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| One of my favourite visual gags in all of S2 |
Written by Cindy Morrow
7 Jan 2012
My original rating: N/A
IMDB score: 8.0
The one with bunny costumes.
Thoughts: A slightly odd mixture of an episode, but more works than doesn't. My least favourite part is actually the extent of the details of the zap apple jamming. A lot of time and detail is spent here, and it does eventually start to feel a bit like padding. At least the character interaction is good, as you'd expect from Cindy Morrow. The big attraction of this ep comes in the last third, when we find out that Granny Smith was there at the founding of Ponyville itself; her sepia-toned reminscences are by far the best bit of the episode. Granny is even more stereotypically elderly than she usually is at this point even allowing for the fact that her strange rituals are meaningful, and it does get a little irritating. The CMC are pretty fun, though. We meet Filthy Rich, who seems a better sort than his daughter – and we get our first look at the Timberwolves, though they're easily scared off by Granny. Probably four stars for the olden-days parts, two for the zap apple stuff and three for the general bits around the edges. It's therefore another three overall, though quite a high one because of the importance of that new lore.
Choice quote: Scootaloo: "What are you, a dictionary?"
New rating: ★★★
Next up is "Baby Cakes", which has long held the dubious honour of being my least favourite episode in S2 – and indeed one of my least favourite in the entire pre-Twilicorn run of the show. Can it pull off a miraculous recovery this time around?
I've always equated this with Hearth's Warming Eve. Two episodes where the lore-based plot is significantly more interesting and exciting than the framing story. This one just relegates the lore to the B-plot.
ReplyDeleteFor the most part, you're not wrong. When I rewatched this almost exactly two months ago, the zap apple exposition didn't seem so objectionable and padded, but now I reflect on it, that is probably true. And like both yourself and good ol' Present Perfect said, the lore in the real highlight and prominent takeaway (Apple Bloom episodes with minimal use of the two other CMC can tend to blend together after a stretch).
ReplyDeleteThough I wouldn't have thought of connecting it with "Hearth's Warming Eve" like that. I wouldn't disagree with preferring the lore in both episodes to the framing, and it being the lasting part that sticks with the viewer. Though there's relatively little framing in the Christmas episode, and the framing here is still fine. Sometimes an episode needs buildup to get to the better stuff, if it's structured a certain way or telling a certain type of story.
Ooh, next week's episode should be a doozy for you to discuss. And not just because Pinkie Pie is the featured Pony either! For me, "Baby Cakes" falls in that nether region of liking a decent bit more then yourself - just not enough to actively mount an argument or discourage against your (presumably) low rating. Because I do understand the dislike of baby humour, even if I don't really think it applies here, the way the episode plays out. But, that is a discussion for next time.
"Baby Cakes" is one of the few episodes from this early in the show that I mostly find a slog. It's one I really wouldn't miss if it were gone. Oddly enough, there are a couple more S2 episodes I don't much care for, and which might score almost as poorly as I expect "Baby Cakes" to but for certain redeeming features -- but I'll talk about those when I get there.
DeleteIt doesn't bother me at all but it is noticeable that for this episode, and this episode only, the CMC's clubhouse gains an interior ladder and upper floor for stargazing.
ReplyDeleteActually, the ladder returns in Crusaders of the Lost Mark! :O Which I wouldn't have known had I not just watched it earlier today.
DeleteI stand corrected!
DeleteI did enjoy the historical parts here, and this is the first look we really got at Filthy Rich. Except for an odd deviation in Legend of Everfree, the show's painted him as a pretty decent guy. I didn't have a strong reaction to this episode, other than it just feeling kind of slow-paced. It's not one that's enticing for me to watch again when I see it's on, so I haven't watched it in years, and very few of the details have stuck with me. I just kind of remember it being nice to get some focus on Granny Smith and see what she was like in her younger days.
ReplyDeleteI think the reason I used to dislike it was indeed its lack of excitement. I used to dislike "Look Before You Sleep", which I now like a fair bit more, for somewhat similar reasons.
DeleteI've always liked this one. Predictably, perhaps, since it's (a) mostly slow paced slice of life stuff, and (b) Apples, but there's more to it than that - I like it because it's structured so that the audience's reaction to the episode reflects the CMC's reactions to Granny, with irritation giving way to unexpected and newfound respect. The reveal, that she isn't *just* a stock Crazy Old Person trope, that Applejack was (obviously in retrospect) telling the truth about them being in for a surprise, that the random and tedious nonsense was going somewhere... I love it. I love the lore (and the hint that Celestia planned everything to rescue her sister decades later), I love young Granny getting to be the hero in the mini mystical Western in the flashback, I love the pan across stunned expressions on the foals' faces which kind of matched my own the first time around, I love Filthy boring everyone except Diamond with his presentation and his fundamental decency at the end. Honestly, this is one of my favourite episodes of the second season.
ReplyDeleteThe next one... Um, maybe it'll be better on rewatch?
and the hint that Celestia planned everything to rescue her sister decades later
DeleteGood point! I didn't really think about that aspect as I watched, but it's a very good point.
I love Filthy boring everyone except Diamond with his presentation
There are a couple of exceptions. One is Twist -- maybe because she got her cutie mark while making candy canes, and perhaps has had ideas of going into the food business. The other is that small colt with the knife-and-fork cutie mark. Again, I'd guess food comes into the equation!
While I would not necessarily call this a ‘bad’ episode by any means, but I do feel that it could have been ‘slightly’ improved. The Zap Apple Jam part is not really a part of the story I felt was a bad thing by any means, but it does seem to feel it only ‘adds’ to an already existing story between the complications Apple Bloom faces at having Granny Smith as the only relative to bring for ‘Family Appreciation Night’. With her siblings too busy with their chores to stop for the day, her parents… Well, we would learn more of them later, and what with all her other family members spread all over Equestria, for the time being it seemed Granny Smith was, as Diamond Tiara quoted, a ‘kooky old lady’. Especially during the early seasons, she seems to play the straightforward ‘granny’ of the family: Sitting in her rocking chair, walking mighty slow (Sometimes with a stroller), constantly napping, and at times a bit confused.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do declare that it is this episode where we see that Granny Smith is more than as she seems to be. It turns out that Granny Smith held some historic significance in Ponyville’s founding, as she was part of a group of travelling settler ponies looking for a place to find their home. And if it were not for their harvesting skills, along with the collaboration of the Rich family, hence the extent of the business relationship with the Apples and Filthy Rich’s family (Among them Diamond Tiara), the town itself would not be how it is today. As far as Filthy Rich goes, he seemed nice during this season even for a rich pony. But I do feel it is during the later seasons when we start to see him fall into the contemporary stereotype of the old rich guy (Hence why he has not been popular amongst the fans lately).
All the while, this episode is not ‘perfect’ by any means, as it ends up being a formulaic episode where it is Apple Bloom eating crow for underestimating her Granny and not recognizing the value she has not just in her family, but the whole town (Then again, this would not be the only time Apple Bloom makes that mistake). Still and all, the episode does add to the lore as to how Ponyville was founded and how Princess Celestia played a slight role in giving these wandering ponies a home for themselves and their families. Some moments could have been better, certain elements should have had more attention than others. But otherwise, I appreciate the episode enough for how it is.