It's getting close to time for the new episode again, so here's the new episode thread!

You know, I've seen this one listed as "Saddle Row & Rec" and also as "The Saddle Row Review". They musta changed the name at some point. Either way, this episode sounds like it's about saddles. Or, you know, maybe it's about Sassy Saddles. I actually did kinda like Sassy Saddles...

Either way, it's gonna be a Rarity episode. Who else have we seen with a buncha saddles?

Where's Rarity getting all this money, anyways? She's got her boutique in Ponyville, that one in Canterlot, and now she's setting one up in Manehattan? Pretty soon, she'll have 'em all over Equestria. Given that she likes custom designing clothing to fit her customers and can't do any of that with the ones not in Ponyville, it all seems weird.

Anyway, this is the thread for discussing the episode. Or saddles, or Rarity's empire-building, I suppose...

Oh, the episode is another one by Nick Confalone. "No Second Prances", angry yaks, and Hearthbreakers?

--Sweetie Belle

I don't know where this is going, but I love it so far.
Maybe I'm just a sucker for non-linear storytelling.

A clone survived! Ah!

I might be calling it too soon, but this is shaping up to be the best episode of the season.

Edit: Yup. Best episode ever. Not even hyperbole.

One of them escaped.

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Alternatively, she's a changeling.

Either way, PINKIE FIC MATIERAL AHOY!

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Where's Rarity getting all this money, anyways?

Princess Dresses had a 10000% markup!

Pretty soon, she'll have 'em all over Equestria.

RariCorp is the megacorporation Equestria deserves.

Given that she likes custom designing clothing to fit her customers and can't do any of that with the ones not in Ponyville, it all seems weird.

I would imagine she has ponies in the other stores that do similar things. I could see her happily squeeing over hiring other passionate fashionistas. She probably still spends most of her time making clothing.

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That one in A Canterlot Wedding who became Pinkie for a moment never felt so alive as in that moment. Now it's the only form they wear.

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That one in A Canterlot Wedding who became Pinkie for a moment never felt so alive as in that moment. Now it's the only form they wear.

Once you got Pinkie, man... (of no one else you'll thinkie?)

Let's just hope all the other changelings don't catch on to how great it is to be Pinkie, otherwise we may have trouble brewing.

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I would imagine she has ponies in the other stores that do similar things. I could see her happily squeeing over hiring other passionate fashionistas. She probably still spends most of her time making clothing.

Yeah, I have the same concept for how her boutiques operate. I'm thinking that Rarity's personal designs are the main attraction for them, but not the the only clothing being sold there.

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Either that or that's just Pinkie being Pinkie... TO THE MAX!

5243799 Great episode, I was chuckling from start to finish. Especially the last scene with the landowners daughter, her expression looked like something out of an Aardman film (Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run, Pirates in an adventure with Scientists, any one else see these movies?).

NO SPOILERS!!!

There's going to be a "ponies sweeping" remix, isn't there?

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Well, one can hope she's hiring a bunch of fashionistas to work for her stores. Trying to work herself to death doing everything is more Rarity, tho'. Maybe she learned a lesson from that whole thing with Sassy Saddles.

And, you know, this probably is the best episode of this season I've seen yet... (Which excludes "Newbie Dash", which I still haven't watched.)

--Sweetie Belle

5243799 So now Rarity has three boutiques. One in Ponyville, one in Canterlot, and one in Manehattan. I do wonder who's going to be running the Manehattan shop, because it looks like Coco was only there as a helper and not a business partner.

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I wonder if the broom thing was a reference to this?

I'll be honest, I was laughing at the "spoon clothes" thing for personal reasons (in one fic of mine, a character was using "spoon gloves" to dig out of a convention center he and two others were locked in). The actual spoon gloves at the end of the episode made it even funnier for me.

I really enjoyed this episode, it was a riot.

(SPOILERS!)

References abound within the first few minutes of the episode. There's ponified versions of the cops from Pulp Fiction, Steve Martin and John Candy's characters from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (again), and a newspaper reporter with striking similarities to J. Jonah Jameson from Spiderman.

Over saturation of references often proves tiring, but in the case of The Saddle Row, it kind of works. This episode is structured different from any other in the series, with most of it told in flashback, via interviews the Mane 6 have with a news reporter (the Jameson pony.) It's almost like a "talking heads" mock-reality show, a la The Office.

The reporter is getting the story behind the opening night of Rarity's Manehattan boutique, "Rarity for You." Rarity's friends, who helped her with setting up, worry that the reporter's review will shed light on the troubles they had getting even the basic things right. The building was a disaster, filled with dust and wild animals. Despite their earnest efforts, they barely managed to get through the night. Yet to their surprise, Rarity is thrilled with the review, and grateful for her friends and their hard work.

It's the ending that is the episode's biggest weakness. Just as Slice of Life (s05e09), Saddle Row is primarily comedic. While heartwarming endings can work in comedies, they haven't fared well for FiM. Rather than making these episodes feel whole, the endings are unsatisfying. The over the top wackiness caps off with rather underwhelming sentiment. It is neither deep enough to evoke emotion, or funny enough to fit in with the rest of the episode. (To be fair, Saddle Row does have a closing gag, but it doesn't pertain to the main characters.)

Friendship is Magic is not usually a spectacularly funny show. Some episodes are a snore-fest comedy wise, others are brimmed with huge laughs, and the rest (which are the majority) are in between. So when the show tries its hand at going full comedy, it better get its jokes right. In Saddle Row's case, I'd say it is about 50/50.

The episode does have a number of good lines, and amusing gags, enough to balance the more cringe-worthy moments. But it's still very hit and miss, which is a shame. The setup of the Mane 6 interviewed by the reporter is a fresh way of storytelling for the series, and the writers played around with the idea, getting some good moments from it. But it feels like there was more they could do.

As a whole, Saddle Row's misses keep it from being a hit. It would be on the higher end of "meh", were it not for a few issues which I will cover in first few under extras. I do like parts of the episode, and I appreciate its setup. It just wasn't funny enough.

Extras:
-The Mane 6 don't want Rarity to read the reporter's review, are scared of how she'll eact. This bothers me. They've read the review (which the audience gets to hear in full at the end), and it's glowing praise. Why would Rarity be mad?
-Each of the Mane 6 handle a task to get the boutique ready for the opening night. The shop, for whatever reason, is decrepit and full of dust, despite having a dance floor headed by DJ-Pon3 on the second story. There is also a family of smelly raccoons in the back alley. DJ's numerous appearances this season have grown a little stale for my tastes. The raccoons are a welcome addition.
-Rainbow's task is to hire workers for the boutique...hold on a moment. Why hasn't Rarity already hired workers? It is out of her character to be this unprepared for such an important night. If the episode had been funnier, I may have overlooked this issue.
-The best line comes from the owner of the building, Mr. Stripes, when he's talking about the two things most important to him in life: his daughter, Plaid, and his love for doll furniture. The way it is written and presented is truly amusing.
-Another funny line is from Rarity, lamenting on Plaid Stripe's choice of glow-in-the-dark braces.
-Now to Plaid herself. She's...ehhh. I would not say she is annoying, but she veers towards it. Luckily the episode does not focus too much on her alone, instead having her interact with the rest of the Mane 6. This is a big plus, as seeing characters with mannerisms like hers on their lonesome is usually not a good thing.
-I'm getting to think the show staff are focusing too much on character designs and references. Even though I think the references work in this style of this episode, there is definitely something wrong when a scene set in a booming rave party has a total of three dancers, a single DJ, and a bouncer. Perhaps the dancing ponies are close friends of DJ-Pon3's? But the bouncer letting in other ponies and denying others access seems to indicate that it is a legitimate club. It's needlessly barren. Could they not have added a few extra, nondescript dancers to liven things a little?
-I'm sure the three dancers are a reference to something, but I can't pinpoint what. They seem to be in punk clothing, and I'm not sure if they are from some late 80's movie, or perhaps a modern Japanese anime. I'm eager to learn who they're supposed to be.
-Pinkie references the events of Too Many Pinkie Pies (s03e03). This scene ends with a nifty visual joke.
-A cold-stricken Coco Pommel cameos. I don't find her sneezing in Rarity's face funny.
-Pinkie, tasked with getting DJ_Pon3 to turn down the music upstairs, eventually decides to invite DJ, the three dancers, and the bouncer to attend the opening night...still in their obscure outfits, dancing, and playing music. I don't mind this too much. It's similar to ending of Sweet and Elite (s02e09, episode nine of yet another season in this review). The two styles of parties collide, yet in Saddle Row's case, everything works out.
-I do like that Fluttershy's attempt at ridding the alleyway of the raccoons doesn't go smooth. Instead of the usual kind response Flutters receives from animals, the raccoons chase her down with angry fangs.
-Dash's methods of distinguishing the best candidate for a shop assistant are uninspired: she has them guess different types of fabrics, and run in a race. In the end, she hires all three, which seems excessive, as Rarity was only planning on hiring one.
-Having the raccoons be waiters during the premiere night could have been played for more laughs, yet as it is, is still okay. It is genuinely helpful to Rarity, giving the raccoons an important job without having to hire anyone. I just wish Rarity's reaction was funnier. She should have flipped her lid seeing wild animals handling food inside her boutique. But she, and all the other posh and high society guests, take it in stride.
-One of the running gags is Plaid's idea of selling clothes made of spoons. Which actually works out during the premiere night, as the spoons give one of the patrons a chance to enjoy soup. Odd they didn't already have spoons to eat the soup with. The ending gag I mentioned earlier? Plaid at the same restaurant the interviews were held. She smiles creepily at the camera, and it cuts to the credits. Weird and unfunny.

That hung together very well! Nicely plotted, funny, clever and lots of great new expressions.

5245100 I feel like half of the fun of any new episode these days is seeing what kind of new expressions we'll see from the girls.

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It might be! And the remixes have already started!

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Babs?

--Sweetie Belle

5245671 Sometimes I worry this fandom will be the downfall of society.