My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic: Episode 104 - Applebuck Season

 Rating:

There’s certainly a good message behind Applebuck Season, but it was obvious at least a third of the way into the show.  Seeing Applejack tired for the whole episode wasn't really funny, and nothing was gained by dragging the premise out so long.  Writer Amy Keating Rogers displays a nagging recurring tendency to merge the mane six into one, but fortunately it doesn't last too long this time.  As would also happen in successive episodes, Pinkie Pie has the best moments in a supporting role, but these are unfortunately rather few overall.  This would not be the last time the whole town will gather to celebrate a single member of the mane six, but it isn't any better when Applejack gets over-loved again in The Last Roundup, and certainly not when Rainbow Dash is celebrated in The Mysterious Mare Do Well.  Some problems may start out small before spiraling out of control (such as drinking), but it was obvious Applejack needed an intervention as soon as she drowsily appeared at her own town event in the first act.  Twilight seemed to know it too, but didn't do anything until lesson time arrived.  An episode with such a potentially important message shouldn't be treated as filler, but that’s apparently what Rogers did, as Ap­plebuck Season needed a lot of padding to reach its 22 minute runtime.


Applebuck Season is the starter of another annoying trend, in that how the Apple family makes money changes from week to week to suit the writers’ whims.  Big Macintosh has conveniently come down with an injury, which in addition to being unable to harvest the apples leaves him in a rather loquacious mood.  Unfortunately, it’s a testament to how unmemorable this episode is overall that such a momentous event is easily forgotten, partially because “yup” and “nope” are the only two of Big Mac’s lines that sound decent.  Applejack brags that she can harvest the whole orchard by herself, but then forgets to sleep even though the length of the “season” is unspecified, and likely lasts more than a few days.  While some teasers have nothing to do with the episode (A Friend In Deed), this time the entire episode is laid out in the opening minutes.  Big Mac warns Applejack that she can’t handle the massive job by herself, but of course she won’t listen.  This is pretty much all that happens for the next twenty minutes.

For some silly reason, a herd of cows are stampeding toward Ponyville, and only Applejack can stop them.  Fortunately she does so, since the rest of the mane six decide to stand right out in the middle of the road and wait to get trampled to death (inexplicably, a light blue pony replaces Fluttershy in a couple of the shots).  This earns Applejack a Pinkie Pie party (since that’s all she does apparently), as well as a town event/trophy presentation, but Apple­jack is nowhere to be found on her big day.  The residents of Ponyville knew something was wrong when we’re only four episodes into the series yet plot elements are already being borrowed from earlier episodes.  Before Applejack arrives  the other mane six members (except Rarity mercifully) all interrupt Twi­light’s lengthy speech to announce to the town the mundane activity they and Applejack will soon be participating in.  Yes, the same Fluttershy who could barely squeak her name in the pilot is now begging for time to speak publicly.

Applejack finally shows up completely stoned, but the rest of the town politely pretends not to notice.  Having apparently made herself some European apple cider, Applejack says thanks for the trophy and makes some noises as she looks at her reflection.  Pinkie Pie joins in too, which is one of the only decent moments in the episode thanks to its silliness.  Applejack shows her appreciation for the award by dozing off for a second, and then just takes the trophy and leaves.  Around eight minutes in, it’s already very obvious Applejack is overworked and needs help and/or rest.  But we've got an episode to fill, so you’d better believe she’ll be showing up for all those activities her friends just promised the town when there’d otherwise be no point for them to do so.

The rest of the episode consists of Applejack sleepwalking through these activities and making a huge mess of them.  A few memorable moments are produced (the see-saw and the cupcakes), but they’re not really good.  Apple­jack just embarrasses herself more as the episode goes on, and it’s not clear if this is supposed to be funny or sad.  Twilight does attempt to convince Ap­plejack that she needs help but is never successful, which doesn’t stop her from trying.  So the show is basically one big loop until a bunny stampede (you heard me) is the last straw.  But actually it isn't, as Applejack finishes harvesting what she thinks are the rest of the apples.  Big Mac points out another wing of apple trees, and Applejack finally acquiesces after wak­ing up from fainting (if the two of them were going to split the massive du­ties, wasn't she going to have to do about as much as she did anyway?).  Apparently the only reason this is different from any of the other times is be­cause the episode just passed the 20 minute mark.

Applebuck Season isn’t a big improvement over The Ticket Master, but it does have a few moments and a good lesson, while generally being less painful to watch overall.  Plenty of people are overworked or have problems they don’t want to admit, and things can get out of control quickly if you don’t seek help.  My main problem with the way the episode handled this is the blatant foreshadowing in the teaser, and that it was obvious to both us and Twilight by halfway through that things were already bad enough where Ap­plejack needed an intervention.  But then we’re dragged through more events that are just as painful without adding anything meaningful to the point.

At least Applejack officially stated the other Apple family members lived all over Equestria and apparently were only there in the pilot for a conve­n­iently timed family reunion, but this just seems like a retconned plot con­trivance that the rest of the writers were powerless to undo in subsequent ep­isodes.  Even if this was justified for the message and to save having to cast lots of different Apple voices, there were too many difficult moments for Applebuck Season to be effective.  Instead of watching Applejack’s slow spiral, she was bad from the start of her appearance at the event and didn’t really get much worse despite all the stupid things she did.  This approach weakens the message, and is ultimately the episode’s downfall.  As such, Apple­buck Season is the least memorable and least consequential episode in the entire first season, even given the few unfortunate trends it precipitated.