Bimbola2005

Huh, it’s pretty interesting seeing old threads like this one, and seeing how divided people were at these episodes, in a time when they were recent. It makes me wonder if the people in this thread still holds the same opinion or not.(Also, now I’m even more conflicted about these episodes after reading everyone’s opinions and can’t have a decisive stance on them lol)

Oh, now I understand what you meant

?? Sorry, I didn’t understand, what do you mean?

cough cough best episode cough cough This is a really great one. Everyone that says AJ was OOC really, really missed the point in this one. It’s an episode about Applejack breaking her element, but done without being unnatural or forced for her character: The episode sets up really well how everyone respects and glorifies her abilities and doings. Everyone expects the best from her, and Applejack knows this, and she tries to do her best to live up to everyone's expectations and her past Rodeo achievements. There's a huge amount of pressure on her. Then, when she doesn't win any blue ribbons, two traits of her emerge as affected: First, her Pride; she is a very prideful pony, so not being able to win any blue ribbon after so much expectations leaves her devastated. It was a huge humiliation, which only she was present at, so she still has the pressure in return to home, defeated, and face everyone and tell them about her failure; lastly, there’s the other important characteristic of her affected, her own Element, Honesty: she ended up not keeping her word, failing to win first place in anything, failing to receive the money she had promised to repair the Town Hall. She failed her Element, her word and her people. For her, it would be pretty unfair returning without the blue ribbons and the prize money after their send-off plus the high expectations they had on her, that she thought she should fulfill. But she still tries to find a way to compensate for all of this: Taking advantage of the fact that nobody witnessed her immense shame, she decides to work on the cherry ranch, sending money to them, while not having courage to return home. So she sends a vague letter, and hopes that this is enough to justify her not returning. It can be said that her actions are pretty immediate and ill thought, looking like she did not considered how her family, friends and town would be devastated, but it’s still understandable considering her damaged pride and the feeling of shame: they were the things that prevented her from coming back and telling them sincerely what happened. It was a hard moment for her and so she chooses this path, driven by all these conflicts mentioned earlier. However, her plan doesn't work, and when her friends find her and demand an explanation from her, she tries her best to dodge and hide the truth from everyone. The own Element of Honesty hiding the truth from others, however it was already broken when she failed everyone and her promises at the rodeo. Then, when she's forced to promise to tell the truth sometime, she decides to run away. That might seem a little weird, like, where would she run after all? Here's the thing: all the attempts to hide the truth have failed. Her letter failed: her best friends still went to get her back; her attempt to raise money in the cherry business also fails: her friends are still there to pester her; she's forced to tell everything at breakfast, so she doesn't attend it, still trying hard to hide the truth, but that doesn't work either: she got caught. Her damaged pride and element makes her desperate at this level. Even if Applejack had managed to outrun the others in the pursuit, she would have nowhere else to go: Obviously she wasn't going back to Ponyville; nor for Cherry Jubilee, her plan to work there discreetly also failed. She wouldn’t have anywhere to go: she reached the limit of her escape. All of this is meant to show that even if we do our best to hide our problems, there will always come a time when we can't hide them anymore, and the best thing to do is face them and be honest with everyone about them. That happens to Applejack when she’s caught by RD. She has to reveal everything, and that's the best option, that's what she learns. Not matching everyone’s expectations and promises are nothing to be ashamed of, your family and friends will still like and love you no matter what. This conflict suits AJ really well, it’s believable for her character, and it’s also a really relatable one. She’s not nearly as out of character as people claim her to be. The other Mane six were also great too, specially Pinkie and Rainbow: Pinkie was funny and entertaining, I like how she’s portrayed and used here. And then we have Rainbow, who, just like Aj, has her “breaking element” moment: When Aj writes that she won’t come back, she feels betrayed by the pony she really cares as both friend and rival and has great consideration for. Her element of Loyalty is affected here. During the chase, when Pinkie and Rarity fall and get behind, she puts her friendship with Applejack above the other two: she needs to resolve this issue with Applejack immediately, she can’t waste her time getting them back: It’s their Loyalty or AJ’s. This is also a good conflict that suits our hot-headed and determined Pegasus well too. This episode is Marvelous, I don’t have any shame in calling this one Top 5 material for the entire series. It’s a really shame this episode usually gets recognized as the “derpygate” or the “Aj OOC” one. This episode deserves way more praise than it gets. Bravo Amy Keating Rogers, Bravo

Yes, would really want to

Well, that aged quite well I think…