Welcome to yet another glorious day of thinking too much about a little girl’s cartoon. After yesterday’s double-hitter, it’ll be amazing if we get something that good to work with, but let’s give the wheel a chance to impress, shall we?

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And it’s 29, “Sisterhooves Social!” That’s right, we are finally rid of Pinkie Pie for one glorious day! So let’s tune into the adventures of everyone’s favorite marshmallow and the best Background Pony.

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TECHNICAL SPECS:

Season: 2
Episode: 5
Writer: Cindy Morrow
First Aired: November 5, 2011

SUMMARY:

One lovely morning, Rarity is awoken from her dreams of carrot pancakes and sweet, delicious, irresistible cider by the smell of her house/shop burning down. She tumbles out of her bedroom and down the stairs in a blind panic, only to learn that the cause of the smoke was Sweetie Belle trying to cook her breakfast. Before she could reprimand her little sister, however, her parents reveal themselves at the kitchen table, dressed up for a week-long vacation. And like all good parents, they completely ignore the wishes of their eldest child and force her to babysit her younger sister, despite the fact that Rarity has her own house, job, obligations, and they probably should have reminded her of the date a bit earlier.

After the parents have departed, Rarity tries to cook the two of them a real breakfast. Of course, Sweetie Belle wants to help, but when given the simple task of placing parsley on the plates, she screws up (thanks to Rarity’s backseat parsley placing) and knocks the whole table over. After the mess is cleaned up, Rarity tells her to take the dirty towels to the laundry, but once in there, Sweetie sees another thing she can help with: washing Rarity’s sweater.

Unfortunately, she forgot what happens to wool when you dry it in the sun, and the sweater shrinks like something out of a Warner Bros. cartoon. After fighting off an aneurysm, Rarity abandons Sweetie downstairs so she can work on a big order. Now bored out of her skull, Sweetie decides to draw a picture, but when she spies some blue gems in a nearby chest, she decides to glue them onto the picture. Unfortunately, said gems were incredibly rare sapphires, and an enraged Rarity is forced to leave to find more.

Now completely dejected, Sweetie walks up to Rarity’s workroom, where everything is a mess. Having learned nothing from her experiences so far, she manages to perfectly tidy up the entire room by the time Rarity gets home. Only one problem: the room was meant to be messy, as Rarity was using the “organized chaos” to plan her next fashion line. Tensions finally reach a boiling point as Rarity fights off another aneurysm before sending Sweetie Belle away for a while.

The completely downtrodden filly soon runs into Apple Bloom, who tells her about the Sisterhooves Social, an athletic contest between various sister teams. Sweetie is in love with the idea, but Rarity doesn’t want to get dirty. By this point, however, Sweetie Belle has had enough of Rarity’s crap and tells her that she’ll just try the rest of her life without a sister. Rarity responds with how Sweetie is ruining her life, the two exchange some very heated words, and finally, Sweetie Belle leaves in a rage.

Over at Sweet Apple Acres, Sweetie decides to join in with Applejack and Apple Bloom as they perform the daily chores. As she watches the two work together to get their jobs done, as well as just play together and have fun, her resentment for Rarity only grows. Meanwhile, back at the Boutique, Rarity has begun to discover that Sweetie’s unwelcome intrusions aren’t without merit. Her sweater is now the perfect size for Opalescence, the organized fabrics give her an idea for a new line, and when she goes to get the sapphires from the drawing, she discovers that it was a picture of how the two sisters love each other. Rarity finally breaks down in a fit, bemoaning the turn of events that drove the sisters apart, before invoking Celestia’s name and resolving to never be sisterless again.

After looking all over town, Rarity finally finds Sweetie Belle as she and the Apples are having a campout. Rarity tries to apologize, but not only does Sweetie Belle not want anything to do with her, but now she wants to adopt Applejack as her big sister. After all, she’s a much better sister than Rarity ever was. Rarity’s last-ditch effort to propose some fun activities for the two to do together fails when all she can come up with are things she likes, and Sweetie marches off madder than ever. Fortunately, AJ is there to dispense some folksy advice, and a plan is hatched.

On the day of the race, AJ and AB allow Sweetie Belle to take Apple Bloom’s place so she can experience the big race. The two get off to a decent start, until AJ falls into a mud hole and emerges completely drenched. After vaulting over the hay bales and swallowing the pies whole, they manage to surpass everypony by the last stretch, save for Berry Punch and her sister. The two teams jump the last hurdle…and AJ and SB fall just short of the finish line, meaning that Punch is the winner.

Sweetie Belle, however, is so happy about having so much fun that she hugs AJ…which causes her hat to fall off, revealing a white horn. Soon after, AJ emerges from the mudhole, revealing that the two changed places so that the two sisters could race together. This act of sacrifice on Rarity’s part is enough to bring the sister’s together, and they write a letter to Princess Celestia extolling the virtue of compromising and having fun with your sister.

REVIEW:

If you haven’t noticed by now, the theme of the episode is the relationship between sisters. The actual lesson, however, could apply to all sibling relationships, regardless of gender, age difference, and general position within the family. Basically, if you ever had a brother or sister, you’ve probably experienced something like what Rarity and Sweetie Belle went through at least once. Oh, the tales I could tell of my epic battles with my younger brother…

This is the first episode to really adopt the solo-focus format Season Two loved to employ. Nearly the entire cast is gone, leaving only Rarity, AJ, Sweetie Belle, AB, and Spike at the very end. At the same time, though, there’s enough characters here that the story doesn’t feel like we’re looking at one pony’s solo tale, and the tension between the various players is handled perfectly.

One thing that is kind of a sore spot is Rarity’s sudden parents. Granted, I never cared much for the fandom’s preoccupation with making everypony an orphan (I actually read “Simply Rarity” the day before this episode aired), but their appearance is a complete shock and, to be honest, rather jarring. Mind you, it actually supported my headcanon that Rarity is just faking her accent and speech so she could be more readily accepted by the Canterlot elite, but still. I did get a kick out of the dad’s Cutie Mark, as well as the shockingly garish outfits they wear. Even worse, I’ve actually known people who really did dress like that on vacation. Heck, I have people in my family who outfit themselves in tacky straw hats and mismatched blouses and sweat pants.

A good chunk of the episode is spent contrasting the two sisterly relationships. Applejack and Apple Bloom have the more idealized sisterhood, with the two constantly helping each other out and having fun while doing so. They have no real disagreements, and enjoy making a mess. Rarity and Sweetie Belle, on the other hand, have a more cynical, aggressive idea of family bonding. The two do love each other, but they often butt heads over the smallest thing, and can easily let loose insults and curses that cannot simply be forgotten.

Much of the first act is spent showing Sweetie Belle screwing up, followed by Rarity getting angry. What I find somewhat interesting is that, while the episode places most of the blame on Rarity’s back, Sweetie could have avoided all this if she had just walked up to Rarity and talked to her about what she was wanting to do. Rarity would say no, Sweetie would not do what got her in trouble, and everything would be fine. At the same time, though, Sweetie Belle isn’t being actively malicious. She just wants to be useful to Rarity, the pony she idealizes and wants to grow up to be. It’s just that she doesn’t think things through all the way, which causes Rarity to lose her cool.

The race is one of the most impressive scenes in the episode. Granted, I’m amazed that AJ could hold her breath that long, but otherwise, the scene is handled very well. I love the little bounce Sweetie Belle does, as well as the two knocking the pies out of the tins and swallowing them whole. Very cartoonish, but very funny. I also liked how they handled the switch. If you’re paying attention, you can see that the eyes have changed colors and that there’s a big blob of mud on her forehead. But since she still has Applejack’s hat and doesn’t talk, it can easily throw you off unless you know what to look for first.

As for the humor this time, most of it is very solid. Rarity’s face as she tries to contain her rage is bloody hilarious, and I really liked Apple Bloom trying to learn the meaning of “uncouth.” I loved the scene where Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom are fighting over AJ, all while she’s trying to convince an upset Rarity that she isn’t trying to steal Sweetie away from her. And of course, we have one of the most classic lines from the episode:

Unfortunately, there is one scene that somewhat bugs me, and that’s when Applejack is giving Rarity the lecture on how to be a good sister. I have no problem with the scene in principle, but how it’s handled is rather disheartening. AJ is suddenly promoted as an all-knowing master of the family way, while Rarity has no bloody clue how to compromise at all. It’s nothing major, but the scene just doesn’t feel completely right for me. The apple pie analogy has a great payoff, though.

As for the moral…it’s a good one. It’s about friendship between siblings, which is something that is both wonderful to have and difficult to keep. The lesson itself is to just try and find a compromise so that both sisters can enjoy themselves. It’s simple, but rather true. I did like the added touch of the two bickering again over how much dirt is fine, though. They may have forgiven each other, but they’re still Rarity and Sweetie Belle.

CONCLUSION:

In case you haven’t figured it out, I love this episode. It’s one of my absolute favorites of the second season, as well as of the show overall. The plot is relatable, the jokes are funny, the animation is fantastic, and so much of the story is cute in a good way. The fact that I only had one real fault to point out should tell you how much I loved this, and it’s definitely worth watching.

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Wow, my first gushing review. It’s always nice to have an episode that you just really love, you know? Still, with my luck, I’ll end up with “Mare-Do-Well” or “Owl’s Well” next time.