Yakity Sax Review · 7:31pm Jul 20th, 2018
Just when you thought Season 8 was finally gonna have some sembelence of normalcy now that all the leaks were done, the craziness comes back with a vengence! This episode was eighteenth in production order but for reasons unknown it has swapped places with the intended episode fourteen "A Matter of Principals" which will be airing early in Australia like "Discordant Harmony" and "The Perfect Pear" before it. This technically marks the end of the mid-season hiatus, and we've got our first new episode on a Friday for the first time since Season 1 ended (they moved new episodes to Saturdays starting with Season 2, likely to improve on the ratings for the target audience). The writers for this episode are the Fox Brothers, Michael P. and Will. They've handled Pinkie Pie before with "Gift of the Maud Pie", but it was last season that they truly came into their own with "Forever Filly" and "Discordant Harmony" both of which defied expectations in a good way. So with these recently improved writers in the hot seat, was this episode able to overcome my low expectations? Well, let's find out.
We open up with Fluttershy and Angel picking flowers for what I can only assume is a picnic, only to have the peace disturbed by some very loud noises. Thinking it's a creature in trouble, Fluttershy rushes to the scene only to find out it's Pinkie Pie playing the Yak version of the bag pipes (I guess that makes the Yaks either Scottish or Nordic in inspiration, as bag pipes are a popular instrument in such cultures). And suffice it to say, she's really bad. Perhaps even worse than her fluglehorn playing. Her friends are of course disturbed by this (as is everypony in town apparently) but they decide to be nice and not tell Pinkie how bad she's playing. What follows is a predictable montage of Pinkie annoying all of her friends while they try to do their jobs (except for Twilight). This costs Pinkie a lot of likability points because it makes her look like an idiot, and she's not. She is capable of respecting her friends.
They all gather in the middle of town to plead with Twilight to do something about it, and Twilight briefly suggests the possibility of using a spell. But Applejack shoots down the idea, reminding Twilight of what happened when she wasn't honest with Celestia about her bad acting. And that's not the only time they'll callback to "Horse Play" either. It is a nice touch that they brought it up and avoided what could've been a very painful rehash.
At first all of Pinkie's friends shy away from telling her the truth, even Rainbow Dash tries to tiptoe her way around it. It's actually a remarkable sign of maturity for her considering she was always the first one in the group to say how she was really feeling and did this all the time up through Season 4 and even kind of into Season 5. Pinkie Pie appears to take the intervention well and promises to stop playing, but of course if that was really how it ended there wouldn't be an episode. At some unspecified time in the near future, Pinkie reappears in town flat maned and with her coat drained of all color. In fact, she literally sucks the joy out of everything she passes by. It is sort of interesting to see the return of Pinkamina, but at the same time considering Pinkie has never gotten outright depressed in far worse situations than this this just feels like fan service.
Her friends try to cheer her up by reminding her of all the things that she can already do so well, but they of course fail. So Twilight (who has not been involved in either montage) decides to take action and throw a party specifically for Pinkie Pie, even dubbing it Pinkie Pie Appreciation Day. I would complain that in "Party Pooped" (which this episode has a lot of similarities to) the mane six were incapable of throwing a party anywhere near on the same level as Pinkie's. But I think the difference here can be chalked up to them going for their own approach rather than trying to mimic Pinkie's. All the same, it might have been nice to have a callback to Cheese Sandwich or Minuette and have them be drafted to help with the party (you could always give Cheese a non-speaking cameo if Weird Al is unavailable as he probably is). Cheese especially would appreciate the gesture, given how much Pinkie means to him.
In what probably sounded funnier on paper than it did in execution, Twilight entrusts Gummy with fetching Pinkie even though not even Fluttershy can understand him. So they decide to teleport to Sugarcube Corner and get Pinkie themselves (though it isn't conveyed whether they were trying to make the party a surprise or not, because if it was that would be a rehash of "Party of One"). But not only do they not find Pinkie, but they find Maud packing up all her things and taking them back to the rock farm. After a very Maud way of questioning, they learn that Pinkie is leaving for Yakyakistan since she figures she can at least watch the experts play as the next best thing. Twilight stops her friends when they claim they should force Pinkie to come home, but suggests they go to Yakyakistan anyway to say goodbye and let her know how much she means to them in the hopes that will convince her to change her mind. I can see where Twilight is going with this, JoshScorcher pointed out in his recent "School Daze" review that those who are depressed don't want to feel pressured, they just want to have someone to listen while they pour out their concerns. But the thing is, Pinkie is being incredibly selfish here and her friends are entitled to drag her back. Heck, the Cakes don't appear anywhere in this episode, and you think they would be incredibly reluctant to let Pinkie up and leave over something so trivial when they are essentially a second family to her! And let's not forget how much Pinkie made a big deal out of Maud moving to Ponyville! At this point, Pinkie should be way too attached to Ponyville to even consider leaving it for good! All it amounts to is a cheap way to raise the stakes for the climax! A climax that would probably have more weight if ponies like Maud and the Cakes were considered.
So Twilight and the others make it to Yakyakistan and find that the yaks can play the instrument so much better than Pinkie can. And they find Pinkie in the music hut, at an ice cream bar acting like she's drunk on ice cream.
This time Twilight isn't so convinced when Pinkie seems to just agree to not do what her friends told her not to do and rightfully asks her what's wrong. Pinkie does bring up a reasonable conflict about how seeing others be good at something you're not only makes you feel empty inside, and if this was more ellaborated on (like say instead of having her torture her friends have her struggle with the worry that she's not getting better and doesn't want to admit it) it would have more weight behind it. But a yak player manages to cheer Pinkie up, and her friends convince her to keep playing. And that's all it takes to get Pinkie back to normal, even though she starts having performer's anxiety because her playing may not be perfect for the yaks. But somehow her bad playing is good enough for the yaks even though they heard a much better performance just a short time ago and they don't even say it's because Pinkie is good for a pony. And the episode just ends on that note. Also, despite the title of this episode, there is no "Benny Hill" montage or nod anywhere in the episode.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well it's actually nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be, even though I despise the very idea that they had to have "Oh no, Pinkie's leaving Ponyville" when we all know the show would never change up the status quo that way (they teased us with it in "Rarity Takes Manehattan" and there it felt more believeable because Rarity has always been a troubling character for the show). The rest of the mane six were actually quite likeable here when it would've been easy to have them overreact and snap at Pinkie for her playing, thus setting up the conflict. But Pinkie is not handled very well here, there's not even a reason given for why she wants to play the new instrument (there's no appearance from Yona who might have been able to introduce Pinkie to it). And her reaction to not being able to play is very selfish, petty, and immature. If it had been more like what was shown towards the end of her being upset at not being able to play good and not being good enough for the yaks, her reaction might have been justifiable. But the absence of the Cakes is a huge problem considering they mean so much to Pinkie, and I would imagine even Maud would be more hesitant to help her sister just leave Ponyville for somewhere other than the rock farm. As for the moral, not giving up is where the moral begins but not where it ends. "Practice makes perfect" isn't quite the same as "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results" because when you practice you always do something differently from the time before. And if the yak player had mentioned how he didn't start out good but got better because he didn't give up, that could've made the moral stronger and the story stronger as a result. As it stands, I can't really get mad at this episode so I give it a borderline C+/B- putting it above "Grannies Gone Wild" which barely had a story, but below "The Parent Map" which once it got to the actual plot with the parents was fairly good up until the rushed resolution, it just didn't need to have that first plot and didn't need to be a map mission.
Now we have a mini hiatus of sorts until August 4, when "The Hearth's Warming Club" drops in which the student six will finally get some screen-time as they bond over memories of home while Twilight tries to find out who pulled a prank that ruined Hearth's Warming preparations. I just hope they can redeem Twilight's character after "Marks for Effort" destroyed it for the sake of a climax, because Twilight deserves so much better.
I just chalk it up to Pinkie being Pinkie.
For me, this episode is right in the middle of the season at 7th place. It's a better watch than NonCompete Clause, but not quite as enjoyable as Surf and/or Turf.
But it IS close to my top 20 of the series, to the point where if it had had a song, it would at least have entered in the lower half.
As for there being a sense of normalcy, oh boy, is that not the case.
First, Australia is scheduled to air Matter of Principals next Sunday at 8:25 AM their time, which means it would air for those on the US East coast at 6:25 Saturday night.
And then both that and Hearth's Warming Club will air on Discovery Family on the 4th, with Hearth's Warming Club airing first.
4904535 So Matter of Principals will be 16th in airdate for US, meaning the next two episodes after it will be 17th and 18th in airdate. So the Starlight/Trixie roadtrip episode may be the first one to have it airdate match production order in the second half.
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Actually, according to Discovery Family, the official numbering is:
Matter of Principles is episode 14
Hearth's warming Club is episode 15
Friendship University is 16,
End in Friend is 17
Yakkity Sax is 18
It just aired today as part of the Discovery Family Summer Surprises thing.
Just like I predicted: Epitome of disappointment. It's just gonna get worse from that episode, when the hiatus ends.
This episode was depressing
Pinkie has been portrayed as an idiot plenty of times throughout the series. This is nothing new. Remember the episodes "Applebuck Season" and "Swarm of the Century?"
Pinkie Pie has been shown getting depressed in "Griffin the Brush-Off", "Party of One", and "Maud Pie."
Why should whether or not Twilight was involved in either montage matter as to why Twilight's putting on a party for Pinkie?
How in any way is Pinkie being selfish here? She liked playing the instrument and her friends made her stop playing simply because they found it annoying. If anything, it's her friends who are the selfish ones here. They took away something Pinkie loved just because they didn't like it.
But Fluttershy is extremely attached to Ponyville as well and she was prepared to up and leave it back in "Magical Mystery Cure." Let's also not forget that Pinkie did this same thing not too long ago in "The Maud Couple." And how is Pinkie going to Yakyakkstan to listen to music a cheap way of raising the stakes for the climax?
But that's not Pinkie, though. Pinkie just does her own thing and doesn't care what anyone thinks. This idda sounds more like it would be better suited for Twilight, Applejack, or Rainbow Dash.
That's a good thing. The only way she can get better is if she plays more often. It of course makes sense that she would have performance anxiety because of the Yaks, given their behavior in "Party Pooped." My guess is that they were being polite.
Again, they did this same thing back in "Magical Mystery Cure." And Pinkie did move back home back in "The Maud Couple." And this show has become rather infamous as of late for constantly changing up the status quo.
Since when? When has Rarity ever been a troubling character for the show? Since season one, she's been nothing but great. There isn't a single episode focused on her that I haven't liked.
Uh, no, they're not. They're shown being petty, immature, and selfish. Again, they took away something Pinkie liked doing simply because they found it annoying. What kind of friend does that!?
So what? Pinkie has been shown to be quite an accomplished musician in episodes such as "Swarm of the Century", "Magic Duel", and "Honest Apple." As I recall, there was no reason given why she wanted to play the fluglehorn back in "The Crystal Empire" and, unlike in this episode, her friends didn't give her a hard time about her less-than-perfect playing.
How? Her friends took away something that she liked because they found it annoying. Anyone who has something forcibly taken away from them that they like is going to have a negative reaction to that situation. Pinkie loved playing the instrument simply because she thought it was fun nad her friends selfishly took that fun away from her and not being able to play the instrument made her depressed. How does that make her selfish, petty, and immature. Once more, if anything, it's the Mane Six who are the selfish, petty, immature ones in this episode, not Pinkie.
Again, since when has Pinkie cared about what other people think? She's never been concerned about what others think of her except maybe her friends. And she wasn't concerned about impressing the Yaks with her playing. She was just playing the instrument for fun, nothing more. That only came up later.
We've never seen any evidence of that. Sure, the Cakes love Pinkie like a duaghter, but we've hardly seen those feelings be requited by Pinkie towards them.
Out of everypony on the show, Maud understands Pinkie better than anyone else. Pinkie probably explained the situation to her and Maud agreed to help her.
Uh, that was the lesson. The episodes always have one big lesson, but also two smaller ones.
So? Many of the season 1 and season 2 episodes didn't have much of a story either. I don't recall "Family Appreciation Day" having much of a story.
How was the resolution rushed? It wasn't nowhere near as rushed as the resolution to "Magical Mystery Cure", and I don't recall there being a first plot. As for it being a map mission, yes, that made sense since their was a friendship problem: Sunburst and Starlight fixing their relationship with their parents.
Twilight's character wasn't destroyed for the sake of a climax. How was it destroyed? Because she reasonably assumed the Cutie Mark Crusaders intentionally gave Cozy Glow the wrong answers so she'd fail the test as a means of getting back at her for not allowing them to go to their school? They sounds like something they would given their actions in past seasons like "Ponyville Confidential" and "One Bad Apple." Besides, Twilight's character was destroyed long ago back in season two when we had episodes like "The Return of Harmony", "Lesson Zero', "It's About Time", and "A Canterlot Wedding."
4904607 Don't be so sure.
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I looked at each synopsis of the new episodes coming, they're all bad in my opinion. 😅
4905226 So, wait? You're judging whether an episode is good or not based solely on its synopsis? Going by that, none of the episodes from seasons one or two are any good. How about wait until the episodes actually air and then pass judgment on them (you know, like a normal person) rather than go on whether or not they'll be any good based on their synopsis? I've thoroughly enjoyed season 8 is so far and am looking forward to what the latter half of season 8 has in store for us, particularly "The End in Friend" and "On the Road to Friendship."
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None of the Season 8 episodes were good so far, except Parent Map, Break Up Break Down, and Mean 6. The Season 8 episodes were boring, or unjustified ideas, like School Daze and Molt Down, and the synopsis for the next half of episodes, I can judge easily by, since they spill out the main idea of each episode. That's all you need to judge them by, and all of these new ones feel like episodes we have seen before, but in a different context. It's predictions. I've done it with many other shows, not just MLP.
4905281 I personally hated both "The Mean Six" and "The Break-Up Breakdown." I don't see how "Molt Down" was an unjustified idea as it was merely character development for Spike, shich the little guy is sorely lacking in., But I do agree that "School Daze" was an unjustified idea "Grannies Gone Wild" illustrated perfectly why I was against this idea, and LittleShyFIM even pointed out the problem with this premise: "How are they going to run a school when they all have jobs and businesses to run?" As far as the episodes being boring and predictable, that's how I felt about most of the episodes from seasons 1-3. I will admit that season 8 hasn't been great, but it's been slightly better than season 6, but not as good as seasons 5 and 7.
Yeah, Twilight and her friends should’ve told Pinkie that her music is disturbing them and Ponyville instead of saying that she is not good with her instrument. That could’ve made things easier.
4905225 Pinkie being potrayed as an idiot doesn't justify making her one here. Mr.Enter famously declared in his review of "Three's A Crowd" that there are three golden rules to remember when writing Pinkie Pie: "Pinkie Pie is not a dog. Pinkie Pie is not a child. Pinkie Pie is not an idiot. When the episode treats her as such, then she is out of character." And here, she hits points two and three perfectly. Her friends politely told her to stop playing and said it wasn't right for her, and because she couldn't play that one instrument Pinkie got depressed as if she were addicted to it.
As I pointed out, Pinkie is too attached to Ponyville at this point to even consider leaving! Fluttershy isn't as strongly tied to Ponyville as Pinkie, for it has been established that she is the primary source of joy in that town, and that no one can throw parties the way she can. And that's to say nothing of her big sister living in Ponyville adjacent, the Cakes who she lives with and works with, and her responsibilities to Twilight's school. Implying she would ever willingly give all that up just because she's not good at playing a musical instrument when we all know that the show would NEVER have a main character leave forever, is why the climax is cheaply hyped up.
And even putting aside Lauren Faust's statement that the Cakes love Pinkie like a daughter, at the very least the twins look up to Pinkie and no doubt see her as a big sister. And "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows" indicated the Cakes have saint like patience with Pinkie, gently coaxing her to do the right thing but never ragging on her. And there's the fact that they let Pinkie live above their business and have her own party planning cave.
As for Twilight, her character was destroyed in that climax because she accused the CMC without proof, gave them no chance to even plead their case, and never apologized on-screen for it. She has interacted with the CMC before and should've given them the benefit of the doubt, especially since she herself accused Chrysalis disguised as Cadence without solid proof and it nearly cost her all her friendships and family connections.
4905281 What about "Horse Play", that felt justified. In fact, I'd say it was something long overdue considering Twilight's idol worship of Celestia and constant looking to her for advice,
4905495
Molt Down built on Spike's character, but it's unjustified because it's literally the end of his character arc: growing up. That should've been left for the Season 8 or 9 finale. At least give us abit more time before Spike gets wings, not just upright surprise us with it. On the other hand, I admit, I liked the episode. 😊 The interaction between Zecora and Spike was phenomenal. 😄
And see what I mean? There's so many reasons, like one you mentioned, on why School Daze is unjustified and terrible. And not only that, but to me, the School of Friendship feels unnecessary. It just feels like Hogwarts. And it's not that interesting. The Young Six student characters are wonderful, it's just the school that seems so out of place.
Parent Map was okay. It expanded on Starlight and Sunburst's relationship a little bit more than Uncommon Bond did in Season 7.
Break Up Break Down was amazing, cause 1, Big Mac is my favorite, and 2. It dove into Big Mac's emotions far greater than Brotherhooves Social did....well, I take that back, they both did equally, but even still, it shows Macintosh in his most vulnerable state, and I love it. 😃😄
And yes, Season 8 is okay, maybe I'm just a little negative at the ideas that the MLP staff has planned for the rest of the season. They just don't seem innovative or they feel repetitive. 😅 So forgive me if my opinion in this context on this matter offended you in any way. I'm just negative sometimes. 😕 I hope Season 8 gets better. 😀
4905509
And you make some great points about these characters, but that's where the differences lie, is that their character arcs are literally going in so many directions, it's hard to keep up with them at all.
Horse Play was justified, yes, and was not bad honestly, but it didn't build on Celestia's personal character that well, just like many other episodes centered on Celestia, which failed to do as well. Celestia's talents aren't really that significant or interesting to her character arc as they should've been, you know what I mean? 😅
4905532 I don't get the Harry Potter influence on the school, but I do agree that it's unnecessary. To me, it just came off as the writers desperately looking for any excuse to keep the show going, despite that it's begging to be ended. It really feels like the writers are running out of ideas.
And speaking of Harry Potter, Celestia is very much like Dumbledore. She's not meant to be developed as a character; she's meant to help drive the story and develop the plot. This has been a staple of her character since season one.
4905509
First and foremost, Mr. Enter is not someone you should be listening to when it comes to proper critique
Secondly, Pinkie Pie has always been portrayed as being very childlike. It's why she gets along so well with the Cutie Mark Crusaders and the other fillies and colts of Ponyville. This is why the Mr. and Mrs. Cake were so reluctant to let her baby-sit.
Third, just because she thinks she can"t play her favorite instrument in the world, thus making her think that it's the end of the world, doesn't make her childlike. That's with anybody who is passionate about something. I'm sure many people will have a similar reaction when G4 of pony ends next year.
While they were polite in their request, they could've have suggested something much more useful, like her playing in an area where she wouldn't bother others or suggesting that she take some lessons to get better.
Again, just because she thinks she can"t play her favorite instrument in the world, thus making her think that it's the end of the world, doesn't make her childlike. That's with anybody who is passionate about something. I'm sure many people will have a similar reaction when G4 of pony ends next year.
True, but Fluttershy's love for the earth has been a character traits of hers since "The Cutie Mark Chronicles."
This is why the school idea for season 8 was a terrible idea.
The writers really don't seem to have thought this through like they did with all of the other ideas they've had in the past. They seem to have only gone along with the school idea simply because Hasbro demanded it, and Hasbro are the ones running the show, despite the fact that they have given the creative staff behind the show complete creative control over the show provided that everything they do goes by Hasbro to get Hasbro's stamp of approval. This includes storylines. They can't do a storyline until Hasbro approves of it. To be fair to the writers, they have several restrictions when it comes to writing the show. According to several of the writers of Futurama primetime shows have more control over the writing process because they do several rewrites of a script before it goes through the production phase. This is in complete contrast to daytime shows because they only get to write one draft of the script before it's handed off to the storyboard artists and animators and gone through the animation process. Therefore, the writers don't have the time to go through the script and polish it up. Believe me, if they had the opportunity to do that, they would most definitely clean up the script. Furthermore, there's only a limited timeframe in which they have to tell these stories. Again, this is different from primetime shows where they are longer, so they have more time to flesh out the stories.
We the audience know they would never do that. But, as I've said, this isn't the first time they've done this. They did this before back in season four's "Pinkie Pride," as well as amng other examples, including "The Maud Couple" shich aired earlier this year.
Which just proves how much they love her and see her as more than an employee; they see her as one of their own, like she's their daughter. As far as the party planning cave goes, it's highly unlikely that they even know about it given that it's hidden.
Yes, after rewatching the episode again and really thinking about it, I do agree that Twilight was acting extremely out of character, especially given all of the episodes wherein she misjudged a character and learned that she shouldn't misjudge ponies. (See the episodes "Griffin the Beush-Off", "MMMystery on the Friendship Express", "Twilight Time", and "Shadow Play.") While we're at it, the 2017 movie had this bad habit as well, which made it so frustrating to watch. But don't even get me started on all of that.
4905568
THANK YOU!!!! I'm not the only one who thinks they're running out of ideas! I think they should end the show soon before it goes downhill, like it feels now with Season 8. 😅 And Idk, it just feels like Hogwarts to me, the School of Friendship, there's a connection between the two somewhere, don't know where.
And wow, you have my thinking, I believe Celestia to be Dumbledore too XD And Twilight is Harry Potter in my opinion, if you really think about the similarities between them. 😄
I have to agree with you. Pinkie Pie's character is out of place here. While I know she's eccentric about a lot of things, yes, she does not lack attention to detail. And, you'd think at a public event, like the Wonder Bolts flight show, instruments that are not part of a band that is assigned to be there, would be prohibited.
The fact she was also in Canterlot. I am surprised they didn't use Celesita or Luna for a scene to show some humorous results of Pinkie Pie's playing. I'm sure it would have been hilarious. Like Celestia about to eat a slice of cake only to have the music splatter it all over her face, or she's signing a document, and messes up her writing cause the music caught her off gaurd. Or Luna, sleeping in her bed, and the noise of the music jolts her awake, and she gets all defensive sending a few magic blasts. Or she's raising the moon and her focus sends the moon in weird directions when Pinkie pops out of nowhere playing her tune.
I'd love to see a story about that made. Of how Pinkie's playing affected the Princesses in their daily lives. There's so much they could do with that.
But all in all. There could have been a better resolution. Ask for help from one of the Yaks to teach her how to play it more in tune.
To be honest. I am probably gonna hear that thing for a few nights to come.