Season 6, Episode 3 Thoughts and Review · 9:29pm Apr 3rd, 2016
Spoilers below the cut!
First review of the season! I'll give the premiere a proper walk through after this... Eventually. Anyway, let's move onto the episode!
The episode opens with Pinkie Pie and Rarity on the Friendship Express to Manehattan. With the Canterlot branch of Carousel Boutique doing well, Rarity has decided to open a Manehattan branch. Which, I am super excited for! I hope that Coco gets to be in on it! Like, I know everyone was kinda annoyed that Rares didn't ask her to take part in the Canterlot shop, but part of me thinks that she asked and Coco refused because she loved Manehatten too much. Regardless, I wonder how Rares' shop is gonna go!
Upon arriving at the big city, Rarity gets swept up in its beauty and energy, and Pinkie Pie's older sister Maud Pie is there waiting for them.
I love Maud so much.
As part of a tradition between her and her sisters, Pinkie meets with Maud in Manehattan so they can spend the day together enjoying the sights and exchange gifts at sunset. She refers to this tradition as the "Pie Sisters' Surprise Swap Day". Something I enjoy about this is that Pinkie does it with all her sisters, not just Maud, and it makes me really happy to know that Pinkie loves to spend time with her family so much. I wonder if she has a day dedicated to her mom and dad, too? Awww, Pinkie is so sweet, I can't even...
However, because she always gets an amazing gift from Maud each year, Pinkie wishes to surprise her with a specially-made rock pouch for her pet Boulder. She asks for Rarity's assistance in this endeavor, and Rarity eagerly agrees to help while also scouting locations for her new store.
Pinkie, Rarity, and Maud spend the afternoon touring the city of Manehattan, from the Mare Statue to the ice rink to a prestigious restaurant. Throughout the afternoon, Pinkie is less than subtle about her excitement for her and Maud's upcoming gift exchange, and Maud is mainly interested in sights associated with rocks.
Sometimes I'm Maud and sometimes I'm Pinkie, there is no in-between.
At the Cantering Cook restaurant, Rarity keeps Maud distracted while Pinkie sneaks away to get Maud's gift at the rock pouch store. Unfortunately, while Pinkie finds the perfect pouch for Maud in the store window, the store is closed and the owner is away on vacation. In her panic over the situation, Pinkie briefly draws the attention of a Manehattan police officer.
That poor cop.
Pinkie returns to the restaurant in low spirits and tells Rarity of her failure to get Maud's present. Rarity cheers her up and offers to help her find a different present for Maud before sunset.
Rarity takes Maud to several Manehattan stores—including a toy shop, a jewelry store, and a flea market—to see if anything catches her interest. However, Maud only expresses interest in rock-related things, causing Rarity immense frustration.
The writers are at it again with the memes.
When Maud offhandedly mentions that she wishes she had something to carry Boulder in, Pinkie Pie realizes that her original gift idea of a rock pouch was best.
Poor Pinkie.
Just then, Rarity and Pinkie spot a stallion across the street wearing the same pouch that Pinkie saw in the store window. When Pinkie catches up with him and asks if he is interested in selling it, the sleazy stallion agrees to part with the pouch in exchange for Pinkie Pie's precious party cannon.
WHY DON'T YOU JUST ASK FOR HER FIRSTBORN CHILD, IT'S BASICALLY THE SAME THING YOU MONSTER.
Pinkie returns to Rarity and Maud after making the trade. Rarity picks up on her sadness and she confronts Pinkie about it. Then, she said a quote that I feel no one really picked up on, but is still so important nonetheless: "I can clearly see that something's bothering you, and I want to help. But I can't help you unless you tell me what the problem is."
I'm gonna take a moment to appreciate this, alright? Because not only did Rarity catch Pinkie's mannerisms and her behavior down to a freaking T because she knows her so well, she picked up how Pinkie was feeling almost immediately. And, when Pinkie wouldn't own up to what was up, Rarity told her that if you want someone to help with the problem, you have to tell them what it is first. Just... that's such a good lesson, OK? I feel like even adults forget that.
Then, Pinkie said even though she is sad about giving up her party cannon, getting Maud the perfect Pie Sisters' Swap Day present is all that matters.
Seeing her get so sad made me sad...
Later in the park, after singing the "Pie Sisters' Swap Day Song", Pinkie and Maud finally exchange gifts. They even have a little they perform for the event!
Their relationship is the best.
Pinkie gives Maud the rock pouch for Boulder, and Maud gives Pinkie a carton of cupcake-scented confetti for her party cannon. Despite having no cannon to use the confetti with, Pinkie loves her gift regardless.
As Pinkie enjoys her Swap Day gift, Maud asks Rarity why she isn't using her party cannon with it. Rarity tries to keep Pinkie's sacrifice a secret, but after enough piercing stares from Maud, she breaks down and confesses.
No one can keep a secret from Maud.
Pinkie also confesses that she simply wanted to get her sister a gift as wonderful as the gifts she always receives. With this knowledge, Maud goes to get Pinkie's party cannon back.
Maud, Rarity, and Pinkie return to the sleazy stallion that Pinkie traded her cannon away to (MAUD SENSE). When Maud tries to exchange the rock pouch for the cannon again, the stallion refuses. However, Maud presses him to trade, and Rarity subliminally suggests to him the anger in Maud's flat expression. Fearing Maud's angry retribution, the stallion agrees to another trade.
Seeing Maud and Rarity get Pinkie's cannon back made me really happy.
ALSO, WHAT IS GOING ON WITH SURI? DOES SHE HAVE HER LIFE TOGETHER? IS SHE DATING SOMEONE? OR IS THIS SOME SHADY DEAL? I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS.
Pinkie Pie is happy to have her party cannon back, but she feels bad for getting two amazing gifts for their Pie Sisters' Swap Day, and vows to increase her efforts next year. Maud tells Pinkie that gift-giving is not a competition but an expression of love, and she assures that as long as Pinkie's gifts are given out of love, she will always cherish them.
The Pie sisters give me too many feels.
Before the group leaves Manehattan for home, Rarity shows Pinkie and Maud the location she picked for her new store, which is met with their wholehearted approval. In addition, Pinkie and Maud decide to officially include Rarity in their yearly Swap Day tradition. Which made me go AWWWWWW, BECAUSE RARITY IS PRACTICALLY FAMILY NOW, I'M SO HAPPY.
Maud was so great in this episode.
OK, let me tell you something I really enjoyed with this episode: while it was a Pinkie and Maud episode, it was also a Pinkie and Rarity episode, as well as a Maud and Rarity episode. Each of their dynamics showed through in this episode beautifully and I absolutely adored that.
Pinkie and Maud? You could see very well that they were related when it came to their similar interests and their quirks, but could tell they were their own individuals. A serious struggle with portrayal of siblings in some media is that they try to make them share similar interests, but fail to make those interests as a part of their own personality. This wasn't the case here.
Maud is just as invasive in personal space like Pinkie is and she is very similar in Pinkie's methods about approaching others about issues and secrets. That muzzle shoving into another muzzle is typically Pinkie behavior, so to see it on Maud was really interesting, but also unique.
I would really like to take a moment to appreciate this moment because this was just one of the funniest things in the whole episode. The deadpan look on her face as she performs gracefully kills me every time. Pinkie herself ice skates, and it would appear that Maud shares the same hobby, but, like before, so many of the mannerisms she shares with Pinkie have a different execution to them that make them unique to Maud. It's just... GOD, I LOVE PARALLELS, OK?
OK, so before I make this entire thing about Pinkie and Maud (as much as I would love to do that), I'm gonna talk about Pinkie and Rarity. We've already seen that these two together are an interesting pair in most situations, with Rarity's poise and neatness alongside Pinkie's madness with a incredible method that no one seems to understand. We don't see them paired up for episodes all that often, but when they are, it's always fun to watch.
I love the different dynamics for each member of the mane six when they're paired up together.
It was also really cool to see Pinkie's ignorance to everyone else's reactions to her actions while Rarity was all to aware because this shows their personalities so well in contrast. Pinkie marches to the beat of her own drum (and banjo and maracas and accordion, etc, etc) while Rarity, as chic, unique, and magnifique as she is, feels self-conscious about how others perceive her, even if they're total strangers. I just really enjoy how each of the girls are different and how they act on their own vs. together.
Poor Rarity went through a lot this episode, though.
Then, finally, comes the Maud and Rarity dynamic. While it's apparent that Rarity was a bit perturbed and frustrated by Maud throughout the episode, I really liked watching them interact.
I may or may not have gotten some Maud/Rarity vibes in this episode... I have no self-control, please help me.
Rarity was trying really hard to understand more about Maud, trying to see some more complexity to her. Of course, Maud is very practical and only gets things she really wants and needs, which differs from Rarity's somewhat materialistic viewpoint. Which, of course, drives Rarity crazy.
However, the best part of their dynamic came from the scene where they were getting Pinkie's cannon back. We've seen Rarity use her charms to get her way in the past and we've seen how that meshes with Pinkie's wacky negotiation skills. However, we got to see another form of Rarity's manipulation, and it worked so well with Maud's no-nonsense attitude. Just... It was so good to see another one of Pinkie's friends interact with Maud so well. I hope we get to see more one-on-one time between Pinkie's family and her friends, considering the both of them are important to her.
Look at these nerds.
So, was this episode a simple slice of life? Yep, it was, and I loved it. I have spoken about how annoyed I get whenever people rant about "simpler" episodes, even if that's something that the fandom as a whole wants. But, I'm just gonna appreciate this episode because it was so GOOD to me. Also, it was nice to have some nice slice of life after that crazy premiere.
Now, if you excuse me, I have to go imagine a certain couple taking a ride on the swan boats in Manehatten due to all the couples riding them in the background...
Couldn't agree more. I loved, loved, loved this episode.
*eye twitch*
Either "waiting for them" or "awaiting them", never "awaiting for them".
Regarding the episode, it was one that I really enjoyed. It's now my head-canon that Maud taught Pinkie to ice skate.
Rarity kind of stole this one for me - the expressions, imitating Pinkie, hamming it up to get the party cannon back. And Rarity at the jewellery store looking absolutely classy...
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Whoops! I gotta fix that, heh.
OMG, YES. I didn't think about that, but that is just too cute!
I was really wondering why she felt the need to change her outfit when she was just going into the store, but then I remembered who this was and just shrugged it off. She was a bit of a show-thief, though, but what can you do when it's someone as fab as Rares?
Do we have the synopsis for the next episode?
3846595 We actually have the synopsis of every episode up to, and including, episode 7.
Here's the one for the next episode: Now that the Cutie Mark Crusaders have their cutie marks, they wonder how to go about pursuing their destiny.
It's also called "On Your marks"
3846704 Actually, there's no synposis for episode 6 of this season, "No Second Prances". Just the title.
3846704 ooh, sounds promising!
3846744 Weird...
I wonder why they skipped it to show the synopsis for episode 7 instead.
3846808 Beats me, though I believe the writer for it (I think it's Ed Valentine) said he had a dream about no spoilers for the episode. I think that means it's something really big that the show staff would rather keep under wraps if possible.
3846912 If that is the case, then, yeah, it probably IS something really special.
Glad to know alot of people liked the ep as much as I liked it. P.S. you don't wanna see Maud on a bad day.
I enjoyed this episode, I really do! It's a wonderful Slice-of-Life episode, as you pointed out. Yet, still, I sort of hoped that the other sisters would have come out and get involve in the day. But, that would have been a bit much, so I understand the writers.
Nonetheless, I kind of hoped that this episode would have revolved around Pinkie Pie and Limestone. As for the reason, well...we already know the sweet and awesome relationship between Pinkie Pie and Maud, but I feel like we need to explore the other sisters more. The reason I said Limestone is because she seems to be even more different than Pinkie and clashes with Pinkie a lot more (from what I noticed in Hearthbreakers). So, to have a Sister Day with her, exploring a sibling relationship that NEVER get along, I think it would be important lesson of trying to mend your attitude with your siblings, even when you think they are being unreasonable. Or, something like that. I felt that would have been a stronger lesson, since a lot of kids often fight with their older or younger siblings.
HOWEVER, from what I enjoyed in this story was Rarity and Pinkie Pie dynamic, and even the Rarity and Maud, it was a fun mix, and I felt that's what made me really like this episode. Yet, I still very much enjoy knowing more about the relationship between Pinkie Pie and Maud.
With all this said, I do hope in the future, they explore the bad sides of relationships and fixing them up. They have shown a few with AppleJack and Apple Bloom, as well as Sweetie Belle and Rarity, but it's usually a one-sided wrong, I think it would be interesting if both siblings were wrong and have to realize their mistakes.The closest one to that, though, would be the episode AppleJack was overprotective with Apple Bloom, yet that was it.
Actually, I think it would be rather interesting if the episode of Fluttershy's brother would explore that sort of dynamic. Perhaps the brother is rough, aggressive, and often the bully type, and he was the sole reason of Fluttershy's insecurity because he pushed her down so much during their childhood (Plus the bullying Fluttershy got from Flight school). And, maybe, there was moments when Fluttershy was in the wrong, maybe she was the star child in her parents' eyes and the brother was often pushed away. Hence, why he has such anger towards Fluttershy. And, perhaps Celestia and Luna could get involve, because that may be similar to their dynamic long ago! AND, MAYBE---!!!
Hehe...I should stop.
Love your thoughts and review, though!
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Yeah, I feel you on the other Pie sisters needing development. While I adore Maud and Pinkie, I would love to see more of Limestone and Marble with Pinkie. Limestone and Pinkie would be very interesting to see, since there is some obvious dissonance between their personalities. It would be very interesting to see and a good lesson about how to get along with family, like you said.
However, in regards to Marble, I feel like her relationship with Pinkie would be very interesting to see as well. She's shy and timid, unlike Pinkie, but maybe they have this bond we haven't seen yet. Like, OK, I once came across this comic (by that DBZ artist I showed you way back when), and she did this comic about Bra and Vegeta that had to do with something she experienced when she worked at a daycare or something of the sort. Apparently there was this little girl who never talked to anyone and the few times she spoke to anyone was like a spiritual experience that made people cry for like three days. Once I read that, I couldn't help but think that Marble was the same in a sense. Maybe Pinkie is one of the only people who can actually communicate with her.
Also, I want a scene like this with Marble:
49.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lw0a5sAoBj1qmnproo1_500.gif
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And literally everyone is like, "What the hell..."
In regards to Shy's brother, MMM, YES, I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THAT. I mean, I'm interested overall, BUT YOUR IDEA IS GOOD, YES, I LIKE IT. I cannot wait for that episode!
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An interesting scenario (and a nice story, I remember reading that in the comic you mentioned)! It sounds a lot sweeter than the relationship I thought of between Pinkie and Marble. Mine was more that Pinkie often babied Marble too much (as well as made Marble feel small), that she grew to resent Pinkie a bit, but doesn't have the encourage to speak out her thoughts, because Pinkie is a lot louder in volume and often overwhelms Marble. While Pinkie thinks she is just looking out for her younger (somewhat) sister and doesn't see her mistakes, unless Marble would say something about it. I don't know what is with me and putting conflicts in characters.
Nonetheless, as I said, yours is sweeter and a nicer outlook to it. I also like the thought of those two scenes you mentioned, the reactions of everyone would be priceless. 
YES! I can't wait for Shy's brother, too! I am just so curious of what they are going to do to his character! I really hope they don't just make him the exact copy of Fluttershy (and, a part of me, dare I say, hope that the writers may hint Fluttershy's brother gaining a crush on one of the Mane six (or, now, possibly seven...unless, we count Spike, then eight)).