Episode Re-Review: Canterlot Boutique · 6:21pm Apr 30th, 2021
Season 5's first half had been unfortunately quite the rollercoaster ride, perhaps hampered by two new writers debuting to less than stellar results and M. A. Larson hating the idea of story editor, to the point where he handed it back to Meghan McCarthy. By now word had come out that a theatrical movie was in the works, and Meghan would begin to be called away to help work on it. Still, for the time being she was serving as story editor again. Meanwhile, to kick off the second half we had Amy Keating Rogers with her third to last episode, which was going to see Rarity finally achieve her dream. With all that was going on, was this episode able to get Season 5's second half to a better start than Season 4's second half and put Season 5 back on the right track? Well, let's find out.
The episode begins with Rarity anticipating an important letter from the mailpony, but Pinkie Pie ends up showing up and through a series of tongue twisters reveals that she has Rarity's letter since she inadvertently made the mailpony sick. The letter for Rarity informs her that she can finally go ahead and open up her dream boutique in Canterlot. After the title credits Twilight exposits how Rarity got the money for the boutique as payment from Sapphire Shores and her back-up dancers. Odd how this is the first time we know Rarity received payment for her services.
We quickly get to see the new location, Canterlot Carousel (which is weird because it doesn't seem to really resemble a carousel like Carousel Boutique did, which was originally planned to actually move like a carousel before they found out that would be too difficult to constantly animate) and meet Sassy Saddles. Apparently, she's Rarity's new boss even though Rarity is the one who bought the boutique. Rarity has also revealed that she has some very specific rules about dresses for her new collection she's showing off, which among other things means giving each dress time and love in order to be unique. As for Sassy, she reveals that she has a plan or a "pattern" as she calls it to ensure success and keep the boutique open. She's already taken care of some things, but the biggest draw needed is for Twilight to model a special dress since she's apparently the most popular of all the princesses. Sure has come a long way from almost no one even acknowledging her status.
However, out of the blue Sassy Saddles starts taking over from Rarity and more or less micromanages every single aspect of the opening ceremony. She even changes the name of Rarity's signature gown without consulting Rarity while claiming that her "research" shows that the name Rarity used was too complicated. Perhaps the most interesting thing to note though is that we're introduced to a stallion named Fashion Plate who is a photographer. But unlike Photo Finish he's a unicorn and he doesn't have a German accent.
We do get some interesting visuals when Rarity is showing off her collection, though not quite as stunning as when Rarity was doing a re-do fashion show for Hoity Toity in Ponyville.
The rest of the mane six then take their cue from Pinkie Pie to excuse themselves while Rarity angrily confronts Sassy for overstepping her boundaries and doing things without Rarity's permission. But Sassy claims she did it solely because of her "pattern" and her desire to keep the boutique open, so Rarity backs down rather than try to stick up for her vision and her dream. She's then tasked with completing orders for the signature dress in her collection, the princess dress simply because that's the one Sassy Saddles marketed and instructed customers to order (again, without Rarity's permission even though Rarity's the one who has to make them). This leads into a song, the first one in fact since "I'll Fly" back in "Tanks for the Memories", almost ten episode from there and arguably the longest song drought in the show's entire history.
The song does convey a passage of time as Rarity starts sinking into depression as the princess dress starts to take priority over everything else, and her own artistic and creative visions are compromised to make it. Then she gets inspired to work in some new gems to make a particular dress unique, which she does without telling Sassy. This backfires when of course it's not what the customer ordered and Sassy takes this as vindication that her vision was correct all along. Rarity then laments that her new boutique is nothing more than a dress making factory as she churns out replicas of the same dress over and over again. Sassy more or less confirms this when she decides to discontinue the rest of the collection without bothering to push it, and creating an assembly line so Rarity won't even have to sew the dresses.
We do briefly get an interesting moral dilemma when Rarity realizes she's gotten everything she thought she's ever wanted, but yet she's still not happy. But it gets overshadowed by Sassy Saddles who basically declares that Canterlot Carousel is her boutique, which is what finally gets Rarity to put her hoof down and tell Sassy off for overstepping her boundaries. Then she says that if success in Canterlot means making one dress over and over again, she wants no part of it and declares her intent to close down. Then the most we see of Sassy for the next several minutes is her being locked away in the workshop while she laments that she can't be part of "Another failed boutique", a line that will never be followed up on despite the implications that might be behind it.
Fortunately, Rarity gets her creativity and inspiration back as we're treated to a reprise of "The Rules of Rarity" and she declares that Canterlot Carousel won't be closing after all. However, everything is still on sale. It's only now that Sassy comes out and apologizes to Rarity for going overboard. Expecting to be fired, she promises to apply what Rarity taught her at her next job. But Rarity says she'll be keeping Sassy around after all since she'll need someone to manage Canterlot Carousel for her, indicating that she will still come to the Canterlot boutique as needed but she always intended to have the flagship shop be Carousel Boutique back in Ponyville. Sassy is delighted and promises to do as Rarity would want whenever Rarity's not around.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, I'm grateful that they didn't shudder the Canterlot boutique after just one episode because of Sassy Saddles. That would've been an insult to have Rarity finally achieve her dream and then have it yanked away from her by someone else, just like the original planned ending for "Wonderbolts Academy" where Rainbow was going to quit the Wonderbolts and that would be that. Seeing Rarity actually achieve her dream was something rather unexpected, I imagine most people anticipated her never achieving it until near the end of the show if ever. And it signified that Season 5 was willing to shake up the status quo in ways beyond just the map. However, much of the episode is spent watching Sassy Saddles suddenly overstep her boundaries and take over from Rarity, shunting Rarity aside while Rarity does practically nothing to stop it even though it's supposed to her dream. And while Sassy is certainly no Suri Polomare, what she does is by no means sympathetic or understandable. Yet we're denied the opportunity to see her undergo redemption, she never has to confront what her actions caused and we're only told afterward that she gets it. Considering she's voiced by Kelly Sheridan, this unintentionally foreshadows something that was going to be coming for another character she was voicing.
In fact, the rest of the mane six minus Twilight have no real reason to be in this episode for as long as they do, especially when they all get shoed away during the second act (likely to avoid rehashing "Rarity Takes Manehattan"). Even the beginning has very little to do with the overall episode, the actual conflict doesn't occur until the opening of the boutique and we only just meet Sassy Saddles before then. Sassy Saddles' introduction at least could've come sooner, and if you cut out the rest of the mane six and only use Twilight for dress modeling, that's more than enough time to show Sassy undergoing redemption instead of telling us she's changed. "The Rules of Rarity" is an enjoyable song, even if it feels like it's trying to recreate "Art of the Dress" at times. If there were more build up and Rarity showed more of a backbone, Sassy's controlling ways might carry more weight than they do and her redemption could thus carry more of an impact after what she showed a willingness to do. Ultimately, this episode gets a narrow C+, largely elevated by a couple of moments here and there. It signaled both the best and the worst of what was to come for Season 5 in its second half.
Now, while the next couple of episodes got bumped around in order I'm going to go with the one that was fifteenth in production order despite being moved to twenty-first so it could air on Halloween, "Scare Master" which would unfortunately not be what its premise promised about Fluttershy.
Not a prefect episodes, but I did enjoy this episode since we see Rairty started opening shop around Equestria
I'm honestly curious if Kelly herself had something to do with both of her characters' rushed redemptions.
Speaking of that episode, I bet Rarity now knows how her friends felt there when Sassy was overworking her.
This episode is good, but not one I love.
And the song is one of my least favorite Rarity ones.
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I doubt it. But stipulations over how one of her characters could be used (supposedly) might have something to do with why Sassy Saddles became a mute after Season 7.
I loved this episode and its themes, and am one of the few who actually prefers the Rules of Rarity over Art of the Dress. I do agree the mini redemption was sorta rushed, but Sassy wasn't really a VILLAIN. She was more someone who had flawed priorities, so her seeing the success that came with the variety I feel is enough to change her perspective. Could've been better, but I don't think it was badly handled.