Applejack's Day Off Review · 5:46pm May 28th, 2016
So, we've got our Applejack episode of the season. Well, maybe now that Rarity and Rainbow Dash are wrapping up their character arcs and achieving their dreams, we'll finally get to see Applejack move away from just being a support character? Yeah, well that's not happening. Michael P. and Will Fox returned to write this episode, but guess who decided to "help" them, Neal Dusedau.
In case you aren't aware, Neal was responsible for the disasters that were "Princess Spike" (in which he turned Spike into a Megward The Wizard), and "What About Discord?" (in which he justified hypocrite Twilight by making Discord the antagonist). With the Fox brothers having only penned "Gift of The Maud Pie", this episode was all but a disaster in the making. The Fox brothers handled Rarity well, and she was a key focus in this episode, but everyone else was new territory and Neal is quite possibly the worst choice they could've made for a partner. So, did Neal drop the ball once again, or were the Fox somehow able to keep him under control? Well, let's find out.
We begin at the spa with Rarity in the steam bath, waiting for Applejack. Applejack finally arrives, only for the spa to close and Rarity to have gotten all wrinkly. Apparently, this isn't the first time Applejack has blown off the spa trip until the last minute, but only now does Rarity decide to take action. She complains about this to Twilight and Spike, who are on their way to pick up some pies from Applejack. It turns out that the rest of the Apple family has chosen today to leave Applejack on the farm while they go into town with the harvest. Of course, this being a Neal episode he ignores the fact that Applejack would know to accept help to get things done, and also makes Rarity decide that day is perfectly fine to leave Twilight and Spike in charge while she takes Applejack to the spa.
Neal then decides it's perfectly fine to rip off helicopter Applejack from "Somepony to Watch Over Me", with an absurdly over complicated checklist for Twilight and Spike, and after a quick joke about Rainbow Dash being at the spa and getting a hooficure (you know, despite her claiming she doesn't like ponies touching her hooves), Rarity and Applejack find out their hour may be spent waiting for the steam room to heat up. It's gotten so bad that the spa is offering warm towels to the waiting costumers, one of whom is Spoiled Rich.
The episode slows down to a snail's pace as we get a really uninteresting mystery with a painfuly obvious resolution. There's a leak in the pipes, and the spa apparently has the washing and drying machines linked up to the same water system that sends steam to the steam room. So while Rarity goes and gets pampered on her own, Applejack grabs her tools and makes some repairs.
The repairs take the entire hour to complete, and meanwhile Twilight disregards the moral of "The Saddle Row Review" (seriously, I could probably start a drinking game with the number of episodes Neal disregarded) and tries to follow Applejack's overly complicated method of feeding the pigs. Applejack comes back and goes on a tirade about how it's possible to fall into a routine without noticing, even if it doesn't help, and we get a montage of her not realizing some blantantly obvious mistakes that she shouldn't be making after living on the farm for so long, complete with a good old fashion dose of Neal hypocrisy. And the episode ends with Rarity and Applejack going to the spa, and Rainbow Dash agreeing to accompany them for some pampering. At least the ending kind of makes sense, given Rainbow Dash's justifcation for being there, and she's not getting a hooficure.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, I think the Fox brothers were only involved in writing Rarity because everything else has all the hallmarks of Neal. I'm sorry to say this, but Neal has only proven he's just not cut out for this show. I know bad people can make good art and vice versa, but Neal has had plenty of time to get better and he doesn't seem to be capable of doing so. The show has plenty of other writers, so if Neal has to be cut it's not like that would be a big loss. Rarity and Twilight are pretty much in character, as is Rainbow Dash, but Applejack as usual isn't all too compelling when she's thrust into the spotlight on her own. This episode could've easily fixed that with the "outside eye" moral, but once again the episode ends with no signs of Applejack leaving the farm or even remotely changing, she's going to remain the bland focus character that she is. The moral is a good one, but aside from one or two jokes this episode suffers the same problem as the previous RariJack episode, it's just so bland and uncreative. In the end, I give it a flat C which only puts it above "Newbie Dash" and far below "Gift of The Maud Pie" which despite needing a title readjustment (if they didn't want to follow the Gift of The Magi plot all the way, they shouldn't have labled their episode after it) and a little bit of polishing on the Pinkie Pie scenes, was a fine first entry for the Fox brothers Michael P. and Will. I hope they find someone better to work with next time.
Hopefully, things will pick up next week with "Flutter Brutter" in which we're going to meet Fluttershy's brother. I just hope we don't see a repeat of the Shining Armor drama. Fluttershy hasn't had much of a track record this season, this could make or break her character for Season 6. Hopefully, it won't be another one of those Fluttershy focus episodes that rehashes the same basic conflict of her lacking a backbone.
Rather embarrassing when the moral of the previous episode, the EXACTLY previous episode is ignored isn't it?
3979146 Yup, and it seems like Neal doesn't practice what he preaches. If I were his editior, I would've flagged the script in an instant for the numerous plot hole and continuity errors. I know that continuity in this show isn't the greatest, but it's far from being an episodic show that just resets the status quo at the end of every episode like so many other shows have done.
3979147 Ee-Yup
, I believe this sums up my thoughts here.
On another note, where did you find the epic facepalm video?
Honestly, I actually think this is one of the best Aj episodes of the series.
And while I think it's the weakest of the season, that's only because the rest of the season was fantastic, and this episode was "just" good.
Now, I have explanations for these moments:
RD being at the spa to get a hooficure: Considering it's been at least several months since Ponyville Confidential, there are two possibilities:
1. RD was lying about not liking ponies touching her hooves, and just didn't want to be seen enjoying a hooficure in front of her friends.
2. In the intervening time between then and now, RD visited the spa on her own enough times to get used to, and then start enjoying, the hooficures.
Twilight trying to do the farm chores the way AJ would:
Again, this has two possibilities:
1. AJ gave Twilight a list of things to do. And so in her OCDness, she has to follow things the way the list says, in order to be satisfied. In other words, her obsession with lists caused her to try to do things the way AJ does. Thus, despite seeming like its contradicting The Saddle Row Review, actually fits perfectly with it.
2. This episode takes place before The Saddle Row Review, so Twilight wouldn't have learned the lesson prior to the events of the episode.
For me, this episode was just low-key, simple, and fun.
Not one of the top ten episodes of the series, but I don't think it would even make my bottom 20 episodes of the series.
I took that to mean that Twilight and Spike were helping Applejack already with the pies.
Um, I don't think that was Spoiled Rich. For one thing, the voice. It doesn't sound a thing like her. Secondly, her figure. Spoiled Rich was shown to be quite bulky. This pony is quite thin. And finally, the coloring. This pony was a hot pink, whereas Spoiled Rich was shown to be a very dark color. In any case, Spoiled Rich and Diamond Tiara spending some time together at the spa would mAke a cute story.
I think that was meant to be funny. Applejack doing a routine that she's gotten used to even if it doesn't help while she's talking about it was supposed to be comedic.
Given that it's about her brother taking advantage of her kindness and him having to stand up to him to help him grow in his confidence, I think that's what it'll amount to. It sounds like it'll be a repeat of "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies."
As for what I thought about this episode? I thought it was okay. It wasn't as funny as "The Saddle Row Review", but there were still a few funny moments.
3979190 Pretty much agreed on all counts.
Though you described Spoiled Rich as "bully", which, while true, I think you meant to put "Bulky" there.
3979154
It's actually really hard to determine exactly how much time has passed between seasons, especially since the episodes are in no chronological order, so the timeline could be anywhere between a few months or a few years. I lean towards the latter since I find it very hard to believe that everything that's happened in the series thus far could have all happened over the course of a year. ("Princess Twilight Sparkle" implies that at least a year has passed since the pilot.)
Exactly! This is perfectly in- character for Twilight. Secondly, the slice of life episodes are in no chronological order, so they could take place anywhere between a few months or a few years.
3979198 Yeah, dann autocorrect!
This episode was probably one of my least favorites in season 6. It just seemed to drag, which is something that I have seen with only a few MLP episodes.
I really hope Flutter Brutter makes up for this week's episode. I've been waiting to see Flutter's brother for about a year, and I'm hoping the writers don't mess it up.
3979205 Really? It didn't look or sound a thing like her.
3979199
I think Princess Twilight Sparkle implied that it was exactly one year between season 1 and season 3.
However, as you said, it's hard to determine the exact amount of time that has passed.
The way I look at it is that each season, for the most part, takes place over the course of a few months.
The lack of chronological order can also explain why we haven't seen much of Starlight Glimmer, outside of the episodes that gave her focus: Those episodes take place before The Cutie Re-Mark.
3979218 I look at the seasons as taking place over the course of a year, though the theory that they take place over a few months makes sense given the season one finale. This theory would actually work for a fanfic I'm working on.
3979211 Maybe she's lost weight?
3979231 No!
I don't want her to lose weight; I want her to gain weight!
3979235 It could also be that she looks different because she has a towel wrapped around her body, instead of that shirt she was wearing last time.
3979238 Really, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if she was an alcoholic and worked as a whore. Her appearance implies that these characteristics would fit her.
3979244 Somehow, I doubt that's what she does. If that was the case, she wouldn't be in a very high social standing for very long.
3979257 Well, that's my headcanon. She could always do it in secret, especially since Filthy Rich is hardly around.
3979260 But you'd think some "investigative" reporter would uncover, or at least begin to uncover such secrets.
3979257 Considering the things Ponies can get away with on in Ponyville,I have my doubts that Starlight would have anything to lose by getting drunk a lot.
3979261 Not if they're well kept. I mean, she got away with abusing Diamond Tiara. She probably got away with beating her senseless behind closed doors. Abuse is always worse when it's done behind closed doors.
Neal said, ''I don't like the way you conduct your business, missy.'' Applejack said, referencing the Wall Street character, ''I'm not Gordon Gekko. That man believes that greed is good!'' Neal shrugs and says, ''Let's be like Mr. Gekko for the rest of the day, OK?'' Knowing that Neal would start to throw a temper tantrum if AJ rejected her advances, she shrugged and said, ''OK.''
AJ says, ''I was asked to do this because he hooked up a speech microphone up to a typewriter and then forced me to put random things on the paper.''
That sounds more like THIS OLD HOUSE than an MLP project.
''Yes. That man is pretty good at lies and deception, Mr. Hooves. I'm never going to work with him ever again'' states AJ.
''And once more, I hope Neal doesn't touch that talented, beautiful lady'' AJ states.
3979264 You mean Spoiled Rich, right?
3979204 It doesn't help that, above, I wrote an essay that showed that AJ didn't even seem to get along with Neal Dusedau.
3979293 Yeah, I do...
No idea why I put Starlight instead (though I guess the same could be applied to her, at least pre The Cutie Re-Mark)
The moment I saw who pencilled in the episode, I was prepared for the worst. I'm shocked that Neal is still part of the writing team after what he did with the two episodes he was involved with. I have nothing more to say than second worst episode of the Season so far.
The next one involving Fluttershy as the main doesn't sound promising either, I pray that it will NOT be written by Natasha since she pretty much destroyed her character progression in Scare Master.
The episode was just a mess. A confusing mess. Some parts are funny, but I did not like the episode.
3979834 Natasha is confirmed to not be coming back for Season 6, alongside M. A. Larson.
Hate to say it, but it totally will be, based on her history of Flutter focused episodes
I was expecting this ep to have something more along the lines of Rarity having to really struggle to get AJ to even sit down and relax while AJ's constantly trying to return to Sweet Apple acres to see how badly Spike and Twilight messed up on her chores. It did have its humor and a moral, but the plot left a lot to be desired.