Season 1 Episode 19- A Dog and Pony Show
Running the animal gamut today.
This pony names Sapphire Shores stops by Rarity’s boutique asking for a whole line of jewel-encrusted outfits for her tour. She’s a singer or something, see. Uh oh though, Rarity’s fresh out of gemstones!
Afterwards, Rarity brings Spike along to gather resources. She’s got this fun thing going where she uses her horn like a metal detector except for jewels that I’m only really now remembering she can do as like, a power. It comes up again later on in the season but I forgot it wasn’t just a one off thing.
There’s also the lore that dragons eat gemstones, which is fun. I don’t know if that’s something that’s been in dragon mythos before or not, all I know is that I want in. Them things look scrumptious.
(This frame looks like shit by the way. Why is the red gem so big and just plastered on top like that?)
The gem hunt goes pretty well with the two of them amassing a nice chunk of rocks when it seems like something’s watching them from the bushes. Whatever it is there’s three of them, and they’re impressed by Rarity’s ability to find jewels.
Aw shit, it’s the diamond dogs!
A spat follows in which they capture Rarity and haul her down to the mines after kicking Spike’s ass.
Spike goes and gets the rest of the girls for help because he can’t do anything right. They deduce that they just need to find the hole the Dogs took Rarity down and they’ll find the culprits in no time, but and it turns out them varmints have been busy. They dug like, a thousand holes in the meantime and they’re quickly filling them up from underground. I’m not really sure how that works, but whatever.
Everypony worries that because she’s such a priss Rarity is going to have a bitch fit down there because of all the dirt and grime. They’re also worried that her weak womanly constitution means she’ll be frightened to death by the brutish Diamond Dogs.
We get a little moment where Spike fantasizes about rescuing Rarity that has very little to talk about other than his design in it.
The gang finally manages to get down there only to discover that the mines are a big maze, so it’s gonna take a while for them to find Rarity to rescue her. Twilight uses the gem-finding spell Rarity taught her to lead the way and they’re off.
Okay so, you can probably tell that I’m not all that into this episode. I don’t really find it all that interesting when we’re on the surface or worrying about Rarity’s safety with the other girls or watching Spike fantasize over rescuing her. What I do enjoy though are Rarity’s interactions with the Diamond Dogs.
I think they’re hysterical.
Like I said earlier, the Dogs want her to find gems for them — easy enough, Rarity even says as much. But then they want her to dig for them, and haul mine carts, and deal with the disgusting hygiene the Dogs have. Of course, she’s not down for any of this. The entire time she’s voicing her distaste for the situation very clearly; complaining, refusing, and nagging at them constantly. The Dogs are even like “can you stop FUCKING whining” and that only sets her off more.
Thiiis is whiiiniiing!
You might think I’m bitching about Rarity being annoying or whatever, but I’m totally not. I adore this part of the episode and the message at the end; femininity is not weakness. Yeah, Rarity doesn’t like getting her hooves dirty or working in less than stellar conditions, but that doesn’t mean she’s useless. Actually, it’s exactly what saves her in this predicament.
I’ve mentioned it before briefly but I really do love Rarity as a character and what she represents in this show. In a lot of contemporary feminist media at the time we fell into the trap of over-correcting the past mistakes of women’s portrayals. It was a sea of not-like-other-girls-isms. Hyper-femininity equaled shallowness, greed, and altogether something undesirable for girls to aspire to, at least in mindset. We still demanded that girls looked pretty and dolled themselves up, they just weren’t supposed to enjoy it too much, yknow? It was also seen as vain for a woman to care too much, or at all, about her appearance. Being fussy over how you looked or how you liked your space to look or how you dressed meant you were only skin-deep and probably evil.
This is where my appreciation for Rarity comes in. She cares a lot about things like fashion and makeup and all that, but she’s still incredibly kind and cares about those around her. She literally embodies generosity. And it’s not like her hyper-femininity is a flaw or a quirk she has, it’s often presented as a positive thing — in this episode, specifically.
I’m not going to act like it’s brave for them to have girl characters be feminine or anything, like I said that’s always expected to some degree, but I do appreciate they didn’t take the usual route of having Rarity be a mean-spirited portrayal of one type of womanhood.
I also love this episode because Tabitha St. Germaine totally kills it as Rarity. When I called her hilarious in my first review, like 90% of that is thanks to Germaine’s line deliveries. There’s a whole scene where Rarity’s crying because the Diamond Dogs called her a mule that’s just a riot.
After successfully annoying her captors half to death, the rest of the mane six finally find where they’re at. There’s a little scuffle that ends with the Dogs pretty much demanding they take Rarity home, along with all the jewels she collected.
(Say it with me folks) All’s well that ends well as the gals leave the mines with Rarity and their new hoard of priceless gemstones.
All in all, I really do enjoy this episode despite the slow start. Rarity’s an absolute joy to watch when she has her little diva moments and I love the message this episode gives. How I love being a woman!
