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| "Granny's going to report us all for using that logo, isn't she?" |
My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 6.9
Thoughts: A bit of a step up from "P.P.O.V.", though not enough to bring it above "quite good" territory. Big Mac is great value here, with the largely flashed-back plot allowing him to say plenty for once. He and Applejack spark off each other nicely as siblings – although it's odd that neither Apple Bloom nor her parents are anywhere to be seen, which makes you wonder about the exact time this is set. Filthy Rich is better here than his human analogue in Legend of Everfree, though I still don't know what he sees in Spoiled Milk. (Brilliant name, though it raises even more questions about pony naming conventions...) It's another good-looking ep, with plenty of fun touches to enjoy in the background, not least 80s Cheerilee! Granny seems very broadly characterised, but I suspect she knows more than she's letting on. Not a thrill-a-minute episode, but a character-focused one with a pleasantly laid-back pace. I still rather like it, and I'm happy for it to keep its three.
Choice quote: Granny Smith: "I'm sorry, Applejack, but you's just gonna have to un-promise."
New rating: ★★★
Next
time, it's "Top Bolt", an episode which is largely seen (including by me) as one of the best of this era of the show's run. I am certainly looking forward to watching this ep again.
Funny thing about this episode, is that it was supposed to aired in the UK before it did in the US, but it was pulled out last minute. Not sure why, but I imagine it was due to the mention of cider.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, I remember that now. I think it was indeed the cider that was the problem, from memory. They could swap an incidental mention for "juice" or drop it altogether, but that wouldn't have worked here.
DeleteWe're... pretty much in agreement. Huh. That was easier than I expected.
ReplyDeleteThe thing about this episode is that it deliberately diverges from what we know about the Apple and Rich family (well, "mostly" in the latter case). That hints at larger-scale character development, and in Applejack's case shines an interesting light on her relationship with the principle of honesty. It puts her further away from e.g. Pinkie Pie, who's naturally and automatically all into laughter, and closer to e.g. Rarity, who visibly struggles with her generosity at times. For my money, that not only makes her more interesting, but fits better with lapses throughout the series such as "Party of One" and "The Last Roundup". I just think a character actively struggling with their principle makes for better and more relatable drama.
(Continuity problem is that Applejack gained her cutie mark from a version of "being your true self", so it still feels like a big explanatory gap as to how she later became so prone to lying).
Similar points can be made for Big Mac's know-it-all chatterbox characterization, and to a lesser extent Filthy Rich becoming slightly more mellow/less reactive (Spoiled Milk/Rich remains a flat character, though at least here the nonsense she has to put up with makes her barely contained irritability oddly relatable at times). So in theory this episode gives us a pretty useful insight and a piece of the Apple family puzzle.
My biggest problem with it is that it does basically nothing with that for most of the ep, and then hurriedly adds a lame "and then they fundamentally changed their characters forever after this one incident" moral rush at the end.
The majority of the story is basically sitcom snowball lying. It barely provides any further insight into these younger versions of the Apples, instead just exaggerating the trait to breaking point in the same way over and over ("Applejack does something reckless to save face" gets old fast). There's little character development till the rush at the end, the plot escalates in a one-dimensional way (AJ's lies simply get more and more elaborate), and "lying is wrong" is such a basic moral that the lack of examination as to why AJ feels so compelled to lie becomes obvious ("wanting to save face" is about it, and that's cleared up early and only quickly without any kind of familial or life context as to why that temptation was extremely strong for her).
And for a supposedly life-changing event, it's so "funny one-off anecdote" that it doesn't feel like it naturally earns its stakes as a result, since "Big Mac nearly gets a leg sawed off" is too zany over-the-top to feel believable.
It's a high bar emotionally, but just compare it structurally with something like "The Perfect Pear". That was a thorough exercise in character-building for at least two historical family figures, developed both its core message and its conflict in a multi-faceted and consistent way, and actually felt like high personal stakes both in the backstory and in the present.
It's not bad as such. It definitely has much better, even character-deepening ideas compared to the last episode, and at face value (so long as you don't find Applejack's lying compulsion tiresome) it's at least livelier and less objectionable. It's OK to watch. Its main problem is a script that walks agreeably when - with a little more probing and character examination - it could have soared.
Specific Points!
Delete"although it's odd that neither Apple Bloom nor her parents are anywhere to be seen, which makes you wonder about the exact time this is set."
A common problem with Apple family flashbacks prior to "The Perfect Pear". Why weren't they there to see off filly Applejack in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", for example?
"80s Cheerilee!"
"Everyone back then dressed like that", huh Cheerilee? :P
"Spoiled Milk. (Brilliant name, though it raises even more questions about pony naming conventions...)"
My best guess is that Spoiled Milk was a milkmaid who came from a (necessarily small) dairy family (to avoid drawing the competitive ire of the Apples, who may have bought it out later). Which would explain why she's so proud to be hitched with a successful businesspony, instead of spending her life churning butter or squeezing cow udders.
"Filthy Rich is better here than his human analogue in Legend of Everfree,"
I mean, that's not a high bar to clear. Having said that, I do like how Filthy Rich's pleasantness meets a sort of "Southern Pride" attitude, hence how personally angry he gets when Applejack goes back on her word initially.
"Granny seems very broadly characterised, but I suspect she knows more than she's letting on."
I dunno about that. I personally didn't get that vibe from her. Besides, wouldn't she have put a stop to the snowballing lies early if that was the case? She's very no-nonsense sassy in the flashback, and this IS Granny Smith we're talking about.
"Big Mac is great value here, with the largely flashed-back plot allowing him to say plenty for once."
I bet Peter New was just relieved he didn't have to find new ways to say "Eeyup" or "Eenope"! But yeah, that was good. :D
Re Granny: I don't so much mean all the way through, but once she's in the hospital lecture theatre? There's no way she hasn't realised that's Big Mac under there. She's known him all his life and knows his exact shape, scent, etc.
DeleteI dunno, I thought this episode was crap at the time and I'm disinclined to think very highly of it. :P I did think Big Mac and AJ basically switching speaking modes over the course of their life was... amusing, at best? But absolutely nothing is done with it. This is a bottle episode, and not a very good one either, if you ask me.
ReplyDeleteI can't add much to Impossible Numbers' observation that the interesting angles to these ponies' past selves end up only being at the margins in favour of a stock sitcom plot. And one that I, frankly, do not have much patience for – snowball lying requires a very delicate hand or the care of a pro to pull off well (it is, in essence, the Faulty Towers trope of lying and cheating and digging a massive hole for oneself, often out of embarrassment), and this ain't it. Especially off it making the moral takeaway and character growth at the end felt undernourished and falling into the "this one incident forever changed how these characters carried themselves" trap, which is usually reductive.
ReplyDeleteMoreso, they say at the tale's start that AJ used to lie, yet we don't actually see that until she blurts out about Granny being sick to Filthy Rich; that first third is just her and Big Mac butting heads and AJ struggling with being a sensible farm pony on the business side of things. Understandably, that opening third is thus the best part. But it does make the episode's tonal goal of "hey, remember the time when…" as a humorous retelling above all other concerns more obvious.
Does it make this bad? No, not hardly – there are a decent amount of funny moments, the presentation of these ponies' past selves is interesting enough (there really isn't enough of Filthy Rich in the show, being honest – one reason I'm glad the comics dug into him quite a few times, if not always with admirable success), and there are lots of promising ingredients here. It just makes a hash out of combining them into a satisfying whole, but outside of the stock sitcom lying plot, it's not aggressively disappointing from that. Just underwhelming. Even as interesting as seein somepony struggle with their given virtue is, this isn't nearly as structurally balanced as some episodes doing the same for Rarity.
And yes, it is great to hear Big Mac talk so much as opposed to having a two-word vocabulary or needing a disguise/tender moment to do so. Though despite being a chatterbox, Applejack still utterly swept him in the dialogue races, with 42%, and Big Mac barely beat out Granny Smith's 17% with 18% (Filthy was at 14%). And yep, that cider/juice re-dubbing/re-animation syncing… that sure was a thing! Though being on this side of the pond, even after all these years of MLP, I still reflexively think of cider as an alcoholic beverage. Cultural differences, what're ye gonna do.
I did like talkative Mac and the explanation for why he isn't anymore. I also like that the pony series in general paints Filthy Rich as not such a bad guy. It succeeds for me not because the plot itself is at all interesting, but for all the little touches around the edges. Characterization was mostly good, and it'd be worth it alone for Derpy's tragic cameo. It is nice to see the girls struggle with their gifts, and they all have at times. Some of them fall into trouble more easily than others, but they've all had moments where they fail what's supposed to be their core trait. Still not one I've ever made a point of watching again, but it was better than average.
ReplyDeleteAt least Derpy is smiling. So we can perhaps infer that her operation was a success.
DeleteI don't really have much to say about this other than I do like a simple episode. At least the story is more coherent than that of P.P.O.V.. And more memorable, for better or for worse. Plus, the moral that "telling lies on top lies leads to trouble" is a useful one for kids to learn.
ReplyDeleteA simple, enjoyable episode is fine by me as well. It's not anything sensational I agree, but it'll do.
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