Before "A Friend in Deed" premiered this morning, we had just come off of three incredibly strong MLP:FiM episodes in a row: "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000," "Read it and Weep," and "Hearts and Hooves Day." I enjoyed those three episodes immensely, and I was really looking forward to the streak of excellent episodes continuing. As a result, I started watching this morning's episode with extremely high hopes. Unfortunately, by about one-minute and thirteen-seconds into "A Friend in Deed" I was already starting to feel that this episode was going to miss the high bar that those other three episodes had set. To explain, the
teaser scene before the opening credits had nothing directly to do with the plot of the rest of the episode. This is a missed opportunity, as the teaser scene is supposed to provide some exposition and lead you into the episode's story. Some of the best MLP:FiM episodes' teaser scenes have done exactly this, such as the Cutie Mark Crusaders making Miss Cheerilee a Hearts and Hooves Day card in "Hearts and Hooves Day," or Rainbow Dash pulling Fluttershy out of bed to get in line for apple cider in "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000." If you don't use your teaser scene to help with setting up the episode's plot, then it is literally a throw-away scene.
I am sure that at this point there are already a few of you here who are reading this that are already warming up their keyboard fingers to type out how strongly you disagree with with what I just wrote. However, before you do, ask yourself this question: How did showing Pinkie Pie putting on a 1980's aerobics workout suit, exercising her tongue, practicing facial expressions, and sitting on toy jacks have anything to do with establishing how she was every single pony's friend in Ponyville? The answer is that it doesn't, and as a result the first act of the plot doesn't actually start until after the opening theme song has played. This wastes a whole 6% of the episode's running time, which may not seem like a big deal at first, but keep in mind the fact that
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episodes are only 22-minutes long to begin with, and as a result there really isn't much time for irrelevant material. The writers really need to adhere to the
Law of Conservation of Detail with such a short running time to make as much time available for the plot as possible, and here right off the bat the writer, Amy Keating Rogers, did not. This will become a huge problem for this episode later on, as I will explain.
To help illustrate the points that I am about to make, here are the main plot points of "A Friend in Deed" according to
Syd Field's Paradigm:
- Exposition: ("Provides some background information to the audience about the plot, characters' histories, setting, and theme.") The exposition is started right after the opening theme song finished playing. The exposition for this episode serves to introduce how Pinkie Pie is friends with absolutely every resident of Ponyville, and remembers a lot of personal information about them, such as their names, birthdays, and regular orders from Sugarcube Corner. This is done by showing Pinkie Pie talking to Daisy Jo, Rose, Mr. Waddle, Cheerilee, Zecora, our "Chekhov's Gunman" for the episode (a.k.a. "Matilda the donkey"), and by the additional information that is introduced during the song "Smile, Smile, Smile."
- Inciting Incident: ("Also called the catalyst, this is the point in the story when the Protagonist encounters the problem that will change their life.") The Inciting Incident happens at 6:19. Pinkie Pie comes literally face-to-face with a newcomer to Ponyville, Cranky Doodle Donkey.
- Plot Point 1: ("The last scene in Act I, Turning Point (or Plot Point) 1 is a surprising development that radically changes the Protagonist's life, and forces her to confront the Opponent.") Happens at around 7:32. Pinkie Pie inadvertently annoys Cranky Doodle Donkey, and when he doesn't become "instant best friends" with her she sits down puzzled and asks herself, "What just happened?" She then becomes determined to win him over and convince him to like her. Act II begins at 7:59.
- Midpoint: ("An important scene in the middle of the script, often a reversal of fortune or revelation that changes the direction of the story.") Happens at 12:40 when Pinkie Pie gives Cranky a new "Dreamboat Special" toupee as a gift, and he warms up to her a little bit. According to the screenwriting website scribemeetsworld.com, "at the midpoint, something happens that changes the [protagonist's] fortunes for the better. For the first time, success seems like a possibility." That is exactly what happened here since Cranky truly appreciated the new toupee and was a bit nicer to Pinkie Pie immediately after receiving it.
- Plot Point 2: ("A dramatic reversal that ends Act 2 and begins Act 3, which is about confrontation and resolution.") Our low point for Pinkie Pie near the end of Act II occurs at 14:06 when she accidentally knocks a lantern on Cranky's precious scrapbook, setting the book on fire and ultimately ruining it. This enrages Cranky and he kicks Pinkie Pie out of his house, leaving Pinkie Pie further from her goal then ever before. The "Plot Point 2" reversal that ends Act II and begins Act III occurs at 15:25 in Twilight Sparkle's library, when a defeated and sullen Pinkie Pie suddenly regains her resolve and decides that she is going to force Cranky to accept her apology.
- Climax or Showdown: ("The point at which the plot reaches its maximum tension and the forces in opposition confront each other at a peak of physical or emotional action.") The climax in Act III begins at 15:36. Pinkie Pie confronts Cranky at his home and chases him throughout Equestria trying to force him to accept her apology. The reaches its resolution at around 17:34 when Cranky throws open his door to see Matilda.
- Resolution or Denouement: ("The brief period of calm at the end of a film where a state of equilibrium returns.") Starts at 17:51. Pinkie Pie introduces Cranky to Matilda, and it turns out that Matilda was the "special friend" that Cranky had been searching for his entire life. Overjoyed, Cranky forgives Pinkie Pie, and the only resident in Ponyville that didn't like Pinkie Pie is now both friends with her and found his long lost love.
Based on all of your comments about this episode thus far it seems like I may have been the only person to have had a problem with this next thing, but there was a very important piece of information that was missing from the exposition in Act I, which forces Amy Keating Rogers to reveal a plot-critical detail in the Resolution of Act III. This causes what TVTropes .org colorfully calls an
"*ss Pull:"An *ss Pull is a moment when the writers pull something out of thin air in a less-than-graceful narrative development, violating the Law of Conservation of Detail by dropping a plot-critical detail in the middle, or near the end of their narrative without Foreshadowing or dropping a Chekhov's Gun earlier on.
In this case, the plot-critical object that was not properly introduced at the beginning of the story and instead was abruptly introduced at the end was the existence of
Matilda's Scrapbook. It was bad enough that Matilda, a "
Chekhov's Gunman" character unique to this episode to begin with, turned out to be Cranky Doodle Donkey's long lost love interest in Act III. This causes
Contrived Coincidence, or "a highly improbable occurrence in a story which is required by the plot, but which has absolutely no outward justification." In other words, in the whole wide land of Equestria, how likely is it that Cranky Doodle Donkey would suddenly decide to retire in the very same small town that his love interest that he has been searching his entire life for happened to be living in all along? Add to that the fact that the existence of Matilda's Scrapbook and what was contained in it was never properly introduced early on in the story, and that turns her scrapbook into almost a surprise
Deus Ex Machina and adds even
more contrived coincidence into the plot-- for example, isn't it
convenient that Matilda had let Pinkie Pie see her private scrapbook at some point
(off-screen no less) so that Pinkie Pie could later use that knowledge to solve the mystery of who Cranky Doodle Donkey was searching for? Or how likely is it that Matilda would keep the exact same things in her scrapbook that Cranky did, or that Pinkie Pie would get the chance to see those particular items in Cranky's scrapbook in the few moments that she had with it before she accidentally set it on fire? With how the episode is currently written the audience is supposed to except all of these amazing coincidences and the unseen established close relationship between Pinkie and Matilda,
and just move on. I'm sorry, but with a show as typically outstanding as
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic tends to be, I expect *much* better plot development from it than that.
This is where that before mentioned wasted 6% of the episode time, the 1:15-long teaser scene, could have been put to some very good use. It could have been used to show something like Pinkie Pie and Matilda flipping through Matilda's scrapbook together, establishing both Pinkie Pie's unseen tight relationship with Matilda, and the existence of her scrapbook. They wouldn't even have to make the foreshadowing of the future importance of the scrapbook too blatant and ruin the plot's surprise revelation at the end, either. For example, they wouldn't have to mention that the scrapbook contained any photos of a long lost male donkey, or anything about a "special friend." That would make things too obvious. But they could have briefly mentioned how the scrapbook contained a very old ticket, photos, and a menu from a long-past Grand Galloping Gala. (i.e.
"Oh wow, Matilda! That gown that you wore to the Grand Galloping Gala in that photograph looks so beautiful!") That would establish the both the scrapbook and the Gala keepsakes as Chekhov's Guns. Then later on, near Plot Point 2 when Pinkie picks up Cranky Doodle's book, instead of her saying "Huh! Would you look at that!" when she opens it, she could have said something along the lines of, "Hey, it's an old Gala ticket!" before she accidentally sets the book on fire. That way, when Pinkie Pie reveals at the end how she put "two and two and two together" and figured out who the "special friend" Cranky Doodle Donkey was looking for was based on what she saw in
his scrapbook, the existence of Matilda's scrapbook and the fact that they both contained souvenirs from a past Grand Galloping Gala would be pre-established in the story instead of being the before-mentioned "
*ss pulls" that they were.
While I may have personally found the plot of this episode less than perfect, luckily both the animation and the music for this episode were both absolutely fantastic! Once again the animators and the composers brought out their "A" game in spades. I too was very impressed by the extremely well done stop-motion animation segment that was present in this episode, and thought that it raised the perceived production value of this show immensely. All four Pinkie Pie songs sung in the episode were also very well done and catchy, especially "Smile, Smile, Smile." In addition, here are some other quick little things that I noticed:
- 0:23 - While I am still convinced that this episode's teaser scene should have been left on the cutting room floor in favor of one that had a lead-in to the plot, since it is here I might as well admit that I did get a kick out of Pinkie Pie wearing leg warmers. While Pinkie Pie is no Cleo from Heathcliff, she still rocks those leg warmers pretty well!
- 1:58 - Of course the cow would have a Northern Wisconsin "Yooper Dialect." How could it be any other way?
- 2:21 - Ron Santo heel click!
- 2:34 - Hey, it's Cheerilee! She's become quite the featured character lately, not that I'm complaining about that, mind you! Heck, by now she must have some serious lactic acid build-up in her legs because she has been running through my mind all day!
- 3:48 - I love the pink, magenta, and purple silhouetting done here!
- 4:01 - Hoof bump!
- 4:46 - Hmmm. Could this potentially be a symbolic reference to Pinkie Pie's apparent dissociative personality disorder (a.k.a. her alternate "Pinkamena" persona) that we first saw in the episode, "Party of One?"
- 9:08 - Pinkie Pie: "Oh Cranky, you can call me Pinkie! All of my friends do!" With that sultry look on her face, is she trying to become Cranky's friend or is she trying to slyly seduce him? If her mission was the latter, it would have made for a much more interesting episode! *sigh* If only my own dream "special somepony" Cheerilee could gaze into my eyes like that... Oh wait, she can!!! It looks like I just found myself a new Windows desktop wallpaper!
- 9:52 - First a "Party Cannon" and now a "Welcome Wagon." What doesn't Pinkie Pie have?
- 12:30 - Apparently along with dresses, Rarity can also make hair pieces. Who knew?
- 13:02 - Derpy sighting! As much as I wish that I could say otherwise, I didn't realize that the pony flying around in the snowglobe was Derpy when I first watched this episode on TV. It was only later, while closely analyzing a YouTube video of this episode for this post did I go back and see that it was Derpy floating around in there! That little cross-eyed mare always makes my day!
- 14:05 - There certainly weren't fireflies in that lantern!
- 15:10 - Rainbow Dash, you're such an egghead! Geez!
- 15:55 - Cranky must truly be new to Ponyville if he actually thinks that he can escape from the time and space-warping Pinkie Pie!
- 16:16 - Not only is Pinkie Pie dressed as a beaver here, but she chewed through that tree, too! LOL!
- 16:18 - Discord finally got his revenge! Muhahahaha!
So in the end I ended up just finding this episode to be average. Not mind-blowingly awesome, but not bad either. It was just O.K. As I mentioned above, both the music and the animation for this episode were absolutely spectacular, but the resolution to the story was kind of anti-climatic, out-of-thin-air, and unsatisfying, and that somewhat hobbled the episode for me as a whole and kept me from rating it as one of the great ones like the last three episodes that we had before it. In any case, it looks like next Saturday we actually don't have a new episode of
Pony scheduled, so next weekend you might finally be spared from reading one of my massive eye-blurring text-walls, and I might actually have to do some real work during my Saturday night/ Sunday morning for a change instead of spending 8-hours deeply analyzing and writing about cute little technicolor cartoon ponies. Perish the thought!
