So, I'm Going to Try Something: Baby Cakes

I know I am a writer and not a critic, but I was re-watching MLP episodes tonight and I found something I want to share that's been bothering me and I had to tell somebody about it, and even though most of you won't give a flying feather about this attempt of analyzing I am about to do, here goes anyway.

So, Baby Cakes.

Not a favorite episode from the fandom, or so I've heard, some complaints being the babies make Pinkie cry in it and they are horrible and annoying. However, I find this episode to be a wonderful one, and probably one of my favorites. And for you, loyal blog post reader, and my sanity, I am going to tell you why!

*WARNING, STORY TIME!*

I am a very successful babysitter, and when that was my main supply of money, I was pretty notorious for my excellent child-taming skills and leaving the house cleaner than I left it. Put simply, I was the perfect sitter (not to brag or anything ). One fateful day, I took a sitting job at a home that I loved because although I worked for free she paid me in Netflix. After this kids were put to bed, I turned the TV on only to realize I had finished my last TV episode of some show I had been watching, and now I needed to find something else. Browsing the options, I stumbled upon My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, a show my friends had freaked out about a while ago before they all went to a different high school than me. Missing my friends, and not knowing what else to watch, I decided to give the first episode a try. The rest, of course, is history.

Faust emphasized how she wanted MLP to be a family show, something that dads and moms could watch with their little girls without having to gauge out their eyeballs. A side effect to this family-style show resulted in Bronies, obviously, but another side effect that not many people realized was all the babysitter Bronies/Pegasisters! All those sitters who have to sit down and watch something with the kids before bedtime, hoping they won't have to die inside too long, only to be continuing to watch that show long after the kids are in bed. I am one of those people.

There have been multiple shoutouts to Bronies and parents throughout the show. Baby Cakes is one of the few shoutouts to the sitters of the fandom. What are some others, you ask? How about Cadence, my favorite princess? Anyway, Baby Cakes is an episode dedicated to those young girls and guys who take time out of their weekends and evenings to watch rampaging children while their parents take a breather. This episode is FILLED with babysitter insight, jokes, and wisdom. And if you keep reading, I'll point them out to you.

Let's start with scene one: BABIES! Babysitters often have a strong connection with their ktw's (kids to watch) very early in life, often since birth. It was very cute to see Pinkie going through this same experience, so excited about the new babies that she can't help but celebrate every part of them. It's adorable.

Then, it shows New Sitter Syndrome. When a young girl (or guy, sorry boysitters!) comes of age to babysit, they have to compete with all the other sitters in the neighborhood who are older and more experienced. Often times, new sitters are the last resort and only get a job if the parents couldn't find anybody else. It was sad seeing Pinkie being treated that way, but it made sense. When she finally gets the job, just like others with New Sitter Syndrome, she thinks it will be all fun and games and is about to have a horrible realization than many babysitting jobs are not that way.

And then, the PARENTS LEAVE. The dreaded moment every sitter worries about: and right on cue, the babies start bawling. No matter what Pinkie does, there is nothing that will stop their tears. For those who've never experienced this before: this actually happens! So what are you supposed to do? The answer often ends up doing outrageous things to make the kids laugh (like the flour) and use that throughout the evening.

There are always those visits where everything goes wrong. The kids won't eat, won't take a bath, won't shut up, won't listen, and won't go to bed. The next step a new desperate sitter takes is the "I'm the boss" assertiveness move. They suddenly become very strict and order the kids into position. Sometimes, this actually works, but the relief that follows is actually short lived. Kids don't like to be bossed around, and once you start giving them strict orders like that, they've changed their time with you from a game of cat-and-mouse to a WAR, with you as the enemy.

So in short, the kids turn into little devils. This is like the scene when Pinkie puts them to bed and then suddenly they're gone and the freaking baby is in the closet! (Seriously, that brought back some terrifying sitting experiences, along with that being just plain creepy). The spooky scene where Pinkie looks for Pound Cake relates to the unfamiliarity of a sitter being alone in a house that isn't theirs, and being trapped in it with a couple of child demons.

And then there is that scene.

As a sitter, I have had those experiences where I can't take any more crap. I've had a bad day, and I look like a bad sitter, and I don't know what to do. Having no strength left to hold it back, I show the kids the sadness I am actually feeling. For the first time that night, the kids see that I am not actually a mean grown up trying to ruin their lives, but a kid, just like them.

This is that scene when Pinkie cries.

The touching part, though, is the Baby Cakes react in the same way any other kids reacts in that situation. They try to cheer up their sitter in the best way they know how. They tell a poop joke, they play dead, they do or say something silly...

They dump flour on their head.

I was deeply touched when I saw that scene. It related to me, in the deep marrow of my babysitting bones. But even more than that touching truce in a child vs sitter war, is the end of the episode.

I LOVE that Pinkie cleans the house after the kids are put to bed. She doesn't read a book, she doesn't lounge on the couch and fall asleep, she leaves the house better than she found it, which in my opinion should be the #1 rule of babysitting, the second being not to kill the kids.

Finally, even after the horrible first experience she had, Pinkie decides to become the permanent sitter for the Cakes. Why? Because, sitter logic. Even if they pull your hair, make you cry, and make you want to die by the end of the day, if they ask for you again, that means that they are your ktw's. They are your kids, and you have a job to protect and love them when their parents are not there. And when that wonderful phone call comes saying, "The kids have been asking for you, are you free tonight?" that brings tears to any eye.

Seeing Pinkie with that same, heartwarming experience made my heart overflow with girly fangirl babysitter feels that I squeed.

So, Baby Cakes is a very well done episode, although many don't get it or understand. Others probably get it, but just don't care. But for me, Baby Cakes is one of those episodes that lies close to my heart, because without being a babysitter I probably wouldn't be in this fandom and know the wonders of pony!

The end, ramble done!

~MintyJoy