S07:E13 - The Perfect Pear

[qwerE 96]

What a lovely episode. I like romance stories, and this was great! I know the story itself wasn't the most original, it felt so heartwarming. I think I liked the story even more because it was about the Apples' parents. Now the story feels more complete. Also, we finally got to know a bit about one of the biggest mysteries in the show. I hope future episodes tell us more about what happened afterwards.

[Moony the Cat 3,702]

This Episode was great! it was emotional and overall a nice Story, this is definitely one of my favorite Episodes of this Season.

[Twilight Luna 31,345]

Watched this episode again and got tears (liquid pride) in my eyes, again. 

[bigbertha 414]

This is a very charming episode. Bright Mac and Pear Butter are very cute together and their banter is fun enough. They may come off as too cliche, but the episode justifies it by having their story be told by close family and friends. Of course they would only want to talk about positive memories. I also like that the episode is subtle about telling the audience that the Apple parents are dead. Everyone talks about them like they're dead, but it's never outright stated and I think that works a lot better than a cliche scene of maybe, Apple Bloom getting her hopes up that their parents might come back before Granny Smith says that they're dead. Subtlety is always more effective and it certainly applies here. 

Sadly, that's the only thing this episode is subtle about. There is a lot of dialogue that feels useless. Like Big Mac, Apple Bloom, and Applejack stating when one of their parents does something that they do. And having Pear Butter and Bright Mac talk as babies. Not only is that distracting, but it's just unnecessary. Who cares how Bright Mac gave Pear Butter her nickname? Wouldn't it have been more effective if Bright Mac and Pear Butters just made baby noises while the episode shows them getting along?

On top of that, the stuff with Pear Butter and Bright Mac being pulled apart because of the Pears moving is pretty dull. It's such a cliche story and there's not enough charm to back it up. Of course the parents are going to find out about their secret wedding and of course Pear Butter is going to choose the Apples. And the stuff with Grand Pear regretting what he did is super basic. It's pushed to the background for most of the episode so when it comes back at the end it doesn't hit that hard. Same goes for Grand Pear and Granny Smith making up. When Grand Pear comes back, Granny Smith still seems to hold a grudge, but it's dropped very quickly. I think a quick conversation between the two of them would've done a lot of help both problems. 

Also the episode can slip into cheesy territory a bit too often. This is more of a personal thing, but it just goes too far at some points like during the song and especially the ending. That tree goes way too far in beating the parents's relationship into our heads and that line from Applejack after doesn't help. More of that lack of subtlety.

To be fair, there are a lot of little things I like. I like that there's an effort to naturally include secondary characters like Mrs. Cake and Mayor Mare into the story. And the little continuity nods are nice to see, especially Mayor Mare's pink mane. That's a really nice touch. And the episode has a couple jokes spread around. I don't quite think there's enough, but the ones that are there work well. The episode overall is enjoyable enough, but it doesn't quite hit that great mark. Some more subtlety and some tweaking of the story would've gone a long way to make it something great. 

Score: 7/10

 

[Rushing cash 836]

It was the most emotional episode in the series imo, the pacing was perfect, the characters felt real and I could feel their emotions throughout the episode. I loved AJs parents, they were lovely characters, and in such a short time they won me over, I felt their pain. The fact that the last thing grand pear told his daughter was these hurtful words and that he basically disowned his daughter and she died with this feeling is heartbreaking, I actually got teared eyed in the final scenes in the episode. I usually don't like romance stories because it just feels sappy, it is just not my cup of tea, but this was excellent.  No matter how many times I watch it, it always gets to me. 

I wish we will learn more about the siblings relationship with their parents before they passed away. Every thing considered, this is probably the best episode in the series, it just felt real.      

[Midnight Scribbler 1,705]

This episode shows a level of depth to AJ's family history that feels a little too real for a world of pastel horses. I knew people who grew up without one or the other parents, or both, either by divorce or some tragedy of illness or accident. The idea behind this episode and the execution of the story is just beautiful and tragic in so many ways. I won't even hide the fact that it made me cry manly tears. It hit home for me in a way no other story in this show could.

[starlightglimmerlove 10]

i think that song in the eposide is great. ( you're in my head like a catchy song )

[Chadbacca 375]

This is my favorite episode of the entire series. Everything just connects together, it's perfectly paced, we got not one, but TWO guest stars with William Shatner voicing Grand Pear and Felicia Day voicing Pear Butter, it's a well-written love story with an emotional ending, and we get a lot of backstory than we anticipated. I can't find a single flaw with this episode. It's that good.

[Totally Nyx 36,010]

I was really looking forward to this episode. I wanted to know a little more about AJ's parents for a long time, especially about why we never see them. So when I saw Hasbro take all that hype and say "meh, let's just copy paste Romeo and Juliet", it was a bit of a sucker punch. Not only was all my excitement ground into the dirt, but now even decent fanfics about them are officially decanonized.

This episode's a solid nope for me. Back to pretending it didn't exist.

[HedonismBot 239]

I generally have no interest in romance stories. That is, I have no interest in romance in and of itself, but I can enjoy a story which happens to feature romance if it has other stuff going for it. Which this episode didn't - it was just a thoroughly generic romance within a basic family-friendly "Romeo and Juliet" clone. Yawn.

[JMTV99 1,352]

Perfect Pear is such a beautiful episode, not only as a major standout for Season 7, but in the entire series, next to Slice of Life and Amending Fences.

It has been a long time coming to answer the major question of the whereabouts of Applejack's parents. Despite being canonically dead, this gives us a whole origin story about Bright Mac and Pear Butter.

Man, it is so sad and precious at the same time. Pear Butter's song was adorable, though.

I love Bright Mac and Pear Butter and their relationship and I wish there's more stories with them because they're so fascinating.

Even though I'm still sad that they're gone, but I'm just glad this 7 year long wait is defiantly worth it, It ranked up there as my favorite MLP episodes of all time.

Edited April 18, 2021 by JMTV99

[Astralshy 26,442]

This episode belongs definitely to best episode FiM has produced. It's also the most emotional episode for me.

I've learned by now that not everyone like romances, so this episode is also not for everyone. On the other hand the whereabouts of  AJ's parents was a long asked a question. The episode 'Crusader of the lost mark' already hinted very strongly to the answer but with this episode it's really lying on the table. The show would never have said it directly, but after it could not get clearer.

The plot was great, the song adorable, the interaction interesting. Mayor Mare having pink hair was really nice. This show surprise more than once wit its consistency. I loved it.

To have such voice actors as Felicia Day and Wiliam Shatner was also of course really great to see/hear.

The only thing which stroke me as odd was the moment where Bright Mac and Pear Butte was speaking to each as infants. From their appearance those two look from the same age as the cake twins and they could only say Pinkie's name. Maybe it's a Rugrat thing?

[JMTV99 1,352]

1 hour ago, Astral Soul said:

Maybe it's a Rugrat thing?

Could be a possibility. Joanna Lewis and Kristene Songco (who are writers and story editor for this episode) had experience of writing shows for Nickelodeon before like the Fairly Oddparents. So I wouldn't be surprised if that scene was heavily inspired by Rugrats.

Edited May 22, 2021 by JMTV99

[phantompone1148 126]

Finally we got to see AJ’s parents! This is nothing short but a freaking masterpiece!

10/10

Edited December 16, 2021 by phantompone1148

[Allen 1,387]

It was a long story that Applejack's parents, Pear Butter and Bright Mac, had a great, romantic relationship with each other at first despite the long-standing feud between the Apples and the Pears, particularly with a disagreement between their parents of Grand Pear and Granny Smith, respectively. It's an honor to see Applejack's parents in this episode. 

Since this episode, I would have thought of Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Big McIntosh seeing their actual parents again in modern Equestria as a family reunion. Pear Butter is so beautiful at the time she grew up to engage relationship with Bright Mac and get married! I wish we'll be able to see their parents more.

My fun fact to say in Vietnamese about their parents and grandparents:

• Bright Mac là ba của Applejack, Apple Bloom, và Big McIntosh
• Pear Butter là mẹ
• Granny Smith là bà nội
• Grand Pear là ông ngoại

I forgot one thing: It was honor that William Shatner, an actor who portrayed Captain Kirk in the Star Trek franchise, voiced Grand Pear in this episode! I didn't know we had a Star Trek actor here as a special guest.

[CastletonSnob 3,074]

Bright Mac and Pear Butter had more chemistry and a more believable romance in ONE EPISODE than Shining Armor and Cadance did in 8 seasons.

[Celli 4,338]

On 2020-12-17 at 9:19 PM, Totally Roseluck said:

I was really looking forward to this episode. I wanted to know a little more about AJ's parents for a long time, especially about why we never see them. So when I saw Hasbro take all that hype and say "meh, let's just copy paste Romeo and Juliet", it was a bit of a sucker punch. Not only was all my excitement ground into the dirt, but now even decent fanfics about them are officially decanonized.

This episode's a solid nope for me. Back to pretending it didn't exist.

I know this comment is 2 years old but I don't understand your criticism. There isn't really anything more that could have been said about the pair without going too far into "not kid friendly" for a show as light-hearted as this. They already got rid of some things from FiM referencing AJ's parents because they weren't really appropriate for the show.

Also it isn't really fair to get mad at the show for decanonizing fanfics because they're fanfics.

[MichaelWFX 35]

Such a fun nice episode! Loved the couple and the songs played in this episode, adds more background to the Apples. Probably the best apple episode yet

[StarHeart333 1,764]

This is seriously one of these sweetest episodes ever and really makes you wonder what happened to them 

[GloryForShame 26]

I'm not someone that easily cry over things, it's really rare, but this episode just melt my heart and ALMOST AND CLOSE made me cry, if i be honest, no i can't relate to anything in this episode, my family didnt had anything like it, but it was just so well done, that i can't believe, we got such a nice episode about Applejack parents and even grandparents, like, the writers made this episode for the fans that waited years for it, i fucking love it.

it's actually funny how the most simple episodes about tbe most basic stuff are some of the most comforting and well dones ones.

[Theautisticrebel 304]

Guys, this episode aired SIX YEARS AGO! Man I feel old.

[Antiyonder 1,114]

The episode is present at the beginning of this video:

A solo video will be posted when uploaded.