Episode Re-Review: Over a Barrel · 6:11pm Feb 9th, 2021
And now we're getting into something really, truly weird. Dave Polsky, just brushing off the controversy of "Feeling Pinkie Keen" returned to write this episode. To my knowledge this episode was nowhere near as controversial when it debuted, so many people were able to get a better feel for who Dave Polsky was as a writer. But was it a good impression or a bad one? Well, let's find out.
We begin with a train traveling across the prairie, but the locomotive is being pulled by ponies running along the tracks (kind of weird that this is the only time we'll see that). In the caboose, meanwhile, Applejack is reading a bedtime story to an apple tree and treating it like a child. Yeah, this episode has a really weird and out there feeling. Anyway, the tree is named Bloomberg. This was just a nod to then New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg (New York City is often called the big apple). But Rarity complains about Applejack's treatment of the tree while she is forced to sleep in a car with the others. Applejack reveals that the tree is being taken to Appleloosa to be planted. We get some filler antics until the rest of the mane six go to sleep, and we get into the joke of Pinkie Pie thinking Rainbow Dash thinks Fluttershy is a tree, and Fluttershy eventually says she'd like to be one. Much like the Scootachicken jokes, the fandom would run this joke right into the ground.
There's also Fluttershy calling Spike "Huffy The Magic Dragon" which is probably supposed to be a reference to the song "Puff The Magic Dragon", followed by a jump scare from Rarity with her sleep mask on. After that, the mane six wake up next morning to see a herd of buffalo nearby. The buffalo have traditional Native American feather hats, and you can probably tell where this episode is gonna go by now.
The buffalo start ramming the train cars, tossing the mane six all about. Then a female buffalo jumps on top of the train cars, prompting Rainbow Dash to chase after her. But Rainbow is eventually knocked off by a sign and the buffalo successfully steal and uncouple the caboose with Spike inside as the girls can only watch in dismay. They then arrive in Appleloosa with Pinkie Pie absent for no explained reason, and they meet Braeburn who gives the group a tour of the town. Applejack keeps trying to tell him about the train robbery but he doesn't listen. We do get some funny jokes about horse drawn carriages and a salt lick that's used as a stand in for an old timey saloon (complete with a patron getting kicked out because "That's enough for you"). They may be some of the only jokes that are actually funny here, or at least don't come at the expense of the story.
When Braeburn learns about the train robbery he reveals that the buffalo have been attacking trains for some time now, to the point where the settlers can't plant any trees in their orchard they've got set up. But they need the orchard in order to survive. Yet at no point do the rest of the mane six realize that Pinkie Pie isn't with them and they don't seem particularly concerned about either Rainbow Dash or Spike. Not to worry though, because the episode hasn't forgotten them. Rainbow Dash is sneaking around in the desert to try and rescue Spike, but runs into Pinkie who seems to act rather oblivious (and even looks that way). They soon get surrounded by the buffalo, but it's okay because Spike is friends with them. The buffalo then take Pinkie and Rainbow to meet their leader: Chief Thunderhooves. And of course they live in teepees because the Native American homage must be made painfully obvious. We learn that the buffalo used to own the land that the orchard belongs to, or rather it used to be their native stomping grounds. Now, maybe stomping grounds is meant to be a stand in for burial grounds (which Native Americans are very defensive of), but if they are they're a poor stand in because the buffalo could easily do their stomping somewhere else whereas the settlers need the land in order to survive. So in essence, this episode is going to be the typical natives v.s. settlers plot, but it's already made the mistake of giving the settlers a greater reason to need the land.
If the homage wasn't obvious already, it becomes clear once the buffalo head to Appleloosa. The mane six do briefly reunite, but soon an argument gets underway about who needs the land better. And yet Applejack and Rainbow Dash insist on arguing in place of the ones who actually lay claim to it. Pinkie Pie then gets the idea to put on a show, leading into the song "You Gotta Share, You Gotta Care", spoonfeeding the moral in a really obvious fashion. And somehow, the song is enough to break down negotiations completely even though Pinkie was a neutral third party that was not representing either side. So the buffalo threaten war and the settlers basically reply with "Bring it on!". So now we're getting into the typical "Who's the savage?" story we've seen over, and over, and over and over again!
So the two sides prepare for battle as the mane six try to reason with the settlers and the buffalo to no avail. And Pinkie Pie? She just thinks that she wasn't clear before even though she was told her song was terrible. It all culminates when the buffalo look ready to back down at the last minute (which, if you threaten war you'd better be ready to follow through with it. You can't bluff or joke about it because war is not a game or a bargining chip), but then Pinkie shows up and starts doing her song again, which angers the buffalo enough to not only attack her but all of Appleloosa even though again Pinkie is not associated with them.
Then we get to something truly stupid, pie fighting that's used as a stand in for actual fighting. It's not entirely bad at first, but then Chief Thunderhooves takes a pie to the face and they treat it like a bullet wound even I'm sure even kids wouldn't be fooled by the death fake-out (at no point would anyone think pies could be a stand in for a lethal weapon). If Disney movies can have on-screen deaths and still be rated G, there's really no reason why this show couldn't afford to have something more suitable. Even if they couldn't show actual violence they could surely have found something as a better substitute for bullets.
But Chief Thunderhooves comes to when some of the pie trickles down his face and lands on his tongue. Getting a taste of the apple pie is enough to make him realize there's a better solution. The solution is to just open a path through the orchard for the buffalo to stampede through, and all they ask for in exchange is some apple pies. And this is a realization they came to all on their own, the mane six didn't contribute anything at all to the solution and arguably only made things worse by trying to force negotiations. Pinkie Pie even appears in the ending iris to point out that the moral is what she already said in the song.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? As hilarious as it may be it really feels strange and out there, especially for Pinkie Pie who seems to get hit with the idiot stick multiple times. It feels not unlike a stoner comedy at times, and I don't see the appeal of those since if I need to be in an altered state of mind to enjoy something then it's not good writing. Plus, in terms of story we have a plot that is predictable to a fault and done to death. The show's attempts to change it up only make things worse by putting the natives entirely in the wrong, making the mane six completely useless to the resolution of the conflict and treating a pie to the face like a gunshot wound for an obvious death fake-out. Considering Dave Polsky used to work on South Park it does feel like he was trying to bring that kind of writing over. But South Park in its heyday would often make both sides look bad on purpose, and usually it would be the kids (the main characters) who would realize the solution while the adults were overreacting.
This episode also has the same problem as "Bridle Gossip" in that it lacks subtly. The buffalo must be made to look and act like typical Native Americans in any media because it thinks the conflict alone is not enough to make the parallels clear. This episode gets an F, it's the worst that Season 1 has to offer and is among the worst episodes of the entire show. Strange comedy can't make up for a done to death story that they make even worse by trying to change it up.
Well, at least the good news is things can only really improve from here, though to what extent is debatable. So come back tomorrow for a look at "A Bird in the Hoof" which is probably what inspired the idea of Trollestia.
Like with other episodes this season, the comedy saves this one for me despite the admittedly bad story.
And unlike Scootachicken, Fluttertree was actually funny for a while.
I thought this had essentially the same problems as Feeling Pinkie Keen- it's a Season 1 episode, with all the failings endemic to Season 1, but lacking any redeeming qualities. I could've seen it working if, like later episodes, it leaned into how much of a stupid trainwreck the whole situation was and played it as a sort of black comedy (although that would still, certainly, have been controversial). But as it stands it's another episode basically absorbed by its own didacticism, leaving little positive for me to say about it.
5451054
The fact both episodes share the same writer probably doesn't help matters, eh?
5451073 Yeah, Dave Polsky really didn't get off to a good start. What's surprising is that unlike Merriweather Williams who walked away after two seasons with only one success to her name, Polsky stuck around and managed to transform himself into a fan favorite in Season 4 before ultimately leaving to write for the Sonic Boom cartoon.
5451073
Yeah, the similarity is really obvious. I don't recall off the top of my head what Polsky did later on in the show, but I'm sure we'll get to them in due time.
5451084
I'm sure I wouldn't, either, but according to the fandom wiki:
Nothing after this in Season 1.
Nothing in Season 2.
Season 3: Too Many Pinkie Pies; Spike At Your Service (story); Keep Calm and Flutter On (with story by Teddy Antonio); Games Ponies Play
Season 4: Daring Don't; Rarity Takes Manehattan; Twilight Time; For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils; Equestria Games
Season 5: Appleoosa's Most Wanted; Brotherhooves Social
Season 6: On Your Marks (with Josh Haber; story by Dave Polsky); Newbie Dash (story in collaboration with Dave Rapp, who also wrote it)
Nothing thereafter.
5451084
5451159
In terms of Equestria Girls, his only contribution is Mirror Magic (with Rachel Vine), which to this day I still consider to be the quintessential "Shilling Starlight Glimmer" story.
5451431 A shame that was the last thing he ever wrote for the show. He deserved a better send-off.
5451442
Yeah, I will always remember that episode as the "oh no, the horror of misdemeanor property damage" story. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's something about the way Giant Countermonkey Girl's rampage is shot and paced that makes her seem profoundly nonthreatening.
That's more of an animation/direction critique than a writing one, though. The actual story I guess had potential, there being of course entire websites dedicated to the frustration service-industry employees experience every day, but... there's very little payoff or punchline, I thought. It really seemed to me like a retread of the theme-park one with the phone, which had more cleverness behind it.
I wonder how much time the writing and production teams actually had to work on Mirror Magic. I'm guessing it wasn't very much; the whole thing just seemed extremely rushed in pacing, story, and animation.
Did yo know that these types of buffalo are also called bison.