S5E15: Rarity Investigates! · 11:42pm Sep 19th, 2015
I haven't forgotten about my liveblog! I've just been horribly busy recently. It will be back, though, within a week I hope.
Anyway, today's episode: the setup really annoyed me, but the ep absolutely made up for that later on. Wonderful style, which is ideal for a Rarity episode. And with a strong helping of loyalty, ideal for a Rainbow episode. It's very nearly a five, but that silly setup just nags at me too much and makes it a very high four. It's not Amending Fences great, but it is still great. ★★★★
Spoilers from here on in!
Okay, my complaint first: considering the Wonderbolts go on about looking out for fellow 'Bolts, they're way too quick to accuse Dash in the first place. Wind Rider is, let's face it, pretty obviously a sleazebag of some description, but the Wonderbolts seem to have (like Rainbow!) let his fame persuade them that he can't possibly be guilty of anything.
So there's my beef. Everything else about the episode is wonderful, especially how stylish it was. The character poses for Rainbow, especially, were really striking and effective. Rarity's apparent distractions proved to be genuinely important. Also, we didn't get that stupid Ace Attorney reference, since that thing's horribly overused now. (If there was a subtler one, fine. You know the one I mean.)
And the black and white noir stuff! Oh, that was perfect. I loved the way they transitioned between that and colour, and (unlike a lot of shows that have done that) it felt right, and not jarring at all. They maintained this style, including the fine music, right up to and through the end credits -- I like Pony's occasional habit of customising those, and this was an ideal moment to do it. Well done.
It was interesting that this meant that the final Wonderbolts move Rainbow Dash flew in at the end was also in b/w, since the impression was that it might have been even more spectacular in colour. Now there's a sign of a truly confident creative team: deliberately holding back on the eye candy, yet making it look more stylish. This bodes very well for future episodes.
Certainly the best Rarity appearance since "Rarity Takes Manehattan", conceivably even since "Suited for Success". Also, first canon pegasus mum we've seen. (First dad was Zipporwhill's.)
And I mean, who would have thought that an episode starting out in Canterlot Boutique would be about Rainbow Dash and the Wonderbolts? Everything about this one is so unexpected, yet so amazing. :D
I thought this was one of the funniest episodes in quite some time.
Considering how Spitfire has behaved in some episode I'm not sure precisely how much standing the Wonderbolts have to criticise his behaviour, to be honest. There's the also the irony of Soarin' declaring that 'Wonderbolts look out for one another' when none of his friends bothered to check on him last time he was injured.
The thing that disappointed me thought was that the obvious moral at the end passed unnoticed: if Wind Rider had done nothing, then even if he had lost his record he would still have been remembered fondly as a great flyer, if no longer the greatest, and a good guy. Instead he'll be remembered as a jackass, and all his achievements will count for nothing. It would have been good if that had been called attention to.
3406326 And despite that, it still felt very organic, unlike episodes like the Yaks one where the whole thing felt forced.