Episode Re-Review: Rarity Takes Manehattan · 6:25pm Mar 30th, 2021
After being denied a focus episode in Season 3 because Meghan McCarthy thought Rarity was "too mean" for feeling guilty about lying to Spike, Rarity got to have her long overdue return to the spotlight for the first time in over a year. In fact, over two years since "Sweet and Elite" had aired in 2011. And Dave Polsky got to do a Rarity episode like he had hoped to do in Season 3 before Meghan gave his script to Merriweather Williams for revising. Yet nowadays people seem to mostly remember this episode for the introduction of what would become a fan favorite character. So, was this episode able to succeed where "Bats!" failed and get Season 4 back on track? Well, let's find out.
We begin at the train station in Ponyville as we learn through exposition that Rarity is attending fashion week in Manehattan, a big gathering of fashion designers with a chance to show their designs in a big city. The rest of the mane six (and Spike) are coming along for moral support, but Rarity has a surprise for them when she shows off tickets. It's for a Bridleway performance entitled "Hinny of the Hills". I guess the closest parallel would be either The Sound of Music or Annie, Get Your Gun? After all, this was years before Hamilton would come along and take the world by storm.
So it's off to Manehattan and we get to have our first look at a location that isn't Ponyville, Canterlot or Cloudsdale. And yes, Manehattan is very much a ponyfied New York even down to having a Statue of Liberty model. It was unique back then because we'd never seen this location before, it was only with subsequent returns in future seasons that the appeal wore off and it became just a generic big city location. Rarity reveals that she got the tickets for the play by helping out the theater manager and in return he (she specifically identifies the manager as such) provided the tickets free of charge (the performance has been sold out for months, so they're likely V.I.P. tickets). And she comments on how this is the nice thing about generosity, doing a favor for someone so they can do something for you. Granted, this is kind of a selfish view of generosity. The idea of it isn't specifically to go looking for favors or compensation, you're supposed to do it because it's the right thing to do. But it's not like Rarity is only doing this because she wants to be rewarded, it just seems like a nice bonus. Then there's a weird transition to the song when Applejack refers to Rainbow Dash in the third person even though Rainbow Dash is right there and Applejack is clearly talking to her. I guess Applejack got replaced by Trixie?
It is funny to have Rainbow comment on ponies just bursting into song right before Rarity does so, and we have the song "Generosity" though it's easy to think that the title is "Oh Manehattan" considering they repeat that far more often. During the song we see Spike get a carrot dog only for a pigeon to snatch it away, which didn't need to be shown and just feels like they wanted a joke at Spike's expense (as if him carrying Rarity's luggage at the beginning of the episode wasn't enough). But the song itself is really good, describing who Rarity is and how she works. She's aware that being so generous all the time has its drawbacks and some might say it's wrong for her to do so, but she refuses to change and instead hopes to make a difference by staying true to who she is. She also at one point mentions frowns and "Call me the smile patrol" which sounds like she's trying to do what Pinkie Pie does.
The song ends as Rarity just needs to check in at the runway for the contest, but Pinkie Pie ends up revealing that time is almost up. To make matters worse it begins to rain and there's a huge line for a taxi service. Twilight tries to persuade the ponies in line to let Rarity go ahead, and without acknowledging that she's an alicorn one of the ponies tells her no. This has led to speculation that this episode was a holdover from Season 3, which is possible although it's never been confirmed. However, even if Twilight were to have her royal status revealed I don't think it would've changed anything. In fact, the ponies might have complained about why she couldn't just use her own royal chariot to chaperone her friend. You'd be surprised at how some won't care no matter who's in line. Anyway, Rarity has the good fortune of being picked up by a taxi driver she helped during the song (he even acknowledges this). But in her rush she leaves her dresses behind.
Fortunately, the bellhop stallion from the hotel Rarity is staying at was willing to run the dresses across town to her and she tips him (for the second time, she tipped him during the song). Rarity makes it backstage and finds all the other contestants are already there. Then the host of the event shows up, Prim Headline who is voiced by Ashliegh Ball using a very obvious stuffy version of her Rainbow Dash voice. I'm sure Prim Headline is meant to be a reference to some famous fashion designer either in real life or fiction, but who it is I have no idea. Anyway, because Rarity arrived just before the deadline she will be the last to present (first come, first serve). And Prim explains that the next day is the contest to decide who gets to stay for the rest of the week to work with Manehattan's best, the losers must go home.
Prim them dismisses the contestants as Rarity gets set up. It's here that she meets Suri Polomare, a never before mentioned old accquitance from a Ponyville knitting club (the way it's animated even makes it seem like Rarity's aware of how we've never seen Suri before). And believe it or not, Suri is voiced by Tabitha St. Germain which will really hammer home how she's the anti-Rarity. Suri gets to work on buttering up Rarity and then becomes impressed by her one of a kind fabric. She asks Rarity if she can borrow a swath for accents, and Rarity gives Suri an entire spare roll. When she turns to look Suri is gone which Rarity finds odd, but she doesn't stick around. You can guess what's gonna happen.
Sure enough, Suri steals Rarity's design and passes it off as her own. Rarity accusingly shouts at Suri, but although Prim Headline is just beyond the catwalk she doesn't hear this. If it were backstage it would probably be more believable since that would be a greater distance for the noise to travel. Anyway, Suri points out that Rarity let her have the fabric and she mentions that her assistant, Coco Pommel, was the one who sewed the dresses. When Coco apologizes for taking so long Suri yells at her and basically gives a line along the lines of "You're not paid to think.", then Suri smugly rubs her deed in Rarity's face while claiming that in Manehattan such is how you get ahead.
Rarity runs off in dismay, skipping out on her demonstration to Prim Headline and yet she is not disqualified. She returns to the hotel to sulk as her friends come in from a day of fun in the big city. And the best is yet to come, they have an appointment to get their manes done, dinner at a tavern and then of course the big play "Hinny of the Hills". They stop what they're doing when they see Rarity crying though, and encourage her not to give up. It's then that Rarity becomes inspired to create an entirely new line. But in order to have it ready she has to rope her friends into a sort of sweat shop work line. That means cancelling dinner at the tavern (she promises to order them something to be delivered to the hotel, probably pizza) and also skipping "Hinny of the Hills". When her friends mention that that will be a problem, Rarity snaps and berates them while saying "Congrataponylations, fillies" before storming out of the room. Her friends still work through the night anyway, skipping dinner and the play to get everything done. And because Rarity is in such a rush she doesn't bother to say "Thank you". Still, her entirely new line becomes a hit as we see that it was made entirely from stuff in her hotel room. Interestingly, in the audience we see Sapphire Shores, Photo Finish and Fancy Pants though none of them have a speaking role. I kind of feel like Fancy Pants should be replaced by Hoity Toity as there was no indication that Fancy Pants was involved in the world of fashion.
It seems like Rarity's new line (dubbed "Hotel Ciche") is a success. But Rarity finds that her friends didn't show up even though there was a spot in the audience reserved for them. Looking at the rope holding, a beam of rainbow light shines across it and triggers a realization in Rarity, causing her to run off stage to the surprise of everyone (Prim included). She runs back to the hotel only to find that her friends have already left, assuming that they went back to Ponyville since the bellhop stallion mentioned seeing them headed towards the train station. Rarity tips him despite him not really having done anything (and I should mention that she tips in jewels and not bits, which is probably going to wreck the economy if she keeps throwing jewels around like candy) and we get a reprise of "Generosity" as it starts raining again. When the song ends, Rarity goes back to where the contest is being held to ask Prim Headline for permission to go back to Ponyville. However, Suri shows up and tells Rarity to stay away because Prim is rather furious. Then it turns out that Rarity's friends didn't go back to Ponyville, they missed the show because they overslept and Suri just informed them that Rarity lost. Oddly enough they all believe it despite knowing from Rarity what Suri did. You'd think they'd be a bit less inclined to take Suri at her word after she already proved willing to cheat.
But Rarity doesn't care, winning isn't as important to her as having friends. And they're willing to forgive her, though in a strange twist it's Applejack who bluntly tells Rarity how bad she was and Rainbow Dash reacts with shock. It's usually the other way around (especially in the standard mane six introductions). Still, all is well and they leave to go do other things. But once Rarity is gone Suri reveals that Rarity actually won, and is trying to intimidate Coco into not telling the truth. We then cut to the Bridleway theater as "Hinny of the Hills" ends. Oddly enough, the mane six are all sitting like ponies and stomp their hooves even though by this point ponies sitting like humans had become relatively standard. When asked how she was able to arrange for a private performance for her and her friends, Rarity reveals that she agreed to design the costumes for the next play which will thus keep her out of Ponyville for a while. Coco then comes into the theater and gives Rarity her first place trophy, revealing how Suri was hoping that if Rarity stayed away from Prim it would be seen as a forefit and Suri would win by default (I'm not sure if it works like that in these competitions. Does the runner up receive the reward if first place forefits or is disqualified?). However, seeing Rarity and her friends made Coco decide to quit working for Suri (and I would assume blow the whistle on Suri for committing plagerism, which in any industry is a big no no). She even brought along a rainbow colored spool of thread as a thank you present.
Seeing as Coco is now out of a job, Rarity offers to give her previous arrangement with the theater manager to Coco instead and Coco accepts. Then, after fashion week is over and the mane six (and Spike) all head back to Ponyville, Rarity writes in the journal about how even if others will take advantage of your generosity there's no reason for you to abandon it yourself. Then the rainbow colored thread gives off a rainbow glow while Rarity is unaware. At the time no one knew what this meant, it would only be with subsequent episodes that it would be established that this was one of the keys.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, for Rarity's return to the spotlight it had a lot to live up to and thankfully it succeeded. Yeah, the overabundance of "Generosity" in this episode is as subtle as a brick, as if they're trying to remind you of who Rarity is and how she works. And once Suri makes off with the fabric roll it's pretty obvious what she's going to do with it. But the episode is still really good despite these obvious moments and it even manages to throw you a curveball. You'd expect Rarity to lose for staying true to who she was and even running off to find her friends, but she manages to win anyway and not by having to stoop to the level of the competition. The moral is also really mature, even if others will take advantage of your better nature that's no reason for you to abandon it. The world is cruel, but you being cruel right back will change nothing. Of course, there is such a thing as being too generous and giving so much that you neglect your own well being. It's good to give of yourself to others freely, but your own self worth and well being are important too.
The story does seem to have some first draft elements to it, such as Rarity accusing Suri within earshot of Prim and Prim not noticing or Applejack referring to Rainbow Dash in the third person while looking right at her. But it's likely these are more animation mistakes than story mistakes. And yes, Coco Pommel is really good. She's cute but in an endeering kind of way. We learn how she has come to not value herself at all because of Suri and how bad a boss she is, before Coco ultimately becomes inspired by Rarity to stand up for herself and become her own mare. However, I do think the fandom went a little overboard with their gushing of Coco, to the point where some wanted her to become the new Element of Kindness. It made it seem like fans only wanted Fluttershy if she could stay weak and helpless so they could protect her, which is very patronizing. And treating Coco like that doesn't benefit her character when she has so much more going for her besides just being a Fluttershy expy. Even getting to finally see a new location after so much time spent in Ponyville and Canterlot was much appreciated and this episode made fans take note of how Dave Polsky's writing had changed. There's far less comedy this time around, which works quite well with this story since it deserved to be taken seriously. So in the end, I'm happy to give this episode an A+ even though there are some cracks that once you notice them it's hard to ignore them. I suppose it's helped partially by Rarity having been out of the spotlight for so long, and this was a reminder of what attracted people to her in the first place.
Next up was the first Pinkie Pie episode "Pinkie Apple Pie", which would also pair her up with Applejack for a family road trip.
Which episode did that happen in, exactly?
5486151
Spike at Your Service.
This is one episode that I actually find kinda overrated.
There's a handful of things in this episode (some you mentioned) that just drag it down. No one thing is really major, but they all build up.
The biggest things that bug me are:
Generosity the song being too long and on the nose
Coco feeling more like a tool of the plot rather than an actual character in this episode
Suri being more annoying than fun to hate
And Rarity's meltdown falls in this weird uncanny valley where I'm not sure if I'm supposed to take it seriously or laugh, and it just feels awkward (her other meltdowns have a better balance). Though I do love "congratu-pony-lations fillies!"
When you mentioned lack of new locations we see in Equestria, you goegot that they went to Applelooza in Season 1...
One of the few instances where I actually found the reprise of a song better than the orginal version.
I seem to recall Mr. Enter being worried that this episode was going to be the Rarity version of Apple Family Reunion; an episode that exists solely to give the focus character screen time.
5486159
You're not the only one who thinks this episode is overrated. Case in point, Voice of Reason.
5486159 I don't think Suri is supposed to be "fun" to hate. The term you're looking for is "Love to hate", the kind of villain that you just can't stand and would love nothing more than to punch them or see bad things happen to them. That's what Suri is.
As for Rarity's meltdown, I can agree on that. I'll bet it was supposed to be dramatic and be the emotional climax of the episode, but Tabitha St. Germain likely reinterpreted it and tried to make it more hammy. And in doing so the original intended feeling got lost, which could've been fixed if she'd been allowed to re-record and given better clearance on what they were trying to go for.
5486691
I did mean "love to hate".
For me, there's a certain art to doing love-to-hate villains, and for me, Suri falls short of that benchmark. She's not really an antagonist that I loved hating, I just disliked her.