“Scents of Adventure” Review (YouTube)

New review for the Tell Your Tale episode “Scents of Adventure” out now!

Transcript:

“You know…sometimes, the art of being based is a tough job in itself and after losing so much of my brain cells in a pointless debate about A New Generation and whether or not it plagiarized other media, I really needed an episode to restore my good mood, something simple, something fun. So did this week’s Tell Your Tale episode do the trick? Well, if the title is anything to go by, we may be in for one sweet ride of adventure. Hello, everypony! My name is Hawk Nightwing, the most unapologetic defender of G5 you’ll ever meet, and if you love what you’re seeing here, then feel free to like this video and subscribe to the channel while you’re at it! It really helps my channel grow and be noticed by the algorithm, and who knows? You might feel like sticking around for more. With that being said, this is my review of the 60th episode of Tell Your Tale: “Scents of Adventure!”

[Intro]

So the episode starts off with Pipp advertising her new line of perfume to a crowd of potential consumers at Mane Melody. While she is presenting, an army of small animals decide that they want in on whatever that sweet smell is and storm the salon, intending to seize the means of production for themselves and their fellow woodland creatures. What could it be that attracted them? Well, it turns out that Izzy accidentally tainted the mix with a bunch of discarded items, which resulted in a…less than desirable product to say the least. It also attracted the critters…somehow. Eh, just don’t think about it too much, Hawk. So in order to try and save her business, Pipp and Izzy venture out to the Bridlewood forest and find a collection of hidden flowers! As shenanigans ensue, Pipp may learn a valuable lesson about preserving the environment and the sentience of the world around her. I’m sorry, but who put James Cameron in the writers’ room here?

Now off the bat, let me say that this episode is way better than the last one and even has more rewatch value in my opinion, especially considering one detail I did notice on my third viewing that does help to bring some clarity to the overall time frame of these shows. While the episode is just a simple slice of life adventure, something that’s become synonymous with this series, one thing that makes it stand out the most is the lesson on environmentalism. That genuinely caught me off guard and I love it when Tell Your Tale episodes implement morals at the end. It makes the experience of watching worth it and it gives you something to come away with. In this episode’s case, it’s a classic archetype scenario of what happens when you end up finding a whole mountain of resources (in this case, flowers) and learning that you can’t just take them all for yourself without consequences. The episode does a really nice job of showing how Pipp is at first willing to respect Izzy’s wishes, but her instincts and desperation eventually take over and she has to realize that she was in the wrong. While I do question how these rare types of flowers are so powerful that it can make the entire forest collapse in on itself if removed, the intention behind it as genius as once Pipp gets too greedy and uproots all of the flowers, she is immediately shown the ramifications of her actions. Izzy acts as the means to convey the moral while Pipp is on the receiving end and have I mentioned yet how much I love these two as a duo? Oh wait, I have. You…just haven’t seen it yet. These two work off each other extremely well and I love how they are able to impart wisdom onto each other and help each other learn important lessons. This sort of acts as a spiritual sequel to “Izzy Does It” in a way, whereas in that episode, Pipp taught Izzy a valuable lesson about listening to yourself and finding inspiration in the most unexpected of times, here Izzy is returning the favor by teaching Pipp the value of appreciating the what you have and respecting the ecosystem around her. It’s a brilliant role reversal with its own originality and it makes the end very satisfying to watch. Obviously Pipp puts her products and fans first, but sometimes…that isn’t everything. Sometimes you have to put that aside and leave the natural order alone. When your drive for the consumers’ adoration is leading you to the point where you start taking too much, that’s when you have to realize that maybe you should find other means that don’t involve such actions, especially when your friend already warned you not to do it.

It’s a simple environmental message sure and not the most complex sure, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s a message that rings true in real life. A lot of us, including myself, I won’t lie, when we see a ton of flowers in the wild, we often like to pick them off to either give to our family members or friends. And the episode makes you question to what extent are you willing to do that. Sure, one or two may be fine, but what happens if you get greedy and take a lot? We don’t often see the consequences right away as everything takes time, but when you do that, you leave an effect on the environment around you. It’s been well documented just what taking a single sea creature like a starfish, crab, or what from the beach can do to the ocean’s food chain. Or in a more relevant example, what happens when we bulldoze trees in order to make room for houses, buildings, etc. It’s something that is happening right now and it’s good to see this series make a statement on climate when we need it to. That’s one of the many strengths that this generation has in my opinion, that it can tap into real life scenarios or situations and provide an outlet for kids as the target audience to become aware and strive to be better individuals in the process. The corporate metaphor in this situation is Pipp’s perfume line and we get to see what happens when pressure drives you to do the unthinkable. In hindsight, it’s not entirely her fault, considering that Posey is the one egging on the crowd members to drive Pipp to further desperation two times in a row, proving without a shadow of a doubt that the writers have no idea what they want to do with the yellow earth pony. I mean, guys, pick one. Is she a rabble rouser or a punching bag? You can’t have it both ways, I don’t get it. But in all seriousness though, I like the way that the message was conveyed and the forest falling apart presents a real sense of urgency and conflict, therefore making the stakes feel real and further driving home just how much Pipp screwed up.

The resolution with the giant tree growing out of the ground and Pipp learning the lesson to only take what she needs is…kinda emotionally moving, not gonna lie. Not saying it got me in the same way as Misty and Sunny’s heart to heart two episodes ago, but…I felt something. I really did. And if an episode is able to elicit an emotional reaction out of me, that automatically puts it in the great tier. I know what you’re thinking. Why did you get teary eyed over a cheap environmental message? And to tell you the truth, I don’t know either. Maybe it’s because I’m a sucker for films like Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water that have this sort of message in them, or maybe it’s because of the way this scene was delivered, voice acted, and conveyed overall elicited that reaction out of me. I’ve always been fascinated by the environment personally and I’ve always been taught from an early age to enjoy it as an observer and to never take what I don’t need, so seeing this message conveyed in MLP media really gets a smile out of me.

Also, I just adore the facial expressions in this episode. Practically all the Tell Your Tale episodes have great attention to meme-worthy faces from our favorite ponies. I just thought I’d point that out. I did like seeing Sunny and Hitch getting involved near the climax and how their earth pony magic saved the day. One thing I will say is that I think what would’ve been better is if Pipp was able to plant the flowers back on her own and then that fixed everything, because the flowers are magical, let’s not forget that. I mean, if they had the power to invoke Mother Nature’s wrath and collapse the forest if messed with, then surely they can grow back, right? So if we had Pipp taking more of the initiative here in the ultimate feat of proving that she’s learned her lesson, I think the resolution would’ve hit even harder. It still really hits as is, but…I don’t know. I think in overall presentation, we could’ve done without Sunny and Hitch’s last-minute save. Again, I like seeing them, but…eh, this is Pipp’s episode. I don’t think they were necessary in the grand scheme of things.

Now let’s get into what I alluded to earlier because the fact that the giant tree appears in this episode got me thinking…maybe the chronological timeframe of both shows isn’t as convoluted as we initially thought. Because that same tree appeared in the preview with the Breezies, so it led me to this conclusion. What if every post Chapter 4 Tell Your Tale episode takes place before Make Your Mark Chapter 5? And to that extent, what if all of these episodes take place before or between the mainline installments? It’s just something that got me thinking, because I know there are a lot of questions from fans as to whether or not Make Your Mark and Tell Your Tale are even canon to each other to begin with. I contend that they are and there’s a ton of reasons why that are obvious just by watching them. Certain events that happen in either won’t make sense without watching the other, so…yeah, they are unquestionably and undeniably canon. Hasbro just has this…wibbly wobbly timey wimey way of putting these out, but it doesn’t make any of these shows any less canon to the other, especially when the tree that houses the Breezies is literally created in this episode.

I hope that kinda clears things up a bit. Either way, this episode was sweet. And as a sucker for environmental messages, I call this one a winner. The lesson and the way it was conveyed definitely adds a whole lot of rewatch value to this. It may not be a huge one to celebrate their 60th episode (good Luna, I’m just realizing how long this season has been. How many shows get to proudly claim that they have 60 episodes in their first seasons?!), but I really do like it. It’s certainly an episode I’ll be watching again after this video is posted and I recommend you check it out too. It’s awesome to see Pipp get character development and both shows have been amazing at that.

So with that being said, I will see you all…probably after the biggest project of my life that I’ve been working on for over a year is released to the world, good gravy. I’ll definitely be posting some updates on that soon, don’t worry, whether it be on this channel or Fimfiction. This really has been an amazing journey to get here. But until then, this is Hawk Nightwing signing out until next time. Bye!!

Comments

[EverythingGuy]

Honestly, I’ve stopped trying to fit MYM and TYT together perfectly because I find it just too confusing. It doesn’t hinder my enjoyment of TYT, fortunately.