S04:E17 - Somepony to Watch Over Me

[Rainboom Dash 1,055]

One of the best of the season! A great look at AJ and AB's relationship.

[Oblivion 20,265]

Loved it! Adorable episode, and once again we got TWO adorable pouts!!! I give this episode a 10/10!

[Cirrus. 1,088]

I thought it was a pretty good episode.

 

Applejack being obnoxiously overprotective could probably have something to do with the fact that their parents are dead and/or stress because she knows what lies ahead for her pie delivery journey (traveling through "hell" and trying not to get eaten).

 

Maybe this episode offers some clues to what could have happened to their parents?

 

For me one of the biggest issues I have with the show is the Apples' parents. Their parents are confirmed dead. The Apples are all about family, yet what happened to the parents is never mentioned. In the reunion episode they don't even have pictures in the album.

[Gyruss 125]

This episode hammered home one of Applejack's bigger flaws, and it's really kind of a flip side to one of her virtues.

Applejack is a dependable pony for sure, but once again we see her trying too hard to be responsible.

[Misterian 118]

This was great! easily better than the last episode.

 

Solid, well-paced writing, strong characterization, and great humor to boot, and that scene with the Chimera? awesome!

 

What's next? the ponies defeat the Balrog? no wonder we rarely see Royal Guards in Ponyville, to survive (much less thrive) while within walking distance of creatures of almost every mythology ever? All those Ponies seriously gotta secretly be badass mofos.

 

Also, we get Cajun Ponies... huh, interesting, part of me hopes we'll learn about about them in a later episode (or somewhere in in the IDW comics), I also find myself interested in learning some Cajun cooking for some reason.

[Life Giver 1,063]

This was a good CMC episode.

 

They also look cute wearing Applebloom's bow.

[Orablanco Account 3,706]

As I mentioned to Dark Qiviut, I think "Somepony to Watch Over Me" is gonna be this season's "Spike at Your Service": it's an episode that shouldn't work because it's based off a very, very shoddy characterization, but it's fun enough in every other regard that I personally enjoy it. At least its heart is in the right place, and I can see what the episode is going for. It's just not low key enough. Had this been more subtle, with just a hint of AJ's semi-maternal instincts in the absence of a real mother, this could have been an all-time classic. The Apple family's answer to "Sleepless in Ponyville", which is what it feels like they're aiming for. But the bombastic writing sort of undercuts what could have been much more interesting and heartfelt.

 

Make no mistake, had the third act not been really cool and the episode not been generally funny throughout, I'd probably be with @ completely. But otherwise, it was entertaining.

 

I dunno, maybe it's just because literally anything could have aired after last week's episode and would have been fantastic in comparison. Yeah, no, still angry about that sh*t.

[Thaliel 116]

I hope disney never learns that the snake head did the "trust in me" eye-thingy

[Singe 2,109]

Chimera (Snake): Any last words?

Applebloom: Uh... Uncle Grandpa!

Uncle: Good Morning!

Chimera (Goat): Huh?

Pizza Steve: Hey, leave that girl alone or I will use my Italian Karate!

Chimara: (Lion): Pizza! *Attacks Pizza Steve.*

Pizza Steve: AHHHH! Get it off me! Uncle Grandpa! *Gets eaten.*

Uncle: Pizza Steve, NOOOOOOOOOOO!

Chimara: (Lion): *Sick* I'm not feeling so well.

Chimera (Goat): That must have been some bad pizza.

Uncle: You ate my friend Pizza Steve and now you bad mouth him. I'm taking you down. *Charges the Chimera.*

Applebloom: Good, now I can sneak away with the pies. Thank you Pinkie Pie for teaching me how to break the 4th wall.

Edited March 9, 2014 by Singe

[pegabeats 32]

This has had the worst lesson for kids so far. I guess it may have been hard to find an event for 'trust' but....yeah.

But no rainbows. :S

This has had the worst lesson for kids so far. I guess it may have been hard to find an event for 'trust' but....yeah.

But no rainbows. :S

[Guest90210 3,567]

I...didn't like it.

 

It just didn't interest me. It was one of the funnier episodes of the season, so it has that going for it. Otherwise it was kind of boring, predictable, and repetitive.

 

I also don't understand why Applejack was acting so protective of Applebloom. When she returned, Applebloom was no longer alone so there was no reason to be this insanely overprotective if she hasn't been before.

 

Again, it's like in "Spike at Your Service" when Spike inexplicably goes on about his Noble Dragon Code and life debts, both of which are made worse by the ponies totally buying into his explanation. It has no precedent, and it makes all the characters involved look goofy.

 

I agree with that being the case for this episode, but in Spike at Your Service it made sense because Spike is a baby dragon. Little kids always come up with random stuff like that. "Codes of Honor", games, names, etc.

[Singe 2,109]

Applebloom along with Sweet and Scoot isn't like every other pony their age. They're involved with reckless, troublesome, and dangerous stuff. I don't see any other ponies their age short of Snips and Snails doing something like that.

[Spartan 433]

This is the first episode of Season 4 i didnt actually enjoy.. kinda stupid imo. But it wasn't awful.

 

Main reason I didnt like it was because I didnt feel like i could connect to it, meaning that I have 2 older brothers.. they watched over me, but never went all out like AJ did to Apple Bloom. They (my brothers) would protect me if needed, but wouldnt baby me. Now when things got difficult, no one could stand in our way xD

[Seaweed-Headed Dragon 356]

This episode didn't make any sense. Um the lava lake thing and the monster were really random with made the episode unorganized. Interesting sure, but not making too much sense

 

Must try harder Hasbro !

[OtakuBrony 349]

Howdy folks!

 

Pretty good episode.

 

Probaly Michelle Creber's best work as AppleBloom

Ashleigh Ball as Applejack was funny

 

It did kinda reminded me of Sisterhooves Social with Rarity & Sweetie Belle.

 

Give Scott Sonneborn credit for the writing.

 

Ive heard of overprotective siblings but Apple Jack's was hillarious.

 

That Chimera was creepy.

 

But overall it was a good.

 

See ya!

[Orablanco Account 3,706]

 

 

Again, it's like in "Spike at Your Service" when Spike inexplicably goes on about his Noble Dragon Code and life debts, both of which are made worse by the ponies totally buying into his explanation.

 

I chalk that up to Spike's character development. At that point, he had already seen firsthand that his kindness and disposition make him different from any other dragon and became a hero in the season opener. Spike has always had an identity crisis of sorts, and it makes sense that after "The Crystal Empire" he'd go full circle, start acting chivalrous, and recognize when somebody saves him.

 

As for the Dragon Code...that's a bit random, yeah. My theory is that all dragons have a code they follow, but usually it amounts to hoarding stuff and other dragon mannerism people find disagreeable. Spike decided that his code would be an actual code of honor, which falls in line with the whole "choosing not to be a monstrous dragon" theme surrounding his character.

 

Sorry, I'm in the slim minority that likes that episode. Spike acts dumb, to be sure, but everything else feels in line with his character for me.

 

AJ totally was OOC, though, I'll give you that.

[Forlong 1,725]

Well, I'm certainly going to enjoy reviewing it, that's for sure.

[RockinRarity 1,605]

The CMC shined in this episode. Scoots in the closet and Sweetie Belle in bed was lol. There were a lot of genuinely funny moments all around as well.

 

But Applejack was... wtf. I mean yeah she does have that maternal instinct but this was taken waaaaaay too far. It's like this first-time writer had never seen the show before. It's like he got a synopsis of Applejack's character and wrote something to its extreme.

 

When Apple Bloom messed up the kitchen, normally Applejack is way more level-headed... I mean on the one hand it is interesting to see her act irrational, because even the most grounded people have an irrational side. I just feel like it came out of nowhere. There was no real buildup. They tried a buildup. But it didn't work.

 

What could have happened was that Apple Bloom got herself into trouble and instead of Applejack running back to the farm because of her worrying, she went back because she heard Apple Bloom screaming because she got herself into trouble - it doesn't have to be a life-threatening kind of trouble, in fact it could be pretty minor, but it would be enough to make Applejack run back and give her an emotional reason for her to stay behind.

 

Applejack checking up on Apple Bloom every 5 minutes in bed was too much. I hate it when the writers think that kids are too dumb to understand subtleties. Because they could have made her hovering a lot more subtle if she had just slept outside of her room. Or set Winona up to guard the door or something. Then have Applejack come in to check on her later. I think just changing up those things would have made it a much better episode and made Applejack's antics less cringe-worthy.

 

That and the repetitive dialogue are what ruin this episode for me. On top of the fact that I thought this episode was going to be more heartfelt and interesting - because unfortunately, we don't get a peak into Applejack's character as to why she was behaving this way in the first place. Of course we can all guess why - maternal instinct in the absence of parents - but because of the way the episode was written, there was no way to really relate to Applejack.

 

Back to the dialogue though, not only was some of it repetitive, but the lines that the monster at the end was saying was sometimes... SUPER cheesy. Its entrance was awesome and creepy, and I like that the monster was female, and I liked the concept too... it was just ruined by bad dialogue.

 

So... this episode was weird for me. It had a lot of down moments but barely enough up moments to keep myself from hating this episode all out.

[Arctic Night 884]

Applejack was too out of character IMO and the chimera thing was weird. Other than that the episode was pretty good. Not the best, but good.

[easymac 106]

One of the important things we have learned from this episode is you have to go though hell to get to the South (it is a joke, srsly)

I had made some good points about this in a call last night, but i was drunk and i forgot them

[Kulstor 254]

Overall I did like the episode more then I did last week's episode.  Though Applejack did seem out of character at times.  It had some great scenes also.  The other cmc's pretending to be Applebloom, Applebloom pushing the cart out of the bushes to show she was cocompetant at least some things.  Applebloom was right at the house, a lot of the mess was Applojack's fault, suddenly  poping in like that.  Also whoever put Applebloom's food up to high was a fault too.  Stupid to put food for a kid up that high.  They should have put all her food that had to be refrigerated on the bottom shelf.  The way Appleboom's song was cut short, funny.  The way Applejack took out the goat using some cheese.  & others I likely don't recall right now.

[FlutterDash4072 189]

Applejack was way OOC in this episode. Apple Bloom's gotten herself into much bigger messes without Applejack becoming a helicopter sister over it. So most of the episode wasn't really believable for me.

 

On the positive side though, I really liked the swamp scene and the chimera. But they weren't enough to save the whole episode.

[Ianpiersonjdavis 512]

This episode was okay.

 

I get that Applejack is overprotective because she's the big sister and family is really important to the Apples, but tihe ending confused by her complete 180 after Applebloom was nearly eaten alive-it seemed like she should have had the opposite attitude after what she had been like for the first two-thirds of the episode.

 

It also felt kind of weak that Applebloom called her sister for help, since it felt like it would have driven the point home better for AJ if she took care of the chimera on her own by outsmarting it without her help.

 

Other than that I didn't really have any problems with it.

 

The chimera was pretty metal and I'd like to know if it (they) had actual name(s) as well as what the location with all of the fire is called-some think it was Tartarus, but I'd like to hear from one of the writers before submitting it to my heacanon.

 

Scootaloo's joke about skipping the song made me laugh and is a good reminder that the show doesn't feel that it's above of poking fun at itself.

 

7/10.

[Yellow Diamond 7,561]

I chalk that up to Spike's character development. At that point, he had already seen firsthand that his kindness and disposition make him different from any other dragon and became a hero in the season opener. Spike has always had an identity crisis of sorts, and it makes sense that after "The Crystal Empire" he'd go full circle, start acting chivalrous, and recognize when somebody saves him.

 

As for the Dragon Code...that's a bit random, yeah. My theory is that all dragons have a code they follow, but usually it amounts to hoarding stuff and other dragon mannerism people find disagreeable. Spike decided that his code would be an actual code of honor, which falls in line with the whole "choosing not to be a monstrous dragon" theme surrounding his character.

 

Sorry, I'm in the slim minority that likes that episode. Spike acts dumb, to be sure, but everything else feels in line with his character for me.

 

AJ totally was OOC, though, I'll give you that.

 

The Noble Dragon Code might have worked if Twilight dismissed it as some childish impulse he embraced for the week; instead, she reacted as though Spike always had a Noble Dragon Code, and that it demanded to be taken seriously. Neither Spike nor any other character mentions his experience in the Crystal Empire or recent contact with dragons as justification for his behavior. Worse still is how the episode plays off the Noble Dragon Code like it's a farce (e.g., Spike is carrying around a card with a crayon drawing of himself on it), but then reveals the Noble Dragon Code is serious business. Since when? Everyone responds to his claims at face value, flimsy as they are.

 

We never see or hear mention of dragons having any code whatsoever. The whole business smacks of an attempt on Spike's part to take pride in his heritage, except the execution quickly stumbles off the mark.

 

 

 

Make no mistake, had the third act not been really cool and the episode not been generally funny throughout, I'd probably be with @Thereisnospoon303 completely. But otherwise, it was entertaining.

 

I actually cut in this morning just as the Third Act was underway. I didn't watch the entire way through (I was distracted by the unexpected appearance of Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie on HBO), but I got enough of it to understand how the Third Act could have worked well if not for the two prior acts. The Chimera is pretty boss, don't get me wrong, yet the intended moral (Sisters should look out for one another and trust each other) struck me as inconsistent with AJ's activities throughout the episode. If Apple Bloom and Applejack had a falling out which resulted in Apple Bloom taking the pie delivery in order to show how she was ready for adult responsibilities, the Third Act is an action-packed crescendo.

 

But doesn't the Aesop break once Applejack is vindicated for being overprotective? How does rescuing Apple Bloom in the swamp prompt Applejack's revelation that she needn't smother her younger sister? The dialogue afterward implies that the survival of the pie cart proves to Applejack that Apple Bloom is responsible. I don't quite follow the logic.

[Singe 2,109]

Applejack has always been stubborn when it comes to her beliefs. She needs to be proven wrong to just get over it. The point is that Applejack wasn't looking at things sensibly. If Applebloom can protect the cart in this high level degree of danger, then she's more than qualified to be trusted in much less dangerous situations. As long Applejack keeps her away from the high level danger from now on.