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| Is this the first airship scene in FiM? I wish they'd used them slightly more often |
Written by Meghan McCarthy
3 Dec 2011
My original rating: N/A
IMDB score: 8.4
The one with Hayseed Turniptruck.
Thoughts: Opal's best episode. Not the thing most people remember, perhaps, but it is – she largely acts as Rarity's increasingly ignored conscience, and I find her very effective. Apart from that, this is definitely a step up from the previous ep. We get to meet Fancy Pants for the first time, and this is what I consider his true personality, not the more annoying, less pleasant version we sometimes see later in the series. It helps that here he's so clearly a cut above the snooty Canterlot elite, and that Trevor Devall's voicing is nearly perfectly English. Fleur is amusing, too. Another significant introduction is Pinkie's Party Cannon, though here it's just a quick visual gag. Twilight's terrible dancing, too, which was alluded to in Equestria Girls but – again – not always retained later on. As for this episode, it's a solid one on the whole, and Rarity's song is both very good and very well suited to her character. So many fun visual touches in the song sequence, too. My only real gripes are that Rarity never really gets a comeuppance for blatantly lying to her friends (though she does suffer for other things), and that Fluttershy would surely have been able to tell that Opal wasn't really sick. This is still very watchable, though, and it's not far off a four-star rating. A top-end three, certainly.
Choice quote: Rarity: "What croquet mallet?"
New rating: ★★★
Next up is "Secret of My Excess", which I've tended to see as a bit of a meh episode. Let's see whether that changes.
It remains funny to me that this is the one episode where a character deserves a comeuppance, yet the lack thereof never really spoiled it for me.
ReplyDeleteAlso, 3000% agreed on Fancy Pants. It's a travesty to just have him be another snooty Canterlot noble.
Yes, I suspect I'll give that change both barrels when we get to "Princess Spike"...
DeleteThe thing I always liked about Rarity seemingly not facing any consequences for her actions is that it seemingly didn't actually upset the others at all. I get the feeling that if she'd said "sorry, I'm busy", rather than setting a chain of farcical events in motion leading up to the whole sitcom bit, the others would have totally understood and even supported her (cf Rarity Takes Manehattan), they're well used to her drama queen overreactions by now. Plus, even if they did feel aggrieved, her very public confession/moment of potentially career ending vulnerability at the end is a crowning moment of awesome that outweighs the wrong she was apologising for in the first place.
ReplyDeleteGreat episode, great song, and the little epilogue with Turnip in the comics elevates it even further.
I really need to re-read the comics. I bought pretty much all of them for several years, after all. Maybe I can do a re-read series when this rewatch series is finally done! :P
DeleteIt's no secret that the Canterlot ponies, with a few exceptions, are among my least favorite characters in the series because if there's one type of people I can't stand... It's 'snobs'. But then we have Fancy Pants... No, not the cringe-as-hell version we get in later seasons, but the upstanding gentleman who has that charm that makes him a 'cut above the rest' and he was initially a kinder aristocrat (Especially when he met Rarity's friends). I wish we had more of this character during the later seasons, but after this... He makes me question how I'm supposed to feel about this guy. Then again, Fleur De Lis is 'cute', and I've been having some thoughts about their 'union', and it's amazing how she'd grow to be so popular after this.
ReplyDeleteAs for the main subject in question, Rarity has always been the pony who wanted to live in Canterlot for the glamor and sophistication, in her own words. But it seems for every visit she goes, you have to imagine how long it takes her to see that it's not as great as she makes it out to be. True, if we ignore the snobby behavior of the inhabitants, it does fit Rarity's preferred choice of living and so it's no wonder she gets swept away by it all... So much it distracts her from making Twilight's dress for her birthday. Could she have gotten her comeuppance? Maybe... But the fact she was willing to stand up to these rich ponies for their harsh view on her friends, even though what they did during the party was a 'little' questionable (Though Twilight's dance was adorable), for me it does enough.
For me, this episode was somewhat redeeming from that drastic display that came before it. The music is catchy, the animation techniques were stellar, the characters had their moments, and overall, it's a memorable enough episode that I can reflect on. It may not be considered the best of the best, but it's still enjoyable like any piece of art.
Rarity has always been the pony who wanted to live in Canterlot
DeleteAt this point in the show's run, yes. Manehatten shouldered its way in more and more as the years went by, and I was never fully reconciled to that change.
Surprised this one didn't get a 4 from you! The review really seemed to be leaning that way. Rarity beats herself up so much over her mild deception that it doesn't irk me that she doesn't get a comeuppance directly; it's a far cry from "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" last episode, where Dash wasn't reeling guilty about being a jerk at all. Plus, Rarity has to admit the truth in front of everyone in a way that might damage her career at the end. I've no major qualms there.
ReplyDeleteStrong agreement otherwise; stellar song, wonderful Fancy Pants before Princess Spike and Between Dark and Down (just... what even is that title?) did a number on him (seriously, he was perhaps the best treated male character in the show if we ignore his other appearances), and the rest, from Pinkie's Party Cannon down to Twilight's awkward dance. Not my favourite Rarity episode, but a truly great one nonetheless.
On a side note, I kind of love how much the animators made it visually clear that Fleur is Fancy's mistress (or, well, that their relationship gets intense in the bedroom, you know). Just the way she keeps posing around and leaning on him. Normally I wouldn't care for such jokes in a show like this, but somehow they made it work.
Surprised this one didn't get a 4 from you!
DeleteI think you'll see a few episodes nudged down slightly from where you might expect, or (once we get to the point where it's relevant) from what I originally gave them. I used to consider three stars (or equivalent) to be "Okay I suppose", but I recalibrated after a while. Now, mid-two is what that gets, so top-end three is well into "Pretty darn enjoyable" territory.
Between Dark and Down (just... what even is that title?)
A misremembering. ;) It's "Between Dark and Dawn".
Darn typos. I meant to say the proper title of "Between Dark and Dawn". My point about the title applied to that. As I'm sure you'll guess.
DeleteI'll bear that in mind with your ratings. It just feels so odd - I'm so conditioned to the middle number being... well, the middle number, meaning okay. It
also helps to read the reviews fully, so one knows it's a high 3. Thought of course I already do that - your reviews are pleasant reads, man - so no problems there!
I have a strange relationship with this episode. It's one of the better songs in my book, and Rarity is my favorite M6 character, so I usually love to see ones centered on her. This one didn't disappoint, as it had lots of nice touches. It did bother me that Rarity completely got away with being inconsiderate. Even what she apologized for wasn't quite the right thing. But I loved it anyway.
ReplyDeleteAgreed that Fancy Pants became a lot less interesting after they dropped his unexpected characterization here. I actually feel the sae way about Opal. This episode deals with her in a different way than about any other one does, and while I like this non-stereotypical version of her, it can be dangerous to play both sides of the inconsistency coin, lauding this one-off take on her while criticizing the show for one-off takes I don't like. In other words, even though I like this Opal, I think it's fair to say it's not consistent with the Opal of pretty much any other episode. At least "Suited for Success" showed her to be fashion-conscious, but she's always been portrayed as standoffish, if not outright malicious, even to Rarity.
Fair point on Fluttershy, but I'm not sure I agree. Vets of course always have the problem that their patients can't tell them what's wrong. Fluttershy can of course communicate with her animals, but she'd have to do that. She wouldn't know just by looking, and she never asked Opal. For that matter, with how accommodating she was being to Rarity in this episode, even if Fluttershy had asked her, she may have covered for Rarity.
The party scene had its fun gags about the Ponyville gang acting awkwardly, and the song sequence was a really nice set of visuals. That makes for a great episode to me.
I've had an epiphany. Take that irritation at how Fancy Pants has changed over the series' course and go watch Princess Spike with it in mind.
ReplyDelete