Well, let's get this project started. The RNG is set up, the episodes have been numbered, and we are rip-roaring and ready for a reviewin'! Just to remind you of the rules, all episodes are numbered 1-49 in production order, all two-parters are counted as a single episode, and whatever number we land on is what I'm looking at today. So let's give it a spin.

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And it's...episode 36! That would be "Baby Cakes."

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TECHNICAL SPECS:

Season: 2
Episode: 12
Written By: Charlotte Fullerton
Premiere Date: January 14, 2012

SUMMARY:

Carrot Cake and Cup Cake have just given birth to a new pair of twins: Pound Cake, a Pegasus colt, and Pumpkin Cake, a Unicorn filly. (And no, that makes no sense on any genetic level.) Nopony is more excited about this than Pinkie Pie, who is glad to have two new foals to play with. Unfortunately, it soon becomes apparent to everypony but Pinkie that she doesn't have the responsibility needed to take care of two infants, so when, a month after the birth, the Cakes have to leave to fulfill an emergency order, they try to get anypony besides Pinkie to do the job. Unfortunately, the rest of the Mane 6 are busy, and since the rest of the tow was apparently struck with the 24-hour flu and aren't available, they accept Pinkie as the caretaker only because there's nopony else.

At first, Pinkie is overjoyed. The foals love her, after all, and she loves playing with them. The minute the Cakes leave, however, the babies start crying, and nothing Pinkie does will calm them down; that is, save for dumping a bag of flour on herself, as even infants can enjoy watching others suffer in humorous ways. The pattern continues throughout the day, as Pinkie fails to feed the babies, bathe them, and worst of all, proves incapable of handling soiled diapers. Fortunately for her, Twilight has finished with her tasks and shows up to help, and Pinkie is ready to accept...until Twi unintentionally insults her by saying that she knew Pinkie wouldn't be up caretaking, at which point Pinkie kicks her out and enters SERIOUS PINK mode.

Now out to prove her responsibility, Pinkie returns to the foals (who are still undiapered...and fortunately haven't made a "mess" in the room) and quickly puts them down for a nap in her own silly-but-authoritative way. Just as she's thinking she has everything under control, however, Celestia decides Pinkie must be punished for eating her cupcake back in "A Bird in the Hoof" and endows the babies with special powers. Pound soon proves to be able to fly well enough to walk on the ceiling and carry Pinkie through all of Sugar Cube Corner, while Pumpkin can use magic on a level that puts even Twilight to shame. Pinkie tries desperately to regain control, but the foals are just too much for her now. Finally, after a long day of being beaten down, slammed about, and utterly humiliated, the party pony finally just breaks into massive, hysterical sobs. Fortunately, with their newfound powers comes a premature sense of empathy, as the two babies quickly realize the wrong they've done, reconcile with Pinkie, and lay down for their nap once again.

Pinkie is able to clean up the mess the twins made, all while narrating her letter to the Princess that being a caretaker is different than being a playmate, and that sometimes someone's desire for responsibility can exceed their ability to handle it. The Cakes return late that night, expecting the worst, and are amazed at how wonderful the place looks. So impressed are they that they offer Pinkie the chance to be their go-to babysitter. At first, she's hesitant, but the foals each say half of her name as their first word, which is more than enough to melt her heart and make her accept.

REVIEW:

Babysitting sits up there with tea parties, sleepovers, fancy weddings, and fashion on the list of stereotypically "girly" things. Not only that, but years of working at a Wal-Mart - in particular, in a Pets department that still stocked goldfish - has given me a healthy hatred of all things baby-related. So when this episode was announced, I was not looking forward to it. The fact that it was Pinkie focused certainly didn't help; while she hadn't reached her lowest point yet, she was definitely getting on my nerves by that point. This just looked like a flop in the making. And let's not forget the infamous "Newborn Cuties" this franchise spat upon the world but half a generation ago.

And then I watched it, and was amazed at how good it was.

One of the things that makes this episode work is how it's paced. The teaser and first act are spent highlighting just why Pinkie is not the pony you want to call when your kids are home alone. Her idea of "caretaking" is pretty much the same as anything else she does: throw parties, serve cake, and play games. The teaser had her break into the Maternity Ward to serve cake to minutes-old babies, all while making as much noise as possible. Needless to say, that is NOT something you want to do in a real maternity ward. The scene is short, but serves as a quick summation for why the Cakes do what they do later on. The first act builds on this. Pinkie and the foals obviously love each other, and the Cakes are happy that Pinkie is able to get along with them so well, but when it comes to diaper changes and feeding, Pinkie has no idea what to do. And during their meeting with Rainbow Dash, Pinkie is so caught up in juggling a cloud baby that she looses her concentration and lets it drop. Just imagine if that was a real baby. It's a lot of buildup for a simple point, but without it, the second and third acts wouldn't work.

The scenes with the Mane 6 are also handled well, and you can definitely see a descending order of who they would trust the babies most with. Not only that, but they have valid reasons to turn the Cakes down. Babysitting is a full-time job, and it would require them to cancel everything else for something that came up at the last minute. Fluttershy is the obvious choice, but she has a picnic with Angel. Twilight is definitely mature enough (and probably has some experience from Spike's youth), but she's busy doing a report of a report. Applejack is disciplined, but she has to deal with a caterpillar outbreak. Rainbow Dash...isn't a good choice, but she would be loyal to the job at least. That is, she would if she didn't have a Wonderbolts Air Show to go to. And finally, we have Rarity, who very quickly turns them down. Meanwhile, Pinkie is rampaging through each scene, doing her best to prove that she'd be a good babysitter. It isn't until the Cakes leave Sugar Cube Corner, though, that they finally ask her. Again, very well timed.

The second act is where things hit their stride. Most of the tasks involved are typical babysitting duties, like feeding and bathing. What makes it work here, though, is the way Pinkie conducts herself throughout. She gives the babies the food bowls, but they can't feed themselves yet, so everything just ends in a mess. She tries to pacify them in the bathtub by loading it up with "floaty things," but that fails when she overloads the tub with boats and canoes. And then we get to diaper changing, the one fact of life that very few TV shows like to touch on. Yep, this episode hits every babysitting cliche in existence, but somehow, it manages to make them work for the most part. And while a lot of it has to do with Pinkie, the babies also contribute. Most girls shows have infants as purely blank blobs (much like real babies), but here, they were given distinct, but simple, personalities. Pound likes to hit things and has a "tough boy" feel to him, while Pumpkin loves chewing on things and plays with stuffed animals. This helps alleviate the burden of the script off of Pinkie, which is good, since as a character she only really works if she has a foil.

I also loved Pinkie's way of being responsible. While she becomes a lot more straight-faced and strict, she still has an air of silliness to everything she says and does. The best moment was when she told Pound that a crib was for "napping, sleeping, and on occasion, with permission, as a pretend, old-timey western fort." The team managed to make changes to Pinkie's personality without overwriting who she is at heart. She never stops being Pinkie, she just learns to be more constructive about it.

Unfortunately, this is where the episode stumbles. Act three's problem is that the initial issue (Pinkie must learn to be responsible) has pretty much already been resolved, so another issue had to be thrown onto the fire. At the beginning of the episode, Dash and Rarity both said that baby Pegasi and Unicorns have their powers manifest in surges, and Pinkie has just walked into one. Pound has discovered how to fly and walk on the ceiling, requiring Pinkie to walk up on toilet plungers to get to him, while Pumpkin's magic allows her to levitate several objects at once, levitate, and finally walk through barriers. Of course, this is all so they could finally break Pinkie; the problem is, how does this make any lick of sense whatsoever? The only reason Pound and Pumpkin are what they are is so they can have abilities Pinkie doesn't. That's why they have to throw in a lesson on pony biology that still hurts to think about. There is also no reason why they should have this much power. Now, if Pumpkin could, say, levitate something in bursts, that's fine, but when she's able to do stuff that we haven't even seen Twilight do, there is a bit of a problem.

Oh, and chalk babies down as something else that can fly before Scootaloo can.

And then we get to the worst part: the ending. When Pinkie finally breaks and cries, the babies suddenly feel sorry and dump flour on themselves to make everything better. The problem with this is, young infant don't have empathy. At all. This could have been acceptable if the ponies aged at the same rate as real-world horses, but a comment in "A Canterlot Wedding" seems to imply that they age at around the same rate as humans. They shouldn't be able to feel sorry like that until around three-years-old. While the moment is genuinely sad, it just feels like Fullerton had written herself into a corner and had to make something up to end things. And so things wrap up in a nice, neat, incredibly cheesy - but in a good way - package.

Pinkie got two new songs this time around. The first, "Happy Monthiversary," is about ten seconds long, but helps highlight just how close she is to the twins. The second, however, is "Oink, Oink, Oink," an incredibly cheesy ditty about Pinkie bouncing on her tail. The song itself just your typical Pinkie Pie stuff, but what makes it a classic is the twins' reaction. Apparently, the song was meant to poke fun at incredibly cheesy, mindlessly lame songs from preschool-style shows, and the twins react appropriately: with stunned disbelief and horror.

The animation and background noise are, as always, excellent, but one moment in particular stands out. I would try to explain it, but I really can't do it justice, so watch it below:

This being a Pinkie Pie episode, the primary focus is on comedy, and the episode firmly delivers. A lot of the gags hit the mark, from Pinkie's disastrous stand-up routine (I always laugh when Pumpkin tries to eat the broom) to her getting slammed around the store. Still, the episode allows enough room for Pinkie to grow as a character, and while the ending is pretty rushed and leaves me unfulfilled, Fullerton doesn't give her an easy way out. Her breakdown isn't after getting kicked out of a donkey's house after ruining his stuff, but instead because she honestly tried to do a task, gave it her all, and finally couldn't handle it. That's what makes it sad; it's not because she's crying, but because we've all been in that position at least once in our lives, where we did everything right and it still wasn't enough.

CONCLUSION:

"Baby Cakes" is surprisingly good, but is held up a bit by the last act. If the resolution hadn't been so disappointing, I would have probably rated this much higher. As it stands, if you want an episode that has a good mix of Pinkie-style comedy, mixed in with some strong character development, this is one worth watching. If babies bug you, it's still worth a look. It currently stands as my favorite Pinkie episode of Season Two.

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Well, now's where you can call me out for screwing up this early in the game. After all, I have forty-eight more of these to do. Any suggestions, issues, complaints, etc? Feel free to comment below.