Hello & welcome back to Trotting Through Life and today, we continue our Party with Pinkie and today, we come to our last episode of season 4 and ooh boy, it's not one that I was looking forward to. Every so often, there is a character that is introduced into this franchise that the fandom seems to instantly love, be it Derpy Hooves or Sonata Dusk from Rainbow Rocks. A character that I despise.
And back in season 4, after this episode aired, that was the case with the titular character of today's episode, Maud Pie.
I seemed to be on an island all by myself at that time because after watching this episode, both it and the titular character became two of my most despised things from MLP. This for the longest time was one of my most hated episodes. The hate isn't like that of Feeling Pinkie Keen because I hate that for more personal reasons but because I thought Maud was such a boring character. And yes I know, that's part of the joke but it doesn't work for me with her dry wit. Do I still hate this episode?
Now, let make this clear, it's not truly anger inducing like A Bird In The Hoof or Feeling Pinkie Keen but rather I hate it for how boring it is. Honestly, this is in my opinion, the most boring episode of MLP because until the final climax where we finally get to see Maud do something cute, there is nothing to it. Not every episode needs to be as grand as Pinkie Pride but something needs to happen. This episode just goes through the motions and repeats the events with the Mane Six and tries to use the same joke with Maud each time. I understand that humor is subjective and what some people may humourous will not be everyone's cup of tea. I've had episodes where people thought they were bad and I defended them before. Not everyone is going to agree on every episode and while the fan consensus is that this is a good episode, I can't agree with that but then again, I'm the same guy that like Cadence a millions time more than Luna, so what do I know? With that introduction, out of the way, let's get this over with.
The Plot
We open in the early morning as Pinkie's friends head to Sugarcube Corner to help her make rocky candy necklaces as her older sister is coming to Ponyville to visit.
And yes okay, we do get a cute scene of why this is a tradition between the two sisters.
And okay, the episode starts out fine. These first few moments are okay but then we get to the Pet and Pony playdate and are introduced to Maud and the episode quickly goes downhill.
Yikes, Miss Rarity, what are you wearing? And now, we are introduced to Maud and if I may, I'd like to quote Wicked.
What is this feeling?
Fervid as a flame,
Does it have a name?
Yes!
Loathing.Unadulterated loathing.
Yeah, that pretty much sums up my feelings on Maud. I wanted to like her because this was the second time that we were introduced to do a sibling that doesn't live in Ponyville. And I know I'll get some flak for this but I like Shining Armor more than Maud. But other than being into rocks, there is nothing to her. Now look, I'll give the show this much credit as it made us more aware of Maud before she first appeared on the show but while Shiny didn't have much of a personality back in season 2, I actually found more reason to get invested in him and while it was minimal, he was more engaging as a character to me. To me, there was never any reason to care about Maud. She came across as an emotionless blank slate that has no personality. And yes, I know that they mention this at the end of the episode with her saying that she doesn't wear her emotions like Pinkie but even then, she was never a character that I ever cared about. She was detached that I never found reason to like her and I mostly just wanted to get this episode done and over with.
The picnic is the first sign of trouble to me because this is where we see what we are in for with Maud and I noticed that people compared her to another Tara Strong character, Raven from Teen Titans.
NO..... No.... No....
More like this....
Perhaps it's not fair to compare the two as Raven was a regular character but I can see the similarities but I think that Raven gave us more reason to care about her whereas Maud is at best one-note. I'll give the Mane Six credit as they try and think that perhaps Maud is shy and decide that maybe they should time with her one on one. And this is perhaps my least favorite part of the episode because all the sequences are the same as it's just a rinse, wash, repeat of seeing Maud being direct interacting with the different ponies and we never get to see anything to her other than she like rocks. And it gets old and repetitive really fast because the episode doesn't do anything to differentiate Maud's interactions with the Mane Six. I never once found myself caring about Maud and instead just wishing that she would go away!
I will give the Mane Six credit as they try their hardest to engage Maud and I feel bad for them that none of it's working but I think that falls more on Maud's lack of social skills. And this is also true of Pinkie as I see how much she wants to see her friends get along with her older sister. That's the thing about this episode, it's a bad episode that stars Pinkie Pie but it's not a bad Pinkie Pie episode. There have only been three Pinkie Pie episodes that I never liked that include A Friend In Deed, Feeling Pinkie Keen, & Maud Pie but only A Friend In Deed is the one where I don't like Pinkie in the episode. Here, she's perfectly fine, the episode for me is drug down by the titular character. After all of the failed attempts at the Mane Six trying to socialize with Maud, they go and tell Pinkie the truth and this does break her heart but she later gets an idea of combining all of her friends' likes and Maud's likes into one giant obstacle course and though goes about as well as you might think.
The deflated hair is a nice touch as it's a sign that Pinkie's feelings are hurt but it's a situation that is inevitable as not everyone will get along. The obstacle course is a neat idea for a climax and we finally get one cool moment as Pinkie gets stuck in a landslide and her older sister comes to her aid.
The girls are impressed by Maud's actions and realize what they have in common with Maud, their love for Pinkie. Sorry, that's still not enough for me to care about Maud as a character. Maud realizes that she doesn't have much and decides to leave and Pinkie goes with her and she is downtrodden but the girls show up at the rock farm as that is where the Pie sisters were heading and bring them rock candy necklaces that they had made and we learn that Maud has never eaten any of the ones that Pinke made because she doesn't like candy but she loves Pinkie. After Twilight states the lesson that the love of a friend is what they share in common.
And finally, this episode is over.
I do not like this episode and I understand that I'm in the minority but this is one of the most boring episodes that I've watched from this show. Compared to something like Feeling Pinkie Keen or even, Simple Ways, this episode doesn't elicit much of a response from me other than, when this is going to end! Again, let me make this clear that I have no issue with any of the Mane Six in this episode as they do all of the heavy lifting in the episode carrying the dead weight that is left by Maud Pie. She in my opinion drags down the episode. And now, we've had appearances from her since this episode including in Rainbow Rocks and her EQG persona almost killed what was an otherwise sweet and personal moment between Sunset and Twilight with an unfunny cameo. And then Heartbreakers but she had to share the screen with the rest of the Pie family and she wasn't so bad there but she was finally developed and fleshed out as a character this past season in The Gift of The Maud Pie.
So, she finally got tolerable this season but her first outing is an episode that I would rather forget because in her first outing, Maud comes across such as bland one-note character that has virtually no personality.
Characters
Main Characters
Maud Pie voiced by Ingrid Nilson
I pretty much said everything that I wanted to about Maud and my dislike of her. I'm glad that the fandom enjoys her but she is not a character that I can get behind because she just comes across as empty to me and as though, there is nothing to her. Yes, we see that she cares about Pinkie and that is sweet but other than that, there is barely anything to her.
Pinkie Pie voiced by Andrea Libman
Again, I want to stress that while this is a bad episode that happen to stars Pinkie Pie, this is not a bad Pinkie episode. You are given reason to care about her and get invested in her wanting to get her friends and her sister to get along.
Supporting Characters
Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, & Rarity voiced by Tara Strong, Ashleigh Ball, Andrea Libman, & Tabitha St. Germain
Again, I feel as though the Mane Six were the bright spot in this otherwise dull episode as they try their hardest to make the best of a hard situation and you know that they are trying their best but it's not working but they aren't giving up.
My Final Thoughts
Again, I realize that I'm in the minority but I cannot stand this episode and if it weren't to this retrospective, I would have never watched it again because nothing happens in this episode and the titular character is the cause of nothing ever happening. She adds nothing of value to the episode. I'd be more than happy to never watch this episode again. Again, I realize that most of the fandom love this episode but I couldn't stand the first time that I saw it and this hasn't changed since that time. Join me next time as we enter season 5 and to and an episode that I actually enjoyed as we look at...
The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone
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