My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic: Episode 108 - Look Before You Sleep

 Rating:

Hoo boy.  They don’t come much more painful and contrived than Look Before You Sleep.  On the plus side, this episode is the origin of the idea that Twilight does everything “by the book”, which inevitably extends into matters that shouldn't need one.  On the negative side is everything else.  Rarity and Applejack spend almost the entire time fighting, even when they “make up” at the end.  The “odd couple” thing has been done many times before, but never would have inspired a TV series if it had been like this.  The constant bickering grows old during the teaser and never lets up.  Most of the action occurs at an impromptu slumber party at Twilight’s, which never should’ve happened in the first place.  Charlotte Fullerton had to try really hard to force these characters together in a situation that isn't even remotely believable.  I’m not sure what the childish back-and-forth between Rarity and Applejack was supposed to be, but it wasn't funny while barely being tolerable.  To top it all off, the episode demonstrated the exact opposite of the alleged lesson.  Perhaps this was just the writers shaking the rust off, but three of the show’s worst episodes aired in a four episode stretch.  Thankfully internet, because Look Before You Sleep could’ve sunk the show for good.

The Pegasi are “planning” a rainstorm, so Applejack and Rarity are helping clear branches off of trees.  This is important seriously.  None of the rest of the mane six are anywhere to be seen, so they must have had good excuses.  Rarity takes the opportunity to do some pony topiary on one of the branches, which proves she has no business being there either.  The storm begins while Rarity and Applejack are in the middle of their 20-minute argument, so a nearby Twilight graciously offers them shelter.  Oh wait, no she doesn't.  They wander around in the storm for a while trying to figure out what to do.  Both of them could have made it home in the time they spend debating who should hide under a table, which was apparently just padding since there’s no reason Twilight couldn't have noticed them sooner.

Finally inside, Twilight decides the time is right for her first slumber party, because it’s the middle of the afternoon and her friends live very far away.  Instead of just hanging out with her friends and doing whatever, Twilight busts out a surprisingly detailed book and endeavors to follow it completely.  Later she will wonder why she isn't having any fun.  Both visiting ponies attempt to leave since they have to do that thing at the place, but the weather scares them into staying.  They start doing normal slumber party activities (makeovers, pillow fights, truth or dare, ghost stories, s’mores), but Applejack and Rarity fight through all of them.

Much later that night, Twilight sleeps alone while Rarity and Applejack get stuck in the same bed.  Nothing bad can happen here.  Instead of one of them sharing with Twilight or heading for the nonexistent couch, they fight over the blanket loudly enough that Twilight should’ve woken up much sooner than she does.  She finally notices all the fighting her two friends have been doing, but her rant is cut short when lightning strikes a nearby tree.  Applejack decides the best solution is to usher the tree into Twi­light’s house via lasso, which has the benefit of bringing about their worst fears more quickly.  At least this forces Applejack to admit she made a mistake, while Rarity’s topiary skills prove beneficial after all.  Rarity and Applejack finally get along now that they've done thousands of dollars worth of damage to Twilight’s house, but not really, since they argue through their subsequent game of twenty questions too.  They’re able to laugh about the fighting this time, which I guess makes it better.

All of the contrivances it took to create this unholy slumber party were bad enough, but using one to make the episode worse is unforgivable.  The story Applejack gives Rarity about the reason for the downpour is silly (if they missed one last week (and how did that happen?), clearly they’re not that big a deal.  How about just say all the plants need it and leave it at that?), and no explanation is given for why they both don’t head home when the storm starts (Rarity stays out in the storm the entire time, so what would the difference have been?).  But then Twilight says Spike is away on “royal Canterlot business”, which is so preposterous that it never happens again.  What would the episode have been like if Spike was at home like he should be when Rarity comes to visit?  After all the bickering, what if Rarity starts discussing with Spike about her problems with Applejack?  What if this is where they bond because of it?  No chance of that happening, because that would have made the episode interesting.  If having Spike live with Twilight isn't weird, than having him at the sleepover isn't either.  But Fullerton was full of unquestioned and weak excuses which hurt the episode immensely.

My Little Pony: FiM is a show about six very different friends who get along in spite of their differences, so throwing any two of them together would produce fireworks similar to those seen here eventually.  Presumably Rarity and Ap­plejack were chosen for the city vs. country dynamic, which makes the episode seem like it was about stereotypes.  Since there was no good reason for the two of them to be together, none was offered.  We are just supposed to accept they ended up together and stuck at Twilight’s when there’s no way it could happen.  Then we’re supposed to listen to them fight like eight-year-olds for twenty minutes, which is enough to convince you never to have kids at all.  Like so many bad episodes of this series, Look Before You Sleep only pretends to arrive at the stated lesson, since Apple­jack and Rarity didn't really learn and accept their differences as much as they got tired of fighting.  The show makes it pretty obvious that the two are very different to the point where they probably shouldn't hang out without their other friends present.  And guess what happens for the rest of the series?

The scenes of Twilight with her book are mildly amusing, but there's practically nothing else positive to say about Look Before You Sleep.  Giving Rarity a reprise of “oh, it, is, on!” seems more like a stolen idea in this context than a potential catchphrase, and the constant fighting which pervades the episode is never close to amusing.  Generally, the heart has been in the right place for all of the early bad episodes, and Look Before You Sleep is no exception.  Yes, people are very different from who you are, and that can be tough to accept.  But you can’t be friends with everybody, and the only thing Look Before You Sleep “accomplishes” is to suggest that Rarity and Applejack have no business being in the same clique.  Both characters are misrepresented and shown at their worst here, and all the contrivances rob the episode of any possibility that it might be watchable.

If Dragonshy was a template for how to make a good My Little Pony episode, then Look Before You Sleep perfectly demonstrates how to make a bad one.  Isolate a few of the characters and have them argue and do stupid things while completely missing the point of the lesson you’re trying to show.  It would be nice if this stretch was a solitary valley for the series, and that the writers learned their lessons from these early episodes (excluding Dragonshy) and didn't repeat these mistakes, but that isn't the truth.  Too many comparable stretches exist in the first two seasons, and unfortunately for My Little Pony, things usually had to get worse before they would get any better.