S06:E23 - Where the Apple Lies

[PuppyKit 12]

I half expected Spoiled Rich's maiden name to be "Spoiled Brat" but Milk works to lol

 

I would actually like to see an episode where we learn just what Filthy sees in her.

[Ganondorf8 11,281]

Cringeworthiness (is that a word?) is very typical for this kind of plot, but I understand if you're bothered by it. Cringe isn't for everyone.

 

Derpy is in the hospital, you can see her when AJ is running in the hallways looking for Big Mac (if I remember right).

 

It should be a word since I've seen reviewers mention it in some form or another. I liked the episode but some of Applejack's attempts had me question her sense of ethics, and perhaps she should've just stopped talking to prevent things from getting worse.

 

​So that's where Derpy was? I'll sure to see her then on my next watch.

[Thrond 3,263]

I kind of didn't enjoy watching this one, but there's a lot which I appreciated here. Nothing really convinced me that learning how Applejack came to appreciate honesty is a particularly necessary storyline, but there's a lot of small touches here which made me really interested in her past, and it continued this season's strong characterization of her - I'll fight you about "Applejack's 'Day' Off." Maybe this show should explore past events more often, especially with regards to the main characters. It's really a shame about the standard plot and cringe comedy, though, because this could have been an interesting, if not quite great, episode were it not for that. 

 

Full review at my offsite blog.

Additional thoughts:

 

Baby Applejack didn't do much for me back in the day, but young Applejack here is the cutest thing omigosh. 

 

Sort of annoyed that the majority of mane six episodes in the back half of the season seem to be spinning their wheels to an extent, but I've come to appreciate what this particular episode does a lot more in the process of writing my review. This season's characterization of Applejack, especially, is the most underrated thing, and way more consistent than everyone else gives it credit for. 

 

Dave Rapp excels with characterization but can't write humour. Maybe if we get Confalone to write his jokes, we'd get a really great episode. 

[Baykush 328]

Good episode, a little underwhelming but very interesting and fun nonetheless. I like these backstory episodes, seeing how different the characters used to be before is always good. Seriously, Big Mac never shut up? AJ was a compulsive liar? Who would've thought? The good thing is that it didn't feel out of place or forced, it was a believable conflict. One thing bothers me though, this makes me think of AJ's element and why it's honesty in instead of trust. I'm not saying she doesn't deserve to be honesty because she lied, it's just that "honesty" seems a little bit limited. By lying she's basically going against everything her element represents, if it were trust she'd be going against just an aspect of it, not all of it, after all her lies were motivated by her fear of letting down the ponies who trusted her. Anyway, this isn't a problem with the episode, it's a problem with the concept of the show that has existed since the beginning, I've noticed it in episodes like the premiere and The Last Round Up.

[Jonny Music 3,400]

That episode had a very interesting backstory to how and why AppleJack is considered as the Element of Honesty. In a good, yet embarrassingly cringy way.

Edited October 9, 2016 by Jonny Music

[Allen 1,387]

This is all about Applejack when she was young and her family (Big McIntosh and Granny Smith) at the flashback, I felt more like she didn't lie in past. All is about Filthy Rich, he (eventually) lies (about what he have). She was honest. So this is a great episode and rate 10/10!

 

"This isn't you! You're not a liar!" ~Twilight Sparkle, to Applejack

[Thrond 3,263]

Y'know, this is actually my least favourite Dave Rapp episode, but like everything else he's written for this show, it's only grown on me over time and mostly succeeds on the strengths of its characterization. Unlike "Newbie Dash" and "Flutter Brutter," this one just feels sort of plain, and doesn't have an especially interesting moral attached. 

 

Why are people calling this episode terrible? It was pretty solid and executed the good old "lies spiral out of control"-plot pretty well, not to mention that the climax is Big Mac almost losing his leg, which was hilariously extreme and unexpected.

Derpy with bandaged eyes was the worst and the best part. It's one of the saddest things I've seen in this show and it's in the background, just like that depressed yellow horse eating by himself from Twilight Time. What's the next extremely sad thing they're going to hide in the background?

Certainly not terrible, but I just didn't find it very entertaining. Whole latter half with Applejack lying to cover her tracks was not enjoyable to me, as I found it pretty rote and a little irritating. 

[GrimGrimoire 4,973]

It was a good episode. I liked the banter back and forth between AJ and BM and the insight on why they are the way they are now. I also really appreciated some of the "Easter eggs"

 

Also, I must be in the minority, but I just had no real desire to see nor know where AJ's parents are or what happened to them. I was perfectly OK with not having it explained to me. I enjoyed leaving some of it as a mystery I suppose. However, by not showing them in this case and presenting it the way they did, it does put up a much larger looming issue in what about Apple Bloom? I've seen the question already asked and I might as well echo it since it does muddy the waters a lot and just leaves a plot hole you could launch a space whale into. She was obviously not born yet. And since she was born later that obviously means their parents are still alive and available as of this flashback. I could sit and write a ton of different theories and thoughts on the subject but that would really just detract from the overall point of this thread IMO.. so I will save it for another thread most likely since I know there is one running on this very subject.

 

Overall I liked the episode, but they have just created a real head wreck with it in my opinion that is going to lead to a lot of confusion for many.

 

7/10

 

Also, I wonder how long that charade would have played out if AJ had not come clean when she did?

[Truffles 2,033]

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

 

Apparently pony amputation is a real thing...

 

I was wondering how far they were going to push that scene before AJ finally relented and admitted she had made up the whole thing. Was she going to wait until the saw touched his leg? As it was, as soon as the saw was revealed she couldn't let it go any further.

 

 

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.

...

Who wouldn't love to see a young Twilight with her parents, Shining Armor, or Princess Celestia in her youth?

 

*Waves hands madly in the air* I'd LOVE IT if we'd get an entire episode offering a glimpse of family life back in the day at the Sparkle household!

 

Of course, I have a not-so-hidden-agenda of wanting to see more of how Spike behaved in the past and whether he and Shining were close, so that's part of it. XD But seeing the parents in more than cameo scenes and seeing exactly why Twilight considers Shining her BBBFF would be absolutely wonderful.

 

 

We also got to see a bit more on Derpy. While she was only in the episode for a good 4 seconds, we got to see she wasn't always cross-eyed.

 

This may or may not be the case. See below:

 

The truth is they didn't really show more than just some eye bandages - what was going on there could have been literally either of those options or something else entirely (there's many people born with conditions who have to have operations not just to better their condition but sometimes just to maintain their functionality in life),

 

This. Just because she was getting eye surgery doesn't mean it was the surgery that did it or that it was an accident that led to this surgery. There is always the possibility it is congenital and the surgery they attempted failed to correct the problem completely.

 

 

My only minor grip with this episode was not seeing infant Applebloom and who the heck was watching baby Applebloom during the hospital scene???

 

That's a very good point. I hadn't even thought of her being left alone while they were all at the hospital!

 

 

Hmmm ! Well maybe Applebloom was just a baby at the time and since no one was really able to take care of a toddler (Granny Smith being too old and AJ and BM too busy taking care of Sweet Apple Acres), they just hired a full time nanny or something like that.

 

This could be possible, though it seems like the Apples were not exactly swimming with the kind of bits they'd need to hire a nanny. But again, it could be the case. They should have had a scene then with the nanny to clarify it since it's creating speculation that Apple Bloom isn't really the biological daughter of AJ and Mac's parents!

 

Still, Diamond Tiara is obviously not born yet, so maybe Apple Bloom isn't either? Could still be alive in that flashback

 

Pretty sure the parents have to be dead due to the plot not working if they are still alive (see next comment).

 

Since Diamond and Apple Bloom are pretty much the same age, this is confusing and seems like a plot hole in the episode.

 

Or, there is always the possibility Diamond is born even though Filthy and Spoiled aren't married yet...

 

 

But if they were still around then it wouldn't matter if Big Mac or AJ was the heir to Sweet Apple Acres (since it would pass to their parents first), which meant they couldn't be around, not really. Which means Baby Apple Bloom had to already exist. UNLESS she's not really their sister but a cousin O: (ok enough about that)

 

Agreed. If AB is indeed the biological daughter of the dead parents, she has to be born by now since it is a plothole to have the parents still alive for the reasons you give!

 

If AB isn't their daughter, then who knows where she came from. The mind reels at the possibilities, one of which is highly inappropriate... o_O;

[ManyANewDay_36 178]

Spoiled Milk though. lol.

[RealityPublishing 323]

 

This may or may not be the case. See below:

 

Oh please. It's all speculation, there's no truth. It's all a matter of if you want to look at something positively, or negatively. 

[VengefulStrudel 1,486]

I enjoyed this one, little AJ and BigMac had good chemistry! It was weird seeing BigMac yap all the time, but I liked the contrast~ Also, dat 80's Cheerilee.

 

The more I see Granny Smith, the more I'm liking her. She was my least favorite apple at first, but now I'm really liking her. I think she's quite funny to watch. x)

 

I also liked all the background ponies in the hospital, like Derpy with bandages over her eyes and that Unicorn with a broken horn. Poor guy D:

 

Also, these two twin fillies are adorable~

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure if that's a reference to The Shining or not though.

[Justin_Case001 4,881]

Really disappointed.  The episode wasn't bad, but it wasn't what I was hoping for at all.  So, all I knew was the title.  (I never watch trailers or read spoilers.)  I was foolishly and futilely hoping against hope that this would be the Mr. and Mrs. Apple death episode.  I know they'll never go there, but I think there's ways of doing it that are suitable for children.  (I've pointed out many times that almost every animated Disney movie contains death.)  *SIGH*.  Anyway, I knew it was too much to hope for.

 

For what it was, it was a'ight.  Of course AJ acted like an idjit, but it's completely fine because she was an immature filly who hadn't learned anything yet.  It was ironic that her tendencies as a filly so belied her element of harmony.  It wasn't a bad choice, either.  The contrast made it interesting.  I enjoyed seeing the backstory, especially young, talkative Big Mac.  That was a hoot.  I loved how they kept teasing the first "eeyup," like when he said, "ee...right..."  Pretty funny.  I liked how they made filly AJ look different than the CMC.  Her tall build with spindly little legs was cute, and implied that she was probably hitting adolescence, and in the middle of a growth spurt.  It was a nice touch.  Not a bad story, but pretty meh for me, though I do appreciate any time they fill in backstory instead of just adding unnecessary new fluff.

 

 

 Agreed. If AB is indeed the biological daughter of the dead parents, she has to be born by now since it is a plothole to have the parents still alive for the reasons you give!

 

If AB isn't their daughter, then who knows where she came from. The mind reels at the possibilities

Yeah, my mind was in a constant state of flux/annoyance/reeling during the entire episode due to the AB problem.  She had to have existed, or else she is not their [AJ & BM's] blood sister.  Those are the only two options.  WHY MUST THERE ALWAYS BE PLOT HOLES WHHHHHYYYYYY?????!!!!  Plot holes and speculation!  Why can't things ever be answered!  What is this, like....figgin....LOST?!

 

 

 one of which is highly inappropriate... o_O;

 

But I'll tell ya, what I was hoping for the most was a coming-of-age type scene in which AJ is given/earns her hat.  Now, I realize that she's gone through dozens of hats, so it's not an heirloom or anything, but still, the fact that she didn't have any hat as a filly made me hope that we'd see a scene where she gets it, and it implies that she's going to grow up to manage the farm.  What I really wanted was for the final scene in the episode to be this:

Except, y'know, she doesn't get punched and all that.  But seriously, think about how awesome it would have been if, say, instead of dealing with Filthy Rich, maybe AJ had promised the cider to some cowpony with a hat, and then AJ screws everything up, just as she did, then at the end, the pony gives AJ the hat.  "You lost today, kid.  But that doesn't mean you have to like it."  Chills, man, just chills.  Just envision that scene with AJ and her hat and tell me you don't get chills, man!

 

But really, like I said, I wanted an episode that could have this as a poster:

 

 

 

But, as it is, I'll have to give this episode my lowest rating yet,

SEVEN THUMBS UP.

[Connie 320]

I thought this episode was going to show how Applejack accidentally killed her parents...I'm disappointed.

[Thaliel 116]

I'm really getting old, it took me forever to figure out that the lies in the title meant lying.

Grany didn't seem younger in the flashback, it was tiny details that made the difference, easy to miss

[cider float 2,537]

This was just another meh episode for me. It's not that it could have been done better, it's just that it was a very generic episode from the get go not much could be done about that.

[Truffles 2,033]

(I never watch trailers or read spoilers.)  I was foolishly and futilely hoping against hope that this would be the Mr. and Mrs. Apple death episode.

 

I switched last season and started watching the previews. They were kind of spoilery early in the past but they've gotten better about showing things that don't matter so much. In this case, as soon as I saw teenage AJ, I knew there would be no chance of them explaining the fate of the parents.

 

Though now...

 

Yeah, my mind was in a constant state of flux/annoyance/reeling during the entire episode due to the AB problem.  She had to have existed, or else she is not their [AJ & BM's] blood sister.  Those are the only two options.

 

Now the big mystery is the state of Apple Bloom during this time. Before this, I think a lot of us (including myself) simply assumed AB was asleep or something when she didn't appear in "Cutie Mark Chronicles." Now, however, with an entire episode dedicated to being a flashback, it's kind of disconcerting she was MIA and so now we have a controversy.

 

And yes, while it's funny to titter and giggle over the one possibility of where AB came from (lol on that video of Peter Griffin XD ) really I just wanted to see her existence confirmed and have a canon model for her as a baby. As for her being adopted, you only have to go back to the mystery of Scootaloo and Spike's parentage to see they don't want to acknowledge orphaned ponies and baby dragons for some reason.

 

I mean, they took something that should have been a simple and cute cameo in an episode and created a gigantic brouhaha! The only reason I can think of them deciding to leave her out is because Hasbro marketing is really, really, afraid to show a baby pony who was just recently orphaned and cause a bunch of kids and parents to have sad faces when they go to the store to buy pony merch. =|

 

But I'll tell ya, what I was hoping for the most was a coming-of-age type scene in which AJ is given/earns her hat.

 

That would have been a brilliant topic to cover! I don't know why they didn't do something with it, since this was a perfect vehicle to explain her current look.

[Wind Chaser 4,768]

With the plot being standard for Season 6 episodes, I'm glad they actually worked around it by having it set in the past, as it allows writers to be more creative with the characters without any notion that they're being taken out of character. "Show, don't tell" was prominent here; the episode could have been more preachy and slow-paced had it not been told in flashback. The climax was a shockingly hilarious twist as well. There's a lot of comedic potential in these kinds of plots where the protagonists have to solve far-reaching problems that they create; it worked for The Simpsons Movie, after all.

 

In visual terms, Applejack's design was cute and there are some great callbacks and references (80s Cheerilee, Derpy, and the twins from The Shining).

 

On the other hand, Big Macintosh having a large speaking role comes off as jarring and somewhat distracting to someone who has been watching this show for a while and knows these characters well. There's nothing wrong with his role in the episode, and he plays a good enough role in the plot, but any humor that comes from this contrast is pretty weak; most of it is from "holy ponies, he's talking!" or "ha ha, he got shut up again". For the most part, it implies a sort of development in the way that he knows what to say but shuts up or is forced to shut up all the time anyway ("Pinkie Apple Pie"), or that going from the extreme of talking too much to talking too little is somehow better. It only gets better if you call back to episodes like "Applebuck Season" where he knows the right thing to say even amongst his normal yes/no speech, but given his normal characterization, there really isn't much more good that comes out of it.

 

There's also the continuity error that neither Apple Bloom nor the absentee (implied dead) parents are seen or mentioned in the flashback. This really doesn't matter to the episode's overall plot but is indicative of MLP's weaknesses as far as its no-frills writing style, weak overall concept of family, and squeamishness towards such topics. Like Big Mac's speech in the episode, such a glaring incidence is distracting to me as a long-term fan of the show and many others likewise, but doesn't really detract in any way from the main idea of the episode.

 

It's a decent episode overall. There were a couple of noticeable flaws but they weren't enough to derail the main plot.

 

Come play with us. Forever...and ever...

 

[Megas 27,564]

Am I the only one who's actually glad they didn't bring AJ's parents into this? During speculation everyone kept saying that AJ may have been responsible for her parent's deaths. Soooo many freaking terrible implications and baggage that comes with that. How can people not think that's a terrible idea? Are people really that desperate to see her parents?

[weesh 690]

Am I the only one who's actually glad they didn't bring AJ's parents into this? During speculation everyone kept saying that AJ may have been responsible for her parent's deaths. Soooo many freaking terrible implications and baggage that comes with that. How can people not think that's a terrible idea? Are people really that desperate to see her parents?

 

no.

any episode that brings AJ's parents into it will over-shadow everything else that happens.  For the story they were trying to tell, bringing the parents in would have been a huge distraction. 

 

now, if this had been a story centered around the parents, and designed to use that material, and not really at all about AJ lying, it could have been effective, and I wouldn't mind seeing what the writers could do with that.  

 

I am also agreed with you that AJ accidentally killing her parents would be a terrible idea on how to handle that episode.  

[Fluttery Shy 102]

I really enjoyed it. Not gonna lie.

[weesh 690]

I really enjoyed it. Not gonna lie.

 

sigh

its like you learned NOTHING from this episode.

 

stealthy /sarcasm

[Stardust Balance 7,738]

sigh

its like you learned NOTHING from this episode.

 

stealthy /sarcasm

It's his opinion; you have no right to judge.

[Balt 108]

This episode was pretty cringeworthy

[Fluttery Shy 102]

I'm really getting old, it took me forever to figure out that the lies in the title meant lying.

Grany didn't seem younger in the flashback, it was tiny details that made the difference, easy to miss

Oh my God. I didn't notice the pun until I read your post