Welcome to our sixteenth review! I wonder what wonderful episode we’ll be looking at today!

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Ah, 37. Let’s look at “Hearth’s Warming Eve.”

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TECHNICAL SPECS:

Season: 2
Episode: 13*
Written By: Merriweather Williams
First Aired: December 17, 2011

* This was the thirteenth in production order but the eleventh to air.

SUMMARY:

The Mane 6 are traveling by train to Canterlot for Hearth’s Warming Eve, the Equestrian equivalent of Christmas crossed with its Founding Day. After expressing their excitement over being in the capital during the winter holidays, the six pass the time playing “I Spy.” And that’s it.

The real reason they came, however, was because Princess Celestia invited them to star in Canterlot’s Hearth’s Warming Eve Pageant, a play celebrating the origins of the holiday and the nation. Backstage, however, things are not going too well. Rarity’s attempts to perk up Fluttershy’s spirits has instead ended with her burying her head in a box over the thought of thousands watching her. Rainbow Dash is hyping herself as the real star of the play, much to Applejack’s frustration. Twilight’s attempts to get Fluttershy out of the box end in failure thanks to Pinkie. And worst of all, somepony left a high window open, allowing a cold draft to spread all over. Still, the show must go on.

The curtains part, and Spike appears as the narrator, suddenly dressed in period costuming and speaking in a British accent. As he narrates, the episode shifts back and forth from reality to the imaginary world of the play.

Long ago, the three tribes lived in an uneasy alliance. The Earth ponies were the only ones who could grow the food all three races needed. The Pegasi controlled the weather in exchange for a portion of the food grown, while the Unicorns worked together to move the Sun and Moon, again in exchange for food. Each tribe thought itself superior to the others, and thus the three felt nothing but hatred and loathing for each other.

And then a blizzard came, blanketing the land in a seemingly endless winter. The Pegasi were unable to stop the snow, the Unicorns could do nothing to stop it, and the Earth ponies could not grow the food all three needed. With things rapidly unraveling, the leaders of each tribe met for a conference to discuss what to do next. Unfortunately, the three leaders simply choose to blame each other, fought like bickering children, and finally just stormed out, all while under the gaze of strange, ethereal horses…

Commander Hurricane (played by Rainbow Dash) returns to the Pegasus capital, where she meets with her subordinate, Private Pansy (played by Fluttershy). Upset at the lack of respect for their warrior culture, Hurricane decides it’s time to find a new home. Together with Private Pansy, she sets off to find/conquer a new land; unfortunately, Pansy lives up to her name, and is utterly uninterested/incapable of fighting.

Princess Platinum (played by Rarity) returns to her castle, where she meets with her advisor, Clover the Clever (played by Twilight Sparkle). While Clover advocates working together, Platinum is so convinced that the Unicorns are the superior race that she decides it’s time they found their own land. Unfortunately, the princess tires after only five minutes of walking and demands that Clover let her ride her over a shallow stream so she doesn’t get her gown dirty.

Chancellor Puddinghead (played by Pinkie Pie) returns via the chimney, where her secretary, Smart Cookie (played by Applejack) is waiting for a response. Puddinghead happily announces that the alliance is ended, despite Cookie’s desire for the three to work something out. Still, with no food or prospects for food left, the two set out to find a new land for their ponies. Puddinghead, however, is…well, an ancient Pinkie Pie, which frustrates the more level-headed Smart Cookie to no end.

Finally, the three each arrive at a new land. Commander Hurricane happily jumps from cloud to cloud before proclaiming the new land Pegastopolis. Princess Platinum happily plays with the plentiful gems of her new land before bestowing upon it the name Unicornia. And finally, Puddinghead rolls about in the fertile dirt before naming the place Dirtville…which she quickly changes to Earth.

Only one teensy-weensy little problem: they all claimed the same land.

The three leaders immediately go at it, while their assistants try to keep things calm and under control. Unfortunately, before they can get much farther, the same blizzard as before suddenly reappears, forcing the six to take refuge in a cave. Even here, though, the three leaders fight over territory, a rock, and who’s the better race, all while the entrance freezes over. The ice slowly moves inward as well, eventually freezing the three squabbling leaders while their assistants are stranded in the center. It’s only then that the three see the ghost-like beings that were stalking the ponies earlier.

Clover recognizes them as Windigoes, evil spirits that feed off hatred. And the more hatred they feel, the colder things become. It is only at this late hour that the three realize the truth: the blizzard was because all three could do nothing but hate each other. However, in this last moment of life, the three end up striking a happy conversation, causing the Windigoes to panic and start trying to freeze them faster. Finally, just as the ice is covering everything but the tip of Clover’s horn, a sudden burst of magic escapes, freeing the three, vaporizing the Windigoes, and transforming into a large, burning heart. It doesn’t take them long to realize that this was caused by the power of their friendship, and the three pass the night telling stories and singing songs. Finally, the power of their friendship melts the bodies – and hearts – of the three leaders, as well as the ice covering the cave and land. Now united as one, they agree to share the land, now called “Equestria.”

After a final song about friendship and love, the Mane 6 walk backstage…where the fighting over the window resumes again. But before it can get too far, they hear a distant, disturbing howl, and Dash sheepishly flies off to close the window while everypony continues laughing.

REVIEW:

“Hearth’s Warming Eve” is one of the holiday-themed episodes from the second season, this time setting up a cross between Christmas and a national anniversary. Putting the two together was an interesting choice, and helps to set up for a rather interesting tale of ancient pony history. There was actually a storybook app for the iPad that told a Cliff Notes version released a while before, but the story is quite different between the two; naturally, the show is better.

It’s also a Merriweather Williams episode, and has a lot of the same issues as most of her episodes. In this case, however, it goes down much better. Perhaps it’s because the writing isn’t quite as bad this time, or maybe it’s the play giving her more leeway in regards to character, but either way you slice it, this is infinitely better than MMDW, and what convinced me to give her another chance.

The prologue is, honestly, the weakest part of the episode. Unfortunately, this is also the only time we get to see how Hearth’s Warming Eve is celebrated in a contemporary setting, and it appears to be basically Christmas with ponies! I did get a kick out of Scootaloo getting her tongue stuck on the candy cane and the snowpony design. (How that thing stays upright is beyond me; perhaps someone smarter can explain?) What hurts this bit, though, is the dialogue. The train ride is just “Wow, Canterlot is awesome!” and the “I Spy” gamee is just to give us a very forced joke with Pinkie spying a gingerbread house, rushing off to buy it, and then swallowing it whole. (Let’s hope she bought a fresh one. Trust me, you don’t want to bite into one of those after they’ve been sitting around for a while.)

The scene backstage is mostly just the characters being themselves for the last time before the play begins. For the most part, it works. I was a bit disappointed that they lifted Twilight’s “PIIIIIINKIE!” wholesale from “Ticket Master,” but other than that, it was all right.

And then we get to something I didn’t even notice until much later: the G3 references. The first one is Spike speaking in a British accent, which is the way he spoke during that generation. It might seem like it’s just there to give things a “Masterpiece Theater” kind of vibe, but once you get in a bit deeper, it’s pretty clear it was deliberate. Anyway, this is where we start going back and forth between two versions of events. On the one hand, you have the stuff actually happening on stage, mostly to facilitate time skips and to exposit on what happened after a commercial break. These bits show off the cheap props and sets, as well as allow for this hilarious moment that echoes what you’re all thinking right now:

Most of the episode, though, is viewed as if we’re actually there, with the cast simply wearing different costumes and being different ponies. It’s this nice mixture of “what the story is saying” and “how it looks onstage” that helps this episode along.

I liked the visual and social disparity between the three races. The Pegasi have a very Ancient Greek/Macedonia appearance and feel to them, which you can still see in Cloudsdale. Them being a race of warriors also seems to fit in well with some aspects of their modern society, and again, Greek-themed mythological beast, Greek-themed civilization. The Unicorns act much like the Canterlot snobs we saw in “The Best Night Ever” and “Sweet and Elite,” only with less subtle racism and more outright racism. The elite dress in robes and finery, live in castles, and seem far removed from the rest of the world’s workings. The Earth ponies, however, look completely exhausted, with bags under their eyes, dirty fur, and ratty clothes. It’s a fine contrast between the High Fantasy archetypes most commonly found in these shows, and the Low Fantasy styles that occupy much of fantasy today. This also extends to what we see of their governments: Pegasi seem to have a military dictatorship, Unicorns have a definite monarchy, and the Earth ponies have a Parliamentary system, all of which are utterly broken and corrupt. (Especially the latter, if somepony like Puddinghead can get elected Chancellor.)

There is, however, one little wrinkle this episode introduces: the Unicorns could move the Sun and Moon without Celestia or Luna. While this might seem to depower the two, there is one thing here that I found interesting: it’s said that the Unicorns had to begin the day and night. In other words, it’s implied that it was a group effort, using all their magic to keep the two rotating. That, or it could just be a bit of mythology. Either way, it’s not that major of an issue.

The next few scenes set up the blizzard and the effect on each of the three tribes. The narrative follows the standard “Group A was X, Group B was Y, and Group C was X and Y,” but the scene is still interesting to watch. The Pegasus soldier eating the hair on his helmet, the Earth pony cottage getting blown away, and the Unicorn crying over getting a single bean for a meal are fairly amusing jokes on their own, but there is another thing this scene adds to the episode: Atmosphere. Every drop of animation, every action a pony does, every…thing that occurs just reinforces the sheer desperation of the situation, the desolation overtaking the land, and how desperate everypony is to merely survive. All in all, very well done.

And then we get to the summit, where we finally see the Mane 6 in action. For the most part, the characters are portrayed as being the same as their actors, albeit in an exaggerated manner. Princess Platinum (Rarity) is fussy, spoiled, and downright whiny; Commander Hurricane (Dash) is adversarial, warlike, and more than a little bloodthirsty; and Chancellor Puddinghead (Pinkie) doesn’t even seem to live within the same quadrant as Pre-Equestria. Again, the fact that it’s a play helps offset the differences in the characters, and just lets us (and the staff) have fun.

The meeting establishes one of the most important plot threads this episode: the leaders are all idiots. All of them. Princess Platinum hypocritically condemns the others for fighting and dishing out insults while also proclaiming herself above the entirety world. Commander Hurricane accuses both sides of being responsible in the most aggressive way possible. And Puddinghead flat-out admits to the Earth ponies hoarding the remaining food because the other two are conspiring against the Earth ponies. The scene is pretty much just setting up for what happens next, but I loved Puddinghead’s “Pegasusususususes” bit and Platinum putting her crown back on upside-down. (Makes you wonder if those where bloopers, or if modern Equestria really sees these three as being that dumb.)

And then we get our first shot of the Windigoes. More on them later, but yeah, this scene pretty much spoiled much of the ending for me the first time I saw the episode.

Hurricane’s meeting with Private Pansy (Fluttershy) is another pretty funny moment. Unlike the leaders, the advisors seem to have their common sense ramped up, if only to offset the fact that their nation’s top ponies are made of tribalistic stupidity. Strangely enough, Pansy is the only one of the three not to outright advocate peace when she first appears; instead, she just doesn’t want to fight, if only because she’s a complete wimp that’s scared of a cloud. Obviously, a pony like her wouldn’t survive in a fiercely warrior-like culture, but at the same time, she’d be willing to listen to others before jumping straight to “Everypony else must die.” Hurricane smashing the clouds was a nice bit of animation, although I can’t say I particularly liked her flying into the camera. It just looked…awkward.

The next pairing we see is Platinum and Clover the Clever (Twilight). Once again, Twilight seems to slip into the role of a scholar, with dialogue inferring that she promoted the meeting by predicting its success, and that she has an entire library of books. Her outfit is also suggestive of a monk or holy order, which makes sense given which groups would be allowed the free time to study in the first place. Of course, the only problem with her genius plan for peace is that her employer is a spoiler, self-centered, more-than-a-little-racist princess, so when things go to Tartarus, Platinum drags her along to find a new land. And of course, she gets tired after barely any walking and refuses to dirty up her gown on a stream. It’s a fairly funny scene, especially when Rarity is riding Twilight:

And then we get to Puddinghead’s secretary, Smart Cookie (Applejack). These two scenes (the two meeting and the two journeying) are by far my favorite bits of the episode, as even in their exaggerated forms, the two provide a very straight-forward (but funny) bit of Odd Couple-styled comedy. Puddinghead thinking “inside the chimney,” punching holes into a map, and then reading said map upside-down because the Earth is round is funny enough, but when you throw in Applejack snarking on her leader’s psychosis and uselessness, it elevates the scene up a great deal. I also love that little head poke Pinkie does after falling over the cliff, transitioning the scene out of the fantasy and back to the stage.

Finally, the three find their new land. Hurricane naming the land “Pegastopolis” is humorous enough on its own, as is Puddinghead calling it “Dirtville.” But the real thing to comment on here is Platinum coveting the gemstones (much like Rarity in another episode we shall never mention again) and naming the land “Unicornia.” For those who don’t know this joke already, or have never seen the source material, prepare for a very tragic history lesson. Rarity began as a Generation 3 character from “The Runaway Rainbow.” During G3, the Unicorns were separated from the rest of the ponies and lived in Unicornia, where Rarity was the whiny, spoiled, utterly witless princess. The difference? G3 Rarity was a child; Princess Platinum is an adult. So yeah, this is basically a giant G3 reference, and in this case, I actually rather enjoy it.

One other bit to mention before the cave; when Hurricane moves in to declare war on Platinum, there’s a sudden gust of wind, which stops when Platinum throws Clover in between the two and doesn’t start again until Hurricane blows up at Pansy. It’s actually a pretty nice bit of foreshadowing.

The cave, unfortunately, is where a few problems start popping up. By this point, it’s obvious that all three leaders are utterly incompetent, childish, and downright horrendous individuals, while their assistants are the only ones with any lick of sense. The three fighting over a rock and invading each other’s invisible territory is amusing enough. But that changes once the cave entrance freezes, and the episode completely switches gears. The leaders are completely frozen in that way that only happens in cartoons, where ice forms about six inches away from your skin and is basically a big block you can just walk away from if someone melts it. And of course, they freeze still consumed by their hatred.

And then we finally meet the Windigos. First, I’m actually glad they just grabbed the name and not make them like actual wendigos (although I suppose feasting on the hatred within pony hearts can be considered something like cannibalism). And second, these guys are a great set of mindless monsters for this episode. They’re not planning some sort of grand scheme; they’re just using what’s already there to survive. They’re just your standard evil ghost monsters.

And this is where things slip into an incredibly maudlin, very corny, and honestly slightly painful bit where the three assistants realize that yeah, this is kind of their fault. Seriously, the dialogue here will (ironically) only be matched by the following episode, “The Last Roundup.” Still, what I like about this bit isn’t just that the three finally become friends, but how the Windigos react: they start wondering what’s wrong, and when they see the three becoming friends, start speeding up the freezing process. It seems pretty clear that they at least realized that they were about to lose some of their food and had to stop them before things got any farther.

Unfortunately for them, they were too late; the Power of Friendship causes a massive surge of magic to blow through Clover, freeing the three and burning the Windigos to death. Just…yikes. Their friendship is so powerful, in fact, that it creates a burning heart that gradually melts the ice around them, freeing the leaders and making them better ponies. And thus the three decide to unite under one banner and name the new land “Equestria.” (Strangely, there are already two Alicorns on the flag. Either they just combined all three races’ features to show unity, or they already knew about Alicorns, or perhaps they just knew who Celestia and Luna were at that point. Or maybe it’s just a continuity error, I don’t know.)

And then we get to…the song…ugh. I cannot stand this song at all. I’m sorry, but I can only take so much sappiness within a period of time, and this just tips the balance way too much for me. If you like it, that’s fine, but it’s not my thing. And then there’s the ending, which is mostly just a “wah-wah-wah” joke tying into the backstage stuff from earlier, complete with the possibility that the Windigos might return. (Although given the fighting we’ve seen before and after this, I’m guessing Spike was just messing around with the props and the sound reminded them of the lesson.)

CONCLUSION:

“Hearth’s Warming Eve” is a bit of an odd beast to judge. It’s not a typical episode of the show by any means, and while it has our cast, they are explicitly playing completely different characters from the norm. As for me, I really enjoyed it for the most part. I liked how the “It’s a play” angle was…played with, such as cutting from the cheap sets to a fantasy representation of what’s going on. It also had some good humor, a very interesting bit of Equestrian history, and introduced us to another pony holiday. While the prologue was pretty bad and the stuff in the cave was straight-up Narm, everything else was very good.

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Holy smokes, this one took a long time to write out. Here’s hoping the next one doesn’t take half as long.