Rating:
So…what the hell was the point of this episode exactly? Pinkie Pie learns early on that Cadance and
Shining Armor are having a baby, but must keep this secret from Twilight and
everyone else so as not to ruin the surprise.
And she does, after much comic “hilarity”. Was this some sort of comment on social
media, the press hounding royalty, or the prevalence of spoilers? Nope, it was just an excuse to have Pinkie
Pie make lots of weird faces and look like she has to piss. Most of The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows is
contrived filler which forces Pinkie to interact with ponies instead of just
hiding in her room. Some of the comedy
bits work while others do not, but they can’t compensate for an oddly
structured outing where practically nothing happens. Why Pinkie has such difficulty keeping a
boring secret is never addressed, nor does it have any meaning since she never
tells anyone. Considering this very
subject was already addressed in Green Isn’t Your Color (with Pinkie as the
warner), one wonders why she couldn’t follow her own advice. G.M. Berrow’s overhyped script turned out to
be a complete bust, although she was certainly hamstrung by an absolutely
horrid premise. Nothing could be done
with a barely-there plot which apparently only existed for selling toys once
the little hell-spawn is finally born early next season. Not revealing the surprise immediately might
have helped, but that’s doubtful since it would have become obvious at some
point. Pinkie Pie Knows needed to be
much funnier or at least feature some iconic moments, but it ends up as another
“annoying Pinkie Pie” episode which is only passably funny and not enjoyable. Since the secret could have been tacked onto
any other episode, Pinkie Pie Knows is a clear step backward and nothing other
than filler.
Through some sort of cartoony coincidence, Pinkie discovers
that Cadance and Shining Armor are expecting after they place an order through
her work. Unfortunately, Mrs. Cake
informs her that this information must be kept top secret. Maybe Pinkie has difficulty doing so because
she doesn’t officially Pinkie Promise not to tell? Some sort of existential crisis now exists in
her which produces massive anxiety throughout the entire episode.
Instead of staying calm and ignoring such tabloid-worthy
news, Pinkie starts behaving as suspiciously as possible. She overreacts instead of telling Rarity the
truth about why she just said “baby”, and finishes all of Twilight’s sentences
regarding the royal visit at their subsequent meeting. Her conduct only gets worse while they’re
visiting Shining Armor’s room and the words “baby” and “surprise” are brought
up (during a rather conveniently timed conversation). All of her friends notice Pinkie acting very
strangely, but they don’t seem to think much of it.
Pinkie then tries spending the whole day in her room so she can’t
ruin the surprise, but Mr. Cake reminds her about deliveries she agreed to make
for him. After more suspicious
encounters, she stealths her way through them but discovers even more Pinkie
Promised tasks exist (isn’t it funny how Pinkie lost her short-term memory and
only remembers things when the plot needs somewhere else to go?). These proceed similarly, but Pinkie does
barely make it through before learning the royal couple have been held up and
won’t be arriving for another day.
Practically hyperventilating, Pinkie almost reveals the
surprise to her friends when Cadance and Shining Armor show up after all. That was lucky. Shining Armor is glad Pinkie has kept it so
far, but she must continue to do so since there are still five minutes left
in the episode he wants to send Twilight on a scavenger hunt before
telling. This was something Twilight enjoyed
as a filly (if we’re going to retcon a brother, might as well go all the way),
but Pinkie rushes her friends through it while destroying any fun they might
have had. Finally arriving back at the
Cakes, Shining Armor asks Twilight to figure out what all the places they
visited had in common. After some
thinking and way too many “funny” faces from Pinkie Pie, Twilight pieces it
together and discovers she will soon be an aunt. Then they have a party which celebrates
Pinkie keeping the secret or something.
Outside of Pinkie Pride, just about every Pinkie-centric
episode has featured her doing dumb things for laughs (or not) rather than
making any effort to explore her character.
That makes Pinkie Pie Knows little different from Baby Cakes, A Friend
In Deed, Pinkie Apple Pie, Wonderbolts Academy, and debatably Party Of One
(forgetting her own birthday) and Feeling Pinkie Keen (fuck Pinkie Sense) as
well. Pinkie spends all episode worrying
about keeping the secret, but what does this really say about her? That she has anxiety issues? Not really, she’s pretty carefree
otherwise. That she can’t keep a
secret? Well she does, and we knew that
already from Green Isn’t Your Color.
That she’s stupid and needlessly loses her shit to drag out a paper-thin
plot? So much for character development.
Berrow can’t even make a decent argument about spoilers,
which is the episode’s ostensible only purpose.
Fine, Pinkie refrained from telling Twilight which led to a natural and
joyful surprise, but what about everyone else?
Mayor Mare clearly knew already (with no explanation how), while
Featherweight and the crib salesman possibly also did, but no ill consequences occurred. Obviously Twilight’s reaction shows why you
shouldn’t ruin something for somebody, but this point would have been better
proven if it was spoiled and she had to feign surprise at such an important
announcement. At best, spoilers are marginally
explored with little said about a subject that’s existed for centuries.
Also problematic is how Berrow probably watched a few
episodes of My Little Pony in
preparation but still felt only passingly familiar with the show. Applejack spouts a couple of “sugar cubes”,
while Berrow apparently researched the worst Pinkie Pie episodes for her
character. With no one else doing
anything interesting, Pinkie Pie Knows seems like a throwback to earlier seasons
which doesn’t offer any meaningful progress outside of confirming pony sex. Even Featherweight’s first lines sound odd,
while the other characterization hardly registers.
That means Pinkie Pie Knows’ lone justification for
existence was the toys it sold, which My
Little Pony should have been beyond. Berrow suffered from the blandness and poor
decisions which hindered most other first-time writers, and didn’t care enough
to explore what few issues she was allowed.
Nothing went well, and the whole episode became one long stretch of
painful filler. While severely
handicapped by this premise, Berrow offered no reasons for her to be given
another chance. With bad jokes, lackluster
characterization, and a plot which was extended more than once through dumb
contrivances, Pinkie Pie Knows completely fails across the board. Considering it adds nothing positive and
could have been summed up by one passing line, this was an episode better off
not existing.
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