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It’s not easy being Spike is it? Ever since he admitted his feelings to Rarity, doesn’t it seem like she takes way too much advantage of him? “Spike, carry all these bags. You know, despite the fact I can use magic on them, and the entire pile is ten times the size of YOU.” What a friend. It’s ok though, because while the ponies celebrate getting tickets to see “Henny of the Hills”, Spike slugs off after a hard day’s work. Or is he just super sad that once again, he’s the actual workhorse while the ponies play? And now he’s carrying the whole shebang through Manehattan, by himself, while the group just watches? Wow. Spike didn’t grow up to be a giant dragon in Secret of My Excess because of greed. He did it because he was pissed about being the slave to these slave drivers.

Song time! The name of this song is “Generosity”. And the song is all about…Manehattan. I tend to have a problem with songs like this. It doesn’t really advance the plot. And that’s fine. It doesn’t have to. But this song is so determined to scream “RARITY IS GENEROUS” that the lyrics don’t really feel very entertaining, or something I’d want to sing to myself. And it’s not because it’s Rarity. “Art of the Dress” and “Becoming Popular” are fabulous songs (see what I…eh, never mind). And it doesn’t flow well. Particularly when the singing stops and Rarity is giving a tip. This works in a song like Find a Pet, because the speaking parts flow with the song, and in its case, advance the plot of the song. “Glass of Water”, as it is apparently called, works well later in another episode because the whole thing is basically speaking. It doesn’t feel right cutting away from a song in the middle of it for something that doesn’t really say anything. On a side note, Rarity hands the guy a gem. We’ve seen gems used as currency before, so no big deal there. But it brought to mind a thought. Why isn’t Rarity filthy stinking rich? She has a spell that basically lets her find money…everywhere. And it’s common, super common. So why is she struggling to make dresses and other fashions instead of just living it up in Canterlot somewhere with all her dough?

Ok, enough singing. We now get to see the effects of generosity. Once we learn that everyone in Manehattan really is just a giant jerk, we see Rarity hitching a cab ride from the guy whose wheel they fixed….in the song? Damnit, I said no more song! Rarity’s generosity continues to help her as her dresses are delivered to her just in time. Just in time…to be scolded by Prim Hemline for being..early? She’s early! You said she was early! Why are you punishing her for being early? And what kind of punishment is that? Her designs will be seen LAST. Which means they will be fresh on everyone’s mind. That’s an advantage, I’d say.

And so we meet Suri, a former Ponyvillian with some weird verbal tick. That’s weird, and it’s really hard to enjoy a character with something like that, kupo. I..um…never mind. Rarity shows up thirty minutes early, “just the way Prim likes it”. I..wait. In “Sweet and Elite”, and pretty much the entire series, we see Rarity sticking to her “small town” roots, and not being taken in by the big city “ways”. Surely this is just her trying to make good, and not her losing it.

So Suri stole her line. Of course. What bugs me here is Rarity chewing her out for it, ON STAGE. When’s Prim and everyone else going to hear this conversation? Why didn’t Rarity explain what was going on? Hell, why didn’t she just put up her first line, and when they turned out to be the same as Suri’s, explain everything. Rarity could probably explain how it was her creation, since, you know she created it. Do one of those “ask a question only the real one would know” kind of things.

Enter Coco Pommel, the fandom’s new love. Suri scolds her and treats her…wait. Rarity or Twilight wouldn’t yell, but how is this any different than how Spike is treated? This episode may end up being about Rarity teaching Coco a lesson, but I think Coco might be able to teach Rarity one herself. How about treating your help better?

Rarity crying. I know it’s genuine, and I know she’s in a lot of emotional pain. But…I still can’t take it seriously. Even when Rarity is legitimately crying, it sounds like she’s just being overly dramatic like she always is. I don’t know if it’s just Rarity as a character, or if the voice actor is getting the cue to do so, or if she just isn’t finding a way to separate it. But it doesn’t seem like serious crying. Sorry Rarity. Also sorry you gave away your one-of-a-kind fabric to someone you’re competing against. I’m sure it’s not your fault. I mean, yeah, generous and all, but come on. Generous doesn’t mean foolish. “My generosity has ruined me!” I get it. I get it guys. This episode is about generosity. You don’t have to beat me to death with it. I get it. You can stop now.

So, Rarity will keep it together, right? She’s gonna make her new line, and all will be well? Rarity? Why are you screaming at your friends? Wait, Rarity, why are you screaming at your friends, who know nothing about designing, and who you are not even allowing to eat? Whoa. First Spike, and now…no. This goes way beyond an extreme that isn’t even close to Rarity, or anyone for that matter. Forget “Henny of the Hills”. Rarity’s been treating Spike like dirt all episode, and now she can’t help but enslave her friends and guilt them into doing something she could do much better and faster than them? This doesn’t make any sense. Congratu-pony-lations. My imagination can’t help but wonder what word THAT was replacing. If anyone was gonna swear, you’d think it’d be Applejack. especially since she’s already used a lot of swear-like phrases. I figured Rarity would be too “proper” to do so, even under these circumstances.

Well, at least we get to see her brand new line. It’s…wait, was that a bunch of keys? I mean, you can turn some bedsheets into a dress and people might not know the difference, but hotel keys? That’s just stupid. And no, no, people WOULD know the difference because this is supposed to be the world’s top fashion ponies, right there in the front row watching. They can’t possibly actually think this is good. I’m sure my opinion doesn’t matter, but come on.

Rarity sees the error of her ways, and we get to see the reprise of the earlier song. Except now, it’s actually plot-related. Which kind of makes it worse. It takes such a different angle than the rest of the song. At least some people will enjoy seeing wet mane Rarity. Rarity finds the group, and we get to see a little more semi-meta crap about the elements. Yes, I can see Applejack agreeing with Rarity about how bad she acted. After that, it’s hard not to. But you don’t have to add in the line from Dash about “your thing being honesty”. It just feels forced, like the levels of generosity being shoved at us the whole time. As Rarity makes up with her friends, I can’t help but watch Spike and see what’s going through his mind at the time. Revenge plot probably. Well, at least he gets to see the play with them. Um, did…did Rainbow Dash just say “aight”? She did. I can’t figure out whether or not I’m disappointed that they would include such vernacular that may or may not be relevant to the universe they’re in, or if I’m disappointed that they thought adding the word would somehow be cool. Whatever, hey, there’s Coco. We love her, right? She gets to say the word “generous” two more times, just in case we didn’t get the message the last forty times. And all is well.

So, between Spike’s poor treatment, not enjoying the song, and Rarity turning into something that I feel goes completely against her character, I can say I didn’t like this episode. It begins the whole “Rainbow trend” with what has been predicted to be the keys to the pretty box, but that’s about it. The whole concept of generosity felt really forced. Almost like the writers were like, “oh crap, we forgot that’s her element. We’re gonna have to make up for three seasons of it in one episode. Go!” I just hope each of the key-related element episodes don’t end up like this.

Description
It’s not easy being Spike is it? Ever since he admitted his feelings to Rarity, doesn’t it seem like she takes way too much advantage of him? “Spike, carry all these bags. You know, despite the fact I can use magic on them, and the entire pile is ten times the size of YOU.” What a friend. It’s ok though, because while the ponies celebrate getting tickets to see “Henny of the Hills”, Spike slugs off after a hard day’s work. Or is he just super sad that once again, he’s the actual workhorse while the ponies play? And now he’s carrying the whole shebang through Manehattan, by himself, while the group just watches? Wow. Spike didn’t grow up to be a giant dragon in Secret of My Excess because of greed. He did it because he was pissed about being the slave to these slave drivers.

Song time! The name of this song is “Generosity”. And the song is all about…Manehattan. I tend to have a problem with songs like this. It doesn’t really advance the plot. And that’s fine. It doesn’t have to. But this song is so determined to scream “RARITY IS GENEROUS” that the lyrics don’t really feel very entertaining, or something I’d want to sing to myself. And it’s not because it’s Rarity. “Art of the Dress” and “Becoming Popular” are fabulous songs (see what I…eh, never mind). And it doesn’t flow well. Particularly when the singing stops and Rarity is giving a tip. This works in a song like Find a Pet, because the speaking parts flow with the song, and in its case, advance the plot of the song. “Glass of Water”, as it is apparently called, works well later in another episode because the whole thing is basically speaking. It doesn’t feel right cutting away from a song in the middle of it for something that doesn’t really say anything. On a side note, Rarity hands the guy a gem. We’ve seen gems used as currency before, so no big deal there. But it brought to mind a thought. Why isn’t Rarity filthy stinking rich? She has a spell that basically lets her find money…everywhere. And it’s common, super common. So why is she struggling to make dresses and other fashions instead of just living it up in Canterlot somewhere with all her dough?

Ok, enough singing. We now get to see the effects of generosity. Once we learn that everyone in Manehattan really is just a giant jerk, we see Rarity hitching a cab ride from the guy whose wheel they fixed….in the song? Damnit, I said no more song! Rarity’s generosity continues to help her as her dresses are delivered to her just in time. Just in time…to be scolded by Prim Hemline for being..early? She’s early! You said she was early! Why are you punishing her for being early? And what kind of punishment is that? Her designs will be seen LAST. Which means they will be fresh on everyone’s mind. That’s an advantage, I’d say.

And so we meet Suri, a former Ponyvillian with some weird verbal tick. That’s weird, and it’s really hard to enjoy a character with something like that, kupo. I..um…never mind. Rarity shows up thirty minutes early, “just the way Prim likes it”. I..wait. In “Sweet and Elite”, and pretty much the entire series, we see Rarity sticking to her “small town” roots, and not being taken in by the big city “ways”. Surely this is just her trying to make good, and not her losing it.

So Suri stole her line. Of course. What bugs me here is Rarity chewing her out for it, ON STAGE. When’s Prim and everyone else going to hear this conversation? Why didn’t Rarity explain what was going on? Hell, why didn’t she just put up her first line, and when they turned out to be the same as Suri’s, explain everything. Rarity could probably explain how it was her creation, since, you know she created it. Do one of those “ask a question only the real one would know” kind of things.

Enter Coco Pommel, the fandom’s new love. Suri scolds her and treats her…wait. Rarity or Twilight wouldn’t yell, but how is this any different than how Spike is treated? This episode may end up being about Rarity teaching Coco a lesson, but I think Coco might be able to teach Rarity one herself. How about treating your help better?

Rarity crying. I know it’s genuine, and I know she’s in a lot of emotional pain. But…I still can’t take it seriously. Even when Rarity is legitimately crying, it sounds like she’s just being overly dramatic like she always is. I don’t know if it’s just Rarity as a character, or if the voice actor is getting the cue to do so, or if she just isn’t finding a way to separate it. But it doesn’t seem like serious crying. Sorry Rarity. Also sorry you gave away your one-of-a-kind fabric to someone you’re competing against. I’m sure it’s not your fault. I mean, yeah, generous and all, but come on. Generous doesn’t mean foolish. “My generosity has ruined me!” I get it. I get it guys. This episode is about generosity. You don’t have to beat me to death with it. I get it. You can stop now.

So, Rarity will keep it together, right? She’s gonna make her new line, and all will be well? Rarity? Why are you screaming at your friends? Wait, Rarity, why are you screaming at your friends, who know nothing about designing, and who you are not even allowing to eat? Whoa. First Spike, and now…no. This goes way beyond an extreme that isn’t even close to Rarity, or anyone for that matter. Forget “Henny of the Hills”. Rarity’s been treating Spike like dirt all episode, and now she can’t help but enslave her friends and guilt them into doing something she could do much better and faster than them? This doesn’t make any sense. Congratu-pony-lations. My imagination can’t help but wonder what word THAT was replacing. If anyone was gonna swear, you’d think it’d be Applejack. especially since she’s already used a lot of swear-like phrases. I figured Rarity would be too “proper” to do so, even under these circumstances.

Well, at least we get to see her brand new line. It’s…wait, was that a bunch of keys? I mean, you can turn some bedsheets into a dress and people might not know the difference, but hotel keys? That’s just stupid. And no, no, people WOULD know the difference because this is supposed to be the world’s top fashion ponies, right there in the front row watching. They can’t possibly actually think this is good. I’m sure my opinion doesn’t matter, but come on.

Rarity sees the error of her ways, and we get to see the reprise of the earlier song. Except now, it’s actually plot-related. Which kind of makes it worse. It takes such a different angle than the rest of the song. At least some people will enjoy seeing wet mane Rarity. Rarity finds the group, and we get to see a little more semi-meta crap about the elements. Yes, I can see Applejack agreeing with Rarity about how bad she acted. After that, it’s hard not to. But you don’t have to add in the line from Dash about “your thing being honesty”. It just feels forced, like the levels of generosity being shoved at us the whole time. As Rarity makes up with her friends, I can’t help but watch Spike and see what’s going through his mind at the time. Revenge plot probably. Well, at least he gets to see the play with them. Um, did…did Rainbow Dash just say “aight”? She did. I can’t figure out whether or not I’m disappointed that they would include such vernacular that may or may not be relevant to the universe they’re in, or if I’m disappointed that they thought adding the word would somehow be cool. Whatever, hey, there’s Coco. We love her, right? She gets to say the word “generous” two more times, just in case we didn’t get the message the last forty times. And all is well.

So, between Spike’s poor treatment, not enjoying the song, and Rarity turning into something that I feel goes completely against her character, I can say I didn’t like this episode. It begins the whole “Rainbow trend” with what has been predicted to be the keys to the pretty box, but that’s about it. The whole concept of generosity felt really forced. Almost like the writers were like, “oh crap, we forgot that’s her element. We’re gonna have to make up for three seasons of it in one episode. Go!” I just hope each of the key-related element episodes don’t end up like this.