Friend's thoughts on Perfect Pear · 2:52am Jun 22nd, 2017
I admit I’ve soured a bit when he made a few good points.
So, to begin, my friend is rather passionate and opinion on headcanons. He’s said that I can quote him that if they ever show Scootaloo flying or Applejack’s parents being alive, he’d riot, because he’s attached to the idea of Scootaloo being crippled and the Apple parents being dead. For this episode while he liked them being dead and confirmed as such, he thought the episode sucked. His word.
On the one point, he notes that after seven seasons and what the showrunners have to know is a highly anticipated reveal of Applejack’s parents... this is what they give us, a Romeo and Juliet-style story? That’s the best love story they can tell at this stage of the game, one of the most famous love stories of all time repackaged with ponies? And why? This is not exactly the first feud the Apple family has had, not be far, why retcon in yet another to go for the starcrossed lover angle? It adds no depth or complexity to the characters already known, Mrs. Cake and the Mayor got involved but the feud was unneeded.
However, the point I really have to agree with him on... Grand Pear and Granny Smith are dicks. Granny Smith never ever told the Apple siblings about an entirely separate branch of the family on their mother’s side, and if the apple jam joke at the start is an indicator, she got angry whenever the Pear family was brought up and refused to speak of it. Grand Pear meanwhile disowned his daughter, leaving her in Ponyville to her marriage with the Apples while the whole rest of the family moves miles across Equestria, and like Granny that’s a branch of the family tree he saw fit to cut off. He says he regrets it but then why didn’t he reach out to the Apples when he came back? This isn’t the kind of stuff you sweep under the rug with a friendly chat and some hugs, this is a decades-long feud between two large families.
So, while I still like the episode... yeah there’s some problems here.
I think Granny Smith's anger wasn't so much at the Pears themselves, at least not anymore. It was at Grand Pear for disowning his daughter like that, since the Apples seem to feel very strongly about family. And think about it for Grand Pear, he disowned his daughter, and never saw her again while she was alive. By the time he realized his mistake, she was dead. I think he realized at that point what that silly feud had cost him, and the least he could do was come back to Ponyville and try to make amends.
Shame likely plays a big role in Grand Pear's hesitance. I could definitely see him burying himself in his work to ignore the loss, up until the nest was empty and he had nothing but his memories and his regrets. As for Granny Smith, remember that the Apples only ever knew their mother as Buttercup, including Big Macintosh. By all appearances, she abandoned the name Pear Butter and all things associated with it. Granny may have been respecting her daughter-in-law's wishes by not mentioning her family. Furthermore, we never see how she gets upset when exposed to pears. Is it fury or sorrow?
As for the star-crossed lovers, who cares if it's been done before if it's done well?
The "why do X with ponies" argument is bunk. Hearth's Warming Tale got this same criticism, and the answer is: because we haven't seen it before. Adding ponies to something, redoing a plot with them, is a great idea, and your friend is a double-butt. V:
Also, it's funny, because everyone dies at the end of R&J, so it's just more confirmation. :V
And Grand Pear and Granny being dicks is a feature, not a bug? There's nothing unrealistic about hiding an entire side of the family when you've feuded with them forever. Their reconciliation at the end is yet another really satisfying feelsy moment in an episode made out of the same.
Who cares? Some things become staples for a reason, and the feuding families lovers is one such staple. its a simple but effective set up that has been honed to perfection centuries ago. Using it here works because it was done well Bright Mac and Buttercup are adorable together, but the episode needed something for them to overcome, and it ties in well with the framing device.
And Granny's attitude is perfectly understandable, from her perspective Grand Pear disowned his daughter and never came back to make amends with her, and Granny obviously loved her daughter in law by that point. Her anger is perfectly justified and there's no reason to introduce senseless conflict into her grand children's lives.
Why didn't he reach out right away, maybe it was his first day back? Maybe it he couldn't think of a good way to go about it, maybe her got scarred of what they would say. I think its really human (ha ha) for someone to hesitate in his situation.