“Games Ponies Play”
My Little Pony:
Friendship is Magic
Episode 3:12
February 9, 2013
Below Average
Pros: Funny enough
Cons: Some inconsistent characterization, Turns good
lesson on its head
Before I begin
this review I’d like to mention that I did not realize that I was posting it so
close to the 5th Anniversary of this episode’s airdate. Had I known that I would have finished it
sooner.
In this
episode Princess Cadance (Britt McKillip) summons the Mane Six so that they
could help convince the Games Inspector, Ms. Harshwhinny, to award the Empire
the honor of hosting the Equestria Games.
I have a few issues with this scenario.
I’m not the first to point this out, but one would think that the Crystal
Empire would automatically be selected as celebration for its reappearance
earlier in the season. Secondly, Princess
Cadance would probably be wise to decline the offer, considering that hosting
the Equestrian version of the Olympics would put a lot of strain on a city, especially
if that city needed to catch up to 2,000 years’ worth of civilization. You’d think Cadance has better things to
worry about as a ruler instead of worrying about the Summer Games while Shining
Armor (Andrew Francis) micromanages a track team.
The Mane Six leave Spike to babysit all their
pets. Now you’d think they would have
invited Spike considering he saved the Empire, but I suppose he wouldn’t mind
doing the Mane Six’s housework. Still,
he’s honored during the actual games in an episode that came out over a year
later, almost as if it was an afterthought.
In a clever move the next episode focuses on Spikes adventures
petsitting during the same timeframe.
However, that episode is also underwhelming, and I don’t remember seeing
enough subtle clues throughout “GPP” that show what Spike is up to.
As the Mane
Six prepare for their task as the welcome party, Rainbow Dash (the episode’s
protagonist) reveals how disappointed she was when Cloudsdale was not selected
for the Equestria Games when she was a filly.
Therefore she has a vested interest in help the Crystal Empire on this
occasion. They meet up with Cadance, who
reveals that she must wear a particularly complex ceremonial hairstyle to
impress Ms. Harshwhinny, who is known for doing her homework and being well
aware of local traditions. Unfortunately
a mailmare reveals that not only is Cadance’s chief hairstylist sick, but that
Ms. Harshwhinny has moved up her visit to that very day. Rarity takes on the difficult task of the
hairstylist while the other five ponies rush to the train station to welcome
the Games Inspector.
Even
though I know that photography exists in this universe, the only information
given to them about Ms. Harshwhinny’s appearance is that she’s carrying a
floral-patterned luggage bag. They find
a mare with one, and although she initially snaps at them, she turns out to be
friendly enough. This Southern accented
pony, named Ms. Peachbottom (Patricia Drake), turns out to be the wrong one,
since we immediately see the real Ms. Harshwhinny (Vena Sood) as she
impatiently waits to be picked up after the Mane Six leave the scene. I think this reveal happens a little too soon
and thus spoils any foreshadowing leading up to the climax.
From here
the Mane-Six-minus-Rarity stall Ms. Peachbottom while Rarity attempts with difficulty
to master the hairdo. Meanwhile Ms.
Harshwhinny is consistently inconvenienced by the inconsideration of the
locals. The Remaning Five are slightly
nonplussed by Ms. Peachbottom’s apparent cluelessness (as well as her
near-crippling claustrophobia; she’s even frightening of being inside the
rotunda of the Crystal Palace, which is huge. It does explain why she snapped at them
after being on a train). Rainbow tells
them that this is an act meant to throw them off. I will note that the episode is funnier than
I remember it. The best joke is a moment
in which Rainbow is overpropelled and smacks herself against the glass wall of the boutique Rarity is working in.
A nice running gag is how Twilight uses a breathing exercise to
calm herself down as prompted by Cadance.
It reinforces their history as two close friends with Cadance acting in
a big-sister role. It culminates in
Twilight’s attempting to do so with the crisis comes to a head only to
hyperventilate.
When they finally find out that Ms.
Peachbottom is actually a wild mustang instead of Ms. Harshwhinny, they rush to
the boutique hoping she hasn’t run into Cadance. They find her there in the massage parlor chatting
with Ms. Peachbottom. Harshwhinny has
been complaining about her experience in the Crystal Empire as well as how
she’s tired of often having to deal with the artificiality of the welcoming
committees in her job, while Peachbottom was talking about how nice her stay was. Rainbow Dash, in an admirable moment of
honesty, comes clean with Harshwhinny and tells her what happened. In a baffling turn of events, Ms. Harshwhinny
awards the Crystal Empire with the hosting of the Games based on Ms. Peachbottom’s
treatment. The Mane Six return to the
train home, not noticing Spike and the pets hiding under the seats.
Ms.
Harshwhinny’s decision makes no sense for a few reasons. First of all, it goes against what we know
about her. She is supposedly a stickler
for detail, but she doesn’t mind the mistaken identity. She’s supposedly cynical about the fakeness
of what she has to deal with, but rewards those exact methods when used to
impress Ms. Peachbottom. She even
praises the treatment of Ms. Peachbottom as the first unbiased assessment of
the city’s hospitality even though she knows
that they only treated the mustang so well because they thought she was the Games Inspector. She somehow doesn’t seem to appreciate that
the Crystal Empire’s inconsiderate treatment of her was the truly unbiased
display. On one hand she would admire
Rainbow’s honesty in the face of humiliation, but that’s no reason to reward
the Crystal Ponies for her troubles.
Besides, why would they outsource hospitality to foreigners anyway? Despite this irrationality, Ms. Harshwhinny
seems relatively popular in the fandom (she’s taken some of the WG heat off of
Rainbow). It may be because she’s one of
the few mares with a distinctive design template.
Even more
importantly this turns a good, time-tested moral on its head. The story of a powerful person mistaken for a nobody who rewards people for their kindness in spite of that has dated back to ancient times. This setup is often used
to teach the importance of altruism for its own sake. Here Ms. Harshwhinny rewards the Crystal
Empire for pragmatically trying to impress an influential person while ignoring
their treatment of an apparent nobody.
Apparently, they thought they were trying to teach the lesson of true
altruism by focusing on Rainbow Dash’s satisfaction from helping the Crystal
Ponies, and they didn’t realize they were causing a disagreement between the story and its putative lesson. Even the end-justify-the-means logic of using
pragmatic means for altruistic ends doesn’t work here because the morality of true
hospitality would outweigh the Empire’s getting a place of honor at the games.
It’s not
every show that somehow manages to screw something like this up. Unfortunately, this would have been a good
episode had Ms. Harshwhinny done the logical thing and rejected the Crystal
Empire. The ponies would have actually
learned a lesson the hard way, and it would have been a much needed lesson for
kids to show that not everything goes your way.
And it’s not like the stakes were that high. I’ve noticed a problem with this show that
the protagonists always come out on top no matter how little sense it makes,
and this is a particularly bad example of this trend.
QUOTES
TWILIGHT: Princess Cadance is counting on us to do our
part to convince the Games Inspector to choose the Crystal Empire. And we are not gonna let her down, are we?
PINKIE: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! What, I was just answering Twilight’s
question.
[sees to Crystal
pony children playing]
APPLEJACK: Princess Cadance was right. These ponies do look pretty excited.
RAINBOW: Yup, I remember that feeling. But not as much as I remember the crushing
wave of disappointment that came when things didn’t work out. [child
begins to tear up, and Rainbow points in her face] That right there. That is the face I do not want to see.
APPLEJACK: Uh, mm-hm.
RARITY: Besides, the Games Inspector isn’t expected for
several hours. I’ll have plenty of time
to figure out exactly how to… [glances at
the instructions and drops smile] …do this.
CADANCE: Oh, Rarity, that’s wonderful! [to
messenger] You said you had a second
bit of news?
MESSENGER: Yes, quite.
The Games Inspector, Ms. Harshwinny, will be arriving on the…next train.
ALL: What?!
RAINBOW: What? You
couldn’t have told her that news first?
MARE: I have traveled far and wide, but I have never,
ever been welcomed anyplace in the fashion that y’all have done here today.
TWILIGHT: That’s fantasatic. Princess Cadance would be so glad to hear
that.
MARE: Honestly, I’m surprised she knows anything about me
at all.
[Twilight and Co.
are surprised by the comment, but they shrug it off]
TWILIGHT: Of course she does, but she’s been looking
forward to your visit for weeks.
[Rarity pulling
Cadance’s hair comically in all directions]
RARITY: Oh, I’m so sorry, it’s just all so complicated. [laughs nervously] I can fix it!
CADANCE: Fix what?
RARITY: Well, I-I was looking for shortcuts and I though
Step 12 was optional…but it’s not.
[Ms. Harshwinny is
dragging her bag in the Empire, and Twilight obliviously runs by]
TWILIGHT: Hello there.
MS. HARSHWINNY: Hello yourself. [to
herself] First hello of the day. [gets splashed by carriage]
RARITY: No, no.
Princess Cadance isn’t ready.
Something’s gone terribly wrong.
TWILIGHT: I need to speak to the princess.
RARITY: You cant!
You musn’t! She’s in the middle
of a very delicate conditioning rinse that must go perfectly if there’s to be
any hope for her hair.
TWILIGHT: C’mon, how bad could it be?
RARITY: Imagine her hair turned into a porcupine. Please, I’ll bring her back from the brink of
tragedy, but you have got to buy me some time.
There’s no other way!
PINKIE: So, you see this here. This is, um…a big, round room! It’s known for its roundness and
bigness. And did I mention that it’s
round?
MS. PEACHBOTTOM: I think they call it a rotunda. A small…confining rotunda.
PINKIE: Pbb! Whatever. Round is round, am I right?
APPLEJACK: Easy, Pinkie.
Let’s play this safe. We got her
in a good mood, so let’s not do anything to ruin that.
MS. PEACHBOTTOM: You know, I love this sort of
architecture. I detect of neo-Gothic
inspiration in the design, yes?
PINKIE: Hey! Look at me!
[babbles and makes faces]
[enter Twilight]
APPLEJACK: Ugh, not a moment too soon. Where’s Cadance? Please tell me she’s right behind you.
TWILIGHT: There is a bit of a problem with her
headdress. How’s it going here?
PINKIE: [still
trying to distract the mare] Boingy, boingy, boingy…
SHINING ARMOR: What the?
RAINBOW: Turns out the Crystal Palace doesn’t have a
gymnasium.
SHINING ARMOR: Make her stop!
RAINBOW: Wait, that’s the Games Inspector. Let her do her thing.
SHINING ARMOR: Why would she do that?
RAINBOW: I have no idea, but that’s why she’s in charge
of deciding who gets to host the Games and we’re not. Heh.
[Ms. Peachbottom gets
a pot over her head, panics, and runs away]
RAINBOW: Yeah, ok.
We need to stop her.
RAINBOW: We got the wrong pony?
PINKIE: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I mean, YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSS!!!
[Twilight tries to
deep-breathe, but hyperventilates this time]
RAINBOW: We split up the Empire into five sectors.
FLUTTERSHY: Each of us search a sector.
PINKIE: Well, except for the spa. What’s the point of checking there? That’s where Cadance is. If Ms. Harshwinny is there, well, game over,
right?
[everyone gasps]
RAINBOW: You it feels good to help others get something
you always wanted but never had. Almost
as good as getting it yourself. Almost.
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