MLP Reviews

If The Ticket Master left some people upset, AppleBuck Season was the step up the show needed. Many fans first looked at Applejack as a background pony even though she’s a part of the main 6, but I think she make a great main character for episodes around her are often interesting to look forward to.

What’s the story? It’s applebuck season and Applejack makes a promise to get her apple orchard harvested before the week is done. Her brother, Big Macintosh, thinks his sister is biting off more then she can chew, but AJ thinks she can handle the job by herself without help from anyone.

After saving Ponyville from a stampede of cows, Applejack is praised for her heroism and in addition to working on the apple crop, she has to help her friends with other things. Rainbow needs help to practice a new flying move, Pinkie asks her to make muffins for the town, and Fluttershy needs help herding rabbits. But they all end in disaster as AJ is to tired, can barely hear straight, and to angry to do any of them properly due to the harvest, and despite Twilight telling her she needs help, Applejack says no many times thinking asking for help would make her feel unreliable.

While watching this, I can understand what Applejack is going through. AJ’s the kind of girl that has a lot of pride and doesn’t want to look weak in front of her friends, and there are a lot of people who think like that and get why AJ keeps refusing help form her friends. And Applejack is also really stubborn, while she likes to help others in need, she’s not good at asking for help when she has a problem, even when she really needs it.

You can even tell Twilight is upset for her friend not asking for help and has seen the consequences of Applejack’s mess-ups; from Rainbow crashing into Twilight’s tree, Fluttershy’s rabbits going through town, and Pinkie sick in bed when AJ got the ingredients wrong for her muffins, or as she called them:

Pinkie Pie: No, not baked goods, baked bads. [groans]

Thankfully, the payoff of the episode is that Applejack realizes that asking for help doesn’t make you weak and that any friend would lead a helping head when you ask. If you’re a fan of Applejack or enjoy episodes where asking for help is a good thing, then buck yourself over to the farm and take a look.

Final Rating: 10/10

First episode where Applejack DOESN'T bite Rainbow Dash's tail. Ironically it revolves around Applejack.

7370553 Huh, didn't notice that little detail. What an unusual coincidence.

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Are you counting episodes where Applejack bites Rainbow tail or something?

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Didn't notice that little detail, you say?

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I counted a lot more than that, having gotten an interest in tails from DBZ, but Applejack biting Rainbow Dash's tail is most notable among tailbiting because it happens more than any other tailbiting combo, even Gummy biting Pinkie's tail.

This is the episode where Applejack’s character arc was established and resolved within twenty-two minutes. The problem with this episode is the fact that Applejack stubbornly refuses to receive any help from her friends. She almost kills herself from exhaustion, all because she’s too prideful to ask for help when she needs it. The other problem with this episode is the character who’s learning the moral. (This will be a common occurrence throughout this series.) Applejack is the one who learns that it’s perfectly okay to ask for help when you need it. This sounds more like a moral for a child like Apple Bloom than an adult, or a character like Rainbow Dash. I mean, if she’s just now learning this lesson, then what did she do while she was in school? The opener makes it clear that she’s not very good at mathematics. So, what, did she never bother to ask anybody for help with her math homework? No wonder she was the last one in her class to get a cutie mark.

Aside from the story and moral, this episode was kind of funny. Sleep-deprived Applejack gets a chuckle out of me every now and again, even if she’s on the brink of literally dying from exhaustion. Of course Pinkie Pie couldn’t help but join her in going, “Whoo, whoo, whoo.”

Speaking of Pinkie Pie, she’s rather stupid in this episode. (No surprise there.) You would think that she would be making sure that Applejack is putting in the right ingredients while they were making muffins, but she doesn’t. Did she not notice anything odd when she was mixing them together, like why there would be potato chips in the mixing bowl? She’s just lucky that this experience didn’t do any damage to the reputation of her family’s bakery. I’m sure everypony affected by the “baked bads” got a refund.

The only bit of the episode that I didn’t find enjoyable was Applejack helping Rainbow Dash with her trick. While most people are laughing at this, I’m cringing. Applejack falls about a dozen times, including literally falling on her ass, before she finally gets it right. What makes this worse is that she’s so deprived of sleep that apparently she doesn’t feel any pain whatsoever. Who knew that sleep deprivation could make you impervious to pain?

The character that really shines in this episode is Twilight, who refuses to give up on Applejack. She’s constantly encouraging her to get some help with the apple harvesting despite Applejack’s protests. I think my favorite line of hers in this episode is, “. . . and terrified bushels of brand new bouncing baby bunnies.” I love alliterative phrases like that. This line is a bit of a tongue twister, so I’m sure Tara Strong both had fun and a bit of trouble recording it.

Minor hiccups in the story and the moral aside, I thought this episode was good.

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If The Ticket Master left some people upset, AppleBuck Season was the step up the show needed.

When it comes to 'Friendship is Magic', or even every other generation involving one such character, for years Applejack is often the 'background character' in the eyes of every fan. Even though this series introduces Applejack as part of the cast, while every pony else shares a few diverse personalities, with her... she's just the country-bumpkin pony with a catchy country accent and living the simple life on the farm. Applejack episodes often receive a mixed reaction, there are fans who love her episodes and there are some who find her episodes... tough to swallow. But 'Applebuck Season' on the other hand... this was a rather entertaining episode.

What’s the story?

The real question that should be asked is: Have we heard this before? Our protagonist makes a promise to have something done before the week's up, tiring themselves to extremes, but when the offer to assist her comes up they refuse out of stubborn pride. It doesn't sound like a bad story because again it's the 'relatability' of the episode and Applejack's actions. What grows to become a standard characteristic for Applejack is while she's the down-to-Earth protagonist whose often the voice of reason, her stubborn streak often gets her in trouble. Especially when it comes to her own Pride as being Ponyville's dependable pony, and as we know about 'Pride' fans often label that as one of her biggest 'sins' in terms of character-driven morality. We see that every time she pushes herself, in a way she adds more harm than good even though the intentions behind her motives were initially good.

While watching this, I can understand what Applejack is going through.

But this leads me back to this argument: Getting the fact that we can understand where Applejack is coming from. I too understood how it felt being in her hooves. The needs and desire to prove yourself so badly, that when you suddenly start asking for help and even if the task is done you feel like you didn't 'earn' anything. Like refusing to take some money from your friends when making a promise to pay them back (Even getting a job at a fast-food joint even though you hate it). And as the muscle of the team, the last thing Applejack wants to do is look weak... or else how can any pony trust her to get anything done? But when we see her volunteering herself to do so many things at once, the stress and strain from trying to do so much with little time to rest leads to more harm than good. And this is coming from a guy who spends a living being a multi-tasker.

You can even tell Twilight is upset for her friend not asking for help and has seen the consequences of Applejack’s mess-ups

As this argument stipulates, it's not just the fact Twilight is disappointed that her friend's refusing to help. But by proceeding with this downward spiral trying to be there for every pony, her friends end up facing the consequences of Applejack's 'assistance'. A stunt gone wrong, ponies having food poisoning, a stampede of bunnies wrecking the town... I'm not making this up! We're just lucky that all of Ponyville hasn't collapsed on the ground because a tired Applejack 'accidentally' bumped into some lamppost and caused a bonfire (Thank goodness that didn't happen).

Thankfully, the payoff of the episode is that Applejack realizes that asking for help doesn’t make you weak and that any friend would lead a helping head when you ask.

As an Applejack episode, I did find it an enjoyable viewing experience overall. In the end, Applejack does acknowledge her own mistakes and ultimately decides asking for help is not the worst thing. Granted, this does not mean Applejack has completely learned her lesson as again it's that stubborn streak of hers that ends up being the source of the series problems stemming with her. But by itself, this episode does have a satisfying conclusion as not just one friend comes to her aid but her entire team overall. We can all learn a lesson from this episode, that folks 'are' willing to help if you ask. Of course, just because not everyone is going to say 'yes' does not mean it hurts to ask. It's how you either handle the question or asking it in general.