Favorite Episode Countdown #3 - Simple Ways · 4:12am Mar 22nd, 2018
SIMPLE WAYS
I LOVE BEING COVERED IN MUD!
Oh, joy of joys, this episode was top-tier in every way that matters. Canon characters, side characters, plot, humor... ugh, I love it. But, as usual, let's get down to business about why shall we?
First things first, we're gonna talk about the plot. So, Rarity's celeb-crush is coming to town whilst she's throwing a parade and boom! ...She has to do everything in her power to impress him. Oh, but what's this? Said celeb-crush likes Applejack of all ponies? The exact opposite of what Rarity is? It was a pretty wild plotline for a 20-minute cartoon and it was gorgeous. Very fresh and fun, if not a bit tried and true.
One specific thing about this episode's plot, though, is how well the humor was executed. Nobody can forget the afore-referenced scene above, or how about the scene where Trenderhoof first sees Applejack. The little tidbits of him pushing Rarity out of the way were great! Oh, and let's not forget his endless attempts to get to AJ and his soon-after failures. It had me laughing from front to back. And oh yeah, this scene:
Alright, onto the next point, let's talk about Rarity and Applejack. I think we learned quite a bit about them in this episode. Not necessarily anything new, but an exaggerated reaffirmation of what we already knew. AppleJack is dedicated to her work and puts that before all else. Rarity is a bit of a drama queen and a bit of romantic, as well. But, it's the details of how these traits were portrayed that made it work. You've got Rarity panicking when Trenderhoof approaches, AppleJack getting straight annoyed by flirty advances, Rarity going apeshit to impress him and AppleJack doing the reverse to prove a point. Just seeing how these characters react to a love triangle of sorts was great and it gave me a lot of character fuel for my stories.
Now, there's one last thing here. One thing that, in my opinion, is the most mature thing a character has done in this entire show. Well, at least that Spike has ever done...
Something that goes unnoticed in this episode at times is Spike's consistent comforting of Rarity while she's upset about Trenderhoof not liking her. And not just that, he actually goes out of his way to help her impress him. Spike helps Rarity get with another guy. The level of maturity it takes to help your crush get with someone else just because you care about them is huge. Like, that's something that Spike wouldn't have done in earlier seasons. It's a small part of the episode, so it tends to get overlooked, but I felt it was worth pointing out.
Anyhow, that's it for today. Sorry, this one was a bit later, but work and all.
Keep it real, guys!
Great breakdown of the episode! Now I need to go rewatch it!
The joke with this one is that while Rarity did a stereotype of AJ's lifestyle, AJ did Rarity's perfectly.
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Man, I can't wait to hear your thoughts on my fave episode on Friday.
Don't forget, they made Trenderhoof likeable, as well. It would have been easy to make him out to be a bad guy, but he ended up listening to reason in the end.
It's also nice to see a moral/theme with more than one application: celebrity worship vs the fickle nature of celebrity interests (current events included), trying to be someone you're not to attract someone who's actually different from what you thought they were, dealing with rejection... pretty impressive for such a silly premise.