Leap of Faith · 3:46pm Mar 29th, 2014
Not a bad episode, but too cliche for it to become one of my favorites. Not many surprises here, but there was some good stuff in there to like.
Spoilers
So the Apple family is out for a swim, all except for Granny Smith. Her advanced age and accumulated injuries keep her out of the water. Plus, she's got a mild phobia now due to a bad decision earlier in life. She talks Apple Bloom out of some seriously CMC-like behavior until a large crowd passes them and they mosey on over to a suspicious tent.
Inside, we find Flam and Flam advertising via song a miracle cure for, well, everything, I guess. I'm not an instant fan of this song. It seemed okay, but it didn't immediately catch me like the one did in Super Speedy Cider Squeezey 6000 did. It might need repeat viewings. I didn't care that much for Hearts As Strong As Horses when it first came out, but I love it now. Sometimes I just need to get used to something.
Anyway, Granny Smith is sold when she sees a pony leave his crutches behind after a swig. The rest of the Apples are dubious.
However, Granny is feeling all kinds of great now. She swims around all over the place, much to the distress of Applejack and Big Mac.
And speaking of, let's take a moment to talk about how great Big Mac was in this episode. I love Big Mac, and I'm always happy when they use him well. From pranking his sister with a shark fin, to using his yoke as a flotation device, to fishing with an apple, Big Mac was solidly entertaining in this one.
Okay, back to the action. Granny is feeling young and spry again. Applejack's pretty suspicious, but who can argue with results? She grudgingly allows that the tonic seems to do… something, but she wants to know more about it. She brings Apple Bloom along for some reason and he'd off to see Flim and Flam. I mean, I'd bring the physical presence of Big Mac if I needed to set two swindlers straight, but hey, I'm not a pony.
Once there, they run into the pony who lost his crutches, who of course is part of the show. That is the sound of thousands of viewers rolling their eyes, but this is actually where the episode got very interesting for me. Applejack confronts Flim and Flam, and they pretty much just tell her that their tonic doesn't do anything. I'd expect them to try and lay some sort of complicated lie, but they really don't. They just point to the fact that Granny Smith seems to be enjoying life and does she really want to spoil that.
This is a dilemma that I like for Applejack. It's dishonesty of a sort. Not severe, but still a lie by omission. A lie that is challenging. I could see a more complicated, subtle version of this vexing a lot of people. It's hard to argue with results. So do you keep pushing the issue because it's what you think is right, or do you give in, shrug your shoulders, and admit that it seems to work, even if you don't want to believe in it? It's kinda tough, actually.
So Granny and Apple Bloom decided to participate in an aquatic competition, and even Applejack is behind it. Granny seems to be doing so well that Applejack wants her to live a little. Well, she lives a lot, as she and Apple Bloom pull off a flawless routine that is momentarily the center of Ponyville's greatest scoring controversy. Damn it, Lyra! Quickly corrected, they take him the trophy and everypony is amazed at the change that's come over the elderly pony. Flim and Flam make sure that everypony knows that the tonic is approved by the Apples and the tonic begins to sell like hotcakes. And who doesn't like hotcakes? Man, they are good.
Now Applejack is left in an interesting spot. She hasn't really lied, but she's allowing Flim and Flam to use her good name so that she doesn't spoil Granny Smith's good time. However, when Granny Smith decides that she's going dive into a tiny glass of water (I hope that's a Looney Tunes reference), Applejack has to rush in and… save her? That rope catch seemed like it might do more damage than just landing in the tiny dish of water, actually, but whatever. It's a cartoon.
Granny Smith is irritated at the coddling and expresses interest in more foolhardiness, supported by Flim and Flam as they use the Apples as an example. Coming to realize how dangerous this all is, Applejack finally admits that she's part of this system and tells everypony that the cure isn't a cure at all. She apologies for lying and hopes to win back their trust. Flim and Flim skedaddle with huge piles of bits, apparently. Well, good for them, I guess.
We end with Applejack writing in the book about what she's learned.
So my biggest problem with this episode is just the sheer cliche-ness of it all. The first half of this cartoon is a very by-the-book affair. Maybe it's not so bad for kids, and that's fine. As an adult, I've seen something like this a million times, so I'm tired of it.
However, I really liked Applejack's conundrum about being used. They didn't actively enlist her with money. They didn't somehow blackmail her. They just got her caught up in Granny Smith's good times so that she didn't want to spoil it. I really liked that approach. It felt natural to me, and wasn't the usual road for these things. The usual road would be the one that the assistant pony (Silver… something?) played. I was happy to see that, say, Apple Bloom didn't play the Huck Finn role.
End Spoilers
So what we have is an episode that is uneven. About half of it is totally cliche, no surprises writing. The other half has some interesting moments. I felt like this was on a bell curve. My attention was low, then it grabbed me somewhere near the middle, then began losing interest again toward the end when things began to fall back into that well-worn rut.
The end result is an episode that I think falls just above average. The story is nothing to write home about, but we had some good humor and an interesting situation for Applejack. A better song would have helped, but it was also just average. This is another episode that will need a repeat viewing before I'm solid on how much I liked it. It might be better than my initial impression.
Especially because Applejack is old enough that she probably remembers quite well a younger and more energetic Granny Smith. Granny basically raised Big Mac, Applejack and Apple Bloom after their parents died -- she probably used the last of her energy to do this, too. Applejack would love to see Granny be more active again.
It frequently happens just this way in real life. For every honest person who is corrupted into outright active lying, there are many who are corrupted into passively supporting a lie. Here, the Flim-Flam Brothers were basically riding on Applejack's reputation for honesty.
I think the biggest part that I liked was the apparent unintentional worldbuilding that was done with the appearance of so many sick and apparently disabled ponies. Throughout the series, we've never really seen ponies sick or seriously injured except when it serves the plot (and here also, I guess, since it serves the plot). Also, quite a few new diseases to play around with in canon lore like "Hayfever," which I'm guessing is more serious than it is here. I actually really like this because Lyra in my current story is without parents due to an epidemic (which I was just going to call Pony Pox after chicken pox, since it's more deadly to adults,) but this gives me some more leeway within canon.
So yeah. Really liking that part of it. But that brings up another question... Why aren't these ponies at the hospital? Does Equestria run on a different kind of medical system? Or were they treated and released like we saw in Read it and Weep? If they were treated, are they just looking for a quick fix cureall for their ailments so they can move on with their lives?
A lot of questions got asked during that short scene during the song (and just before and after), and I'd like to see the writers of the fandom come up with answers to them.
I think one of the biggest problems is that Flim and Flam seriously had their best and most interesting role in their introduction. It's going to be nigh impossible to beat their situation in the cider episode for a few reasons.
They weren't outright con men in their opening gamble. Just very misguided and dumb towards the end. After all, were they going to actually run that farm when the Apples left? I would be fascinated to see some unicorns try to grow something, but I have a feeling they would have simply used up all the trees and left town, or else hired some Earth Ponies to run that side of the business, which might have cost them more than it was worth. But the story needed higher stakes in their conflict, so the brothers got greedy. Before that, they had a good product and they simply overstepped their bounds by forcing the Apples to reject a bad offer. They were conniving and bad ponies, but not really swindlers in the strictest sense.
It's kind of hard to recreate such a deep situation though. The cider also couldn't really be re-used. It'd be a retread at best, pointless at the worst (since the Apple family is all over Equestria.)
That said, I liked seeing them again. And I agree, the middle was the most complex. I am betting their song wasn't as cool as the first but I need to hear it again to really make that assessment myself. The first time my head spun with all the interesting ailments.
Frankly, I was just amazed that Granny gave in so quickly, since she fought the hardest during the Cider episode, but then again, she really wanted to feel young again. In general, I'm not really disappointed, but I do kind of wish it had been more... eh, I dunno. I kind of wish we'd seen more of the brothers, but I guess there's really no chance of that. They were just a plot device and not really ponies, although I was also pleased when they confessed to Applejack. But I think they did that because they knew it was a good conundrum to offer her.
Edit: Is it wrong of me to think Applejack was the blandest in this episode? Even though she had a realistic struggle, I couldn't care as much as I wanted to. Disappointing, because I've really grown to love her over the past month or so. She was more interesting in Somepony to Watch Over Me and I also liked her better in Simple Ways.
The plot is one I've seen before, yes, but it really, really works in this episode. It sets AJ in a very uncomfortable position, gives her a chance to Honesty the fuck up and earn her rainbow, and good lord, I loved watching the Flim Flam Brothers jump on her as a spokespony. This episode reinforces the idea that the Apple Family, and Applejack specifically, are pillars of the community, and you could see them come to the same conclusion and act on it immediately.
As for the song, you're right it's not as good as Speedy Squeezy, but few things are, when you come right down to it. I found myself humming it after the episode regardless, so I think that's a point in its favor.
And yes, the yoke gag was one of the best in the episode, along with Lyra's. :D
I've gone into great detail about how I felt about this episode in my own blog, but I'll sum it up here:
Josh Haber needs to work on making scenarios believable in the context of the show's canon. I simply couldn't buy that the citizens of Ponyville would give the FlimFlam brothers the benefit of the doubt after what happened last time, and I was ready to riff on this like no tomorrow. However, just like with Simple Ways, the moral was a big saving grace. Not only was it a good moral to learn, but it was a clever callback to events of a previous episode, showing us Applejack's character development in real time. That alone salvaged the entire episode for me.
I have no problem with a story being predictable if it's done right. And unlike with Simple Ways (I still maintain that the Love At First Sight gimmick was unbelievable), it was done right here. So, credit where credit is due.
1963910 I assume those ponies just have long term conditions. Can't be in the hospital forever. It's like the people going to faith healers. They've just learned to live with their ailments.
I would like to have a list of all those weird pony conditions from the song. I know I didn't catch them all.
1963962 Applejack was pretty amazing in Simple Ways. Too bad it's balance out by the horrible Rarity, but what can you do?
I think I actually prefer Flim and Flam's logic in this episode. The song wasn't as good, but I liked the way Flim and Flam used Applejack. They had a much more logical plan this time around, I thought.
But I enjoyed them more in their debut.
1963975 I honestly can barely remember the song at this point. It didn't hook me very well.
I actually loved the logic Flim and Flam had here. They saw an opportunity to use Applejack and Granny Smith and they were on it in a flash. Their whole approach was better in a business sense than the rather muddled Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000.
I just found myself a little bored by the episode up until Applejack went to confront them. If that first third had been more engaging, I would have loved this episode.
1965202
I didn't think of that. But that does bring up an interesting series of questions. In a land where magic is real, what kind of business would faith healers have? Are there faith healers? Are there unicorns for whom medical magic is their special talent? If so, are they rare or do they specialize in curing only one kind of ailment? Would there be a unicorn whose talent at medical magic is so broad they are like the Twilight of the medical world... Or House, M.D. in pony form?
Now I want to look for medical pony fics. Any recommendations before I start looking?
1964023 I don't really have an issue with predictable. Most of the episodes are, when you think about it. My problem was that the first third was kind of boring to me. It was predictable with very little else going on to keep my interest going. If we have predictable with amazing animation or funny jokes, etc., it's something I don't mind. This didn't.
And I agree that it's pretty tough to get behind the Flim Flam brothers. Ordinarily, I'd just say that those ponies weren't there, but it seemed like every pony in Ponyville was at Sweet Apple Acres to get some cider, so they all saw what went down. Hard to believe they'd be gung-ho about them now, wonder-tonic or no.
1965231 I'm probably the worst person to ask for fic recommendations. I pretty much only write. I very rarely read. I feel guilty about not writing whenever I try to read.
1965216
Well... yes. I think it's more that Rarity is meant to be cringe worthy and I have trouble accepting that. But it's neither here nor there. At some point I need to rewatch that one. When I feel less cringing.
They're more straightforward and taking direct advantage of other ponies. I think their logic is better in Leap of Faith because the story isn't trying to give them complicated morals. They are being outright conmen in this episode, whereas in their debut they made good cider but they were foolhardy when it came to hashing out a deal with the Apples.
If they tried to come up with a better split or managed to convince them that the sales overall and the time saved would more than make up for any inconvenience, there wouldn't have been any conflict. It came down to tradition versus manufacturing and their original product was just fine or Granny wouldn't have licked her lips after tasting it. I think they were better in the debut because they had genuine passion about the Cider Squeezy, but they were also more... vindictive? I don't know what to call it. They weren't exactly evil, just ruthless.
But as much as I like the overall concept, it's kind of hard to figure out where to take them from there, without just coming up with more generic conman schemes. I think Leap of Faith might not make them any more sympathetic, but they were certainly a lot smarter about their methods. As you noted, nudging Applejack and Granny into being their spokesmares was a fantastic idea and they went about it very cleverly. They knew AJ would probably face that conundrum in the manner that she did, but I'm not sure if they expected her to own up to her mistake, since I doubt that's how they think (unless it affected a family member that they loved... but then they probably would have stuck with the lie or at least not considered the truth. Maybe.)
The amount of intelligence versus the generic methods kind of evens out.
1964023 1965247
I wasn't sure if they were in Ponyville during those scenes. I didn't initially assume as much, but then again, AJ and Apple Bloom just walked to their tent later on so... yeah. The amount of consistency there is kind of awkward. I dunno... maybe the ponies that showed up were from all over Equestria? Ponyville is kind of the center of the nation, although how they found out... I dunno.
But the moral was good and in general I thought the brothers were quite serviceable and the most in their element while facing Applejack during her confrontation. Plus, they finally got 3/4th shots for their heads. Creepy they didn't even have any before... Though it was kind of a shock at first.
I think in general Flim and Flam are fantastic foils for Applejack and it's a pity they hadn't returned sooner.
Actually they'd be good antagonists for most of the cast... seriously. Then again, I just want more returning antagonists. Though I realize many of them have trouble because of reasons but if Flim and Flam could come back anyone could.
1965231
Well, unicorns seem to use spell books. Twilight has considerable capacity, but most unicorns should have variable ability for how much they can actually utilize and less than her, since she seems to be pretty exceptional on that front. Hrmmm. I guess... it's probably really rare.
Or maybe unicorns just can't get that kind of power? Maybe all healing magic is personal use only? It seems as if some ponies heal very swiftly, but then there are hospitals and ponies who actually are doctors and nurses (though I think most were Earth Ponies, if memory serves me right), so maybe it varies. It's a very interesting question though.
1965606
I just thought of something... Zecora heals Applebloom's chipped tooth in a right jiffy - which is a bit more complex than a simple patch job, then she's able to cure Big Mac's lost voice, but it takes longer.
Here's the thing: Applebloom's tooth chips right in front of Zecora and she says something to the effect of fixing it right away before it's too late... Transcript says:
I think this incidental bit of wording is important, and that's backed up a few lines later with this line of dialog:
Implying that if it hadn't been right away, she wouldn't have been able to change the course of how it would heal, or that she might not be able to heal it at all.
With Big Mac, it happens the day before - a not inconsiderable stretch of time. Also, other ponies appear to mix potions as well, and there's even books on the subject (Twilight Time). Perhaps there is a time limiting factor for when a potion can take effect, or a limit to what the potion can cure. Some diseases, such as genetic ones or accidents that happened that caused major damage to self can't be cured by magic.
Both Applebloom's tooth and Big Mac's lost voice were relatively minor complaints compared to what it appeared we saw in those scenes, and here's a small list of ailments that it seems Zecora can cure:
Also... What are Star Apples?
1965202
List provided via the show's transcript on mlp.wikia.com
Link in the doobliedo:
1965633 1965641
I'm wondering if potions work different than unicorn magic though. Judging from how the Flim Flam brothers did their tonic routine, I have a feeling they might.
But I do think you're onto something. Although I think if it's a personal use only spell, perhaps it won't matter as much? Since it's personal use and probably something internal. Of course in that instance they would probably use it immediately anyway. And I don't think any of the surprising instances I'm thinking of are unicorns.
Only thing immediately coming to mind is Daring Do and while that sort of thing can always count as plot contrivance, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if certain Pegasi and/or Earth Ponies have internal magic that assists in personal healing. But that's pure head canon on my part. I doubt there's anything to back me up. I would think it's probably rare though.
1965747
Maybe there are some talents with peripheral talents. Like Daring Do apparently has a talent of being an adventurer... and it would sure help an adventurer if they could recover swiftly from near anything short of death. Rainbow Dash can withstand the shock of creating a sonic rainboom and travelling at Mach 7 (apparently, thanks to that math guy), so I'm sure as a peripheral talent, she too, has resilience.
I'm actually using this theory of peripheral talents in my headcanon for a story I'm working on where a pony has a talent of creating mosaics out of things, and as peripheral talents, she can piece together other things too, like seemingly disparate pieces of information (sometimes to comedically wrong conclusions.)
1965756
Ooooh... that does sound interesting and I think it makes a lot of sense. I mean, just look at Rarity's talent. She must have peripherals, I think, considering her "gem-stone finding" spell doesn't have a direct link to dress-making. I'm not sure how it would relate in the way your examples do, but I think it makes a lot more sense if ponies have more complex talents and destinies that it might initially seem.
Certainly the party ponies have super complex abilities, which I'm assuming feeds off a central sort of "toon logic" or something else, like limited chaos, but it's clearly got a solitary source with lots of peripherals.
1965787
Well, if you recall, Rarity didn't get her cutie mark until after the costumes for the play were complimented so much. I think that her gem-finding talent is her peripheral talent, and fashion and design is her primary. It's just that the gems that she finds are so good at being accessories that it's the feather that gave the pegasus its wing back. (Ponification!)
1965787
Apple Store Commercial... Run by Applebloom.
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Side effects may include cutie pox, ego inflation, evil twin syndrome, lack of sleep, lack of being awesome, serious plot complications, tail extensions, hairity malady, flutterguy disorder, appletini personality dysfunction, and rainbow crash. If side effects persist for more than thirty second, see your local Zebra hygenist for an herbal remedy. There are no refunds, and the poison joke's on you.
1965795
Hrmmm... that certainly would make more sense than just the gem-finding as her main talent/destiny. Not that I necessarily thought it was, but then I never thought as deeply about this as I should before.
1965824
As long as the Idiot Ball isn't a side effect. I think that one only affects antagonists anyway, mostly.
1965795 1965886
I'd go a little further than that, and say that Rarity's talent isn't just 'dresses' or 'fashion', it's about making ponies look good. Her cutie mark represents how she was able to find something beautiful even in a 'dumb rock'.
1968614
I think you're right. And... I think that would explain what she saw in Trenderhoof, actually.