Friends Talk, Chapter XIV: Rarity Investigates! · 3:34am Sep 23rd, 2015
Okay, so there's this joint blog thing that Prane and Gulheru do where they review episodes, and they invite in guests to talk about them as well sometimes. Well, this time they invited me and Wolfscape Wolfcape!
Afterwords, we're all kinda supposed to post it to our blogs, or we can anyways, so here it is! Oh, spoilers below. Lots of spoilers. Well, any review is spoilers, isn't it?
(Reviewers: Core Team + SweetAI Belle + Wolfcape)
"My new client was one of those well-off mares who always got what they wanted, but I didn't take the job just because she dropped some bits."
Prane: I’m so glad they finally did it! They finally decided to ditch Twilight and Ponyville, and brought the action to Canterlot by establishing a much more charismatic character of Rarity as the main protagonist of the series. Coming up next: a complete overhaul of the intro focused around the Main Six’s best and her many hobbies including, but not limited to: fashion, mystery solving, and kicking wild manticores in the face!
Yes, a man can dream, but every now and then he apparently can have his little wishes fulfilled. After last week’s Canterlot Boutique, getting another episode featuring Rarity was a real treat for me. As you may have already noticed, I pay very little attention to the overall message of the episodes or their emotional impact. What I find more important is the living world in which the action takes place, those little stubs that can then be taken and turned into even more stories, be that by the writers of the show or the community. So, my judgment of any episode hinges on whether it was stuffed with those little things, if it fitted and developed the world as we know it, and if nothing felt forced or overused.
Rarity Investigates! was just my kind of an episode because of all those small factors which didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. We’ve seen the boutique in Canterlot still standing, and even the best manager Sassy Saddles had a couple of lines (a pleasant surprise!). Soarin sounded pretty confident and got some neat leadership skills, which was quite an evolution since the time when pie eating was his only defining trait. Spitfire’s got her mother introduced and, what’s important, did not hesitate a second to go after that ice iris in order to help her. Canterlot itself got a new place for the ponies to hang out, namely Cinnamon Chai's Tea and Cake Shop.
There’s a point where a fictional world becomes real in the eyes of a viewer. We know that phenomenon as immersion, or—science lingo ahoy!—spatial presence defined as when “media contents are perceived as ‘real’ in the sense that media users experience a sensation of being spatially located in the mediated environment.” After episodes like that I’m telling you: Equestria feels very real for me!
How about you? What was that you liked about the episode the most, or on the contrary, what made you cringe?
SweetAI Belle: Things that stood out, good or bad? Well, there are a couple things I liked about the episode, and it’s hard to pick out just one.
We don’t usually get to see Rarity and Rainbow Dash spending time together, and it’s kinda understandable, since Rarity is all about fashion, and Rainbow Dash barely ever wears dresses or brushes her mane. Seeing them spend a bunch of time together here was something I liked, tho’ I’d like it more if Rarity spent time with me.
Also, the whole thing turned into this film noir atmosphere that gives kinda a classic detective-style feel to things, which was just great. I loved the background jazz music playing all over the place, and showing the actual musician at one point was amusing. The ‘ducks in a row’ joke made me laugh, too.
It was interesting seeing Rarity sweet-talking that delivery pony early on, then doing the same thing to the guards later, too. They did something similar later, too, with having Rainbow say that she didn’t have the endurance to go long distances, then actually having her prove herself wrong when she went to get Spitfire. And then there was the stain on Rarity’s silk dress setting up the stain on the scarf. They did a very good job setting things up in this episode.
Rarity was probably at her most fashionable, with that fedora (and not a Trilby!), and the attention to detail she was showing was very in character. Rainbow Dash was fun to watch, being almost worse about the Wonderbolts then Scoots gets about her sometimes.
Wonder where Scoots got it from? She’s got her priorities right, though. She was concerned about Spitfire’s mom first, then filling in her position.
There were plenty of things I liked, but those were some of the highlights for me.
Wolfcape: I think the part I enjoyed the most was the atmosphere they set up. I believe that’s also what the writers wanted to show, or try out. It was received well by me, and gave it worth the watch. If it wasn’t for the style, and just the plain mystery (maybe like the MMMystery on the Friendship Express) I’m afraid I wouldn’t enjoy it as much as I did.
Something that really surprised me was that Rainbow Dash put herself down (regarding long distance flying), something I’ve honestly never expected her to say. I only recall her ego deflated the most when she had to study which is clearly not her ‘thing’. But in flying? She put herself down? That was really slightly unexpected. It’s almost an entirely new side to Rainbow Dash! Almost.
The only thing that disappointed me was the simplicity of the plot, but I believe we’ll discuss that in greater detail later.
Gulheru: Noir setting, Rarity and a mystery. That’s all good. Wonderbolts, predictability and an antagonist lacking that higher quality - that’s not so brilliant. I, really, could end it here, but let me elaborate slightly.
Whenever an episode grants us a dilemma, we can see characters grow. It’s a principle - hardships strengthen. Challenges develop. Conflicts empower. And although I vary from the theories of Max Weber and Georg Simmel when it comes to the importance and placement of conflict in personal and societal life, I see the benefit from presenting characters with yet another trial. Especially, since we can all agree that Rarity and Rainbow Dash changed significantly from their personas introduced almost five years ago (!). Our colorful daredevil showing modesty? That alone is worth noticing.
However, I believe that we have reached a moment when we are oversaturated with problems to be solved in 22 minutes circa. Of course, I am aware that the format of the show forbids coming up with anything more complex than a false accusation over sending a letter (I mean, how utterly menacing!), but I think we sometimes need a lot more…
All in all, we were delivered a very solid episode, with an intriguing artistic value, even if one could expect a lot more after all of those years.
"To get the proof she needed I had to play it dirty, but I could live with that. As the private eye I didn't have my hooves tied by regulations."
SweetAI Belle: Let’s talk about the actual detective part of the story for a bit.
As I’ve said, the atmosphere itself was great, and it was very film noir, with all the black and white footage, and they did a great job of making it feel like a vintage detective story. One thing a detective story needs is a good mystery, though, and this one was a little too straightforward.
We introduced Wind Rider early, and he was the only new character we actually meet. The fact that he’s also the bad guy wasn’t much of a surprise.
Early on, I thought maybe Wind Rider did it because he wanted to match his speed against Rainbow himself and see what she was capable of, so I was disappointed when he was trying to get her kicked out. And it also occurred to me that maybe Spitfire had done it herself to let Rainbow have a place in the show, but that didn’t pan out either.
It was a fun story, but I would have liked to have seen a couple different potential suspects with clues pointing to them and actually been surprised at the end about who it was. Of course, that might have taken a two part episode. Even still, there could have been at least one other suspect, or some form of twist in the episode.
How about you? Do you feel the episode was too predictable? If so, did it detract from things for you, or do you think the rest of the episode made up for it?
Wolfcape: I think that the episode was fun, but it wasn’t meant to have a deep mystery, plot twists, or anything that was meant to surprise you greatly. Also, I doubt it is possible to add something so major and still keep within the timeframe, and perhaps to allow the original target audience to understand it all. Adding an interesting twist would probably be something like Spitfire wanting to do it herself, as I’m sure some of you thought. Adding a motive to this would be something I’d be interested to know too. Or perhaps her mother sabotaging her own daughter for pursuing flying over whatever she initially chose for her? That would be… quite tragic maybe.
I believe that for the episode, it’s a good way to show Rarity’s ability to put clues together and still keep somewhat in character, and also show a little insight into her tastes of reading. However, perhaps I’m over analyzing and the episode was just meant to provide something fun to watch. I wouldn’t deny it was very straightforward, but I cannot say I didn’t enjoy it.
Gulheru: I do believe that predictability often is a weakness of the series, then again, I need to remind myself that it is a show that aims at entertaining people of various ages and not only us, the Chosen Ones. Then again, I honestly believe that the way that this episode was conducted to be quite entertaining.
Of course, one has to be a fan of the noir to fully enjoy it, but I believe that even those that think narrative detective stories are past their prime enjoyed the little investigation that Rarity put together. She did it in style too. To be fair, I think the style of Carmen Sandiego fits her, minus the thieving part. (By the way, where in the world is this wretched woman?)
In general, I believe that the black and white sequences were reasonable and created a very intriguing esthetic. Perhaps they can be put in a couple more episodes, as a little easter egg. I mean, Rarity does talk to herself sometimes, so why not drop it occasionally?
On the other note, I would not mind seeing or reading a little story involving Shadow Spade solving a mystery… She seems like an intriguing mare… Very intriguing...
Prane: First off, let’s separate the predictability of the episode from the predictability of the show itself. The show is, as we’ve learned time and again, a colorful tale about how a diverse group of likeable heroes steamrolls through the obstacles of life and such. There’s a 100% chance that whatever happens will eventually lead to a heartwarming conclusion, and that the protagonists will end on top of things. This is the predictability on which we all agree as we’re about to watch the ponies in action. I doubt anyone sits down, sees the cold opening, and thinks, “Well, it’s obvious they’ll solve this, they always do. I better not waste my time on it.” Instead, we’re watching it because we want to see the chain of events that will lead to the point where the heroes are victorious, the dialogues that propel the plot, the sceneries and places in which the action takes place.
That’s how we deal with the predictability on the show level: we simply accept it, and never perceive it as a vice. I see nothing wrong with accepting it on the episode level either. Maybe I’m not smart enough, or maybe I have adapted to ignore even the most obvious clues, but I almost never have the idea of how something will end by the time I got to know the characters and the setting. I also have a hard time believing people with whom I’ve just watched a movie saying, “That was obvious, that was predictable, nothing was unexpected,” because it’s really no feat to state something like that after you’ve seen the conclusion and had time to revise the actual thought process you had back in the theatre.
To sum up, the episode didn’t feel too predictable to me. Predictability is about the goal, and I’m always more interested about the journey.
"That's why I left the Guard. Their rules were doing no good for my style, and the curs of the city weren't playing by them either."
Wolfcape: I would like to present a discussion topic regarding Rainbow Dash’s idolized team, The Wonderbolts. We’ve seen a little of them over the seasons, usually Spitfire, Soarin and Fleetfoot. From my perspective, there are some questionable things about the Wonderbolts. I’m not talking about the characters, but their characteristics.
Allow me to explain. Let’s look at the episode Season 4, Episode 10 - Rainbow Falls. The Wonderbolts were representing the Cloudsdale team for the qualifiers. Fleetfoot and Spitfire left Soarin in the hospital in exchange for a better flyer to join their team, giving a lie to both parties (Rainbow Dash and Soarin) to cover this up. Soarin is their teammate, fellow Wonderbolt, and they pretty much ditched him. This winning team Rainbow Dash looks up to opposes her element of Loyalty. Evidently Rainbow Dash’s loyalty was put to the test here, but it’s quite clear that this Cloudsdale team doesn’t hold this virtue anywhere high in their list.
Now, in this particular episode, Soarin appears to have taken the leadership position and became the spokesmanpony for the Wonderbolts. In most crime films, series’ and mysteries I’ve watched (quite a few, just to let you know) I have seen a case many times where the issue comes down to proving a crime. The Wonderbolts here employed an opposite technique: Guilty until proven Innocent. They put Rainbow Dash’s future on the line based on an assumption that she put Spitfire out of the way. To top it off, the real villain turns out to be a now-ex-Wonderbolt legend.
The point I’m trying to get at is the Wonderbolts appear to hold a degree of respect from quite a few pegasi, especially Rainbow Dash. They all seem to have the “be the best” mentality, usually at whatever the cost may be. However, all these Wonderbolt-centered episodes show that the Wonderbolts have questionable ethics, and usually it comes down to having somepony teach them a lesson.
What do you think? Is my perspective justified, or am I a biased Rainbow Dash fan? Am I missing something? What is your thoughts on this aspect of the Wonderbolts?
Gulheru: I feel entirely inclined to agree with your points. As far as we know, Wonderbolts are considered quite the elite squadron, a quick response unit, theoretically the best that Equestria has to offer when it comes to aerial presence. And…
Well, that’s it. Those are the established standards that seem to remain nearly entirely “theoretical”. What we have seen about them are questionable decisions, arrogance, opportunism and taking advantage of certain situations. In the recent episodes it does not take a lot to suddenly pin everything on Rainbow Dash. While she is not my favorite character and her haughtiness is getting on my nerves more often than not, but I need to stand in her defense (call it “lawyer’s loyalty” if you wish). Presumption of guilt is one of the more dangerous legal institutions that can be implemented and, well, Wonderbolts show a surprisingly low standard putting it to use. Or should I say “unsurprisingly”. It just adds to the list of their little sins.
I presume the idea of Wonderbolts might be a actually the victim of circumstances. They are often used to establish a particular problem or difficult choice for the main heroes, which naturally gives them the etiquette of “troublemakers” in the episode. Well, that or incompetent featherbrains - we all know that Rarity can fight rather well, but knocking out the lead squadron in “Sonic Rainboom” by frantically throwing her hooves around? Speaks volumes about “professionalism”, does it not?
Perhaps I am biased about the Wonderbolts. Perhaps they are the elite unit serving Equestria, best fliers, unquestionable aerial specialists and a representative unit of the country… but the show proves otherwise so far, both when it comes to their training and to their morality...
Prane: I feel that narrative-wise, the Wonderbolts and Rainbow Dash are the same thing. Don’t believe me? They’re exceptional flyers, they constantly need a lesson in humility, and they take care for their own (the Element of Loyalty imprint on RD’s side, and the team equals family mentality on the other - Soarin’s “Wonderbolts look out for each other!” was touching). The only difference is that we’ve got to know Rainbow over the seasons pretty well and had her tested in numerous conditions, but we can only assume certain things about the Wonderbolts. I feel that we don’t really know what they are because every time we see them we learn something new that doesn’t fit what we’ve learned so far.
Recap time! They seem kind of cool at the Gala as RD idolizes them. They are easily overpowered during Secret of my Excess. At the Best Young Flyer competition they are again underwhelming. But then there’s their academy, rigorous training and Spitfire acting all bossy. Then they care only about winning in the already mentioned Rainbow Falls. Then they care about each other when Spitfire’s gone. I mean, what? What are we supposed to think about them? What is their status regarding Cloudsdale, the Princesses, or the Royal Guard? Do they have traits other than just being good at flapping those flutter-flappers? What is going on?
That’s why I’m a unicorn person.
SweetAI Belle: I’m a unicorn too! Um, unicorn person?
I think the Wonderbolts were supposed to be more of a goal for Rainbow in the distance originally, and not really anything Rainbow reaches until the end of the show, so they’re having to feel their way a bit here.
We don’t really see the Wonderbolts at their best usually, tho’, ‘cause we’re always seeing them from the outside, and when we do see them up close, they have to sort of be one of the hurdles Rainbow’s facing. We don’t really get to see them at their best, because they have to be the antagonists a lot of the time.
Guilty until proven innocent bugs me, though.
"Sassy says I should quit, but the city isn't letting me. It will be my end eventually, but for now the job is the only thing keeping me alive."
Gulheru: Look at that, ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves a new miscreant. As a self appointed Advocate of Antagonists I need to say I welcome every new addition to the club fondly. Although I am intrigued if he is a true villain, or simply somepony slightly too worried about his reputation. One way or the other, I need to point out something that have struck me about his part in the episode. And it might be just me, but still… I think his role was a bit too… obvious.
I always enjoy the hidden threat. A knife in the shadow, a snake in the grass, a friend who is ready to betray you. And, well, Wind Rider was pretty conspicuous from the very beginning. I mean, certainly, one could have expected a “surprising” unraveling at the end of the episode, but, honestly, anyone of mediocre intelligence would spot that his only role was to be the “bad guy”. And that is… “bad” by itself. Villains are far more entertaining than heroes, as the protagonists have to fit a certain moral standard, or possess a specific feat of character. While antagonists? Oh, they can go all the way in every direction. And to make Wind Rider shallow for the sake of the lesson of the episode and the tight timeframe? A crime…
(And, other flops of yours aside, it is a crime to be idiotic enough to wear again a garment that have been compromised during your schemes… Shame on you, Wind Rider!)
Perhaps I am going too far, but I still wish to put that up for discussion. What do you think of Wind Rider? Was the “legend that went bad” an interesting character to you, or simply a placeholder?
Prane: It goes without saying that Wind Rider fell victim to the simplified form that is a cartoon, but there was really no reason to have any more of him in an episode that was an excuse to have some fun with noir filters and private eye monologues. There’s only so much you can squeeze in the twenty-something minutes mark, so there was no way to put any more convoluted plot or more suspects to the table. Let’s take a look at some TV series that are detective dramas and how long is their typical running time: Agatha Christe’s Poirot has both 50- and 89-102-minute episodes. Miss Marple is a 120-minute thing. Midsomer Murders, 89-102 like the Belgian. That’s enough time for a good, slow-paced action that unveils the mystery behind the crime and, eventually, the culprit. There are multiple threads involved that the detective has to untangle, compare, and pick the right one basing on the careful analysis of the clues.
In Rarity Investigates! we had only a single thread to follow that would lead us to the newly introduced character of Wind Rider (though at some point I wondered if it wasn’t Spitfire herself who just didn’t want to participate in the show), but maybe that was the point: to sit back and enjoy as the heroes are getting closer and closer to their quite obvious destination. There hasn’t been a need for some overly complex villain here, or multiple layers of the intrigue. Had they tried adding anything like that to the episode, they would undoubtedly rush its premise or leave some of its aspects half-baked. I can’t even think of Wind Rider as a true villain. He was a good Scooby-Doo type of villain that is pretty much introduced at the very beginning, but we’re choosing to ignore our hunches and let the characters and their actions entertain us. Whether we’re smarter than the heroes, the villains, other viewers, or the writers themselves doesn’t matter at all as long as we’re having fun.
So, Wind Rider, you’ve had your five minutes of fame. Your records have been or will be beaten by Rainbow Dash because she’s one of the main characters. So get over it and good luck in whatever garden you’re tending to on your retirement.
SweetAI Belle: I think we’re kinda on the same wavelength here. I was hoping he’d at least have a more interesting motive. The “legend that went bad” isn’t that interesting to me, and it didn’t even seem like he was that interested in flying! I thought it would have been more interesting if he’d sabotaged the whole thing to get a chance to go up against Rainbow in person.
I don’t really think we’ll see him again. Of course, I could be surprised. Maybe they’ll put together a real “Shadowbolts” group for the show at some point, with both Wind Rider and Lightning Dust as members. That would be interesting.
Wolfcape: I agree with everything all of you said, really. Unfortunately, it was rather simple also when only two new characters are introduced (close to either/or situations). Spitfire’s mother shouldn’t have a reason to sabotage her own daughter, though that would be something a little intriguing and honestly a bit more unexpected than I would think. Spitfire pulling herself out of it would also be just as interesting, though as aforementioned, I’d like to know the motivation behind this one.
However, Wind Rider was a pretty straightforward character to me, and yes, a “placeholder”. He was given a name so it’s just not another random Wonderbolt to put as the villain, and maybe toss in a little title to throw suspicion off a “living legend”. Not that it did much good, it made him even more suspicious. Of course, I think most of us are rather astute to see through it (not to brag too much). However, it was still something enjoyable to watch, unfortunately at Wind Rider’s expense. Another one stripped from the Wonderbolts...
And there we have it. Wish my bits were a bit longer, but I'm not really used to doing this. Why don't you all drop by the user pages of Wolfcape, Prane, and Gulheru and say hello! If you look through Prane and Gulheru's blogs, you'll see that they've done this with a bunch of other ponies, too, if you want to see more of these!
What are frenemies, anyway? I'm pretty sure they meant friends...
--Sweetie Belle
I'd like to officially thank the Best CMC for joining us for the review. It was great having you!
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Thanks! Messed up my first attempt at writing part of the discussion, but I think I fixed it before anypony saw it. Wound up sleeping half of Sunday, unfortunately, or I might've written my parts sooner.
That was fun, though! Glad to have been part of it!
--Sweetie Belle