MLP episode review: Feeling Pinkie Keen · 11:46pm Jun 2nd, 2014
Okay, I'm tired, I've had a long day at work. I don't feel good, so I guess that means I'm in the best mood to be...
Feeling Pinkie Keen
Strap in, folks. We have a nice pan over City Hall before fading to Twilight and Spike. Spike has a stick, something green around his neck and a rock balanced on his head. Twilight, for some reason, is struggling to turn these into a top hat and tails with swaggerific cane. ZZ Top, take it away! And for some reason it seems that both of them need to concentrate on this, even though that's never been needed before. Pinkie Pie lets out a squeak and the top hat becomes a rock once more. Spike gets a concussion and... it's not really that funny. Twilight chews out Spike while he needs medical attention. Hey, Twilight?! Bite me! And again this sort of magic needs their full attention. When did it need Spike's attention before?! I am not even a half-minute in!!! And for this...
Four.
Spike points out Pinkie acting randomly. She's scooting about with an umbrella hat on. Twilight dismisses her, thank goodness! But for some reason Twilight goes over to ask her what's up. I... don't know why. She just dismissed it as her being Pinkie Pie. There's a Wide World of Sports reference. And... the tail is twitching, which means her Pinkie Sense is telling her stuff's gonna fall. Duck and cover! *Hides under desk* Wait, this isn't the 1950's in TV Land! Twilight says it's not gonna rain when a frog smacks into her face. Hello, my baby! Okay, that was good timing on the joke. And Pinkie Pie can talk Frog. Because why not?
Back from commercial and it's the same scene. Hmm, that doesn't happen too often. We pan up and we see Fluttershy with a cart of frogs. Because why not? Okay, the pond is getting over-populated, so she's moving some of them to Froggy Bottom Bog. Okay, that makes sense. Fluttershy mutters a muffled 'bye-bye' and it's actually pretty cute. Pinkie points out the frog and Twilight gets rather condescending. "Did your Pinkie Sense tell you that, too?" Okay, back off, Sparkle. The frog jumps off, Pinkie flits off and Spike hops onto Twilight's back, singing the praises of the Sense. Twilight's dismissive of it. And at this point, so would I. Then for some reason Pinkie speeds over from wherever the hell she was and says something else is gonna fall. Twilight is dismissive... and falls into a ditch that there's no real way she'd miss. Stars are spinning and this one isn't funny either. Spike says the blaringly obvious and actually asks if it's safe to help her. It is but he doesn't actually help her. Instead it's more praise for the Pinkie Sense. By now... I'd be a bit less skeptical. And then Applejack shows up with a cart of produce and asks why Twilight is hanging out in a ditch. Instead of helping her. Okay, Spike? Applejack? HELP HER OUT OF THE DITCH!!!!!!!
Twilight is still pretty dismissive, but one mention of the tail and Applejack gasps. She dives under her produce wagon, and it turns out she believes in it, too. Those who have lived in Ponyville a while, so I guess it's been observed over a period of time. And Pinkie pops up yet again with floppy ears. But they're not hanging low. What does it mean? She'll start a bath. Flat what. Twilight is dismissive, and suddenly a cart rumbles by and splashes her with mud.
Okay, this is becoming overly cruel. It's not funny, stop it!
For me, by now I'd be asking about the Sense.
We cut to Twilight in a bath. Pinkie walks in with a bottle and explains she gets these feelings, and each one means a different thing is gonna happen. Her shoulder's achey, so there's an alligator in the tub. Wait, alligator?! She reaches in and yanks out Gummy! Twilight is understandably freaked. She chews out Pinkie, and I'm on her side here. But Pinkie rolls her eyes because he's got no teeth. And he begins trying to gum her to death. It's... kinda funny?
Later Twilight and Pinkie are leaving. Twilight doesn't believe it and calls it mumbo jumbo. Twilight, at this point you've had several instances of the Pinkie Sense working. You live in a country with quantifiable, identifiable magic. Pinkie... says what I just said. "You do magic. What's the difference?" And Twilight stares at her, open-mouthed. And next she... I still can't believe it. She gets onto a literal soapbox. Apparently magic's something you study and practice. It's conscious and direct and dear god I am about to punch her with a Buick. Twilight, right now you are an elitist asshole. Get off your damned soapbox and realize that not everything fits into your little checklists.
Pinkie Pie gets angry, too. But she, being Pinkie Pie, says it's a bunch of random hings happening. Pinkie Pie calls them combos and now I'm hungry. Dammit, I just ate supper! She gets a combo and Twilight gets literally flattened against the door to Golden Oaks by Spike, complete with an audible backing-up beep. Not. FUNNY! This combo means look out for opening doors. Okay, show? Although Twilight is acting pretty high and mighty, the injuries are starting to make me sympathize with her. We are running into Boast Busters syndrome, here. And that's not a good thing!
Twilight says she doesn't believe this, and Pinkie buts in because she doesn't understand. Pinkie, she was referring to the injuries, methinks. We cut to the basement and some machine hooked up to Pinkie. I literally have no idea what it's supposed to be doing. Apparently when she gets a twitch, there'll be all sorts of 'scientific information'. Pony what?! It's a colander with all sorts of Christmas lights attached to it. No twitches after about... 20 seconds or so? Twilight's getting impatient. Still nothing and now Twilight's getting mad. Pinkie can't control them, though. It makes no sense! Wait, how? They've been pretty random all day, not to mention Pinkie said they were random earlier! And we get this...
"I will not believe in anything I cannot explain." That's a pretty loaded statement. Pinkie feels something. Her tummy growls, which usually means she's hungry. Hah, hah? Twilight yanks out the cables with her teeth and declares she doesn't need to understand it or care! Pinkie slips out of her hoof cuffs and bounces off. But at the top of the stairs she gets a combo and Twilight gets flattened by the door. Again. "Pinkie, have you seen Twilight?" "Uh, huh." And Pinkie bounces off. Okay, NOT funny! Spike notices and asks what Twilight's doing back there. UGH! Twilight asks if they planned this, and Spike is as confused as I am. Twilight says it makes no sense and says she has to figure it out!
We have a brief shot of Flutterhsy flying with her frogs before cutting back to Pinkie hopping about. Well, that was a pointless scene! We see a bush moving and it's Twilight, complete with binoculars, pith helmet and pencil in mouth. She begins scribbling while Spike wanders by and asks what's going on. Twilight pulls him in and chews him out for sneaking up on ponies. Spike asks if isn't that what she's doing. No, it's scientific research. Tomato, tomahto. But unfortunately, we can't call this off. She's observing Pinkie and comes up with some pseudo-Latin name for her, which actually seems vaguely insulting. The bush is bigger on the inside, mind. She's getting to the bottom of the Sense! We cut to Pinkie rolling around in the school's playground. Okay, creepy, much? Twilight observes an itchy nose and Pinkie diving for cover, which makes no sense. Because it's a twitchy tail that means something's gonna fall. And a bee swarm out of nowhere and heads straight for Twilight. She is now covered in band-aids, and observing Pinkie near/at Sweet Apple Acres. She notices the combo for opening doors. Spike dives for cover while Twilight is patronizing. She leans against the barn door and nothing happens. She trots off and falls into a door that opens in the fucking ground. It's Applejack's new apple cellar.
We come back to Twilight in casts, with a pulley system and wheelchair. NOT FUNNY! Spike ratchets her forelegs up. Twitchy tail and Twilight's forelegs are slammed into the armrest. Suddenly, flower pot, anvil, wagon of bales of hay, and finally piano. We pan up to see Ditzy and Raindrops and a moving van in the sky manned by pegasi. THIS makes no sense! And it's just damned cruel to Twilight! We cut to Applejack passing by, taking some apples to her new cellar. Pinkie reveals she knows Twilight is following her. Twilight, angry, asks why she didn't tell her. It would spoil the 'secret'. Twilight is about to stroke out at this point, and her injuries are NOT amusing. Pinkie suddenly shakes all over. "It's a doozy!" It's gonna happen at Froggy Bottom Bog! Applejack gasps out that that's where Fluttershy is! Applejack says they better go make sure she's okay. good call, Applejack! Twilight says for everyone to remain calm. Pinkie's got a case of the shivers. Everyone else has already galloped off. Twilight follows because she wants to basically rub it in Pinkie's face when nothing goes wrong.
We cut to Fluttershy letting the frogs out. We suddenly get a beast from below rising up while ominous music plays. The rest enter to rustic country twanging... for some reason. The swamp? Applejack's in the group? Why the country twanging?! Pinkie suddenly gets another doozy. Twilight is snarky. Spike asks what Applejack thinks happened. Applejack's trying not to think about it. Spike can't help it... which makes sense. Quick, don't think about your locker combo! We get the 'exploded twice' meme. Applejack rightly dismisses their insane rambling, as does Twilight. They spot the bog and go looking for Fluttershy, quickly finding her but not before Pinkie gets a faceful of mud. Eh... kinda not funny, but compared to earlier crap kinda passable. They're all relieved, and Twilight loses a ton of sympathy points by saying it's not nice to gloat, and then gloating. Twilight... ugh.
Ominous smoke rolls in while Twilight continues to gloat. The hydra rears up, one of the heads in front of Twilight, who continues to ignore it. Head, meet desk. At about mach 987! Spike points it out to her. She sees it, but doesn't believe it! The heads roar, one a bit too slow. Most run, except for Pinkie. Twilight runs back to save her. Some have mentioned the Stare, but in this case we can forgive Fluttershy for being too scared to use it. Fluttershy apologizes to a frog as she runs off, because! The hydra gives chase, but Spike gets stuck. Twilight runs back and snags him. And I gotta call her out for no use of teleporting. Unlike Fluttershy, we've seen that she can keep a much more level head. Twilight thinks they'll make it, but Pinkie's still shuddering. Oh, too much coffee. *Gives her decaf*
They come across a chasm, with several stone columns lining a path across. Twilight says to hop across, one at a time. Fluttershy, she can fly. Telekinesis, teleporting?! Spike asks if she can turn the hydra into a squirrel or something else. Nope! We get a callback to Dragonshy. God I wish I was watching that now. Twilight says she'll distract it while Applejack grabs pinkie by the tail and hops across. Twilight, the damned thing's pretty far away. Go with the others! she asks what a 'brave' pony like Dash would do, and charges. The hydra heads all got for her, but miss and follow. Under its belly. It flips itself over, one head being crushed.
Back at the other side of the chasm, Pinkie's shuddering. The hydra recovers and ambles after her, one head smashing one of the columns! All but the farthest two are demolished. Okay, teleport??!??!! Pinkie says to jump, which Twilight balks at. Pinkie says she'll be fine. "You have to take a leap of faith!" Oh, good effin' LORD! So Twilight backs up, jumps, comes up just short... and lands on some gas bubble. It pops, sends her bouncing along the last two columns, because we need more amusing injuries, and she slams into a rock wall, giving a squeaky smile of triumph. Yay!
Twilight doesn't know how it happened, but admits we had a doozy with a hydra. But... that's not the doozy! Pinkie's still shuddering! Twilight loses it and evolves into Rapidash. I half-expect her to start the killing. But no. She calms down and gives up. She doesn't understand the Pinkie Sense, but admits it's real. She believes in it. And THAT is the doozy, that she believes in the Pinkie Sense. What that's flatter than Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's characterization! Pinkie trots off humming to herself and I need a drink. Well, I wish I drank alcohol so I could need a drink, but whatever. Let's wrap this one up STAT.
We cut to Twilight sending Celestia a letter. We see Twilight at an odd angle, head not visible. Gee, I wonder what that could mean. We cut to her wearing an umbrella hat. Hah, hah? Not really, actually. Pinkie's tail is twitching. The moral is that there are things that lack explanation, but they're not any less true. Ugh. And as the two ponies trot off, Spike goes to the top window to send the scroll, even though he's never had to do that before. And Celestia out of nowhere. The end, thank god!
Thoughts
Oh, this one was painful. The 'comedy' bit alone were wince-inducing. I do like physical, Loony Toons comedy... in Loony Toons or the Three Stooges. NOT in this show! It felt very out of place and just painful after the first few times. It was wince-inducing.
Twilight pings back and forth. She's a straw/physicist/scientist/atheist/insert appropriate word here, coming off as incredibly arrogant and dismissive, but the harm she was getting was making me sympathize with her. Then she has to open her mouth. The moral is misspoke, for lack of a better term.
There are things in the world that's not understood. But that's not the end of the journey, only the beginning. Twilight was being punished for trying to understand... and came off as an asshole while trying to understand it. She trashed the scientific method. the Pinkie Sense was observed in action, after all. Also, leap of faith? Really? Really?!
So, yeah. This episode was bad. Sun_Tzu didn't review it. And you know what? He was right not to. Now, for this pic, it's not a hydra, but the toy I do own that turns into one, Robots in Disguise Megatron, is a bit too complex for me to get it transformed in time for this to be done. Also, it's more effort than the episode deserves!
It says a lot about this episode that Lauren Faust apologized for it...even when she didn't have anything to do with it, some gags were funny but keep throwing items at Twilight while bound in a wheelchair wasn't.
About Twilight forgetting how to teleport, I suppose that she forgot it due to the stress of the situation... and rule of drama, of course.
I probably would have liked the gags more if the episode weren't so damn heavy handed.
Still, Celestia falling out of the sky and taking the letter was a bit funny. ...what was she doing out there....?
I don't drink myself. I suggest Coca Cola.
"Feeling Pinkie Keen" is actually one of my favorite episodes of Season 1. For the most part, it's because Twilight's eventual acceptance of the Pinkie Sense in the end reminds me of a papal encyclical by Saint Pope John Paul II called Fides et Ratio.
That's right. This episode makes me thing of a papal encyclical.
Slapstick violence - and comedic sociopathy in general - really only work if the target is unsympathetic. Characters like Road Runner and Daffy Duck and Tom & Jerry and the Stooges generally invite the misfortunes on themselves when they could have avoided it by not stirring up the trouble in the first place (something a certain humiliated trio could have done as well a few episodes back), so we take pleasure in seeing them get their just desserts. When the character is not unsympathetic, we just see them getting picked on unfairly. A reviewer once said that Fawlty Towers would be a tragedy centered around one poor man being tortured by a cruel world if Basil Fawlty wasn't a huge jerk.
Unfortunately who's sympathetic and isn't can often be subject to bias. In this episode we were supposed to see Twilight as unsympathetic because she refused to step out of her narrow mindset and also acted jerkish about it, but she's the protagonist by default - and as such we have an established sense of sympathy for her already - and she does have a point that it should be something that can be categorized and understood. As such, it stops being fun as soon as it goes over the top. You've probably experienced the same in fanfics where some character or another you feel sympathy in general for gets picked on
Generally, I avoid slapstick violence for cheap yuks. It's really not worth it.
It's ironic. Your review of this episode actually made me like this episode more.
This was one of the worse, if not THE WORST episodes of the series. There was so many better ways of telling the story-and the moral-that the few "funny" parts are overshadowed by being beaten in the head by the moral. Which isn't even a good moral in the first place!
The episode was written by Dave Polsky, he of the infamous "Too Many Pinkie Pies" episode, which brought up the issue of clone killing=?murder and whole "hide it under a rock, it'll never get out" meme. And of "Spike at Your Service", which is one of the worse Spike-centered episodes, as well.
Ah'm sorry, ah need to ask, four what? Ah think ah missed an explanation somewhere. When you kept sayin' "two" in the middle of yer reviews ah assumed you were referencin' some show or comic that ah don't know.
Fun fact: The Outer Plane of Chaos is inhabited by giant frogs.
2169104
Or the blows to the head...
2169502
So . . . when you stop and think about it, if he was okay with clones being killed for the good of society, it's kinda dumb to think this was a "religion bashes science" episode.
This was Twilight's ego and stubbornness coming back to bite her in the rear. One person even suggested Pinkie Pie's ESP might have even been protecting itself somehow given how fate suddenly had it in for Twilight . . . or Twilight was having a nasty string of bad luck and Pinkie Pie's ESP was trying to warn her.
I loved the episode for it humbled Twilight Sparkle, she was forced to admit there was something that was undeniably real, and yet beyond the scope of her brain to quantify. I loved it.
2169271
Twice is tragedy, thrice is comedy. Ironically I loved faulty Towers for all its characters.
Twilight IMHO was enlightened by the reality that there was something that was beyond HER ability to quantify, and yet was right in front of her. She realized there is such a thing as a sunk cost fallacy. She realized, no, she DOESN'T have all the answers, and no, she ISN'T going to get them all tra-la-la.
2169104
We've seen that when Twilight panics, she does NOT act like her normal super smart self. And she just got knocked off her high horse in the middle of "Pinkie Pie's ESP is just random luck and vague interpretation!" so she was disoriented.
And I actually found it funny how Twilight was just THAT determined to NOT be wrong. And she IS brilliant and logical, but that doesn't make her immune to close minded-ness or stubbornness as anyone else (which is the message I walked away from that episode with). Twilight start out with the idea that Pinkie Pie's ESP was bunk. And it's nature for when someone's belief is challenge with contradicting proof, their become MORE ZEALOT in it, not less. It DOESN'T MATTER if those beliefs are personal, spiritual, or political.
2176000 It is, because at the end Twilight Sparkle blindly accepts the Pinkie Sense.
A much better ending (and episode!) would have been Twilight Sparkle figuring out how the Pinkie Sense works, and develops an understanding that other people see the world differently and respond differently. Instead, the message becomes "accept your friends weirdness unconditionally and trying to figure out things with logic is wrong".
2176127
I like the idea that no matter how powerful or wise you become, the continent will not move by your command.
2176166 No, the mountains do not move at our command.
But, they move according to a process, that we can hypothesize, test, create a theory, and prove. Twilight Sparkle studying the process of the PInkie Sense makes sense because at ninth and last, she's a researcher and showing how a problem is solved with research would make for a much better episode.
Right now, the entire episode is a signature piece of "don't trust logic, trust your feelings!".
2176614
And that way of thinking WORKS for Pinkie Pie 99% of the time.
http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/193967/my-own-defense-of-feeling-pinkie-keen-updated
Something that was pointed out in a Nostalgia Critic Vlog was that in episodes like this, it is always the skeptic who must bend and admit "Maybe there is something more and the believer of X could be right," rarely if ever the reverse (House did an episode with faith healing where all the mysteries were explained medically, involving broken a chastity promise and deceases). Not just religion, but physics, ghosts and aliens visiting Earth. I don't think it's meant to be an attack on logic and reasoning so much as not attacking faith (It could be true therefore we are not attacking anyone). I just don't get why they write these episodes in TV shows where Magic is literally real and demonstrable.