Mini Re-Reviews: "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" - Season 2 Episode 15

APPLEJACK: "...Y'know, I don't think the layout artist and animator of this here shot thought about the implications it has as a still image..."
APPLE BLOOM: "What d'ya mean, big sis?"
GRANNY SMITH: "Git outta here, you young whippersnappers, before those there creepy grins of yours give ma granddaughter the wrong impression!"

While obviously not to the same extent as "The Last Roundup", it is still factually correct to consider "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" (longest MLP episode title, hands down, but it's hella catchy and memorable) an Applejack episode, though not by much. It is that rare beast, an Apple family episode that doesn't obviously favour any one of the four as the protagonist with the others as supporting characters. Well, there's still a hierarchy of AJ > Apple Bloom/Granny Smith > Big Mac here in terms of the amount of focus shots/dialogue, of course, but it's far more about them as a group, and that's rarer then you might think. It's enough to mark this episode out to the analytical viewers, but far more then that, it also shows that, perhaps, the best Applejack episodes are those without any growth for her. As both "Applebuck Season" and the previous episode "The Last Roundup" showed, most growth episodes for AJ end up regressing her to have her learn something she already knew in the first place. All it took to avoid that was to not have any growth altogether. I'd probably mind more, if "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" wasn't such a gosh-darn fun episode, one that's such a joy to watch and partake in that both it's minor fallacies of logic and slight silly choices barely register. You can find better episodes then this one, but not many ones that are more fun. Even when it's laughing in the face of logic - should Pinkie really be allowed to buy so many mugs of cider at once, demonstrating there's no "one pint per customer" rule here; if Rainbow Dash is so desperate for cider, why did she let Fluttershy ahead of her; does line placement not carry over to the next day - the opening content is a hoot. Little details are a hoot, like Twilight enjoying getting to observe the cultural congregation around cider season, seemingly her first here.

The best part about the episode is, of course, the 4-minute song, "The Flim Flam Brothers", one of the show's few musical numbers to involve a large crowd of extras throughout, and to to great effect. Truly feels like the best kind of stage musical there. It may not be an obvious a showstopper as the songs from "The Best Night Ever" or "Winter Wrap Up", to name just ones we've already seen, but it's a gem all the same. Let's be honest, this song alone is the many reason the Flim Flam brothers carry such goodwill to watch throughout the rest of the episode, and into their next appearance years down the line - at least until it became clear they were a one-trick pony in writing; never again was there a character with such a big enjoyment difference between their first appearance and everything thereafter. But here, they're a delight, and the mix between spoken and sung dialogue, the use of the machine's mechanical SFX as part of the music beat throughout, and everything else makes the song a real winner. Not this it needs my approval, to judge from how largely beloved it is.

The rest of the episode past that? Not as obviously brilliant, but very consistently good. There's some commentary here about either the Industrial Revolution or the power of capitalism, depending on who you ask and what way you view the episode (though the former is the more obvious and straightforward angle by far), and it does what it should do. It gives the episode some weight and depth without taking attention away from the largely fun onscreen antics. With all the dialogue-light montages and action scenes through of cider being dispensed and then the competition itself, that certainly applies. And of course, it's so refreshing to see not only the ReMane 5 help the Apples out as honorary family members, but for AJ to accept their help in a heartbeat. As the ending later shows, it's very fitting for her, in this episode, to remember the lesson she learnt before about her friends being there for her. The writing even has that satisfying moment where it finds a good role for everyone to do, with Fluttershy helping Applejack on the apples, Pinkie to Apple Bloom on basket catching duty, Rarity to granny Smith on sorting the rotten ones away, and Rainbow Dash running the treadmill with Big Mac. Twilight bolts the buckets and is in charge of maintenance.

It is still a children's cartoon, with too happy an ending to truly align with the "progress marches on" notions to either of the American fables this episode is often compared to (John Henry and Paul Bunyan), but I find I don't mind so much. It feels right in this universe to have the quality of the Apples' cider matter more then the production rate of the Flim Flam Brothers' filthy gunge. The episode finishes with one of its best lesson denouements, one that cheekily states "no lesson learnt here", enough that M.A. Larson was surprised Hasbro okayed it. God bless the staff in those days, and even the executives before they got a bit control happy.

Pinkie is perhaps not at best form here, between spreading the word to everyone but Rainbow Dash, taking too much cider, and later rubbing it in her face. Enough that despite Rainbow Dash's abrasive ways this season, you feel sorry for her (though her licking the spilt stuff up out of the dirt is worth it). Well, more sorry now we know what brilliance lies in wait for her next episode, of course. To bring it back to the Apples, it helps how they don't all share the same viewpoint, but have individual ones that shift and adjust depending on the situation and which reflect their ages. A bit expected, but welcome all the same. And again, Applejack may not have an arc in the episode, but the tears she leaks to herself as she prepares to depart do more then most of her arc episodes. Don't believe I'm not choking a little to say that about Best Pony. In the end, this episode earns a 8.5/10 in overall performance, and it's another one of those easy, cheery, fun watches I'd be quite likely to reach for on a rainy day.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS
- I do have to admire Hasbro a little for allowing an episode where alcohol, even that as mild as cider, is a pivotal plot point, to go ahead. Shows how hands-off they were, eh?
- Yet again, I will register the non-use of Spike at pretty much every point despite him witnessing the events. Of course it doesn't really matter, it's far too common in those days, but there's no reason they couldn't have showing him helping with either the bucket-catching, picking up the missed ones, or helping Rarity sort through them (he's got quite the taste buds, he'd know on sight as much as Rarity would plus given Granny Smith's speed, that's the area that probably needs the most help). Oh well; least I showed how easily enough it could be done. Better then him just standing by the hourglass like a headless toadstool.
- The Film Flam brothers were so universally groaned at, rightfully, every time they popped up towards the show's end that it almost doesn't need saying that they should have been kept as one-time characters. Almost. Hence that sentence you just read. Excepting Discord, from a structural sense anyway, they proved to be the first characters brought back that should have been left well alone. At least in "Friendship University" and "Best Gift Ever", with their plotline being the clear weak link in the latter.