Episode Analysis - Season 4, Episode 12 - Pinkie Pride · 10:45am Feb 5th, 2014
WARNING: The following blog post contains spoilers. If you have not yet watched this episode, you might want to do so before you read this post.
The second musical episode of the series was brought to us courtesy of Pinkie Pie and Weird Al Yankovic Cheese Sandwich, and was an entertaining episode with a lot of activity, action, and humor throughout its length. It lacked much in the way of character development, and the songs were only okay, but what it lacked in style it made up for in vivacity and vibrant visuals.
From the standpoint of analysis, I think the most interesting thing about this episode is how very much it shows that the spoken dialogue and lyrics which go into an episode are only a part of what really sells it. This episode is extremely dependent on its format - it works as a television show, but it would never work as a story. Why? Because so much of it is dependent on actually seeing what is going on. It is one thing to read about someone dressing up outrageously for a goof-off and read silly song lyrics, but actually seeing it (and hearing it) sells it. A lot of the action of this episode - rolling in on a giant wheel of cheese, the various cartoony stunts done during the goof-off, the ever-increasing level of exaggeration - work because we see them, not because we read about them.
The episode is full of visuals - the song sequences have a lot of visual humor to them, and while the songs aren't the best things in the world, they're sung decently enough, and Pinkie Pie being adorable and funny (and Cheese Sandwich doing silly things himself) contribute greatly to what makes them good. The first song sequence, for instance, has solid enough singing both from Pinkie Pie and the crowd, but it also has little chatty sequences in it which deliver little visual gags, like pouring mixed paints directly into Pinkie Pie's saddle bags (and the paint turning brown... then later unseparating) and some of the silly things that Pinkie Pie does while jumping around town or talking to vendors really enhance the mood and make the audience feel cheerful.
When Pinkie is upstaged by Cheese Sandwich, not only is she sad, but she literally deflates - she becomes a duller shade and her hair loses a lot of its poofiness. When she's happier, she's back to full fluffiness and color, but when she's down, not only her body language but her actual physical appearance change. It is a nice little touch, and also warns the audience of her mood and faintly recalls the instances where Pinkie Pie was deeply unhappy and had straight hair.
All the way through all the party preparation, even the goof-off, we see Cheese visually upstage the more plain, homemade, and amateurish parties that Pinkie Pie throws. This is a great example of showing and not telling - we see the contrast. We can see why Pinkie Pie is down, and we can see that what he has done is just outstripping what resources Pinkie Pie has available to her.
The episode also features the show's first live action sequences, and Gummy in particular is a wonderfully terrible gag.
So what is there to talk about in terms of the actual writing, if the visuals make up so much of the episode and translate poorly into the spoken word?
Well, still a fair bit. One thing this episode does very well is pacing - it keeps the episode moving throughout. We start out with Cheese Sandwich seeming mysterious and very westerny - he is pretty obviously referencing the Man with No Name, visually and tonally, though it is obvious that he isn't quite so serious when he has a Pinkie-Pie-esque combo at the start. We then see Pinkie Pie setting up for a party, and have Cheese Sandwich show up just at the high point to outstage her. To her friends, this is a higher point still, but the audience feels bad for Pinkie Pie as she is outclassed and upstaged - she has worked hard at this, but this stranger is coming, showing up and rendering all of her preparations moot with his massive, on the spot party. The whole episode remains active, and every scene we are not only enjoying it, but also looking forward to the next scene at the end of it.
A second thing this episode did fairly well was foreshadowing. Everything we see from Cheese also very strongly recalls Pinkie Pie - even his Weird Al-esque haircut is reminiscent of Pinkie Pie's own mane. He has his "Cheesy sense", he has a (massively upscaled) party canon of his own, and rips off little bits from Pinkie Pie here and there throughout the episode, hinting at the eventual reveal that he is actually emulating Pinkie Pie in many ways not out of malice, but because she was the one who got him into partying in the first place. This is further shown because, throughout the episode, Pinkie Pie ends up initiating most of the conflict, and while Cheese goes along with it, he is surprised at the end when Pinkie Pie forfeits. To Cheese, the episode was all fun and games; to Pinkie, it was deadly serious.
Character-wise, however, the episode was weaker. Cheese Sandwich was effectively a clone of Pinkie Pie, and while Rainbow Dash got some lines, we didn't really learn anything new about her or her personality, other than the bit of trivia that she moved to Ponyville on her birthday. The rest of Pinkie Pie's friends were there as backdrops - they didn't really get any good lines and were mostly interchangeable, and the one thing we did learn didn't get followed up on by anyone, though to be fair it wasn't really necessary for the episode. This is a problem that season 4 has had time and again, and it showed up here, though it wasn't a distraction in this case - the characters had a legitimate purpose for being there (grinding salt into Pinkie Pie's wounds and forgetting about her) but they had no real presence or personality, with all their roles being essentially interchangeable.
Even for Pinkie Pie, little new is established - it mostly just drives home things we already knew. This episode supplies further evidence that Pinkie Pie takes partying very seriously; there have been some hints of this in the past, such as with her severe unhappiness back in Party of One when no one showed up for Gummy's after-birthday party, but here we see it taken to a whole new level, to the point of scaring Rainbow Dash.
Likewise, Pinkie Pie's obsession with promises and keeping her word resurfaces. While her surface actions reflect it very strongly ,several times throughout the episode Pinkie Pie makes the requisite gestures of her eponymous oath, a subtle call-back which surprisingly goes unremarked by the episode, expecting that the audience would recognize it.
We also see signs of Pinkie Pie hiding her feelings - there have been some indications previously that Pinkie Pie hides when she's sad, but this episode really showed it, with her even perking up for Twilight and Rainbow Dash so that they wouldn't realize she was sad - thus making it easier for both of her friends to miss just how troubled she was, even if she wasn't terribly convincing. Again, though, this is more confirmation of suspicion, and while not a bad thing, it isn't breaking new ground.
In the end even the lesson itself is similar to what Too Many Pinkie Pies taught her about moderation.
Is all of this a big deal? The episode wasn't meant to go anywhere, after all; it was meant to entertain and fill up your time, and it does that. But it does make it feel less meaningful than, say, Party of One or Baby Cakes, leaving me with less afterwards than those earlier Pinkie Pie episodes did, even if Baby Cakes isn't as entertaining as this was. While entertaining, it is also forgettable.
Even so, I had more just outright fun with this episode than I did any other thus far in season 4, even if it was childish and silly. And that counts for something.
Plus it got me another mark on my bingo chart.
Much better this time.
I think there was actually a fair bit of characterization for Pinkie in this episode. I think you were more referring to growth of character, while in a more general sense this episode showcased her character well.
From S1 and gasping at Twilight's arrival to Ponyville and onwards, Pinkie has firmly established, nay entrenched the fact that she is friends with everpony. A Friend Indeed (especially the Smile song), Magical Mystery Cure, and Too Many Pinkies all did well showcasing how firmly a part of Ponyville Pinkie is, and this episode added even more to that mountain of evidence.
The first song of Pinkie Pride was an excellent homage to that place she holds not only for the overall plot buildup, but for the characterization of Ponyville. They didn't just bring out her friends among the other m6 like they would for Fluttershy. They brought out the likes of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon as well as the Cakes. That seems like a fairly deliberate choice of supporting cast to display the sheer breadth of how this relationship with the town really goes.
We also got an interesting glimpse into Pinkie and several other ponies' backgrounds. Chronicles already gave us one glimpse into a young Pinkie's past on her family's rock farm. It seems it wasn't that long afterwards that she ended up in Ponyville for Cheese to encounter her. I'm curious how far away the Pie farm is from Ponyville.
I'm also really enjoying the arc of stories that now includes Rarity Takes Manehatten, Rainbow Falls, and Pinkie Pride. Each one has been fairly enjoyable in it's own way, and I feel has showcased the central character well. In each, the conflict is relevant to the character, and solved on their own strength of right and wrong (though Rainbow Dash did get some light nudging from Twilight). Rather than being a test of the pony's element, it seems more like they are displaying their competence (though still not perfection) at it and teaching others. That to me is a solid example of growth.
In Pinkie's particular element of Laughter/Optimism/Cheer/Smiles/whatever you want to call it, the growth is somewhat subtle. Early Pinkie was about eating cupcakes/sugar simply because it is sweet and more is better. Party of One toward the end of S1 revealed a lot of the underlying problems with Pinkie's stability. A Friend Indeed and Griffon Brushoff in S2 revealed that simply bashing your way with friendliness/zaniness doesn't work for everyone. Too Many Pinkies in S3 saw Pinkie attempting (but still not quite getting it right at first) to tailor her energy levels to each friend, learning consideration. Baby Cakes and the end of Too Many Pinkies showed a much more stable and sane Pinkie underneath the party machine. And now with Pinkie Pride, the lesson is not to try to be the highest magnitude of sugar rush/fun imagineable, but to be more moderate about it. The lesson is to seek the happiness of others, even if that means you play no direct role in it happening. The goal is that your friends are happy, not being the one to make them happy.
That is a lesson Cheese hadn't really learned yet. His style of bringing cheer to Equestria is that extreme rollercoaster. He was still that sugar high you get after Halloween from eating tons of candy. The problem is that you crash into a sugar low afterwards. Pinkie has learned to just brighten ponies' day every day and save the bigger smiles for when they're needed more.
On your bingo card, Didn't RD technically get invited to the Wonderbolts in Rainbow Falls? She just turned it down.
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Technically no. They invited her to join the CLOUDSDALE TEAM, not actually permanently join the wonder-bolts themselves. Not quite the same thing.
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I guess. That means they can't really extend an invitation until after the Games. Not after that episode.
Even if Team Cloudsdale are the Wonderbolts.
Well Pinkie did get her key in this episode so i think that moves the story along.