Oh, grow up!

Throughout Friendship is Magic, we have seen the characters we’ve come to know and love grow and change over time. This is especially true to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who have grown from being like little kids excited about finding their cutie marks to them getting their marks, and then finding their purpose and taking on a big challenge in helping others find their cutie marks. They’ve grown up and are no longer the little fillies we all saw the first time they all came together.

Forever Filly gives us a good insight into how much one of these three have changed and matured; Sweetie Belle. Now, in my opinion, Sweetie Belle has always been the most mature of the CMC. It may be because of Rarity’s influence, but Sweetie has always been mature in her own way and the smartest of the CMC by far; even back when the group first formed.

On top of that, it’s another Rarity and Sweetie Belle bonding episode, which I’m a sucker for since they have some of the best sibling based episodes. Easily, the best one being Sisterhooves Social and none of the other episodes now or since have reached that episode’s greatness. Which is a real shame too because, like Fluttershy Leans in, despite some golden moments, it’s flawed and could have been so much more epic.

While preparing for the upcoming spring season at Canterlot Boutique, Rarity finds a picture of her and Sweetie Belle having fun. Upon seeing it, Rarity realizes she hasn’t spent quality time with her sister in a long time, and is convinced by Sassy Saddles to go spend time with Sweetie.

A few questions are already being raised in regards to such a set up. Rarity says she hasn’t spent time with Sweetie Belle in a long time. We don’t have an idea how much time has passed, but I think it’s implied it’s been months. If that’s the case, then you have to wonder just how Rarity hasn’t found any time to spend with Sweetie Belle. Maybe you can argue she was busy in that time period, but that’s a bit of a stretch right there. Not helped by the fact that they both live in the same place, so it makes even less sense.

While on their day together, Rarity takes Sweetie to a few of her favorite things to do like go to puppet shows, get balloon art, or eat sundaes. The first two of which we have never seen Sweetie Belle ever show any interest in at all until this point. While Sweetie seems to enjoy it, we clearly see she’s not that interested in it at all. Does this episode set up sound familiar in some way? It should be since it seems this episode seems to be doing another retread of another episode to an extent at least.

Continuing a trend we’ve been seeing in the show lately, you’ll quickly figure out that this episode revisits another rather mixed bag episode; Somepony to Watch Over me. In that episode, it showed Applejack being way too overprotective of Apple Bloom, even to the point of Applejack being massively out of character.

Forever Filly, while it does borrow elements from that episode, thankfully avoids a lot of the problems that StWOm had. Rarity isn’t being an extremely overprotective mother like figure like Applejack was. She may be treating her sister like a little kid, but at least not to the point of treating her like a little baby like Apple Bloom was. Also, it doesn’t make Rarity feel as out of character as Applejack was.

As that goes on, we have a subplot (something that this season really has been doing a lot lately) involving Apple Bloom and Scootaloo helping Zipporwhill with some trouble with her dog. Her dog isn’t as energetic and doesn’t seem as playful as before. Just like with Flurry of Emotions, this subplot has a reason to be around. The problem being though is that this subplot is strictly here to be a parallel to Rarity’s own dilemma about Sweetie Belle. Both her and Zipporwhill still treat their loved ones like children in their own way, and both have to come to terms with their own loved ones getting older.

The major issue here is that aside from being a parallel to Rarity’s own problem with Sweetie, it has no other major point. There was no other reason for this story to be in it specifically to fit with the main story. As a result, Rarity’s character arc feels pretty flat as Sweetie pretty much tells the moral to Rarity, inadvertently mind you, about how others grow and change over time. That is really the only major reason why this plot is in this episode.

Rarity herself may be some turn off for some people out there, but we have to look at it from the perspective of somebody who is the older sibling. Rarity, for years now, has always done some kid stuff that Sweetie Belle loves like puppet shows, balloon art, and sundaes. The point though is that Rarity has thought Sweetie Belle still loves those things after all this time.

I commend the episode for giving us a good perspective in regards to such a moral. Being away from those you love and care about for so long will make you miss what has changed with them and only do what they remembered what their loved ones liked. She remembers the stuff Sweetie Belle loves so much and wants to recreate that for her little sister.

While the intentions of Rarity are good and she wants to spend time with her sister, it’s somewhat undercut by how Rarity is seemingly ignorant of Sweetie’s own actions. Not only is Sweetie telling Rarity she’s more interested in stuff like theater and salads, but her body language and the way she speaks should have been an indication to Rarity that Sweetie was obviously not enjoying any of the activities.

If the episode showed a little bit of Rarity’s denial about how much Sweetie Belle had grown, I could forgive something like this. I think this was the intention to be honest, but it’s not clear at all. If it was, then points for subtly. It does seem to imply that Rarity thought Sweetie wouldn’t grow out of such things and wasn’t ready for her sister to move on from such things.

As a result of Rarity’s actions, the story ends up being pretty predictable as a whole. While it’s not boring or bland like Fluttershy Leans in was, this episode plays it pretty safe for something as big as dealing with growing up and maturing. There’s something about the episode that’s missing some of its heart and core to make it really good. I was hoping somewhere down the line, this episode would have a major heart to heart moment between Sweetie and Rarity. While we do get a nice moment for them at the end, I don’t think it was done as well as I was hoping, but this may be me.

The dialogue is something to mention too. It just doesn’t feel natural at all. There are some long pauses between when characters speak and some of the wording feels a little iffy coming from some of the characters. Sweetie Belle in particular has some odd dialogue with how she talks about theater and all. I guess you could say that it’s because she’s more grown up, she speaks a bit more fancy now, but it’s still pretty odd to me.

Because the story feels pretty lackluster at some parts, it also doesn’t have the best jokes either. Sure there are some cute gags here and there, but nothing really that funny at all. The funniest bit in the entire episode had to be the photo session with Rarity and Sweetie Belle, with the latter having a face that screams, “I’m going to kill you slowly.” Unfortunately, that’s as funny as the episode gets. Although, the tiny little sundaes was also pretty good.

Usually, Rarity and Sweetie Belle episodes are instant classics, but Forever Filly misses the mark for it. Don’t get me wrong; this isn’t an awful episode and certainly nowhere as bad as Fluttershy Leans in. However, compared to some of the other Rarity and Sweetie episodes we’ve seen before, this one just lacks in some areas that needed work.

I appreciate the episode for tackling something as big as dealing with growing up and not liking stuff you used to enjoy, but I think it could have been handled better. The story feels pretty pedestrian and pretty simplistic all things considered. There’s really nothing about the story that sticks out all too well except have some places that Sweetie used to like to go.

Maybe if we saw some of the episode through Sweetie’s perspective and some of her thoughts about the stuff she used to like, and maybe have her worry that growing up means she won’t have any more fun, then it could have worked. We could have had this episode focus both on Rarity and Sweetie through their own points of view. The subplot of Zipporwhill, while it was decent and tied into the main story, was only there just to reflect Rarity’s own issues. Personally, I think we could have cut that out to have some more Rarity and Sweetie bonding.

However, despite the shortcomings of the story, it’s not an awful episode. It does have its moments that are genuinely heart warming and cute. The moment Rarity realizes about how much Sweetie has grown up. The ending scene was cute and pretty funny at the same time. There is heart in this episode and I did enjoy the moments we did have between Rarity and Sweetie Belle.

If I was to compare this episode as Somepony to Watch Over me done again, it’s significantly better overall in many ways. It doesn’t make Rarity out to be anything close to how Applejack was in that episode, and it’s always fun to see her and Sweetie Belle bonding together. It manages to avoid a lot of the problems StWOm had, and doesn’t feel as cringey as that episode was.

As far as this episode goes, it doesn’t exactly measure up to some of the other Rarity and Sweetie episodes. Considering the last time we saw them have any major interaction was in The Cart Before the Ponies, it is a step up from that episode. The usual thing that works so well with their episodes is the heartwarming moments. While this episode does have those moments, it just doesn’t exactly have a lot to be honest.

This episode is more or less in the middle of the season so far. While it does kind of falter in some areas, it’s not a bad episode at all. It doesn’t reach the levels of Celestial Advice, but it doesn’t have as much unnecessary filler as All Bottled Up did. The dialogue can be stilted from time to time and not flow well. Some of Rarity’s actions are questionable, despite her good intentions. As I said in the beginning though, I’m a sucker for Rarity and Sweetie Belle episodes. While I think this may be the weakest episode involving the two being the main focus, it’s certainly not an awful episode at all. Despite all its flaws, it’s still some good sisterly bonding fun between Rarity and Sweetie.

FINAL SCORE: 7 out of 10 ( B- )

Season seven episode ranking list from best to worst:

Rock Solid Friendship
Flurry of Emotions
Celestial Advice
Forever Filly
All Bottled Up
Fluttershy Leans In

Comments

[Steadfast Hoof]

Thank you for these brother! I still need to finish about 4 episodes from season six but these reviews help keep me in the loop of the current hype! And they are really well done!