Another day, another review. Let’s look at #33, “Sweet and Elite.”

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TECHNICAL SPECS:

Season: 2
Episode: 9
Written By: Meghan McCarthy
First Aired: December 3, 2011

SUMMARY:

Rarity is in Canterlot to buy some supplies, and thanks to Twilight’s influence, Princess Celestia has invited her to stay in one of the castle’s suites. While enjoying a nice drink at a sidewalk café, Rarity decides to make Twilight a dress for her upcoming birthday as thanks. Her new hat, however, attracts the attention of a pair of snooty Unicorns, Jet Set and Upper Crust, and Rarity is overjoyed at being recognized…until a country boy window washer recognizes her and reveals her origins. Now that she’s been exposed as nothing but a commoner, the two snobs laugh her off, leaving Rarity crestfallen until she goes back to the room, where her depression changes to rage. In a rush, she designs an elaborate new outfit for Twilight’s birthday, and swears to show them all!

While shopping for supplies, however, she crashes into Fancy Pants, a pony of some kind of renown and importance. When he learns that she’s staying at the castle, he invites her to his private booth at the Wonderbolts Derby, and while Rarity knows she should be focusing on the dress, she still attends the event. With the aid of Rainbow Dash’s knowledge of the Wonderbolts, she guesses the winner of the next race; when pressed to reveal who Dash is, however, she lies and says she’s the Wonderbolts’ trainer.

Thanks to this, her star in Canterlot begins to rise, and she is pulled from one event to the next. Once again, however, she knows she has to design Twilight’s dress, but she is so afraid of losing her newfound status that she gives up on the outfit entirely. By the time she’s ready to leave, only the basic gown itself has been finished, giving her just barely enough time to get the outfit finished before the party. At the last minute, however, she receives an invitation from Jet Set and Upper Crust (who now want to be friends) to attend the Canterlot Garden Party, the second-most important event in Canterlot next to the Grand Galloping Gala. Unfortunately, the party is the same day as Twilight’s birthday. She weighs the two sides, and doesn’t want to disappoint her friend, but alas, she cannot give up all the connections she’s made. She writes a letter saying that Opal (who went with her and has been trying to get her to finish the dress) is sick, and she can’t risk taking her on the long trip to Ponyville.

On the day of the party, Rarity is all dressed up and ready to go…until she opens the door and finds her friends all waiting for her. After receiving her letter, Twilight asked Pinkie and Princess Celestia to move her party to Canterlot so Rarity could attend. Even better, Twilight likes her simple dress, much to Rarity’s relief. After dodging questions about her fancy outfit and Opal’s seemingly perfect health, Rarity joins the others in the ballroom, which looks over the Garden Party itself. Rather than give up and admit the truth to either group, Rarity tries to sneak back and forth between both events, but ends up running herself ragged and finally goes back to the birthday party with a croquet mallet by mistake. Everypony quickly guesses what’s really going on, but Twilight is actually perfectly okay with it, saying that Rarity is a savvy businesspony and that she should go back and mingle. Rarity is overjoyed.

And then her friends invite themselves to the Garden Party, and Rarity’s joy turns to embarrassment and horror. All five quickly prove themselves to be disruptive, uncouth, and downright clueless as to how one behaves at such functions, earning them the ire of the Canterlot elite. Rarity, desperate to keep up her connections, tries to distance herself from them, but when Fancy Pants asks Twilight about her dress, the Unicorn reveals that the two are friends and that she designed the simple garment for her. Once again, Rarity is torn between the two groups…but this time she decides to stand by her friends, telling the others that they’re the most important ponies she knows. Jet Set and Upper Crust laugh at the very notion, but when Fancy Pants himself stands up for them, they and the rest quickly change their tune.

The episode ends with Rarity beginning her letter to Celestia, but then switches to her giving it in person once the Princess arrives. She admits that she lied because she was embarrassed of her roots, but has learned that one’s home and friends are what help shape them, and that is something one should always be proud of.

REVIEW:

Rarity’s latest adventure begins in Canterlot Castle, with Celestia letting her stay in a luxurious guest room simply because she’s friends with her daughter substitute/student. Oh, and she also helped redeem her sister and saved Equestria at least twice, and that’s good, too. What I love about this scene, however, is Rarity praising Celestia for what basically amounts to a relatively minor favor. The young mare quickly goes down on all four and starts kissing Celestia’s hooves, while the Princess just looks completely squicked out and uncomfortable with this level of appreciation. There’s also the bellhop pony, who for whatever reason reminds me of the Squeaky-Voiced Teen from The Simpsons. His entire reason for existing is to get crushed under the enormous weight of Rarity’s many bags, suitcases, hat boxes, and other various pieces of unnecessary luggage. It seems that overpacking is a family trait, considering the mass of things Sweetie similarly brought in “Sisterhooves Social.”

One of the things I like about this episode is that it touches on something mentioned all the way back in the pilot, but only briefly touched on in the following episodes: Rarity’s dream of living in Canterlot. This even seems to go so far as to have her emulate the accent and mannerisms of the Canterlot elite, albeit without the snootiness and money-addled stupidity quite a few will soon display. But if you want to know what this episode is really about, you just have to watch what happens in the first scene of the first act. Rarity’s hat is praised by Jet Set and Upper Crust, two ponies that represent the worst aspects of wealthy socialites, and is overjoyed. But then a slack-jawed yokel recognizes her from Ponyville, and their respect turns to mockery and derision. This absolutely breaks Rarity’s heart, and sets up the impetus for the rest of her actions.

After that, she runs into Fancy Pants and his trophy wife, Fleur. I’m a little torn on Fancy Pants, if only because his name’s a gigantic lie. He doesn’t wear pants at all! Much like Jet Set and Upper Crust earlier, he mistakes Rarity for being wealthier and more influential than she actually is, if only because she’s managing to stay at Canterlot Castle. This leads to the Wonderbolts Derby, where in a moment of catharsis, we get to see the two rich snobs from earlier get slack-jawed as Rarity enters Fancy Pants’ private booth. Of course, Rarity slips up and bets against Fancy Pants’ predictions of who’ll win; given the number of sycophants that surround him, it’s obvious that he has a lot of pull in high society. But when she wins, he helps to elevate her further up the line…at least, after she lies that Rainbow Dash is the Wonderbolts’ trainer. You’d think that would be easy to check…

Basically the rest of the episode is just Rarity lying, procrastinating, and putting her social and business contacts over her friend’s upcoming birthday. And indeed, one of the criticisms that get leveled at this episode is that this point is never formally addressed. However, that’s not what the episode is about. Rarity knows what she’s doing is wrong, and thus doesn’t have to learn a lesson to change her ways. Rather, this is about why she’s lying. Her actions are very much in the wrong, but she keeps doing things and digging herself deeper because she’s afraid of what the consequences will be. Remember, this is her dream, and unlike so many other pat TV shows, she’s enjoying being among the Canterlot elite very well. And there’s no reason why she can’t live in both worlds until things get forced along at the end, so her lies would be mostly without consequence.

There are a bunch of other little tidbits to cover here, from Rarity wiping the foam off her nose when she meets JT and UC, but the real silent star of all this is Opalescence. Rather than just be a bloodthirsty kitty, here she seems to operate as Rarity’s moral compass, pushing her towards honoring her pledge to make Twilight the best dress possible rather than spend all her time at social events. And of course, she’s reward by getting shoved upside-down in a paper bag, buried underneath Rarity’s luggage, and finally tossed in a shower until she’s a soggy mess. Again, there is a reason Opal wants Rarity’s blood.

And of course, we get another song, “Becoming Popular.” It’s a pretty good tune, and shows what could be construed as Rarity becoming a total narcissist…until you get to the end, where she’s tired, depressed, and guilt-ridden at failing to live up to a promise she made to Twilight. Still, she tries to slip away early enough to get the dressed finished back in Ponyville, only be foiled when Jet Set and Upper Crust, who are now suddenly chummy with her again, invite her to the Canterlot Garden Party. And for something with such a generic name, it’s an extremely important event, so Rarity is once again conflicted. Granted, she makes the decision to not show up to her friend’s birthday, but at the same time they offer a fairly reasonable reason why she’s doing this. After all, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and she’s still convinced that if she slips up even slightly she’ll lose everything she’s built up over the trip. It’s still not the right decision, but it’s given a bit more grayness than you would expect for this kind of show.

Of course, this decision becomes moot once her friends do show up. This is where the episode starts to become a bit more standard in its execution, but there are still plenty of good moments here, such as Pinkie’s most glorious weapon:

I also liked Twilight’s reaction to the dress; she praises its practicality and is perfectly happy with how simple it is. This is enough to calm Rarity, who was expecting a shellacking for not making the most expensive and frou-frou outfit imaginable.

The real highlight, though, is Rarity’s attempts to attend both events at the same time. Fortunately, the Garden Party is right next to the ballroom, so it’s easy for her to switch. I loved the little visual joke with the conga line, Rarity throwing up the crappy hors d'oeuvre, and the montage of her getting more and more worn down with every excuse, until she’s reduced to talking in Buffy Speak and forgets to drop a croquet mallet before returning to the birthday party. So now the secret’s out, Rarity prepares to be condemned for not making her friends the single most important thing in the totality of existence…and Twilight congratulates her on her business savvy. Yet again, the writers don’t take the easy way out, and instead give Twilight a fairly mature response to all this. Granted, she doesn’t know about the web of lies and deceptions Rarity has weaved, but at the same time, she can see how important this would be for Rarity and only seems hurt because she didn’t just come out and tell her.

But then we get to my only real complaint about this episode. The rest of her friends decide to crash the Garden Party, and between scene transitions must have huffed a few gallons of paint each. I can see that the episode’s trying to play up the country-versus-city angle for all it’s worth, but at the same time it didn’t have to turn the entire cast into straight-up hillbillies to get it accomplished. Some of the choices don’t even make sense. Applejack was an aspiring socialite for a brief time in her youth, so why doesn’t she know the reason for the party? Why is Twilight so completely out of it given that she’s from the town to begin with and studied under Princess Celestia? It honestly feels like they overplayed their hand, and the scene suffers for it.

Things finally get back on track when Fancy Pants asks Twilight who made her dress. Rarity tries to kill the subject dead, but Twilight blurts it out anyway, and everypony is horrified at this. And thus we get to Rarity’s final decision. Up to this point, she was able to play both sides, but we’re at the endgame, she’s made her last save, and she has to pick between the blue and red lights. Her hesitation finally clues her friends in on how ashamed she apparently is of them, and it seems like she’s going for the elite…but then she finally makes the right choice and announces that these are her friends, and that they’re the most important ponies she knows. Jet Set and Upper Crust betray her again, but Fancy Pants makes a backhanded compliment about them being “charmingly rustic,” and they quickly change their minds, even putting in orders for copies of Twilight’s dress. And now that she’s gotten the green light out of pity, Rarity gets to keep everything and doesn’t get called on her lying at all.

Again, though, that wasn’t the point, as the lesson demonstrates. The problem was that Rarity was ashamed of being from Ponyville, and thought that others would look down on her if they knew her roots. However, she has learned that your friends and hometown are what help define you as a person, and that is nothing to be embarrassed about. We also have Celestia’s last appearance until “It’s About Time,” and get to delight in that poor bellhop’s broken spine once more.

CONCLUSION:

What I love about this episode is how it doesn’t take the easy route and condemn Rarity for lying and blowing off her friends. Rather, it delves into her motivations for doing so, showing us just what would drive a pony to hide her past like it’s one giant, dark secret. The humor is pretty good as well, and I really enjoyed the song. About the only criticism I have is that it played up the country mouse angle too much with the rest of the cast, but that was only detrimental to one scene, and otherwise it worked out fine.

In the end, this is just a great episode. “Suited for Success” is still the best Rarity ep, but this is a good watch.

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Wow, two Rarities in a row! I wonder what tomorrow shall bring…