And now, the episode we've all been waiting for. This week, Blythe Baxter might finally reveal her secret identity to her best friend. Because it worked out so well for Peter Parker!
Oh, wait, I did that joke already.
Also, we've reached the mid-season finale, ladies and gentlemen. And the show is apparently going on an indefinite hiatus. I hope you'll all keep an eye on the Pet Shop Insider, for further information.
Stream
The Brony Network
On-demand (will be added as they become available)
TVRip from the Hub (480p)
TVRip from the Hub (1080p)
HD w/o watermark
Any additional sources can be sent to me on Twitter @theblackwidower, or by email at theblackwidower@noprestige.com, and I'll post them as soon as I am able.
And another quick episode review from me.
ReplyDeleteThis episode initially seems predictable; even a viewer who hasn't been paying attention to the hype behind this episode would quickly realize where this episode is going. But it's that very premise that brings the viewer to the edge of their seat desperate to know how it'll end. Will Blythe spill her secret? Or will she find a another way to save her recipe?
We see how this episode brings up the importance of telling the truth from the beginning and I thought this episode was a fine example of that moral.
Up until now Buttercream hasn't appeared at all in this season but she finally shows up and it was necessary to bring her in this episode considering she's Youngmee's pet. This is probably her best appearance in the show thus far.
This episode also has a brilliant song which many of us have already seen by now. It was very touching.
Now onto the biggest draw of this episode... Blythe finally tells her best friend her secret and we see Youngmee having flashbacks featuring a bunch of past scenes in the show that hinted at Blythe's ability to understand animals and she finally puts two and two together at last. This very moment is the moment we've all been waiting for and it finally happens much to our delight~
All future episodes from this point on are bound to be much more interesting and I really wish it had happened much earlier in the show. Kudos to the Cahills for finally fulfilling a major fan expectation and advancing this show past the status quo~
I can consider this episode God - Tier material, provided future episodes commit to it, that is, OR ELSE. I can say this proudly because a fellow forum poster does have a point (even if just IMHO!):
ReplyDeleteTo quote this person (because I have to here...): "So she appears to now know her secret, without any irony or last minute gags.
I say "appears" because frankly, after what previous episodes have been like, and considering that the humor has been forced since the first episode of the first season (IMHO),
I don't trust this show's writing. I mean, is that really it?
What's to say Youngmee (or however her name is really spelled) won't suddenly hit her head or something in the next episode and suddenly forget?
What's to say the show won't resort to negative continuity (i.e., where they suddenly go back to the status quo, and essentially pretend as though it never happened)?
All of this said, I do believe in benefit of the doubt, but it's just that, if this show really wanted to be straightforward (about some things at least), it would have done so from the start instead of trying to force its own sense of humor down people's throats.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I personally feel that it was just too easy, and that it may or may not be just another joke waiting for a punchline, and the next episode (assuming there will be one) will actually determine whether or not what we just saw was in fact the genuine article.
If anything, all of Blythe's friends should have been let in on the secret from the start (IMHO)..."
In short... they could have done this earlier, to tell you all the cold hard truth - so as to improve upon the overall humor in this show, and not just make it funnier, but even dare I say it, that little bit more engaging than the pony show has been, since its (and this show, in contrast's) creation...
Here's hoping the rest of Season 3 can step up from here - if this show does end here (which will be unfortunate if it does...), it needs to go out with a bang and go down swingin'!
Try not to let me down from here on out, LPS. You actually had a God - Tier episode here. Don't ruin that for yourself, alright?
And I must add this (due to the fact that I can't edit my original posts here on this blog...):
DeleteRemember - ALL opinions in that quote BELONG TO SOMEONE ELSE on another forum I post at. I don't agree with a good majority of anything he says about this show's humor or anything else, with all due honesty, other than the ideal that Blythe's secret being revealed earlier could have improved some of the overall humor in this show earlier on, otherwise...
Farewell.
Maybe not all of Blythe's friends, remember "Feud For Thought" a certain someone caved under the pressure.
DeleteAt last "The Secret Recipe" has aired, ever since I heard about the synophis, I thought this could be the biggest game changing episode of LPS, I thought this was a big episode for the show, not so much the characters, but for the show legacy, for it to be either on the same level as MLP:FiM or just be another cartoon, would the writers take a big chance or play is safe. They choose to take a chance. So kudos. So this is "Mystery Magical Cure", the "Light In The Dark", heck the "Hunter's Moon" of the series.
ReplyDeleteSo we began in class, when Blythe and Youngmee are doing a class presentation, we have a apperance by the Biskits twins who are there usual disinteresting slacker selfs, Youngmee with that bunny puppet, she reminded me of Jerri from Digimon Tamers, I got flashback to that series which is never a bad thing.
So the plot and we see Buttercream make her season 3 debut and she is not in a good mood, as Youngmee is testing her recipe on her, and she is not liking it. Blythe enourages her and says bunnies can be picky eaters, am I the only one who didn't think of Angel in "Puttin Your Hooves Down". Rabbits can be divas on these shows. Blythe makes a big mistake instead of being honest with Youngmee about her pet food, she lies to spear her feelings, and in the long run it is only going to hurt more, and the pets show what great actors they can be.
So we have another reality show, what is it with this cartoon and reality show, I think they go to that well one too many times. Blythe is thinking perhaps it is time to tell the Youngmee the truth, the whole truth, about her abilities. And this is something I have waited for forever, to at least find out why Blythe is so scared to tell anyone, and we find out she is afraid to being called weird. I thought that was a big let down, I was expecting something more than that, perhaps being afraid of being locked up in a mental institution, or being experimented on, but being called weird, okay it is not like the Biskit twins have called her weird a bigillion times. I know she care more what Youngmee thinks than the Biskits, but we have seen her be called weird before and the world is still intact.
What I would like to have seen is Blythe imagine, the worst possible scenereo of Youngmee's reaction of being told about her abilities. Perhaps have Youngmee run away and scream "get away from me your freak".
.
Cont
DeleteIn the all go to the tv taping, and though Youngmee is still mad at Blythe, I do like how she takes some of Blythe's tweats and pockets it because she realised Blythe would never sabatage her, it was a two street both Blythe and Youngmee learned a lesson about friendship and trust.
In the end, the moment Blythe reveals her secret, I was looking at the time at how much time is left in the episode, I love Christy, I was yelling at her to go away get out of the scene, so Blythe can reveal her secret, we don't have much more time left in the episode. Tell me you all weren't thinking the same thing. And the moment we all waited for, I was worred with how long Blythe dragging this out, that someone was going to intrupt perhaps Christy or one of the judges, but the secret revealed. And the confirmation for Youngmee the pets nodding, showing what a bond Blythe has with them, and than the flashbacks, it looked like she was going Avatar state, we see a bunch of flashbacks including "Standup Stinker" in which Youngmee was not in that episode but I assume she was unseen in the audiance, we see Youngmee put two and two together, I like that, it shows she is not stupid and has some common sense.
The secret revealed, status quo is changed, Blythe and Youngmee friendship is taking to another level, they both learned something, Blythe learned to trust Youngmee not to call weird and be afraid of her, and Youngmee learned to trust Blythe that she would not sabatage her. Also Youngmee gets her own goal and story at the end, just like Blythe has with fashion, and the show by taking this chance, is now no longer just another cartoon, it is on MLP:FIM level now.
I'm going back to a more standard comment/review format for this because I think it'll work better and I'll pretty much just be covering Blythe's confession because really, it's the point of the episode. Everything in it leads to it and it's the most interesting and 'commentable' part of the story. Also, I'm not sure if Blythe's Sandman top is major or meh, but it just demands to be mentioned.
ReplyDeleteSo, we're finally here. The episode I and I'm sure a lot of other LPS fans have been waiting what feels like months for, even though it was only like three weeks. Leading up to this one, I had some mixed reactions, many delayed. I was really looking forward to it, the first episode I've done that with for what the episode might be, rather than just the fact that it meant a season was starting or ending. At the same time, I was more than half-sure they'd try to get out of it somehow. And honestly, part of me hoped they would just because I didn't want them to turn Youngmee into "the character who always says 'what did the pets just say?' all the time". That and if they ever had a fox in the daycamp, I'd be cringing the whole episode waiting for a certain joke. But the vast majority of me wanted the secret out to a very limited degree. I always like to see the status quo demoted from God to...like, senator or something. A strong suggestion, but its being upheld can't always be assumed. It's part of what makes Adventure Time as good as it is, and I wouldn't mind seeing more shows learn from that.
Well, I got my wish and I got it in the form of a pretty good scene. Ashleigh Ball really conveys how hard it is for Blythe to tell someone something so unusual and how much she needs Youngmee to believe such an unbelievable thing. She sells the risk Blythe is taking for the sake of holding onto Youngmee's friendship because it's so important to her. And for her part, Youngmee takes it fairly realistically. Skeptical at first because...well, lets' face it, if one of your friends suddenly dropped that on you, would you just accept it? She's a little freaked out by the pets confirming it, which again is quite understandable, and then she has a "now that you mention it..." flashback montage (consisting only of scenes she was or would likely have been in, which was nice). Followed of course by total acceptence, because apparently it's really hard for a show to get picked up by The Hub if it doesn't have a boner for freindship. If I was going to change anything about the confession, I would include more of the aftermath. I was a little disappointed that it went "Youngmee knows and thinks it's neat, the end". This is a huge revelation, not just because her friend can understand animals, but because she now knows that animals are saying things. They have complex thoughts, voices, maybe special speaking mannerisms. They have personalities that even their owners probably don't know about. like how Pepper tells jokes or that Russel is super-organized. I would assume she at least wants to know more about Buttercream and I would have enjoyed seeing Blythe try to explain her. I think asking about any of those things would have been a better capper than another confirmation that the pet treats suck.
(cont'd)
The problem with adding more reaction is that the episode is so tightly-written, I don't know where they'd find room for it. The Cahills did a good job establishing the importance and difficulty of Blythe telling Youngmee about her super-power and there really aren't any scenes that could be cut for not adding to the overall plot. This really was a very good episode. Buttercream was in top form (and also, you know, in it finally), I liked the song, the characters all felt right, if a bit backgrounded. The only mehs I can think of off the top of my head are that I'm pretty sure it takes longer than three days to get on Shark Tank (the real life show The Bear Cave is based on), the very quick "i'm unsure (brief reassurance) you're right" thing they used a couple times and that during the song, Blythe reaches her hand out to Youngmee but is still able to play her guitar normally. That kind of thing also bothered me in "Blythe's Crush", incidentally. Josh takes his guitar off of his body and the song still sounds exactly the same? Is it pre-recorded or something? If it is, why not do it for the vocals, too? Anyway, this is why I'm doing this in paragraphs. I just don't have enough mehs and the ones I do have are pretty minor.
DeleteAll in all, season three has been kind of hit-and-miss, but this one hit it just right. Blythe and Youngmee work so well together and here, we get genuine emotion from both sides. They're not just laughing or chatting, they're feeling. Without going back through the others for a refresher, I think this episode is my new favorite of the series.
So before I address the elephants in the room, let me discuss a few of the minor things in this episode. Mrs. Hamster (the teacher from the beginning of the episode) makes no attempt to hide that she's Kathleen Barr. She's Mrs. Twombley with an accent. Buttercream makes an appearance, and while I think she's the worst character in this show (though Steve would probably disagree with me), I can forgive her appearance here because she's not making stupid jokes the WHOLE time and is actually necessary to the plot. "Bear Cave" isn't subtle at all when trying to reference Shark Tank. That same producer seems to work on every single television program in Downtown City.
ReplyDeleteNow the episode. I've been wanting them to do this since Season 1. And honestly, with the whole "just changing up the recipe" thing I was worried Blythe would just give her the recipe and be on her way. But I am SO glad she went through with it, because, as the flashback sequences showed, Blythe wasn't exactly subtle about hiding it and I'm surprised not a single human character had actually figured out yet (in regards to MLP, this was my exact problem in EQG with Twilight waiting so long to tell the human Mane 6.). It really seemed like they were insulting the other characters' intelligence by not having them figure it out. Plus it allows a bunch of new story ideas. Now just give the Biskits some individual characterization (YOU CAN'T KEEP IGNORING THE BATHROOM SCENE FROM DOOR JAMMED WRITERS!!!) and this show will skyrocket in quality IMO.
Now for the OTHER elephant. This post was honestly the first thing I heard about a hiatus. I did a bit of searching and this post was the only thing I can find about it. http://wingedartist28.tumblr.com/post/94667114240/littlest-pet-shop-season-3-going-on-hiatus-until (Also nice choice of Avatar background. I've gotten into that show just over the past month, and am almost finished with it. I guess Youngmee's the Sokka to Blythe's Katara now? Also I can't see Buttercream's eye without thinking of Zuko's scar now. Funny how my least favorite character from one show reminds me of my favorite character from another). This, along with the fact that no airdate has been announced for episode 14 yet. This is hardly a confirmation of a hiatus. However, it would make sense to cut it off here if they're going to do it. It's the middle of the season and right where MLP ended its season 3. I find it strange though, since we've seen a clip from that episode already, almost a month ago. Why would they release that so far before the actual episode?