swinging into the office every week or so, sticking his dick in everything 8/11" and is black on white, but for the others, its just mind numbing.
Even for Larson who seems to be one of two or three competent writers, who doesn't like writing Spike, has done a better damn job with him, than McCarthy or anybody else except MAYBE Faust, had she stuck around longer.
3027716
...Where the flying fuck did you get that from?
3027513 yea I feel this was the worst episode I have watched of mlp, I almost didn't enjoy it.
But is not that Rainbow is a bad pony she is just holy immature, she doesn't know any better and she has a lot to learn.
But that it's precisely why I took a disliking to the episode, Rainbow Dash was too immature, we would have expected her to know better and it's just hard to empathize with her in such a noncontroversial issue.
Leonzilla
3027780 But that's the thing, we're 5 seasons into this damn thing and Dash is still not much different from how she was in season 1.
Hell, she almost kinda went backwards since then.
3027757 The characters are Freudian representations of the writers' various sexual insecurities and frustrations.
Nice review man.
I could have sworn that next week's episode was the Appaloosa one but guess not.
3027757 yea that is the part that really seems out of left field.
3027716
Any how I have an idea of how to counter every single one of your arguments and defend the show or at least show that it isn't as bad as you say/think (with the exception of Fluttershy keeping a parasprite because I honestly don't remember that happening at the end of the episode, I would have to check )
But will only share them if you wish to have a civilized discussion between two fans of the show with nearly opposite views for the sake of a friendly debate.
So what you say? You interested or rather stick with your own views?
~Leonzilla
3027814 ... all of the writers? How is that even... You do get the character designs are done by Faust, not some conglomeration of past and future writers, right?
I have a theory, albeit it's stupid:
Given how Starlight Communist escaped in the premiere and "Bloom and Gloom" had the CMC thinking about the complications of getting their cutie marks, I think the season finale is going to bring both aspects together and have the CMC finally get their cutie marks. And that's why we're getting another CMC episode so soon: it's continuing to build up to that conclusion.
Again, it's stupid, but that's my takeaway.
3027814 I know! The characters have begun to show signs of significantly less maturity than they would be expected here and there since the season four premier. But this episode really stood out in that regard. But well, that is just how it is with series with multiple writers overtime, they become a mixed bag in terms of quality and they start to have issues with continuity in some places.
Mlp hasn't gotten to the point that continuity has become a major issue, you can thank the editors for that.
Then I will just pretend it was an isolated incident and does not reflect squat about Rainbow Dash normal character that way I'm able to write canon Rainbow Dash as the episode didn't happen since the whole episode becomes irrelevant. So I wouldn't get too worked up just because of an occasional bad episode. It will not stop me from enjoying the good ones.
~Leonzilla
This is one of those episodes where it actually is worth remembering that it's a children's show, because Rainbow's actions and how she behaves is very childlike, and I am certain that was done on purpose. The bawling scene in particular stands out, because crying that loudly is something that is more associated with a child's crying than an adult, and here Rainbow is meant to be something the kids watching the show can empathize with. Especially if your going with hibernation as an allegory for a pet's death, which seems to be the intent. Rainbow acts like a child so the children can relate. Further, Fluttershy acts more than a bit like a mother here, she gives Rainbow the hard truth, and forces her to face it. But she also is there to provide a comfort for Rainbow in this situation.
3027757
Its the only reason why I can come up with, as to why she puts Spike through so much shit.
3027834
Eh, sure, go ahead.
3028432
Alright,
First Fluttershy didn't keep a parasprite at the end of the episode (I checked) the fact that she found and carried the first parasprite is not even controversial considering that parasprites are simply not what they seem, they seem harmless and there is no way Fluttershy could have known they were creatures with such a ferocious appetite. No pony knew and no pony could have known well except Pinkie Pie but seriously you can't reasonably hold ponies to the same standard as Pinkie Pie. Her whole deal is to defy logic and reason. So to put it simply anyone could and probably would have made the same mistake.
Secondly, one important aspect of the want it need it spell is that it was only temporal, ponies didn't quite grasped what had transpire afterwards as there was no long lasting damage. However the spell did caused a fair amount of chaos which was why Celestia reprimand Twilight afterwards. Which I feel it was just right to help her learn what she needed and that is the important part.
Honestly I don't think is beneficial or appropriate to punish individuals strictly for the sake of justice. There is no benefit towards the individuals who had a role in the transgression unless you focus on teaching and learning rather than punishment for the sake of fairness. The benefit brought to society by making an example out of a transgressor is simply order. Doing that helps reduce the likelihood of future transgressions of the same kind; only if the transgressions were intentional. Think about it, if the transgression weren't intentional then future transgressions of the same type are also not intentional therefore setting an example out of somepony wouldn't help reduce the likelihood of the transgression and because of that it wouldn't benefit neither society nor the one being punished. That's why it's right to simply focus on what's important in such cases which is simply learning from the outcome.
It's also worth noting that it was not Twilights intention to cause mayhem and there was no need to convince her that her actions where wrong. She only did it because she wasn't in her right mind and she wasn't thinking logically in a rational state of mind. That falls into the category of negligence which is the lowest degree of mental awareness at the time of the transgression that you can someone accountable/responsible for the damage under the law. Negligence being defined as while the individuals weren't aware of the wrong committed, they are still accountable/responsible for the damage because it was their place to prevent it. In short they should have known.
The state of mind is an important component in the legal system as it is used to determine the proper degree of kind of consequences. For example if Twilight had actually intended to cause mayhem and wasn't regretful about then Celestia would have needed to use a stronger consequence to show Twilight that what she did was wrong.
Still if you want an example of when seeking/ focusing on punishment was clearly an inferior approach to teaching and understanding, I bring you Discord. He was cursed to be a self aware statue for over a millennial and all it did was contain him, ergo bring order. (haha, see what I did there ;)
That while it was the best they could do at the time, it was not the best that could be done which was to reform him and show/teach him the errors of his ways. It shows that is more beneficial to seek learning and understanding rather that mere justice and order.
The situation is a little bit different for each pony so before I go any further I wan't to check if we are on the same page,
~Leonzilla
3028688
It was the middle of the episode after Applejack rounded up the parasprites, the mane six minus flutters go to flutters house, open the door and out pours a million more parasprites because, as she said, she couldn't help but keep one, even after she saw all the destruction she saw them cause. Fluttershy's case is somewhat special, in the beginning. Only Pinkie knew what the Parasprites were. So her bringing one into town is not exactly her fault, and while nobody could have anticipated them reproducing at an astronomical rate, she shouldn't have kept one AFTER they found out how dangerous they were.
With the want it need it spell, it was a self perpetuating artifact. Only Celestia and Twilight were immune to its effects. Not mentioning the fact that she first cast the spell on the CMCs, damn children who resorted to physical blows. And the reprimand was nothing more than a slap on the wrist and a calming balm to Twilights neurotic tendencies. Its disgusting in every sense of the word, never mind the fact she never apologized to the town, her friends, the CMC's, only to Celestia for failing to write a damn report. And just because ponies didn't remember what happened, doesn't erase the damage. By that logic, rape victims should be happy they got roofied, because then they couldn't remember being raped. It was a gross overstep and abuse of magic, akin to enslaving someone's mind.
And honestly, neither do I, but there is a reason why people are still punished regardless of whether their actions were intentional or not. Because what happened, happened. You still made a series of conscious decisions leading up to the incident. In case of drunk driving, you chose to consume alcohol, you chose to get behind the wheel, your inhibited state is what caused you to hit and kill someone. You still took something from the community, that being, another person's life, and you should pay for that, one way or another. Regardless if you lacked the foresight to see your actions would cause damage and destruction to other people's lives. Punishment teaches them that they're idiots, but it also balances the scales. Since they TOOK something from the community, they in turn, must give something BACK. If everybody was allowed to take and take and take, we'd not have peace, we'd have anarchy.
But even then, coming back to drunk driving, she chose those decisions that led up to the incident. If this was more of a case dependent on mental health, then why is she still in Ponyville where she's clearly a danger to those around her? For that matter, why was she made an Alicorn? If she clearly couldn't help herself, why didn't Celestia enact measures to prevent such incidents, if indeed there is something mentally wrong with Twilight? Even if she had to learn, she still committed something abhorrent. She clearly wasn't thinking at the time, "Hey, these are other living beings with lives and families," no, it was "CELESTIA! CELESTIA WILL SEND ME BACK TO SCHOOL! OH NO! MY LIFE IS RUINED!" She had the emotional maturity of a five year old, the ME ME ME sort of thinking that stands on the opposite spectrum of Altruism. She only showed regret when Celestia slapped her shit and pointed out that what she did was beyond fucked up. And even then, Twilight's pain WASN'T from causing so much destruction, it was from disappointing her mentor. This factors into the fact that Twilight puts Celestia on a pedestal and will do what ever it takes to appease her, in her mind. And even then, she still took something from the community, doing nothing to give back.
As for Discord, it was just disgusting. Yes, he was an evil "Bad guy" as it were, but to be consciously imprisoned in stone for a thousand years? If Discord wasn't mad/insane before, he was when he got out. I do accept it as a necessary evil though, but I don't entirely accept that he is reformed. More he was given a new perspective of what chaos is and that could be because he realized chaos can also be constructive OR because he realized that if Chaos is to be perfectly random, maintaining and abiding by a sense of order is technically random, since random can only happen in a system where the measure of time is infinite. Its like if I flip a coin 10 times, its just as random if I get 10 heads, as if I were to get a mix of heads and tails.
And since I really should say, I want to give my definition of Justice, being that its father simple. Justice is when someone gives back to the community after they've taken something away under the guidance of the Unlimited Rulebook (a book filled mostly with exceptions). Simple, easy, blind to an extent and idiot proof if you have foresight. The measure of punishment fluctuating depending on the degree of intent of the crime. But never dipping so low as to say that there should ever be NO punishment unless the infliction was self inflicted OR was in the defense of the self or another/many.
The elements defending themselves from Discord by using magic and everything else, is great and fine because it serves the greater good unless they were to sacrifice the good of someone's life.
Twilight brainwashing the town because she's neurotic does not serve a purpose, caused destruction, injured countless lives, very well may have mentally scarred many, endangered the lives of children and only showed regret when the focus of her affections was disgusted. That's a serial stalker going to jail because their victim was shown the Stalker's monument to them.
Definitely Rainbow's best episode so far.