Episode written by Charlotte Fullerton
Entirely unofficial reflections by sixcardroulette
This is The Shorter Ponywatching. For a really long, in-depth essay
on this episode, check out the full length reflection!
Once again, we unwittingly saw this one out of order thanks to wacky British DVD compilers – but unlike “Griffon The Brush Off”, here the jumbled running order probably did make a difference to how we perceived the episode.
On the face of it, this is the story of how Applejack and Rarity became friends, cementing, in our minds, a pattern for these early episodes and thus for what we thought the show would be like going forward: we’ll be examining a friendship established in the pilot (a friendship, not Friendship in general), looking at one possible pairing out of the 15 (I think?) permutations of the Mane Six each week, until we’ve done the whole set.
(I’m glad I was wrong about that!)
Rarity and Applejack were probably the least likely “friends” from the pilot, but the show handled the almost-as-unlikely friendship of Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash in a sensitive and believable way; we (as in me and my family, not all viewers everywhere!) came out of “Griffon The Brush Off” really feeling that Rainbow and Pinkie could genuinely be friends, and so we had faith the same was going to happen for Applejack and Rarity here. Plus, seeing them confined to close quarters is an obvious recipe for comic shenanigans.
But this isn’t a classic odd couple episode, because the writers also throw in Twilight Sparkle as a wildcard, changing it from a two- to a three-handed character piece and introducing unexpectedly complex motivations for this story about three idiots ruining a slumber party.
This is a very simple, stripped-down affair; if it weren’t for Twilight’s outlandish geekery, this could realistically take place in any decent sitcom of the last 40 years. The story is very simple – chalk-and-cheese acquaintances get caught in a thunderstorm and have to wait it out overnight sheltering at a friend’s house, who takes the opportunity to have her very first slumber party. There are only 3 speaking roles, one set, and very few background jokes; the story being so straightforward, the characters take the full strain. Although there only being one set doesn’t seem to have compromised the animation budget, because there are some spectacular weather effects to enjoy too:
The whole episode is basically just a series of hilarious set-pieces and character moments, and I like that there’s no designated heroine or antagonist for this little story; all three main characters, at various times, get to be the straight pony and the comic relief, and the balance of power (in terms of who’s being the silliest and the most sensible at the slumber party) swings around like a three-way pendulum.
Like I said above, the plot is simple, and not necessarily pony-specific: Rarity and Applejack get caught in the rain, then spend two acts making nuisances of themselves at (an apparently oblivious) Twilight’s party as they try to one-up each other to show her how much better they are than the other. There’s not much analysis to be done on the events of the episode leading up to the big finish, they’re just funny, as the guests effectively ruin every activity Twilight proposes through the medium of sight gags and excellently-timed line readings, including an epic pillow fight and a spectacularly childish scene where Applejack and Rarity entirely fail to share a bed without bickering.
Just as Twilight’s patience finally snaps, the storm re-enters the story and a dangerous loose tree threatens the house; Applejack charges in without due consideration and accidentally brings the branch crashing through the bedroom window, bashing Twilight on the head in the process and making an awful mess. With Twilight babbling to herself in the corner, Applejack finds she can’t fix the mess without Rarity’s help, and so she swallows her pride and reaches out to her.
Together, they clear the tree away, and in the process, start to bond; AJ realises Rarity can be relied upon in a pinch and that she needs to feel respected, while Rarity gains a new appreciation for AJ’s good heart and unstoppable work ethic. Twilight comes around, and the girls have the slumber party they should have had the night before, sharing lots of giggles in what feels a bit more like an older teen or young ladies’ night in than a tween sleepover. And by the end of it, Rarity and Applejack are friends, and I believe it.
I really liked this episode on first viewing, and I think it stands up to repeat viewings too. Having read more about this when we finally went online and discovered bronies were a thing, opinion seems to be more divided, mainly concerning Twilight’s quite staggering naivete and lack of social skills, which mean Look Before You Sleep takes some fairly strong suspension of disbelief for us to go along with it all.
But I find Twilight Sparkle entirely believable here; I don’t want to compare her to how a human character of any given age would act in real life, because the writers have been careful never to tie any of the ponies down to a specific age or explain what that means in terms of the expected behaviour in Equestria. Rather, I feel that this is a perfect continuation of the nerdy, ultra-awkward Twilight we saw in the pilot.
This is probably where having seen this episode fourth instead of eighth (which means we hadn’t already seen The Ticket Master, Applebuck Season or Boast Busters) made a big difference, in terms of how easily we could accept Twilight’s reverting to lonely bookworm wallflower mode. (I think the much-maligned final scenes, where Twilight doesn’t try to help her friends clear a huge tree out of her bedroom and instead starts looking things up in her books, are meant to be a joke – Twilight’s been bashed on the head and is temporarily out of commission while awaiting maintenance.)
Elsewhere, I love the depiction of the core conflict between Applejack and Rarity, and how its resolution is shown the resolution of a symptom, not the root cause (their diametrically opposed personalities, which remain intact at the end of the episode). Put simply, they don’t change who they are, which would have been a disappointing cop-out; rather, they learn that who they are doesn’t automatically preclude them from being friends.
Applejack, I feel, comes across particularly well – after being as bad as anyone throughout the first two acts, she comes to her senses and realises Rarity needs to be heard and respected, and that if things are going to improve, it’s AJ who’ll have to be the bigger pony and forfeit any claim to the moral high ground. Rarity, too, shows further evidence of her hidden depths (in particular a tough streak and a willingness to get her hooves dirty when it matters), but we still won’t really get to know her for a while yet.
However, the episode delivers on its initial promise: we believe these two are real friends now, and far more so than if we’d just been told rather than shown.
Awwwwwww.
Kids’ shows throw out hugs like confetti. It’s rare to find one I actually feel has been properly earned.
The entire episode almost feels like one big set-piece scene, and the tree battle is pretty dramatic, but for overall impact I have to go with the bed scene. Everything wrong with these two ponies in two minutes, plus some unexpectedly vigorous physical comedy.
GERONIMO!
Consarn’it!! What… You… (sigh) I mean, yes. Ickiness is often a side-effect of hard work. But y’all need to get over it, on account of I just can’t fix this mess I made myself!
“Ickiness is often a side-effect of hard work” is my new motto.
I really enjoyed this one; the AJ and Rarity stuff is another excellent entry in the show’s burgeoning canon of convincing friendships between unlikely friends (as well as providing lots of great gags), and while it no doubt works better as a fourth episode rather than an eighth, taken as a chance to spend one last evening with the Twilight Sparkle from the pilot, it’s a whole load of fun.
Great fun, so long as you can accept Twilight’s portrayal. I can. Happy days!
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