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| This was right up there with Vinyl revealing hers! |
3 Jun 2017
My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 6.5
Thoughts: By this time Treehouse TV was well ahead of Discovery Family, hence my 2017 review being in mid-May. Not the most popular episode perhaps, though I quite liked it six years ago. Now? Well, not that much to say, to be honest. I still don't dislike it, but I did find my attention wandering a bit more. Applejack feels a bit early-series sometimes, and she's just plain rude when mutilating contestants' designs at the contest. The Strawberry Sunrise bit is amusing, and Photo Finish is always fun. Inky Rose is probably the best of the show competitors, and she probably has the least annoying voice to boot! "Honest Apple" is really more a high-end two than a three-star episode for me now, but I still don't agree with those who think it's dire. Nothing with that Rarity guitar sequence could be dire.
Choice quote: Applejack: "My closet's nothin' but twenty versions of this hat!"
New rating: ★★
Next
up, "A Royal Problem". While there have always been some dissenters, in 2017 this was among the most popular episodes of S7, and I was very much in the pro camp. The question is, will that still be the case today...?
When I say this was one of my favorites in S7, I must of course acknowledge the well was quickly running dry and I was desperate for moisture. But this does deliver a lot of fun stuff. Especially for Rarijack shippers. :)
ReplyDeleteWhen one of the series' worst episodes, "Non-Compete Clause", was subjected upon the world in May 2018, the standard short form rejection was that it was impossible to buy into Dash and AJ's infighting, seven seasons after "Fall Weather Friends". This tended to get summed up as saying the episode felt like a Season One/Two one.
ReplyDeleteThose assessments missed the mark, of course: that episode would have been terrible even in a Season One context (having "Fall Weather Friends" to hand as a quick comparison makes this evident across comedy, dialogue, the works). I bring this up because "Honest Apple" is a more successful attempt at the same, bridging the feel of early season episodes into Season Seven. Considering how many episodes this season are all about trying to recapture the old in this new content, being partially successful at that is no small feat. We have the emphasis on a character leaning an easily-digestible moral for the audience, even if there is no letter for Celestia is sight. We have Season One inductees Photo Finish and Hoity Toity in supporting roles. We have the small-town feel. We even have far more solid continuity – something the Faust era was good and but which often feels altogether lacking – in Rarity using her newer clout to put this show on and the offscreen progress of Coco Pommel*.
More importantly, while the humour isn't like it was in Season Two (not nearly enough classical cartooning, for one thing), the visual gags and dialogue jokes are quite snappy in their own way, and most of the potentially-annoying aspects (the valley girl voice/personality of the unicorn contestant) are kept minimal enough as to not grate. Little of this is stellar, but it does make for a plenty good time.
I say partially successful because it's quite a stretch to take Applejack acting too honest to this extent seven season into the show. As we've all noted. Unlike most other episodes that get lobbied with the "this should have happened earlier" response, this actually would have worked were it earlier (well, with plot retooling to find another way for Rarity to host this show). As is, this far in, it does make much of the middle a rather tough thing to sit through. Were AJ dialled back, or a better, deeper reason given for her acting like this (no, Apple Bloom did not have to spend "an extra hour" picking up apples), it might have flown.
Also, the ending does kind of chicken out on the writing. I like that the problem lies both with AJ for being too honest and Rarity for choosing her in the first place, but the episode sidesteps acknowledging the latter at all in the resolution. It also becomes clear that with AJ being fairer at the end, given she can't really tell good fashion from bad, she has nothing to contribute. Had the episode acknowledge Rarity's element of the mistake, this would fly, but as-is, it feels like they're trying to make you not-think "yeah, AJ has nothing to contribute now". Perhaps, again, has it been clearer that her practicality advice was useful in moderation we might have had the right balance.
All that said, I would still consider this one of the better Season Seven episodes so far, probably third behind "Parental Glidance" and "A Flurry of Emotions". Quite a few gags being good enough to actually linger in the mind helps. Plus Strawberry Sunrise being so hilariously rude. That's a rarity in a show like this!
* They really missed an opportunity for a joke about being unable to say her name. You know the kind, where different noises keep obscuring the first part of her name (possibly with something blocking the mouths to prevent lawyers claiming lip-read). So we get "Miss Pommel". Would the early seasons have gone that far? I think so.
Skipping next episode: I've said my part before on "A Royal Problem", you don't need to hear it again. Back for the utterly forgettable Yak episode thereafter!
Yeah, my one major complaint about this episode has always been "AJ values hard work". If they'd leaned a bit more into a sense of "yeah, but she just sees all of this as frou-frou nonsense", focus more on the effort the ponies put into their fashion rather than the creativity, it could have been a very effective bridge between Applejack and Rarity!
DeleteI do like this one a lot, and despite the fact that it does have flaws (as you point out, AJ's a bit insufferable at her extremes here), I could never see myself scoring it that low. This is a comfortable mid-to-high three for me.
ReplyDeletePart of that is the early-seasons feel of both its narrative simplicity and its comedic elements (Rarity's guitar riff is indeed fantastic, but Pinkie deserves credit as a commentary side character generally). "Don't be tactless with your opinions" would work better in an earlier season, as Mike says.
On the other hand, I also like how it continues Rarity's business arc: having worked her way to fame and then established new premises outside of Ponyville, this has a lovely "come full circle" setup with Rarity giving new talent a chance to shine and inviting former superiors (Photo and Hoity) as equals. I don't find the accents all that bothersome; instead, I really like how the ep puts some effort into giving each one a distinct style that's consistent across various works of fashion.
Something else I'd like to say is that - as eyebrow-raising as her worst behaviour is - I think Applejack's progression holds up reasonably well. She starts off doubtful and incredulous, and through Apple Bloom's (admittedly plot-convenient) example and a couple of starter encouragements, is softened enough to see a way and then to go all-in for it. There's definitely a logical progression being set up in increments overall, even when it feels it jumps the gun here and there. From most people's criticisms of AJ's behaviour, I was expecting a lot worse, and since AJ does get the point (handled well by Rarity's use of one-off jerkass Strawberry Sunrise) and quickly backpedal, I can cut it some generous slack.
I can't say my enjoyment of the Rarity-Applejack pair-up doesn't bias me to downplay the flaws. All I can say for sure is that this is one of the rare Season Seven eps which I look forward to with enthusiasm.