The Mane Attraction Review · 6:39pm Nov 22nd, 2015
I know pretty much everyone else is doing this, but I'll go ahead and do it too. XP Because I'm a sheep! Anyway, so this episode was indeed Amy Keating Rogers' final episode of MLP. She's since gotten work at Disney, which is pretty awesome for her. It's pretty sad knowing she's no longer writing for MLP, she's been on staff ever since season one! She even wrote The Journal of the Two Sisters! But despite that, I'm really happy for her. I hope she goes places and succeeds with Disney just as she did with Hasbro. Her work on the show has been great and she definitely deserves this wonderful opportunity.
Thank you, Amy Keating Rogers. :) You've been a valuable member of the writing staff and you will be missed. Thank you for your efforts! Best of luck to you and your future endeavours.
All that being said, how did her last episode turn out? Well, let's dive right in!
Applejack is definitely at her best when she's helping others, this episode being no exception of that. This episode begins with Pinkie throwing a charity event and having booked a pop star to come perform. Sapphire Shores? Nope! This is a performer known as Countess Coloratura, she's the top performer in Equestria, it seems! Applejack has no idea who this is, but does recount that she had a childhood friend by that same name. Only she refers to her as "Rara".
Is it the same pony? O:
Spoiler alert, it totally is.
This is where we meet Coloratura, known as Rara. She was a friend that Applejack had made during summer camp and was musically talented in singing. Since then, she'd gotten to Manehattan and became a huge star. Despite her appearance, alongside what her manager says, she's still the kind and laid back pony that Applejack knows. But something's fishy... This manager clearly doesn't seem to have her best interests at heart...
Yeah, it's one of those. At least, for the most part.
We've seen this kind of situation many a time in a lot of other shows and movies. A celebrity of some sort has a manager who's greedy, controlling, manipulative, and an outright jerk. This guy is definitely no exception. He's the kind of character you love to hate. He's The Jerk, who exists solely to be the Jerk so that he can get his comeuppance in the end.
But the episode definitely shines the most with the character interaction. Applejack feels worried for her friend and thinks that she should know the truth. Rara's reaction to it all makes perfect sense, she's lived in this way for so long now and just accepts it as part of the business. Her manager puts on a fairly good facade, so she sees no real problem with his actions. After all, he's kept her in the spotlight and produced all kinds of ways to make her performances unforgettable.
But Applejack doesn't take it lying down! It was nice to see this kind of situation have that sort of resolution, one of which that Rara ends up being very involved in. When she realizes the truth, of course she wants to fire his butt and do what she truly wants to do.
Rara has a great singing voice, but it was overshadowed by all the piles of synthetics. To the point where her singing was just an accessory to the display. It was made very clear during the over the top performance! Wow! I felt like I was watching a Lady Gaga video! It made no sense, it was flashy, it was over the top, and it was incredibly jarring. But it was creative, especially with the autotuning process!
It was definitely a nice commentary on the idea of pop music being more about the flashy image than it is about the content. So when Rara has a chance to be true to herself, to make the kind of music SHE wants to make, it's a wonderful feeling. No longer is she creating soulless dribble for the sake of a product. If you hate your own work, there's something seriously wrong. She wants to entertain, she wants to make the audience happy, but not at the price of compromising her creativity.
Lena Hall of Broadway fame supplied her voice for both speaking and singing. It definitely shows! I'm unfamiliar with her work admittedly, but it was a nice idea to bring a stage performer into that kind of role. She did help with making her very likable and with a lovely singing voice. Her song at the end was a lovely one, very reminiscent of "Let It Go", but without re-hashing its message or theme.
Overall, this was a lovely episode. It had great character interaction, lovely music, and it really ended Amy's run on a high note. She did a nice job with the show as a whole and this was a great way for her to go. :D
I thought you was a Pegasus lol
The song at the end when she was playing the piano... That was PERFECTION. The rest of the episode was as painful to watch as listening to Spike sing.
And Rara better step back, lest Rarity decide that a certain singer must be considered competition for her mare, and removed lol
You also notice how when Rara was singing her song at Camp Friendship and during the finale, her Cutie Mark was glowing as a implication that she was enjoying singing, but when she was singing The Spectacle, it wasn't? Clever girl, Amy, clever girl.
my issue with this is it once again shows techo pop as a sell out music not real music and no one who sings it can truely love it
why not for once say hey this music is fine and a persons taste in music can change
3561958 It actually wasn't so much the music itself, but more about the fact that she's making music she doesn't want to make. Especially since it relies more on the flashy synthetics than her own voice, which makes it feel a lot less like real music. Of course, electronica IS a form of music and there's absolutely nothing wrong with liking it.
The episode isn't even saying "You can't enjoy this!", it's more about the fact that music isn't about the flashy image. But in a way, yes, it is a bit of a nod to how easy listening music is the norm these days.
So it definitely doesn't mean to say that techno music is sell out music. It's sell out music if it's music that goes against what you want to create.
3562015 yes and every thing allways uses techno pop music r as there example of a person not doing the music they love and the episode did nothing to try and say this music is fine AJ hated on it the moment she hard it