MLP episode review: Look Before you Sleep · 6:02pm May 21st, 2014
Okay, time for an episode I find baffling. Well, not the episode itself, but why it seems to generate such... indifference? Dislike? Bah. Before I leap, it's time to...
Look Before you Sleep
We open on a sunny day in Ponyville, except it's not sunny for long! Pegasi are pushing clouds all into the sky, while down below branches are being pulled off, one by Ditzy. Rarity... floats a branch back up, reattaches it and turns the leaves into topiary. Which seems counterproductive to what everyone else was doing, mind. Then Applejack just lassos the branch and yanks it down. She chews her out and asks if she cares about anything other than 'prettifying'. Rarity bites back that someone has to. The town square's a mess! We look around and Applejack points out that unless the loose branches are pulled down, they'll be likely to hit someone in the head when the storm hits. We learn the Pegasi missed a scheduled sprinkle last week, so they need a bigger storm to make up for it. Hmm, makes sense. 'Dragonshy' was last week. ;) And heck, even not taking that into account, bureaucratic SNAFUs happen anywhere. And right on cue there goes the sun and here comes the rain!
Rarity's in a tizzy because of her mane. Applejack says she should've hurried up and finished the job. I'm... with Applejack, here. Hell, Rarity was making the job harder by putting that branch back up! She tries to outrun the rain, and Applejack points out a table to hide under. But there's mud there! They begin arguing, devolving mentally into five-year olds. At best. They decide to walk away before one of them says something they'll regret, but not before arguing again. But lighting flashes and they run into each other as the wind whips up.
After the credits we see Applejack under the table, hunkering down best she can. We suddenly hear Twilight's voice echoing, calling them. NO! Don't go into the light! Oh, wait, it's just her at Golden Oaks. They run to it, but Applejack asks if being inside a tree is the best place during a lightning storm? And twilight says they have a magical lightning rod. Okay, that is good. They go in, but Rarity tells Applejack to wash her hooves off. Applejack's angry and threatens violence, but to be honest I side with Rarity on this one. Not even an attempt to scrape them off at the doormat. Rarity says they might not be able to get home, so Twilight offers them to stay. Spike's in Canterlot on royal business. Always did wonder what that was... So Twilight suggests they have a slumber party! She always wanted one of those... and we come to what I kinda find the only thing I don't like about this episode.
Twilight didn't really have 'friends' barring Shining Armor and Cadance before the series premiere. She didn't seem like one to want a slumber party. I'll let it slide, though. Maybe she wanted one before she gave up on friendship? Odd, but not episode-breaking. Rarity tries to weasel out of it, while Twilight gets a book on slumber parties. because of course she has a book on it. Rarity's uncomfortable, but can't back out of it. We cut to Applejack trying to use a hose to clean her hooves off outside, which wouldn't seem like it should work, but meh. She comes inside, hooves all sparkling. And she finds them in mud masks. She asks why it's okay for them to have mud on their faces when she had to go wash the mud off her hooves. Because... it wasn't tracking through the floor, for one? Rarity tells her what it is while Twilight squees about the makeover.
Applejack is horrified and tries to leave, but convenient lightning flashes and she decides to stay. Rarity slathers mud onto her face, and then cucumbers on her eyes. Applejack asks what they're for and Rarity, with about two tons of attitude, says they're to reduce puffiness. Applejack licks them off her face. Is mud from a mud mask edible... Twilight checks the book and the two agree to try to get along. Applejack spits onto her hoof and Rarity recoils from it. And they go at it about... a second or so after agreeing not to go at it. Twilight hugs them, enthused. They go 'yay', not as enthused, then exchange death glares.
We see them in mane curlers. Twilight 'ports away the curlers and their manes... look the same. Now time for ghost stories! Applejack tells the terrifying tale of the prissy ghost who drove everyone crazy with unnecessary neatness! OoooOOooo! Rarity has a better one, the horrifying story of the messy, inconsiderate ghost who irritated everypony within a hundred miles! OooOOoooo! Applejack says she made it up. It's not a real story. "It is a ghost story. They're all made up."
Point to Rarity!
The lights go out and Twilight's got one. The Legend of the Headless Horse. She's got a lantern, no fireflies inside it. She's got them in the pad of her hoof! The lights flicker and suddenly Twilight's got a sheet over her head, waving her forelegs around and scaring the shit out of those two. It's awesome. :D And she's got a great troll face, too. U scared? HAH! Ghost stories, check. Rarity and Applejack hug in fright.
Time for s'mores! Rarity is Hook of the Constructicons, all precise and fussy. Applejack just wants to eat them. I side with Applejack, here. Except for the burp. Rarity says she could've said excuse me. Applejack was about to, but she was interrupted. "Pardon." Why am I tempted to put them into Thunderdome? Next is 'Truth or Dare'. Is there a Madonna pony out there? :p Rarity and Applejack's dares devolve into arguing. Twilight, methinks, is twigging to them. She sets them straight. Applejack dares Rarity to go outside and let her mane be ruined. So she does, then walks in looking so sad and pathetic. I kinda wanna hug her. So she dares Applejack to dress up in a frou-frou, glittery, lacy outfit! *GASP!* So she does and... dear god I'm laughing. She's a Disney Princess. Some people ask where Applejack got the outfit. I ask where Twilight got it. ;) Twilight asks if she gets a turn and they dare about rodeos, combing their manes and now I need some lightsabers. Twilight tries to move on, and now...
Pillow fight! Rarity tries to beg off, but then gets two to the face. "It. Is... ON!" And cue epic fight! And it's funny and cool. Applejack uses her lasso, Rarity uses TK. Twilight's caught in the middle and possibly gets a concussion! Twilight finally just calls it quits and says to get some sleep. And now I'm feeling sorry for her. In the bedroom Applejack and Rarity fight over the blanket. And making the bed. And Twilight finally loses it. She rightfully chews them out for ruining the slumber party and acting like foals. But then...
"Is there anything else that could possibly go wrong?"
And convenient lightning strikes a tree next door.
"Sorry I asked."
They look outside and see the top chunk of a tree about fall onto a house next door. Applejack chews Rarity out about taking all the loose branches down... except this isn't a loose branch but a chunk of the trunk. Applejack opens the window over Rarity's protests and lassos the chunk. She does a 'getting 'r' done' joke and tugs, pulling the chunk... through the window! She hangs from the rope, swinging back and forth. Trixie, where are you when we need you?! Rarity chews her out, while Applejack deflects the blame. She apologizes to Twilight, but...
"Well, it's not okay!" You're right. It's not! Thank you, show! She... goes for the book, one of the earlier 'slave to checklist' signs. Yeah, I am really not a fan of the whole damned checklist gag. It's gotten to the point in later seasons of severe irritation. Rarity tries putting books away and looks kinda pathetic. Still time for bickering, though! Applejack outright demands help from Rarity. And she finally apologizes about not listening to her about the branch. Well, less branch and more trunk. Her attention to detail would've saved them from the mess, but right now, she needs to stop being so fussy and help with the one big thing that matters. She says 'please' and Rarity turns around. She'll get icky, but Applejack says she needs help.
So, they cooperate while Twilight freaks. Rarity turns the smaller branches into topiary, all except for the main bit. Applejack's about ready to kick it into orbit, but a glance from Rarity and she tosses it out. And the day is saved! Rarity freaks about the mess, but Applejack makes a peace offering of two cucumber slices over her eyes. Aww. :) And they hug. And Twilight finally notices the bushes.
We cut to them playing twenty questions. Rarity and Twilight are in curlers, but Applejack is not. They finally decide on... "A six-legged pony with a purple polka-dotted mane and shooting stars coming out of its eyes," "who flies through the air all over the world to hide magic, sparkly eggs?" And... did they drop acid while I wasn't looking?! It's... not it. It was her telescope. it was nice to see them getting along, and she wanted to see them win together. They begin arguing... but smile and legit apologize. They begin arguing about apologizing... but laugh. The slumber party's a success! Twilight writes a letter to Celestia with a good message about embracing differences. She tries to get them together for a slumber party, and Equestria has Thursady and Saturday. Cue mass hysteria and wild guessing... or cue them using the regular days of the week so as not to confuse kids. ;)
Thoughts
So... what am I missing, again? I love this episode! No, seriously. A lot of the criticisms I see... don't make much sense to me. Here's a breakdown.
1. How did the ponies miss a storm last week? Well, two explanations spring to mind. They were cleaning up after the dragon in Dragonshy-last week's episode-or it was an oversight, which happens in RL all. The. Time! And with Dash as weather manager... I can see it happening more than once.
2. Why were Applejack and Rarity arguing all the time? Aren't they supposed to be friends? Well, friends with Twilight. With each other... Lauren Faust once said that all the ponyville residents were friends before Twilight showed up, except in 'Griffon the Brush-Off' we see Dash not really liking Pinkie, and outright saying she found her to be annoying before bonding over the pranks. With these two, I can definitely see them not getting along before this episode.
Hell, my own headcanon? Before episode one these two rarely interacted, if at all. And if/when they did it was terse, get to the point and then get away. Honestly, if they got trapped in Golden Oaks before episode one I'm about 75% ready to say they'd get to physical violence of the murdery kind before the night was over!
3. it's a stupid slumber party and boring! Eh... subjective and one I can't really argue with. If it's not your thing, then fine. But I saw it as a great character study of two ponies with opposite personalities who learned to get along and embrace their differences, which is also a great moral IMHO.
4. Why would Twilight 'always' want to have done a slumber party? Okay... that too is a problem I have. It's a fairly small one, but still sticks out. Two things come to mind are she wanted one before deciding that friends wereen't her thing, or wanted one but Shining Armor and Cadance didn't go for it. Like I said, not a huge thing.
Other things, I love how their big view/little view personalities make so much sense considering what they do for a living! Applejack runs Sweet Apple Acres. She's got a huge picture to deal with. She can delegate the small stuff, but she's got to make sure the farm runs. All of it. Rarity, meanwhile, is a seamstress/fashion designer. For her, if the small stuff's not taken care of the outfit can fall apart. Sometimes literally. And she doesn't have anyone else to take care of the small stuff! It's brilliant!
So, is this the best episode ever? No, but it's still damned good. It's got great character interaction and development. The conflict flows naturally through two disparate personalities. And in the end we get a good moral that matches the episode, as well as both sides coming to an agreement and getting along better.
So if I missed anything as to why it's so bad, you know what? I'm glad I missed it. ;) :D
I think there is one in the Neigh Anything arc of the MLP comics. I might be wrong though.
I never realized there was such a lack of fondness for this episode. I've seen it twice, and I always liked it. I know Digibro did an analysis of it that went into detail about Applejack and Rarity's disparate personality types.
Pick one:
A) She doesn't necessarily want to have a slumber party, she just wants to know what a slumber party is like. She's fallen behind in Common Fillyhood Experiences 101 and needs to catch up!
B) Character depth! She's allowed to have interests outside of 'books' and 'being a dork'.
C) Yeah, well, just let it slide because otherwise the episode wouldn't work.
When Twilight mentioned, 'always wanting a slumber party,' I figured that this was her scientist side kicking in
"Ok, I now have friends, what do they do? OH! Slumber parties, well, I wonder what they are like? Cadence made mention of one, and she always looked like she had fun, so I wonder if they are as fun as they said. Oh look, a book!"
Wait - what? This is an unpopular episode? Yeah I don't really follow most peoples' opinions of various episodes, unless it's in a review format it kinda saps some of the fun for me, but this is the episode that sold me on the show so that kind of breaks my mind a bit. Excellent characters, coherent and even believable plot, a moral that was both good and fitting, this was definitely the moment it stopped being a 'little girl's show' with all the baggage that phrase contains, and became just a 'good show' to me, and gave me faith that the writers could take it places. And they did. It was an excellent bit of writing, a wonderful character study, and made me instantly like AJ and Rarity.
Though honestly I don't quite like Applejack as much any more, it feels to me like after the first few AJ episodes they stopped going places with her character
. Rarity I would continue to develop a love for until she became my favorite of the Mane 6, all starting here. 
And now I'm just going on and people aren't here for my thoughts they're here for yours so post!
Maybe the episode's (un)popularity is a matter of Ship-to-Ship Combat? There's not much to take issue with in the episode itself that I can see, but then I saw this episode after the Mentally Advanced version of it, so it was kind of weird.
Regarding Twilight always wanting a sleepover, I just assume that she probably made a "Things to do if I had friends" checklist at some point during her childhood. When I think about it, I'm not so sure Twilight didn't want friends, it kinda seems more like she didn't want (or know how, perhaps?) to put in the effort to make friends? Even during the slumber party, it felt more like her priority was checking items off the list than really enjoying the experience. Sure, she had fun, but it seemed to take a while for her to get there.
Your points on Applejack and Rarity's relationship and all of the Ponyville residents are interesting. I think that before Twilight came to town, the other five and other Ponyville residents knew of each other and were friendly towards one another, but not really friends. I really can't see Fluttershy becoming friends with Pinkie until Dash warmed up to Pinkie and could... I don't know, make the introduction less traumatic? I also don't know when or how Applejack and Rarity would've had more than brief interactions - it makes more sense for them to meet picking up their sisters from school or something, but we're shown the first time Applebloom and Sweetie Belle meet.