S04:E13 - Simple Ways

[Rainboom Dash 1,056]

Very funny episode, great to have another Rarity/Applejack story, and more Derpy!

[DubWolf 17,263]

I liked the episode. It said a lot about being yourself especially when trying to get someone. Also..:

 

-Derpy is unappreciated , appreciate her more then!!

-Spike when Rarity speaks of that feeling when you like someone who doesn't like you back

[Neon Fire 473]

Loved the episode!  Poor Spike.  It's weird, I usually don't care for Rarity but I'm loving the Rarity episodes!

[crazitaco 596]

Okay, the story was a bit.....uhh...strange

But my god, Tabitha St. Germain voice acting in this one BLEW MY FREAKIN MIND! Not only is she voicing a classy sounding pony, but voicing a classy sounding pony attempting a BAD redneck accent! My favorite line was this one

So i'd say the episode was weirdly cringeworthy, but in a good way because it was just too damn funny for me to dislike it.

Rarity has seriously been at the top of her game this season, and i'm lovin it! Imo rarity is the absolute funniest pony of the mane six. Yes, i think she's funnier than pinkie. Or maybe i'm just insanely biased for my best pony

Edited February 9, 2014 by crazitaco

[MadDoggyca 710]

oh applejack how you make me.......

[DryGuy84 (Inactive) 927]

My current list of my favorite to least favorite Season 4 episodes as of 'Simple Ways' airing:

 

1. Pinkie Pride

2. Rarity Takes Manehattan

3. Bats!

4. Pinkie Apple Pie

5. Flight to the Finish

6. Three's a Crowd

7. Castle Mane-ia

8. Daring Don't

9. Princess Twilight Sparkle

10. Simple Ways

11. Power Ponies

12. Rainbow Falls

 

(Note: This is subject to change, and out of this list I only dislike 'Rainbow Falls')

[Deesinn 393]

So this episodes idea in general, if super awesome, and the way they handled it throught the first half to me was fantastic. After that I felt they didn't approch this conflict the best they could have.  It felt a little empty, and the way applejack and rarity resolved their problem was really quite ridiculous.  I mean, clearly rarity had some strong feelings here, I think it would have been better if Applejack had broken Tenderhoofs heart and told him to talk to Rarity.  Or maybe if Rarity had gone through with her new Western theme and made a complete fool of herself, making her really see how her behavior had influenced the entire festival.  I did enjoy it though! 

Edited February 9, 2014 by Deesinn

[Sobori 46]

Trenderhoof isn't worth,y of Rarity. Not in any way, shape or form. And poor Rarity she likes a guy and they never like her back. Hard to believe a guy wouldn't like the most beautiful and generous pony in all of equestria.

[Mand'alor Dash 2,224]

This was very funny, and the style and pacing brought back very fond memories of Season 1. Sure, not every joke hit, but it definitely had me laughing hard enough and frequently enough for me to enjoy it the whole way through. In particular, the part where Spike raised an eyebrow at Rarity made me laugh harder than I've laughed in a while.

 

And while I'm at it, the story and message were also pretty damn good. MLP isn't the first game in town to tackle this subject, but they definitely put their own unique spin on it, and put more than enough emphasis on the "rivalry" between Applejack and Rarity to make it feel original.

 

This is undoubtedly one of the strongest episodes of the season.

[Radiance64 7,053]

This episode wasn't that great :/

 

The previews had me excited to see a quite humorous episode, but I was a little let down.

Definitely cute, though ^^

 

Oh.. And dat face. Nearly peed myself laughing

image.jpg

'Ah love bein' covered in mud!' will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the greatest Rarity quotes of all time.

[BinaryPony 120]

This episode wasn't that great :/

 

The previews had me excited to see a quite humorous episode, but I was a little let down.

Definitely cute, though ^^

 

Oh.. And dat face. Nearly peed myself laughing

image.jpg

And then there's this comparison...

[Radiance64 7,053]

Anyone else wondering how the heck Applejack fit herself inside that chicken coop so easily?

[Flutter's lover <3 8,205]

Anyone else wondering how the heck Applejack fit herself inside that chicken coop so easily?

 

Maybe she's flexible, if you know what I mean.

[Oblivion 20,266]

LOL! And the Awesome randomness continues! I actually liked this episode better than I thought I would, and as much as I HATE to admit it, I thought AJ was actually kinda sexy in this episode!

[VenomTrixie 57]

This was a funny episode, I'm curious now many many guys Rarity is going to go through before she realizes the only guy interested in her is Spike. I'm not huge in shipping characters but Spike x Rarity is something I support, so overall I enjoyed this episode.

[Thaliel 116]

Maybe she's flexible, if you know what I mean.

nope, she's a ninja, thus the advanced stealth skills while trying to avoid Trenderhoof

 

That ep delivered a good amount of comic relief, though I do not necessarily need to see trendhoof ever return

[dekutree64 713]

First and foremost, I must say... Spike is back! Finally he gets a prominent role, isn't outright abused, and then this:

I don't even like 4th wall breaks, but this was so necessary and so perfectly done, and gives me hope for the future. One day Rarity will realize that her prince has been with her all along. All he needs is to smack her over the head at just the right moment with something that proves he's exactly what she's always wanted. Sort of like Zack's line "when you said you wanted someone smart" in the second half of this clip from Suite Life, which is one of the most romantic things ever (and is something that needs clarification in the moral of Simple Ways... trying to change your core personality for someone is bad, but striving to overcome your faults and improve yourself for them is good)

I also dearly love the song at the end there, but as far as I've been able to find, it was written just for that episode, and that's all there is of it. Too bad Zack and Maddie never became a real couple, but I think Spike and Rarity could, given the species difference to obfuscate the age issue. Especially if Spike ever grows to a larger size (without hoarding).

 

Ok, now that's out of my system, I can get on to the actual meat of the episode Rarity being selected to organize a town event is pretty cool, and appropriate considering her status as a Ponyville native and fairly well known designer. Her nervousness at meeting Trender and falling all over and hiding behind Twilight was pretty cute

 

Also, Twilight's tail does not appear to be made out of hair.

I

 

I'd totally ship Rarilight if it wouldn't destroy Spike.

 

Rarity's stalker shrine was another good bit of funny in this episode. I long for the day that we see Scootaloo's collection of Rainbow Dash items

 

Trender himself didn't make much of an impact on me, but this scene was pretty amusing

 

He's totally turned on by her sweat And I guess I can relate to him a bit being a city pony who dreams of an idealized country life, but then when I really think about it, it sounds like an awful lot of work. So he's not too bad for a character-of-the-day, but I'm not sure I'd like to see him actually move to Ponyville

 

Rarity's attempt at driving a plow was pretty funny too. Spike's just like "Should I explain it to her? Should I pull it for her? Nah, I've got a good view of her plot right here"

 

And of course Rarity's country accent was hilarious, and Applejack is still fully capable of cleaning up and behaving like a proper lady when she wants to (great continuity with her childhood). This is most definitely the funniest line/visual of that whole battle:

 

And then Rarity got over her crush and everyone learned their lesson the end.

 

 

[Metemponychosis 1,261]

I've been talking about this episode in other places and I think that I reached the conclusion that Spike didn't just take it all so nicely. I have the feeling he is in shock and Twilight is going to wake up one night to Spike loading up a shotgun screaming bloody death to ponies. 

 

Seriously... I hope that Spike stops fawning over Rarity after he was dropped so hard in friendzone it gave him 4th wall breaking powers. If he keeps doing all the stuff he does for her, I'll personally write a fic where Spike leads a rebellion with all the OCs that are in love with the Mane Six.

[XxConfusedUnicornxX 834]

Applejack looks HAWT in that gown <3 i also like Rarity's hair when she's all farm-y

[GenderIsAnIllusion 2,177]

It was very exceptional, considering it is a filler episode.... And I dare say, spike was played out SOO well in this one.... I'm beginning to think hes one of those kids that's are very smart and very naive at the same time..... He's a very complex character that's played so many different roles.... Very good indeed.

[1ceF1re 0]

Has any pony else noticed that all the mane six, have had at least one colt involved with them as friends such as, cheese sandwich for pinkie, flash sentry for twilight, Sorin for rainbow (we all knew that was coming), amd trenderhoof for apple jack or rarity not really sure there and all we need is fluttershy, which I hope comes soon go Hasbro though keep up the good work there

[NavelColt 22,880]

Look, more Rarity episodes!

 

Look, more Rarity episodes with high-class celebrity ponies we've never heard of before!

 

More Rarity episodes wit-wait a second, more than 2 minutes of screen-time? A not stuck-up personality? Almost looks like a pony version of Steven Magnet from episode one? I might actually like this guy

 

Whoo-boy, shipping abound. Literally, 'Choo Choo goes with Chugship' could have been this episodes' alternate title. Haven't seen too much of actual adult crushes on the show before outside Mac and Cheerilee, which was forced and thus didn't fully count, only actual relationships for the most part. And with a Mane Six, no less. I bet that's getting all levels of grief from the fandom who has AJ as their waifu. Well, she's a background pony after all so she probably doesn't have too many who'd claim her as such!

 

Oh god Spike was glorious this episode, as I figured he would be.

 

'HOW WOULD YOU KNOW WHAT ITS' LIIIIIKE, TO HAVE A CRU-U-U-SH ON SOMEPONY, ONLY TO SEE THEY HAVE A CRUSH ON SOMEPONY ELLSSESEEE'

 

'Bitch are you fucking kidding me.'

 

 

A very good moral theme came from this episode, people try to be something they're not all the time to win the affections of others, whether it be for romance or just general praise and attention. A core of human nature is feeling self-worth and that often comes mistakingly from trying to get attention and positive feedback from others constantly. So yes, a very nice theme was had this day.

 

Other notes:

• Rarity, please don't do a southern voice ever again.
• Hurr hurr, she said the episode name hurr hurr.
• This feels like an unofficial sequel to the sleepover episode, which I'm sure Rarity/AJ shippers like very much.
• It's funny because, unlike Rarity with her farm cosplay, AJ has some level of experience with being high-class. See her cutie mark flashback with the Oranges, in 'Cutie Mark Chronicles' if you don't recall.
• 'I wanna leave my exotic and exciting life behind and...LIVE ON A FARM.' I lol'd.
• Best 'Modest Rarity is Modest' ending line, ever

[spacestorm 183]

This episode was so hilarious, I just loved it! Rarity and AppleJack together are the best duo ever, I just love see both of them arguing ech other in such amusing ways. They look so cute when they are upset and irritated. Habro please show more of them together!
I'm also glad that Rarity don't feel anything serious towards Spike, she treats him only as a child, which he actually is.

I also think that Rarity just can't fool her nature for us, she still looked fabulous (not that much but still..) in that simple village outfit.

[Galen 1,354]

i only say it because he was a dick to rarity haha but i know im bias because rarity is my favourite ^^ i just thought he was waaay too full of himself, like to me it seemed like he expected AJ to like him cos he has so many accomplishments or whatever. does that even make sense? im shit at wording things like this. anyway, he just kind of had a douche-y aura to him i think haha. I admit, Rarity seemed to act a little overly creepy towards him though. If i was in his shoes, i wouldnt go for rarity either just for that reason.

 

To his credit, it wasn't really a douche toward Rarity now I think about it, and he wasn't even close to being one of the bad things that happened to this ep. He did show kindness to her on certain occasions, except he was simply too distracted with somepony else throughout the entire episode.

 

Also, just to add to this, Rarity seems to have the worst luck with stallions xD First it was Prince Blueblood (who really was a douche to her) and now Trenderhoof who had feelings for AJ. I really wonder if there'll be another character who shows up that serves as Rarity's love interest but doesn't pan out.

[Simon 4,557]

This episode was one of those rare episodes where I feel like I should have deep insights on it, but it just makes me laugh so hard that I can't think of anything insightful to say about it.  I think it was just a fun episode, and while sure there are the obvious issues people will take with any pairings introduced by the show, I really loved it.

 

Plus on a personal note, this episode was timely for me because I just had a bit of a messy break up which was in a small part due to some of the issues this episode talked about, so it kind of made me feel better about some decisions I personally made.  Honestly the timeliness of it is probably what made it so I have no meaningful insight on it, but yeah.

Edited February 9, 2014 by Simon