My Little Pony ~ SEASON 5: EPISODE 5 ~ Review

“You're a mean one, Rainbow Dash. And you're a deceptive one, Cindy Morrow.” Spoilers once again as we review Season 5: Episode 5 - “Tanks For The Memories”.

As winter is coming (and yes, they do make that reference), Rainbow Dash's pet tortoise Tank is becoming increasingly tired, and Rainbow herself is outraged to know that as the cold season approaches, her beloved pet must spend the following few months in hibernation. Unable to accept this, Rainbow decides that the best solution is to physically change the course of nature and prevent winter from ever starting.

After sitting the fourth season out, Cindy Morrow returns to the show here with her first episode since “Apple Family Reunion”. Among the ever-growing and changing writing staff, Morrow has always been a firm favourite of mine, having delivered several of the series' best episodes, including my #1 favourite, “Hurricane Fluttershy”. And after a two-year absence, she absolutely delivers with this terrific episode, even though I had to watch it twice before coming to this conclusion. Had I decided to settle for only one viewing and write my thoughts based on first impressions, this would have been a much different review. In fact, it would have been an average one where I applauded many scenes, but bemoaned a vast number of Rainbow Dash's actions, so much so that it almost completely ruined the episode for me. But some more favourable feedback from other fans actually led me to think about it more, which consequently encouraged me to watch it again from a different perspective. And I don't think I have ever been more glad to have done so, as it just made a phenomenal difference.

While their relationship has never been developed or explored since Season 2’s “May the Best Pet Win”, the episode wastes no time in showing us how much the bond between Rainbow Dash and Tank has grown since then, and throughout, the story does a great job in showing just how deeply the two care about each other. Leading her first episode of the season, the impeccably talented Ashleigh Ball has never been better, delivering a fantastic performance that is far and away her strongest and most varied for Rainbow Dash yet. As the story progresses, she is able to brilliantly express her impressive range, through both speaking and singing, and capture every required emotion with outstanding results. Keeping the “Equestria Girls” movies separate from the main series as many fans tend to do, and therefore excluding “Awesome As I Want To Be” from Rainbow Rocks, this episode marks the first time that Dashie gets an entire song to herself, and her first solo musical number does not disappoint. “I’ll Fly” may not be a classic, but it is a suitably upbeat pop rock tune that fits Rainbow perfectly, and is once again a great showcase for Ball’s infectious singing range and voice, while the lyrics make an excellent match for the character’s element of loyalty, and devotion to her pet.

It’s this development in the story where the unfolding events really start to get interesting, especially since it’s where my initial frustrations came from. Rainbow Dash decides that the best way to stop winter and hold on to Tank is by sneaking into Cloudsdale’s weather factory and cut off its water supply; a reckless act of thoughtlessness that ends up risking innocent ponies’ lives and racking up thousands in property damage. But after thinking about it in deeper context with the scenes that take place before and after, and then watching the episode back, it all adds up. What Cindy Morrow has managed to accomplish here is craft an episode that is structured as an allegory to the Kubler-Ross model, or as it’s better known, the five stages of grief. This series of stages, most commonly experienced by those faced with a recent or impending death of a love one, is very smartly implemented into this episode, without it actually having to axe off any characters. And although Tank is not actually dying but rather hibernating, I think this model is one that can easily apply to other situations, including in this case, having to say goodbye to a close friend for an extended period of time. Given this structure, all of Rainbow Dash’s feelings and actions start to make perfect sense. She goes through denial by arguing the facts put forward to her by Fluttershy, her close friend and animal expert, and through the process of anger by exploding into rage where anypony even tries to say the H word. Before the depression and acceptance stages kick in, the bargaining stage is where Rainbow proceeds to try stopping winter and ultimately cause damage in the weather factory, and as irresponsible as her actions are, they never seem out-of-character for Rainbow because they’re so often in-character in real life. People do stupid things when they’re upset thinking it’s going to make themselves feel better, when the reality is it just makes everything worse.

As the episode comes closer to its conclusion, the Mane 6 visit Rainbow Dash at her home, and what follows is one of the most emotional moments in the show’s history. Following through with the lesson she learned from “It Ain’t Easy Being Breezies”, Fluttershy gives Rainbow the hard but important reality that one way or another, she’ll be spending winter without Tank. At this point, there’s nothing else Rainbow Dash can do but burst into tears. And it isn’t just a few silent tears; it’s a full-on meltdown. With everything we have come to know about her over the course of the series, I don’t think anyone was expecting this, and to see our Dashie crying her eyes out whilst hugging her beloved tortoise is truly heartbreaking. What makes this entire sequence so incredibly effective is not only that the feels are genuine, but also that it’s not rushed. Playing out for a good 2-3 minutes, it allows just the perfect length of time for Rainbow, and the other ponies, to just let out their emotions. And it shows that even though you may try to resist, crying is nothing to be ashamed of; in many cases, it’s actually the best remedy. These are all very strong and important messages that people of all ages can take something from and this episode doesn’t sugarcoat them. Though I’m still not sure how I feel about how Rarity and Pinkie Pie only start crying after Fluttershy does.

For all its emotional heavy moments and themes, there’s still a great share of happier scenes that prevent the story from becoming too serious. Not every single joke hits the mark, but the ones that do hit excellently, particularly Pinkie Pie’s line about how Applejack cries on the inside (which makes perfect sense with her character), and Rainbow Dash’s angry facial expressions (which the animators must have had a field day creating). There’s also a pretty humourous reference to “Game of Thrones” courtesy of story editor M.A. Larson, who tweeted with a related pseudonym that he took full responsibility for it, where Twilight observes the mayhem at the weather factory from outside and cries out, “Prepare yourself, everypony. Winter is coming”. It’s a bit forced, but as I absolutely love Game of Thrones, it cracked me up. The episode finally culminates with an adorable ending where just after Tank goes into hibernation, Rainbow decides to stay for a moment to read him one last bedtime story.

“Tanks For The Memories” may be somewhat deceptive, but it’s a very cleverly written episode that Cindy Morrow deserves to be applauded for. And to think I was so close to giving it probably a 6/10 score at best. I didn’t get it at first, but once I came to understand what it was going for, this was one episode I thoroughly enjoyed and admired on a repeat watch. There’s still a little something missing that is keeping me from awarding it the top score, but its multiple qualities still lead me to rank it as my pick for the best Season 5 episode yet, and a fantastic return for one of my favourite MLP writers. Well done, Cindy. It’s great to have you back.

RATING: 9/10