Rating:
Didn’t I just complain about the previous episode being dull
and pointless? P.P.O.V. (Ponies’ Pussies
Or Vaginas) trots out another Rashomon-style story regarding the above three
ponies’ unlikely boat trip, except there doesn’t end up being any point besides
filler. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and
Applejack all recount various conflicting versions of how their boat sank while
Twilight and Spike figure out what really happened, but the conclusion is profoundly
unsatisfying. The Foxes return for an
episode that looks decent and has some fun with each story and their unspoken
similar details, although it falls apart upon any reflection. Wow is that teaser exposition convoluted, and
did they really walk to shore after being capsized by a freaking sea
monster? Like Michael Vogel immediately
preceding, the Foxes cannot justify why their episode even exists. The story setup and actual events were more
interesting, but instead we hear Rarity et al. make stupid exaggerations while
perfect Twilight comes to the rescue.
Literally every series does the Rashomon trope at some point, but
P.P.O.V. certainly doesn’t qualify as an interesting version. The episode actually feels more suited for
season one with an obvious moral, the mane six struggling to understand each
other, and Starlight being mysteriously absent.
Even if this counts as a better showing for the animators, problematic
writing and pacing hurt any chance for P.P.O.V. to be remotely enjoyable. Every other season six criticism applies
here, since these issues all stemmed from the script. P.P.O.V. is therefore nothing more than
poorly-written filler from that part of the season where it usually
occurs. While again not painful like
more terrible episodes, P.P.O.V.’s odd feel does little right either and makes
for yet another uninspired outing.
Twilight acts really excited about the boat trip Applejack,
Rarity, and Pinkie Pie are returning on the train from. “It’s such a shame Rainbow Dash and
Fluttershy had to miss it for their Cloudsdale Flight School reunion.” Twilight doesn’t say why she didn’t go, but
recurring dialogue suggests getting “out of their element” was important for
them. Shut the fuck up, Twilight. In case you couldn’t guess, ARP don’t
excitedly talk over each other upon returning like Twilight fears. They’re dirty, pissed, and storm off in a
huff. Applejack goes right, Rarity left
(hopefully a coincidence), and with the station in front of them, Pinkie Pie
climbs over the train instead.
Knowing something went very wrong, Twilight tries inviting
the three of them over for lunch. They
all send their pets with notes instead.
Ignoring what would have been a nice afternoon together (Opalescence
playfully cuddles up next to Spike), Twilight decides to ask each of her
friends what happened. Their stories hit
similar highlights but differ in who was to blame for ruining the trip. Naturally the storyteller was never at fault.
Each sensed something was amiss upon entering the ship
(Applejack acting like a pirate, Rarity bringing absurd amounts of supplies
along, Pinkie losing several IQ points).
For food, Pinkie brought numerous sweet and unhealthy snacks, while
Rarity unveils a posh three-level hors-d’oeuvres tray featuring cucumber
sandwiches. Somehow, that tray ends up
going overboard. A piñata game precedes
storm clouds arising, a fight over the map, and the ship heading directly into
a huge wave. Their method of returning
to shore isn’t disclosed. All three are
blamed by each other for hating fun and sinking their yacht.
Distraught over figuring out what actually occurred,
Twilight quickly goes over commonalities and discovers the answer. She apparently summons all three down to
Baltimare under a phony friendship problem pretense. They arrive simultaneously, but are surprised
since somehow none of them noticed each other on the train. Twilight convinces her friends not to storm
off and gradually reveals the real events.
Those cucumber sandwiches attracted a bunyip (not that kind), who caused
the wave and capsized their boat. Our
ponies could subsequently walk to shore because they hadn’t sailed very far,
although how such a large creature swam up from “deep water” to cause a huge
wave on practically the beach isn’t explained.
Twilight then surmises her friends’ strange behavior was from them
wanting to give the others a memorable experience. Ohhhhhhhh.
Everyone apologizes before montaging through the cruise they should have
originally had.
While ostensibly dealing with communication, P.P.O.V. never
exactly arrives at such an issue since this was one bad contrived day rather
than a festering problem. Because we
never see what actually happened, most of the characterization exists in biased
flashback form. A bigger unresolved
issue is how Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity think of each other. Applejack especially believes Pinkie has a
single-digit IQ and Rarity only says “darling”.
Are they really your friends if you just see stereotypes? The Foxes’ attempt at being funny only creates
a bigger issue which shouldn’t exist given how long they’ve been comrades.
The animators did help with some details, like how Applejack
exposing one eye of her blindfold during Pinkie Pie’s story explains her using
it as an eye patch earlier in Rarity’s tale.
But this means nothing since that fact doesn’t pertain to the solution
and Twilight tells us what happened.
Basically Twilight is the “perfect” observer who discovers the answer
from her retconned knowledge rather than anything we witnessed. This renders every little facet moot.
So P.P.O.V. is an episode that tells its story three times,
but the details don’t mean anything and the characters are mostly absent since
they’re only silly stereotypes. The mane
six’s problem wasn’t so much that they weren’t communicating as it was one
misunderstanding which was quickly cleared up.
So again, what was the point?
P.P.O.V. doesn’t work as entertainment, nor does it have anything to say. The episode is a trope exercise which
unsurprisingly doesn’t offer anything new.
At least the animators did what they could, but everyone involved only
produced a whole lot of nothing.
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