Rating:
Well, they tried I guess.
Those Foxes and season five’s worst new writer (Neal Dusedau, ugh)
attempted showing a solid lesson, but no one involved had enough talent to pull
it off. Applejack is badly overworked
and needs some rest, although this soon mutates into a discourse on workplace efficiency. Granted some validity exists regarding
getting stuck in a routine, but why did they think these events would be an
effective demonstration of that? Like
other season six efforts, Applejack’s “Day” Off (couldn’t even get the title
right) suffers from feeling like it takes place in an alternate universe. Suddenly every spa employee has an Eastern
European accent and Rainbow Dash really loves her “pampered massages”. Likewise, the teaser only exists to make a
bad sight gag about Rarity looking pruny, because she forgets about it once the
episode proper starts. “Day” Off feels
pretty dull when it’s not doing uncomfortable things like this, so the
philosophers can argue about which is better.
Their incompetency also trickled down to the animators, who couldn’t
produce anything of interest visually either.
Despite admirable intentions, what “Day” Off needed was beyond everyone’s
abilities. They decided proving Rainbow
Dash fits within a gender binary was more important than making sure their
script made any sense. Considering some
point clearly existed, “Day” Off might not necessarily be filler. And given Rarity and Applejack’s horrid
history together (Look Before You Sleep), seeing them get along as friends does
seem refreshing. Unfortunately, there
was no overcoming such poor writing for a “slice of life” episode where almost
nothing happens. Among many other season
six examples, Applejack’s “Day” Off is a B effort which could have been made
years earlier without many changes, and therefore remains very far away from
acceptable quality.
“I just don’t want you to get…what is word…pruny.” I think we all know what’s going to happen in
the trailer, so let’s just skip it.
Rarity pretty much does, because she immediately tells Twilight she and
Applejack haven’t had a spa day in “ages”.
Of course, maybe Rarity is five and last week does feel like ages ago to
her. While probably not true, we do
learn that Rarity is from England since she pronounces “schedule” as “shedule”…twice,
to make sure you heard it. What’s
that? Rarity’s accent isn’t
British? But I thought all of those
frou-frou accents are from somewhere in the UK.
Hmm? Who’s Katherine Hepburn?
Applejack eventually decides she can spare an hour for the
spa if Twilight will feed her pigs. It
takes an hour to dump some slop in a trough.
Since Twilight “hates” seeing Rarity and Applejack not spending time
together (despite Look Before You Sleep occurring at her house), she agrees,
but then receives a list longer than any of her convoluted ones. When did Applejack have time to write it…with
her mouth? Never mind, let’s just move
on to the spa. Although Rarity enjoyed
the steam room by herself in the teaser, they now find a ridiculously long line
for entering. Nobody’s actually going in
though; they’re all waiting for steam to start building up. Applejack demands that her time start in this
sauna (certainly not because of plot convenience), so the other treatments
aren’t an option.
Realizing there shouldn’t be any line, Applejack begins tracking
down the problem by playing detective.
She notices every customer going apeshit over hot towels, and soon finds
their washing room running at full bore to keep up with this demand. Combined with a leak in one of the pipes, the
steam room isn’t getting any heat.
Thankfully Applejack is a trained…ah fuck it, just throw some duct tape
on the leak and call it a day. The sauna
reopens, but now Applejack doesn’t have any time to use it because their hour
is up. Who knows what might happen if
she doesn’t return home?
Not much apparently, because Twilight still hasn’t managed
to feed the pigs and they don’t seem to care.
She couldn’t finish her simple task because Applejack’s list was absurd. Completely nonplussed, Applejack goes through
her lengthy routine while describing what happened earlier. Understandably perplexed, Twilight quizzes
Applejack about her reasons behind those various activities. They soon realize almost all of them are
unnecessary due to fixes and changes Applejack now ignores. Postulating Applejack’s other chores may
suffer from similar fluff, everyone montages through more efficient ways she
could be working. With increased free
time now, Rarity and Applejack can finally enjoy their spa day together, alongside
regular customer Rainbow Dash.
Wait, why is Rainbow Dash there and not, say, Fluttershy or
Pinkie Pie? Sadly this is more than just
another example of not wanting to pay an extra voice actor. While never explicitly stated or even really
implied (outside of Gilda), Rainbow Dash is clearly part of the LGBT
community. For someone who theoretically
identifies as female, she has been curiously completely unfeminine (unlike all
of her friends). There’s no reason Dash should
be, but her likelihood of being trans appears rather high. This might be uncomfortable for a tired and
unbelieving general public, but still seems quite evident from her
depiction. So in an episode about
balancing work and rest and avoiding falling into non-optimal routines, the
Foxes decided it was a perfect time to feminize Rainbow Dash. Because we can’t have anybody who doesn’t fit
into the gender binary on My Little Pony.
Ostensibly they wanted to demonstrate Dash shouldn’t be afraid
of who she “is”, but then why would she?
If Dash was a cisgendered female, doing some feminine things wouldn’t
matter. But of course the spa pony
clarifies that Dash wants the “pampered muscle massage and indulgent hooficure”
where Applejack and Rarity can hear it, and that they are her “usual”
treatments. An embarrassed Dash hurriedly
exits while Applejack makes fun of her for showing a feminine side.
If Dash had ever shown any inkling of being even slightly
feminine before, maybe this would be barely acceptable. But she hasn’t, and this kind of behavior
(“sometimes a girl just has to pamper herself”) is completely out of character,
cringe-inducing, and offensive. There
was no call for it now, no matter your feelings on Dash’s character, and it’s
indicative of how out of touch season six’s new writers were. Putting this aspect in feels either
agenda-driven or like a poor attempt at comedy, and unquestionably fatally
wounds “Day” Off’s low chances of being passable.
At least the Foxes’ other characterization fares better. Rarity and Applejack actually get along as
friends for perhaps the first time ever.
Both are helpful and decent in their various situations, excepting of
course how they treat their supposed friend.
Twilight and Spike receive some dessert with Applejack’s ridiculous list,
but they don’t end up doing much with it and mostly keep out of the way. No one new makes any impression, although
that might have been for the best given the Foxes’ choices. Besides my objection however, this was
acceptable.
Their premise also had potential. Applejack already dealt with doing too much
way back in Applebuck Season, so she was a logical choice. Unfortunately, the setup didn’t make much
sense. Feeding her pigs probably took no
more than 5-10 minutes, but Applejack divined that she had an hour for spa time
from that one chore. And despite being
empty in the trailer, the spa is packed when they arrive. That means this “festering problem” has existed
no longer than a week. We’re also
expected to believe Applejack never realized fixing her squeaky gate means she
can cut out the door opening part of her routine. While their point basically works, these
little details mean its presentation feels much less effective.
With questionable characterization and poor premise elucidation,
Applejack’s “Day” Off ends up being another failure. How they thought this specific plot would
display their lesson remains unanswerable, but the script clearly needed
a(nother) drastic rewrite. Every aspect seems
poorly thought out and incompetent, which shouldn’t be happening given so much
existing history. Even ignoring Dash’s
botched (and unnecessary) inclusion, not enough positive happened to warrant a
higher rating. Nothing more can be said
but “yawn”.
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