P.P.O.V (Pony Point Of View) Review · 5:47pm Oct 1st, 2016
Hard to believe this season is winding down already, it's been quite a ride but for the most part it's actually been pretty smooth (we've only really had one terrible episode and one lackluster episode, everything else has at least offered something that had promise it's just that some episodes had the potential and didn't take it). It's also worth mentioning that, for some reason, the last few episodes of the show are going to be airing super early in the U.K., with the finale airing next week. But some of us (myself included) are going to try and watch as many of the episodes on their U.S. airdate as possible and avoid the spoilers. Anyway, the Fox Brothers Michael P. and Will returned for their third episode, and this time they got paired up with Kevin Burke and Chris "Doc" Wyatt (who Mike Vogel helped in both "The Times They Are A Changeling" and "Viva Las Pegasus"). The Fox Brothers track record this season has unfortunately been plagued by bad luck in regards to writing partners. For "Gift of The Maud Pie" they got Josh Haber when he was on his "Rarity must be in every episode" binge which resulted in Rarity being shoehorned into a story and opening up a plothole that dropped its quality down to meh, and for "Applejack's 'Day' Off" they got Neal Duseadu who seems to have evolved only in that now he tries to explain his plot holes instead of trying to just not acknowledge them and hope no one notices (but the thing with plot holes is, you can't make them go away just by attempting to explain them. The only way to make sure plot holes don't plague your story, is to think through your writing choices carefully and as Neal himself seemed to ignore it pays to get an outside eye to look at your story to spot things you may not notice yourself). While Kevin and Chris seem okay, given their past works I wouldn't have paired them up with writers who haven't really produced anything above meh so far this season. But in spite of all that, were the Fox Brothers somehow able to benefit from having Kevin and Chris onboard with them? Well, let's find out.
We begin with an explanation into the absence of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy for this episode, they're attending a Cloudsdale High reunion (which Friends Forever already did but really didn't do good). Twilight is taking Spike with her to the train station to meet Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie and hear about their boat trip, and hopefully take notes on what happened.
However, it seems that the boat trip didn't go well, because Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie are all covered in seaweed and don't want to talk to each other. They each go their seperate ways, and when Twilight gathers them for tea they decline and send their pets to deliver notes explaining their intention not to come (though they only say they're not on speaking terms with each other at the moment, they don't mention anything about refusing to speak to each other ever again). Rather than perhaps waiting and letting tempers cool off, Twilight decides to ask each of the three just what happened on that boat trip to make them so upset with each other, and so she drags Spike along to see Rarity. When they meet her, she has a crab stuck in her mane.
Rarity reluctantly agrees to tell her story, in which Applejack talks like a pirate captain and Pinkie Pie seems to be interested in little else besides sugary sweets and pinatas. According to Rarity, she politely set out some snacks for her friends (including cucumber sandwiches) but Applejack threw them overboard and when Rarity offered to politely have a go at the pinata, Applejack steered the ship right into the heart of an oncoming storm. In the ensuing struggle to snatch the map away from her, Rarity ended up tussling for it with Pinkie Pie as well and the map went overboard. And then the ship was swallowed up by a giant wave and sank, but Rarity refuses to explain how they got back to port. She's content to just sit on her fainting couch and eat ice cream.
Convinced that Rarity is exaggerating, Twilight and Spike go to Pinkie Pie and hear her story while she's baking. Pinkie Pie claims Rarity overpacked with tons of porter ponies to carry all her stuff, while Applejack seemed to be a bit more open to what Pinkie wanted, albeit still talking like a sailor at times. Rarity offered up the same snacks mentioned in her story, only to toss them overboard herself because she claimed they were "so ten seconds ago", then she refused to play pinata on the ship so Applejack volunteered to do it. But then the storm came along, and Pinkie noticed Rarity and Applejack fighting over the map so she came along opting to join in on the multiple captains, only for the map to blow overboard and Rarity to then proclaim that the ship they're on never sinks. But once again, there's no elaboration on how any of them got back to shore. Pinkie suggests they see Applejack to back up her story, then she realizes her cupcakes are burning.
Applejack tells her story while hard at work in the apple orchard, and she blaims both Pinkie Pie AND Rarity, both of whom she thinks were acting like hyper flanderized versions of themselves. She claims she sent Rarity's snacks overboard by accident (which I can buy, it makes much more sense than the alternatives), prompting Rarity to get mad at her. Then Rarity rudely refused to play pinata, so Pinkie decided to blindfold Applejack and make her play it (which I could also buy, albeit minus Rarity being so rude). Then when the storm rolled in, Applejack tried to steer the ship back to shore, but Rarity took the map because she thought it would be a great matching tablecloth (it also turns out Applejack bought a treasure map of some kind and had hoped to take her friends on a search for it), then Pinkie Pie joined in and the map went overboard followed shortly by the ship capsizing. And there's still no elaboration on how anyone made it back to shore, and now it seems that none of the passengers want to speak to each other ever again.
Deciding there's only one thing to do, Twilight summons each of her friends back to the dock the ship was on under the guise of it being a friendship emergency. Turns out she's referring to Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie not wanting to ever speak to each other again, and the fact that Spike is so mad he has no idea how they were able to get back to shore after the ship sank. As it turns out, the ship never left the port it sank while still in the shallow waters of the dock. Twilight then recreates some of the events, tossing a similar plate of cucumber sandwiches overboard and explaining that the bubbling in the water was caused by a friendly sea-monster attracted to said sandwiches. And as it turns out, each of the three were so absorbed in getting the others out of their element that they failed to notice how the others were doing the same for them. This feels both a tad too convinent, and a bit anti-climatix, plus communicating with strange creatures is more in line with what Fluttershy would do than say Twilight (feels like maybe this episode was written with Fluttershy in mind). And the episode ends with Twilight, Spike, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie all enjoying a new cruise in a small boat, while we never get to see the actual real story of what happened on that cruise.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, it had potential but it just didn't deliver. Rarity's account is somewhat believable, and it makes sense she'd exaggerate a little, but I find it hard to believe she'd assume Applejack would willingly steer a ship into the heart of a storm (even if you're not an experienced sailor I'm sure no one in their right mind would steer a sailboat into stormy waters even if everyone had lifejackets). Pinkie Pie's account doesn't make a whole lot of sense given that while she does get mad, she very rarely thinks bad thoughts about her friends and learned the lesson of not assuming the worst in them early on. Applejack's account though, the only things that seem believeable are her accidentally knocking the sandwiches overboard, and Pinkie Pie blindfolding her without asking. Maybe if this was taking place in Season 2 or 3 it would make sense for her to think the way she does about her friends, but by now she knows Rarity and Pinkie Pie enough to know better (Pinkie especially since they may be related, albeit distantly). Then the "revelation" about what really happened is just a let-down and doesn't explain why any of the three felt the need to add in a storm, and as I mentioned above what Twilight does feels more like what Fluttershy would do. Spike is probably the best thing about the entire episode, his reactions to everything are perfect timed and priceless to watch. Sadly, for an episode that could've been the next "The Saddle Row Review" it really doesn't deliver on the chance to be a new way of storytelling. This feels more like a test done by the writers to see if they could do a story from multiple points of view, instead of an actual attempt. Maybe if the Fox Brothers had been dropped, or if someone like Mike Vogel or Dave Polsky (who's been suspisciously absent this season, likely due to all the call-backs and referneces to Season 2 which Polsky was absent for) had been paired up with them, this episode could've worked out much better. As it is, I give it this episode a very narrow B- putting it above "28 Pranks Later" (which seemed to think all that you had to do to fix people's problems with Mare-Do-Well was make it so that the mane six's actions were justified, ignoring how OOC that required Rainbow Dash to be) but below "Flutter Brutter" which despite Zephyr Breeze being one of the most unlikeable characters in the show's existence (probably the next Scrappy, after Snips and Snails, to an extent pre-reformed Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, Spoiled Rich, Svengallop, and Zetsy Gormund) and being too preachy with its moral (to say nothing of the really weak song) managed to be perhaps the best focus episode for Fluttershy since "Keep Calm and Flutter On" (and the sort of potrayal of Rainbow Dash we really need to be getting in her focus episodes). The Fox Brothers have potential, but it seems like there just isn't anyone on the DHX staff willing to help them. Edit: In retrospect I think I overcompensated, this episode gets a C+ putting it above the predictable "The Cart Before The Ponies", but below "Gift of The Maud Pie" which just needed to cut out Rarity and it would've been fine.
It seems like the road to the finale is going to be full of mostly meh episodes right now. Next week we have "Where The Apple Lies" in which Applejack decides to teach Apple Bloom the dangers of lying by telling her of a time when she wasn't so honest and told lies that caused the entire Apple Family to end up in the hospital. This episode is going to have to do A LOT to justify being yet another Apple Bloom episode (she's actually getting more focus episodes this season than Fluttershy) when we have only gotten two a piece for her fellow crusaders in the entire show run and have also not gotten a single speaking role from Diamond Tiara since her reformation (why they decided her mother and Snips and Snails deserved speaking roles in "Applejack's 'Day' Off" and "The Cart Before The Ponies" respectively I don't know). Perhaps the only way it CAN justify being what it is, is if the episode drops the parents bombshell and shows us who Applejack's parents were (some are speculating this is going to be the episode in which we learn how they die, but given the synposis that doesn't seem likely they wouldn't DARE try to get away with implying one of the main characters accidentally killed her parents). But I'll either have to wait for it in air in the U.K. and watch it and review it then, or DVR it and watch and review on Sunday or Monday. This is because my faternal grandfather passed away this past Tuesday at the age of 80, and his funeral will be held next Saturday. I'll be going up north the day before and staying til the day after. As for "Legends of Everfree" which officially releases onto Netflix today:
I'll likely watch and review the movie tonight or tomorrow, or by Monday at the latest. I'm hoping it will be good, but we'll have to wait and see.
I would of preferred an episode where the CMC get into a bit of a friendship fight and split up it would make for a good episode. I might just write something like that soonish.
I honestly think this episode is better than Saddle Row Review. It's more hilarious overall, and I didn't mind the fact that we didn't see what really happened, since, in this case, we didn't NEED to.
As for why AB gets so many episodes, I think it has to do with the fact that she's:
a. The first filly in the entire series we ever got to really know.
b. She's pretty much the leader of the CMC.
However, I do agree that we need more Scootaloo episodes.
I'll be staying up till about 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday so I can watch the episodes as they premiere in the UK.
Gonna have to agree, this was yet another "meh" episode and there have been quite a lot of them in this Season. As for the next episode, if previous AJ episodes are anything to go by, I will be expecting to be unimpressed.
4236534 I'm hoping it won't be, but the synposis doesn't sound like something that alone justifies being an Apple Bloom episode. The intended aesop and the excecution of it could work with just about any character, and not just any CMC member, Starlight or even any of the mane six could learn the lesson of the dangers of lying all the time.