Secrets and Pies Review (Beware of Spoilers!) · 6:38pm Oct 8th, 2017
Well you should be aware of this by now, but the rest of Season 7 got leaked early because apparently someone at Hasbro got hacked (but considering Hasbro hasn't issued take downs on Daily Motion yet I suspect it's more them just being fed up with Discovery Family and looking for other ways to get the episodes out). With the synoposis for this episode and the episode ending itself being spoiled thanks to the IDW comics (apparently this episode was actually twenty first in production order so the IDW comics banked on that), my expectations were pretty much grounded to nothing, and no way was I gonna wait to find out if I was going to be proven wrong as much as I might have liked to. So if you're still waiting on the official U. S. release next weekend, it goes without saying:
Josh Hamilton penned this episode, the same guy who has so far this season written "Parental Glideance" and "Triple Threat", neither of which were solid hits but at the same time they weren't total duds. And considering May Chan improved greatly with "Marks and Recreation", it's only fair Josh get another chance to redeem himself. Interesting thing to note is that here Josh Haber is credited as story editor, I'll have to wait for next episode to know whether or not he's permantely taken back the reigns for the rest of Season 7, but if he is I think it's for the best since Lewis and Songco just weren't cut out for editing given the inconsistent quality of the season at many points. So, with all that in mind, did this episode manage to exceed my practically non-existant expectations? Well, let's find out.
We begin with Pinkie telling Twilight that pie making is more of an art than science, but already we're getting a ton of filler with stuff that will largely be non-relevant even humor wise. The episode begins proper with Pinkie going up to Wonderbolts Academy to give Rainbow a pie for her 73rd training session as a Wonderbolt. Shortly afterward, Pinkie think she sees her pie being thrown out, but rather than just have that be the case, the episode wants to spend time having Pinkie speculate and question the janitor even though the pie is a rainbow crusted one with a slice missing, so it would be pretty easily spotted. We then have Pinkie putting on her detective cap like she did in "MMMystery on the Friendship Express", and she goes about questioning everypony she can about her pies and Rainbow Dash. She learns from the Wonderbolts that Tank has been having stomach issues, she learns from Doctor Fauna that Tank's stomach issues are related to eating pies and the class hamster is having the same problem, and Pinkie learns from Cheerilee that Rainbow Dash has been giving pies to the foals. Pinkie starts to wonder if she's ever seen Rainbow Dash eat a pie, and we get flashbacks where the lack of subtlety is painfully noticed. The first time around I could buy Pinkie not noticing her pie being discarded, but the other times it happens the ponies who DO get the pies are right within notice! Pinkie Pie is many things, but she's not completely blind and stupid, she has demonstrated repeatedly that she can pay attention when needed and considering her attention to deal for pies and parties, I'm having a hard time buying that she could not notice what's going on directly in front of her.
But of course confronting Rainbow Dash would mean the episode would end and those 22 minutes aren't gonna fill themselves, so instead we have Pinkie getting an admittedly decent over the top mental image of an evil, pie hating Rainbow Dash. But then we just have Applejack showing up for no other reason than because the episode needs to pad out that run time. We get another couple of scenes in which Pinkie tries to get Rainbow Dash to eat her pies, but the first one destroys all subtelty as to the resolution since we see Rainbow toss away the pie and give it to Tank. Later we have a scene of Pinkie getting tackled on the runway by Spitfire and being carted off against her will to be checked for internal injuries (she's even strapped down on a stretcher), and a scene where she apparently doesn't see a bunch of colts and fillies eat all her pies when it happens DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF HER!
As fascinating as it is to see the animators come up with new facial expressions from a slowly slipping into madness Pinkie Pie, we all know where the episode is gonna go when she shows up and demands Rainbow eat her pie again. Rather than tell the truth (because we've gotta have a conflict somewhere to fill up the run time), Rainbow waits for Pinkie to blink and hastily ties up the pie in a balloon, but it backfires and Pinkie Pie blows up at Rainbow Dash and storms off. They do show that Rainbow Dash feels guilty for lying, and that she didn't want to hurt Pinkie's feelings, but this type of story has already been done to death with a very obvious moral. The only thing new this scene contributes, is Applejack siding with Twilight in calling Rainbow out for lying and asking what else she's maybe lied about (oh boy are the naughty parts of the fandom gonna run wild with that). Then we have a pretty disgusting resolution where Rainbow decides to make it up to Pinkie by eating a disgusting looking pie assembled from a bunch of stuff fished out of the garbage!
Luckily, Pinkie tells Rainbow she doesn't have to eat the pie and to just be honest with her, but then the episode disregards its own moral by having Pinkie hug Rainbow too tightly and she ignores Rainbow when she says the hug is too tight. The last episode that even DARED to disregard its moral was "The Cutie Pox" and we all know how well that turned out.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, more or less even with my absolute bottom of the barrel expectations, I was disappointed. "It Isn't The Mane Thing About You" took a similar generic and unpromising concept and turned it into a workable story for the show, so surely it should've been possible to do the same here, but it's like Josh Hamilton wasn't trying. Instead he opted to just take elements from "Party of One" and "MMMystery on the Friendship Express" and mix 'em together, then toss in a bit of "Party Pooped" for good measure. But rather than try to blend them together well, he just left them there and stretched out the rest of the story from that point onward. This entire conflict would've been pointless had Rainbow Dash simply told Pinkie Pie the truth from the beginning, especially since it's been going on for years! And aside from a few small moments, the episode didn't try to go a different route or even try to be subtle. This entire story would've been better suited to the "Equestria Girls" shorts series, which don't even average five minutes now, this conflict would've been right at home there and wouldn't have needed all that filler. All that could've been salvaged though if they'd maybe subverted the cliches and gone a different route, or at least not disregarded their moral. As it is, aside from a few background details added here and there, and of course the new facial expressions, this episode fails on every level! I should be more enraged, but honestly I'm just bored. Still, I'm going to give it an F+ and that's being generous, definitely top five worst episode material here.
*Sigh*, well hopefully tomorrow things will be better when I watch "Uncommon Bond" (assuming it doesn't get taken down) in which Starlight begins to worry when Sunburst starts hanging out with her friends and gets along so well with them. Hopefully it'll succeed where "What About Discord?" went so badly wrong. After all, Sunburst hasn't been the focus of an episode since "The Crystalling".
Huh.
Well, add another to the count of, "Things we highly disagree on", because I thought the episode was hilarious.
Sure, it's not among the best of the series, but it's still among the best of the season.
4691441 I don't see a lot of humor in Pinkie Pie missing the obvious and not asking the obvious, or in Rainbow Dash poisoning her pet and the school's pet just to keep up her lies. I understand she was trying to be considerate of Pinkie's feelings but having it go on for years and showing us all the methods she resorts besides just giving the pies to others kills any comedic potential this episode has.
4691801
See, I found her various ways of getting rid of the pies to be amusing BECAUSE of how many of them she had to come up with.
As for why Pinkie doesn't ask the obvious, the answer is simple:
It's Pinkie.
She never goes with the obvious right away.
4691804 So, the fact that it's been going on for years and in her flashbacks she's speculating the real reason behind it ruins the story. And not a lot of the other jokes hit home either. What little background details that were added here, could've been added in just about any episode. And you know, why didn't Rainbow Dash just give the pies to other ponies like say Soarin instead of random ponies? On top of that, assuming Applejack and Twilight knew Rainbow was lying, why didn't they ever encourage her to tell Pinkie the truth sooner, you'd think Applejack especially would've demanded she confess as soon as she found out about the lying.
4691811
Simple:
Dash didn't think to give the pies to other ponies
And they thought she'd eventually tell the truth on her own.
4691822 If she was doing it for years and poisoning her pet, I don't think it ever occurred to her to maybe tell the truth. I don't think Fluttershy or Cheerilee would be pleased with Rainbow Dash for poisoning animals just to maintain her lie to a friend, and I'm sure Applejack would draw the line long before then. Had it just been Dash giving her pies to her fellow Wonderbolts and maybe her friends, the concept would've been believeable.
4691828
Desperation can lead to not doing the smart thing.
It's as simple as that (for Dash's actions).
4691801
You realize this the mare who forgot her own birthday. I think it matter Pie put her all in that pie. Rainbow knew it was the pride of the baker. That look at that scence the children didn't even eat the pies in front of her there was a dust cloud and it disappered. That being said I did think this ep was a rehash of Inspiration Manifestation"
This really has been a yo-yo season, a great episode comes along and then a dud comes afterwards. I'm almost starting to run out of things to say about this Season and how it's all gone mostly wrong.
I liked this ep, if I can be honest.
This felt like another Season 1 episode.
4797744 Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?
4797784
Not to sure myself. It's just that it feels like a downgrade episode.
4797744
Oh, you mean like "Non-Compete Clause"?
4862152
Yeah.
4797786
You’re offending season 1 episodes. They’re better written then that.