Rating:
While theoretically possessing a good heart, Sisterhooves
Social is a humungous mess from start to finish. It moves from an assault on your viewing
stamina in act one to the completely preposterous act three race, and finds
nothing redeeming in between. Cindy
Morrow attempted tackling the recurring sisters’ theme, but I’m guessing she
was an only child based upon what made it to air. Sweetie Belle will never be more annoying or
stupid, which rubs off on Rarity once she starts thinking the former’s actions
had some sort of purpose. This reaches
such heights that Rarity then acts completely out of character (after probably
suffocating) to get her worthless and trying sister back when the two still
won’t live together anyways. All for the
purpose of some imaginary family bond that simply doesn’t exist here or in the
real world. Sweetie Belle’s relentlessness
completely sinks Sisterhooves early on, while the subsequent events don’t make
any amount of sense. Having a brother or
sister in no way means you have to let them destroy your life, but Morrow’s
moral seems to conclude exactly that.
And as usual, she has characters accurately critique the episode from
within. “Geez Louise, can’t I do
anything right?” No matter who that applies to in Sisterhooves Social, the
answer is no, they absolutely cannot.
The torrid onslaught of act one begins as Rarity appears to
be waking up to a lovely-smelling breakfast.
Unfortunately, that scent soon turns into fumes which set off the smoke
alarm. Rushing downstairs expecting a catastrophe,
Rarity receives just that in seeing Sweetie Belle making breakfast. She’s there because their parents are going
on vacation and need a babysitter, although Sweetie Belle doesn’t seem to live
with them at any other time. Also, they
all broke into Rarity’s early in the morning without waking or informing her of
their impending visit. “Hilariously”,
none of them also notice that Sweetie Belle has completely burnt every part of breakfast,
including the freaking juice. Rarity’s
parents appear to fit into some stereotypical slots, but are more or less
believable. Although sensing the
disaster they’ve appeared in, the two hastily leave, never to be seen again.
Sweetie Belle proceeds to destroy anything she touches in an
effort to “help”. This includes
shrinking an expensive sweater and using a whole chest full of “rare” jewels to
make Rarity a valentine or something (Rarity quickly goes out and gets more
gems, so I guess they aren’t that rare).
Understandably, Rarity is pissed and soon throws her sister out,
although it’s all portrayed like she’s doing it out of anger rather than common
sense. In response, Sweetie Belle
disowns her sister and goes off to ruin someone else’s life instead.
That someone is Applejack, who just happens to be frolicking
with her own sister. Naturally, they are
portrayed as the exact opposite of what we just saw. Any chores are done happily and as a game,
while Applejack never stays mad for long at Apple Bloom. After a few minutes, Sweetie Belle desires a
quickie adoption into the Apple family (since as we’ll learn later, tolerating
them is all it takes). Meanwhile, Rarity
convinces herself that Sweetie Belle’s previous actions were all part of some
divine plan (conveniently forgetting the burnt orange juice). That shrunken sweater fits Opalescence
perfectly, and Rarity bawls at the crappy diamond-encrusted card as if her
daughter had made it instead. Crying out
an unnecessary Gone With The Wind
reference, Rarity vows to make amends for her completely justified
actions. Unfortunately for her,
Sweetie Belle has no plans to return, so a happy ending is reached after all.
Sadly, there’s still another act left. These final five minutes portray the titular
social, which has been forgotten as quickly as it was created (despite
happening “every year”, according to Applejack). More or less a state fair for sisters, the
big events include a pie-eating contest, bobbing for apples, fattest pig, and
an obstacle course race. Without a
sister (or athletic ability or practice), Sweetie Belle figures she’ll have to
sit out, but Apple Bloom lets her run with Applejack instead. The race goes well despite AJ’s early stumble
into a mud pit, and they look poised to win it all down the stretch. Their final dive comes up inches short though,
and our duo don’t end up finishing at all (but it’s okay, because neither does
anyone else outside of Berry Punch). Close
counts in sports, I guess.
Sweetie Belle’s embrace of Applejack soon reveals all that
mud was stuck on for a reason. An exposed
white horn indicates Sweetie Belle had been racing with Rarity all along
(again, who needs a silly thing like practice?). This act is enough to restore the two’s
relationship, and they decide compromise is totally going to prevent future
problems. Or we could forget this entire
episode ever happened and just have Sweetie Belle be around with her friends
whenever necessary.
Most of the mess starts right with characterization, which
is off for just about everyone. Rarity
veers from emotional extremes within seconds, or between acts, for little
purpose or positive effect. She produces
warped facial expressions which look like they were cribbed from Looney Tunes,
but quickly tries to hide these feelings moments later. It would be different if she was having a bad
day for some other reason and projecting part of that onto Sweetie Belle, but
her sister is in fact the sole cause of this stress. Rarity should absolutely kick SB out based
only on that fire hazard breakfast alone, but the other things could
legitimately affect her business and way of life. Thinking that Rarity is overreacting becomes
impossible when she’s still being nicer than warranted.
And what the fuck is going on with Sweetie Belle? Her annoying idiocy reaches Jar Jar-like
proportions, as she dopily destroys her sister’s house and work in the name of
“helping”. Then after getting yelled at
to stop, she does something else five seconds later. Sweetie Belle can’t see how black her cooking
results are, thinks a chest of jewels are just free toys, and butts in with
laundry and organization which aren’t called for. Fine, kids need supervision and all that, but
they also don’t like doing laundry or cleaning.
And Sweetie Belle’s childish behavior afterward (“Oh hello, unsister!”)
just reinforces exactly how she’s acting.
Sweetie Belle is more unlikeable than at any other time in the series
and completely unwatchable because she’s too stupid to realize this. That is not an accomplishment to be proud of.
As a “foil”, Applejack is too perfect and thus feels
contrived. She reacts perfectly to
everything, including holding her breath for multiple minutes until coming out
of the mud at just the perfect time.
Being angry after getting splashed with grape juice just ends up being
another such moment, and costs an opportunity to feel even slightly
well-rounded. Apple Bloom comes off better
since she has less to work with, but still has time to offer her own filler
(did “one day!” really need to be repeated that many times?). Excluding Scootaloo from the proceedings
probably saved some awkward moments regarding rules (that they broke anyways
since Applejack isn’t Sweetie Belle’s sister), but including her and Rainbow
Dash might have made a better point about family than what appeared. (Such an
occurrence was saved for season three’s Sleepless In Ponyville, while the point
was poorly made in Pinkie Apple Pie. Both
are better episodes.)
Likewise, the sisters’ dynamic would have to wait years
before being handled properly. Maud Pie
features two sisters who are very different but help each other when needed,
although they never go out of their way in trying too hard. Pinkie’s sister doesn’t set out to destroy Ponyville
upon visiting, nor does she force overstaying her welcome. The two felt like sisters because they
understood how different both are despite a common upbringing. Sweetie Belle is oblivious to everything, and
seems to have no motive. Is she just trying
to get attention, or does she sincerely hate Rarity? No to both, because Sweetie Belle seriously
thinks she’s helping, which the show agrees with since Rarity is painted as
overreacting before realizing “her” error.
And for more evidence, Sweetie Belle is not the tiniest bit contrite
about anything she did. Only Rarity
speaks of compromise in their final letter, which comes off like the bad sister
should placate the good’s every whim.
Because that’s what it means to be a sister, “just about the bestest
thing in the world”.
Yes, I can appreciate Morrow at least tried to tackle an
important issue, especially since siblings don’t exactly get along all the time
while growing up. But this subject’s
presentation is completely wrong.
Pushing your viewers’ limits regarding a stupid and annoying character’s
actions onscreen isn’t acceptable, especially when it’s not even original (the
first act is basically an expanded version of Stare Master’s teaser, except of
course there Sweetie Belle realizes she’s being a problem). Then everything is compounded by poor
characterization (perfect Applejack and an overacting apologetic Rarity), more
unnecessary questions with the introduction of parents (why are Rarity and
Sweetie Belle white when their mom is pink?), and a race that is only meant to
confuse the audience (how is Rarity that athletic and precise in her movements? Through one night of off-screen
practice?). Add a botched ending letter,
and Sisterhooves Social is one the most disappointing and least satisfying
episodes of My Little Pony ever
produced. This is not what having a
sibling means, and teaching kids thus is a disgrace. Thankfully both Morrow and the lessons
improved in later episodes, but this first draft is nothing except an utter
disaster.
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