My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic - Simple Ways - Talkback

[bobbybop]

A travel writer arrives in Ponyville and Rarity takes a liking to him, but he's interested in impressing Applejack.

 

[trance2009]

I like how Spike's presentation basically looks like storyboarding for the actual show.


And here comes the fanart for glamour Applejack.

 

[MetroSparkster]

It was an OK episode.

Rarineck and Applejewel made this interesting.

 

[Toon4Thought]

While this is certainly not the worst episode of the season thus far (at least the characters aren't insultingly reduced and/or given pretend importance), this is probably the most underwhelming one for me. I'll go through this in pros and cons again.

Pros:
-This is definitely the most hyperactive Rarity we've seen in the whole series, not to mention her dwelling on something that's kind of stupid. What puts this in the positives for me is that I get the impression that the episode is aware of how stupid she's acting, and it results in what is probably her most out-of-the-ordinary moral to date, as I remember most of the other ones revolving around her generosity or high-class content or something.
-Finally, Spike gets a good role this season.
-The idea of Rarity turning all farm-girl and Applejack turning fashionista is a pretty clever idea, and it results in some pretty good laughs toward the end. Only wish they could've done more with it...
-You really have to give Tabitha St. Germain a ton of credit for going along with the country accent and dialogue.

Cons:
-The pacing. The first act actually isn't all that bad with this, but I really don't like how they waited until the third act to get to the really fun stuff. I do like how Rarity tries to act more country in the second act, but I feel like, for the most part, they could've used that time much more wisely than they did; and on top of that, the middle primarily focuses on...
-Practically everything with Trenderhoof. To put it simply, he's one of my least favorite one-offs in the whole show. Most of the issues I have with this episode (from the unrealistic acting to the downright unsettling nature) stem from him, the episode gives him too much focus with too little of a payoff, and I just felt uncomfortable watching him.

This episode definitely could've been better than what it was, but as it is, I'm honestly not sure what to think at the moment, nor can I be sure how my opinion might change upon rewatching it. Right now, I'd say this is my second least-favorite ep. of the season with only "Rainbow Falls" behind it (though still by a couple miles).

 

[TnAdct1]

Getting the criticism out of the way first: yeah, it does feel like the festival is just there as just a device to allow for a situation to have a person that Rarity admires to come to Ponyville. We could have done more with the Ponyville Days festival, especially when it comes to things becoming chaotic due to Rarity being more focused in impressing a traveling writer than doing her job. Still, you can see why Meghan McCarthy considers it to be the "her favorite Rarity performance ever", as she pretty much goes nuts in an attempt to attract Trenderhoof, with her completely losing by going completely "hick" (and Applejack countering it by imitating Rarity). Probably would have worked better if the festival aspect was handled better (i.e. keep it simpler by not including it or actually showing the other ponies preparing for the event alongside Rarity trying to impress Trenderhoof), but it was still a hoot.

Comments:

-Getting some Dinky love early on in the episode, as she shushes a hyper Pinkie Pie.

-One example in terms of how the Ponyville Days festival events could have been better incorporated in the episode: given how Twilight and Fluttershy were assisting in the fashion show, they'd probably could have been more involved in the climatic bit that involves auditions for the event (either assisting in the audition process or assisting AJ in her plan to get Rarity back to normal).

-Is it just me, or did the episode definitely go nuts making AJ attractive? First, there's the image of her as she's harvesting apples that causes Trenderhoof to fall for her, and then this shot.

-Loved the irony of Rarity telling Spike of her situation about how the one pony she has a crush on has a crush on someone else.

-Derpy not appreciated? Not in the minds of the MLP fandom.

-In terms of the poem that Trenderhoof recites, wouldn't it have worked better if the second to last line rhymed with Rarity? To me, it looked like the last two words in the poem were going to be Pinkie Pie.

-Not sure if it was a good idea to spoil the climatic moment of AJ acting like Rarity in order to get her back to her normal self, but it mean I know when to crank up the volume when Rarity delivers the "I LOVE BEING COVERED IN MUD!!!" line.

 

[Kazuya Prower]

And so the first half of season 4 is over. That was a great episode. A lot of hilarious parts such as the facial expressions, Spike's expression after what Rarity said about obsessing over a pony, but said pony is obsessed over somepony else and the climax. DJ-Pon3/Vinyl Scratch finally makes her season 4 appearance. Tabitha St. Germain was as great as Meghan McCarthy said she would be in this episode. I liked how Applejack had to fight fire with fire to convince Rarity that she should just be herself. Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy really didn't do much in this episode other than get their roles in the festival assigned to them.

 

[TnAdct1]

Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy really didn't do much in this episode other than get their roles in the festival assigned to them.

Definitely agree with Rainbow Dash here (was she even necessary in the episode?). However, Pinkie Pie has her moment in the cold opening (although once Tenderhoof arrives, she's pretty much quiet), and Fluttershy is active when Rarity starts to really go off the deep end (although I felt that she and Twilight could have gotten more involved in the climax, given how it involves the fashion show that they're assisting Rarity with).

However, that mention does bring up the criticism involving the Ponyville Days festival, as the episode could have either not included them in the episode if they cut that plot point, or they could have expanded on their roles some more by putting more focus on the festival aspect.

 

[Juu-kuchi]

Loved this episode. A bit more on the jokey side than "Rarity Takes Manehattan", but it's saved by Rarity's exceptional performance as well as the focus being made between her and AJ. I enjoyed how it was all slow build-up until Rarity goes full hick on everypony, as it would have made the episode more annoying if she just went there immediately after being rejected. The confrontation between her and AJ at the end worked out well, and it was a very clever, subdued thing to do instead of forcing all the Mane Six to be involved. It's a nice personal piece, and continues Rarity's strong streak in terms of episodes, although I'm not sure where it ranks among the others sans "Suited for Success" (which is pinned for #1 no matter what).

 

[JAG]

"Suited for Success" (which is pinned for #1 no matter what).

Agreed. SFS will always be the definitive Rarity episode.

Anyway, Tabitha St. Germain is Best Voice Actress. This is fact, now. Rarity faking a country accent was possibly the funniest thing I've seen all season.

Yeah, this was another winner. Hilarious, generally well-paced, had a good lesson for Rarity, Trenderhoof wasn't another Brad... it did pretty much everything right. Points of amusement and/or interest:

- Rarity's Trenderhoof shrine. The fandom is going to get a lot of mileage out of that, I think.

- Spike seems to have accepted that he has no chance with Rarity for the time being. Very mature of him.

- Acknowledgement that Derpy's been mistreated by the show lately. That was a nice little nod to her fans.

- Undoubtedly some stuff I'm forgetting, as always.

Good stuff. One of the season's best.

 

[TnAdct1]

In terms of my main criticism for the episode (i.e. the Ponyville Days aspect not really being utilized), it looks like it's a result of the writer "writing too much story".

 

[Juu-kuchi]

In terms of my main criticism for the episode (i.e. the Ponyville Days aspect not really being utilized), it looks like it's a result of the writer "writing too much story".

Huh, I was always under the impression that it was always going to be in the backdrop. But thankfully they chose characters instead of setpiece (like Castle Mane-ia or *shrug* Apple Family Reunion).

Although personally the big major flaw in this episode is that Rarity refers to Spike as "Spikey-poo" instead of "Spikey-wikey".

 

[Zanneck]

Twilight's facepalm at Rarity's behavior close to the end of the first act sums up my overall opinion on this episode - one big facepalm... I'll make my case as best as I can, despite (almost) not being able to finish this episode (and just about walking out on it before it could conclude!).

I'm sorry, but LPS had a better plot regarding this "whole love at first sight" scenario this week, but while it was predictable THERE (just like as it was here, only worse - due to that idiot Rarity's sucking up to coming off as a stalker, IMHO!), THIS show did it much more annoyingly, unlike how LPS handled the same plot (despite the predictability being an obvious flaw - FACT.).

Sorry, guys (especially because I know this isn't the place to be talking about LPS.; I just can't help whatever that show did in comparison to here, THEY did it BETTER, despite its predictability, IMHO.).

All this episode did was make Rarity look like an idiot - the whole thing is made more messed by Applejack joining in at the end, as well. There was NO POINT to that! At all!! Especially when it accomplished nothing in the end...

At least it ended well enough with whatever Rarity was really trying to do in the first place going off with little to no BS at the end - I still can't forgive such stupidity throughout the episode so easily, IMHO... Even with repeat viewings, this was some Low - Tier nonsense for MLP:FiM this week.

Sigh... we're halfway through Season 4, and overall, coming off of this episode - I am just really not all that pleased or impressed. At all. Beat up on me all you want. I just... don't care. Sorry.

Rarity better get another episode as good as if not better than Rarity Takes Manhattan (thank you, Dave Polsky - yes, him of all writers on this show surprised me there, royally!), or else I've just got more leverage for my overall opinions on this show and how I think LPS is better, despite NOT being as good as this show can be.

And I'm sure you're all tired of hearing me say this, too - I don't blame you if you are; I'm just hurting myself when an episode isn't to my liking.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Like others here, I found this episode to just be OK. It took too long to get to anything too interesting, and I felt like not enough was done with Rarity going into full hick mode. That said, St. Germain did a great job performing specifically as Rarity attempting a country accent. While on one hand, I suppose it is good that Rarity and Applejack managed to get Rarity to be honest to herself on their own, I came into the episode expecting a sequence of Applejack going out with Trenderhoof and acting all fancy in order to scare him off while Rarity tried to draw him in by acting all country, which could have been a great source of comedy, and it's a bit disappointing that there weren't really any scenes like that. Trenderhoof was an OK character, given that he was obviously meant to be a bit annoying, but I definitely don't expect him to catch on to the level of previous side characters (especially ones like Coco Pommel).

Really, it felt like the episode needed a lot more energy to it. Trenderhoof arriving could have been the pre-credits sequence, and the scenes in general could have moved at a faster pace to get in more jokes.

 

[zoombie]

Great episode, Tabathia St. Germain you are awesome. I loved seeing Rarity's farmer girl personna, also liked for the most part Rarity didn't take out her frustration on Applejack and blame her for everything. So often in love triangles especially with two girls and a guy love traingle, the girls just turn on each other and see each other the enemy, and not put any blame on the guy. For the problems I have with their love triangle, at least that didn't happen in Legend Of Korra, and My Little Pony continues that trend.

I thought for a moment that when Rarity putting Tenderhoof on a peddlstle that he turn out to be a loud mouth annoying person that every pony except Rarity sees. It would be something if Tenderhoof was like that.

I love Spike reaaction to Rarity you can't understand how I fell. Hillarous, a good episode I would highly recommend.

 

[SaneMan]

a pretty fun episode, and I'm sure the fan-art community is going to have a blast with it

also, em I the only one to get a "no means no" moral out of this?