The Saddle Row Review (a.k.a Saddle Row and Rec) Review · 5:40pm May 21st, 2016
Yeah, it turns out that this is another episode with a title different from the one we were told about it. I'm not sure what's up with the name change, but regardless we're going back to Manehattan for our first Rarity solo episode of the season (remember, she shared "Gift of The Maud Pie" with Pinkie and Maud). Nick Confalone is back in the writer's seat, once again taking on new challenges with his first time writing Rarity. "No Second Prances" was a fairly solid episode from Nick void of his usual humoristic style, albeit with a few problems that made the episode kind of uncomfortable at points. So, was Nick able to add Rarity to the list of characters he can handle in the spotlight, or is Rarity a character he doesn't quite understand?
Well, let's find out.
We begin with the rest of the mane six (but no Spike or Starlight) rushing to Carousel Boutique to keep Rarity from reading the article about her Manehattan shop's grand opening. But they're too late, Rarity's already got the article, and she's going to read it no matter how much her friends might protest otherwise.
The framing device for this episode involves a pony journalist interviewing each of the mane six after the event to get the inside scoop on the opening, and what went on in the hours leading up to it. He bears a striking resembelence to a certain infamous publisher from The Daily Bugle obessed with slandering Spider Man.
I should bring up the one really glaring problem with this episode now, Rarity waits until opening day to actually clean up her shop, and this doesn't make sense considering she has already run two shops and would know from experience the importance of planning ahead. To make matters worse, her shop is part of a business apartment complex with a pushy landlord who demands Rarity hire his daughter, or he'll raise the rent until she can't afford it. Naturally, Rarity caves into the demand, but quickly discovers there's a lot of problems to sort out. Upstairs is a club playing loud music, and run by DJ-PON-3, the dresses are all unorganized, there is a family of racoons living in the closet, and Coco Pommel (who Rarity intended to have help) is sick, so she has to hire extra helpers.
Each of Rarity's friends agree to do their part to help out, playing to their strengths and skills (for the most part). Twilight volunteers to sort out and organize the dresses, Fluttershy agrees to make the racoons leave, Pinkie Pie is put in charge of getting the club to tone down the music (which just so happens to be guarded by the same stallion that was bodyguarding Sapphire Shores' studio, he must be a bodyguard for hire, available to rent out for whatever business or celebrity needs protection), Applejack gets to take care of the land lord's eccentric daughter, and Rainbow Dash is put in charge of hiring, so Rarity can work on the window display. Things quickly go wrong however, when each of Rarity's friends try to think about what Rarity would want. The highlight of this is when Pinkie Pie is debating whether or not to shut down the party, and is visited by a shoulder devil and angel version of Rarity. In a reversal of the usual trope, it's the devil who talks sense into Pinkie Pie.
Things go from bad to worse really quick, so Twilight decides to lock Rarity in the window display while the rest of the mane six try to figure out what went wrong and how to sort things out. It turns out that the key to success is not to think about what Rarity wants and solve that way, but to think about how they themselves would solve the problem. Everything works out just fine, and the grand opening is a sucess. During one of the interview segments however, we learn that it's possible a mirror pool clone of Pinkie Pie escaped.
Rarity is thrilled with what she reads, and the moral is that your friends are going to make mistakes but if they at least try to make up for it and try to do the best they can, they are good friends. A fine moral, but not necessarily something Rarity wouldn't already know. The other moral feels like a reversal of the solution of "Castle, Sweet Castle".
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, it's alright and fairly enjoyable. There's nothing outright wrong with it, though I still have to question why Rarity waited until the day of the grand opening to clean out her shop. The only major flaw I can find is that the moral isn't very strong, but thankfully this episode isn't built entirely around its moral. I also feel like this episode, much like "Newbie Dash" really has no excuse for neglecting to include Starlight Glimmer. She doesn't need to be in every episode, but she can't just be in episodes where she's the focus of a lesson or the one who finds the solution to the problem. If the writers want to sell us on Starlight's redemption and her being the seventh ranger, we need to be able to see more of her outside of a leading role. In the end, I give this episode a solid A, putting it above "On Your Marks" which lagged in parts, but below "No Second Prances" which, despite its uncomfortable moments, turned out really well.
Next week we have "Applejack's Day Off", in which Rarity tries to get Applejack to relax at the spa, while Twilight and Spike try to do Applejack's chores only to find out it's not as easy as it looks. Personally, I'm not really excited for it. I don't think it'll be a strong episode, though I'm not expecting it to suck either. This just feels like the writers getting the obligatroy Applejack focus episode of the season out of the way, and it's a shame because this episode could have the potential to get Applejack away from Sweet Apple Acres and finally develop her character after five seasons of her being perfectly content. The reason why "The Mane Attraction" worked as an Applejack focus episode, is because Applejack had other characters to play off of. Right now, she works good as a supporting character, but isn't compelling enough to hold an episode on her own. We'll have to see if that changes after next week.
I thought something like this had happened before, but I couldn't name the episode.
I personally found this episode hilarious, and i'm looking forward to next week's episode. The premise alone makes it sound like it's going to be a very funny episode. Just imagine all of the shenanigans that Twilight and Spike can get up to (and I'm hoping we get some interactions between Spike and Apple Bloom like we got in "Spike at Your Service"). While i do see your point about Starlight Glimmer (Spike being excluded from the cast is nothing new), I get the feeling that if they were to include her, people would complain that she's stealing the show or something or another. Also, I don't see what purpose she could have had in this episode. The episode works just fine without her. If there's no need for her to be in the episode, then there's no reason to include her.
Personally, I think the reason Applejack hasn't left her farm is that she's never had any reason to. She's perfectly happy there as far as I can see.
3961333 It's gonna be funny when Twilight and Spike both end up messing up so bad on the chores that it causes something only AJ can fix.
I liked this ep; it did have its good moments, and those few bad moments you mentioned. Now, we begin the wait for next week.
This episode isn't one of the season's best, but it's still highly entertaining.
It's also the best Manehatten episode of the series, which isn't really a high bar, but it does mean that we've had two lackluster Manehatten episodes (season 4 and season 5) and two great ones (both from this season).
I do wonder if there's going to be a later episode that follows up on the Pinkie clone gag (which is my personal highlight of the episode).
That would honestly be kind of awesome.
3961333 I think that was the Season 5 premiere, it was offically titled "The Cutie Map" but when aired it was called "Cutie Markless".
I have literally never heard Starlight Glimmer be referred to as that until now, and I personally found that fact rather humerous.
Yeah, I thought the episode was alright. I went in with a really irrational fear that this episode was going to leave me with a salty taste in my mouth as bad as "Newbie Dash," but I was pleasantly surprised. I also have to say that I rather like this method of storytelling. An interviewer interviewing a group and the story playing out for the viewer as this happens. I dunno what it is about that sort of thing that I like, but oh well.
Also, AppleDash is officially canon! (Sorry, Bobby Schroeder...)
3961418 Are you sure? I remember it being called "Cutie Markless" in the promotional material, but being called "The Cutie Map" when it actually aired.
3961346 I'm just looking forward to another Spike/Twilight episode. We haven't had one since season one's "Owl's Well That Ends Well."
3961432
Seriously, am I the only one who liked that episode?
That was easily one of the highlights of the episode for me.
3961447 Eeyup, I just hope Spike gets some more good parts; he's had some good parts so far.
Whilst it was not amazing, I still enjoyed the episode due to the interview segment parts, those got me laughing, especially when the ponies in the background kept changing.
As for next week, yeah it doesn't sound amazing to me either...five years and they still treat AJ like a support character.
3961447 You probably are, indeed, one in a minority in terms of liking "Newbie Dash," but I can respect your opinion.
3961462 While I still consider "Inspiration Manifestation" to be the best Spike episode, I did somewhat enjoy "Gauntlet of Fire."
3961763 I just don't see why everyone had such a huge problem with it. Yes, the Wonderbolts were teasing Rainbow Dash about her mistake. That's actually fairly common in groups like the military or sports teams.
3961796 It's more that Rainbow Dash was an idiot and never told The Wonderbolts why the nickname bothered her, she even lashed out at Fleetfoot and Soarin for something that wasn't their fault. I get that Rainbow Dash has an ego and always tries to put on a tough act, but by this point she's supposed to have mellowed out enough to learn that showing emotion isn't a sign of weakness and you don't have to cold and distant all the time.
3961838
She did?
Honestly, her ego hasn't been a problem since season two, and in "Tanks for the Memories" openly bawled her eyes out in front of her friends. Any other time, she would have tried toughing it out and acted like nothing was bothering her like she'd done in the past.
3962038 Yes, she did. There was also the problem of the impersonations ultimately being pointless and slowing the episode's pacing down to a halt, and the fact that the climax was spoiled in a promo. On top of that, this episode decided to go the inverse route of "Magical Mystery Cure" and "Crusaders of The Lost Mark" and treat a main character accomplishing their goal as just another episode and not anything really special, but much like with the CMC getting their marks, they spent a lot of time building up to Rainbow Dash becoming a Wonderbolt, and the episode made it seem like that wasn't a big deal. Yes, that's a tad bit realistic, but the end result is that compared to episodes like "Wonderbolt Academy" it feels underwhelming. There's also the issue of the show trying to tackle a moral it probably wasn't cut out for, newbie hazing is a controversial subject and in a show with friendship at its heart that's a major problem.
3962207
I can't really recall her doing that in the episode.
I must be in the minority here, because I found that bit funny. It especially showcases Asheligh Ball's vocal range, which is impressive since she's the one who's still new to this voice acting thing. Everyone else, including Michelle Creber, Claire Corlett, and Madeline Peters, have all been doing this voice acting thing for years.
This is why I tend to avoid spoilers; I like to be surprised.
But to the Wonderbolts, it was a big deal. They said themselves that they were practically hoping and praying that someone would drop out or retire just so they could have Rainbow Dash on their team. That's how badly they wanted her, because she's that good.
I don't think that was the moral that was meant to be taken away from the episode. To me, the moral was that, yes, accomplishing your dreams can be a great thing, but with accomplishing your dreams comes new responsibilities and challenges that you may not be prepared for, and sometimes you may need to adapt to the changes that achieving your dreams brings. This was shown when Rainbow Dash was attempting to fly with the Wonderbolts. She's used to flying solo; she's not used to flying with a group, so it's logical that she would make a few mistakes.
3962252 I dunno, the idea was there but the execution was lacking. If the problem of the episode could've been solved simply by having Rainbow Dash talk to The Wonderbolts, then the story should've been rewritten. If your story has a conflict that can easily be solved, trying to cover it up by writing around it or removing the thing that can solve it may not always work out.
3961796 Okay.