Season 5, Episode 19 Thoughts and Review · 2:35am Oct 18th, 2015
Warning, there are spoilers under this page break! Don't free them unless you're ready to handle the consequences.
This was a wacky episode and I loved it. Seeing Pinkie with her antics and being beautifully in character was just so great to see after "Party Pooped". Bless the writer who wrote this episode. Well, onto the review!
The episode begins at Sugarcube Corner where Pinkie Pie is attempting to break her cupcake-icing record. Mrs. Cake enters with a scroll detailing a large order, and she tells Pinkie to watch the front counter while she checks the supply room. When Mrs. Cake drops the scroll, Pinkie reads it and discovers something tremendous:
Shining Armor and Princess Cadence are having a baby! Honestly, I saw it coming, but it was still really exciting to find out about it!
Pinkie cannot wait to share this news with her friends, especially Twilight Sparkle, but Mrs. Cake tells her that it must be kept secret until Shining Armor and Princess Cadance arrive to Ponyville. A nervous Pinkie Pie wonders if she is capable of keeping such a secret.
I love Mrs.Cake and her foals so much, you don't even KNOW.
On her way to Twilight's castle, Pinkie Pie is at grips with herself for having to keep Shining Armor and Cadance's surprise a secret from her friends, almost revealing it to Rarity when she passes by.
Oh, Gummy... Why should Pinkie have babies when she has you (BUT THAT AIN'T GON STOP ME)
In the castle throne room, Twilight informs her friends of Shining Armor and Cadance's upcoming visit to Ponyville, of which Pinkie appears to have inexplicable knowledge. However, Twilight doesn't know that Shining Armor and Cadance are having a baby, meaning Pinkie must keep her secret even longer. In preparation for her brother and sister-in-law's visit, Twilight has decorated a castle bedroom with knickknacks from Shining Armor's childhood.
SPIKE, OMFG.
With all the talk going on related to foals and surprises, Pinkie frantically leaves and retreats back to Sugarcube Corner.
She decides to avoid socializing with anyone until Shining Armor and Cadance arrive the next day. Unfortunately, Mr. Cake enters and reminds Pinkie that she "Pinkie-promised" to make cake deliveries around town for him.
MFW someone tells me I have to go out and socialize.
As she makes her deliveries, Pinkie Pie briefly runs into Fluttershy, who asks her to bring snacks to the castle later for Shining Armor and Cadance's visit. Pinkie agrees and sets about making her deliveries as quickly as possible, all while avoiding her friends. She feels awful for ignoring and keeping secrets from them, but she would be unable to live with the guilt of ruining the surprise.
After finishing her deliveries, Pinkie believes she is done socializing with other ponies until the next day, but she finds a list of other Pinkie Promises she recently made that she has yet to carry out. Also, continuity for mentioning the Pinkie Promises and how Pinkie utilizes them, along with a brief quip about how she's been rather liberal with them as of late.
Over the course of the afternoon, Pinkie Pie makes balloon animals for the Ponyville Schoolhouse foals, helps Mayor Mare sort her file cabinets at Town Hall, and helps a store owner advertise his store. During each task, Pinkie is constantly surrounded by reminders of the secret she's keeping, making it all the more difficult to keep.
Back at the castle, Twilight and her friends spruce up for Shining Armor and Cadance's impending visit. Pinkie Pie arrives with the snacks she promised to bring, relieved that her ordeal will soon be over, but Applejack tells her that an unexpected development in Shining Armor and Cadance's trip has delayed their arrival for an additional day.
Pinkie Pie freaks out, unable to keep the secret much longer. Her friends sense her extreme discomfort and encourage her to speak her mind. Which, the sequence where's she hallucinating about her friends being balloons MIGHT have been funny to me if I didn't remember this scene right here:
This scene right here, from Return of Harmony Part 1? Heartbreaking to me. Pinkie was being laughed at by the images of her friends, and she was disheartened by it that she was forced into turning the opposite of her Element.
Pinkie was so horrified when she saw these images of her friends, because not only were they more detailed and active in what they were doing (the previous images were just laughing, but these were actively coercing her). She was so overwhelmed by the chanting and the protests that she couldn't HELP but shout out what was bothering her.
But, before Pinkie can do so, Shining Armor and Cadance arrive, having resolved their trip delays earlier than expected. Pinkie believes she doesn't have to keep their secret anymore, but Shining Armor asks her to keep it a little longer for a surprise that he and Cadance have planned.
The two send the Mane Six on a scavenger hunt around Ponyville, similar to ones that Shining Armor made for Twilight when they were little. The scavenger hunt leads them to the Foal Free Press at the schoolhouse, Applejack's birth certificate at town hall, and a baby crib at the furniture store.
Also baby AJ is adorable, OMFG.
The hunt leads the Mane Six back to Sugarcube Corner where Shining Armor and Princess Cadance are waiting. Twilight expects a prize for completing the hunt, and Cadance says that all the locations the hunt led them to had something in common. Twilight puts two and two together, and Shining Armor and Cadance officially announce that they're having a baby!
There are two kinds of ponies.
Twilight and Pinkie Pie are overjoyed—Twilight at the thought of becoming an aunt, and Pinkie Pie over not having to keep her secret anymore.
Same, Pinkie. Same.
As the ponies celebrate with a party, Princess Cadance thanks Pinkie Pie for keeping their announcement a surprise. When asked if it was much trouble, Pinkie Pie says it was a piece of cake – but her shaking her head at the camera as the episode ends tells quite the opposite.
Yet another fourth wall break from Pinkie.
So, my reaction to this episode?
PINKIE. PIE. EPISODE. AND. IT. WAS. GOOD.
This was leaps and bounds better than "Party Pooped". I mean, don't get me wrong, that episode had some good stuff in it, but this one had a more enticing storyline and the lesson wasn't shoehorned in as much. The plot didn't go in a one giant circle and had a better payoff. Plus, Pinkie's struggle to keep a secret was really nice to see.
Some people complained that Pinkie having trouble with keeping a secret went against her whole "Losing a friend's trust is the quickest way to lose a friend!" principle. However, I feel like this shows how someone's own morals and principles can be something can be difficult to follow. I myself struggle with my own principles, constantly having to remind myself not to fall out of place.
Pinkie's struggle to keep a secret was so great to see. She loves her friends and she would never intentionally hurt their feelings (I AM IGNORING "FILLI VANILLI" SO HARD RIGHT NOW), but sometimes, it's so hard to do something for your friend. Pinkie absolutely LOVES to surprise ponies, and in episodes past, we've seen that she doesn't have trouble when it comes to surprise parties for friends. But, this wasn't something she was planning on; this was abrupt and dropped into her lap.
Pinkie plans her parties WAY ahead of time, and she puts careful thought and care into every detail she has planned for them. This was confirmed in "Party Pooped", as much as I dislike the episode itself (though Pinkie in it was GREAT). But, in this episode? She didn't get to plan this event. She had to accomodate for it almost immediately and she barely had any time to process it before having to interact with her friends.
I dunno, it's just seeing Pinkie struggling with an aspect that's prominent with her character was really neat for me to see and just made her so much more dimensional.
Also, I'm not sure if this is one of the reasons why, but I keep thinking back to "Party of One" when I keep thinking about Pinkie and surprises. If you don't remember what the episode is about, it's basically an episode where Pinkie's friends were acting strange around her and telling her that they couldn't attend a party she planned for Gummy after his birthday. After she realizes that there isn't any truth to their words, Pinkie immediately thinks the worst of them for lying to her and assumes that her friends don't want to be with her anymore, mainly because of a misunderstanding between her and Spike(which totally could've been avoided if they had told him about the surprise party in the first place and not at the last minute: but that's another rant altogether).
That episode has always kinda... I dunno... bothered me? I dunno, I think it was because her friends just so blatantly lied to Pinkie, and while they meant well with it because they were throwing her a birthday party as a surprise, it's how they handled the surprise. They all went out of their way to avoid Pinkie Pie, with Rainbow Dash going so far as to fly away at top speed to get away from her. Just seeing that episode makes my anxiety rise and makes me so ANGRY because I've been in that sort of situation. Back when I didn't really know how to make friends, all the people who I considered friends acted just like Pinkie's friends did in the episode and seeing them do that made me want to vomit, to be real honest.
Pinkie was so ANGRY and UPSET because she felt like her friends didn't want to spend time with her, and because her friends didn't even bother to actually interact with her and just avoided her, she became depressed. I honestly didn't blame her for getting mad in that episode, even though I know that the girls didn't mean anything by it.
I think the reason that I'm pulling in "Party of One" in this episode is because... I think Pinkie would have been happier if her friends hadn't tried to surprise her, and just thrown her the party. No muss, no fuss, just a party for her. Sure, she would have loved to have been surprised, but if they had just thrown her a party and she had KNOWN about it beforehand, then none of that episode would have happened. She would have been fine, and she wouldn't have gotten mad at her friends. They still could have done INFINITELY better with trying to get Pinkie to the barn WITHOUT having to lie to her AND they could have still surprised her then. Like, would it have been too hard to say something like, "Oh, sorry, but AJ needs us at the barn later on today! Maybe you could move the party there so we don't miss it?"
I dunno, maybe Pinkie was just worried about keeping the surprise in and making her friends upset by keeping it in like how she got upset when they tried to surprise her? I think I'm reaching at this point, but I don't know, I just feel like that's one of the reasons Pinkie was struggling with the surprise.
Anyway, moving on... Another thing I liked about this episode was SHINING ARMOR AND CADENCE. Sure, Cadence didn't get that many lines, but I loved to see one of my favorite princesses there. Also, Shining was super dorky and cute with Twilight, and I absolutely loved it. I was kinda hoping he'd show up sooner this season, but seeing him with Twi this episode made me happy to see.
Also, I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE THEIR FOAL. I honestly don't care if it's Princess Skyla or not anymore, I just wanna see their baby. I've had time since the end of season 3 to get used to the idea of Princess Skyla, and I'm kinda indifferent to it now.
She's too cute for you, Sombra.
Now, onto what next week's episode is going to be!
Season 5, Episode 20: Hearthbreakers
Applejack is excited to celebrate Hearthswarming Eve with Pinkie Pie's family but soon discovers that the Pies have very different ways of enjoying the holiday at their Rock Farm.
Oh, for-- IT'S NOT EVEN HALLOWEEN YET, AND THERE'S ALREADY CHRISTMAS CRAP GOING ON, LIKE DAMN. Sorry, I'm just... Real tired of hearing about Christmas before Halloween. We're singing Christmas songs in choir already. Somebody hit me with a bell, it'll be less painful than singing "Carol of the Bells" for the third year in a row.
OK, onto the episode itself: WE'RE GETTING A PIE FAMILY EPISODE, YAAAAAAAAAAASSS. I expect all my headcanons about the sisters to be destroyed, and I don't even care, I'm just glad we're getting an episode about the family. NEW INFORMATION ON THE PIE FAMILY, YASSSSSSS.
Seeing more of Pinkie and Maud is always welcome here.
This one was apparently the first one by new show writer Gillian M. Barrow. I think she's off to a good start so far
Out of all the reactions, your's was the one I was looking forward to seeing.
3478396
Is it because I'm such a big Pinkie fan?
3478410 Well that and because you predicted what was going to happen. (I think everyone.)
This is easily one of the funniest episodes of the season, and definitely my fourth favorite so far, behind Slice of Life, Tanks for the Memories, and Crusaders of the Lost Mark.
As for your beef with next week being a Christmas related episode before the Halloween related episode, keep in mind that Scare-Master had been accidentally leaked by iTunes a few weeks ago.
3478461
I know, and I've been trying to avoid spoilers.
3478485 I don't really consider it a spoiler, since it was the whole episode that got leaked and not just a few images or a teaser scene.
3478502
What I mean is I'm trying to avoid any spoilers revolving the leak itself. I haven't seen it, and even though it hasn't been officially released, everyone insists on posting videos and clips all over YouTube and Tumblr. I'm just trying to avoid watching it until Halloween actually comes, when it's supposed to air.
I hate this whole preparing for Christmas as early as October nonsense as well. Can't we wait until Black Friday to start the festivities? Corperate America would still make a huge profit from Christmas sales anyway.
3478532 Fair enough.
If I intended to review the new episodes, I'd probably wait until it officially aired as well.
I've just have to say (again) that because of your head cannon Pinkie Pie scratching behind her ear with her back hoof made that episode for me. It was a great Pinkie episode over all, but that absolutely killed me.
This is the last time I post this, I Pinkie Promise.
3478608
OH I SAW THAT TOO. Guess she and Sombra got busy~
Harmony, I understand your plight. Being the only base saxaphone, and one of only 2 bass instruments, I find it annoying playing jingle bells, the f**king simplified bass version, for a third year in a row. I know your pain. Oh, at least we also got deck the halls for only the SECOND year in a row. Hooray.
Lucky for me it's Senior year and I'm not in band anymore... I was lead trumpet for two years and played Treble clef on euphonium (baritone) but I stopped shortly after we got a new band director.
Man, Pinkie was just funny.
Ironically episode 21 is another Nightmare Night episode.
3478837
Yeah, I saw. I've been dodging spoilers and clips of it for weeks since it's been leaked.
And why, Charmony, should they feel any need to tell the help anything? Harrumph!
Onna real, though:
Looking back, I think that was rather the point: Outside of Pinkie, none of them are party ponies, and didn't know any other party ponies. They wanted to make a sincere, heartfelt gesture for their friend, but they weren't sure how exactly and so, lacking resources or in-depth knowledge of how she functions and thinks (at that point in time), they stumbled through it as best they could.
That's the reason she instantly perks up at the end of the episode. Besides realizing that her friends weren't trying to avoid her because they didn't like her anymore, she saw and understood that they didn't have any idea what they were doing, and for obvious reasons couldn't have asked her for help. Of course, she learned more from the experience than just that: After all, notice how from that episode on, not a single one of them is seen — or perhaps, allowed — to plan and execute a party unsupervised?
3478850 All I have to say about the episode is that they really got some really cute costumes.
Christmas is overrated. um dont kill me you guys but it is its overly commercialized. but anyway yeah this episode was funny and that balloon scene O_O