Welcome once again fillies and gentlecolts to another edition of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Recap/Review. After two weeks of Rainbow Dash episodes, I’m certain that most of you have been totally burned out by her awesomeness. Thankfully this week we went with a far lighter story as we shine the spotlight on the lovely Rarity as she tries her hoof at being “Sweet and Elite”. How did she manage? Let’s find out in the review of this week’s episode.
We open the episode at Canterlot Castle, as Rarity has been invited by Princess Celestia to stay for a while at the request of Twilight Sparkle. Rarity of course is eternally grateful. She’s so grateful of Twilight’s gesture, that she plans to make Twilight a dress for her birthday while she’s at Canterlot. All while trying to mingle with the super refined (AKA extremely snobby) Canterlot folk of course. Rarity has always had the mentality that despite being born in the simple village of Ponyville, that she was a Canterlot pony at heart. However, her hopes of fitting in don’t exactly fare as well as planed.
That is, until she meets Fancypants, one of the most important ponies in the Canterlot social scene. He invites her to Wonderbolts derby, which she quickly accepts. This however causes a conundrum, as going to the Derby would cut into valuable time Rarity could spend working on Twilight’s dress. But since being an important pony means everything to her, Rarity chooses going to the derby instead.
While at the derby, Rarity begins to fit in with all of the Snob ponies (mostly thanks to her own lies, including saying that her friend Rainbow Dash was the trainer of the Wonderbolts), and begins to get invited to more and more social events. This leads into the second big song of the season, as we see that Rarity has become the biggest social butterfly of Canterlot. She goes everywhere from art galleries, the opera, and even christening an airship. However, despite her newfound popularity, she completely forgets to work on Twilight’s dress.
Soon, it’s time for Rarity to go back home to Ponyville. But just before she’s about to leave, she gets an invitation to the annual Canterlot garden party, the biggest social event next to the Grand Galloping Gala. This once again puts Rarity in a conflict, as going to the garden party would cause her to miss Twilight’s birthday party completely. So, Rarity makes the only logical decision: Lie to her friends. She sends a letter saying that Opal is sick, and she can’t leave Canterlot just yet. Rarity readies herself for the garden party, and all seems to be going fine until…
SURPRISE!! WE’RE HERE TO FOIL YOUR LIE!
After reading Rarity’s letter, Twilight and her friends decide to have her birthday at Canterlot instead, so that Rarity wouldn’t miss it. Heck, Pinkie Pie even brought her party cannon. Twilight sees the dress that Rarity barely worked on, and loves it nonetheless. This whole situation is of course horrible timing for Rarity as the garden party is happening at the exact same time.
So in classic sitcom fashion, Rarity tries to attend both parties at once, constantly running back and forth to each in hopes not to let anypony down. Despite wearing her out, this works out well. That is, until Twilight and the others decide to continue the birthday festivities over at the garden party. Over at the garden party, they cause a general ruckus by pretty much just being themselves. All the while Rarity tries to continue her charade.
However, her charade finally falls apart when Twilight tells Fancypants that they are all from Ponyville. Rarity finally bites the bullet and admits that they are her friends, and despite not being refined, she would do anything for them. And in a surprising twist, Fancypants is quite pleased to meet them, and even compliments Twilight’s dress. Thereby proving that not every pony in Canterlot is a snobby jerk (well at least one at this point). The episode comes to an end with Rarity telling Princess Celestia of the lesson she learned, which is no matter where you go in life, you should never forget where you came from, and who your friends are.
“Sweet and Elite” was certainly both those things, but how exactly did it fare as an episode? Let’s break it down with pros and cons.
PRO
I loved that we focused the entire episode on Canterlot. While Ponyville always provides a good setting for episodes, I usually find that episodes focusing on other locations fare better as we have new places to explore. And we’ve only really seen bits and pieces of Canterlot before this episode, so having a full experience really helped to see how it functions as a place.
The sitcom elements worked far better in this episode, even by the end. My favorite episodes are usually the ones that rely on the comedy elements of the show. And this one handled them just well enough without needing to go with an over the top ending. It all fit for an easy going package.
This episode had background cameos galore. Everyone from Photo Finish, Hoity Toity, Prince Blueblood, and even Octavia made quick appearances in this episode. I’m glad to see that these characters still manage to live on, and weren’t just quick one note appearances in season one.
Fancypants being a good pony at the end was a great twist, and made me really like the character. It really set the moral that not all rich people are selfish and greedy, and can be generally nice folk. This show has excelled when it comes to making characters that are great role models, even if they are just cartoon horses. And this episode, and this character was certainly no exception.
The song in this episode was great. Once again, Daniel Ingram outdoes himself with another catchy and creative song. That, and the montage all work together perfectly to help continue this show’s streak of amazing music. Seriously Hasbro, give us an official soundtrack!
The garden party scene was easily the best part of the episode, if just for the ponies being themselves. That, and Twilight being a dancing machine so amazing, it would make Elaine Benes jealous.
And finally, Rarity once again shined in this episode. I find while her episodes lack in the action, and even the darker elements this show can be known for, they excel above and beyond in the comedy department. Her complexities are amazing to watch. From being fine and refined, or being overly dramatic over the slightest little issue, to even losing her mind entirely. She has so many dimensions to her, perhaps even more than the rest of the mane six. And while one would say that Rarity’s lies and decisions weren’t right, at least she knew what she was doing was wrong, and in the end rectified her actions. Rarity episodes haven’t been terrible yet, and this was further proof of that.
CON
I will say that the majority of the episode, especially the first act was kinda slow getting off the ground, and it really didn’t pick up until we got to the party scene at the end. While Rarity was amazing in this episode as always, I do think the episode suffered with it being just about her. But that’s a flaw I think some episodes really have. The mane six are so varied that episodes work better when they can play off of one another. This one really didn’t have much of that until the ending. And that sorta hurt the episode.
Other than that con, I’d say this episode was really good. The story worked quite well, Rarity’s actions didn’t assassinate the character in any way, and most importantly the moral was really good. After a couple of weak episodes recently, we’re finally back into the good graces of greatness. Granted not perfect, but still very entertaining. It’s one of the better episodes this season so far.
RATING: 8.5 out of 10
Next week, we take the spotlight away from the ponies, and it’s time for a Spike episode. When Spike’s birthday arrives (Yes, another birthday story), all goes well until he begins to get greedy over the gifts he receives. This triggers a dragon trait that causes him to grow uncontrollably. Can the ponies save Spike and Ponyville? We’ll find out in episode 10 “Secret of my Excess”
Until next week Bronies and Pegasisters.