Mini Re-Reviews: "A Friend In Deed" - Season 2 Episode 18

PINKIE PIE: "Wow, these shots were so much fun to do, Cranky! Why didn't we ever do more of this again in future episodes? Those educational videos weren't quite enough for me."
CRANKY [sighs]: "Because the animation director and his wife did this in the evenings, Pinkie, and it wasn't long after that before he got shifted off the series to direct the Movie. Can't have a passion artistic style if the guy who brought the passion is off doing another gig."
PINKIE: "Oh yeah. Our Movie. That was a thing! Say, how come you didn't get a cameo in it, Cranky?"
CRANKY: "...Let's just say marketing folks got a big bigoted when it came to showing equines other then ponies in the film. Didn't want to give franchise newcomers the wrong impression, or something."

So, I need to take something back. In the cold opening to my review of Baby Cakes, Pinkie Pie jokes about getting more little Pinkie ditties after that episode and Discord looked not so sure about that after consulting the entire show's scripts. However, I completely forgot that this episode features three Pinkie ditties (two of them derived from Yankee Doodle, granted, but still). Understandably, my musical memory of this episode, and indeed of the episode in general, was dominated overwhelmingly by its first song that runs for over three minutes, to the point that I otherwise only remembered the plot in vague bullet-point form.

But oh, what a song! The Smile Song is the musical number that finally toppled Winter Wrap Up as the go-to sing-a-long song for Bronies at large meet-ups, at least for a few years. It's basically Pinkie Pie's image song, perfectly encapsulating what makes Pinkie Pinkie. Truth be told, first time through it did sit a little oddly with me (its over-generous length didn't help matters), and it wasn't until a later date when I had fully warmed over to the Pinkie side that it clicked. Many a fan has told a similar story. This cheery song isn't just a bouncy, jolly number: it's a statement of her life mission to get others to be happy, and to smile. And I won't hide it, after a fair while since last I watched this song, I shed a few tears of joy throughout. It's infectious to the soul in the best way possible, and if you haven't heard it in a while, I implore you to check it out via the above link. Any list of the show's best songs is very likely to include this, let's just put it that way.

There is, of course, another 71% of the episode to go after that. There is a lot about it to love - you saw the felt fantasy used as this review's thumbnail, right? I do love me some alternate art styles. And a lot of the gags hit time and time again. And there's neat continuity tossed in almost as an afterthought - notably with Pinkie Pie being unable to lose even when you're running at 100mph, and at Rainbow Dash reading another Daring Do novel in the library. The bouncing figures on the map, the enthusiastic lack-of-enthusiasm in Cranky Doodle's portrayal and voice acting, and even the nicety of getting a prolonged look at donkeys in this world. They're a minority, but a well accepted one, if they get Gala invitations.

But, there's no getting around the fact that this plotline of the Irresistible Laugh meeting the Immovable Grump, at least the way it ends up being told, gets unsettling on a few levels. It's nothing to do with Cranky himself - on the contrary, solid writing and nuanced variations of different kinds of tiredness in his vocal delivery make him so much more then a standard no-fun cartoon grump. After the first handful of minutes, he does thank her both for the spa treatment and the replacement toupee, and in his own way, they are genuine. It's at that point that it gets to be a bit much. Time after time, Cranky tells Pinkie "no", "go away" or "leave me alone", and she never does it. I'm not an introvert, but I'm not really an extrovert either, so that level of unrelenting pursuit, however true it is to Pinkie's character, is unsettling and occasionally unpleasant to watch (if this had happened in the real world, she'd get a restraining order, stat). Heck, even when she agrees with Twilight that perhaps is it best to just not bother Cranky, it's only after she gets an acceptance of her apology from him.

There is the ending, which is both satisfying and not satisfying on a few levels. Pinkie makes up for her earlier mistake by identifying Cranky's long-lost sweetheart to be Matilda, another donkey in the village, and reunites them, with Cranky grateful enough to consider Pinkie a friend now. In her letter to Celestia, she even mentions that been waiting to be left alone at times is fine too. But how they reached that moral is all sorts of mixed, because though it is learnt, it is never applied onscreen. Though to a far lesser degree, this provides a similar sensation to some later episodes of a character doing bad things and not getting called out on them, at least not when all is said and done. In essence, much of Pinkie in this episode is in "hyperactive annoyance" mode, sometimes in ways that don't fully mesh with her as seen before. Not to mention, bringing out Matilda for the episode's resolution robs Pinkie both of having to face up to most of her own behaviour, and especially to facing the fact of burning Cranky's precious book.

It's odd, because writer Amy Keating Rogers is the Pinkie Pie expert. There have been episodes in the past where some viewers have felt she seems to be unaware of when it goes does a wrong track that causes some kinds of problems to the moral of characters, and by and large I've found these complaints to be overblown. But here, they do have a point. What's all the stranger is the nugget for a plot that avoids these problems is in there. After Pinkie is first rejected, and right after her felt fantasy, there a moment of her wondering what went wrong where she huddles up. It seems like she's on the verge of another insecure break at her failure of friend-making, all the more poignant given her backstory. But after a few seconds of a mostly-still pose, it's gone, and she solders on. Imagine if the episode was instead fuelled by that insecurity, giving a motivation behind her depression to face in order to get past. A story that truly, truly dove into why Pinkie likes to makes other smile. A story that felt more tied to the Smile song such that we wouldn't always forget about the rest of the episode. Alas, it didn't happen.

Look, this honestly doesn't bother me nearly as much as it indicated. The song is legendary, the first 8 minutes of the episode are flawless and I wouldn't change a thing there, and even when there's character moments on Pinkie's part I don't approve of, there's plenty funny and entertaining going on. And Cranky, you gotta love him, even in his crankiness. But some of the character and story directions taken with this one prove unwise, enough to land an episode that would other be a truly great one does in weakly good category, with a 7/10. But even with those character slip-ups, they're not a tenth as damaging as similar ones in later episodes (put this next to, say, "The Maud Couple" and it seems sinless in comparison).

STRAY OBSERVATIONS
- Zecora makes a cameo here! It's another one I'd forgotten about altogether, so it's nice to see.
- Also, Derpy is in Cranky's snow globe, for reasons. I'm not really moved much, but I'm not really complaining either.
The multi-Pinkie-limbs gag didn't originate with "Hearthwarmers" either - it debuted here, though with a mere six horse legs as opposed to nineteen. Hey, gotta start somewhere.