Doctor Perseus Reviews: "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows" and "The Girl Who Died" *SPOILERS* · 2:51am Oct 18th, 2015
In this week's episode of MLP, Pinkie Pie learns that Shining Armor and Princess Cadance are having a baby but she has to keep it a secret so that the reveal can be a surprise. Now Pinkie Pie must try her hardest to keep her mouth shut or risk ruining Shining Armor and Cadance's surprise...
I was definitely interested in seeing how this episode would turn out. So how did it fare? Pretty well, if you ask me.
Pinkie Pie was just a ton of fun to watch in this episode. This episode probably holds the record for the most hilarious original facial animations in the show thus far. I could just feel the agony Pinkie was going through struggling to stop herself from ruining the surprise. Her antics throughout the episode to keep her mouth shut and avoid anypony at all cost were a joy to watch. It was really interesting seeing Pinkie Pie forcing herself to not greet every pony she came across. And it's nice to see that her friends were able to pick up that something was wrong. It's just too bad that Pinkie was in a situation where talking would probably be the worst thing she could do.
The rest of the Mane 6 and Spike obviously didn't have as much of a focus put on them as there was on Pinkie, for obvious reasons, but they still managed to have some good bits. Twilight's reaction to the reveal, Fluttershy's short conversation with Pinkie (while having one of those glasses-and-mustache masks stuck to her tail), Applejack's birth certificate, Rainbow Dash's hunger complaints, Rarity being the first to notice that something was off about Pinkie, and Spike accidentally burning one of Shining Armor's comics were all nice moments. They all felt like they had a fitting amount of focus put on them in a Pinkie Pie-centric episode.
It was also nice to see Shining Armor and Cadance again. Shining was last seen in Slice of Life while Cadance was last seen in Princess Spike (not counting Shining Armor's and Dean Cadance's appearances in Friendship Games). I liked the one-on-one moments Pinkie had with the two of them respectively. It was also pretty funny to see Shining Armor react to all of his childhood belongings (the funniest being his reaction to his burnt comic {DAMMIT SPIKE 
}). And now we have the royal couple preparing to have their first child. If I recall, I think the theorized name of the child is going to be Skyla but don't quote me on that.
Now onto the little moments. It's going to take a while for me to get used to seeing the CMC with their cutie marks but I'm still SO happy to see them with them. I laughed at the moment where Pinkie accidentally ended up making a balloon baby bottle for Scootaloo. I also enjoyed her quick exchange with Featherweight. I also liked the moment where Pinkie Pie screamed and moved like the flailing tube pony. Pinkie's moments with Gummy, her literally falling to pieces after the surprise, and her fourth wall break at the end were also all fun moments. The pacing of the episode was also really good. It felt like A LOT had had happened and the episode felt much longer than it is (but in a good way).
Overall, I really liked The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows and found it to be a really funny episode.
Next week's episode is 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.
What did the rest of you think of The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows?
In this week's episode of Doctor Who, the Doctor and Clara find themselves caught in a conflict between a lone viking village and a warrior alien race known as the Mire. When the village declares war on the Mire, the Doctor agrees the prepare the village for the upcoming battle. But what will be the cost for victory?
This was an episode I was definitely interested in. Granted, the biggest reason for that was seeing Maisie Williams on the show. And how did this episode fare? It exceeded by expectations ten-fold!
The dynamic between the Doctor and Clara has been absolutely outstanding this season! Their one-on-one moments with each other have been some of the best moments in the episodes thus far. I especially like how the Doctor reflects on how much he has affected Clara. It feels very much like a subtle callback to Davros explaining to the Tenth Doctor about how his turns his friends into soldiers. And speaking of the Tenth Doctor, holy crap that flashback! I honestly did not see that coming at all! This was a surprisingly satisfying way to wrap up the arc involving the Doctor's face with it confirming that the 12th Doctor did in fact get his face from Caecilius in The Fires of Pompeii. I can now say that, technically, there's an episode featuring my two all-time favorite TARDIS teams: 10 with Donna and 12 with Clara! But, beyond the fanservice, it still fit in surprisingly well with the story. Even now, the 12th Doctor is still struggling with who he is in some areas. This was a nice moment with him realizing that he subconsciously chose the face of Caecilius in order to always remind himself that he's the Doctor and he always finds a way to save people.
Now on to Maisie Williams. I think she did a really good job and I took a liking to her character. It's hard for me not to see some small similarities between her character of Ashildr and her Game of Thrones role as Arya Stark. Ashildr acted a lot like Season 1 Arya. I liked her moments with Clara and the Doctor and her temporary death actually was quite a surprise at first. Though, obviously, it's a bit hard to hide a plot point that's literally the title of the episode. Still, I did like how the Doctor went about saving Ashildr and I also like how the Doctor delved a bit into explaining what immortality can be like for a mortal. It looks like the next episode will delve a bit more into that as the Ashildr we're going to see next time, from what I saw in the trailer, appears to be much angrier and darker than the one we saw here. That probably makes sense given how, by the next episode, she'll have been alive for a few centuries at least. I also took note of the Doctor calling her a hybrid, which seems to be a reference back to the The Witch's Familiar with the talk of a Time Lord/Dalek hybrid. Obviously, Ashildr is only a human/alien hybrid but it does bring up some interesting questions about this season's arc. If Ashildr survives the next episode, there's a chance that we could see her again. Maybe she might appear in the finale? If the next episode ends with her still feeling angry with the Doctor, could she appear in the finale as Missy's companion? How crazy would that be?! But, of course, I'm getting ahead of myself. For now, let's just focus on her in this episode. As I already said, I liked her and I look forward to seeing her in the next episode. I also really liked the ending shot with her slowly going from happy to sad while everything moved past her. It was a good representation of her staying the same whilst the world she knew aged around her.
The rest of the side characters were entertaining but nowhere near as good as the supporting cast from the previous two episodes. Though I did take a liking to Ashildr's father. The Mire were an interesting threat for the episode but they did disappoint in some areas. We didn't get to see them do much aside from stomp around a bit, fire some attacks, and get scared off. The main Mire villain, "Odin", did have an interesting design (along with the rest of the Mire) and there was some interesting set-up for a future appearance by him. Whether this will be in the next episode with Ashildr, later in Series 9, or in a later episode altogether is currently unknown. But the promise for a future appearance is nice and, hopefully, they'll get more of a chance to shine later on.
I did really enjoy how the Doctor and the others went about defeating the Mire. Tricking them into running off and then blackmailing them into retreating with threats of spreading a humiliating video of them across the intergalactic internet. The Doctor has become a troll. Anyway, the method of tricking them was also very well-executed by using electric eels, Ashildr's puppet skills, and the Mire's own technology against them. This was a classic Doctor plan. No TARDIS. No sonic. Just the Doctor, some friends, and a plan. This felt like a very subtle callback to how the 11th Doctor saved the world in The Eleventh Hour. Speaking of the sonic, it's quite ironic seeing them getting so unceremoniously snapped and disposed of about a week after I went off on a whole rant about people constantly complaining about them. I'll admit that I will be a bit disappointed if this is the end for the sunglasses. As was seen in the previous two episodes, they were doing some interesting things with them. It feels a bit early to dispose of them. So, after this, one of three things will happen: the Doctor will simply get another pair of sonic sunglasses, the Doctor will get a new sonic screwdriver, or the Doctor will just go without a sonic device for a while. I'm honestly fine with whatever path the show takes.
Overall, I really liked The Girl Who Died. It had some great character moments, some interesting and unexpected callbacks, and some intriguing set-ups for future episodes. And I know that the episode ended with "to be continued" but I still consider this episode and the following episode as one-shots. They, as of now, appear to be two separate stories that are only connected by one character and one particular plot element.
Next week, the Doctor and Ashildr will cross paths again in The Woman Who Lived!
What did the rest of you think of The Girl Who Died?
Lol did you see in the trailer. Looks like the Doctor's got some new shades. Whether or not it'll be sonic remains to be seen though
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Yeah. I didn't notice it when I first saw the trailer but I did afterwards.
As for "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows," I also thoroughly enjoyed it.
I go into it in my own review on my blog.
As for "The Girl Who Died," I also liked it. I admit I felt a certain perverse joy seeing the sunglasses get snapped in half. But I'm certain this is not the end of sunglasses. I'm sure those sunglasses he's wearing in the trailer are his sonic sunglasses. Though, I admit the reveal about why the Twelfth Doctor has the face of Caecilius from "The Fires of Pompeii" was rather underwhelming. I thought there would be a more epic explanation.
And now Game of Thrones fan can thank the Doctor for making sure that Arya Stark will never die!
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I don't doubt it. I have a feeling that Moffat had that put in to appease fans who he knew would not like them.
I can understand why you felt that way but I suppose I should go ahead an explain further why I'm personally satisfied with how it was executed here.
Firstly, it feels more realistic and unexpected for big arc reveals to take place in episodes outside of premieres and finales. Big moments were even saved for mid-season finales and premieres in the past. Here, I found it refreshing to get a huge character/arc moment within a seemingly unrelated episode. It really opened the door for the execution of future arcs. Reveals can come at any moment and arcs can end and begin at any point in a season outside of the premieres and finales. I like how the answer to a big question can be found through small, personal moments.
I also felt that it tied in perfectly with the story of the episode. The 12th Doctor is still figuring himself out and I found it fitting that his face is as it is to always remind him that he will always try to find a way to save people. Though it looks like this is going to show two sides of the same coin. While the Doctor doing this in The Fires of Pompeii led to positive results, the Doctor acting upon this here appears to lead to negative results. I think this helps provide an interesting comparison in showing both the positive and negative sides of the Doctor breaking the rules as much as he can in order to save someone.
I also like how this pretty much solidified the identity of the mysterious curator played by Tom Baker in The Day of the Doctor. This pretty much confirms that the Doctor can take on the faces of those he's met in the past. This means that the curator must have met the Doctor prior to his regeneration into the Fourth Doctor. This also explains the Sixth Doctor sharing the same face as Commander Maxil (who appeared in a Fifth Doctor story).
I also think that this shows Moffat learning from his past mistakes. The 11th Doctor's era was filled with unanswered questions being saved for the right moment for revelation. And while I overall really like The Time of the Doctor and found it to be a satisfying swansong for the 11th Doctor, one of my gripes with that episode is the pacing and how the episode was forced to move from one explanation to the next in order to fully explain and tie up all of the remaining questions and plot threads of Matt Smith's tenure. I think this reveal shows that Moffat is going to steer away from that. He's going to give us questions but eventually give us the answers in a fitting amount of time. I think it's better that way: answering a question/plot thread here and there while saving the best and most important questions/plot threads for the related Doctor's final episode.
...whoa. Sorry for the short essay right there. That's what Doctor Who does to me. I can go on and on about it.
For now at least. Martin and Moffat can probably find inventive ways to kill off a loved character.
First of all, I just want to point out that you made an error about Princess Spike being the last episode Cadance appeared in when it was actually Party Pooped.
Second, I have to say that Shining Armor definitely got a bit more focus than Cadance did in this episode, even having more lines than her. No doubt this was to compensate for his wife getting to appear in three consecutive episodes while all he did in his last appearance was cry during Cranky and Matilda's wedding. Also, this is probably the first time Twilight and Shiny have had any sort of interaction with each other in the series since the former's coronation in Magical Mystery Cure all the way back in Season 3. I mean, the closest Season 4 had to any sort of interaction between the two siblings was when Twilight and Rarity were returning the Unicorns' magic in Twilight's Kingdom, pt, 2, but even then they didn't actually get to talk to one another.
Last but not least, how much you wanna bet the Season 6 premiere will center around the birth of Shining Armor and Cadance's baby? I mean, the Season 5 finale has pretty much confirmed that it will center around the Mane 6 trying to stop Starlight Glimmer from rewriting history. Can't really see how they'd try to fit Cadance giving birth into that story. Also, wouldn't it be something if Queen Chrysalis came back for revenge around the time the baby is about to be born? Maybe we can finally see Shiny express some remorse over what he did to Twilight at the end of A Canterlot Wedding, pt. 1?