Hello & welcome back to Trotting Through Life and after taking all of May off, we return to our Pinkie Pie retrospective as we once again start up Party With Pinkie. If any of you have gone to a Pinkie Pie Party, you'd understand why I needed a month off. So, what's next on the lineup? MMMystery on The Friendship Express. Ah, one of the show's two mystery episodes. With other, coming last season Though, don't expect anything too deep. It's a simple fun and silly story. With that out of the way, let's begin.
Episode Title
MMMystery on The Friendship Express
The episode title is twofold as it refers to the mystery that'll occur on the train and the three M's are what Pinkie refers to The Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness cake.
The Plot
Our episode opens on the MMM with the Cakes admiring their creation and Pinkie needs to get on the train and gets help from Big Mac.
And Pinkie decides that she needs more protection for the cake as asks her friends for help from Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to be flight control and has Twily put a magic bubble around it and AJ and Rarity carrying a trampoline for protection in case, Big Mac drops it.
Though, it seems to be a bit of a problem as it doesn't seem like that they'll be able to fit it through the door. Thankfully, they get it on the train in between the introduction. And after they get it on, we learn that this is for a baking contest in Canterlot and this is when we meet the competition that includes Donut Joe, who was first seen in season 1, Gustave le Grand, & Mulia Mild. And we see their creations.
And this is when we get a sense that the competition is fierce as everyone wants to win and this has Pinkie nervous as she thinks that one of the bakers will try and sabotage the cake. Her friends think that she's being a bit silly and Pinkie decides to stay up all night and guard the cake with perhaps one of the funniest Pinkie moments from the early seasons.
Pinkie Pie: Huh? Stop, you saboteur! I have you now! Wha? A-ha! Ahh?! Oh! Thank Celestia you're okay! But one of those bakers is mixing up something bad, so I'm not leaving you again no matter what.
[blinds snap shut]
Pinkie Pie: Huh? Who turned out the moon? Don't go near that cake, thief!
[galloping]
Pinkie Pie: Stop, thief!
[clang]
Pinkie Pie: Oh, are you okay, thief? [growls] Huh... Overreacting, my hoof. I knew I was going to have to keep a close eye on you, and that's just what I'm gonna do. [snores]
Just this whole interaction with Pinkie and the culprit is so funny and while it seems like Pinkie may have succeeded in protecting the cake, when she wakes up, Pinkie is shown by Twilight that someone or someones has taken a bit out of the MMM.
This is when Pinkie decides that she needs to solve the mystery and that Twilight will be her partner that asks silly questions.
I'd ask where Pinkie got the hat but it's Pinkie. And Pinkie assumes that she knew who did it as she accuses the bakers in rather funny parodies of silent movies, James Bond, & Kill Bill.
Twilight realizes that Pinkie's accusations are a bit absurd and this is when Twilight takes over and has Pinkie retrace her steps as we discover the culprits by the clues left behind such as a blue feather, a pink strand of mane and a false eyelash. And Pinkie at first accuses the the bakers again but it's clear that the culprits are Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, & Rarity.
The girls apologize but the mystery isn't over just yet as we discover that the bakers' desserts have been bitten into as well and well, it was each of the bakers took a bit of one of the other baker's creations. It seems that they have nothing to show at the baking contest but Pinkie has the idea to put all the desserts together into one dish and it ends with Celestia about take a bite as Pinkie eats the whole thing.
Admittedly, for a mystery episode, this is pretty low stakes and in terms of Pinkie episodes, it's not bad but compared to some of the episodes that we've already looked at and some of the ones that we will look at in the future on this retrospective, it's one of the more forgettable episodes. It's not bad but at best, it's a middle of the road episode. Let's move onto characters.
Characters
Now even though, three of the Mane Six were culprits, I won't be talking about them as they didn't play that much of a part in the story. With that out of the way, let's start.
Main Characters
Pinkie Pie voiced by Andrea Libman
Pinkie was fun & silly in the best way possible in this episode, easily being the highlight here. This was also a very good lesson for her to learn about not jumping to conclusions. It was a lot of fun seeing Pinkie play detective
Twilight Sparkle voiced by Tara Strong
The pairing of Twilight and Pinkie works surprisingly well and Twi playing the straight man to Pinkie's antics was rather funny as it was so clear that she was having none of it. That was especially evident, when Twilight took over the case as she actually got stuff done.
Supporting Characters
Doughnut Joe, Gustave le Grand, & Mulia Mild voiced by Vincent Tong, Mark Oliver, & Jan Robinson
The bakers serve the red herrings of the episode as it wants us to think that they truly are the culprits. And that is kinda correct but just not of the case that was originally being solved and they also appear to be takes on various types of chefs. Mulia Mild is the most obvious as she is a parody/homage of the most television chef of all time, Julia Child. The show did a really good job there with capturing the mannerisms of Julia Child. Joe is the working class baker and that comes through in how he talks and as for Gustave, he appears to be a take on French pastry chefs. A little snooty to be sure but he's more tolerable than the last griffon that we met.
My Final Thoughts
Again, I don't think this is a bad episode but it's not too memorable either. It's okay but at best as I said, it's just a middle of the road episode that you'll probably forget about as soon as you watch it. Join me next time as we head to season 3 as we look at...
Too Many Pinkie Pies
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