"Saddle Row Review" review by the HeroofBergen

"What in all of Tartarus is this episode!' A phrase that I said so many times this episode. This was probably one of the funniest episodes of the series in a long time.

This episode had also one of the strangest setups I have seen for the series. With the episode beginning with the Mane Six trying to stop Rarity from reading a review in a newspaper about the opening of her latest store in Manehattan. Something that was introduced in "Gift for Maud Pie". The episode then goes into a review-style format where the pony that wrote the article is asking the Mane Six a bunch of questions, and the story is told through those stories. The pony doing the reviewing definitely being a reference to Peter Parker's boss from Spiderman, it couldn't have been anypony else.

The episode goes along with everything for Rarity opening going wrong for her. Racoons living in her studio, a pushing landlord with a strange daugther, a party pony playing on the floor above her, a disorganized clothing store, and a plain dusty store. Rarity, with the help of her friends, is able to overcome this trails and the opening goes off without a problem. The opening being considered one of the best in the city. There is no doubt anymore, Rarity owns the world of pony fashion. Seriously in like two years of the shows time she has gone to a small time fashionista in a small town of Ponyville. Into one of the most fashion ponies in Equestria with a successful in Canterlot and now Manehattan. The fashion capital of the world in both Equestria and real life. Rarity you are the fashion God.

The animators must have had a ton of fun during this episode. The facial expressions of all of the characters being definitely the highlight. I really liked that whenever Vinyl Scratch (why did they make her fandom name canon) was on screen thhe animation was very brilight and it made the ponies coats shine, most notably with Rarity. Though, the brightness could get a little overwhelming, especially in one screen where the camera was zoomed in on Rarity.

This episode was pretty much "Made in Manehattan" part 2, the only difference being that this episode was told from the perspective of her friends rather than Rarity herself. And well "Made in Manehattan" was good episode with some faults, I believe that this episode did the idea of Rarity getting help from her friends better.

There were also a few continuity call-backs, most notably Pinkie's comment about making clones of herself back in Season 3 (one clone seeming to survive), a small comment by Rarity about Mare-Do-Wells, and a call-back to Rarity's Boutigue in Canterlot.

All in all I loved this episode. The pacing was great, the humor was fanastic, and I loved all of the scenes including the Mane Six in Manehattan. MLP does world building right. Character always take priority over the world around them, and MLP gets that. This is one of the best episode this season as well as the funniest. My final rating for "Saddle Row and Rec" is a fabulous score of 9.5 out of 10.