S05:E16 - Made in Manehattan

[ShadowPhoenix 153]

Nicely done, the exposition came naturally, the pace of episode was quick and yet everything came to a simple and satisfying close. On par with Rarity Investigates! for me. Coco Pommel's despair in the middle was a nice touch and Applejack stole the show more so than Rarity. Looks like I got my wish for her character to be explored beyond the Apple Family and her business.

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

I think this episodes biggest flaw was that it came out the same day as Friendship Games (Seriously there needs to be a "The" there) I fear this episode will get over shadowed by it's human counterpart. 

[MLPFanatic34 3,234]

This episode was really good, I loved seeing Coco Plummel again and seeing the references in this episode, also loved the moral and overall lesson learned and seeing Manehattan again. So glad to have some Rarity episodes that are so enjoyable and very well written, definitely a 10/10 episode!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dzastur 1,719]

I know some of this borders on cliché, but I think it's true: this series is coming of age. It's far more nuanced than it used to be.

 

Very positive development. There were some especially nice touches in today's handling of a familiar story. And it also bodes well for the more action-heavy episodes in the future; a series which has found its creative groove from top to bottom produces better "whiz-bang" shows as well.

[Cherry_Bloom 165]

I loved it, but I'm really missing Twilight and the others. 

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

Damn, season 5 is on FIRE!

 

Another spectacular hit.  I love the costar episodes, and Rarity and AJ have great chemistry.  It was wonderful to see more of them together.  This was a really good story, too.  And I always love world building and the inclusion of background characters.  It makes the show much deeper and better when they revisit characters like Coco, instead of forgetting they existed.  FIM has been getting really good at that this season.  I mean, damn, we've had Gilda, Twilight's old Canterlot friends, and now Coco.  What a season!

 

I'm pleased that AJ got such good screentime in this one.  She seems to suffer a bit in the spotlights.  By that I mean that many of her spotlights haven't been the best, and I think this unfortunately contributes to the AJ-is-unpopular-memes.  You know, "AJ is best background pony" and all that.  It seems like her spotlights often suffer a bit, which is really a shame because she's still such a great character.   Rarity, on the other hoof, seems to have the best spotlights.  Nearly every Rarity spotlight of the series has been a knock-outta-the-park homer.  Anyway, the point is that AJ was great in this one.  I really loved her.

 

The best part is how they handled the message at the end.  My running joke for the entire series has been that every single problem in the show could be solved instantaneously if Twilight remembered that she can use telekinesis and teleportaton.  It was especially funny how AJ pointed out that Twilight could easily fix the stage and the park in one fell swoop with magic.  I found myself thinking, "Wow.  They're actually acknowledging this outright on the show."  So, basically, AJ just admitted that they're useless, as the Twilight Hate Club loves to point out, and that the map should have sent Miss Omnipotent.  When they fixed the problem at the end, they could have just ended the episode without Rarity's epiphany, but instead they ended it brilliantly, and perfectly demonstrated how Twilight is not always perfect for the job, and is not always best suited to solve a problem.  I love how it turned out that the real problem had nothing to do with the physical stage, but with the mindset of the townsponies.  If Twilight had gone, she would have fixed the stage with magic, and nothing would have been solved.  The townsponies wouldn't have seen that they could make a difference.  It was really masterfully done.

 

I think it's also funny that Rarity bought a new, identical hat for AJ at the hat stand.  Did anyone think that her hat was a cherished Apple family heirloom?  Heh, guess not!  This reminds me of a real life story that happened to me.  A few years ago, I moved cross-country.  As a going away present, one of my best friends gave me his baseball cap from his job.  Now, you have to understand, he wore that hat everywhere, and it was really important to him.  He used to joke about this particular hat having great powers of influence.  You can only get these hats if you work at this particular company.  So, I was deeply honored.  The next day, he came walking up with another identical hat.  I sort of stopped and went, "Wait, but you gave that to me."  And he furrowed his brow for a second, and then said, "OH!  Heh, did you think that my hat some some sacred, one of a kind thing?  We have boxes of these down at the shop.  I can take as many as I want."  We had a good laugh over it.  So, that's AJ's hat now.

 

The only thing that really bothered me about this episode was that Twilight, AGAIN, was not able to go with them.  I understand that it worked out better for the moral at the end, but it seems ridiculous that anypony not summoned is apparently forbidden to go.  Bullsh*t.  Why couldn't she tag along and then tour museums and libraries with Spike?  You know, like she wanted to do?  What's to stop her?  I mean, it's not like AJ and Rarity would forbid it.  Would the map make Twilight's cutie mark start burning like fire if she went to Manehattan?  What if she just wanted to go anyway, map or no map?  Which leads into my next point--I'm just not sure about this whole map, anyway.  If you saw my thread, "Are the Six Prisoners to the Map", then you know what I mean.  I'll reiterate the abridged version.  The map seems a little f*cked up to me.  The six did not ask for this, especially those besided Twi.  They seemed to be imprisoned by this map.  It summons and they must go.  Period.  That doesn't sit well with me.  Do they have any choice in this?  What if they really don't want to go, or truly can't?  Will the map get angry and make their marks burn if they disobey?  Is this like Windows Updates?  Can they just repeatedly click, "Remind Me Later".  "Hide Map Mission", "Don't remind me about these missions again"?  "Restore map missions I've previously hidden"?  Or is this like Skyrim--Accept the mission, then let it sit in your journal for years and don't do it if you don't want to, and the world stands still until you decide to come rolling on in?  I just don't like the idea that they have no say in this.  I'd feel better if I knew that Twilight had the ability to turn off the map and hide its notifications if she wanted.  "Hide Cutie Map notifications.  Do not display Cutie Map icon in the task bar tray.  Disable Automatic Cutie Map Updates.  Do not integrate Cutie Map with Castle Twilight services.  Do not install Cutie Mark sidebar.  Go Away.  Leave me alone."

 

Actually, my favorite headcanon is that the Elements of Harmony, the tree, the map, all of it, is a magic-based Daemon made by Starswirl the Bearded that has been running since his death.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_%28novel_series%29

It actually all makes more sense that way, really.

 

*EDIT*  I almost forgot: it was really great to see the library at Castle Twilight for the FIRST FRIGGING TIME SINCE IT WAS BUILT.  Cripplin crap.

 

Now, what we need next:

 

• Fluttershy/Pinkie costar.  (Have we had that pairing yet?)
• Slumber party at Castle Twilight

*RE-EDIT*  I totally forgot:  Charlie Brown reference!!  Woot.

Edited September 28, 2015 by Justin_Case001

[VengefulStrudel 1,486]

Hooray, a Rarity episode! And it had both of my favorite ponies~ Really liked this one, AJ and Rarity's chemistry is just great, hehe. The colts/fillies watching the play with their parents and then playing with each other were quite adorable as well~

 

I really like the moral as well. Being someone who used to be overambitious and take on a lot more than he can chew, I could relate to this one. Plus, it was a good moral in general. And of course, yay for Coco Pommel!

 

 

Actually, my favorite headcanon is that the Elements of Harmony, the tree, the map, all of it, is a magic-based Daemon made by Starswirl the Bearded that has been running since his death.

 

 

That...would actually be really, really cool. *headcanon adopted*

[Glaive9Gko 82]

This episode does not hold up to scrutiny! Like, even basic scrutiny...

+ Looks good, sounds good, FiM quality production

+ Coco is still cute

- That play sucked!

-- Why did everyone think they couldn't help? No seriously! If they didn't wanna help because they thought they couldn't make a difference, then how in the **** did it ever happen!? What sort of lavish, kick***, absolute wonder of a show did Charity manage to organize that the populace felt this **** lost without her? ******* seriously, what is stopping them!? Honestly, the map really should have called in Twilight! Not to fix everything in a snap, but to get some actual *** **** leadership up in here!

--- "I used to think that to help my community, I had to do something big" ******* WHY! Why do you think this!? Explain yourself!!! Also, BULL****! Used to? Used to!?! For how ******* long have you held this belief? Because I can point you to a time when you didn't think this! WHEN CHARITY WAS AROUND!!! What changed!?

----- "But here, you did something as simple as building a stage and putting on a play, and look at how its brought everypony together!" Ya know who else did this? YOU DID! FOR SEVERAL ******* YEARS!!! Seriously, what kind GOD AMONGST PONIES was this Charity chick!?!

--------------- "I saw coco's flyers for volunteers, but didn't think anything I have time to do would be that useful" *sigh*...either Charity is an absolute diplomancer, or Coco is just that bad of an organizer. Its like everyone just forgot that THEY were the ones who had been doing this ****! Nopony is asking these ponies to do anything more than what they've already been doing!

 

Okay people, help me on this one. Coco's pictures clearly depict her as being a filly, right? So this must have been going on for a while. If its called "mid-summer" Then it must at least be annual, right? If the problems started several moons ago, then that means Charity left in between the last play and this one, right? This is Coco's first time trying to lead it, right? There there couldn't have been enough failed productions to make everyone forget how they used to do it, right? right?

 

At least when Applejack went through this in Apple Family Reunion, she had a motive. It was her first time, therefore she felt she had something to prove. That makes sense. Sure she's wrong, but you can see why she'd make that mistake. But here, there's nothing! Charity leaves, therefore this event had to be bigger? How does this make sense!? Answer that, and you fix the episode. And please, help me on this if you can. I don't like disliking things, and I can't think the episode did something as stupid as forgetting basic motive!

 

God damn this is unfair, but this is what happens when I'm forced to think. Until I can somehow justify this, I give this episode a rating of JUST*******DOITAGAIN / 10!

 

EDIT: Considering the site, I should probably censor this.

Edited September 27, 2015 by Glaive9Gko

[Argumedies 1,748]

Had way too much Rarijack for my tastes but it was nice to see Coco again. I was hopeing she would make a return

Edited September 27, 2015 by Argumedies

[aoEAF2FBvC0MIo2Q 3,671]

I don't know, the problem that Manehattan seemed to have looks more like high social stratification. People don't seem to care for each other as social status whether that is through wealth or means of employment. It's going to take a lot more than a play to bring people from different social strata together. This kinda took away the engagement of the story so they kinda lost me on this one.

 

Other than that, I could still find it heartwarming how hard the ponies were willing to work to bring back something that brought ponies together. You don't know how often I've seen such community events get discontinued because of the leader or organizer having moved on.

[ponylaces 1,869]

Aside from a few funny moments, this episode was meh. I did like it, but it became dull at times and the moral feels like something we've already learned before.

 

One thing that I do find interesting is this episode might tie into Brotherhooves Social. Rarity and Applejack probably won't make it back to Ponyville in time for it, so maybe Apple Bloom will have to do it with Big Mac.

[Truffles 2,033]

Public service announcement...  Please go here: http://atpeacewithpink.blogspot.com/2015/09/grammar-peeves-episode-1.html

 

Nothing personal, Truffles.  You were simply the most recent in a long, long, line of people who made me crazy with this one.

 

No worries! I pride myself on using correct grammar whenever possible, and this one slipped by. Thanks for pointing it out! If there's ever anything else that is particularly egregious and you don't wish to drive a thread off-topic, simply PM me!   

 

 

In any case, her moping is annoying, especially after the whole "I have no purpose as a princess" angle was already explored (arbitrarily, I might add) in Twilight's Kingdom. She should be past that by now. She shouldn't be waiting for a map to tell her what to do, she should be finding ways she can improve her country on her own. She should be exploring the relatively minor matters that Celestia and Luna ultimately overlook. Why was she made a princess in the first place if she isn't willing to actually earn the popularity she already possesses for no apparent reason? 

 

I have a theory about this, and it could be that after nearly starting a war with the yaks, she's pretty much sequestered herself from trying to solve any friendship problems unless it's something she directly involved with in Ponyville or Canterlot, or until the map finally calls on her. It could be she's fearful now of screwing up again?

 

I do agree it is a bit strange they are revisiting her "fifth wheel" status, since that was supposedly dealt with. It's weird, though - she complained last season about it and so she got a castle out of it. But having gotten a castle doesn't seem to have helped; perhaps she really is on the wrong path in life now? Kind of like how Kirk being promoted to admiral was the wrong choice for him.

 

 

However, Applejack's self-doubt was jarring to me, and it ultimately felt out of place, particularly for a natural-born leader. In particular, their arrival scene where she comments on the bustling nature of the city in comparison to Ponyville and struggles to cross the street felt immensely out of place, since Benvenuti appeared to have forgotten that Applejack actually lived in Manehattan during her youth. 

 

This kind of bothered me a bit as well about the episode. It didn't make sense for AJ to now be unable to handle the hustle and bustle, especially since you're right about her living there for some amount of time before getting rainboomed back home.

 

 

988580__safe_rarity_applejack_screencap_faic_spoiler-colon-s05e16_made+in+manehattan_vibrating+cutie+mark.png

 

Hey, thanks for getting this screenshot! I noticed their expressions when their "return home pager" vibration appeared and it gave me a fit of the giggles! 

 

 

The only thing that really bothered me about this episode was that Twilight, AGAIN, was not able to go with them.  I understand that it worked out better for the moral at the end, but it seems ridiculous that anypony not summoned is apparently forbidden to go.  Bullsh*t.  Why couldn't she tag along and then tour museums and libraries with Spike?

 

You just gave me a really cool idea - why not have the map summon her and Spike to solve a dragon-society friendship problem? Similar to how the map sent Pinkie and RD to Griffonstone, a situation with the dragons would make the perfect reason for Spike to come along with Twilight. For that matter, an even greater story dynamic could be present if Fluttershy had to go along as well, knowing how fearful she is of adult dragons. Lots of opportunity for character development for the three of them in that situation!

 

The map seems a little f*cked up to me.  The six did not ask for this, especially those besided Twi.  They seemed to be imprisoned by this map.  It summons and they must go.  Period.  That doesn't sit well with me.  Do they have any choice in this?  What if they really don't want to go, or truly can't?  Will the map get angry and make their marks burn if they disobey?

 

I suppose it could be worse - the map arc could act more like that of the TV series "Quantum Leap", where Sam is pretty much trapped fixing things and never gets a chance to return home. I think all of the Mane 6 signed up for this, even though they weren't exactly clued in on it: They basically agreed to put their lives aside from time to time as soon as they took on the Elements, and it has them on a short leash until they die or the Elements are assigned to another Mane 6. 

 

 

--- "I used to think that to help my community, I had to do something big" ******* WHY! Why do you think this!? Explain yourself!!! Also, BULL****! Used to? Used to!?! For how ******* long have you held this belief? Because I can point you to a time when you didn't think this! WHEN CHARITY WAS AROUND!!! What changed!?

----- "But here, you did something as simple as building a stage and putting on a play, and look at how its brought everypony together!" Ya know who else did this? YOU DID! FOR SEVERAL ******* YEARS!!! Seriously, what kind GOD AMONGST PONIES was this Charity chick!?!

 

One analogy that explains this behavior is this: Imagine some neighbor puts on an epic street party for many years, and then he suddenly dies or moves away. The following year another neighbor tries to put on the same party, but it ends up really sucking, so he gives up and no one else wants to put themselves out there like that. So the tradition pretty much dies at that point.

 

Also note that when Charity was around they didn't have to build anything - all they had to do was put on the play and use the existing resources the park provided. My belief is Charity was influential in city politics, so she was able to get the city to allocate funds to keep the park maintained. Or perhaps there were even donation cans put out in previous years of the play to help pay for the upkeep of the park? Either way, when the tradition died, the funds dried up so the park fell into severe disrepair. It wasn't evident to any pony that discarding the park completely and doing something different would be so successful, so that's why they all thought they'd have to put in a lot of time to completely fix up the original place the play was held.

 

Okay people, help me on this one. Coco's pictures clearly depict her as being a filly, right? So this must have been going on for a while. If its called "mid-summer" Then it must at least be annual, right? If the problems started several moons ago, then that means Charity left in between the last play and this one, right? This is Coco's first time trying to lead it, right? There there couldn't have been enough failed productions to make everyone forget how they used to do it, right? right?

 

I'm falling in line with those that believe a "moon" is equivalent to one year in Equestria. Maybe it takes 1 year for the moon to complete an entire phase? In any case, from my thoughts above I think they tried to do it one year without Charity and it was a complete disaster so the tradition died, and everypony did forget how to do it in the 10 or more years (just throwing out some number that seems believable for "several moons") since the last successful production. So Coco's attempt in the episode really is the first time in a good while it has been done.

[Glaive9Gko 82]

 I'm falling in line with those that believe a "moon" is equivalent to one year in Equestria. Maybe it takes 1 year for the moon to complete an entire phase? In any case, from my thoughts above I think they tried to do it one year without Charity and it was a complete disaster so the tradition died, and everypony did forget how to do it in the 10 or more years (just throwing out some number that seems believable for "several moons") since the last successful production. So Coco's attempt in the episode really is the first time in a good while it has been done.

 

Yeah, I came to the same conclusion after reading a post over on Ponychan, where a poster states that the term "moon" was misused in this episode. Considering the info on the FiM wiki, http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Moons, this would definitely be the case. So yeah, there is a motive. This can make sense now.

 

Which means I get to change my rating! I upgrade it to an-Equestrian-moon-seems-to-be-the-one-unit-of-time-not-consistent-with-our-own / 10!

 

Now, I still have a problem with this episode because you can't just change an objective unit of time without explanation. The wiki states that the Equestrian moon has no human equivalent, which makes me think that the writers really forgot that the human moon is measured to the second! 27 Earth days, 7 hours, 43 minutes, and 12 seconds, to be exact. Look, I may be a fan, but I don't follow this stuff that hard! If there's a difference in time terminology, I need to know!

[EVBP 94]

This episode is nothing but socialist propaganda...

 

 

Just kidding, I loved it! Definitely drives home the point that if we want nice things in our community we all need to be willing to take part in making it nice.

 

Also, Rarity dropped a Charlie Brown reference with the booth offering friendship advice and exclaiming "good grief!" Haha!

[Thaliel 116]

Coco is so adorable, as is bored twilight

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

So yesterday I saw "Made In Manehatten". I would call this episode an okay episode. I liked seeing Manehatten and Coco again. I LOVED the moral(I wish my relatives understood that moral so they don't F*ck up my life! Long story) and the idea of theater bringing people together because I believe theater really does foster friendship. I thought it was funny how Applejack's hat got ruined for once LOL. The "I'm walking here!" cracked me up. The play was also very nice. Equestria has good actors. However I felt Applejack was VERY out of character for being that nervous in Manehatten when she has family there and lived there for a short while. It made no sense. Rarity was also better in her last 2 episodes. As my buddy ChrisDilke mentioned on DA I also think "Made in Manehatten" takes place during "Brotherhooves Social" 

[Carl Poppa 464]

I liked this episode, but not especially so.  It just wasn't as good as the previous few in my opinion.  I also find it a bit strange we didn't see the Oranges even in passing, but I guess they really didn't have enough time, what with everything else they crammed into this one.

[Envy 5,998]

Not a bad episode, but it pales in comparison to the last several episodes. It felt more like many of the early episodes of the season - something was off. I just don't feel like it was executed perfectly, but I don't really know the words to describe how so.

[roptiriolg 49]

The episode was fine but least interesting from the past 3 for me. Twilight's boredom of books was a new thing. AJ amused with her work in the park and the expressions she made. I think I like Coco Pommel, very cute. The hat thing - hasn't it happened many times, i can see how AJ's 'new' hat would be the same in the next eps. And since when are their cutie marks blinking for 'quest completed'?

Edited September 27, 2015 by ImtR

[Kevin 160]

While it wasn't as good as the last two Rarity-centered episodes, it wasn't bad either. I have to feel sorry for twilight though being left out and all.

 

Applejack and Rarity still continue their strong interaction off one another. Applejack's various expressions were hilarious and that Peanuts reference gave me a good laugh. It was nice to see a callback to the Sisterhooves Social as well.

 

It was nice to see Coco again still adorable as always. I do have to agree with those who've said that the problem got solved way too fast. It felt like they rushed things going towards the end of the episode.

Edited September 28, 2015 by Kevin

[Buck Testa 5,503]

I think this episodes biggest flaw was that it came out the same day as Friendship Games (Seriously there needs to be a "The" there) I fear this episode will get over shadowed by it's human counterpart. 

Wait Friendship games is out?! *Googling intensifies* 

[The Second Opinion 269]

While I do agree with the complaint that the solution with the smaller theater happened too fast and didn't build up to that sweet resolution nearly as well as it could have, I'm at a loss for how people think that equals less than the last two episodes. Rarity Investigates wasn't any better at building us up for the finale, leaving Rarity's method of solving the case almost entirely unaddressed and unfollowable until the big reveal, which was obvious anyway. And Canterlot Boutique was just preaching to the choir in the first place, so the finale was just a 1-dimensional spiel of "focusing on sales and marketing = bad" and "focusing on whatever you feel like = get everything you want, exactly as you want it, and suffer no consquences whatsoever." 


This episode had some great laughs in the characters' mometary reactions (Twilight discovering she's bored, Rarity's "isn't this exciting?!" Applejack raising an eyebrow at her hat solution, Rarity cut of in the middle of "WHY?!" etc.), with enough variaty to at least match Investigates, which ran out of new gags for it's noir parody halfway through - unless that bit with the ducks was supposed to count. And it's moral was better told and more applicable than most of the episodes this season. Not a great one, true enough, but it'll be a downright shame if the "underwhelming" label in this Rarity trilogy goes to its most intelligent entry. 

Edited September 28, 2015 by The Second Opinion

[Arpeggio Sweep 48]

It's so weird how this episode aired now, because it solidifies something I reminded myself of recently. That you don't have to have the enormous power and influence of something like McDonalds to make a nice difference to the world. An important message to remind yourself nowadays, where the whole world seems to constantly make you feel that your small and unimportant.

[Silver Letter 1,830]

 

 

However I felt Applejack was VERY out of character for being that nervous in Manehatten when she has family there and lived there for a short while.

But that was a long time ago in her life. It might be like learning a language. Not using it for a long time makes her forget it.

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

But that was a long time ago in her life. It might be like learning a language. Not using it for a long time makes her forget it.

Yeah good point. Thanks. She wasn't happy with her aunt and uncle Orange in Manehatten when she was young either now that I think about it.