Episode Re-Review: Leap of Faith · 5:25pm Apr 12th, 2021
One last key episode before the finale, and it was for the mane six member who'd already been paired up four times with others (Fluttershy in "Bats!", Pinkie Pie in "Pinkie Apple Pie", Rarity in "Simple Ways" and Apple Bloom in "Somepony to Watch Over Me"). Josh Haber, coming off his performances on both "Castle Mane-Ia" and "Simple Ways" was picked to write this episode. Season 4's second half only had two true successes that could rival those of the first half, so was Haber up to the task of keeping things rolling? Well, let's find out.
The episode begins with the Apple family at a swimming hole. But Granny Smith isn't willing to get into the water and this is because she's supposedly afraid of it. It stems back to her youth as a professional high diver and how she came close to breaking the Equestrian record. Apple Bloom then wonders if she'll ever be afraid of the water, right before Big Macintosh uses a fake shark fin to scare her for no real reason.
Granny Smith later reveals that her youth as a high diver took a tole on her back and she regrets doing it (except I'm pretty sure you can't injure your back high diving unless you mess up or don't properly warm up before your attempt), but she does wish she could feel young again. Then, by coincidence, she notices a bunch of injured ponies heading off to some kind of tent. The entire Apple family follows the crowd to this tent, where the Flim Flam brothers show up (and Applejack recognizes them) with another song and dance routine.
So Flim and Flam are now peddling a tonic that can supposedly cure anything or even make you feel young again. And despite the Apple family having a history with the brothers, Granny Smith buys the tonic in the hopes of feeling young. In fact, Flim and Flam do exactly what they did in their previous appearance and yet somehow everypony falls for it except for Applejack. Applejack is the only one rightfully skeptical of such a claim, right before Granny Smith floats on by and is convinced she can do almost anything. Applejack, however, decides to stake out Flim and Flam's show since they're still in town. And it's here that she discovers a stallion who is in on the performance, an earth pony named Silver Shill. Basically, he pretends to be injured or sick at every show and uses a variety of costumes to keep fooling ponies. Except when he does so he keeps using the same voice for singing, so how does nopony ever catch on if they keep attending shows in the same town?
Silver Shill is cornered and quite literally blows the whistle to get away, causing Applejack to confront Flim and Flam unintentionally. Even when Applejack expresses her concern that Granny Smith is overexherting herself and could get hurt, Flim and Flam reply with indifference and force a moral dilemma onto her by sort of acknowledging their tonic is a sham. Then the dilemma for Applejack is: Should she keep quiet for the sake of Granny Smith's happiness, or should she speak up even if it means taking that happiness away? Apple Bloom happens to have been around as part of the stake out, but she got separated from Applejack and so she might as well not have been involved at any point. It's sad to see Flim and Flam go from businessponies peddling a legitimate product to con artists who have nothing better to do than to con innocent ponies out of their bits. It's not even like they're self aware of how bad they are, they just shrug it off like it's no big deal.
Granny Smith's aquaphobia is now magically gone thanks supposedly to the tonic, and at Applejack's encouragement Granny Smith signs up for a swim meet with Apple Bloom. That means buying more tonic, which Flim and Flam take advantage of to claim Applejack endorses it and use her to persuade others to buy (even though they were already doing so). Then, at the swim meet, Applejack finds out Silver Shill is now a salespony. And because of Applejack's silence he's come to believe that honesty isn't the best policy, which Applejack appears to be shocked by. But it isn't enough to make her question her decision as Granny Smith and Apple Bloom win the meet, and Flim and Flam decide to use it as another opportunity to peddle their tonic that they were already selling. Because they do this, Applejack decides she's had enough and wants it to stop. But Flim and Flam just encourage Granny Smith to try to break the record she never got to break in her youth, and Granny Smith does so and forces Applejack to save her at the last minute. Sure is a good thing whiplash apparently doesn't exist in Equestria.
And this is what triggers the rainbow realization in Applejack, motivating her to finally tell the truth and confess to having lied by omission. Flim and Flam try to save face when Applejack points out how the tonic was kind of like a placebo for Granny Smith, but Silver Shill rats them out by saying it's not even a tonic and that he actually made it (no word on how he met Flim and Flam or came to be a part of their swindling routine). So what happens to Flim and Flam as a result of all they've done? Nothing, they just run away and no one goes after them or says anything about sending word to other towns and cities. They don't even demand a refund, so Flim and Flam get off almost completely free for their petty and almost certainly illegal means. And you thought Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon getting away with exploiting a disability was bad.
Silver Shill gives Applejack the bit coin from his first sale and promises to pay back the pony he cheated (kind of reminds me of the story of Zaceus the tax collector and how he promised to pay back in full all that he took from the people he'd cheated). Then Applejack writes in the friendship journal in a very self-righteous way about how she personally believes that lying is wrong no matter what, and that others might not be bothered by it but she is. It feels very preachy and not in a good way, especially not when we've seen Applejack lie by omission or try to get out of telling the truth.
And of course the bit coin gives off a rainbow glow as Granny Smith has gotten over her aquaphobia but Applejack has basically made her play it safe to a ridiculous degree. What was wrong with her being allowed to swim in the swimming hole with the rest of the family? If something did go wrong her family would be right there to bring her to safety.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, it's honestly just very formulaic and predictable. And unlike "Simple Ways" which at least had comedic potential and some funny jokes, this episode doesn't bother to do anything to stray from its formula or make it more entertaining. The real issue is that almost nothing in this episode is Applejack's own decision, the decisions are basically made for her by others. Of course she'd have to speak up after the high dive incident if she didn't want Granny Smith to get hurt, and Flim and Flam's aggressive marketing of the tonic after pressuring her into silence just made her willing to consider speaking up anyways. Like I said before, Flim and Flam are really petty and shallow here and face no consequences or display any remorse for any of the things they say or do. And it feels like everypony in town has forgotten about the brothers even though Applejack knows who they are (and by extension so should the entire Apple family). Even the moral ends up feeling very preachy and self-righteous from the way it's written. As far as key episodes go, this one might just be the weakest since it gives you almost nothing to talk about. Even "Rainbow Falls" for all its failures at least had a new location to show off and the return of Derpy Hooves (despite everything else being a complete mess). So this episode gets a C-, it's bland and uninspiring, playing it safe to an extreme degree.
So Season 4 is back on the rocks in its second half again (sure didn't take long), and next up is an episode that's going to have the same problem as "Read It and Weep" though it will also have a lot of other issues considering it's about Rainbow Dash trying to study for a test.
Yeah this episode is definitely just kinda dull, and is my personal least favorite of the key episodes.
The most noteworthy thing about this key episode is that it's the only one not to feature any Mane Six members outside of the focus character. It's also one of two key episodes not to have Spike (the other being Rainbow Falls). What a coincidence that the two key episodes he's absent from both focus on one of Ashleigh Ball's characters.
This episode would have most certainly been a lot better if it was a crossover with Assassin's Creed.