S06:E23 - Where the Apple Lies

[weesh 690]

I hate conflict that is caused and made worse by lying.

I gave it the worst rating in the poll....

 

...but that said, as far as such awful episodes go, this wasn't the worst.

 

For instance, Big Mac immediately confronted her, rather than jumping on board with the lie.  There was zero chance she was going to get away with any of it.  And everyone bursting out laughing when applebloom said AJ had never lied was hilarious.  

 

The fact that it was all framed as a cautionary tale, before the lying even started, tempered my discomfort a bit.  

 

That said, this seems like an episode that a lot of you will enjoy, and that I mostly didn't like for more personal reasons, in the same way that I harbor a personal loathing for time travel stories.  

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,320]

I did! There were a couple of funny easter eggs in this episode.

 

Really good episode overall, though I did want to see baby Apple Bloom and understand why Big Mac really stopped talking.

I am guessing him realizing that he talked too much could have been the start and he probably was just talking less and less over time. Baby Bloom was definitely MIA though, I wanted to see her too. :c

 

I missed the Shining ponies so  I will have to look at that again but seeing Derpy was definitely chuckle worthy. XD

[Varrack 1,080]

Pretty good episode. The backstory was actually really creative - I think that factor is what made it as good as it was. It was straightforward from start to finish, and I found it interesting that Filthy Rich was involved like he was in LoE.

 

Yup, don't lie because it makes things worse. It could lead to more lies and a scenario like this.

[Will Guide 21,360]

Well, no wonder Applejack made a big deal about not being able to come home with the prize money to fix City Hall back in "The Last Roundup". Not being able to keep her promise even when it's understandable why she couldn't seems to be A.J.'s " ashamed" button!

 

It explains both episodes, "Applebuck Season" and the "Last Roundup" as well as why she holds honesty in high regard!

Edited October 8, 2016 by WiiGuy2014

[Radiance64 7,053]

Think I expected more out of this episode than they were willing to deliver... no Apple parents in sight sadly. Still, Diamond Tiara is obviously not born yet, so maybe Apple Bloom isn't either? Could still be alive in that flashback, but it's kinda baffling to me why they'd even do an episode like this if they're just going to cut out stuff like that. I mean, the episode had plenty of cool easter eggs at least, but not every egg we want seems to be able to be in the basket, turning what would have been an otherwise decent/run of the mill episode into something rather disappointing, to me anyway.

Or maybe I'm just thinking about what could have been too much, otherwise I found the episode to be a pretty fun romp.

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

So that's where the apple lies

 

What I liked:

Applejack and Big Mac: Seriously most screen time they've ever had together.  Loved the dynamic they pulled off and got on each others nerves.  Good thing this was the vast majority of the episode

Teenage ponies: Middle sized ponies that aren't fillies. Been six years but we finally have them. 

Filthy Rich: Still a decent guy, to bad about his wife.

Background events: Spied the Shining Twin while they were at the hospital. 

 

What I didn't like:

Granny Smith making Applejack go back on her word: Granny shouldn't have made Applejack break her promise. If anything she should have been the one to go down and tell Fithy why he can't sell cider.

 

So yeah that was rather good. Can we get more Teenage Mane 6 episodes? 

[TheWhiteBowser 187]

Odd seeing some of the chat reactions saying this was a bad episode, I thought it was lovely. Granny Smith was hilarious, Big Mac being a huge talker when he was younger was a treat to see and it gave Filthy Rich more backstory as well as the Apple Family. Sure, the whole 'lie spiraling out of control' thing is a trope that has been done ot death, but doing that with who is now the Element of Honesty was a nice touch. I found the episode to be a very enjoyable watch with of course a wonderfully heartwarming ending. Two hooves up from me.  I really cannot think of anything I did not like here and Applejack is my least favorite from the mane 6 so that is saying something.

 

Also, they were going saw Big Mac's leg off. o_o

For the people that were upset with this episode I can understand why. THE HYPE surrounding this episode was it was supposed to explain the backstory behind the Apple parents. And the description of today's episode HEAVILY IMPLIED that Applejacks lying landed people in the hospital meaning people got hurt and injured. Which evidently wasn't the case. Applejack's lying had nothing to do with why people were in the hospital in this episode even though the episode description said it would.

 

A lot of people expect deep adult lessons in this show but no one remembers the demographic is little girls. The most mature this show has ever got was "Tanks for the Memories" and "No Second Prances". And I don't see a show like this teaching kids to deal with parental death in the family. And if the brony audience expects this show to explain what happened to the Apple parents. Well if the answer is what we believe WE WILL NEVER GET AN ANSWER! Because of this show's demographic...

 

I still enjoyed the episode nonetheless. Good moral, Good references, Great animation. BUT

The hype killed it for me - 6.5/10

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,320]

For the people that were upset with this episode I can understand why. THE HYPE surrounding this episode was it was supposed to explain the backstory behind the Apple parents. And the description of today's episode HEAVILY IMPLIED that Applejacks lying landed people in the hospital meaning people got hurt and injured. Which evidently wasn't the case. Applejack's lying had nothing to do with why people were in the hospital in this episode even though the episode description said it would.

 

A lot of people expect deep adult lessons in this show but no one remembers the demographic is little girls. The most mature this show has ever got was "Tanks for the Memories" and "No Second Prances". And I don't see a show like this teaching kids to deal with parental death in the family. And if the brony audience expects this show to explain what happened to the Apple parents. Well if the answer is what we believe WE WILL NEVER GET AN ANSWER! Because of this show's demographic...

 

I still enjoyed the episode nonetheless. Good moral, Good references, Great animation. BUT

The hype killed it for me - 6.5/10

I don't agree with that. The show's demographic? ?The demographic is family friendly, not little girls. I honestly really dislike people saying that these days, it supports too many stereotypes. For a family friendly show, seeing Applejack put her own family into a hospital is kinda brutal, especially if that would be the cause of the death of her parents. That is way too dark for a show like this and when I say that, I am referring to a show that has a very positive vibe and good messages, not that it is a 'little girls show'.

 

Sure, maybe some hyped themselves up too much, but that is not a fault of the show. I went in knowing absolutely nothing about it except taking a guess it was about Applejack at least and I really enjoyed it. Even still, I don't know hwy anyone was expecting something like that.

[weesh 690]

For those of you who were disappointed with the hype, does this make you more inclined to avoid descriptions and previews?
I never watch previews for something that I've already decided to consume, because they have a long history of making a story worse.  The narratives are designed for you to watch an episode from start to finish, and previews are designed to give something important away to get you to watch it.  

[TheWhiteBowser 187]

I don't agree with that. The show's demographic? ?The demographic is family friendly, not little girls. I honestly really dislike people saying that these days, it supports too many stereotypes. For a family friendly show, seeing Applejack put her own family into a hospital is kinda brutal, especially if that would be the cause of the death of her parents. That is way too dark for a show like this and when I say that, I am referring to a show that has a very positive vibe and good messages, not that it is a 'little girls show'.

 

Sure, maybe some hyped themselves up too much, but that is not a fault of the show. I went in knowing absolutely nothing about it except taking a guess it was about Applejack at least and I really enjoyed it. Even still, I don't know hwy anyone was expecting something like that.

You can call it stereotyping all you want fact is MLP is not Avatar the Last Airbender. Which both shows are family friendly. And one show clearly is more mature than the other. The original hook of this show was it was for girls. Kinda why we see mostly female characters in this show. Doesn't mean it can't be enjoyed by people of all ages though. I'm 23 and I love the show. But compared to show's like Steven Universe (also family friendly) it is INCREDIBLY light-hearted.

 

It is not the fault of the show for people being hyped NO IT IS NOT. But the episode description IMPLIED AJ's lying got ponies in the hospital. Meaning people got hurt and injured. Nothing of the such happened in the episode. All that happened is AJ stopped Granny from almost performing surgery on Big Mac. The only ponies that were hurt were the ones already in the hospital which is NO FAULT of Applejack's lying. Also the episode description said and I quote "WHOLE APPLE FAMILY". Also implying we were going to see the Apple parents.

 

If this episode is supposed to teach us why honesty is good thing why is the episode description lie to us like so? 

At least when the episode description is properly updated thanks the episode airing now, WE WILL GET THE TRUTH.

 

 

For those of you who were disappointed with the hype, does this make you more inclined to avoid descriptions and previews?

I never watch previews for something that I've already decided to consume, because they have a long history of making a story worse.  The narratives are designed for you to watch an episode from start to finish, and previews are designed to give something important away to get you to watch it.  

I'm only really inclined to read the episode descriptions before they air. Only because it helps with me planning out PMV's for each season. Since I am planning a Memoir of Season 6 PMV, I like to know just a tiny bit on each episode to help me plan out the PMV. Other than that I avoid previews and everything. 

Edited October 8, 2016 by TheWhiteBowser

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,320]

You can call it stereotyping all you want fact is MLP is not Avatar the Last Airbender. Which both shows are family friendly. And one show clearly is more mature than the other. The original hook of this show was it was for girls. Kinda why we see mostly female characters in this show. Doesn't mean it can't be enjoyed by people of all ages though. I'm 23 and I love the show. But compared to show's like Steven Universe (also family friendly) it is INCREDIBLY light-hearted.

 

It is not the fault of the show for people being hyped NO IT IS NOT. But the episode description IMPLIED AJ's lying got ponies in the hospital. Meaning people got hurt and injured. Nothing of the such happened in the episode. All that happened is AJ stopped Granny from almost performing surgery on Big Mac. The only ponies that were hurt were the ones already in the hospital which is NO FAULT of Applejack's lying. Also the episode description said and I quote "WHOLE APPLE FAMILY". Also implying we were going to see the Apple parents.

 

If this episode is supposed to teach us why honesty is good thing why is the episode description lie to us like so? 

At least when the episode description is properly updated thanks the episode airing now, WE WILL GET THE TRUTH.

To me, a show being more light hearted than the other means nothing. It just means each show has its own style, its own flavor.

 

But, to each their own, don't want to debate this here.

[Bazz 57]

Sound to me like this was a mixed episode based on people's thoughts.

 

Well, time to watch (in a bit).

[weesh 690]

If this episode is supposed to teach us why honesty is good thing why is the episode description lie to us like so? 

 

The episode description didn't lie.  

The duty of a description of preview is to get you interested enough in the media that you want to see it, without giving away so much that that it ruins the episode.  

That is a ridiculously hard thing to do.

The fact that it misled you is a function of the writer of the description trying hard to not give the finale of the episode away, while still alluding to the climax.  

Could the writer have done better?  maybe. perhaps a few people would like to give it a shot?  try to write something that is just as compelling without giving away any more information.

 

The better trailers that we see recently are ones that show crazy and exciting action...that takes place in the first 15-20 min of the movie, so that it can excite you, but without explaining what the actual plot is.  For instance "The Island"s trailer showed almost nothing from after the escape.  And "megamind"s trailer showed nothing from after megamind's victory.  

 

A 22 minute episode will not usually have enough narrative to employ this strategy though.  

Edited October 8, 2016 by weesh

[PoisonClaw 8,164]

Might have to watch it again given the stream kept skipping like a stone, but I thought it was alright. Bit surreal though seeing Applejack lie like a rug and Big Mac being such a chatterbox. 

[TheWhiteBowser 187]

The episode description didn't lie.  

The duty of a description of preview is to get you interested enough in the media that you want to see it, without giving away so much that that it ruins the episode.  

That is a ridiculously hard thing to do.

 

 

When Applebloom tells a lie, Applejack teaches her a lesson about how when she was young she told a lie that almost lead to the farm losing their business and profit.

 

DONE.

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

SPOILER ALERT!!! This episode is a bundle of cuteness! We totally need more flashback episodes of the Mane 6 when they are young like this because it ads new ways of developing them as characters without them acting Out Of Character. I loved the animation on this episode. I think with Big Mac we finally see what teen ponies look like and I think Applejack is pre teen age here. It was wonderful to see the grown ponies slightly younger. Filthy Rich is definitely nicer than Spoiled Rich and it was nice to see them before they were even married. It was fantastic that Big Mac kept talking as Big Mac for a whole episode. I was glad Peter New got to do all that nice voice work beyond "Yup". The lesson was great especially the part about mistakes helping you find out who you are. My only minor grip with this episode was not seeing infant Applebloom and who the heck was watching baby Applebloom during the hospital scene???

[Goat-kun 2,527]

Filthy Rich is a pretty decent guy. His wife is a real bitch though. We’ve got a talkative Big M, Granny being Granny, and some new Ponyville locations, so that's great.

 

The episode itself was once again the epitome of mediocre decency; however, this lesson was done to death so many times that they could've at least tried to smother it with awesomeness or something. It’s like frying zucchini: these suckers are all squishy and have bland taste, but everything tastes good once you fry it. He-he, guess they should have fried them apples. Wow, that’s a poor joke.

[weesh 690]

When Applebloom tells a lie, Applejack teaches her a lesson about how when she was young she told a lie that almost lead to the farm losing their business and profit.

 

DONE.

 

I'd argue that this is a less compelling description, while also swinging it from misleading to deceptive.  AJ didn't really have the power to lose the business as granny was the one in charge.  The business was not that fragile.  Sure, it doesn't give anything away, but it loses a lot of the excitement of the original description.  

 

[CT-1138 3,182]

Well, that spiraled out of control. 

 

Wow, Applejack, when you lie, you go all out! 

[Batbrony 16,051]

 

Awwwwww yeah, this older brother LOVES him some good ol' fashioned sibling rivalry!   

 

Good morning everypony, and welcome back to another edition of "Batbrony Reviews."  I'm very happy to say that this morning's episode was surprisingly delightful!  Not that I thought, going into "Where the Apple Lies," that it would be bad or anything, just that I didn't really have any expectations for this episode and so wasn't sure what to expect.  What we got was something very new, which is quite surprising for a Mane 6 character at this point in the show, ESPECIALLY one as consistent in her characterization as Applejack usually is.  Going forward, I would love to see more episodes like this one (more on that later), but for now let's delve into today's episode: this is "Where the Apple Lies."

 

So as I said before, this was an episode unlike most we've ever gotten for the Mane 6, with only a few parallels to it: a backstory episode.  I can easily count on one hand the number of similar episodes we've had to this one, episodes like "The Cutie Mark Chronicles," but that episode was an ensemble episode that only gave us short flashbacks for each of the Mane 6.  Likewise, we've had flashbacks in other episodes before back to when certain Mane 6 characters were younger, but again, they've never consisted of virtually the entire episode.  So really, this was a first for the show: an episode largely devoted to a chapter from a single Mane 6 character's past.  In that respect, it was very experimental for the show, and again, for a Mane 6 character that is very surprising at this point.  After almost six full seasons of the show, it's obviously getting increasingly hard to find new things or stories to tell with the main characters just because they've learned so many lessons at this point.

 

 

Frankly Granny Smith's lucky she didn't end up in the hospital for other reasons this ep   

 

One obvious solution then to this dilemma?  Make more episodes like this one, episodes which delve into the pasts and history of the Mane 6 and also give the writers and animators a chance to show us Ponyville and Equestria in a very different light.  In today's episode alone, we got to see a preteen/early teenager Applejack, a teenage and VERY talkative Big Mac (which was both hilarious and bizarre to watch), Granny Smith when she was pretty much raising those two at a much younger age (I assume that either Apple Bloom was an infant OR their parents were out of town at the time and she hadn't been born yet, though the episode did not address that question), a much younger Filthy Rich WITH his fiance of the time, Spoiled Milk (BTW that name is too perfect for her), and many more fun little bits of Ponyville at a different time.  A personal favorite cameo of mine was when we caught a glimpse of a presumably teenage Derpy (she had a similar body build it seemed to AJ's) at the hospital speaking with a doctor or nurse with bandages covering her eyes, implying that some type of corrective eye surgery had recently occurred at the time of this incident (a very interesting implication for backstory for a character who obviously hasn't gotten much, being a background pony and all).  So obviously, with the rich abundance of new things this episode offered to viewers (and the makers of this episode in getting to put it together), it's clear that we should want (and possibly expect) more episodes like this in the future.  They will give us a chance to see old characters who we've become so familiar with at this point in a new light, as well as characters around them, including family members we maybe haven't gotten to see as much from before.  Who wouldn't love to see a young Twilight with her parents, Shining Armor, or Princess Celestia in her youth?  How about more of a young Pinkie Pie on the rock farm OR better yet, when she first met the Cakes (we saw a young Mrs. Cake (though it was unknown if she was married yet at the time) in this episode after all)?  A young Rarity and young Applejack in their youth, Fluttershy when she first moved to Ponyville, young Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash growing up in Cloudsdale, there are simply a TON of opportunities presented by this format, so the fact that this episode was made should be very encouraging to all of us as viewers and imply that more episodes like this one may be coming in Season 7 (which we now know as of this week will for sure be made).  I don't know about the rest of you, but after how delightful this episode turned out, I for one cannot wait to see more episodes like it next season and hope that the creators seriously consider making more like it!

 

 

Huh, that... could actually explain how Spoiled Rich, dare I say it, actually looked *gulp* better in her youth   

 

 

I didn't even catch this one, but 80s Cheerilee?  That's an AWESOME callback to Season 1!!!   

 

 

Awwwwwwwww, Derpy looks so cute and upbeat despite probably having just gone through a very scary procedure! That's my girl, that's how best background pony (and best pony in general) rolls!   

 

So how exactly did this episode unfold?  Well, besides some of the delightful bits I mentioned already, we got to see both a hilarious and very entertaining episode which also managed to feel rather important since it highlighted a very important and formative part of Applejack's youth.  Since the show has started, we've all known Applejack to be the most honest pony around; I mean, it is her Element of Harmony after all.  Only on rare occasions have we seen her lie, and usually when she's been induced to in a magical sense by someone like Discord.  This time, however, we got to see not only Applejack lying of her own volition, but also how said lying led her to value honesty so importantly.  This episode-type is not new; cartoons which highlight the importance of honesty by showing white lies and fibs getting out of control have been done a whole lot before.  It's not always easy to execute them well since they can get redundant, but it worked very well here for a couple of reasons; (1) it was Applejack doing the lying, so it felt very out of character for her, but since it was in her youth it made sense since, at the time, she didn't value honesty in the same way as she does now, and (2) it did the escalation aspect of this episode VERY well indeed.  She found new ways to lie and fib, the lies and fibs got increasingly far-fetched and resulted in more and more extreme outcomes, which in turn meant that the episode only got more and more entertaining as it went on.  This in turn also meant that, besides seeing Applejack lie, we also got to see a side of her we rarely do: panic-mode Applejack, and as a filly no less.  With Big Mac and her constantly bickering as things got more and more out of control as well, as well as poor Granny Smith having no idea what was going on but remaining her usual ornery, cantankerous but also lovable self, as well as Filthy Rich and Spoiled Milk only causing more grief for Applejack as they kept forcing her into going to greater extremes to maintain her lies, this all made for a very fun, entertaining, and consequential episode.  It really felt by the end like, yeah, this is something that would lead Applejack to truly value honesty as a core of who she is and what she does, after everything that happened here.  I mean, her brother almost got amputated for crying out loud because of her lies!  And what's more, it made sense in a way that she let it get out of hoof; for one, she was a teenager at the time, and they tend to buck up at life choices in certain respects, and she also thought that telling the truth would jeopardize her family's business and future well-being because she wasn't confident she could tell Filthy Rich the hard truth in the first place in a way that would maintain their business relations.  For all we know, she and Big Mac were bickering so much about who was going to eventually run the Apple family business because their parents may have recently, at that time, passed away and now it was up to one of the Apple siblings to get ready to run Sweet Apple Acres.

 

 

Behold, Applejack's "cat-coughing-up-a-hairball" impression!  It's... well, it's accurate, I'll give it that   

 

So all in all, like I said, the mere fact that this episode was largely set in the past is what allowed it to be so balanced in terms of both having a valuable and consequential lesson taught as well as being so highly entertaining.  Apple Bloom got to learn both the value of honesty as well as why it means so much to her older sister from AJ herself, we got to see a side of many characters we hadn't before and a conflict in a uniquely presented fashion, and most excitingly of all we now have a new type of episode for the show which I hope we will see more of in the coming season for other members of the Mane 6.  Overall, "Where the Apple Lies" was a delightfully enjoyable surprise, one of the best of Season 6 in terms of how it so exceeded the few expectations I had for it in the first place, and I cannot wait to hopefully see more like it in the coming season (or seasons) of this show.  That's all I have for you today everypony, until next time this is Batbrony signing off.  I'm off!!! *cue dramatic exit*

[Luminance 2,186]

The episode was fine but one thing for sure questioning in my mind was the Apple family parents. Applebloom wasn't there yet so we know she had to come somewhere and that's their parents. Unfortunately, we may actually never get an explanation of them or what happen but I'm ok with that. Base on this episode, we now know that there's adolescent ponies and if I recall from an earlier episode when we saw younger Fluttershy, we can actually assume that she was in fact older than the other 5 based on when she started growing due to her appearance.

 

What really surprised me was Derpy's cameo. We knew she had her wall eye appearance from an animation error behalf of the animators but now we see they made a reason behind it all.

[Will Guide 21,360]

I'm gonna bet that Episode 24...

 

will be a Map episode that will pair up Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. Because the Map has already sent out Rarity with Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy with Applejack this Season.

 

[Kevin 160]

Now that was a great episode! I certainly was not expecting to see some more exploration of the background of the Apple family. Big Mac had so many great moments and personally after Brotherhooves Social, this is the best episode featuring him to date! I also loved the interaction between the young Applejack and Big Mac!

 

I also want to point out how simply awful Applejack is about lying. It's amazing how no one caught on it early given how over the top they were.

 

One last thing I want to point out is how fantastic the characterization of Filthy Rich is. I'm glad they didn't give him the stereotypically rich guy kind of personality. On a side note, Spoiled Milk? What a name to have!

[Dynamo Pad 11,262]

This episode was pretty good and interesting. It was a nice change of pace seeing how Applejack lied when she was younger. It was also interesting seeing how Big Mac came to talking less in the series. It was funny how Applejack tried covering her lies and the references were great to see. All in all it was a pretty okay episode and I look forward to seeing next week's episode. 

[Delzepp 2,939]

lovely episode

 

I wuv AJ episodes