Episode Re-Review: Tanks for the Memories · 5:33pm Apr 21st, 2021
The show decided to take another crack at the "Very Special Episode" plot after "Flight to the Finish" only kind of vaguely hinted at Scootaloo's disability (potentially) and tiptoed its way around the subject. And just like with "One Bad Apple", the writer was Cindy Morrow and this time the subject was supposedly death. More specifically the death of a pet, a very tricky subject. Cindy Morrow had been absent from Season 4 (alongside M. A. Larson) and her last writing endevor before this had been the mostly forgettable "Apple Family Reunion". But she was shifting focus to Rainbow Dash here, so maybe now that she wasn't focused on an Apple family member she could improve? Well, let's find out.
The episode begins by revealing that Cloudsdale is actually a mobile city, it travels all around Equestria to bring about different seasons. Rainbow Dash mentions that this is the first winter she'll have with Tank, which is kind of confusing considering "May the Best Pet Win" and "Hearth's Warming Eve" were both in Season 2. But I guess that means "Hearth's Warming Eve" canonically takes place before "May the Best Pet Win" (a shame we never got an official timeline of the show to convey what episodes occurred when). Tank starts yawning, which Rainbow Dash finds suspicious. But Twilight doesn't find anything wrong, so Rainbow Dash opts to instead ask for the expert opinion and go to Fluttershy. But now we know that Fluttershy isn't an officially licensed vet, it seems odd Rainbow Dash wouldn't go there first.
Fluttershy reveals to Rainbow Dash that Tank is getting ready to hibernate, which this episode tries to use as a substitution for death. Except it doesn't work because hibernation is temporary and death is permanent, even kids would know that. But it has to be the stand in for death considering we see Rainbow immediately pivot to the first stage of grief: Denial. So already the episode is working against itself: It wants to be a story about death and grief, but the way it's conveying it completely negates the potential by substituting something temporary for something permanent. Rainbow then goes to see Spike, thinking that since he's a reptile too he'll know what Tank really needs. Of course, Spike points out that turtles and dragons are two different creatures, unless we're talking about Bowser who is basically a turtle mixed with a fire breathing dragon.
Rainbow coldly rejects Spike's advice and tries to keep Tank awake, but Tank starts digging at the ground to get ready for hibernation. The death allegory becomes painfully obvious when Rainbow stops Pinkie from saying hibernation and Pinkie Pie warns Twilight not to mention the word when she brings up how worried the rest of the mane six are.
So Rainbow Dash decides that there's only one thing to do, stop winter from coming. She even gets a face similar to that of The Grinch when he gets a "wonderful, awful idea".
Rainbow carries out her sabotage by stealing clouds, and we get a nod to the famous "Who's on First?" sketch by Abbott and Costello.
The sabotage then ramps up as we get Rainbow's only solo song she'll have all show long "I'll Fly". It is a nice rock ballad, weird that it took so long for Ashliegh Ball to get a solo song given that she's the most musically gifted of all the mane six's VAs. However, the song not only further hammers home the death allegory with the line "So I'll be the one who doesn't have to say goodbye." but also includes a line "I know it's wrong but that doesn't matter". And this never gets addressed or acknowledged again. Rainbow is basically knowingly committing eco-terrorism just to keep Tank from hibernating. Even assuming it was to prevent death, eco-terrorism most certainly would not be justified. Yet despite all of this, Rainbow is unable to sabotage the pegasi enough to keep winter from coming and so she decides to sneak into the weather factory to shut down weather making at its source. She takes Tank with her to do so, which of course becomes a problem when Tank is sleep deprived and is strapped to his flying device. Rainbow tries to stop him from flying into a fan blade, which causes a chain reaction that overloads the factory's machines and sends them into overdrive. And Twilight apparently knows what's about to happen when she declares "Winter is coming".
So all of Rainbow Dash's efforts have failed and she's gone through anger (against Pinkie Pie and Twilight) and through bargaining (her entire eco-terrorism act), so now she goes into depression. She's holed up in her home and doesn't want to leave, and refuses to let Tank leave either. So the rest of the mane six go to visit her (Pinkie Pie comes in through a wall). And Fluttershy bluntly tells Rainbow the harsh truth, causing her to cry. Applejack complains about this but Fluttershy insists that it had to be done to get Rainbow to move on. She even starts crying with Rainbow Dash due to seeing how upset she is. It's nice, but once Rarity and Pinkie Pie start crying because of Fluttershy it devolves straight into cheesy, child like territory. And once again, there's a difference between acting childish and acting like a child. Rarity and Pinkie Pie aren't upset about what Rainbow's going through, they're upset because of others. And Twilight points out how Applejack isn't crying as if that's an excuse not to be upset (though she shouldn't be forced into it), prompting Pinkie Pie to point out that Applejack "cries on the inside". But even this isn't tied to the possibility of the "dead parents' angle, it's just brought up.
Yet after this drawn out scene, Rainbow is finally ready for the final stage: Acceptance. And she gets off scot free for trying to sabotage the weather factory for the sake of her pet, supposedly just because her actions actually sped up the arrival of winter (which could be just as bad as delaying its arrival). We do get to see all the mane six in winter clothing, which is rather nice and would go on to be reused for "The Best Gift Ever". And then the episode ends with Rainbow Dash "burying" her pet and staying by the snow bank Tank nuzzles into (except I'm pretty sure most animals that hibernate do so before snow falls) to read him a story (a Daring Do book). But considering we'll go on to see Tank again without any fanfare in later episodes, even the death allegory ends up negated.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Quite honestly, if indeed they were going for a death allegory, it's insulting that they chickened out and used a very poor substitute. There is no reason at all why death is suddenly so taboo to discuss in children's shows but things like bullying and disabilities aren't. And if they were forbidden from talking about death, why bother doing an episode about it unless the only way to do so was to tiptoe around the subject so much that people could be mistake for thinking you never wanted to cover it. Putting that aside, Rainbow Dash is willing to basically sabotage Cloudsdale and all of Equestria through eco-terrorism just because she doesn't want her pet to hibernate (and supposedly, domesticated tortoises aren't actually intended to hibernate. Though Tank may not be fully domesticated). She faces no consequences for it despite knowing full well that what she's doing is wrong (which just gets thrown into a song). And of course, the entire crying scene goes from heartfelt to drawn out and cheesy when the other mane six members start joining in for flimsy reasons. About the only really good things are the song "I'll Fly", seeing Rainbow actually care about her pet (though in doing so she could very well be making him worse off than if he did hibernate) and Fluttershy demonstrating her growth from "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies" when she understands that sometimes we must be cruel to be kind. And she shows that even then that doesn't mean ignoring the pain of others. Everything else though is just a waste, if anything Cindy Morrow should've been given "Castle, Sweet Castle" so she could make it a heartfelt episode and Lewis and Songco could've debuted here. I mean The Fairly Odd Parents did an episode where one of Timmy's pets who di... I mean "ran away" came back to life, so something similar could've been done here. Alas, this episode gets a C-, Cindy Morrow deserved a better send off than this.
So it seems Season 5 is just like Season 4's second half, except there's no "Maud Pie" or "For Whom The Sweetie Belle Toils" waiting in the wings to come and save it. And next up we have "Appleloosa's Most Wanted" where the CMC meet an outlaw who's "misunderstood".
Honestly, I really like this episode a lot, partly because of I'll Fly.
But even besides that, it's one of my favorite episodes of the season.
I won't deny this episode has problems (the most notable being Rainbow Dash getting little to no consequences for her actions). However, I do respect its attempt at giving a metaphor for dealing with the loss of a loved one.
Also, Rarity and Pinkie crying just because Fluttershy was crying kinda gave off this vibe for me:
* Rainbow Dash: (cries)
* Rarity: (scoffs) What a baby.
* Pinkie Pie: Tell me about it.
* Fluttershy: (cries)
* Rarity: Oh, the poor dear!
* Pinkie Pie: She needs a hug, stat!
Despite the tiptoeing, I still feel like the way it handled death was pretty powerful and mature for the most part. And Rainbow acting the way she does without consequences is a little questionable, but I actually liked how her behavior reflected the five stages of grief.
This episode i like in season 5
Speaking of timelines, I remember in at least one episode Celestia says only a year has passed since Luna was freed from NMM