I do agree that she should have gotten some form of punishment, but at the same time I don't think she was quite a Karma Houdini either. If the CMC had found out about her history sooner it might have caused them to respond differently to her bullying and resolved the situation some other way.

I wouldn't consider her background an excuse either. Even if she didn't get punished (which I agree she should have; make her fix the pumpkin float or something), I don't think the show ever portrayed it as "oh it's okay because she was bullied". Her actions were still never shown to be anything but nasty, even if she never got her comeuppance for it. Again, the point of the episode was to show that being bullied shouldn't lead to bullying others.

And I think that's a good thing.

Think about it: negative results of the episode is simply that the CMC have kind of a rough week. They weren't hurt, they weren't traumatized.

Positive results of the episode is that the little kid gets her whole situation turned around, learns a valuable lesson about not being a dick, and both Babs and the CMC gain a new friend.

What exactly would be the point of punishing her now that she's learned her lesson? The only purpose of punishment is to try and change a person's state-of-mind to prevent them from making further mistakes. Yes, there are certainly some misdeeds that are serious enough to warrant punishment no matter the situation, but I don't believe this is one of them.

People don't always get punished for their actions in this show. See Suite and Elite for another example.

Which, honestly, makes it more realistic. People don't always get what they deserve. Which sucks, but it's how things are. (Although if I had been in AJ's place I still would have made Babs clean up the clubhouse or something).

And I have to say, the lack of punishment is a lot more palatable because Babs' only victims were the CMC, and they were totally okay with it. If she had been bullying other ponies, then yeah, more should have been done. But I think that if the only party who suffered is willing to forgive them, it isn't quite as big of a deal.

edited 24th Nov '12 1:18:55 PM by JapaneseTeeth

With malice toward none, with charity to all, etc.

It's seems people just want their pound of flesh from Babs, so to speak.

Demanding punishment that serves no purpose is nothing short of sadism in my opinion.

Who wants to cast the stone at her?

I for one just couldn't care the less.

edited 24th Nov '12 1:24:28 PM by dRoy

@Japanese Teeth: It kind of was. "she got bullied!" resulted in absolutely nothing but the other characters thinking of how they can make things nicer for her, rather than also trying to resolve their own situation with her. Whilst that shows a generosity to the CM Cs, it also demonstrates how easily they can be used as a doormat. Bad example. I also think that the cycle of revenge depiction is problematic, the message in general should have just been no bullying. Period.

@Bluespade: Not necessarily. As a consequence of Babs' presence, even after she leaves that may cause DT and SS to be even worse bullies than they already are. Also, my problem isn't that Babs learned her lesson. It's how she learned her lesson. It wasn't through any personal introspection, or anything like that. It was as a result of the CM Cs doing that pretty much on her behalf.

Just to make it clear, I'm still waiting on a huge consequence for DT and SS.

so, combined with last episode, we have new fanon that Cherry Berry is a creepy stalker of Berry Punch

For some reason, I only consider those who are unrepentant about what they did as karma houdinies. Plus, the CMC, the only victims, didn't seem to want such a punishment, so...

Big, fat Ponyville party.

Way the hate? I think Babs was alright.

@Patty: I just think it's worth pointing out that that the CMC's decision to stop the sabotage when they learned about Babs' past wasn't solely due to "Oh she was bullied, so that makes everything okay", it was at least partially their realization that if they went through with it they'd just be prolonging the cycle of bullying. They realized that they were starting to show traits of being bullies themselves. Even if it was a given that Babs deserved it, they might have called it off anyway just because they wouldn't want to do the same thing she did.

Also, I can't complain too much about the whole "not thinking of how to improve their own situation thing" because they literally only had about a minute to disarm the timer, so thinking "how can we get her to stop bullying us" wasn't their top priority at the moment. It's entirely possible that they'd have moved onto that after the parade was over. I could totally see them taking the new information and confronting her over it.

Other than that, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree, though. For me at least, the fact that Babs learned her lesson is far more important than how she learned it. As long as it's believable within the show's context (and I think it is) I'm fine with it.

It's really less hate for her and more thinking that she got off too easy after the trouble she caused.

edited 24th Nov '12 1:45:56 PM by JapaneseTeeth

I guess so, and I respect that we have our differences. I think my final say on the matter would be how I'd see the episode from the point of view of my eight year old self - it would tell me that I am probably just as bad as the bullies are (note: I know this is a slight warping of the message, you know, self-esteem and all). I can't help but think of it in the context of how the target audience, especially bully victims that age, will receive it, because this specific story is something I have been so personally involved with. The CM Cs conjuring the bravery to confront Babs, have Babs realise what she is doing and then learn to stand up for herself back home, would have been much more meaningful than the actual handling of it.

edited 24th Nov '12 1:52:22 PM by Patty

I think it teaches kids not to stoop to the bullies' level.

Bingo

edited 24th Nov '12 1:53:18 PM by HeroShepherd

@Hero - Yeah, Filthy Rich appears to me as a fairly decent stallion.

So I just finished the episode. My thoughts:

Confound you Babs, you drive me to conflicted feelings. On the one hand, I totally sympathize with your plight back home. And I have no doubt that you are a nice filly overall. But...I cannot find a justification for your actions. And yes...you got off a little bit too easy. But ultimately, I'm happy with the episode's outcome. Everyone who needed to learn a lesson learnt it, friendships have been established...and DT and SS got a mud bath. So, I'm happy.

And I'm going to come out and say that I do know exactly what Babs was going through. After I dealt with my bullies, I swore that I would never be a victim to anybody ever again. From then on, first time anyone gave me any trouble, I would respond with overwhelming retribution to knock it in the bud there and then. But I would never start victimizing anyone to draw attention anyway from myself. Unfortunately...my way isn't the best example to teach to kids. Otherwise, Babs would have battered DT and SS the second they opened their mouths. Ultimately, the show took a better route in my opinion.

Diamond Tiara having a mother is gonna nip that Filthy Rich/Big Macintosh fic I had planned in the bud...

Time to post this again

That song...yes, that will stay in my head for a while.

Oh, and was Pinkie eating locograss or something. She seemed really out of it.

The song isn't exactly very ear-wormy like the others. I like its rather unique yet familiar feeling.

I think if there is one thing you can fault the episode is that despite it being about bullying, it didn't do much anything with the series recurring bullies. I understand the reasons they did that becuase, well DT & SS are really pathetic as bullies at this point, the only reason DT was able to become more interesting because she received a position of power. And two (and probably the most unfortunate and annoying) is that they ultimately needed to preserve the status quo. I still would have liked something to be done with them other then having their token appearance and enabling the situation.

Speaking of status quo, did Pinkie sent letter to Celestia last episode?