My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic: Episode 312 - Games Ponies Play

Rating:

Absurd as it may seem, Twilight’s method of calming herself down in Games Ponies Play can actually be quite effective.  She is tasked with entertaining a games inspector as the Crystal Empire bids for the Equestria Games, and naturally everything goes wrong.  For once, Cadance has something useful to offer her former ward, and the relaxing extended hoof allows Twilight to keep everything under control, or so she thinks.  The mane six pick up the wrong pony at the train station, while Rarity is confusingly tasked with doing Cadance’s hair for the occasion.  Thankfully, Twilight doesn’t allow herself to freak out despite being in put in charge of more than she probably should.  Worrying about such things not only helps the undesired to happen, but it also stands in the way of becoming better.  Dave Polsky’s fourth writing credit of the season may be bogged down by headshaking moments, but it has enough fun and intelligence to make for a solid effort overall.

The premise of Games Ponies Play probably should have had Twilight feeling quite a bit more nervous than she was, but at this point she trusted her ability to get through a tough situation.  Everything does end up working out, but Twilight’s demeanor doesn’t really bring about her goal.  A chance encounter between the two ponies mistaken for each other is what really saves the day, but prayer isn’t the reason Twilight keeps her cool.  Considering the point is that your approach can determine how good you are at something, having the premise resolve because of luck doesn’t convey the intended meaning.  Presumably this was something of a test for Twilight given what happens to her in the next episode, and having a Godfather-like admission of not being worried apparently demonstrates she is ready for the next level of ponyness.  After saving the world multiple times in the third season thanks to Celestia’s whims, it should come as little surprise that a short presentation to a committee for an ultimately meaningless sporting event doesn’t concern Twilight nearly as much.

Strangely enough, I could almost sympathize with Rainbow Dash since my hometown-ish was also up for the Olympics in mid 2009.  Chicago’s bid for the 2016 games was said to be strong, since it was the betting favorite and featured a then recently-elected President Obama.  Unfortunately, they couldn’t cry about some malady as to why Chicago seriously had to have these Olympics like the other cities could (Rio bawled about how the Olympics had never been to South America (while conveniently failing to mention also hosting the World Cup in 2014), and poor Juan Antonio Samaranch might never live to see an Olympics in his “home” city of Madrid if they weren’t awarded those games.  The corrupt bastard died early the next year anyways, so he wouldn’t have seen the games no matter where they were held), and apparently had no shot.  Anyone in Chicago who actually cared knows exactly how Rainbow Dash felt when the “leading” prospective city was announced as the first one out after the initial round of voting.  I got over the disappointment of not having traffic even worse than it already is for two weeks pretty quickly, but we do forget hosting the Olympics in your city is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at best, and that for every Olympiad multiple cities of people are disappointed at being rejected.

More interesting to me though was how Games Ponies Play would be integrated with the previous episode (Just For Sidekicks), since they both happen concurrently.  As it turns out, only the beginning and ending are affected, but knowing what happens from before actually makes the final moments quite strong.  The show opens with the scene of Twilight leaving the library as Spike assures her everything will be fine, but continues from Twilight’s side with the mane six head toward the train.  This thread is then only picked up near the end after their somehow successful journey.  The pile of luggage is knocked over next to Fluttershy, and then we cut inside the train to hear the latter half of some familiar dialogue.  After watching Twilight’s experience, her comment that “if [Spike’s] staying calm and collected, I bet he’s doing just fine as a leader” carries much more weight since she just had to go through a similar learning process.  The actual events are a bit more compressed here (likely due to time) and don’t quite match up to what happened previously, but there’s still no topping how positively surreal it is when the camera pans down to show Spike, the pets, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders all hiding underneath the seats, even though we know they’re down there.  It feels stranger since Spike hasn’t even been mentioned in about 20 minutes, and it would make no sense for him to appear in the episode after the opening.  We know how close it was to happening, but of course it didn’t, and Spike remains off camera for all but the final shot.

Having these two shows linked like this is an unexpected treat, and actually allows the real beginning and ending of Games Ponies Play to occur in the previous episode.  This is a neat solution to the problem of ever-shortening runtimes, although Just For Sidekicks doesn’t end up being more substantial as a result.  Since Games Ponies Play would have felt incomplete if it had aired first, showing Just For Sidekicks beforehand was the correct choice.  Even though it robbed us of the great cliffhanger as to how Spike could possibly be on the train, the actual story would have just been a disappointment.

Season three somewhat belonged to Polsky, as the once “totally not fired for writing the worst episode of the series” writer was the only member of the staff to pen three episodes while contributing the story credit to another.  Not that any of them are close to being great, but it was shocking how Polsky developed to the point where Games Ponies Play feels like an episode with the actual mane six.  Indeed, he gets by with almost this feel alone, since it helps gloss over a number of problems that do include characterization.  Chief among them is Pinkie Pie’s usual crazy shtick, which is normally a highlight but here felt off.  The whole tour segment seems like Pinkie is devolving before our eyes, as she goes from not being able to use “complicated” words to only making goofy faces, which is extremely inappropriate for someone supposedly that important.  Her “easy peasy” rhyme is grating, and the inappropriateness continues with her strange “cinnamon bun?” question in the middle of a tense moment.

Likewise, Rarity spends most of the episode in freak-out mode tending to Cadance, although perhaps any parallel between her and Twilight was cut for time.  Considering she isn’t exactly a stylist like the other trained ponies around, she is no doubt justified in feeling this way (and wouldn’t the experienced pony hairdressers be a much better choice than an amateur fashion designer?), but this attitude is less fun than her usual haughty antics.  Rarity’s adventure makes Cadance miss most of the episode, although this confusing choice ends up not hurting since it means more time for the mane six and not as much for a far-less-interesting retconned princess.  Unfortunately, she still gets off her silly rhyme with Twilight, and Polsky found a way to involve Shining Armor so that he could mutter another awful “Twilie”.  Polsky’s lucky I don’t deduct him more for these offenses, which alone could justify a ranking below the top quality.

For once though, the problems are more annoyances than fatal flaws.  Games Ponies Play is another fun adventure episode for the mane six together, but there just isn’t enough plotwise for the rating to be any higher.  The mistaken identity that fuels most of the show isn’t exactly Hitchcockian (even if the reveal qualifies), and one wonders if it really would have gone on as long as it does (although the writing makes it seem possible despite the odd identification provision of luggage print).  Even more unlikely is Ms. Harshwhinny accepting the tale from a lady in the spa as “unbiased” when the mane six only feted her because they thought she was the games inspector.  Obviously she never would have got such a reception otherwise, which means for Harshwhinny, hearing about it was as good as actually receiving it.  Certainly it would take a lot more to win a bid for the Games than just a tour of the palace, since no demonstration of facilities or housing accommodations was made.  Of course, everyone knows that Olympic committees judge on something else entirely, but we’ll have to wait for another episode until the actual corruption and underhanded dealings involved in having the Crystal Empire named the host city are exposed.

Despite a shaky start to the third season, it also marked the point where other members of the writing staff helped solidify My Little Pony as a series.  Polsky and Powell aren’t at Larson’s level yet, but they’re developing a strong consistency of tone that has been noticeably lacking up to this point.  Along with Corey Powell, Polsky demonstrated that he understood the characters, and wrote episodes that feel like actually watching the mane six as opposed to generic stereotypes of them.  While far from perfect, Games Ponies Play at least represents a lot of why the show is watched in the first place.  There’s an excellent point, a strong conclusion, and another enjoyable adventure with our favorite ponies.  And although there are quite a few bumps along the way, this time we might choose not to notice so much.