Expectations were not really high for "Baby Cakes". That it is as of now one of the lowest rated episodes of Season 2 and of the early season episodes (overall too come to think of it) here was un-promising enough. What further lowered expectations though was that the characters did not seem as though when reading up on the episode beforehand that they would be interesting enough to carry the episode, and the plot sounded very bland and sickly sweet.
The good news is that "Baby Cakes" was better than expected. The characters actually had more to them than what the concept made them out to be, being not the over-cutesy and not much else characters that was somewhat expected when reading about the episode. The not so good news is that "Baby Cakes" though is still an unexceptional episode, as much of the story is nothing special in any way and the writing is (though thankfully not as poor as feared) very variable.
Cannot find any fault really with the animation, it is as vibrant and atmospheric as one expects, the characters are well drawn and the backgrounds are very rich in detail, big and small. Likewise with the music, this has been a consistently mostly well executed component of the show and it is a good fit with everything going on. Pinkie Pie is the most sympathetic she has been in a while, really felt for her when she got emotional. The characters are at least in character, after seeing some out of character and difficult to get behind character writing in some of the previous episodes. Like with Rainbow Dash in "May the Best Pet Win" as far as previous Season 2 episodes.
Surprisingly found the babies quite adorable and much more interesting than the premise on paper made them sound. The failed diaper change for example is hilarious, did find myself relating to some parts like Pinkie Pie getting emotional and there is a very cleverly animated and creative (if slightly too nightmarish) sequence on the ceiling. The writing has its amusing and charming moments. Andrea Libman does a great job with the voice work.
However, nothing new is done with the babysitting plot, so it never felt particularly fresh. Felt the same with the moral, which is well intended and relevant but it is over-familiar and should have been delivered with more subtlety. "Baby Cakes" tries too hard to be cute at times but instead can tend to come over as too cutesy.
Not enough of the humour, of which there is not enough in the first place, lands. Too much of it is too fatigued and can be quite grating and repetitive, especially Pinkie Pie's sack of flour running gag. Some serious suspension of disbelief is needed watching "Baby Cakes", as sense is not really a strong suit. A primary example being the babies being able to control automatically given powers so fast.
All in all, not bad but not much special. 6/10
The good news is that "Baby Cakes" was better than expected. The characters actually had more to them than what the concept made them out to be, being not the over-cutesy and not much else characters that was somewhat expected when reading about the episode. The not so good news is that "Baby Cakes" though is still an unexceptional episode, as much of the story is nothing special in any way and the writing is (though thankfully not as poor as feared) very variable.
Cannot find any fault really with the animation, it is as vibrant and atmospheric as one expects, the characters are well drawn and the backgrounds are very rich in detail, big and small. Likewise with the music, this has been a consistently mostly well executed component of the show and it is a good fit with everything going on. Pinkie Pie is the most sympathetic she has been in a while, really felt for her when she got emotional. The characters are at least in character, after seeing some out of character and difficult to get behind character writing in some of the previous episodes. Like with Rainbow Dash in "May the Best Pet Win" as far as previous Season 2 episodes.
Surprisingly found the babies quite adorable and much more interesting than the premise on paper made them sound. The failed diaper change for example is hilarious, did find myself relating to some parts like Pinkie Pie getting emotional and there is a very cleverly animated and creative (if slightly too nightmarish) sequence on the ceiling. The writing has its amusing and charming moments. Andrea Libman does a great job with the voice work.
However, nothing new is done with the babysitting plot, so it never felt particularly fresh. Felt the same with the moral, which is well intended and relevant but it is over-familiar and should have been delivered with more subtlety. "Baby Cakes" tries too hard to be cute at times but instead can tend to come over as too cutesy.
Not enough of the humour, of which there is not enough in the first place, lands. Too much of it is too fatigued and can be quite grating and repetitive, especially Pinkie Pie's sack of flour running gag. Some serious suspension of disbelief is needed watching "Baby Cakes", as sense is not really a strong suit. A primary example being the babies being able to control automatically given powers so fast.
All in all, not bad but not much special. 6/10
