Have always had a thing for good concepts and have said so quite frequently here actually. A lot of 'My Little Pony: Pony Life' episodes didn't have particularly interesting concepts and sounded like ones that would feel over stretched and dull in execution. "The Rarity Report" did not sound very interesting and also sounded like Rarity would be really unlikeable, was hoping though that it would be better than the previous Rarity centric segment. Despite sounding very derivative, the premise for "The Great Divide" appealed a good deal more.
Both "The Rarity Report" and "The Great Divide" were more or less what was expected, on account of reading the summaries and taking into account the generally weak standard of the previous episodes. "The Great Divide" actually had moments and the character writing is better while still not being particularly good, but "The Rarity Report" was pretty much a disaster in pretty much every way except for one aspect and actually turned out to be even worse than how it sounded. Which is no easy feat if you ask me.
The two episodes have one good thing in common, which is the voice acting. With all the voice actors giving it everything they got, without over-compensating.
Did think that "The Great Divide" did start off great, with a neat set up, sporadic amusing humour and the character writing is not as simplistic or stereotyped compared to the previous episodes.
On the other hand, a lot fails. The animation is unimaginative and less than vibrant, with it looking rushed and careless. The music is like cheesy high school quality and never fits with what goes on. The theme tune is grating. There is very little that is interesting about the writing, which is completely lacking in invention and lacks personality (occasional amusing humour aside). Emotions, nuance and complexity aren't there and some of it is rather childish. Furthermore, the storytelling is overly simple and mostly uneventful, the plotting in both being very thin and dully paced.
Especially in "The Rarity Report", which is very over-stretched despite sounding more eventful. "The Great Divide" on the whole did lack tension, a big problem considering the premise, and is very predictable. The conflict is minor and too often doesn't really go anywhere, which is the primary reason as to why the premise doesn't come off. The chemistry between the ponies doesn't connect. Generally, particularly in "The Rarity Report", the character writing is one dimensional and has little development or subtlety, while the interaction seemed disconnected. Rarity is too much of a selfish melodramatic diva and the ponies' material is pretty limited generally. The moralising is well intentioned but not very subtly delivered and is derivative.
Concluding, one mediocre segment with sporadic good things and one disaster. Weak episode as an overall whole. 3/10.