S07:E11 - Not Asking for Trouble

[Batbrony 15,994]

All in all, pretty decent episode.  I should have my review of it up later, which hopefully won't be too long of a review.  Until then, later everypony! 

[aoEAF2FBvC0MIo2Q 3,671]

 

In short: it's a very bearable episode that lacks a wow-factor. A nice episode to watch after a long week with some tea on the side.

Light-hearted, just funny enough to get a good chuckle out of me here and there. To me it was like one of those episodes that you want to go on simply because you're enjoying the pace at which things unfold and roll along.

The positives were light but the negatives were even lighter. It's just a nice, relaxing episode with light tension in places.

Almost forgot. The lesson was rather lost on me. Things usually get hairier if you help someone even after they've refused again and again.

Edited June 17, 2017 by Liquid

[colt .45 259]

On 5/21/2017 at 3:43 PM, Jeric said:

I think it was helping people who need it even with they resist. 

A application of this is calling the police if your friend is suicidal. Even if he says he doesn't want your help, a true friend would still do what he needs to to get him help, even if it risks their friendship. 

It isn't an easy decision, and it takes fortitude, but it's a very valid moral. If you are one of my friends, I can assure you ... I will move heaven and Earth to help you if it's serious ... even if it destroys that friendship. 

  While you do have a point about helping someone who says they don't want help, that is just way too heavy of an interpretation of the moral here (in my opinion). Try this metaphor. Last October, when hurricane Matthew wrecked through, the following day, the people that had chainsaws were out clearing roads, and helping neibors with fallen trees in their yards. People with large deep freezers full of meat, fearing it would go bad with no electricity, began barbecuing, and inviting everyone in the neiborhood, others would join bringing corn, and other food. I had a large tarp I use when camping, I let someone nail it to their roof to cover a hole until it could be properly repaired. Nobody asked for anyone else's help. Nobody needed to. That's just what neibors, and communities do after a natural disaster. Even in preparation for a potential area is expecting severe weather, or fires areas not affected, will send crews, and resources to help cities that are. Towards the end, Prince Rutherford, says something along the line of, friends that you don't have to ask to help are the best kind. (I inferred from this that a good friend will help without having to be asked. However, Prince Rutherford's rejection of Pinkies offer to help earlier in the episode seems to be a direct contradiction to that). Maybe it was just the "natural disaster" nature of the episode that leads my thinking that direction.

2 hours ago, Truffles said:

Did anyone else spontaneously break out into "Winter Wrap-Up" when the Mane 6 were clearing all the snow and fixing the plants? I sure did. XD

 

 Yes! I totally did too!!

[Jeric 46,835]

54 minutes ago, colt .45 said:

While you do have a point about helping someone who says they don't want help, that is just way too heavy of an interpretation of the moral here (in my opinion).

Just how I saw it. If he didn't threaten their relationship if she did help, the other alternative would make sense. When clearing my neighbors trees and yards and fences after Matthew, not one refused -- not one told me that my relationship with them would be jeopardized. 

Same thing with Charley, Francis, Jeanne, and Ivan in 2004. Yeah that was a fun summer. 

[Music Chart Fan 818]

Overall, this seems like a pretty basic middle-of-the-road episode. It spends a fair bit of time going through the yak traditions, then going through the failed attempts to fix the avalanche problem and the pretending that the problem doesn't exist, but I don't care much for the yaks as characters, and this episode didn't really do anything to change that. I suppose it's nice to see Pinkie being helpful (including caring about the yak kids, even as Rutherford and the other adults don't seem to pay them any particular attention) and even logical in this episode, rather than just being overwhelmingly hyper/random/annoying. And it's also nice to see the Mane Six work together to clear the snow and fix up the village in the end. Because this episode's pretty simple, there won't be a whole lot for me to say about it.

We see Rutherford emphasize that the yaks don't import anything, that they're self-sufficient, and that they don't need pony help. But then I would have to wonder where they get some of their building materials, technology, etc. For instance, is the mud/clay and hay used to build their huts and beds not imported from other region of Equestria? Did the yaks make their own pillows? (If so, maybe the dragons could learn from the yaks how to make some, although Ember might have opened up trade with ponies to get pillows, anyway.) Rutherford says the yaks grow their own vanilla beans, but vanilla is typically grown in a hot, humid environment. (Although we do see corn and wheat somehow growing in their village, so who knows how that works.) Finally, are we to believe that the yaks independently invented the phonograph and record(s) they listen to, as well as the equipment to record and produce vinyl records?

I'm also a bit confused about what lessons were or weren't learned by the end of the episode. What is the significance of Rutherford saying "Pink pony help yaks without yaks asking. Means pink pony understand yaks"? Did Rutherford actually learn that it's okay to ask for help? Is Rutherford saying that helping others who need it without having to be asked is "the yak way" now? It seems that "the yak way" is whatever Rutherford declares it to be, so I suppose that could the case. Did the other yaks presumably learn that it was the Mane Six who cleared away the snow, rather than the snow magically melting overnight? Did the yaks ever learn the root cause of the avalanches, so that they can avoid causing more of them in the future?

Now for a few other miscellaneous observations:

Pinkie's letters to Rutherford asking to go to Yickslubertfest would indicate that she had a positive desire to spend more time with the yaks, seemingly even beyond diplomatic duties, and even as she has little to no idea what the yaks do for this holiday - go figure.

How is Pinkie's "official friendship ambassador" ribbon staying in place as Pinkie wears it? It normally seems like the kind of thing which we would pin in place on our clothes, but I certainly hope that's not the case here!

After Pinkie asks too many questions about Rutherford's story and the situation the yaks are in, Rutherford tells Pinkie "Honorary yak status rescinded!", but at that point, I don't think we had seen Pinkie been given that status in the first place.

Finally, of course, this episode had to have the requisite Rarijack interaction, but I like the knowing smile and nod that Rainbow and Twilight give each other just before Rainbow flies up to open the outer door, or the knowing smile and eyeroll that Rainbow does back at Twilight's castle as Rarity describes the textiles she would provide for the yaks.

[Batbrony 15,994]

Good afternoon, everypony, and welcome back to another edition of "Batbrony Reviews"!!!  Well, the midseason finale has arrived, and while I can't say that our final episode before the Season 7 mid-season hiatus was amazing, it was still a very, very decent episode that was very enjoyable to watch.  Not flawless, but not in a maddening way whatsoever.  This should prove to be a fairly short episode review since there's not too much to cover, so without further ado, let's begin, this is "Not Asking for Trouble"!

OK, not gonna lie, that's bucking adorable 

So as there's not too much to cover with this episode, let's start with the most complex aspect of it, the lesson.  This was both a strength and a weakness, oddly enough, and for very similar reasons.  It was admirable how complex and subtle the lesson itself was, but at the same time it was almost too complex and subtle for its own good.  The best way I can put it is that, in execution, this lesson was "confusingly nuanced."  Jeric pointed out to me that unlike with most episodes, the lesson here wasn't telegraphed; this is not to say that we as an audience are too stupid to learn lessons unless they're spoonfed to us, but it's not like telegraphing lessons has ever been a big weakness of MLP, they usually do a good job of delivering lessons without making it seem like they're patronizing or belittling the audience.  It's not even to say that MLP can't have subtle lessons, they have many times.  This one, however, wasn't even apparent by the time the final frame had ended; the episode was far more about WHAT was happening than about WHY or what we were supposed to take away from it.  After all, what happens is very simple: (1) Pinkie Pie goes to Yakyakistan to celebrate Yickslurbertfest with the yaks, (2) she celebrates with them, (3) avalanche buries Yakyakistan, (4) things suck for the yaks and they try to cope while Pinkie unsuccessfully tries to get them to accept help from the ponies, (5) she leaves Yakyakistan and secretly comes back with her friends, (6) they unbury Yakyakistan, the day is saved, and the yaks are grateful despite having insisted on no outside help.

And... that's it.  That's the whole episode.  So what are we to take away from all of this?  I think two things contributed to why this lesson was so confusing: (1) the pacing, seeing as about rather than 2/3, it seemed like more like 3/4 of the episode were devoted to Yickslurbertfest and setting up the conflict itself, before Pinkie ACTUALLY fixed the problem, and (2) the fact that the lesson seems to be more applicable to a problem for individuals, but what we had before us was a national crisis for the entire nation of yaks, which made it harder to understand the nature of the problem and the lesson.  The first point is forgivable considering Pinkie Pie was trying to help the yaks, she just didn't want to be a bad friend by going behind their backs and wanted to get their permission to seek help from others before she did (both considerate and a wise course of action considering the yaks have proven just how hot-headed they can be in the past).  The second point I'm still trying to make sense of, but I think Jeric put it best to me when he said that the writers probably intentionally left it vague and muddled so as not to give younger viewers unfortunate implications.  You see, the lesson at play here is basically that sometimes, friends or family who we deeply care about are in some sort of trouble or get themselves into some sort of trouble, but aren't willing to admit that they have a problem, even as the problem gets worse.  Such self-destructive behavior usually arises because of one's stubbornness or pride preventing one from admitting they have a problem or being willing to ask others for help, or even an addiction that people are so hooked on they can't even see they have a problem.  This makes it a little clearer why they would've kept things so vague and centered on a problem as strange as the yaks being unwilling to accept help with unburying their village; it's not like we'd be likely to see an individual character struggling with an addiction of some kind on this show, after all, that'd be a little too mature even for this show.  So what we got instead was Prince Rutherford letting his pride get in the way of doing the right thing and stubbornly refusing to ask for help, even though he really did WANT help.  And that's really what the lesson boils down to: sometimes pride, or stubbornness, or addictions prevent those we care about from asking for help, even if they really do want it, and when that happens it's up to us to step up and help them anyway, even if they haven't asked, because we care about or love those we want to and try to help.  It's certainly not a bad lesson in the slightest, it was just oddly executed is all, but again, not in a way that really bothered or annoyed me.  It was just... odd, overall, neither the best nor the worst lesson we've ever seen presented or executed in this show.

Someone needs to seriously dub Andrew W.K.'s "Party Hard" over this scene! 

Good to know that Equestria is not the only culture in this world that has a problem with ridiculously high levels of sugar intake on a regular basis 

Thankfully, everything else we got was incredibly likable and fun in this episode.  Pinkie Pie had a far better episode than her last starring outing in "Rock Solid Friendship"; she was her fun, lovable, caring self, but her behavior was never unnecessarily too over-the-top, this was clearly a writer who understands how to healthily balance Pinkie Pie's fun-loving side with her serious, being-a-good-friend-and-solving-friendship-problems side.  Considering how much of the episode was devoted to Pinkie just touring Yakyakistan and learning about and partaking in Yickslurbertfest (gosh that name is hilarious), I was very surprised that none of it ever got boring or felt like padding, it was actually a ton of fun to watch Pinkie just hanging out with Prince Rutherford and the yaks!  Yakyakistan was pretty cool to see more of, and Prince Rutherford and the yaks themselves were just as hilarious as they were the first time, though thankfully not as insufferable either.  Rutherford in particular was a hoot, and some of the bits where he trolled Pinkie or delusionally tried to act as though everything were OK with the yaks after the avalance were pretty hysterical.  I do have to wonder how their village doesn't get buried more often by avalanches considering it seems like a festival like Yickslurbertfest would be very prone to setting off avalanches, but this was a silly enough episode that that point doesn't bother me too much.  The Mane 6 were in the episode about as much as they needed to be (RD's line in particular about them not playing Pinkie Pie's roadtrip game was hilarious), and Gummy was quite funny here as well as only he can be.  Also, Pinkie Pie is officially an honorary yak now, which just seems right and is also just kind of amazing and perfect.  Overall, I really don't have too much to say about this one.  It was a perfectly fine episode, not great, but very enjoyable in spite of some of its minor flaws, and a fine finish to the first half of Season 7.  We're entering the mid-season hiatus now, but don't worry everypony, new MLP episodes will be back before you know it, and when they are I'll be right here as always, ready to write more reviews!  Until next time, everypony, this is Batbrony signing off.  I'm off!!! *cue dramatic exit*

BEHOLD!  PINK YAK, CUTEST YAK!!!  

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

Welcome to Meh'sville.  Population:  who cares?

This was total meh.  But you what?  I'm just happy to have an easy review.  I don't have to write much.  :/  It was okay, not great.  Nothing special.  Nothing noteworthy.  But nothing really bad to say, either.  It didn't frustrate me, like most of this season so far.  It was mildly enjoyable.  Pinkie had some cute moments.  I can't believe how dangerous it was to have Gummy stand on the edge of the hot air balloon basket.  Omg. 

Seems like we've come full circle in the moral department.  Wasn't this just basically Applebuck Season?  Except, actually, the moral got muddied up at the end.  I thought the yaks were going to realize that asking for help is okay, but instead they just said it's okay for them to receive unsolicited help?  What?    Proud warrior races typically aren't happy if someone secretly helps them.  That just....doesn't make sense.  It would have better if Rutherford said, "Yaks now realize asking for help no makes yaks weak.  Asking for help take courage!"  That should have been the moral: sometimes asking for help is hard and can make you feel weak, but it actually takes courage and strength to admit when you need help.  Instead the message is...what...don't ask for help and hope people help you anyway? 

On 2017-06-18 at 6:31 AM, Batbrony said:

And that's really what the lesson boils down to: sometimes pride, or stubbornness, or addictions prevent those we care about from asking for help, even if they really do want it, and when that happens it's up to us to step up and help them anyway, even if they haven't asked, because we care about or love those we want to and try to help.

That's a really interesting interpretation that I hadn't thought of.  I guess I wasn't reading between the lines.  I was looking at it more as a lesson about learning to have the courage to admit when you need help, which obviously wasn't really delivered.  But it's an equally valuable lesson to know when we need to intervene and help anyway, even when not asked.  It's important to respect other's wishes, but sometimes we need to intervene, such as cases when lives are at stake.  And that was likely the case here, as it was suggested that the younglings may starve to death by the end of winter.  And you're right about it being a subtle message that easy to miss.  I definitely missed it.  So, I like that message, and it makes me like the episode a lot more.  Thanks, Batbrony!

 

On 2017-05-21 at 7:41 PM, Phirun Natela said:

I was pretty pissed off though that they didn't include Spike at the end. I mean, come on. You have a fire breathing friend and you don't use him for a situation involving ICE / SNOW. Don't know if that's of the ponies recurring ignorance of logical things, or of the writers not seeing all the characters' potential. 

Holy crap, that's right.  I didn't even think of that.  Twilight: "Hey girls, I have a great idea!  Let's NOT bring the guy who saved the Equestria Games from a giant asteroid made of ICE with his FIRE BREATH."

[Redhatbrony 59]

I love this kind of plot design.

Its shows what luck we have with so good writers.

Thanks for this.

 

[SparklingSwirls 21,261]

Gotta love those little yak calves

[Thaliel 116]

Yak like episode. Yak now go laze in the sun

[MLPFanatic34 3,234]

This was a pretty decent episode, I liked seeing Pinkie's relationship with the Yaks and I loved seeing where the Yaks live and what their customs are. Prince Rutherford was hilarious and I enjoyed his interactions with Pinkie. The overall moral was good and I liked seeing how far Pinkie went to try to help the Yaks deal with the snow. 9/10 episode!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[takai 1,060]

Meh, that was ok. The resolution to the episode felt shaky at best though.

I would've rather had an episode about the Dragons instead.

[PacificGreen 1,163]

This episode was kinda meh. Nothing really wrong with it except maybe, as others have mentioned, that the moral is a bit muddied up; on the other hand, the plot was pretty simple, and as a result, it didn't have much to make it really stand out. It was just sorta "Pinkie hangs out with the yaks, disaster happens, Pinkie insists on getting help, yaks are too stubborn, Pinkie gets help in secret, she and her friends help make Yakyakistan great again, and Prince Rutherford...the way he says it sorta makes it sound like he intentionally refused help as some sort of test for Pinkie? I don't know, it was a little ambiguous. Either that or he just came around to admitting he should have asked for help all along, albeit much more indirectly". Yeah, overall not a bad plot, but pretty typical, honestly. A pretty lighthearted mid-season finale to a rather lighthearted season overall. I can't really say I have very many strong feelings towards this episode.

Then again, I did watch the episode in two sittings, so a little bit of it may be lost on me. 

[Truffles 2,033]

 

On ‎5‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 1:52 PM, Lambdadelta said:

The scenes with Yaks culture are dragged out for too long, Party Pooped done it better, they should shorten the first act, focus more on Friendship espionage, make Rutherford go ape shit in the climax and somehow make thing worse and he finally need ponies help, the end, you get a very simple episode with better pace and overall enjoyable 22 minutes. Rutherford just accepted TOO QUICKLY, where the drama!? where the climax? Where the CONFRONTATION????.

I think you explained very well why I felt so "meh" about the first half of this episode - they spent too much time showing us yak culture, and frankly we pretty much got the idea the first time of what it would be like in "Party Pooped." While there were some funny moments, it felt like half the episode was dedicated solely to exposition.

 

On ‎6‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 4:54 PM, Music Chart Fan said:

How is Pinkie's "official friendship ambassador" ribbon staying in place as Pinkie wears it? It normally seems like the kind of thing which we would pin in place on our clothes, but I certainly hope that's not the case here!

Pinkie takes a piercing for friendship! Ouch! XD

On ‎6‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 4:54 PM, Music Chart Fan said:

Is Rutherford saying that helping others who need it without having to be asked is "the yak way" now?

...

Did the yaks ever learn the root cause of the avalanches, so that they can avoid causing more of them in the future?

I find it plausible that "the yak way' means helping others without having to ask to help them first since their mannerisms seem pretty brusque, so that didn't bother me too much. However the end of your statement brings up an interesting point that does bother me about the moral: While it may be a good lesson to jump in and help others without their permission in some circumstances, the haphazard way yaks do things make me think their idea of "helping" isn't going to go over well with other cultures.

I know from what @Jeric and @Batbrony said, the lesson is more subtle than that - namely, pride can get in the way when someone is struggling with someone. It's just the way they handled the message at the end seems a little superficial as you alluded to above: Out of nowhere Rutherford proclaims helping without needing to ask is the yak way. I just wonder if it couldn't have been refined to be more evident so as not to send viewers taking the lesson to heart on the wrong path?

For example, say someone is too old to use their lawnmower. Is it really a good idea to just jump in and mow it for them without asking? In that situation there's too many variables that could cause disappointment if the job isn't done correctly, leading to hurt feelings for everyone involved.

 

On ‎6‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 11:31 PM, Batbrony said:

And... that's it.  That's the whole episode.

Seeing the scant number of comments on this episode bears that out, lol. It may even set a record of some kind as the lowest commented episode post S2!

 

On ‎6‎/‎18‎/‎2017 at 1:05 AM, Justin_Case001 said:

Welcome to Meh'sville.  Population:  who cares?

That's comment made my day, thanks!

On ‎6‎/‎18‎/‎2017 at 1:05 AM, Justin_Case001 said:

Holy crap, that's right.  I didn't even think of that.  Twilight: "Hey girls, I have a great idea!  Let's NOT bring the guy who saved the Equestria Games from a giant asteroid made of ICE with his FIRE BREATH."

I wonder if Spike would be up for the task? He did have a lot of motivation and adrenaline to pull it off because there was imminent danger back in the stadium. Here, the danger is not so evident, other than Rutherford refusing help and risking the lives of his people.

Plus, maybe he still remembers they tried to seriously hurt him after the player piano incident? 

 

On ‎6‎/‎18‎/‎2017 at 4:42 PM, SparklingSwirls said:

Gotta love those little yak calves

They were a lot more endearing than their parents, weren't they? I actually felt sympathetic toward them in this situation compared to the adults because they weren't large enough to cause the avalanche and they wouldn't necessarily be expected to know better at their age that stomping the ground could do so. (Though for some reason they seemed wiser than any of the adults there, anyway... )

I was concerned at first they were still buried under all the snow for a long time because they didn't reappear after the avalanche occurred until near the resolution. <_<

Also, I swear the male one sounds like Snails long-lost brother. 

[Grtxkkyz 387]

Eh... whatever, while i'm glad to see Yakyakistan in its full glory, this one just seems pretty meh... The show already dealt with the "Don't be so skreeonking stubborn and accept some help when necessary" lesson all the way back in season 1's "Applebuck Season", so i didn't really see much point behind this episode. Not bad, but a kinda lackluster way to dive into the skreeonking hiatus. The folks at Australia got luckier, though.

Edited June 22, 2017 by Dino-Mario

[Sh Pie 65]

My expectations were low for this episode since Season 5 episode 11 was the worst episode ever for me. However, this was certainly an improvement. The yaks weren't completely obnoxious and there were no stupid parts like Pinkie riding all the way from Yakyakistan to Ponyville on a sled. Pinkie's story about the goats and the magic bovines was a great use of farm animals as representations of yaks and ponies respectively and the solution to the yaks' snow problem.

Pinkie's humor was great here especially with the 20000000 questions game and Rainbow Dash not wanting to play.

I didn't like the conclusion with Pinkie going against Rutherford's wishes and calling for help and Rutherford praising her, saying it was the right thing to do and yaks expect help but don't ask for it. So here's the problem with this. Pinkie's decision to take matters in to her own hooves was in fact the right one. The fault is with the yaks once more. Their attitude towards receiving help doesn't work. To expect it without asking is unfair. What if it wasn't Pinkie but an unhelpful griffon instead? Their home would be buried in snow for the foreseeable. I don't want them to learn a moral about asking for help though since that would be exactly the same as Season 1 episode 4. But I wanted some kind of moral that makes sense. All we learn is that yaks are difficult to co-operate with.

Overall, meh, but by yak episode standards, good.

[Miles 2,512]

Overall, this was an average episode. Meh.

BUT DAMMIT, I'm mad. Why? I hate continuity errors and mishaps.

Remember when Twilight was having problems with Winter Wrap Up since you're NOT SUPPOSED TO USE MAGIC?

Oh, right. I guess it need not apply here, because fuck tradition amirite? (Cue internal screaming).

[Dark Qiviut 22,173]

2 minutes ago, Miles said:

BUT DAMMIT, I'm mad. Why? I hate continuity errors and mishaps.

Remember when Twilight was having problems with Winter Wrap Up since you're NOT SUPPOSED TO USE MAGIC?

Oh, right. I guess it need not apply here, because fuck tradition amirite? (Cue internal screaming).

Not a continuity mishap. "Don't use magic to clear the snow" only applies to Ponyville. Yakyakistan's a completely different country.

Edited June 27, 2017 by Dark Qiviut

[Miles 2,512]

14 minutes ago, Dark Qiviut said:

Not a continuity mishap. "Don't use magic to clear the snow" only applies to Ponyville. Yakyakistan's a completely different country.

Oh, I very well know it is. But it implies two different standards. Normally I wouldn't be bothered by something like that, but well, when "tradition" is involved, it's a different story. 

I know the moral is supposed to be "help stubborn folks when they need it" or whatever, but I think the Yaks could've bared to learn something the hard way. 

You take your shoes off to walk on your own carpet, but not your neighbor's? Yeah, that's my point.

Edit:

Edited June 27, 2017 by Miles

[Thrond 3,257]

4 hours ago, Miles said:

BUT DAMMIT, I'm mad. Why? I hate continuity errors and mishaps.

Remember when Twilight was having problems with Winter Wrap Up since you're NOT SUPPOSED TO USE MAGIC?

Oh, right. I guess it need not apply here, because fuck tradition amirite? (Cue internal screaming).

Yeah, but Ponyville got by just fine without it, whereas Yakyakistan clearly didn't. If Ponyville had problems with clearing the snow, I'm sure Twilight's reaction would have been fairly different. 

[FizzyGreen 908]

I liked it. It was funny and nice to watch with pinkie and the yaks :3

Also, the young yaks were cute.

And the biggest thing about this one is the moral, because it shows how you have to deal with people who have a "certain ego", which isn't too rare in our world 

[Luminance 2,181]

This is one of the more average episodes for me that is, but it was still nice to see all the mane 6 rounding up together again for a good cause. 

The Yak children was a neat surprise, knowing that they can communicate with more complexity than Prince Rutherford.

[GoldenGumdrop 164]

This is probably one of the few misses of the season for me. I really wasn't into the episode much and felt Pinkie was a little over the top. I like the first part of the episode with the yaks, but towards the middle it sort of lagged for me. One of my favorite parts was seeing Gummy and Pinkie interact. I get that they were trying to make Pinkie funny when she was doing a "spy climbs the wall" thing but she knows Rainbow, Twilight, and Fluttershy have wings, right? Prince Rutherford's pride does gel up with a lot of real life rules. WWI was caused in large part with monarchs unwillingness to sign peace treaties and in WWII the people were nearly starved to death in some countries. Anyway, back to MLP. I agree the resolution was too quick.

I know this is a late review, but we finally got our DVR up and running after moving.

[Denim&Venöm 16,515]

Y'know what? This episode was okay. Pacing was off and the moral was forced and we never got an answer to Prince Rutherford's story. But we got soem world building, a lot of development for another race, and the yaks were very entertaining. Lot of good character moments. Better than party pooped. 

Also, found a ceremonial song the Yaks can stomp too. 

d

[ImpctR 155]

When I first saw the vote results I expected something like 'AJ's Day off' when written by a new writer, something completely boring which was still going to be OK after the previous powerful episode. Instead, the episode was quite nice! The only thing meh is the 'I loved it' poll choice because no, Pinkie and that prince would not go on a date. I know it was a joke, although, this may not be a bad idea  

The episode was surprisingly good considering I am less interested in Pinkie episodes or Yak-Yakistan although it was good to see what the latter were doing. And no, Spike did not show being able to spit fire large enough to melt hills of snow.

I expected to see Pinkie seriously messing up the peace of the Yaks with the ponies but I was like 'phew', so the episode did a nice job to keep the watcher uncertain in what happens next. The first moment this may have happened was when Pinkie did not seem appreciative of their stories, then something may have gone wrong, had she helped the two young yaks. And in the end when the Mane 6 came to Yakyakistan, to help I expected  them to nearly declare war for violating the tradition of the Yaks when they said they did not want help (here we go, an episode where the Mane 6 are going somewhere together, no Starlight for those who mind, so another score for the episode). And yet, if they had to choose to break the tradition or leave the young ones to starve was going to cause a problem. The resolution was rushed sure, but the episode went quite fine, better than I've expected. So 5/5