S01:E04 - Applebuck Season

[qib 695]

This episode was a very strange one to me 

It's an episode that showed me that the show was generally going to be high quality but something about the plot just seemed a bit weird to me

I think this episode would've been much better suited for Rarity, making too many dresses then she can handle or something, directly referring to her element and its negatives if over used (just because you're generous, doesn't mean you shouldn't forget about yourself!)

But Applejack is the element of HONESTY!!! She's supposed to be so honest that she can use it to defeat Nightmare Moon, so what happened between those few weeks???

I haven't even finished Season 1 but I am now fully convinced in the idea that Rainbow Dash and Applejack should swap their elements! Although, I did find this episode funny, watching it a few times just for the joke about the zoo, idk why its so funny to me 

[Props Valroa 25,966]

Interesting one, Nurse Red heart has a cameo. Applejack should have gotten in trouble for poisoning those ponies though, that was a bit dark. I liked it.

[JMTV99 1,348]

This episode is a classic! Great expressions. Great gags. And great development for Applejack. Plus, this is the first episode to got me warm up to Applejack.

[Reality Check 627]

I don't really know how to feel about this episode. Applejack's motivation for doing the harvesting all by herself seems understandable in some ways, sometime asking for help can seem like an attack aimed at our pride. But even so, I can't help but feel a bit annoyed whenever she's being overly stubborn. Not only that, I find it kind of hard to believe that Ponyville, an entire community made up of ponies of multiple races, would rely on a single earth pony for help. A stampede I can understand, but running a store, helping in a stunt trick, or wrangling some bunnies sounds like something plenty of other ponies can do like the rest of the mane 6. Also, I find it interesting that this is one of those episodes where Big Mac gets a few lines other than 'eyup' or 'nope', even though they don't exactly have a big relevance to the episode. All and all, Applebuck Season just doesn't sit right with me in some ways, though I think the moral and the story isn't too bad.

[JMTV99 1,348]

I love this episode so much and it's really nostalgic to me!

EDIT: Expanded thoughts: I love the animation and it's facial expressions, the jokes are really funny and it has very memorable quotes, and it's a great testament for Applejack. Not only that, it has a really great moral about it's okay to ask for help.

Edited June 12, 2021 by JMTV99

[Astralshy 23,442]

This episode is really important to AJ. She definitely has also some flaw like any other of the mane six. It's also nice to hear some speaking from BigMac

But I'm biased here. I've got a very stubborn father. He hurt himself at more than one occasion because of this stubborn nature and scared his family. So I've some trouble watching this because this reminds me on so much bad memories.

Overall I think this is a good episode with some incredible important life lesson for many people. But for me personal is kinds heart to watch.

[Evil Pink One 12,944]

this is the episode where we question the importance of earth ponies and how OP the unicorns are..

[phantompone1148 125]

This was a good episode. It was pretty funny seeing aj all tried and messing things up.

 

7/10

[Cash In 21,488]

Now, this is where the show really started to shine.

Applejack being stubborn is something we've seen, but this is where it becomes a more defined part of her character. There's a lot of slapstick in this episode and I think it does work for the most part. A lot of the gags got a laugh out of me on my first viewing.

AJ's refusal to accept help is definitely frustrating to watch, but that is the point and is what lets us identify with Twilight. She gets more and more sick of AJ's shenanigans, just as we do.

I do think the message behind the episode is something a lot of us can still relate to, in that it's okay to accept help. Honestly, now that I think about it, this episode was a lot deeper than I remember it being. But yeah, this is a good episode and one I could easily go back to any day.

I'll give it a 8/10.

Edited February 26 by Cash In
Updated thoughts

[Rosy Moonlight 367]

This reminds me of something...

 

[Rosy Moonlight 367]

I love how this episode lampshades the absurdity of a certain design for hills.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmylittlewiki.org%2Fwiki%2FApplebuck_Season&psig=AOvVaw1yzDqiiSWiyt8XZB4qKTp3&ust=1653834483792000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAwQjRxqFwoTCJitndyzgvgCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAi

 

[FloppyPony 1]

Continuing my episode reviews

 

Episode 4 - Applebuck Season

 

EPISODE SUMMARY

Applejack says she can harvest the whole apple acres orchard all by herself and obviously she can't. She gets exhausted but refuses to get help and so messes up everything for her friends until she is forced to give in and get help from her friends.

 

MY THOUGHTS

A much better episode compared to the last one and we can already see the classic mlpfim the fandom loves here including some memes to. This is a solid episode which has a simple premise and so spends most of its time on the comedy and it works in its favour. the humour is much better with some good slapstick and awkwardness jokes. Applejack is clearly shown to be stubborn in a way that's wrong not just for her but for everybody and so the ending feels very deserved. It's also a great moral which is perfectly in character for Applejack. Not much else to say other than this is just a good episode.

 

[Rosy Moonlight 367]

This episode really introduced the clever writing of the show.

Applejack. You're such a silly pony!  

 

[Samuel L Changeling 1,425]

I'm not sure where exact but I read that originally an early idea for both the Apples and this episode's issue wasn't that Applejack was refusing Twilight's help because she wanted to do it alone but because she and other earth ponies didn't trust unicorn magic and feared that their magic would "corrupt the land" so to speak.

In other words in the alternative version she didn't mind Twilight helping but refused to let her use magic due to prejudice.

 

Not sure if this is official but just an interesting but of trivia I found online. 

[Props Valroa 25,966]

I loved this episode. Though I question why Applejack feels the need to buck all those trees when she can have Twilight take all the apples off with her magic in mere seconds. Twilight needs to become a farmer.

[Twitchy-Tremor 281]

Loved this one. My favorite part is when she got the trophy and how fluttershy got the apples at the end. She may have bin animals helping her but it looked like she just had to look at the tree and the apples listened. 

[HeavenSunset 1,866]

This is a good first episode for Applejack, and its a good introduction to Big Macintosh

Also liked the lesson where they realised that its okay to accept help as well as give it

[Grover 28]

On 2023-09-21 at 3:09 AM, HeavenSunset said:

This is a good first episode for Applejack, and its a good introduction to Big Macintosh

Also liked the lesson where they realised that its okay to accept help as well as give it

Twilight as a pragmatist needed to stress to Applejack the importance of her getting the apples ready for the harvest, that part was missing. Applejack was being SELFISH, no your pride IS NOT more important than hungry ponies or the Apple Farm, admirable as it may be that is what misses me on AJ, but she did just think she was wonder woman and thought she could handle that fact I believe, the pressure should have been so intense that she shouldn't have had time to agree to all those other things and it being the buck season they should have never asked her

[Hadrien 937]

On 2023-05-23 at 2:03 AM, Props Valroa said:

I loved this episode. Though I question why Applejack feels the need to buck all those trees when she can have Twilight take all the apples off with her magic in mere seconds. Twilight needs to become a farmer.

Pride I think. It's the same reason why the ponies of Ponyville still do Winter Wrap Up by hand. 

Unicorns are kind of op in Equestria, and if they wanted, they could take over almost any jobs and do it better than the ones with the talent. But they don't because the whole system would crash if they did. 

Applejack lets Twilight *help* sure, but I don't think she'd let her harvest the whole orchard with her magic. Because what good is an apple cutie mark and talent if a Unicorn can just come and do your work better and faster. 

It's the same lesson she *learns* in the FlimFlam episode. It's *her* work, *her* talent at farming apple and *her* dedication to her work being an earth pony that makes Sweet Apple Acre so successfull and important. 

There is no shortcut.