Rating:
Sweet And Elite is somewhat fun and finds a good final trope
aversion, even as it wallows in stereotype.
Rarity visits Canterlot for the hell of it, which gives Meghan McCarthy
license to create many rich characters that don’t stand out in any way. Her knowledge of them is clearly limited to My Fair Lady and a couple of Gilligan’s
Island episodes, as these new ponies act rather stuffy while being very
elitist. The scenes focusing on Rarity
fare much better, although McCarthy fails to offer any insight into the fashion
world. Concepts like networking are
vaguely hinted at, although there’s a sarcastic tinge that strongly suggests
McCarthy finds such “important” ponies to be complete idiots. Unfortunately, Sweet And Elite remains a
surface level episode, even though Rarity’s problem of which crowd to mingle
with may become very real someday.
Exploring how simple things can still be great art is much appreciated,
but again the idea is barely mentioned and not without hinting that critics are
morons who only follow herd instinct.
Considering how unwatchable many season two episodes are, Sweet And
Elite at least provides solid entertainment while not falling prey to fatal
problems. But it also highlights
McCarthy’s problems as a writer, since she retcons characters and events that
won’t be important going forward while likely having no idea what she’s talking
about. As usual, this adds up to a
middle-tier offering, but Sweet And Elite doesn’t contribute anything to
Rarity’s character even as it treats her with respect (a rare occurrence this
season).
Princess Celestia is happily shacking Rarity up at the
castle, but the latter apparently expects some sort of catch as she thanks her
ruler profusely. This and the continued
scenes of a bellhop handling Rarity’s plethora of bags count as filler, but
fortunately are the limit of such occurrences.
Rarity wants to make Twilight a dress for her upcoming birthday party,
but finds herself constantly distracted by Canterlot’s elite instead. An early run-in goes nowhere, but a second
with the great Fancy Pants fares better once Rarity namedrops Celestia. He invites her to an upcoming derby, where
Rarity impresses enough to earn more requests for her time.
Such appearances cut into her work on Twilight’s dress,
which ends up being a rather unfancy bodice of yellow fabric. After passing out and receiving yet another
invite, Rarity passes on Twilight’s birthday altogether by using the excuse
that Opalescence is sick. Such a mean
lie doesn’t end up hurting much, since Twilight just brings the gang around to celebrate
in Canterlot. One problem is solved, but
now Rarity must juggle two parties at the same time.
Thankfully, neither group notices Rarity’s frequent
disappearances, but constantly switching between both ends up having her
explain why she brought a polo mallet to Twilight’s party. While stammering out a flimsy excuse,
Twilight decides Rarity was just trying to sell dresses for the next gala, and
is therefore fine with Rarity going to the other party. Of course, now they all want to go, and not
even Twilight is capable of seeming suitably posh. After completely destroying the outdoor
gathering, Fancy Pants asks Twilight who made her plain yellow dress. The answer shocks everyone there. Faced with having to disavow knowledge of
these “ruffian” party crashers, Rarity instead announces that they are in fact
the most important ponies she knows.
Thankfully, Fancy Pants finds the mane six charming, which positively
colors the richer ponies’ opinions.
These final scenes with Rarity count as her best, since the
trope would have her renounce such embarrassing friends. Yet the proclamation makes sense because they
really are the most important characters, while these eliters couldn’t mean
less to My Little Pony. It’s a transcendent moment, since these uncouth
heathens are among the best and well-developed characters on television today,
while the “important” upper class are cookie-cutter stereotypes. Now, the latter is mostly McCarthy’s fault
for failing to create any worthwhile characters of her own, although this scene
is strong enough that it almost could have been planned that way.
Fancy Pants is the only new character given something
approaching depth, but his fondness for Rarity doesn’t seem to make much
sense. Does he really believe everyone
will want Twilight’s plain yellow dress, or is he willfully abusing his power
as a trendsetter? Any positive reaction
to Rarity is solely because of Fancy Pants’ whim, which suggests being a critic
is more about parroting than forming your own opinions (considering how
different my various ratings are to the rest of the community, you can imagine
my position on that). Despite a host of
elite ponies introduced, none of them stand out or are begging for a second
episode. Given McCarthy’s later track
record, such characterization isn’t likely by design.
Fortunately the mane six are solid though, which is also
typical of McCarthy. Twilight moves her
party since she’s the one with connections, and is proud of a dress that does
look pretty cute on her. Pinkie Pie naturally
brings her party cannon and eats too much cake, while Fluttershy can’t wait to
take care of a “sick” Opal. Maybe
Twilight is too accepting of Rarity’s lies, but it’s not close to absurd
(although does she mean next year’s Gala that we don’t ever see or was Sweet
And Elite meant for the first season?).
Also enjoyable is Rarity delivering a (quick) letter to Celestia in
person, because of course she’s right there.
The strength comes down to Rarity’s dilemma though, which
isn’t exactly resolved (nor could be).
Her fashion interests are quite unlike the mane six’s, and will have her
meet very different ponies from them.
Neither will necessarily understand each other, but Rarity’s right in
that she shouldn’t be ashamed of her hometown.
This is a balancing act she’ll still have to manage (such as in Rarity
Takes Manehattan), but there’s no reason she should give up either group. Friends don’t necessarily have to share all
your interests as long as they’re understanding about them.
Unfortunately, there are too few of these moments from
McCarthy, who has Rarity spend most of the episode hobnobbing, slacking off,
and then finally getting rewarded.
Although discussing whether simple can still be good raises interesting
questions. There isn’t any
correspondence between how much work or money you put into something and how acclaimed
it ends up being, and several artists may find a lesser work (in their opinion)
becomes one of their most popular (the prime example being Ravel’s Bolero, which is nicely referenced by a musical
cue). This isn’t exactly an issue of
taste, but rather the nature of art.
Critics aren’t necessarily being duped or sheep; sometimes tossed off
works really are better.
Sadly though, McCarthy’s episode isn’t one of them. Despite a sound lesson, Sweet And Elite is
another case of a show just happening to get around to its purported moral
rather than actually demonstrating it.
Too much time is wasted on rich ponies being sheep stereotypes or that
bellboy crumbling under massive baggage, while the only good moment arrives
quickly at the end. Every new character
is forgettable, and their immediate love and acceptance of Rarity is
unlikely. Outside of Rarity’s quandary,
McCarthy doesn’t really explore any depth of character, and Rarity learns nothing
from partying all the time while avoiding work.
Even with acknowledging her friends, this issue can’t be forgotten. Still though, Sweet And Elite is a solid
watchable episode that doesn’t take out deep-seated hatred on its
characters. Considering McCarthy’s and
season two’s lows, this could have been a lot worse.
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