Retrospective Review: Party of One and The Best Night Ever · 6:06am Mar 17th, 2021
S1E25 Party of One
I have a feeling this episode would have been largely forgotten were it not for a particular fanfic that built off of it.
Pinkie Pie wisely decides to give up on the idea of singing telegrams.
The episode premise works because it's perfectly reasonable that Pinkie Pie would forget about her own birthday, And based on what she overhears when she's eavesdropping, she knows her friends are avoiding her. So if she thinks the worst, her conclusions are reasonable. But that's the whole lesson of the episode.
You think Pinkie Pie's psychotic break is creepy, Rainbow Dash? Just don't go in the basement.
One additional comment is this episode is a poor segue into the season finale. I think The Cutie Mark Chronicles would have been a better Episode 25.
S1E26 The Best Night Ever
I like the classic Cinderella references to start the episode.
You know that choosing beggar of a friend who thinks you should always drop what you're doing and help him out? That's Rarity in this episode. It's a pretty big ask to pull a carriage to Canterlot. Although the distance isn't specified, it's a trip ponies normally make by train, and it's uphill. Really uphill.
Best not to ask why the conjured carriage has a whip, or why Spike knows how to use it.
At the Gala is a good song.
I don't have much new to say about this episode, as my complaints about the ponies' stupid ideas surrounding the Gala were discussed in my review of The Ticket Master. But I do like that the episodes were both written by the same person (co-written for The Ticket Master), so there aren't plot or tone changes. And from a writing perspective, I do like how, at the start, each pony seems to have their dreams come true, before everything falls apart.
Up for discussion: Of the four musician ponies, why did the fandom focus in Octavia?
Prince Blueblood got a lot of fanfiction love for the little he did in the series.
The Mane Six find that enjoying doughnuts in the company of friends makes it the best night ever, and it's a good finish for the season.
MLP Condensed: Season 1
Say you have a friend who is willing to binge My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic with you, over a weekend. But since you can't binge nine seasons in a weekend, he wants you to pick out representative episodes. What do you show for Season 1?
I'm going to see about compiling around 50 episodes after doing these reviews. The goal is to capture the major plots, character development, and the introduction of characters who play a role later in the series. So, my first draft for essential episodes from Season 1:
·Friendship is Magic, part 1 and part 2
·The Ticket Master
·Griffon the Brush Off
·Boast Busters
·Bridle Gossip
·Call of the Cutie
·Fall Weather Friends
·Suited for Success
·The Cutie Mark Chronicles
·The Best Night Ever
Least Essential Episodes:
·Applebuck Season
·Swarm of the Century
·A Dog and Pony Show
·Green Isn't Your Color
·Over a Barrel
·A Bird in the Hoof
·Party of One
Bonus picture for FanOfMostEverything:
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I feel straight-mane Pinkamena would've been lodged in the fandom's collective consciousness even without Sergeant Sprinkles. The key to remember is that it isn't a sign of psychopathy, but depression. The wind going out of Pinkie's sails (or, more accurately, the air going out of her balloon) is a sign that she's lost all hope. And this isn't the last time we see it, thanks to the comics. There's even one memorable moment during a thinly veiled allegory for overcoming addiction where Pinkie's mane doesn't know what her emotions are doing.
You remember how he had royal business during "Look Before You Sleep"? Turns out Luna wanted to give him some self-defense courses. Celestia didn't have the heart to tell her that the Belmounts had destroyed Dracula's castle (again) barely twenty years earlier.
... I actually don't know. I came in during the gap between Seasons 1 and 2, so I'm not sure what spurred people to pair her with Vinyl and not, say, Beauty Brass. Maybe the bipedal playing stance drew people's attention.
And yes, that Nin alter is fantastic. Even if Pinkie would make a terrible vedalken. (For those unfamiliar with MtG: Imagine bald, blue Vulcans. Or if you prefer Mass Effect, more humanoid Salarians.)
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Cupcakes actually came out first, although that just made Party of One more memorable.
Absolutely not! :O I know I for one watched this episode relentlessly back when there was only a season of pony, because the imagery at least felt wildly subversive at the time.
Gonna agree with FOME that it was probably her stance and also her prominence in the band. It's kind of like "Lyra sits funny".
Actually Party of One was my favorite for quite a while due to Pinkie’s mental breakdown and actually having nothing to do with that fanfic. I do like the fanfics that portray Blueblood as acting the way he was because he was trying to get rid of a golddigger which Rarity WAS acting like. I also like to think that after the Gala Celestia explained who Rarity was and they talked it out and became friends after that hence why they are next to each other in Sweet and Elite when she christens an airship in her song.
Like most people, I've never actually read Cupcakes. But I've been told by someone who did that a big part of the creepiness is that Pinkie acts exactly like Pinkie even while she's being a serial killer. In other words, she's not in Pinkamina mode in that fic despise the fandom's mistaken association. Plus, as noted above, Cupcakes was written months before Party of One aired.