Mariusioannesp Reviews: "Honest Apple"

 
WARNING!!! The following contains SPOILERS for the latest MLP episode “Honest Apple”.

 
Now, without further a-honest-apple-a-day-keeps-the-devil-away-do, here is my review of “Honest Apple”.  
 
Rarity is throwing her own fashion contest as a way to boost young, up-and-coming fashion designers. For some reason, she wants Applejack to serve as one of the judges. Applejack’s unsure she’d be the best judge for this kind of thing as she knows little about fashion. Rarity however is interested in Applejack’s honesty and practicality. Applejack ends up agreeing, but starts going a bit overboard with her honesty. Will Applejack realize how to make the truth not hurt as much?
 
So what’s the verdict?
 
Hoo boy. I don’t quite know what to think about this episode. This is another episode where I just have to say I don’t know.
 
So yeah, I don’t know.
 
The last time I judged an episode as such, it ended up ranking among that season’s least good episodes. Since it’s still early in the season, I want to hold off on declaring this episode as such.
 
We begin with Spike and Rarity posting flyers for a fashion show she’s organizing. Spike just happened to passing by her boutique Rarity says, but Spike’s guardedness about it seems to indicate he wasn’t just passing by.
 
Yeah, let’s make Spike a little skeevy while we’re at it. You know, we haven’t seen much of Spike’s crush on Rarity lately. I was kind of hoping he was outgrowing it. Kind of odd seeing it back with such a vengeance.
 
Anywho, Rarity wants to give young, up-and-coming fashion designers a boost given how hard it was for her to break into the fashion industry. That’s nice of her. The winner will get their line debuted at Carousel Boutique, the crux of Rarity’s fashion empire. Rarity has managed to secure Hoity Toity and Photo Finish as judges for the contest. Hoity Toity and Photo Finish. Now those are names I’ve not heard in a long time. A long time. Season 1 was a long time ago. She also has another judge in mind. Spike guess Countess Coloratura. Pinkie Pie guesses Sassy Saddles. All the continuity in this one conversation.
 
Then, Spike guesses himself. Rarity then announces that the third judge of her Couture du Future Fashion Contest is Applejack. This comes as a surprise to everyone, especially Applejack who just so happens to be passing by. Applejack is very confused as to why Rarity would want her to judge a fashion contest. Pinkie is sure that if Rarity explains her reasons as to why it’ll all make sense. Rarity explains that it’s because Applejack is such an unorthodox choice that she’s an inspired choice. I’m with Pinkie. That doesn’t make any sense either. While Hoity Toity is an expert in fabric and stitchwork and Photo Finish has an eye for artistic shapes and colors, Rarity has chosen Applejack for her practicality, something that oft gets lost in high fashion. Applejack fears she’s too practical. Her closet is just twenty version of her hat. You all remember that from Season 4’s “Somepony to Watch Over Me”. That wasn’t a good episode either. Of course, there’s also Applejack’s honesty. You can ask anypony, and they’ll you how honest Applejack is. Pinkie actually tries it out with a random passerby. Applejack’s still not sure, but she tells Rarity she’ll sleep on it.
 
Later, Applejack is applebucking with Apple Bloom and Big McIntosh, discussing the notion of her judging a fashion show. Apple Bloom thinks it would be pretty neat, but Applejack points out that Apple Bloom is kind of an outlier among them. Even if she just focuses on practicality, Applejack doesn’t think she could contribute much. During the course of this discussion, Apple Bloom is having trouble catching apples in a barrel atop her head as they is their process. Apple Bloom is trying out wearing a signature hat like Applejack, but it keeps getting in the way of her seeing. That’s because she’s holding it on her head with an unnecessary scarf as Applejack points out. Once she removes the scarf, Apple Bloom is far more productive. This makes Applejack realize that maybe she does have something to offer as a judge at Rarity’s fashion show.
 
Applejack arrives at Carousel Boutique and tells Rarity that she will be a judge for her fashion show. Coincidentally enough, the other judges Hoity Toity and Photo Finish happen to arrive as well.

They discuss how they missed Rarity at Miss Pommel’s* debut in Manehattan the week prior. Yes, it seems our dear old friend Coco Pommel has started showing her own dresses and is now the talk of the town. This is not something you just mention. This is something worth devoting an episode to. Even Rarity wasn’t aware as she thought Coco was still making costumes. Applejack for one is glad to hear Coco is doing so well. Remember how they worked together in “Made In Manehattan” way back in Season 5. They show Rarity and Applejack some of the highlights of the fashion show and want Applejack’s opinion as a fellow judge. Applejack proceeds to mock one of the outfits because it literally looks like a disco ball.

This shocks Photo Finish’s tender sensibilities.
 
Rarity leads Applejack away for a moment and explains to her that the point of the disco ball outfit was something about how everything you wear is a costume. Yeah, Applejack doesn’t get it, and neither do I.
 
Then it’s time to meet the designers participating in Rarity’s contest.
 
First up, there’s Lily Lace.

She’s kind of a Millennial Valley girl-type pony. Her dress is inspired by how the wind carried a bird’s song she heard that morning.
 
Next is Starstreak.

He’s concerned with making the fashion of the future.
 
Finally, there’s Inky Rose.

Wednesday Addams, is that you? Why are you a pony?
 
Yes, she is definitely the token goth pony here, and like Good Charlotte, everything she does is All Black.
 
Applejack doesn’t say much as she attempts to assess the designers’ work. She finally admits that Inky Rose’s All Black fashion seems kind of depressing. She also admits that she doesn’t get how you could make dresses out of birdsongs and the future. Applejack starts getting the sense that all these fashion ponies weren’t happy with what she had to say, but Rarity assures her that’s why she’s here. Fashion needs a dose of practicality every so often. However, Applejack then starts given more than her two cents on everything these designers are working on. She objects to Inky Rose putting holes in her clothes for that “distressed” look. You know that distressed look where they sell dirty and used-looking jeans for hundreds of dollars to people who’ve never worked a day in their life but want to look it. Yeah, that’s a thing. Applejack also objects to the length of the train on Lily Lace’s dress, concerned it’ll get dirty. Well Applejack, if the floor is clean it won’t get dirty. It’s clearly an indoor dress. She also freaks out Starstreak when she doesn’t realize that his scruffy looking model has already had her makeup done.

Rarity suggests that’s enough guidance for the judges to provide for the day and sends Applejack off. None of the designers are happy with anything Applejack had to say.
 
Applejack happens upon Pinkie who is strumming on a guitar for some reason. Applejack tells her how judging the fashion show is going better than she expected. If it wasn’t for her, they’d be doing all kinds of fashion-y things. Um, Applejack honey. Isn’t doing fashion-y things the point of a fashion show? Once Applejack saunters away, Rarity comes along. Rarity seems a little out of sorts over how her fashion show is going, but she still believes Applejack’s candor** will help the designers achieve the best designs possible. Pinkie notices how stressed out Rarity seems so see suggests she strum some notes on her guitar as music will soothe her savage breast.

Where did that come from?! And that’s an acoustic guitar. How could she even do that?

Well, Pinkie was blown away by it. That’s for sure.
 
So the next day, Applejack takes issue with all the buttons on Inky Rose’s emo longcoat. She also insists that the hat Lily Lace made doesn’t need the feathers she individually stitched onto it and shakes them all off. Then Hoity Toity and Photo Finish each suggest a belt for Starstreak’s outfit and get into a heated discussion over which one is better. Applejack starts laughing at them because the belts they’re arguing about are exactly the same. I’ll grant Applejack that. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Rarity gets involved, calling both belts good choices. That’s enough for Applejack though. She says fashion is ridiculous, shocking the fashion ponies’ tender sensibilities.

With that outburst, Hoity Toity and Photo Finish walk out. Starstreak also quits due to Hoity and Photo leaving. Lily Lace then quits because she can’t even. (I never understood that phrase. You can’t even what? What does it even mean?) Inky Rose also quits.
 
So, Rarity’s fashion show is canceled, and it’s all Applejack’s fault. Applejack doesn’t understand what she did wrong because she was just being honest like Rarity wanted her to be. Rarity then takes Applejack to see a pony we’ve never seen before named Strawberry Sunrise.

Oddly enough, Rarity asks Strawberry Sunrise to tell Applejack her opinion of apples. It seems Strawberry Sunrise prefers strawberries, and she finds apples disgusting. Of course, this makes Applejack very angry.

Rarity pretends to wonder why Applejack is so angry at Strawberry Surprise’s honest opinion. For Applejack, it’s fine that she doesn’t like apples, but if she realized the hard work that went to making their apples perfect, perhaps she wouldn’t be so mean about it. Suddenly, Applejack realizes what she’s done wrong. She apologizes to Rarity for getting so carried away with her honesty, she didn’t think about how she was making others feel. Rarity wishes Applejack would have realized that before she ruined her fashion show.
 
Later, Hoity Toity and Photo Finish are riding Photo’s sedan chair out of town.

Hoity says he needs to get some of these. Does he mean the sedan or the strapping young stallions carrying it? He could be of the persuasion. This is the fashion world after all.  
 
Anywho, Applejack then comes along and carries them back. Applejack then comes across Lily Lace, Starstreak, and Inky Rose and chases them down with her lasso. She gathers them all together at Carousel Boutique. Applejack then apologizes to them because she’s realized that though she thought she was being honest, she was just being hurtful. That’s a lesson I can stand behind… I guess. She admits she still doesn’t understand fashion, but she appreciates the hard work they all put into it and how important this all is to Rarity. Hoity Toity and Photo Finish agree to come back as judges. Lily Lace, Starstreak, and Inky Rose also come back but only if Applejack will untie them.

 
Applejack then helps each of the designers get their outfits ready as they see fit.





Applejack wasn't nearly this uncomfortable in "Simple Ways" in Season 4. Why is it suddenly a problem for her?
 
Applejack manages gets the fashion show back on track. Pinkie brings Rarity to reveal the surprise to her. Lily Lace tells Rarity how Applejack literally did it all by herself.

That sounds familiar.


Ah yes, The Princess Bride. That is a movie I have see. I read the book too. The book was better.
 
And with that, it’s time for the fashion show. Then it’s time to pick a winner. Rarity votes for Lily Lace. (Wait, I didn’t even realize Rarity was a judge.) Lily Lace literally can’t even. Hoity Toity votes for Inky Rose. Inky Rose is confused by her feelings of happiness.

Photo Finish votes for Starstreak. So, the deciding vote comes down to Applejack. In the end, everypony wins and gets featured at Carousel Boutique because Applejack couldn’t pick just one. They all deserved to win in her honest opinion. I think this was the writers trying to make the ending more dramatic but failed to even establish that before this point. Applejack then comes across one of Rarity’s new designs. Applejack tries to say something fashion-y about it. However, Rarity then admits it was a mistake, and it’s terrible. Relieved, Applejack agrees. And that’s pretty much it.                   
 
This episode was written by Kevin Lappin, another new writer on MLP. He’s previously written for Mike and Molly and Gary Unmarried. These happen to both be CBS sitcoms, and they both ended quite some time ago. (And this Gary Unmarried lasted only one season.) He doesn’t seem to have much experience writing for animated series. Then again, this wouldn’t be the first time a new MLP writer has only had experience writing for live-action programs. Dave Rapp, for example, had previously written for Without A Trace before writing on MLP. Perhaps this episode’s flaws can be forgiven because he’s a new writer.  
 
This isn’t the first time a new writer has been saddled with an Applejack episode. Last season, The Fox Brothers floundered with “Applejack’s “Day” Off” as well as Applejack’s portrayal in “P.P.O.V. (Pony Point of View)”. (Dave Rapp, however, did a pretty good job with “Where the Apple Lies”.) Why do new writers keep getting Applejack episodes? I have mentioned before that new writers are better at thinking outside the box and bringing something new to the character without some of the bad habits more established writers may have developed. I suspect the hope is that the right new writer might be able to bring something new to Applejack and allow her to develop in a new and interesting way.
 
Speaking of that, this episode was another bad attempt at adding to Applejack’s character. Here, they seem to try to use Applejack’s honest nature to kind of make her an anti-fashion troll. In my opinion, this goes quite against her established character. For one thing, back in Season 4’s “Simple Ways”, Applejack briefly pulls off becoming an elegant fashionista for the purpose of bringing Rarity to her senses. I know this is one moment in one episode, but it had a strong connection with Applejack’s flashback in Season 1’s “The Cutie Mark Chronicles”. So to me, suddenly seeing Applejack turn into an all out troll against fashion just strikes me as out of character. She even uses honesty as her justification like internet trolls might alongside of freedom of speech or whatever. Now I’ll admit, I think high fashion can be ridiculous too. But you don’t see me saying it at fashion professionals’ faces or even really screeching about it on the internet. That would be impolite. Because it is true that though I think it’s nonsense, people do put a lot of hard work and effort into it. I understand that. I put a lot of hard work and work into the nonsense that is these blogs.   
 
I’ll admit that the moral of the episode of learning the difference between being honest and being hurtful is an important one. However, this seems like something Applejack should know already. In this way, this episode seems almost like a Season 1 episode. An episode like this would make sense in Season 1 before Applejack has gone through the development she’d eventually go through.  
 
Honestly, I don’t know what Rarity was thinking. She lays the blame for the fashion show falling apart on Applejack not realizing she was going too far, but all this could have been avoided if Rarity had just taken Applejack aside and had this conversation earlier. After the first day, she just hopes it will get better, but doesn’t do anything. Even her reasons for involving Applejack in this are flimsy. It’s almost as if Rarity just wanted to have Applejack around her. Yeah, this episode could just be an excuse for Rarijack.
 
I'm not the only one to think that it seems.
 
There were some things I liked about this episode. Pinkie Pie was great with jokes that she was given. I really liked the fashion designer ponies Lily Lace, Starstreak, and Inky Rose. They are portrayed by Andrea Libman (who also does Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy), Michael Antonakos, and Caitriona Murphy, respectively. This Mr. Antonakos and Ms. Murphy are definitely new people. They just keep adding new voice talent. I like how they’re a Unicorn, a Pegasus, and an Earth pony. Pony diversity! I liked especially how Lily Lace and Inky Rose filled certain personality types. Inky Rose also has a unique pony model, a bit taller and slender than your average ponies. I also liked the return of both Hoity Toity and Photo Finish. We haven’t seen them since way, way back in Season 1. It’s got all that going for it.   
 
Overall, “Honest Apple” might just be one of the season’s weaker episodes so far. The road to a great season isn't always a smooth one. There are bumps like this along the way. There's always hope though that such bumps remain few and far between.
 
What did you all think of “Honest Apple”?
 
God bless you. God bless America. And God bless Equestria.
 

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*As you may recall, last season Coco Pommel’s name was officially changed to Miss Pommel because Hasbro themselves had ran afoul of some sort of copyright/trademark issues. However, I think we call all agree she will always be Coco Pommel in our hearts.
 
**Candor is my favorite synonym for honesty since I heard it in the first two Divergent movies.