In this episode, Rarity has been trying to have a spa date with Applejack, but the latter’s chores have kept her from doing so. This is more pronounced as Granny Smith, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom are out taking the harvest to market. Twilight and Spike offer to feed the pigs while Rarity and AJ attempt to have a spa date for one hour.
However, there is a long line for the steam bath and AJ insists on getting one. AJ also sees that the reason there is no steam in the steam bath is because there is a leak in the pipes which forced the washer to use up more hot water than usual to prepare warm towels for the guests waiting in line. AJ, being a pony that cannot stand to let a problem go unsolved, puts on her tools and fixes the problem in the hour reserved for a spa date.
Meanwhile, Twilight and Spike try to go by the list of items needed to feed the pigs, but it’s not going to plan. AJ then goes through the steps with little effort without realizing that several of the steps look unnecessary. She got so stuck in the routine, much like the spa ponies, that they do not realize that there are problems without an outside eye to look at them. Or in this case, problems that haven’t been there for a while. So Rarity and Twilight help streamline the operation so Rarity and AJ can have their spa date (As Rainbow Dash completes here muscle manicure!).
The lesson here is very relatable here. We get so stuck in routines, that we don’t often realize that there may be more efficient steps that are oblivious to us unless an additional set of eyes point them out. There’s also the situation where there seems like so much work that we don’t have the time to relax. Again, that may be in part due to being stuck in the routine. Plus, there are those who see a problem and just can’t ignore it until it’s job done, which may lead to getting stuck into a routine that you feel there’s so much work to be done that there’s no time to relax and that may leave others like Rarity in this episode, frustrated.
The spa ponies were stuck in the routine of tending to their guests that they forgot to tend to the maintenance with the pipes. Yet, AJ finds herself in an ironic echo as some of the steps to feed the pigs have been rendered unnecessary. It does lead to a problem with the episode as it sort of repeats “Applebuck Season” where someone else has to point to AJ about either time to relax or having another set of eyes and hooves pointing out flaws with AJ’s routine. Thankfully, AJ doesn’t go on a self-destructive path throughout the episode this time and we are allayed any fear of this becoming “Spike at Your Service” with Twilight and Spike attempting to do a chore in a certain way. But even then, there’s a bit of stubbornness in Twilight that isn’t address in insisting to go by the list when she could fly over the pigs and lure them with the corn as Spike pointed out.
The thing with Rainbow Dash is merely comedy relief, but still a funny aside given she previously stated that she isn’t comfortable with anyone touching her hooves.
It’s a good episode with a good lesson with low stakes, though this borders on a lesson that is in some ways similar to one in an episode from Season One.
Pluses and Minuses:
- + Rarity and Applejack together
- + Applejack: Home Improvement expert (at least at the spa)
- + Rainbow Dash relaxes in style!
- – Others having to point out to farmer AJ more efficient methods of farming.
- – Lesson close to one in “Applebuck Season”
GRADE: B
StatManDan