Mini Re-Reviews: "The Last Roundup" - Season 2 Episode 14 · 11:56pm Mar 7th, 2020
RARITY: "Do - You - Have - Any - Idea, how long it took me to clean my coat and mane of all this desert dust and bit of cacti! Twice as long as it should have, with Pinkie's words still ringing in my ears! Oh, darling, you'd better believe I let Rainbow Dash have it!"
The relegation of Applejack to "Background Pony", while a completely unfair and downright mean meme, is easy enough to explain. Despite being the Pony that actually appears in the most episodes in the whole show (at least, up to the end of Season 8 - I'd have to tally up the scores to the end again) she doesn't get that many starring roles that one could identify as "that's an Applejack episode,", not the way that "May the Best Pet Win!" or "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" are very obviously Rainbow Dash episodes. She's the sort of character that gets mild to important supporting roles or are part of the ensemble all the time. And almost none of her starring episodes have established themselves as fandom classics. Regardless, the sometimes lengthy gaps between them are another reason. By the time of this episode, it has been 32 episodes since her last starring episode, "Look Before You Sleep" - and that was a shared starring role with Rarity! Regardless, here we are - and the episode isn't even really focused on Applejack. In plot, absolutely, but not in character-POV, where we're very much in the shoes of the stumped yet suspicious ReMane 5. But it's also another Wild West adventure episode, though not to nearly the same extent as "Over A Barrel".
My friends, there comes a time when you have to admit that was you once thought was the best isn't. That is why I'm here to tell you that of all 40 episodes in the series thus far, "The Last Roundup" is the one where my opinion has dropped the most upon rewatch. That's not saying a lot, since many of these early episodes my opinions haven't dropped at all, coming back to them for a second viewing. But regardless, what I once considered one of my favourites from this early, is, well, merely a reasonably good episode, and it gives me no pleasure to say almost all the reasons why have to do with Applejack herself.
AJ is a strong rodeo pony, though perhaps not an invincible one, as demonstrated by a Matrix-spoofing shot in an opening training scene that shows one of her rear legs lighting bumping a hurdle. Regardless, she Ponyville's uncontested Rodeo Champion, hence the town sending her off with much hoolah to a Canterlot competition gathering ponies from all over, with the Mayor eagerly reminding her to bring back the prize money to fix Town Hall's roof, which was recently broken in mysterious circumstances. This was all AJ's idea, you understand. After a transition which encompasses at least a few days, their surprise party for her return has only a telegram pony to greet, though the birthday delivery stallion does get a slice out of it. Once the group discovers AJ isn't returning but will send money soon, they set off in venture of her.
In this first third, there's little to be actively put off by, excepting perhaps the plot connivence of none of AJ's friends or family accompanying her to the Canterlot rodeo (a necessity for the rest of the episode to happen, alas). It's only once the ReMane5 find Applejack in a small Western desert town after a lengthy search in Canterlot (through a brief but fun dialogue-less montage that demonstrates how much a few S9 episodes dropped the ball on the creativity on such things, both in writing and music), that some actual rot creeps into the episode. It's not that Applejack feeling shame about not winning first place in any event and having no prize money to bring back is a bad thing. It's that the episode plays up her stubborn side in every scene during this middle third with her, and as such it just feels like she's being unnecessarily stubborn a lá "Applebuck Season". It's there in the lines she says, and it's there in Ashleigh Ball's vocal delivery. And it's still late enough in the series for AJ to not realise her friends don't care she didn't win.
It's a pity, because this middle third is also when the episode starts firing on all cylinders otherwise, producing many golden fandom moments, from a toilet joke done right, to the glorious I Love Lucy spoof (to me, that show will forever be associated with its tribute in Drake and Josh). It continues in glorious form through the last third, which has far less aggrevating AJ moments and gives up Pinkie on all cylinders with Chimmycherrychangas, a broken Pinkie Promise and "Rarity-catch-me" (to say nothing of the episode's coda). And the most fun chase scene the show ever produced. Basically, after the first third that does little wrong but doesn't have many huge memorable things about it, we get a middle third that bounces back and forth between brilliant shenanigans and infuriating AJ regression. And a final third that is far more of the great and goofy shenanigans, largely (it should come as no surprise that me remembering this episode as fondly as I did was largely due to all these wonderful, hilarious and exciting sequences, and largely forgetting the rest).
All that said, the story and character issues on AJ's end don't have the worst impact. It's still early enough in the show that this first instance of AJ regression can be overlooked (this issue rears it head more severely with "Apple Family Reunion" next season). But it does mean this episode's real meat is basically in light, silly vignettes, once which thankfully ended up being quite well-absorbed into the fandom and fanwork. In that respect, at least, Amy Keating Rogers was on top of her writing game.
This episode is no "The Mysterious Mare Do Well", let that be clear. The character issues weaken the episode without defining it as they do there; I still primarily think of. But it's a wide gap in quality fluctuation between the high shenanigans and the mildly infuriating feeling of stubborn, regressive AJ. I still like all that well enough , with AJ being my favourite character, to give this episode a 7.5/10, as it's quite easy to not let its issues be an issue. But I have to acknowledge them.
Bet not many of you thought this episode and "Baby Cakes" would score identically! Yeah, I'm as shocked as you are.
STRAY OBSERVATIONS
- By now, it's obvious once again that Season 2 is the one with the least arc elements of the show's whole run, possessing basically none. Ironic, then, that it's the best season (I assume the remaining 12 episodes will back this up once again). MLP's production schedule really wasn't suited to complicated arcs in the slightest.
- One of Applejack's First Place Ribbons has an Equals imprint on the medal. Coincidence? Well, time travel is a thing in Friendship Is Magic, so a three-season gap doesn't mean anything in the grand scheme of things...
- Far more then a certain character at the episode's start, I'm sure any big Fluttershy fans lost their mind when, during a shot in the cherry-sorting sequence, Fluttershy's mane went missing. Freaky animation errors, forgetting to turn the mane layer back on.
I don't think it's necessarily a regression. You could argue Applejack should be too level headed to think Ponyville would be upset with her for not getting money, but with how much pressure Mayor Mare seemed to be putting on Applejack, it's relatively believable. And the way the whole conflict was done just felt really deep, so I don't think the appeal of the episode is just amazing fun and exciting moments, even if that is a big part of it. Also Applejack's "stubborn side" did eventually lead to one of her most emotional and compelling moments when she finally revealed the truth. I can see where you're coming from, I just don't think the problem is egregious enough to turn the episode into a merely very good episode. I'd say it's a 9.5 out of 10 actually. It's right out of my top 5 for the season, which, as you must know, is an impressive feat for one of, if not the best season of this show.