This review will contain spoilers for those who have not seen the latest episode.
The premise of this episode is that Rarity and the rest of the cast go to the city of Manehattan to attend a fashion show in the hopes she will win. However, another designer seems to have stolen Rarity's entire line.
Let me start off by saying how happy I am that Rarity is getting a focus episode after such a long time. Even though I generally liked season three of this show more than most people seemed to, I will say that one thing I criticised it for was a lack of focus on characters like Rarity. And that was a big shame for me because many of her episodes have been very entertaining character pieces, with "Suited for Success" still being among my top ten episodes of all time. So, regardless of how else I might have felt about the episode, at the very least I'm happy that she's getting the spotlight again.
In addition, I like how this episode is a return to Rarity's goal to improve her standing in the world of fashion. As I have said many times before when her episodes are concerned, I am a complete novice when it comes to fashion and the world those involved live in. As such there is always a risk in episodes like this that I will completely lose interest as it's being focused on something I have little to no knowledge or interest in. However, as always, it's the character of Rarity herself who manages to keep me engaged throughout, as I really felt the difficulty she was in when trying to win something she set her heart on. We all know how hard she's worked on this sort of thing in the past, so I was always rooting for her in this story, which is a plus in any episode if it can make me overlook it's premise for the sake of it's protagonist.
Her development throughout this episode seemed like a very relatable situation to be in. I'm sure we've all had moments in our lives when we're faced with something we want to achieve and it causes us to become bitter to those around us. Rarity's attitude towards her friends, though admittedly undeserving, were at the very least understandable given all of the stress she's been put through. Plus, we've all seen how this kind of difficult situation can get to her, especially when fashion is involved. Still, the whole thing seemed to be resolved very quickly, which is not something that bothers me as Rarity never seemed to be the type of character who would be this aggressive for long periods of time. She's stressed, she makes her mistake, and she realises it quickly. So the pacing of the whole thing seemed just right for me.
But what I love most of all about this whole situation is how it seems to be the first episode that focuses on how her most important personality trait, generosity, can be turned against her. This is the first time this sort of thing has been explored for her and I was eager to seem them tackle it. Although she's been shown to be generous many times before, this episode is the first time that it comes to bite her later on. In many ways it's a similar experience to what Fluttershy endured back in "Keep Calm and Flutter On". There, her kindness was put to the test and, in the end, she was proved to be right in sticking to her element. And it's the same for Rarity, as she's shown just how important being generous can be in the long term.
If I had one real complaint about the episode, it's that the basic setup carries a lot of shade of previous MLP episodes to it. Having Rarity struggle to impress some high-up person in the fashion world has been done before, in the aforementioned "Suited for Success" episode. There were also elements of "Wonderbolt Academy" to it, as we have a character coming close to achieving what they've held as their dream, only to have the reality of it not match up to what they were expecting. While I don't mind repeated story ideas per se, it is something of a disappointment when we've seen so many episodes this season try something different.
When it comes to the episode's main setting, the city of Manehattan, I have a few issues with it. For the time being, I'm going to put aside the really bad pun being used for it's name, as I've had to deal with far worse in this show's history. But the idea of this big, New-York-style city existing in this world just rubs me the wrong way. Not because I have anything against the real-life city or the people who live there, but because it just doesn't seem to fit into the rest of the world this show has given us. MLP, to me, is more-or-less a straight up fantasy story, and when it's being just that, with it's magic and strange creatures and light-hearted adventures, I love it. But when you take that and slap a big and modern-looking metropolis into the works, it just doesn't mesh for me.
The rival character is one of those characters who just seems designed to be hated, and it works. From the moment that mare entered the screen, I just said to myself "I'm going to REALLY dislike this one". Every action she takes in this episode is about as petty and as low as things get in an episode like this. But while this means she serves her function as an antagonist well, we get no real explanation as to how she became like this from the person who used to be a colleague of Rarity. I suppose it could be viewed as how big city life can corrupt a person, and that she used to be a pretty decent mare to know, but as it stands she just comes across as a one-dimensional bully to me.
The head of the fashion week, while not a bad character per se, doesn't really do much for me, good or bad. I do wonder why they needed to create this character though. We've had several pony characters involved in the fashion world that could have served this function, like Sapphire Shores or Hoity Toity, who even make cameo appearances in the episode, so it doesn't make sense why this new pony needed to be made. The rival's assistant however I found I really liked. You can tell just how uncomfortable she is with all of this and I was really happy to see her get her happy end in the resolution of the episode.
Onto the song now and this week we have a great one to listen to. It involves Rarity singing about her role as the generous one of the group while coping with all the difficulties that such a role brings while being in a big city like Manehattan. Kazumi Evans, Rarity's voice actress during song sequences, does a great job here, sounding just as good as always. I've cited many times that, apart from Rebecca Shoichet (Twilight's singing voice), Evans is perhaps my favourite singer from among the main cast, and this reminds me why. It put me in mind throughout of her song back in "Sweet and Elite", as it conveys both the excitement and joy the character was feeling as well as how down she can get when the more negative aspects of her situation come into focus. If I had one real complaint about it, it would be that it's not as catchy as the other songs we've had so far, but that's a very minor point against it.
The episode's humour tends to stem from Rarity and her actions in the story. This is good as Tabitha St Germain, her voice actress, has often managed to make me laugh with her occasional over-the-top moments. This episode has plenty of that to hear and it succeeded in making me laugh, even at times when I knew I shouldn't. In addition to this, there were plenty of other funny moments with other members of the main cast. Pinkie was hilarious as always, and Rainbow Dash's comments were also pretty funny, which is rare for me as she's not usually a source of humour for me. Though I will say that her remark regarding songs coming out of nowhere was some pretty decent meta-humour.
As for the moral-of-the-week, this episode's lesson seems to be that just because others may take advantage of the things you do for them, doesn't mean that you yourself should lead this to change how generous you are towards others, and that those who do take advantage will always be few. I like this moral as I've had many experiences that have often made me hesitant to go out of my way to help others because my own offers have been used in a negative way. Children need to learn that even though such people exist doesn't mean they should allow such experiences to change them for the worse.
So, how did the episode fare overall? Honestly, I loved it. While I don't think it's as good as some of Rarity's previous episodes, it has plenty in it to make me like it. It served as a great character story for Rarity, the story kept me engaged from start to finish, there was some decent humour, a good song and a great moral at the end of it. While I did have a few issues with it here and there, the good more than outweighed the bad, so much so that I think this episode will stand alongside "Flight to the Finish" as being among my favourite episodes of this season so far. Definitely recommended.
The premise of this episode is that Rarity and the rest of the cast go to the city of Manehattan to attend a fashion show in the hopes she will win. However, another designer seems to have stolen Rarity's entire line.
Let me start off by saying how happy I am that Rarity is getting a focus episode after such a long time. Even though I generally liked season three of this show more than most people seemed to, I will say that one thing I criticised it for was a lack of focus on characters like Rarity. And that was a big shame for me because many of her episodes have been very entertaining character pieces, with "Suited for Success" still being among my top ten episodes of all time. So, regardless of how else I might have felt about the episode, at the very least I'm happy that she's getting the spotlight again.
In addition, I like how this episode is a return to Rarity's goal to improve her standing in the world of fashion. As I have said many times before when her episodes are concerned, I am a complete novice when it comes to fashion and the world those involved live in. As such there is always a risk in episodes like this that I will completely lose interest as it's being focused on something I have little to no knowledge or interest in. However, as always, it's the character of Rarity herself who manages to keep me engaged throughout, as I really felt the difficulty she was in when trying to win something she set her heart on. We all know how hard she's worked on this sort of thing in the past, so I was always rooting for her in this story, which is a plus in any episode if it can make me overlook it's premise for the sake of it's protagonist.
Her development throughout this episode seemed like a very relatable situation to be in. I'm sure we've all had moments in our lives when we're faced with something we want to achieve and it causes us to become bitter to those around us. Rarity's attitude towards her friends, though admittedly undeserving, were at the very least understandable given all of the stress she's been put through. Plus, we've all seen how this kind of difficult situation can get to her, especially when fashion is involved. Still, the whole thing seemed to be resolved very quickly, which is not something that bothers me as Rarity never seemed to be the type of character who would be this aggressive for long periods of time. She's stressed, she makes her mistake, and she realises it quickly. So the pacing of the whole thing seemed just right for me.
But what I love most of all about this whole situation is how it seems to be the first episode that focuses on how her most important personality trait, generosity, can be turned against her. This is the first time this sort of thing has been explored for her and I was eager to seem them tackle it. Although she's been shown to be generous many times before, this episode is the first time that it comes to bite her later on. In many ways it's a similar experience to what Fluttershy endured back in "Keep Calm and Flutter On". There, her kindness was put to the test and, in the end, she was proved to be right in sticking to her element. And it's the same for Rarity, as she's shown just how important being generous can be in the long term.
If I had one real complaint about the episode, it's that the basic setup carries a lot of shade of previous MLP episodes to it. Having Rarity struggle to impress some high-up person in the fashion world has been done before, in the aforementioned "Suited for Success" episode. There were also elements of "Wonderbolt Academy" to it, as we have a character coming close to achieving what they've held as their dream, only to have the reality of it not match up to what they were expecting. While I don't mind repeated story ideas per se, it is something of a disappointment when we've seen so many episodes this season try something different.
When it comes to the episode's main setting, the city of Manehattan, I have a few issues with it. For the time being, I'm going to put aside the really bad pun being used for it's name, as I've had to deal with far worse in this show's history. But the idea of this big, New-York-style city existing in this world just rubs me the wrong way. Not because I have anything against the real-life city or the people who live there, but because it just doesn't seem to fit into the rest of the world this show has given us. MLP, to me, is more-or-less a straight up fantasy story, and when it's being just that, with it's magic and strange creatures and light-hearted adventures, I love it. But when you take that and slap a big and modern-looking metropolis into the works, it just doesn't mesh for me.
The rival character is one of those characters who just seems designed to be hated, and it works. From the moment that mare entered the screen, I just said to myself "I'm going to REALLY dislike this one". Every action she takes in this episode is about as petty and as low as things get in an episode like this. But while this means she serves her function as an antagonist well, we get no real explanation as to how she became like this from the person who used to be a colleague of Rarity. I suppose it could be viewed as how big city life can corrupt a person, and that she used to be a pretty decent mare to know, but as it stands she just comes across as a one-dimensional bully to me.
The head of the fashion week, while not a bad character per se, doesn't really do much for me, good or bad. I do wonder why they needed to create this character though. We've had several pony characters involved in the fashion world that could have served this function, like Sapphire Shores or Hoity Toity, who even make cameo appearances in the episode, so it doesn't make sense why this new pony needed to be made. The rival's assistant however I found I really liked. You can tell just how uncomfortable she is with all of this and I was really happy to see her get her happy end in the resolution of the episode.
Onto the song now and this week we have a great one to listen to. It involves Rarity singing about her role as the generous one of the group while coping with all the difficulties that such a role brings while being in a big city like Manehattan. Kazumi Evans, Rarity's voice actress during song sequences, does a great job here, sounding just as good as always. I've cited many times that, apart from Rebecca Shoichet (Twilight's singing voice), Evans is perhaps my favourite singer from among the main cast, and this reminds me why. It put me in mind throughout of her song back in "Sweet and Elite", as it conveys both the excitement and joy the character was feeling as well as how down she can get when the more negative aspects of her situation come into focus. If I had one real complaint about it, it would be that it's not as catchy as the other songs we've had so far, but that's a very minor point against it.
The episode's humour tends to stem from Rarity and her actions in the story. This is good as Tabitha St Germain, her voice actress, has often managed to make me laugh with her occasional over-the-top moments. This episode has plenty of that to hear and it succeeded in making me laugh, even at times when I knew I shouldn't. In addition to this, there were plenty of other funny moments with other members of the main cast. Pinkie was hilarious as always, and Rainbow Dash's comments were also pretty funny, which is rare for me as she's not usually a source of humour for me. Though I will say that her remark regarding songs coming out of nowhere was some pretty decent meta-humour.
As for the moral-of-the-week, this episode's lesson seems to be that just because others may take advantage of the things you do for them, doesn't mean that you yourself should lead this to change how generous you are towards others, and that those who do take advantage will always be few. I like this moral as I've had many experiences that have often made me hesitant to go out of my way to help others because my own offers have been used in a negative way. Children need to learn that even though such people exist doesn't mean they should allow such experiences to change them for the worse.
So, how did the episode fare overall? Honestly, I loved it. While I don't think it's as good as some of Rarity's previous episodes, it has plenty in it to make me like it. It served as a great character story for Rarity, the story kept me engaged from start to finish, there was some decent humour, a good song and a great moral at the end of it. While I did have a few issues with it here and there, the good more than outweighed the bad, so much so that I think this episode will stand alongside "Flight to the Finish" as being among my favourite episodes of this season so far. Definitely recommended.
