Having gotten through National Shipping Day relatively unscathed, it's time for another Pinkie episode! Pinkie... has had quite a few episodes this season compared to the last one, huh? This time, though, its Pinkie and donkeys! You may recall that a donkey showed up very briefly as a visual gag in Applebucking Season, but donkeys in Equestria have remained unmentioned and unseen since then.
Until now, of course! So without further ado, lets meet Cranky Doodle and have an episode filled with music inspired by the most obvious source ever!
(Spoilers inside)
Pinkie Pie has always been a character defined by two key things: her hyper, incredibly-cheerful personality and talent with making others share in her omnipresent joy, and her off-the-wall antics that are reminiscent of the classic cartoons of an age past. Unlike her last officially-starring episode, Baby Cakes, this episode incorporates both aspects very, very heavily. So if you're one of the many that grew up with Looney Tunes, be prepared to see a lot of that similar style!
And really, that's probably the best way to describe this episode: very very Looney Toons-y. But unlike some episodes, where the wacky antics detract from the episode having an underlying point or significant plot, the plot here is excellently complimented by Pinkie's silliness, probably due to the fact that the plot is one that could have easily been pulled right out of Animaniacs.
The episode starts off with Pinkie establishing her motive through the episode. Since this is Pinkie we're dealing with, she does this through an elaborate song. Since this is MLP:FiM season two we're dealing with, said song is incredibly high-quality and the entire sequence wouldn't feel out of place in a high-budget musical film. The song starts off the episode on a very high note to say the least.
With the song's end we meet Cranky Doodle Donkey, a donkey moving into Ponyville to get some peace and quiet after having searched the world for a lost special someone (somepony?). Pinkie, being Pinkie, tries her hardest to become best friends with Cranky Doodle, but Cranky will have nothing of it, only wishing to settle down quietly and not be bothered. The episode plays out much like something you'd expect from a classic cartoon: Pinkie tries all possible antics to be friends with Cranky, and many of them backfire and cause Cranky some manner of embarrassment or pain.
The difference is, since Pinkie Pie is much less malevolent than, say, the Warner Siblings, that the episode never strays into that awkward place that classic cartoons sometimes went where a relatively-innocent "antagonist" is ruthlessly pestered into oblivion. Instead, the episode actually ends up playing Cranky as more of a protagonist, or at least a neutral party: the end lesson is in favor of his decision rather than in favor of Pinkie's, and it's made clear that Pinkie was partially in the wrong. What results is that the lesson is a good, realistic one that refuses to simplify things to black and white, but also unfortunately ends up as one that isn't supported as well by the episode itself as it could be. It's a tricky situation to be sure.
Overall, A Friend In Deed feels exactly like a Pinkie Pie-centric episode should: wacky, over-the-top shenanigans caused by Pinkie's need to make everypony happy and/or party every five minutes. The distinctly Looney Tunes vibes simply serve to further Pinkie's antics as well as allow the show to, frankly, feel nostalgic in its own way. It's almost enough to make me wish that Looney Toons had the cheerful, everyone's-a-winner attitude that MLP has. I can't be the only one who has watched those kinds of shows recently only to be disturbed by the ruthless attitude towards "antagonists" that were sometimes more sympathetic that the appointed "protagonists", can I?
Another great thing that this episode does that many others don't is making callbacks to previous episodes. The cold open, while basically irrelevant to the plot, brings in the little Cakes again, and later on Rainbow Dash is reading with Twilight in her library. I'm a sucker for continuity nods, and these were really fun to see.
As one final note, I love how the episode uses "Yankee Doodle" throughout as a sort of subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) theme song for Cranky Doodle. It even replaces the credits theme! It's just a fun touch.
Overall, I give this episode with donkeys a
8.5/10
Pros:
-Played like a more-innocent Loony Tunes episode
-Plays off of Pinkie Pie's personality spectacularly; easily the best Pinkie episode
-The music in general
-Fun callbacks to previous episodes
Cons:
-Lesson, while very good, falls a little flat in the context of the episode
-May be too over-the-top for some
---
Let me just say that the best part of the entire episode was the felt part. Knowing that the animators went out of the way to do a sequence like that is just so cool. And it works so well, too! I love it.
Also, let me just say some real quick blaspheme: Friendship is Magic > all the lame Saturday morning cartoons we grew up with. For reals and for true.
~C.O
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