S4E17 "Somepony To Watch Over Me" Review · 9:20pm Mar 8th, 2014
When I first watched this, I thought that it was pretty mediocre until the last 5-10 minutes. In particular, I considered Applejack's insane over-protectiveness of Apple Bloom to be way OOC, especially AJ's willingness to delay the apple pie shipment to watch over her little sister in a situation in which Apple Bloom was not really in any danger -- remaining behind on the family farm.
Then, after I took a nap, I woke up and realized that it all made a lot more sense than I'd thought before.
Why is Applejack so worried about Apple Bloom when Apple Bloom is in no real danger simply remaining on Sweet Apple Acres -- hardly a death trap? Admittedly, a working farm is a more dangerous environment than, say, a city apartment or an urban home, since there is a distinct possibly of wild animals and the farm contains some slightly hazardous objects such as sharp tools and unfenced drop-offs, but both AJ and AB take this all for granted as part of their background, and AB is well past the stage at which one has to worry about children just walking off the edge of trapdoors.
Because Applejack is forever scarred by the memory of another day when two of her family members left her for good. She remembers when her parents died -- almost certainly, given the ages and the fact that both are dead, by misadventure or violence, probably fighting to save one another or somepony else. And it's not just that she's protective of Apple Bloom, she's protective of her whole family. The thing is, it's much more difficult for her mind to make up reasons to protect a canny old survivor like Granny Smith or a big powerful stallion like Big Mac than a little innocent filly like Apple Bloom, who really is at some danger from predators and other hazards which Granny Smith could outwit or Big Mac or herself just kick into the next county.
Applejack has an iron code of honor, but that code has a hierarchy. Family first, then friends, then business obligations. And a (perceived) threat to Apple Bloom would completely trump any delivery schedule.
Genius Bonus: one of the reasons it turned out to be so dangerous was that Applejack originally meant to be hauling that cart through the Fire Swamp much earlier in the day (she was leaving in the morning and is much stronger than Apple Bloom hence would have been pulling it faster). Even had she encountered the Chimera earlier, she could have just run right past it; even more so with the unladen wagon on the return trip. Instead, Apple Bloom left several hours later and thus ran into it at twilight with a laden wagon, and none of Applejack's Fire Swamp supplies. As proof of how slowly Apple Bloom must have been going at points, consider this -- Applejack caught up to her even though Apple Bloom had several hours' lead.
How do the Cajun Ponies communicate with the rest of Equestria when their only path leads through a Fire Swamp haunted by Chimerae? Well, first of all we don't know that this is their only path -- it may just be the shortest path to Ponyville, and secondly, they probably take that road only by day, when the Chimerae are sleeping. Why might the Chimerae sleep during the day? Because real cats are mostly crepuscular or nocturnal, and moving by daylight would risk attracting the attention of the Equestrian military, which includes aerial components. (Putting some pressure on predators by night as well is probably one of the reasons there's still a role for the Nocturnae of the Night Guard).
Anyway, I'm a sucker for any episode that reminds us that Applejack is a certifiable Badass.
"Fair Apple" indeed.
Also... maybe Cajun ponies don't communicate that often with the rest of Equestria. Them being isolated would explain their separate language/accent. That would also explain why "pie delivery day" is cause for a party, they probably only get the occasional sales pony through town.
Also, did you see what might have been Mrs. Peachbottom's cousin, sister or other, in the crowd of swap ponies? She's clearly visible for less than a second, but is wearing nearly the same clothes, has a similar colored mane and coat. She appears at about the 20 minute mark.
Maybe it even is Mrs. Peachbottom, but she was better dressed and well groomed for her trip to the Crystal Empire. Although, the lack of freckles seems to suggest it may just be a relative. Or just a passing similarity.
Mrs. Peachbottom, the pony everypony mistakes for Mrs. Harshwhinny in "The Games Ponies Play."
This is a great explanation for why AJ acted so seemingly out of character, and one that works very well given what we know and can suspect about her background. It does make the episode seem rather deeper now than before -- though I did like it then, too; what can I say, AJ is one of my favorite ponies. I like blond no-nonsense yet compassionate Amazons.
Well, that and I thought Scoots and Sweetie looked adorable in those bows.
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(*shrugs*) Well, I definitely like it better than "Oh look, AJ's just gone insane for no reason."
The episode was unfortunately well below the standard of writing for the show. They just ran the gag of Applejack's paranoia into the ground instead of even hinting at any reason for her actions. I get why they can't explicitly go on about the death of AJ's parents on the show, but they could at least hint at it ("Once I lost someponies I really cared about, and I don't ever want to lose you, Applebloom").
And the timing is all messed up -- the writer obviously assumed that not only big muscular AJ but also the pint-sized Applebloom can pull that huge cart over uneven terrain at Ferrari-like speeds. Furthermore there's the question of how they quickly contacted Rarity and got her to watch the children for them -- I see this a lot in Information Age writing -- we don't want to face up to just how inconvenient life could get before the age of ubiquitous electronic communication. Even if there are a few electrically-operated telephones in the MLP verse, no way would an outlying farm in a small town have one. And that could have been fixed by better writing -- all it would have taken is to have one more character show up. Heck, Rarity herself might have shown up looking for Sweetie Belle!
I could tell you really liked Applejack from the way you wrote her (and her family) in My Little Balladeer. You also got her character spot-on. I also noticed that the two other ponies who John got along best with were Twilight (a fellow scholar) and Fluttershy (who is just plain sweet). Really, your characterizations of the Mane Six in that story was one of my favorite aspects of that tale, and one of the reasons everyone should read it.
And yes, this episode really messed with her established characterization with no reason given. In the other two episodes where AJ does something foolish ("Applebuck Season" and "The Last Roundup") it relates directly to her established character flaws (Honor Before Reason and Stubborness) and is caused directly by her having pledged to do something which she turns out due to external events to be incapable of accomplishing. Her foolish actions is related directly to having failed to meet the often-cruelly high standards she sets for herself. In this episode, there is no rhyme or reason given for her actions -- I can figure out a likely reason for it, but I shouldn't really have to.
1916206 And the timing is all messed up -- the writer obviously assumed that not only big muscular AJ but also the pint-sized Applebloom can pull that huge cart over uneven terrain at Ferrari-like speeds.
Part of me wonders if maybe the ponies are just that strong, even as little fillies. It would make the scenes from third season of Rarity having her little sis haul her camping gear look much less cruel ("You wanted to go camping, not me; how do you lime it?"), as well as Alicorn Amulet Trixie's bit with poor Snips and Snails hauling her palanquin/whatever it was around.
Furthermore there's the question of how they quickly contacted Rarity and got her to watch the children for them -- I see this a lot in Information Age writing -- we don't want to face up to just how inconvenient life could get before the age of ubiquitous electronic communication. Even if there are a few electrically-operated telephones in the MLP verse, no way would an outlying farm in a small town have one. And that could have been fixed by better writing -- all it would have taken is to have one more character show up. Heck, Rarity herself might have shown up looking for Sweetie Belle!
Yeah, that's one of the things that seems odd even to people who grew up before cell phones. I still have several relations who absolutely refuse to use the things and it can be very difficult to find them when you need to touch base!
I could tell you really liked Applejack from the way you wrote her (and her family) in My Little Balladeer. You also got her character spot-on. I also noticed that the two other ponies who John got along best with were Twilight (a fellow scholar) and Fluttershy (who is just plain sweet). Really, your characterizations of the Mane Six in that story was one of my favorite aspects of that tale, and one of the reasons everyone should read it.
Yeah, AJ is one of my favorites, along with Rarity. I'm actually sort of neutral on Twilight and Fluttershy, but glad to hear that you think I caught their personalities so well. Pinkie Pie, though, is the one pony who I think is hard to do properly -- she's weird and rather silly, but she has a core of real intelligence and sense beneath it all.
Thanks for the praise and the response!
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All the ponies are clearly very strong in proportion to their size, and this goes extra for Earth Ponies. I'll note that all three examples you gave there were unicorns, and they were still exceedingly strong for their size. And Apple Bloom is, of course, an Earth Pony from the most Earth Ponyish Earth Pony family in the series!
I still think the travel times were wonky. They are a lot of the time, but it was worse this ep because they made the climax hinge on it.
This is a major change of the Information Revolution, it's one of the things in Twelfth Equestriad Interview to which Twilight and Luna allude when they point out that Equestria has passed through a century and more of technological development in order to win the Shadow Wars, and has done so without suffering violent social collapse. Twilight Sparkle grew up in a Mid Industrial Revolution (c. 1850) tech society and she is now living in a Late Information Revolution (c. 2100) tech society, within a century or so of starting its Singluarity and becoming Transcendent. Luna, of course, has been through far greater technological change, though she had the advantage of knowing the likely tech tree in advance.
Many younger people today do not grasp how limited life was before we had cell phones, computers, etc. For one thing, you wouldn't be reading this!
They're not dead
They're just no planned ('cause they're unimportant to the plot) And, no, those two stars represnting them don't confirm it
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Their complete lack of appearance in any story despite the fact that numerous stories have been set on Sweet Apple Acres, and at least three at specifically Apple Family events (the first get-together in "Mare in the Moon," the whole plot of "Apple Family Reunion," and "Apple Pie" very much implies that they are either dead or missing. It is more than a little bit strange, if they are merely missing, that the family-obsessed, honor-bound Applejack and her similarly-inclined brawny brother Big Mac are making no effort to find their parents. Hence, it can logically be assumed that said parents are, ahem, living-impaired.
1922770 Or they're, like Flim and Flam, travling salesponies (Like Faust planned them to be) and have little to no time to visit home (that sounds more realistic for a show like MLP)
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Their never being mentioned implies a darker fate than simply "traveling.' Unless, of course, the rest of the Apple Family has rejected them due to their lack of concern for their own kin.