Mlp Tanks for the Memories Review

So... we’ve had Cult the episode.... Decoration the episode... Anxiety the episode and now Spoiled brat the episode.

So yeah we have another episode that seems to hang off one thing for the majority of its length. i don’t think it is much of a stretch to say that the vast majority of this episode is built on and around Rainbow Dash’s reaction to Tank hibernating. How favourably you look at this and the different ways she tries to stop the impossible, will no doubt heavily affect how you view the episode.

Personally I was sitting with the same bored & vacant expression that I have had in the last 2 episodes.. I cottoned on pretty quick that Tank was wanting to hibernate and that RD was upset about this... then we see more of her being upset... and more... and some more... yeah I got it thanks...

The episode also doesn’t do itself any favours with our lead character. Rainbow Dash exposits fairly early on that she wants Tank during winter so that she can do stuff like bob sleighing with him... this is used as the basis for some of the most extreme denial we’ve seen in this show thus far... Tank has hardly played much of a role in this show until this point. And now because he ‘will’ disappear for a couple of months, Rainbow Dash is going to yell at her friends and commit acts of large scale wanton sabotage as a means to get what she wants...

I have heard people speak about the 5 stages of grief... which does seem to match the extremes that RD goes through this episode... but in this case Rabinow Dash is trying to make sure she gets something was expecting to happen.. it’s why I called her a spoiled brat earlier, because she is basically throwing a huge fit about something she wanted, rather than something she has lost. It’s funny in a way, that the way she treats Tank is more like a toy (that she wants to play with) than as a pet (with it’s own wants and needs... like hibernation).

The song in this episode felt rather token. I didn’t care much for it musically or narratively. This season has had a lot of songs in it already and I get the feeling that means that they either were less inspired or had to rush most of them thus far. The song just isn’t that catchy or memorable to me... it reminds me more of the Failure song than babs seed or apples to the core. Narratively it felt like just a huge waste of time.. her efforts were ultimately fruitless and what we saw/heard was nothing we couldn’t have already figured out or expected.

An episode I would compare this episode to would probably be Applebuck Season from S1. In both episodes we have a lead who stubbornly attempts the impossible, throughout the episode their actions cause trouble in one form or another and we end by having them give into reality and accept the help of the M6. I am not much of fan of Applebuck Season but I felt that it did the whole thing a lot better than this episode. Firstly AJ’s motivations might’ve also been as unrealistic but at least she was just taking on too many responsibilities at once. RD on the other hand is just being extremely selfish on trivial matters. In Applebuck season the consequences of our leads actions are also recognized and Twilight is often trying to make AJ get help... whereas RD feels little to no meaningful pushback from her actions, in particular she causes a vast amount of damage to the weather factory and she suffers no repercussions. Lastly the way the rest of the cast was handled was way better in Applebuck Season. All of the cast are very much involved in the story and since AJ was trying to help everyone out, it felt right that the others should try to return the favour. Whereas in this episode the rest of the whole cast feel barely involved (or important). The conclusion feels empty because RD was being a massive jerk, no one has taught her that any of what she has done is wrong... in fact by just giving her emotional support, it feels like they are just enabling her.

Or to put it this another way. Rainbow Dash was a huge idiotic spoilt child. Her actions go without recognition or recompense. In the end she gets support and stops throwing a temper tantrum but it feels like the problem hasn’t really been solved...