Episode Reviews Season VI: Where the Apple Lies · 1:39am Oct 14th, 2016
Work has officially began on the new story. However, it's been a busy week, so it's not a ton of progress. Still, I hope to get it out for October, but it may leak into November a little at this pace. We'll have to wait and see. Until then, have a new review after the break.
The best lies, from an old hand's point of view, are always sprinkled with a helping of truth to lend plausibility and, thus, lack of investigation into a claim. Sadly, not everyone is a two fac- I mean... Lying is bad and if you lie, you will be caught 100% of the time. o.o Lying badly often begets more lies to cover the lies and then it spirals out of control into a farce not too unlike what we'll see in this week's episode. Of course, sometimes the pure truth can sting more than the sweetest lie, but with the truth, the pain tends to be short-lived where, with a lie, it is delayed and delayed until, one day, it hits like a sack of bricks. I don't know about you, but i'd rather have a little sting than a brick to the face any day.
"Sit down, shut up and let me tell y'all a story"
Where The Apple Lies grows on Sweet Apple Acres where we find the Apples loading a shipment of Zap Apple Jam onto a cart bound for Barnyard Bargins with owner Filthy Rich on the cart. He thanks Applejack and Big Mac for the shipment as it is loaded and rides into town. However, going back into the barn the two older siblings find that Applebloom had loaded the crates and the crates of cider look suspiciously like the crates of jam they just gave to Filthy Rich. But when the smallest Apple doesn't seem too sure of herself, Applejack investigates and finds out the crates were switched. After calling back Filthy Rich and loading him up with the correct crates, this time, Applebloom explains she had hoped that by lying she could buy enough time to fix it herself and save face. Applejack knows from experience that lying will only create a bigger problem, but Bloom doesn't buy it since AJ has never lied in her life, earning chuckles from Mac and Granny (the latter of which whom just walked in). Granny explains that Applejack once lied so much that she put everyone in the hospital, earning a groan from AJ before begrudgingly deciding that maybe hearing the story will help Applebloom out. It all began when AJ was just a little older than Applbloom, and she and her brother were squabbling over who would get to run the farm eventually when Granny tells them to stop fussing and go into town to get some things.
In Ponyville, they meet Filthy Rich and his fiance Spoiled Milk (thus confirming surnames are a thing) whom has just taken over the store from his father and is ready to make his mark on it. He hints that maybe they could start selling some Cider in addition to the Zap Apple Jam harvest and, smelling an opportunity to prove herself, Applejack shakes hoofs with him on a trial. However, Granny Smith annually rebuked his grandfather Stinking Rich, from doing so. When she hears of AJ's little deal, she gets cross and tells her grandfoals that the Cider spoils fast and so by the time it hit stores and sold, ponies would have no time to drink it. (Well, not that specifically. I inferred that last bit) She then tells her in no uncertain terms to set Filthy straight. Going back into town and into his store, AJ, to her credit, TRIES to tell him that she made a promise that she could not keep, but after he shows her all the work he went through to put up a display for the cider and how, if she was lying to him, he may cut off all business from Sweet Apple Acres, AJ panics and tells him that it's not up to them because Granny is sick. Mac is surprised by this and angry at his sister, but it seems to have done the job. It doesn't stop him from lecturing her when they get home though. Unexpectedly, Filthy and his fiance drop by with some flowers in a show of good will to the Apple Matriarch, so Mac has to stall them as AJ tries to get granny away from the house, lying about miscounting apple blight sprayers.
From those two lies, things escalate to Granny being so sick that she is in the hospital and that, somehow, the Apple Blight has spread to ponies and Granny Smith's expertise with it is needed at the hospital. From there, they run around the hospital a bit with Granny getting into a doctor's gown by AJ in order to disguise her from Filthy and Spoiled as they search the hospital for her non-existent room. She then gets her brother Mac to lie under a sheet to pretend to be Granny because if Applejack were under the covers, Mac might run his mouth and undo the carefully-placed house of cards/lies. Eventually they all end up in an operating theater where the doctors and nurses there have mistaken Granny for an old pro in their hospital and Mac hiding as a patient. Granny is, literally, about to saw his LEG OFF before Applejack snaps and tells everyone to STOP. She then comes clean about her lies upon lies and everyone is... honestly extremely polite about all of this, even volunteering to listen to Granny ramble on about the Apple Blight at the end of the Flashback. Applejack learned to value honesty as much as she does, Big Mac learned to stop and listen rather than ramble and Applebloom learned that, at the end of the day, Granny is in charge of the farm. The End.
Even before she had a kid, Spoiled is surely and b***hy.
~*Talking Point*~
Many have wondered where Applebloom or the Apple parents are in this flashback episode, myself among them. Sadly, as we see neither, it is really hard to pin down, actually. Some will think that the parents are dead and Applebloom is a newborn, but that doesn't make sense because Granny didn't worry about a sitter. Personally, what makes the most sense to me is that AJ's parents were out-of-town on business or vacation or visiting family. Now, Applebloom might have been conceived around now, but I doubt she was far-off. I've known people who've grown up with a family business that has been run for a long time by them and I can tell you, petty squabble about who will take over eventually can happen; it doesn't mean that the parents are dead yet or anything.
I wish we get to see all the mane six as awkward teenagers eventually. 20 Bits says Twilight had braces and/or glasses!
~*Likes/Dislikes*~
+ Talkative Big Mac. Peter New must have been waiting for this episode to come for a long time, as have many of us. Also, Granny looks the same as she does not, just a little more... zippy.
+ Younger Big Mac made eyes at 80's Cheerilee. Is it a callback, foreshadowing, or is there something legitimate going on between them that the staff are in on and love teasing us over?
+ Applejack with pig tails is adorable. I mean, she only has teenage Fluttershy to compete with and there's not winning THAT contest, but still.
- Applejack makes a rookie mistake and forgets something everyone knows and some cultures fear: don't piss off Granny. I mean it, she may look rickety but, back then at least, she looks like she could still kick a flank or two.
- Despite all his belly aching over Applejack being a compulsive liar, he still goes along with his little sister's fibs. Talk about hypocrisy.
- Apple blight spreading to ponies. Who would honestly buy something so stupid? Trees and ponies are not only different things, but one is a PLANT and the other is a PONY! They only share a P and an N between them!
Bonus - ANOTHER MOON! NO, I WILL NOT STOP!!!
"Come play with us, Granny Smith~!"
~*Conclusion*~
What Did We Learn Today?
- I misheard "Spoiled Milk" as "Spoiled Milf". Please send help.
-is Dr. House because a medical procedure went wrong, explaining her wonky eyes once and for all! (That's my new Headcanon at least.)
So we have found Where The Apple Lies and see it as a... middle-of-the-road episode about how lies can very quickly spiral out of control. It's not a bad episode, just not great since it doesn't really bring anything new to the table for me, or present it in a new and interesting fashion. I'd have to call it 'safe' to put it simply. Where it fails, it does so only due to the accurate hubris of youth, so that's not as bad as it could be. Anyway, if you were to cross-contaminate me with Apple Blight, I would rate this episode an honest 79/100.
Next week, Twilight and Rainbow Dash are called by the map to the Wonderbolt Academy to solve a friendship problem. (What is it with Twilight getting only end-of-season friendship problems now?) Can the Top Bolt and her trusty sidekick (I just called Twilight a sidekick. Ugh) find and fix the problem, or are they operating on only a wing and a prayer? Until then, this is Ciroton saying, "You will be baked, and then there will be cake."
"Ah'n that's how ah lost mah medical license. Oh... wait... ah never had one!"
My thinking during this episode was, "Didn't we already see this with Rarity in 'Sweet and Elite'"? And Rarity got away with her lies in that one. I guess they were exploring what happens when you get caught.
Cannot unhear.