My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic: Episode 418 - Maud Pie

Rating:

As little sense as it might make, brothers and sisters are often completely different people despite being closer in DNA than to anyone else.  Maud Pie takes this to the extreme, since Pinkie Pie’s sister is literally her exact opposite.  She’s frustratingly restrained, and the episode mirrors the mane six’s feelings toward this.  They struggle to befriend her, which means the action and plot fail to get off the ground.  But yet, this is clearly by design.  Noelle Benvenuti’s first effort for the series feels as different as Maud does, although the characterization is always extremely accurate.  Maud Pie may not be the great episode it theoretically could have been, but instead is the episode it needs to be.  The mane six can tell Maud is worth befriending, but her secluded life on the rock farm has produced someone very different from Ponyville’s population, and they can’t quite relate to her despite superficially having a lot in common.  The only thing disappointing about Maud is that we don’t get to learn more about her, although she’s clearly someone who will always remain on the outside.  With a different feel and lack of a satisfying resolution, Maud Pie could easily be disliked for many reasons which I often complain about.  But it’s actually very well done despite appearances, and is one of the few successfully executed episodes of the series.  Like the title character, Maud Pie knows exactly what it is and doesn’t particularly care if you don’t like that.

Maud takes a few minutes to show up, but the time isn’t necessarily filler.  Twilight later comments that Pinkie told them about Maud, and since she hasn’t yet, doing so makes sense.  Also helpful is that Maud isn’t technically retconned either, because we saw Pinkie has sisters in The Cutie Mark Chronicles.  Maud doesn’t seem to be either of the two on screen, but her dour appearance appropriately fits in.  Further tension is built as Maud slowly walks in from the train station (after Pinkie naturally jumps), which immediately sets the tone.  Pinkie tells the mane six that Maud has a little bit in common with all of them, so they variously try to connect that way.

Unfortunately, Maud is a PhD candidate in geology, and her family’s farm tends to dominate every aspect of her life.  For instance, Twilight is delighted to find Maud writes poetry, but they turn out to be rather minimalistic odes to her favorite subject.  Like the others, Maud also has a pet, which is of course a rock (a nice nod to something that was actually popular once).  Their subsequent “intense” hide and seek game falls a little flat when Maud keeps Boulder in her pocket.

Rarity attempts to engage Maud’s fashion interest, but the latter doesn’t really belong to the same circles.  She chooses clothes that work with her skin tone, and has an eye for what would look good on her but probably no one else.  Maud finds a spotted dish towel at Rarity’s, and divines that it will make a decent scarf.  She’s right, but Rarity freaks out a bit at something she had lying around being used for fashion.  Applejack has a similar reaction to Maud’s method of “peeling” an apple (with a rock, naturally), which is unfortunately less effective.

Instead of beating their heads on the wall further, the mane six confront Pinkie about their troubles.  She is deflated but understands, although this prompts a last-ditch attempt to rectify things.  Pinkie invents an obstacle course that features something for every member (even when they don’t make sense, like books for Twilight).  Her demonstration quickly goes wrong when she gets stuck in the literal rock slide that was put in for Maud.  Before Rainbow Dash can do her thing, Maud surprisingly leaps into action.  She comes flying out of the course and meets a boulder just about to crush her sister.  Maud pummels it into oblivion, frees Pinkie, and returns her to safety.  Having a shockingly loquacious moment, Maud asks her sister what she was thinking before admitting she also knows this isn’t working.

Pinkie accompanies Maud back to the rock farm, where the mane six are already waiting for them.  Since their common link is caring about Pinkie Pie, they decide to build the rock candy friendship bracelets after all.  Despite admonishing Maud to not finish her candy too quickly, Pinkie downs her sister’s bracelet before the episode ends.  However, Maud puts hers into a box with all the previous ones, because she doesn’t like candy that much.  But at least she cares.

As a character, Maud is both fascinating and frustrating.  She speaks with a deadpan valley girl accent and uses simple words when they’ll suffice.  Her preoccupation with rocks defies belief.  But yet, she is as commanding and interesting a presence as has ever been introduced on the show.  Certainly Maud could qualify as a tsundere archetype, and the comparisons to Daria are not inaccurate.  But even Daria had more expression than Maud, who barely seems to care about her supposed interests.  At the same time though, this mystery fuels her.  Is Maud really this traumatized from living on the rock farm for so long?  Or is she actually the normal one?  Why does Maud enjoy rocks so much, and is there anything else she feels that way about?  Does she have any friends?  That we remain uncertain about so much at the episode’s end is both a strength and weakness.

The lesson details our favorite ponies meeting someone they can’t be friends with, which previously happened to Pinkie Pie in A Friend In Deed.  Thankfully she is excused from this one, as the mane six approach the problem more thoughtfully.  Yes, they do keep trying for Pinkie’s sake, but not by being annoying to Maud.  Her experiences are so different that they’re unable to relate to their mutual interests.  No matter how optimistic you might be about making friends with everyone, it just isn’t possible.  Some people will work, but others won’t, and unfortunately Maud belongs to the latter.  Neither party is at fault, and they still share some common ground.  But Maud won’t be an addition to the main group, and that’s fine.  After Pinkie’s earlier disaster, this episode is a far better presentation of an important lesson.

Admittedly though, Maud Pie is a very difficult episode to rate.  Its form is practically identical to the previous Somepony To Watch Over Me, with two acts of characters/filler and one debatable action sequence.  Additionally, the Breezies also had a delayed entrance, although that one was considerably longer.  I can’t criticize both of those episodes in succession and give this one a top rating for essentially doing the same thing.  With Maud replacing an annoying Applejack and angry Swedes, the results are much more effective.  And having some buildup to her introduction fits the mood and avoids continuity problems.  The episode feels like it needs a knock-out moment with Maud though, but it never really has that.  She probably couldn’t move so fast to save her sister even if inheriting a dose of absurdity helps make them seem related.  Still, the reaction feels more manufactured than revelatory.  Maud’s plain responses also get a little bit tiresome after a while (“it tastes like apples”, “I threw it”).

But Maud Pie is hard to judge because so much of it is by design.  We’re supposed to share in the frustrations the mane six (and especially Rainbow Dash) experience regarding Maud, and she’s meant to be someone almost completely different from other ponies they’ve met.  As such, the episode wades in an awkward feel that it never really loses, and it’s also disappointing that Maud leaves with so many unanswered questions.  Surprisingly though, this is the first time in a series featuring many sisters that the dynamic is accurately represented.  Maud is just enough like Pinkie to make them feel related, including a bit from the eyes and having an ability to break the laws of physics.  But even though their experiences have pushed them apart, they still enjoy spending time together once in a while.  They’ve grown past expecting each other to be different or more like them, and just accept the differences.  From a series that has mishandled this so much (especially in Sisterhooves Social), finding two sisters who act like Pinkie and Maud do is a touchstone.  Maud Pie may still not be as perfect as I’d hoped, but for once that’s alright.