Gift of The Maud Pie Review · 5:40pm Apr 2nd, 2016
Season 6's big theme at least in terms of marketing appears to be "Explore Equestria" and usually it's the third episode of each season that establishes the underlying narrative accompanying various episodes of the season (though sometimes that isn't the case). For this episode, we have our first RariPie episode of the entire show, along with the return of Maud and Manehattan. So, with an episode titled after the old story "Gift of The Magi", did all of these ingreidents blend together well, or did they come apart at the seams?
Well, let's find out. We've got our first new writers of the season here in the form of the Fox brothers Michael P. and Will, who were helped on the story by Josh Haber. There doesn't seem to be any sort of background information about these new writers.
We begin with Pinkie Pie and Rarity on a train to Manehattan. Rarity is hoping to find a suitable location for her third boutique, and Pinkie Pie is looking forward to spending a day with her sister, Maud. Rarity is obviosuly swept away by the big city of Manehattan, but at this point that's not a surprise.
Pinkie Pie explains to Rarity that she has a special day that she spends with each of her sisters, and then privately asks Rarity for help in obtaining a gift for Maud, since this special day involves the two of them getting gifts for each other. During this segment, Maud reveals that Boulder apparently has a cousin. Let's hope said cousin is more tame than Roman.
Rarity is more than willing to help, especially since Pinkie Pie already knows what she wants for Maud and where to get it. Rarity suggests taking Maud on a sight seeing tour to keep her from suspecting anything, while Rarity herself takes time to try and find a location to open her third shop. I should mention that at times in this episode, the writers seem to get a little carried away with Pinkie Pie. There are some scenes where she's either too hyperactive or too childish. And unlike in "Princess Twilight Sparkle" where you could blink and miss the jokes, they appear here for long enough to leave an impression. It's not too glaring of a flaw, but it's still a flaw.
At last, the trio stop to eat at a resturant, and Pinkie Pie excuses herself under the guise of needing to wash her hooves before eating. In order to keep Maud from suspecting anything, Rarity asks Maud what many of us have probably been wondering. How did Maud and Boulder meet? Ever the poet, Maud tells Rarity with the usual opening narrative "It was a dark and stormy night".
Pinkie Pie finds the shop selling the rock pouch she wants to get for Maud, but the store owner is on vacation in Fillydelphia and won't be back for a while. Upset about this, Pinkie Pie asks Rarity to help her find something else that Maud might like, but it seems like she could really use a pouch since Boulder sometimes gets away from her. Not even a jewelry store impresses Maud, because she claims Boulder finds the rocks there too stuck up. After tossing everything but the kitchen sink at Maud to try and find something she'd like (including the Twilight specter and Smarty Pants), Rarity informs Pinkie Pie that she's spotted a pouch in the posseion of a passing by stallion and encourages Pinkie Pie to get it. Pinkie Pie approaches the shady looking stallion and attempts to persuade him to part with the pouch. In the end, he agrees to give it up, if Pinkie Pie agrees to give him her party cannon.
Reluctantly, Pinkie Pie makes the exchange, but Rarity quickly notices how unhappy Pinkie Pie is about the loss. She even does an impression of how Pinkie Pie should be acting at having gotten the gift. It's quite the sight to behold, and a pretty spot on performance that rivals even the likes of this one.
Sunset approaches, and Pinkie Pie and Maud swap their gifts. It turns out that Maud got Pinkie Pie confetti for her party cannon, not knowing Pinkie Pie gave it up. Instead of following the "Gift of The Magi" plot all the way though, it turns out that Maud didn't give up anything to get the confetti, and when Rarity accidentally slips and reveals that Pinkie Pie sold her party cannon, Maud quickly informs Pinkie Pie of how disappointed she is in her.
Making use of her "Maud Sense" (apparently the Pie family has a built in sixith sense that has passed down to at least two of Igneous' daughters), Maud finds the stallion Pinkie Pie traded her party cannon to, and with some help from Rarity jedi mind tricks the stallion into taking the pouch back and returning the party cannon. Then we get the fairly obvious moral that it's not about the gifts, it's about the people you spend time with. However, the episode isn't done just yet, as Rarity visits one last location with the sisters, and reveals that's she found the perfect place to open her next shop (which she calls "Rarity's For You"). Pinkie and Maud then inform Rarity that they'll be inviting her to all their gift exchange days in the future, and after a bit of teasing Pinkie Pie informs Rarity that she could always use more confetti. After all, Pinkie Pie takes that party cannon with her just about everywhere.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, it's alright. It's a simple slice of life story that's kind of padded out in places to fill 22 minutes. I have to question why this episode was directly titled after "Gift of The Magi" when it only follows the plot halfway through. At least if they'd titled something else it could be excused, as it stands this makes the writers look like they haven't done their research. As I mentioned before, Pinkie Pie is a bit too hyperactive and childish in some scenes, not unlike her potrayal in a typical Meghan McCarthy episode (Pinkie Pie seemed to constantly be a weak point for her), and after four episodes Maud's character is starting to run a bit dry so I'd be fine with giving her a break in screen time for the near future. The interactions between Rarity and Pinkie Pie are the definite highlight here, they play quite well off of each other, and I'm hopeful we'll see more of this in the future. But it looks like those swan boat toy commericals had nothing to do with this episode. In the end, I give this episode a borderline B+/A-, it's better than the third episode last season, and better than "Too Many Pinkie Pies" and "Ticket Master", but it's not as entertaining as "Castle Mane-ia".
Next week, we've got our first CMC episode of season six "On Your Marks", in which the CMC wonder what's next for them now that they've got their cutie marks. Keep in mind that they mentioned their bordem in "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows" so this isn't sudden. We'll have to wait and see what comes out of this episode, and which crusader (if any) will be the focus.
I honestly consider this to be the best of the Manehatten episodes, mostly for the comedy.
3844474 Yup, it did a nice job.
I really do hope this season revolves around traveling. And next week's ep oughta bring something to the table. I look forward to seeing what else this season has in store. And lastly, Rarity is now the new Pinkie.
It was a good episode in parts, but I don't think I would watch it again very often.
3846273 Agreed. It's one of those episodes that does good for what it's supposed to do (entertain) but doesn't do much else.