Let's Talk About Season 4: Maud Pie (Episode 18) · 2:50am Mar 17th, 2014
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Holy horsefeathers, I'm alive.
So... yeah. Blog. You see, I'm a big fan of the mlp analysis community; I understand my opinions are little more than a drop in the bucket, but week after week I still find myself with something to say about the show and the fandom surrounding it, but nobody to say it to. Well, with any luck, that's about to change! So hold on to your horse plushies folks, cuz here's everything I have to say about My Little Pony this week!
This Week's Episode
My Little Airbender, Book 4: Earth
No beating around the bush here: I love this episode; It is easily one of my favorite episodes of the season. This episode may not be as in-your-face-amazing as some of the other episodes this season (Flight to the Finish, Pinkie Pride...), but it does something that no other episode this season has done for me so far: it really, truly feels like an episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It feels like a season 2 episode with spiffier animation, something I can't say for any of the past 17 episodes. This doesn't necessarily make it a better episode, but it does make me feel a lot more comfortable with season 4 as a whole.
So Pinkie Pie's sister, Maud Pie, is coming to Ponyville for a visit, and Pinkie Pie expects her and the Remane 5 to become instant best friends. They don't. Now that is a solid concept. We get a callback all the way to season 1 by finally getting to meet one of Pinkie's family members, we get a strong, clear conflict that requires no suspension of disbelief, every one of the Mane 6 serve a narrative purpose, and we get a significant friendship moral that hasn't really been explored yet. I don't know about you, but I like the sound of that.
I'd have thought Rarity of all ponies would be able to relate to Maud...Let's take a second and talk about Maud. I love Maud. I haven't heard anyone else's thoughts on this episode yet, but I'm not expecting her to be all that popular of a character. I believe the reason the Remane 5 didn't get along with Maud was probably because they spent the whole time trying to do things together. Maud's the kind of character I'd probably like to just sit down and talk with (or to). She comes across as introspective, and a fairly good listener, kind of like myself. She might not make an interesting character to watch, but at the very least I think she'd make an interesting friend. And I like her design. And damn can she throw a rock.
Pinkie-Rainbow-Rari-Twi-Apple-Flutter-Maud Fun Time. I cannot wait to see this title appear under Clopfics.Do I have anything bad to say about this episode? Well... yes. In the end it wasn't exactly clear what the moral was. Not every story has to have a moral, but this episode was really setting itself up for a great message: not everypony gets along, and sometimes you just have to accept that your best friend isn't going to be everypony else's best friend too. This is a great moral, and Pinkie Pie is the perfect pony to learn this moral. But in the end the Remane 5 and Maud do become friends. Sort of. And... what exactly is the message here? Even if you don't get along with somepony, you can still build a bond through your mutual love of... somepony else? What? The whole resolution was rushed and didn't exactly make sense. On top of that, Pinkie Pie didn't get enough focus in the episode. She wasn't around enough, and even when she was she rarely actually needed to be. It's a bit of a nitpick, but I really think the episode could have used a bit more Pinkie Pie.
No necklace for you.Still, despite its flaws, I enjoyed this episode more than most other episodes in season 4 thus far, and it's left me with high hopes for the rest of season 4... Sweet Celestia, this sounds like the closing paragraph to a mediocre English essay. That's the bulk of what I wanted to say about this episode, but before I let it go I'm going to ramble about a few small things I couldn't really fit into my main analysis. Enjoy!
Who were each of these costumes supposed to be for, anyways? Here's my best guess, from left to right: Rainbow Dash (to appease her unhealthy cider addiction), Fluttershy (admit it, you'd give anything to see Fluttershy wearing that.), Maud (Duh), Rarity (she'd make it work), and Twilight (bause I can totally imagine Twilight wearing those glasses and dancing some pony disco).
Rainbow Dash can be really feathering adorable when she wants to.
You know what else makes Maud relate-able? Her obsession with rocks. Kind of reminds me of me.This next story’s about ponies.
They’re all about ponies.
I'm a huge fan of the music made by the brony community. Very little of the music is I listen to isn't pony-related, if only because the community releases quality music faster than I can keep up with. That means there's a hell of a lot of music I wish I could share, but I ain't got nopony to share it with. Sound familiar? Well, my hopes are that every week, along with my episode analysis, I can share with you guys some of my favorite music. Hope you enjoy!
Music of the Week
Song of the week:
Over the Reals
By And the Rainfall
Album: {Sori 52}
This is one of my favorite songs of all time; it might be difficult to get into at first, but if you can get into it then it's a deep, wonderfully progressive piece that's well worth a little listening. And the Rainfall's voice is amazing, and I recommend checking out the rest of his music.Artist of the month:
Tarby
Tarby is easily one of the most underrated pony musicians out there. He is an amazing musician, currently my favorite, and it is a disgrace that he isn't more popular than he is. He has a new album coming out in April, so now's the time to get on board. In fact, can I ask you all a favor? Tell everyone you possibly can about this guy. He deserves to be known.
Sample Music:
What You Hoped to Find
Nightmare Moon
Taste the Rainbow
Aaaaand I'm done! I have nothing more to say now except have a good week, and enjoy this funny little picture I found!
1932476 Thanks.
I'm still busy, but I'll try to be less dead.
1932528 or a zombie movie.
Maud is actually a third sister, neither Limestone or Marble. You can see her picture in Pinkie Pride, she's also mentioned in the Pinkie Rockin Palooza or whatever it's called book.
1932683 Why does everybody know this but me???
Bleh... thanks anyways.
You're welcome.
1956292 ... Sweet mother of Celestia.
It was meh. Way better than that fucking Power Ponies, but still meh and boring