), I do love fussing over stats where anything of interest is concerned, Fimfic included. Happily, I’m not alone (because duh 
): Recommendsday blogger, fic writer and all-around awesome chap TCC56 does too, and in his latestMini Re-Reviews: "Too Many Pinkie Pies" - Season 3 Episode 3 · 10:18pm Apr 21st, 2020
PINKIE PIE: "Yeah... probably not my finest hour here. Making copies of yourself to hang out with all your friends at the same time - let's just say it's not nearly as fun as you might think!"
DISCORD: "Are you kidding, Pinkie Pie?!? Making copies of yourself is the best time ever! I do it all the time, helps keeps me entertained with I'm alone for a spell. And here I thought it was something impossible to ponies. You must show me this Mirror Pool sometime!"
TWILIGHT: "Discord... do you remember that little talk we had about restraining oneself from temptation?"
As much as it is easy to bemoan Friendship Is Magic for largely never satisfyingly fulfilling its serialised arc potential (not the same thing as making it's a more action, adventure-heavy show, to be clear) - and make no mistake, that is something we should bemoan - it is something I'm largely willing to overlook when the low-key, slice-of-life character studies that it makes its bread and butter turn out such winning delights. How much of the show's nine-season that holds true for depends on who you ask, of course (I follow the unique angle of it going away not at right as Season 6 starts, but in small yet pervasive ways throughout Season 5), but that is besides the point. Right now, we're at Season 3, and in the case of this truncated 13-episode affair, I wonder if that kind of episode really gets any better then "Too Many Pinkie Pies". It is not my favourite episode of this season - you can probably make a good guess which one is - but it's an easy 2nd right now, barring some undiscovered gem rising up in the next few weeks.
We'll get there, but not until I have said a few words about a certain Dave Polsky. Those who have been in the fandom longer then I can probably attest to this, but for years, until sometime during Season 4 or thereabouts (partially due to a well-regarded panel he gave at the new-defunct UK convention BUCKcon), he was considered... not the weak link of the original regular writers, but usually closer to the list's bottom then the list's top. To be fair, he only wrote two episodes in Season 1, and none in Season 2. Both his two prior episodes, "Feeling Pinkie Keen" and "Over a Barrel" were both sources of mild controversy within the fandom, and still divide people slightly today. Regardless, they established an impression of him doing largely comedy-oriented stories, with an ethos of "it's great to have a moral or lesson or takeaway, but don't let it steal attention or focus from the silly hijinks". Me, I've always liked both those episodes a good deal more then the norm. But while this episode certainly falls under the category of those two, of being a silly fest of funny comedy and laugh-out-loud hijinks, it also takes moments to foreground the character examination and introspection moments, and it turns out that it has a lot of interesting things to say there. That it does this, and makes that angle land and stick, all while remaining a comedy spectacle should be commended. Dave Polsky stated in the BUCKcon 2014 panel that he challenged himself during to Season 4 to write more complex and emotional stories, and here we see that direction taking root without yet totally losing the comedy style of his Season 1 episodes - which, I am aware, I like more then most. But this has always struck me as a largely beloved episode, so I feel I'm not alone in my assessment of this episode.
Enough of the prologue; the episode initially seems to be very much in the wheelhouse of "Feeling Pinkie Keen", using her wacky screwball side as the initial basis during her interruption of Twilight's fruit-morphing spell (leading to a delightfully orange bluebird), and though that continues to be the case as she dramatically realises that her friends are all having fun and she might be missing out on it, rushing from friend to friend so as to not miss a thing, already we see hints of the character layers to come. This is where placement in the series becomes important; there are some aspects later on that could seem problematic to some, that wouldn't be the case were this episode to happen closer to the show's start. But for me, it taking place after "A Friend in Deed" (and it helps it's so soon after it, only 11 episodes) is vital to Pinkie's character layers that give the episode weight. Within just this episode, Pinkie seems to be searching for fun to have with her friends, but with that episode (and also "Party of One") in the background, it's clear she really wants interaction, the desire to do close things with her friends, to feel as important to them as they do to her. And though the episode doesn't insist or foreground it, the knowledge of the Smile song is vital here - her purpose is to make others smile and happy, and she feels she can do that best when she's with them as they're doing something fun. Compared to other episodes, these threads are largely the subtext. But they are very much there, and not easy to ignore once you're aware of them. And they inform the episode significantly either way.
One of my favourite touches comes from, shortly after the cold open, both Applejack and Rainbow Dash approaching Pinkie and inviting her to activities of their own that afternoon. Were one to feel truly cynical, one could interpret this as them doing this just so she'll stop running all over to not miss activities. That's not it at all, of course - the two know Pinkie well enough, especially after the events of the cold open, to know not only that she doesn't want to miss fun things with her friends, but that she craves the interaction with them whenever she can.
For a short while, the episode proceeds with plot - an offhand mention by Twilight makes Pinkie realise the solution to this problem lies in a Legend her old Nana Pinkie told her about - so let's skip ahead to when Pinkie uses the Mirror Pool to make a duplicate of herself so she can be with both friends at once. It's instantly clear that the Pinkie clone is a one-dimensional version version of herself fixated on having fun with others at the cost of anything else (perhaps the Mirror Pool draws upon the fresh emotions in the mind of the one being cloned). But the key compared to later, is that she's not TOO flanderized. Not to the degree of only hopping around and yelling "Fun!" on a loop, anyway. Consider her stopping, listening to Fluttershy's picnic plan, and not knowing what to do, and zipping back to Actual Pinkie at Rainbow Dash's relaxation pool time; she's fixated on fun, but is logical enough to deduce that two fun things require help of the original Pinkie. It's her breakdown when explaining it that seals it for me - if the behaviour of the many Pinkie clones later is a literal loop, this reads as a shallow Pinkie who wants to do good and understand better. I bring this up because the more I watched the episode, the more it seemed to be the case that the Mirror Pool's magic to fashion personalities gets weaker the more copies there are, including the existing ones that exist with its magic. All this may not seem to feed into the rest of the episode much, but in indirect ways, it matters to the thematic line, especially for Pinkie herself.
Of course, what the episode is mostly remembered for is the sight of dozens of Pinkie's running amok. It produces plenty of hilarious moments, both those turned into memes and those not. In the interest of space, I won't dwell much there; let's skip ahead to Twilight discovering (via Spike, the episode's true MVP) the solution from an old book. The catch? The spell to send the robot-like Pinkies back (no, Twilight does not "murder" them, they weren't really alive to begin with) would affect the real Pinkie just as severely.
Following a dispiriting moment of Pinkie not being able to make herself known among the clones, we find her sad and mopey on a dining mushroom. I can admit lines like Twilight saying that's not the real Pinkie as she'd never stay still that long could have been a bit better phrased; there are a few moments during this back chunk of the episode that, viewed the wrong way, could paint a picture of the Mane 5 not getting their friend beyond her surface-level excitement and bounciness. A bit of inadvertent Pinkie-bashing, if you will. The key here, though, is that this is a tricky situation for everyone, with all the stress and damage around, and Twilight and the others aren't able to think as rationally about Pinkie's depths as they might otherwise. Plus, there's a sort of Stage Whispers thing going on here, with most of Pinkie's introspective comments about the situation when others are nearby being a soliloquy (as well as the visual distinction between her and the others highlighted for the kids' benefit).
What ties the episode's end together with the character layers thus far is how Pinkie suggests the solution without even trying to, of presenting the Pinkie horde with an un-fun test. Her desire for joy has real reason, as opposed to the clones, and even when she doubts if she's the real Pinkie, she'll always stay true to her friends. That's the basic moral at the end of the paint-drying contest where she outlasts the hordes of duplicates, but when viewed in context with what we know of Pinkie to this point, it hits home all the harder.
This episode isn't as obviously a Pinkie Pie classic as "Party of One" or the Smile song part of "A Friend in Deed", and if skipped, one wouldn't necessarily be missing a huge insight into a previously-unseen aspect of Pinkie's character. But when the episode still adds more layers to those deeper aspects of her character, it functions just as importantly. And the comedy continued right to the end, with Pinkie passing out from the exhaustion after delivering the letter moral for Princess Celestia. It's perhaps a bit hyperbolic, and this is a rating I could see dropping a slot in time, but right now, this episode still ranks a 9/10 for me, and it'll probably stand as my favourite Dave Polsky episode, blending the two modes of episodes he did throughout his run to the best effect.
STRAY OBSERVATIONS
- Spike was the real MVP in this episode - he pegged the real Pinkie once she mumbled her depressed response at the cafe scene, and while he didn't say anything, you could tell he was mulling and digesting this info over in her head, for when to pull it out if necessary. In fact, all the rest of the characters, excusing the few moments of slight abrasive ignorance of Pinkie's depths, are played well here, from Rarity hiding under a cloak only to reveal some new fashion, to Rainbow Dash just relaxing by the lake (and rereading the first Daring Do book, can't put a favourite down), to Fluttershy's adorable apology about being unable to have fun, they keep coming (also, it seems fitting to see Twilight struggling with a mob of ponies demanding a solution to the problem outside her house right after dealing with two massive threats back-to-back.
- As always, I neglected directly discussing most specific jokes, but they just keep coming and coming. The G3 Pinkie, her soft landing in the lake, Spike's retrieval of the journal getting comically unacknowledged... this episode is still remembered mostly for the comedy for a reason, as that's what it still is.
I think this is the best review that I've read of yours so far! I really liked how you delved into the intricacies of the episode more than you have in previous reviews, making me see things I hadn't after many rewatches and viewings of analyses. Though I don't know about your serialization comment. What do you mean it's a bad thing the series never fulfilled the serialized arc potential? Do you mean full character consistency with logical callbacks to previous episode at good points, or just being a serialized show? Cause for the former, I mostly agree, but I don't know about the latter.
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It is a tricky thing, but I'll explain it as best as I can. It is mostly what you said, that the show would be more fearless about utilising past and future episode to make for a coherent whole, rather then constantly dropping elements unresolved due to Continuity Lockout (we know from Jim Miller that many pitches for such, including the Pillars being teachers at the School of Friendship, were rejected by Hasbro so as not to alienate any potential new viewers due to all the callbacks). It is mostly that. As for a serialised show, I mean aspects of this, beyond simply two parters at the start and end of each season. I don't mean anything like Avatar: The Last Airbender, where every episode matters. I don't even mean like Teen Titans, where half the episodes in any given season aren't filler and half are.
Take Season 5 of Friendship Is Magic, for instance. Everything about that Season really begged for Starlight Glimmer to be a recurring antagonist throughout - not to the degree of every episode revolving holding her back, but even her showing up proper once or twice only to be thrawted, and in ways that tied in to both the Premiere and Finale. Instead, barring visual cameos that didn't affect the story in the slightest, she showed up at the end after the season had tonally acted as though she didn't exist. There's more to it then that, but consider this: she almost seems like a different character in "The Cutie Re-Mark", with her Cutie Mark Equality Society ethos changed from the defining aspect of her character to something that barely matters when not directly referenced in dialogue (also it has an AU timeline plot that's all over the place, but that's for another place).
To wrap up, I don't really mean adding many new elements. More just fully fleshing out the established ones, and sometimes in small ways. Early drafts for Season 3 had the Crystal Empire, rather then a kingdom gone for 1000 years, as the former domain of Chrysalis and her minions, with Shining Armor and Cadence now ruling them peacefully (not changeling, these were apparently Chrysalis' former pony servants, I think). And there was a loose plotline in that Season of getting things prosperous and fair for them after such a harsh rule. Often it was in the background, like with a county fair being hosted there during an unused episode idea where Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash body swapped. So it wasn't intrusive, but it was there and mattered. And of course, Twilight being prepared to become a Princess had some hints and foreshadowing, but not a lot more then that. As you go through the seasons, lots of these kind of things will pop up.
In summary, it's when they abandon the logical direction and leave things unresolved, and the viewer very much notices, that I say the show didn't fulfil its serialised arc potential. It had the potential to have those elements, while still mostly being the slice-of-life show that it is. It's not a problem in Seasons 1 & 2, because there it hardly ever raises any serious arcs that don't gets carried through and resolved on, it was 98% a slice-of-life show. It's thereafter when it keeps wanting to have more arcs and plotlines, but can't, that the cracks show through.
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I understand, and I guess I agree. I do think season 4 and season 9 did a pretty good job with this though. I definitely wish Diamond wasn't completely dropped after season 5 tho...