S04:E13 - Simple Ways

[Singe 2,111]

Rarity: Why is Trenderhoof attracted to Applejack? She's filthy, dirty, and messy. Ooooooh, I just want to pin her down and wash her.   Oh, now I see why.

Edited March 6, 2015 by Singe

[Admiral Regulus 2,769]

This is one of the underrated episodes of the season. I thought it was hilarious, especially at the end.

[Whatevs 377]

At first I did not like this episode. But it was amusing and people took it as funny

[Singe 2,111]

Rarity: You know Applejack, you look really good in that dress. Have you ever thought about modeling?

Applejack: Aw-shucks Rarity. I've given up on any dreams ever since my cutie mark destine me to remain on this teetering farm.

[Jokuc 8,173]

This episode was not really what I expected it to be, when I heard the name "Simple ways" I thought it was going to be an episode with Applejack doing things in her own way or something like that. In some ways she did, but that was obviously not at all what the story was about.

 

I did like that we finally got to see some more romance/love related to the main 6 (as in Rarity liking this stallion I can't remember the name of). It made me kind of curious if any of the other members in the main6 has crushes of their own. This also makes me wish that there was an episodes where they hung out with some guys. I mean in their age you'd think they would hang out with their male friends all the time but we hardly even see them talking to stallions in the show at all which is kind of odd to me.

 

Anyway, the episode was not too exciting and didn't really keep me excited for what would happen next since the whole plot and ending was way too obvious from the beginning. However, I did found the episode somewhat funny and I laughed a good number of times.

 

Overall, the episode was alright.

[JonasDarkmane 19,785]

I loved it <3. I thought Rarity overreacting to yet another celebrity and trying to get his attention was rather funny 

[powerpuff-tsubasa 448]

trenderhoof was kinda cool-looking. i guess. then again i don't remember much of it.

[Amethyst Splash 86]

Hahahahahaha! Rarity can't imitate Applejack. But the episode was pretty good!

[cmarston1 5,959]

To be perfectly honest, I don't really care much for this episode.

I find it to be one of the most boring to come out of the entire series.

[Thrond 3,263]

Trenderhoof is grating, as are Rarity's attempts to impress him, and I feel this episode never really succeeds in what it's going for. I appreciate the "be yourself" deal, but it's not really worth the irritation, and its take on a romantic subplot is the least interesting imaginable for this show. I have a hard time imagining how the show could have had a shallower, more uninteresting subplot, especially given the general lack of humour here. Plus, its take on the Applejack/Rarity dynamic is the same as nearly every Applejack/Rarity episode: bickering up to the very last second, when it actually shows friendliness between the two. Of course, as with most Applejack/Rarity episodes, "Simple Ways" has a great denoument, expressing clearly what it's actually trying to say, which was muddled in the climax, where Applejack and Rarity were taking constant shots at each other, which seems to be the only way they interact with each other half of the time. Not a fan of this one. 

[Moony the Cat 3,702]

I was actually afraid of watching this Episode, because it seemed to be pretty racist. But im glad, that Rarity didnt go into the extreme stereo types, before Applejack tried to make fun of her as well, so it was more just a fight between the two and there were just mocking each other.

In the end though, the fight got resolved pretty quickly, so quickly in fact, that i didnt liked the ending, all of a sudden Rarity stopped, even though i saw no real reason. It just happened all of a sudden...i still found the Episode entertaining enough.

[Thrond 3,263]

I run weirdly hot and cold on this one. There's some funny reactions, but Rarity's hillbilly shtick is pretty consistently obnoxious, and I still don't find Trenderhoof that fun to watch. The beginning five minutes are immensely charming, Applejewel is hilarious, and the ending is lovely, but all of Rarity's shenanigans are just kinda tiresome. On some level I appreciate the absurdity of her behaviour, but on another level it's just so extreme that it's hard to sympathize with, and it's basically the same joke repeated ad nauseam. The lengths she goes to here frequently just seem dumb and self-centred, and that's not what I want these characters to be like. It's also why Rarity is the only character I prefer to be depicted as positively as possible, because when she comes across poorly, she comes across really poorly. I find the bickering itself a bit sharper than most other episodes of this type, however, if only because the reaction shots are so clearly one-sided, so to my surprise, revisiting this episode is a less excruciating experience than my first viewing. Hooray for small victories, I guess.

Score:
Entertainment: 4/10
Characters: 3/10
Themes: 8/10
Story: 3/10
Overall: 45/100

Edited June 14, 2018 by AlexanderThrond

[bigbertha 414]

Rarity comes off as really out of character here. She usually doesn't get this depressed for such a shallow reason. I know she has been exaggerated in this way for episodes like "Lesson Zero", but that episode didn't focus on her. She was just there for one scene and a few other gags. In this episode, she's incredibly stupid and over the top the entire time. Despite this, I still love this episode. That's because it's incredibly funny. Rarity may be really exaggerated, but she's still really funny. Trenderhoof may not be very complex, but he works for the story, and Applejack is actually portrayed really well.

Also Spike is great here. He just goes along with the entire thing, enjoying the ride.

Score: -9/10

Edited August 15, 2018 by bigbertha

[Meushell 52]

Ew to the “beautiful” shot of Applejack wiping apple juice off her mouth. I’m guessing that’s the joke, but some people seem to like that, so I’m not sure.

Rarity acted silly, and the accent was cute, but she looked cute dressed as a farm gal. It’s also cute that she snapped out of it when she got mud on Applejack’s fancy outfit. Her over-the-top jealousy was too annoying though, and it brought the whole episode down.

Tenderhoof was likable, and seemed a bit clueless. I enjoyed him dancing with Granny Smith in the end.

[qwerE 96]

I found this episode really funny. It was somewhat new seeing Rarity dressed up in country style, and it wasn't bad at all. Applejewel was cute and hilarious as well. I like episodes like these where we get to see a different side of the mane 6, I guess.

[bigbertha 414]

I love this episode. This is the first episode so far to be extremely entertaining from start to finish. Most of the episode has Rarity at her funniest and one of my favorite depictions of the Rarity/Applejack dynamic. Adding Trenderhoof to the mix changes the dynamic up enough to not feel like a rehash of previous episodes with the same pairing. Rarity is pushed to a bigger extreme than ever before and while I can see why people could call it out of character, I think it fits the silly tone the episode goes for. It also helps that Applejack is there to constantly point out how dumb Rarity is acting, grounding it in reality. Trenderhoof also contributes to the fun. He's not a really unique character, but he's given enough funny lines and moments to justify his inclusion. 

The comedy here really is fantastic. It doesn't get too repetitive since Rarity transitions from still trying to be herself to going full country. And if Rarity ever gets too repetitive, the episode also has jokes about Trenderhoof trying to impress Applejack, and all three of them are put into a good variety of situations to get consistently fun comedy. And there are some jokes with the rest of the mane six and Spike reacting to Rarity to mix it up a bit more. And it helps that Tabitha St. Germain is amazing here. She brings so much life and energy to Rarity that even Rarity country drawl, a very shallow joke that goes on for most of the third act with no change, never stops being funny.

Aside from the beginning a few other points where the timing feels a bit too slow, this episode is extremely funny.

Score: 9/10

 

[Rushing cash 836]

I don't really know what to say other then it was entertaining and had nice interactions between characters. 7.5\10. My favorite moment was the moment rarity lost it in the barn, I just love this moment, raritys breakdowns are always amusing to watch. Applejack wearing this dress in the end was hilarious to watch, she defiantly nailed it.  

[Justin_Case001 4,881]

Cute, simple, and fun.  I enjoyed it.

The always-be-who-you-are message is a great one, but I always found the wording curious.  "If someone doesn't like you for who you are, it's their loss."  Is it, though?  This phrase obviously didn't originate with Pony.  It's a staple.  And people often say similar things in other contexts; for example, if someone loves a particular food, and you don't, then they often say, "You don't know what you're missing," or "you're missing out."  Are you though?  Are you?  If you don't like it, then you know exactly what you're missing, and it's nothing good, because you don't like it.  You're not missing out if you actually don't like it.  Likewise, if someone doesn't like you for who you are, then it's not really their loss.  They're not losing or missing out on something special if they, in fact, do not like you.  Kind of a cynical perspective, I suppose, but technically true.  Still, though, the message of not changing your personality for anyone is apt and important.

Ah, Trenderhoof, you lucky bastard, you.  Rarity is in love with you.  If only you knew how many bronies would happily kill you in a heartbeat and wear your skin like Edgar the cockroach in Men in Black.  Rarity wouldn't notice the difference, would she? 

[Spidey10 846]

This episode has the funniest Rarity moment IMO (And one of the funniest moments in the show) when she yells "I LOVE BEING COVERED IN MUD!" Tabitha delivered that line perfectly.

 

 

 

[Astralshy 26,404]

A good and extremely hilarious episode which I liked :)  I also enjoyed the role swapping of AJ an Rarity. But I think my fav. moment of this episode is still the fourth breaking moment of Spike. He doesn't need to say anything anymore at this point. His facial expression is enough to say everything which needs to be said :)

[Tom Gallagher 33,581]

4 hours ago, Astral Soul said:

But I think my fav. moment of this episode is still the fourth breaking moment of Spike. He doesn't need to say anything anymore at this point. His facial expression is enough to say everything which needs to be said

Spike, I’m obsessed with all six of them so I know how you feel. 

[bigbertha 414]

This is honestly one of my favorite Spike appearances of the show. Rarity spends the whole episode crushing on someone else and acting like an idiot, but he still helps her just because he's cool like that.

[Hadrien 950]

This episode is pretty good. Rarity gets jelous of Applejack, because she gets the attention of a guy that Rarity is trying to impress, even tho AJ doesn't anything to do with him. So Rarity tries to emulate AJ's southern style, without much success (AJ is born in the country, she was raised in it, molded by it). At the end, AJ is forced to bring out the big gun, in the form of Apple Jewel, her evil alter ego. Before she gets consumed by it, fortunately, Rarity comes to her sense and ditch Trendersnoof.

I think this episode is a good callback to Green Isn't your Color, where Rarity also gets jealous of one of her friends because she gets too much attention. It's also why I was never really a fan of Rarity, she's too similar to me in that regard. I also get jealous of people when they get attention for things that I'm also trying to be good at. It's one of my biggest flaw, and just like Rarity, I need to be constantly reminded that just because someone gets some attention, it doesn't mean that I'm not worth anything or that I'm not good enough.

7+0.5/10, bonus point for the moral that hits a bit too close to home.

[Antiyonder 1,078]

YouTube upload of the episode: