Episode discussion: S3E3

[Neutral Blue]

Hey, I had to get some words out here, so here we are.

This episode is some serious Hot Diggety Demon stuff. I was outright disturbed. Can't say I was enamored by it, but I kind of like the direction they're going so hope's up for the next ones. Curse the one episode format though, they really blew past plot development pretty quick in order to cram it all in.

[Carlos Enriquez]

Wow, I felt the complete opposite of that. I felt this was actually the first, strongly written episode of the season, one with really good plot and character development. Pinkie's struggle to make time for all friends and her solution to do so and how horribly out of control it got didn't feel rushed or too crammed in because the clone Pinkies don't have real Pinkie's sense of urgency. The second one did only because real Pinkie put that sense in her from the beginning. The quick escalation of the situation felt right because the clone Pinkies only embody the simplest elements of her character and of course would try to quickly clone to make more fun. The only sense that the episode could feel crammed is that we couldn't see more of the Pinkie clones' destruction, but those are acceptable losses as the real highlight of the episode was the real Pinkie herself during the crisis. First off, I'd like to say that I was frustrated with the fact that depressed Pinkie is obviously real Pinkie and wow, how did you not see that Twilight? But then again, it would've been too easy and looking back, I think them not noticing was probably a joke itself. Second off, I was surprised at the soulfulness of Pinkie's identity dilemma and how her learning her lesson tied into that as well as how seriously she took the situation has helped develop her character past the "I'm the crazy, fun one." In fact, her growth feels more natural here, than all of Fluttershy's during the last season, which seems to reset itself all the time. Though, I did like Fluttershy being upset during the meeting.

Humor-wise, Hotdiggetydeomon is the last person when I think of the humor, I actually thought of Spongebob or some other slapsticky cartoon first before I thought him (plus, he's done more than just Ponies.mov, his sense of humor is more meanspirited, than disturbing). I was disturbed by some of the animations, but that and the jokes just helped show me where the show was going and that the creative team has officially abandoned it's target audience not for us, but for all ages.

I loved this episode and it stands as one of my favorites of the series so far.