Episode Re-Review: Not Asking for Trouble · 5:22pm February 10th
After ten episodes, Season 7 still had only one or two episodes that were not hotly contested. Even the long awaited royal sisters episode "A Royal Problem" was hotly debated, with some really liking it, others despising it, and others still regarding it as a mixed bag. Meanwhile, the early airings on Treehouse T.V. in Canada kept on rolling, at least through the first half. But the U.S. was going to take an abrupt halt in the airings right at the beginning of summer, with this being the last episode that would air for about two months. It marked yet another brand new writer joining the cast in the form of May Chan, who like Josh Hamilton worked on Avatar: The Last Airbender and Voltron: Legendary Defender, though unlike Josh she did not work on Avatar: The Legend of Korra and instead worked on Phineas and Ferb. Josh Hamilton had not debuted particularly well given that "Parental Glideance" way overdid it on the amazingly embarassing parents trope, and the previous new wirter before this in Kevin Lappin had penned the absolute waste of an episode slot that was "Honest Apple". Add to that the fact that this episode marked the return of the yaks from "Party Pooped", and suddenly this episode seems like a recipe for disaster. It's not really talked about much either way within the fandom, though as far as I know no one really says anything good about this episode. Is there a reason for that? Is it possible that with all the other missteps going on during Season 7 that this episode just failed to leave an impact? Well, let's find out.
The episode probably doesn't begin on the best note, as we have to spend time listening to Pinkie Pie's high pitched shrieking. It's not as prolonged as the screaming and exciteable shouting we heard in "Parental Glideance", but it's still not pleasant to listen to.
Why is Pinkie screaming? Because she's excited. Why is she excited? Because she's been invited to Yakyakistan to attend something called Yikslurburt Fest. She admits that she more or less begged Prince Rutherford via scrolls to let her come. Nothing out of character for her, but definitely one playing up some of her more annoying character traits, and we've only just begun. Anyway, Twilight points out how despite what happened in "Party Pooped" there's still much about the yaks that's unknown, so she gives Pinkie her blessing to attend Yikslurburt Fest. Pinkie Pie, however, insists that Twilight officially designate her a friendship ambassador to the yaks.
So Pinkie Pie leaves, and we spend time with her talking to Gummy on the hot air balloon ride to Yakyakistan. It's one of those scenes where the writers think just having Pinkie do something automatically makes it funny, but we know that it doesn't. Season 3 alone attests that Pinkie doesn't magically make scenes funny just because you add her to them. Fortunately, once the scene ends we have Pinkie arriving in Yakyakistan, and we now get to see it in all its glory. But without spoiling too much, it's basically just a typical mountain village that seems to be the pony equivalent of Mongolia. And we spend a lot of time on nothing of substance happening, until the yaks stomp so much and so loud that they cause an avalanche. Fortunately, they all survive unharmed and try to start digging their way out of the snow. But after only a little bit of digging, they've made no headway. And since they don't have pegasi, they can't manipulate the weather.
Pinkie then decides that the yaks need help, but Prince Rutherford and all the other yaks insist they don't need help, they'll wait and dig themselves out by hoof no matter how long it takes. Pinkie Pie, wanting to be respectful to the yaks as an official ambassador initially respects their decision. But the next day, she overhears two yak children complaining that their stomachs are growling, but they're determined not to let Prince Rutherford overhear this. So Pinkie takes it upon herself to try to convince the yaks to accept help by telling them a story.
The story is basically her substituting camels for the yaks, and replacing snow with sand.
But Prince Rutherford sees through the story and refuses to change his mind. When Pinkie asks him afterward why he's so stubborn and unwilling to accept help, Rutherford tells a story of his own. He claims that as a young yak he fell through some snow and got buried alive in ice. He could see other yaks waving to him, but no one dug him out, he had to eventually thaw out all on his own. And as a result, he learned to never rely on others for help. However, Pinkie Pie quickly sees through the holes in the story, revealing that Prince Rutherford is just making it up. Yet she doesn't think to bring up the starving children, even though she's often depicted as a friend to children, and we've seen that she's matured enough to be entrusted with taking care of kids.
So Prince Rutherford tells Pinkie to leave, and she does so. She goes all the way back to Ponyville to tell her friends (minus Starlight who is inexplicably absent from this episode), and they all agree that the yaks need help despite what Prince Rutherford says. But then Pinkie says they can't outright help the yaks or be seen doing it, they have to make it look like the yaks survived all on their own. That's some very twisted logic. And quite honestly, when your decision not to accept help affects not just you but everyone around you, it doesn't matter what you think. Forcing others to go along with your decision not to seek any help even when they might want it is wrong.
Still, the ponies all go to Yakyakistan and clear away the snow overnight, then sneak away before the yaks wake up so as to make the yaks think the snow melted all by itself. It works, for the most part, but Prince Rutherford catches Pinkie sneaking away and realizes what she did. It's all okay, though, because he claims that she understands the yaks by helping them even when they say they don't want to be helped. And that makes her an honorary yak.
The episode ends with Pinkie briefly doing a yak impersonation after she's given yak horns, only to topple over because they're too heavy for her.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Honestly, it feels like its entire existence was made solely because of the complaint about how in "Party Pooped" we didn't get to see Yakyakistan after Pinkie set out to journey to it. That's really the only thing this episode has going for it, getting to see Yakyakistan proper. Unfortunately, Yakyakistan is not a very interesting location at all, and the yaks remain as one note as they were before. Even Griffonstone, as run down as it was, was more interesting when we first saw it. Like with the world building mistakes in Season 2, in showing off more of the world and the lore, they make it seem less interesting. Even with the knowledge that we'd get Yona in Season 8 as an actual enjoyable yak, this is not all that interesting or exciting.
The moral is very confusing: Supposedly, it says you should go ahead and help someone even when they say they don't need help, because they probably do but they're too stubborn to admit it. With all due respect, that's very problematic. Trying to help when it's not needed may very well cause problems. That's like running into a burning building because you think someone needs help: That's not being helpful or a hero, that's being stupid and careless. And didn't we specifically see with Mare-Do-Well in Season 2 what happened to Rainbow Dash when she was trying to help even when she didn't need to help?
I know the show wouldn't include something as cynical as the saying "You can't help someone who won't help themselves", but it exisits for a reason. It's why they call denial the first stage of grief, and why they say admitting to a problem is the first step in overcoming it. If you don't think you have a problem or that something is wrong, you're not going to be open to suggestions about what to do better or what needs to change. The sad truth is that a lot of people are stubborn and unwilling to admit they need help even when it gets to the point where their lives are put in danger as a result. Think of all the people who refuse to evacuate ahead of natural disasters, either because they think there's no danger or because they don't want to leave their house and belongings behind. Often, these are the people who end up needing to be rescued at the last minute, which puts a strain on rescuers who have to put themselves on the line to help them. In some cases, because of the danger, there have been warnings telling people not to expect a rescue if they remain behind since it would be too dangerous for anyone to come and help them. At some point, people have to take responsibility for their own actions, and if they refuse to do so there is nothing more you can do for them other than work to ensure that their actions will only affect them and no one else. Again, unless someone admits they have a problem, they're not going to be willing to change or do anything different.
And what this episode should've addressed but does not address is that Prince Rutherford is endangering children with his refusal to accept help. Although this was written years before the Covid-19 pandemic, it has aged especially poorly in light of all those who refused to wear masks or get vaccinated, yet demanded schools be open for in-person learning and turned their fury on teachers when they refused to do so.
Any self-proclaimed leader who would endanger children to prove a point doesn't deserve to be a leader. It's one thing if all the adult yaks go along with Prince Rutherford, either because they want to or because they have faith in him. They're old enough to make their own decisions and deal with the consequences. It's another thing entirely to put children in danger and force them to starve being Prince Rutherford won't admit he needs help. Children aren't old enough to have a say, they trust their elders to make decisions for them. And the needs of the many in this case outweigh the needs of one individual who can't or won't accept help for whatever reason. The children starving should've and could've been the perfect angle for Pinkie Pie to decide she was going to help anyway, but it never gets brought up at any point, as if it was never meant to be included at all.
Putting aside the problems with the moral and the starving children that go unmentioned, this episode wastes time on nothing of substance happening. It feels like they have to stretch out scenes and jokes to fill the run time. And if they have to resort to that then maybe this was an episode idea that was better left on the cutting room floor. In terms of a Pinkie Pie episode, it's one of those episodes that thinks just having her do random things will make everything funny, and it really isn't. What made "Party Pooped" work with these is that there was actual stuff going on to make the jokes work, whereas here nothing happens and the jokes thus fall flat. Quite honestly, if not for the confusing moral at the end, this episode would've been more boring than anything else. Ultimately, it gets a D. The only thing it accomplished was showing off Yakyakistan, which could've easily been done at any point prior to this episode and most definitely was not an absolute must do for the show. I'd sooner have them explain the origins of Spike's egg and how it got to Equestria rather than see a location populated by one dimensional characters.
Well, things have nowhere to go but up from here, at least for the time being. So come back next week when we'll get back into the good stuff with a re-review of "Discordant Harmony", the last time Discord was a competently written and enjoyable character. Trust me, Seasons 8 and 9 really did him dirty.
There's a reason GoldenFox gave Rutherford the nickname "Prince Ruthless".
Speaking of Rutherford, I didn't realize until now that The Best Gift Ever was his final speaking appearance, and seeing as how this is the only episode featuring him that you're gonna cover in this "Leftovers Edition" of your re-review marathon I thought I'd share his first and last speaking lines here.
For me, this is one of those episodes that's just kinda there.
Not bad, not great, just kinda meh
5767541 Probably sums up this episode as a whole. If not for the confusing aesop, it would've just been there.
It’s been a long time since I saw this episode, although I remembered it being fun regardless of its flaws.
Wasn't Discord okay in The Break Up Break Down (where he genuinely tries to help Big Mac with his love life problems) and Best Gift Ever which were in the seasons 8-9 time period?
5767575
No, not really. In the former he initially told Big Mac that no one can hurt you if you only love yourself, the worst advice you can give to someone getting over a break-up. Then he told Big Mac to break up with Sugar Belle before she could do the same to him, thus contributing to the misunderstandings and breaking Sugar Belle's heart. Him intentionally breaking Sugar Belle's wagon at the end to give Big Mac a chance to catch up to her doesn't make up for how little he cared and how much worse he made everything before then. And in the latter, he revealed that he delibertly set up the winterzilla so he could one up Rainbow Dash as a friend to Fluttershy, completely forgetting the lesson he'd learned from "Make New Friends, But Keep Discord" about not needing to be so possessive of Fluttershy all the time. And keep in mind, he showed no remorse for endangering anypony else as a result of his plan: Not even Flurry Heart, a baby. If anything, it makes you wonder why Rainbow Dash let him get away with it instead of rightfully calling him out for his needless desire to outshine her.
5767675
Fair. So, any plan on rewriting Best Gift Ever at some point?
5767678 Maybe, maybe not.