Auto-imported from (2382050)

Tumblr
Originally posted on: Jun 14, 2017

I’m so weak for the family bonding episodes, is it obvious? ;u;

♥️ SYNOPSIS ♥️
Rarity realizes that it’s been quite a while since she’s spent quality time with her baby sister, and so decides to spend the entire day doing Sweetie Belle’s favorite things. At first, Sweetie jumps at the chance to hang out with Rarity… until she realizes that a lot of the activities planned are ones she’s outgrown. Sweetie hopes that her big sister will see that her interests have changed, but accepting that her little sister may not be so little anymore may be a bit too difficult a fact for Rarity to confront.

♥️ IMPRESSIONS AND STUFF ♥️
Sassy Saddles makes a return! I love her so much. She’s showing she’s still a hardworking employee and supportive, understanding friend of Rarity’s. Glad to see she’s still flourishing and helping Rarity’s business thrive. Good for her!

Rarity works remarkably well under stress, gotta admire that a lot. She mellows out Sassy very well, having everything handled and eliminating any problems before they even get the chance to crop up. It’s actually rather cute that the one thing that throws her into a tizzy is her missing being around her baby sister. That scene was so dramatic, so ridiculous, and so Rarity. XD

While Rarity’s overall problem of not realizing Sweetie Belle was maturing was apparent, it was so heartwarming to hear the pride in her voice when she acknowledged how well the CMC were doing in their budding careers. With her being such a hardworking mare herself, it must have felt so good to know Sweetie Belle was showing a similar drive. And that scene also shows that, deep down, she knew Sweetie Belle was growing up already.

Man, just compare this episode to “Sisterhooves Social”. Rarity went from someone who was extremely selfish, uncompromising and self-fulfilling, to someone who was more than happy to spend the entire day doing everything Sweetie Belle enjoyed (even if she was mistaken in what exactly that entailed). Please, please give Rarity all the credit and acknowledgment for that. She’s learned to appreciate the time she spends with Sweetie Belle, and was being highly accommodating in what they could do together. Just look at how hurt she was when Sweetie Belle was going to turn her down, much less how shattered she was when her sister snapped at her. I completely empathized with Rarity. I think anyone who has a younger person in their lives can relate to the bittersweet realization that they’re growing up and won’t stay the same little kid you’ve known for years. But Rarity was able to accept this, helped by the knowledge that Sweetie Belle would always be her little sister and want to spend time with her. I just wanted to give the fashionista a great big hug, the poor thing! The MLP writers are really on the ball with all this character development. owo <3

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo seemed to be… significantly dumbed down. I get that the writers wanted Sweetie Belle in the spotlight, but I can’t buy the remaining CMC couldn’t figure out Zipporwhill and Ripley’s problem on their own. I mean, I felt like they could have drove home that the CMC are at their best together while not making it out as if Sweetie Belle is the brains of the operation. Might just be me, though.

The CMC are really on a roll with helping ponies realize their full potential. I mean, they helped Gem Cutter earn his mark with little to no effort! And they moved right onto Zipporwhill (WHO IS TOO CUTE I CAN’T??) as their next client. By the way, these reappearances from minor ponies are also really nice. The picks so far have been pleasant surprises, and provide the characters with good spotlight despite the limited amount of screen time. Her being upset that Ripley apparently didn’t love her anymore was heartbreaking. You just felt relief that it was all a misunderstanding in the end, and that she just needed to accept (same as Rarity) that times had changed and she needed to move along with it. Cute little dog-lover is one of my favorite fillies now. :3

I had slightly mixed opinions on Sweetie Belle. I sympathized with her wanting to be treated as the older filly she is, and how it’s hard to relay that to someone who hasn’t accepted that yet. And believe me, she demonstrated how mature she’s become with her ease in coaching other foals regarding their cutie mark problems. But the rather disrespectful and harsh way she confronted Rarity was… pretty messed up. Granted, Rarity babying her wore on Sweetie’s patience. But the fact that she didn’t acknowledge that Rarity had planned a whole day doing what she (mistakenly) thought was Sweetie’s favorite activities rubbed me the wrong way. Plus, it seemed unfair for her to accuse Rarity of “not knowing her”; Rarity’s out and about a lot, so it’s only natural that she’d be out-of-touch with what her sister’s current interests were. The fact that she made Rarity cry made it even harder for me to be on Sweetie Belle’s side. Rarity had every right to be angry and consider Sweetie Belle unappreciative. I’m not saying Sweetie didn’t have a good point – she should have sat Rarity down and have that talk. But her way of expressing it honestly did come off as selfish and unsympathetic. Sweetie didn’t consider that Rarity has come a long way in their relationship, leaving me a little unsatisfied with the way she angrily ran away after telling her sister off.

Regardless, Sweetie Belle’s reconciliation with Rarity was still beautiful. Despite my issues with Sweetie’s behavior, her assuring Rarity that just because she was growing up, it didn’t change the fact that she loved Rarity and would always enjoy spending time with her got me to tear up a little. Rarity admitted she had had trouble accepting that all the things they used to do were in the past, but was eager to do new things with Sweetie from now on. It’s inspiring how close these sisters are despite their flaws, and show just has an amazing knack for portraying them realistically. It’s also adorable that Sweetie Belle isn’t too different from what Rarity remembers, as they share a very sweet moment gorging on ice cream. The scenes after they talk it all out are flawless, and override the few issues I had with this episode.

♥️ OVERALL OPINION/SCORING ♥️
🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

Another amazing episode. There’s all kinds of good character development going on this season and I just can’t get enough of it. Rarity was absolutely A+, and her relationship with Sweetie Belle was one of the sweetest things in the entire series. The moral of “learning to accept someone is growing up/changing” has been done before in “Somepony to Watch Over Me”, but this was a lot better-executed (no insane older sibling!). Sure, not as exciting as that episode, but still better in my eyes.

The only drawbacks were Sweetie Belle’s somewhat disrespectful attitude, and the fact that Apple Bloom and Scootaloo seemed to be totally lost without her input – despite being very competent in their own rights. But they were pretty small flaws, so it was easy to ignore.

It earns four shiny stars. If you want a sweet family bonding episode, look no further!

Upvotes at import: 134 | Stars at import: 92
Posted previously at: 2020-06-23T21:38:38