MLp episode review: Green Isn't Your Color · 11:51pm Jun 11th, 2014
Now, then... considering how I was feeling yesterday and then Monday, I definitely agree with this episode...
Green Isn't Your Color
We open with Fluttershy in the spa's waiting room. Wait, that can't be right. *Squints* That magazine's only four months out of date! Rarity does a Kramer coming in with an insane hat. She's late for Will and Kate's wedding! Ah. it's a weekly get-together, and she calls for 'the usual'! We have a steam bath while Rarity explains what happened. She was walking down the street with her latest hat when Photo Finish spotted her. We get a nice transition with the steam, and next is a mud mask. Full for Rarity, two tiny dots for Fluttershy. Photo Finish is the premier fashion photographer for Equestria, and loved the hat. And we move to horn filing. I love one of the spa ponies going with a file to Fluttershy and realizing, probably for the umpteenth time, "Oh, yeah. None for her." And squeaky smile! Photo Finish wants to take pics of Rarity's clothes, and we go to... massage? MMA massage, apparently. :p Then seaweed wrap and mud bath. Rarity asks Fluttershy if she'll model for her, then to... standing in tubs of water. Bath salts, perhaps? Rariy kinda... browbeats/pleads/pseudo-whines to get Fluttershy to accept. Fluttershy finally says yes. They then leave, Fluttershy loving it and Rarity admitting to feeling frazzled, then feeling a pimple coming on. Can ponies get pimples? Legit question, mind. So she goes back for the usual, and the spa ponies have bit signs in their eyes!
Back from commercial and Fluttershy is... definitely ready for the runways of Paris. Rarity calls for more light and more feathers. The feathers go in easier than Fluttershy feared. Rarity friggin' chucks a cloud of sequins into Fluttershy's face. And thus the twinkle-eyed ponies were born anew! We have a brief gag with ribbons and Fluttershy is starting to look a trifle miffed. Rarity calls for a pincushion to fx a hem and Spike shows up with them sticking out of his scales. To quote the drake himself, that's creepy. She then shoos him away. Hey, Rarity? Remember him storming the castle LAST EPISODE to save you from the Diamond Dogs? She does thank them and apologize, though.
Twilight asks Spike if that hurts, and no. Thick scales. He then says there's no pain that would stop him from assisting Rarity. o_O Twilight's a bit squicked out. Spike then asks them if they can keep a secret, and we get the first Pinkie Promise. He motions them in close, WAY too close for my personal comfort zone. He has a crush on Rarity!
Extry, extry! Read all about it! Spike has a crush on Rarity! Water is wet! Inserting Hayden Christensen into the end of return of the Jedi was stupid! Trixie is Striker's favorite FIm character! More dead-on obvious news at eleven!
Twilight has a "Are you SHITTING me?" expression, while Pinkie gasps. Twilight says everyone already knows while Pinkie says she promised not to tell. True... but it's about an open secret as you can get. Still she's got a point about trust. She says losing a friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend. Forever! And we get the "For-EVER!" meme. It's... gonna grate on me towards the end, to be honest. Twilight's lips are sealed. She's also got the beat. She says Rarity's gonna pick up on her feelings, and Spike has somehow gotten a shirt on with Rarity inside of a heart. O-kay...
Suddenly, the bell rings and Photo Finish, based off of Anna Wintour, walks in to a funky beat. God, I love her. Cameras flash around her even when there's no cameras present! Rarity goes to greet, her and she walks right by. Okay... not the best first impression. "We begin... NOW!" She clicks open a suitcase that is more than meets the eye as it transforms into a camera. Rarity tells Fluttershy attitude and pizzazz! Wait, she wants her to show Photo Finish the lead singer of the Misfits? Bah! Fluttershy tries attitude, but nope. When she's shy, though... Yes! Rarity, stop helping. :p After a few more pictures she stops and walks off. Everybody's downcast...
And then Photo Finish zooms back and declares she's found the next fashion star here! Psyche! She will help her to shine while also chewing ALL the scenery! Rarity's ecstatic! She tries to hold it in, then squees and jumps up and down. On Spike's tail. Who smiles and takes it. Okay, crossing a bit of a line here! Twilight drags him off. The next day at the park, Fluttershy is turned into John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever. Photo Finish is... carried into the park by a pair of sleepy-looking stallions. Guys, stop hitting the salt licks! She disapproves of Fluttershy's outfit and says she should be in something simple. Inspired by... "Ze nature!" Rarity brown-noses a bit, can't blame her too much admittedly, but she's got nothing that's 'simple'. She'll MacGyver something up, but Photo Finish says no. Rarity is confused, and we learn Photo Finish isn't interested in her designs... but in Flootershy! She then curtly dismisses Rarity.
Okay, I'll take Hoity Toity over Photo Finish any day of the week, thank you very much!
Fluttershy says she can't, but Rarity insists. She can't throw away this chance. She MUST! So Fluttershy will while Rarity walks off, downtrodden. *Hugs* We cut to her in Carousel Boutique, apparently sewing up a Holocaust Cloak. Rarity, Twilight and Spike come in and ask how it went. Well, Pinkie does. Rarity tells them what happened, and vants to be alone right now. Spike goes and roasts Photo Finish ali-no, he shoos out Twilight and Pinkie, but Twilight pulls him out by the tail, which probably needs an ice bath from all the abuse it's gotten.
We see Fluttershy being prepped with the 'too much/not enough' joke with blush. She then sneezes, which Photo Finish has a mild fangasm over. She tries to give Fluttershy a pep talk and it fails miserably. It's like proto-Pinkie from Filli Vanilli, except she's not one of Fluttershy's best friends so it's slightly more excusable. She then barrel-bumps Fluttershy onto the walkway. She chants "You must" to herself, and as she flinches, the crowd goes wild. Yay. We even hear Hoity! Hey, Hoity! We get a montage of her photos, cowering in most of them. Some crosses between limos and carriages... okay. Rarity tries to sneak in at one and is rebuffed. Applejack uses her for adverts, smart. And apparently Carrot Top's in on it as Dash flies by with a banner advertising carrot juice. *Gasp* Oh, no! The Sixth Doctor is about to regenerate!
We fade to a newsstand and some ponies checking out fashion mags. They spot Fluttershy and chase after her. She runs, but runs into the ponyrazzi. I do like them having their cameras on mounts on their necks. She flies into the sky and runs into pegasi ponyrazzi. She hides in Carousel Boutique, and Rarity lies through her muzzle about being happy for her. Fluttershy also lies through her muzzle about being happy. Photo Finish comes in and drags her off to the thing at the place. How precise. Do you need the whatchamacallit or the doodad? And... whatchamacallit is actually a correct word according to the spellcheck. Color me legit shocked. Fluttershy walks off, but says she'll be at the spa. Fluttershy leaves and Rarity is steamed, wanting to be mobbed wherever she goes. As an introvert... no, maybe? Bonbon and Berry Punch come in looking for Fluttershy, but when told no, Bonbon is condescending and leaves.
We cut to Photo Finish conducting an interview, saying Fluttershy's a natural in front of a camera. Pony what?! How opaque are those glasses, precisely? Fluttershy tries to bug out for the spa, but Photo Finish thinks of a ballet opening and drags her off. We cut to Rarity with positively pruny hooves. *Shudders* She finally says she wishes Fluttershy's star would burn out. Twilight's aghast, and ultimately so is Rarity. She should be happy, but is just jealous. She begs Twilight to promise not to say anything. Twilight promises and SUDDENLY PINKIE PIE FROM THE SPONGES!
Rarity emerges and shines. She leaves just as Fluttershy runs in. She's so mad, she could just scream! So she screams... very softly. *Snort* She then akss Twilight to swear not to tell Rarity something. Twilight Pinkie-Pie Promises, but doesn't quite stick the landing. She does, however, stick a hoof into her eye. OUCH! Fluttershy confesses she hates being a model, and is only doing doing it because of Rarity. She must... complete with mild Rarity impression.
Twilight realizes if she tells Fluttershy Rarity's feelings, it could speed things along. But Pinkie pops out of the sponges again and motions 'no' and zip your lip. *Swats Pinkie with a newspaper* Bad form, Pinkie! Fluttershy asks what she was gonna say and, "Forever!" Ugh! We then cut to the two walking down the street. Twilight suggests her simply quitting, but nope. "Rarity would be devastated." Twilight tries again, but more Pinkie, this time doing a Death Note. I think. Never watched the anime/read the manga. "Juicy!" okay, that was funny. Fluttershy laments about everyone liking her so much. And Twilight gets an idea, bouncing about... and kicking off Fluttershy's disguise. *Swats Twilight upside the head*
In Sugrarcube Corner, Twilight says she'll use her magic to help Fluttershy do something unattractive at her next fashion show. Okay... that's a little skeevy. She has Pinkie promise not to tell anyone. Pinkie mimes zipping her lip... then digging a hole, putting the secret into said hole and then building a house over it. Hah! Twilight is confused, natch. We cut to another fashion show, and Fluttershy's in on the plan. Okay, not really skeevy, then. Fluttershy backs out onto the stage, fortunately no beeping involved. We pan down to see Rarity coming in with a peacock-esque ensemble. Twilight ASSUMES DIRECT CONTROL! And I am hoping tripping and falling flat on her face doesn't cause legit injury! She's dragged across the stage, flies upside down, picks her nose, scratches like a canine, barks and then brays. Even Ditzy is aghast. Okay, Twilight? WAY too far. So...
Five.
The crowd goes wild... with contempt. They say toss her off the stage. And suddenly Rarity begins clapping/stomping the ground and cheering her on. They notice her and her "gorgeous cape and headdress." They decide if she likes it, then she must be onto something. So they cheer Fluttershy on! So close, yet so far... Backstage, Fluttershy's so frustrated she kicks a vase... and barely wobbles it. Twilight tries to tell her, but gets a case of hoof-in-mouth disease. Rarity comes in to ask if she's alright. Twilight tries again and... okay, Fluttershy, Rarity, please notice what your friend is doing! Please remember those promises!
Rarity confesses she feels awful, because she wanted them to turn on Fluttershy. Twilight sticks the contents of a fruit basket into her mouth. Notice. NOW! Rarity confesses her jealousy, and then realizes that seeing Fluttershy failing would be awful. Fluttershy confesses she hates being a model, and she did it for Rarity. Twilight sticks her head into a plant pot. Rarity and Fluttershy realize that keeping secrets and not simply expressing their true feelings exacerbated the situation, and if they had confessed, it would've been easier. They promise not to do that, as Photo Finish sticks her head in. Fluttershy quits, and "They go!" Kinda nice seeing her dumbfounded.
And Twilight confesses about Spike's crush and Pinkie... is the Man in the Mirror. Pony what. We wipe to the spa and Rarity and Flutterhsy enjoying themselves. Twilight dictates a letter about the lesson about secrets. Spike says he didn't write it because of her spilling the secret, and to her credit, she apologizes. He'd write the letter, but he's busy fanning Rarity. With a fan that has the same emblem as that shirt from earlier.
Thoughts
Good lesson about sharing your feelings, here. I do agree that if they had talked, it would've been far easier on the both of them. Pinkie started out funny... but didn't end that way. If Twilight hadn't listened to her... things would've gone better. I can forgive Twilight for doing it, though. She is new to this whole friendship thing. The gags were gags. It's me, remember? ;) Those outfits... dang.
Photo Finish... she's not quite as 'nice' as I remember. She's not mean, but could be pretty damned clueless. Could've been worse, but also better. Like I said, I'll take Hoity Toity over her.
Headcanon
I think Fluttershy and Rarity were friends before the pilot. Maybe not super close, but these spa trips methinks predate Twilight coming to Ponyville. Not much else, off the top of my head.
With this episode I've completed disk three of my season one boxed set! Yayness! :D
My apologies about the picture. I'm feeling better today, but still not at 100% or even 90%. 
To be honest, I appreciate this episode as much as I do in large part due to Steel Resolve's fanfiction "Green", which is though a Rarity/Fluttershy shipping fic.
That story is also source of my headcanon that Fluttershy and Rarity were not only friends before the events of the pilot but also met not long after Fluttershy fell from the sky in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles".
I'm fairly certain the "standing in tubs of water" bit was a hand soak adapted for hooves. No reason not to include the back ones, after all.
Also, one thing that's always amused me about Photo Finish is that she has the same cutie mark as Twilight. After all, her special talent is... DA MAJYKKS!
I agree 120% with that.
Mass Effect I suppose.
Yes, Pinkie Pie can exist in mirrors. Any mirrors, even the reflective surface of your eye. So she can kill you from any angle.
What, hasn't anyone else noticed that she has two right front hooves?