Episode Review: Simple Ways · 4:43am Feb 16th, 2014
I could have sworn I posted this already. o-o Oh well, magic of copy/paste go!
Josh Haber's 'tick' seems to be twisting the safe, always inoffensive story lines that we have seen before and this one is no exception. Love triangles are very hard to pull off becasue they have been done so much. However, when doing them in a show where little girls are the primary demographic and you have to be very careful not to step over any lines, especially if you're only two episodes in to an established series. Needless to say, this episode, like Castle Mania was sort of 'meh' to me, but this time he doesn't have the 'first episode' excuse. So, let's check out what the Bear Necess- er... Simple Ways... are all about. ^^;
I ordered that replica three years ago and about five hundred times the size, Rarity. >>
Simple Ways begins with the town of Ponyville picking the Pony of Ceremonies for the 'Ponyville Days' celebration: the anniversary of the town's founding. Naturally, Granny Smith is on the selection council, being a town founder and all. Any way, they pick Rarity for the job for her theme of 'Small Town Chic', to which, after the theme, she starts fawning over to her friends (and indeed, her outfit is fabulous) before revealing her aspirations to sweep a VIP off his hooves when he arrives. And it begins. -.- The guy's name is Trenderhoof, and he's got to be one of the biggest... nah, I'll save it for later. Rarity and Twilight go to meet this guy at the train station. Rarity is absolutely adorable when she's nervous, by the way. Anyway, with some urging from Twilight, the fashionista goes to meet her fangirl crush and faints when he asks her to personally show him around. Now, you'll never guess who the other third of the triangle i- oh, wait. I said it last week. >>;;
Rarity takes Trenderf*** to Sweet Apple Acres, he comments on the authenticity of the place and then he lays eyes on Applejack and her rugged country charm blows him out of the water and knocks him onto the ship. He's utterly enamored with her, enough to shove Rarity out of his way so he can go meet the mare and leaves Rarity dejected. Later, she's with Spike in her boutique, as she sobs and cries over how he doesn't seem to know she exists and actually has the STONES to ask Spike if he knows how it feels. Smooth, squiggle tail. Real smooth. As you might guess, Applejack isn't exactly receptive of the stallion and his pining, nor does she really appreciate his terminology of her lifestyle, what with all the 'quaint' and implying she's unrelateable to other ponies. Then, out of the blue, here comes Rarity wearing the most gaudy country outfit attempt EVER. She even tries to help Applejack do her chores, but he only has eyes for the farmer. Applejack then pulls Rarity aside and the two have a small row (British for fight) and somehow, this inspires Rarity to change the theme of the event to 'Simple Ways' (dat title drop).
The sight of the tailor in overalls and a ratty straw hat (with a bad accent to boot) understandably sends Applejack into a much deserved fit of giggles. But when Rarity refuses to drop the act, Applejack gets mad and comes up with a plan to make her yield. As she's looking over the fillies in the barn at Sweet Apple Acres for her fashion show, Spike tells Rarity that there is one last entrant named Apple Jewel, who promptly makes herself known on the stage. It's AJ dressed to the nines to spite Rarity. The two then start one-upping each other in the stereotypes of their cultures until Rarity, after splashing in mud, gets Applejack's dress (which was made by the unicorn) dirty and it snaps her out of it. Trenderhoof comes along and states his intentions to live in Ponyville, but AJ finally gets through to him and lets him down. Lessons learned, Rarity writes into the journal about how it is wrong to change yourself for the sake of impressing a love interest/friend. The end.
Yeee~! Vinyl Scratch makes her season appearance! =D Too bad it wasn't last episode.
Let's tackle our guest character this episode. Trenderhoof is about the textbook definition of a hipster. Oh, and he's also a bit of a racist for some of his comments to Applejack when he was trying to wow her, like how he admires "Earth Pony work ethic" and somesuch. It's not in a mean-spirited way, just a... patronizing way. It doesn't make it any less vile, but hey, this is just another example that Equestria is NOT perfect. That said, coming fresh off the heals of Cheese 'Weird Al' Sandwich, he was bound to pale in comparison.
Next time, on the Nature Channel: the wild Hipster in his natural habitat.
Yeah, I think I know that feeling, Rarity. -.-
Now then, it's time for likes and dislikes!
Tabitha St. Germain cements her position as best voice actor in the series. This episode displays just how diverse her vocal range and her ability to pull off such incredible voice work as demonstrated here. She absolutely killed it and I can't remember who said it, but they defiantly worked her for all she has this season and we're only half way done! Spike is also great in this episode for putting up with Rarity, even if she admits that she has no interest in him at all, he still does his best to help her. Why can't we have a Spike episode with him doing this, or like he was in Lesson Zero? Also, the battle between Raribumpkin and Apple Jewel was two spectacular minutes of Look Before You Sleep one-up-mare-ship glorious ham!
First and foremost, the plot is a little slow to start as we aren't introduced to the conflict until about a third of the way into the episode. And then the resolution comes at the drop of a hat... or the flop of a deranged unicorn into a mud puddle. The whole plot is predictable and has been done so often that older viewers can see the ending coming from space. Also, the love interest was bland and caused a little bit of a feeling of discomfort. I also kind of disliked Spike's LACK of reaction to Rarity first revealing her crush on Trenderhoof... unless he knew of it before and it was not news to him, but that can't be supported by the evidence given within the show.
AH LOVE BEIN' COVERED IN MUUD!
Danger! Ham Levels are reaching Whole Hog!
So now we come to that last part of the review. If you were to shove me in the mud (I know it's not fatal), I would give this episode a passable 75/100. Tabitha St Germain's amazing vocal work and the humour within the episode save it from being a complete bore, but it still suffers for following every trope in the 'love triangle' text book, more or less.
Next week, a member of the ponyville acapella quartet, The Ponytones, is unable to sing for an event and Fluttershy has to take their place. Will crippling stage fright sink the show, or will she find that the limelight isn't as bad as she thought? Find out in Filli Vanilli! I'm not even going to try to make a pun out of that. Until then, this is Ciroton saying, "Olè!"
So fabulous it's a crime, indeed.
The voice acting was top notch here. Tabitha should get her vocal cords insured, they are so spectacular. I loved all her Rarity freakouts, from the loud to the squeak.
I too give this episode a "meh". I think the whole concept was built around the final act of Applejack and Rarity stereotyping the other. It was all leading up to that. Glorious, but left the rest of the episode to seem less than spectacular.
More like yesterday.
Rarijack shippin' fuel.
Also, stupid sexy AJ. /Flanders
Oh, my. I wonder if this is when they'll start sighting a shark fin in the water.......
The amount of cringing this episode caused, I couldn't feel my face for an hour.
1840501