This review will contain spoilers for those who have not seen the latest episode.
The premise of this story is that the Flim-Flam Brothers return and provide a new cure-all tonic. Applejack is doubtful, until Granny Smith tries some and it seems to work.
So, as you can see, this is an Applejack-centric episode, and, as I said a few reviews ago, this is something I am continually praising this season for. As many of you probably know, Applejack is frequently the least developed and highlighted character among the main cast, hence her somewhat derogatory nickname, "best background pony". But this season has been doing a lot for her and this episode just adds to that. So, even in spite of what I may like or dislike about this story, I at least praise it for continuing this great streak of Applejack focus we've been given lately.
As with many of the focus episodes in season four's over-arcing story, this episode focuses on how one of the virtues of the main cast, in this case honesty, can be put in a negative light, or at the very least prove to be a disadvantage. I commented back in "It ain't Easy Being Breezies", that positive traits like kindness and honesty are often encouraged by children's shows, and that to portray them in a less than perfect light is a risky road to go down. I feel exactly the same about this episode and thus praise it for taking what will undoubtedly become a controversial stance. But even if I didn't take that into account, the way they handled it was very good, as Applejack's honesty isn't something the show focuses on that much.
The return of the Flim-Flam Brothers is something that you're either going to love this episode for or just be put off by, depending on how you view those two characters. I mentioned back in my review of "Super Easy Cider Squeezy" that I found them notable for being the first true pony antagonists of the show (with Trixie not counting because she hadn't done anything truly confrontational yet), but also remarked that they weren't the kinds of characters I really liked that much. The idea of the smooth-talking salesman who's only out for personal gain has been done many times before and there's nothing shown about them here that really makes them stand out in that regard. Plus, their voices are just as grating now as they were back then, which is a mark against the episode I'm afraid.
The basic setup for this story is one we've seen many times before. The charlatan, come into town to try and push some new product, only to be revealed as a fraud by the end. I've said in the past that I'm willing to forgive repeated story types if they do something new with them. But, aside from Applejack's honesty coming into play, there isn't anything that makes this story stand out from others of it's type. In fact, the basic plot is pretty much the exact same as the Flim-Flam's first appearance.
And speaking of which, that's one of the big issues I have with this episode, the fact that the Brothers themselves neither learn any lesson nor face real consequences of their actions. True, they're shown to be charlatans and driven out of town, but that also happened the last time they showed up, and all that accomplished was that they waited and came up with some new scam before returning. It's even worse this time as they presumably made off with all the ill-earned money they made off all this. These two do not change nor face any real consequence for their schemes, and that just annoys me.
However, what does pull this episode up for me was Applejack's characterisation. I know many people might call foul on her falling for the Brother's words on how honesty was bad, but in truth, I think this fits in very well with her established traits. She's honest, yes, but it's been shown in the past that she's been willing to put honesty aside for the sake of others. Take, for example, "Last Roundup" from season two. Back then, Applejack was willing to be dishonest, or at least lie by omission, in order to prevent others from being let down in some way.
And here, she's unwilling to speak the truth so as to not take her Grandmother's happiness. Applejack is an honest person, but she's also capable of being dishonest if it means she doesn't make others feel bad. Now, it's up to each person to decide if that's a good way of thinking or not, but it does at least make her actions here believable and even understandable. Applejack's motivations, first and foremost, are the feelings of others throughout this episode, mostly towards her Grandmother, and in that regard, her willingness to set aside her most treasured character trait is, in a certain light, noble.
As for the other characters, I once again praise this episode for, like "Pinkie Apple Pie", showing the Apple family together like this. They realy do have a good dynamic and it's always fun to see more of Granny Smith in particular. The rest of the main six make absolutely no appearance whatsoever, which is probably the first time such a thing has ever happened in this show before. While I know it's an ensemble show at the end of the day, this does show that episodes featuring only one main character can still work.
Onto the songs now and this week we get one sung by the Flim-Flam Brothers as they try and boast of their tonic. It's very much akin to their song from the previous episode and, like that song, is very energetic and has a pretty catchy beat to it, and to the voice actors' credit, they put a great deal of effort into it. Sadly, much like that aforementioned song, I didn't much care for it, largely because of my disinterest in the characters it was being sung by. I've never said this before, but I think this is an episode that probably could have benefitted from having no song in it at all.
Time to talk about humour now and in this episode we get plenty of humorous moments from a variety of characters. The Flim-Flams were as flamboyant and energetic as ever, and their delivery in some areas was somewhat funny, and Granny Smith's lines often brought a smile to my face. But, the jokes weren't really that frequent overall and I'm fine with that. This is not a full-on comedy episode after all and while the humour was present, it never detracted from the story, which is good. So while there were definitely funny moments, that's not what the episode is focused on.
When it comes to the moral of the episode, this week it seems to be a fairly standard lesson on honesty. For the first time in a few weeks now, we get the lesson being told via a journal entry, making it less open to interpretation than the previous few episodes. This moral is, as you can guess, about how while being dishonest can sometimes make others happy, it's not worth it if it hurts them in some way down the road. Nothing much to say about this lesson. It's pretty basic, but nevertheless good to teach to children.
So, how did the episode fare overall? Well, I have rather mixed feeling on this one. While I very much enjoyed Applejack's character arc in it, and there were plenty of decent moments, I don't think this one is particularly special. As I've mentioned several times now, I don't much care for the Flim-Flams, so the episode suffers in my eyes because of their involvement, but in spite of that the episode never really had anything in it that angered or annoyed me. So while I'd recommend this one for having enough there to warrant at least one viewing, I don't think enough of it to want to go back for repeat watches.
The premise of this story is that the Flim-Flam Brothers return and provide a new cure-all tonic. Applejack is doubtful, until Granny Smith tries some and it seems to work.
So, as you can see, this is an Applejack-centric episode, and, as I said a few reviews ago, this is something I am continually praising this season for. As many of you probably know, Applejack is frequently the least developed and highlighted character among the main cast, hence her somewhat derogatory nickname, "best background pony". But this season has been doing a lot for her and this episode just adds to that. So, even in spite of what I may like or dislike about this story, I at least praise it for continuing this great streak of Applejack focus we've been given lately.
As with many of the focus episodes in season four's over-arcing story, this episode focuses on how one of the virtues of the main cast, in this case honesty, can be put in a negative light, or at the very least prove to be a disadvantage. I commented back in "It ain't Easy Being Breezies", that positive traits like kindness and honesty are often encouraged by children's shows, and that to portray them in a less than perfect light is a risky road to go down. I feel exactly the same about this episode and thus praise it for taking what will undoubtedly become a controversial stance. But even if I didn't take that into account, the way they handled it was very good, as Applejack's honesty isn't something the show focuses on that much.
The return of the Flim-Flam Brothers is something that you're either going to love this episode for or just be put off by, depending on how you view those two characters. I mentioned back in my review of "Super Easy Cider Squeezy" that I found them notable for being the first true pony antagonists of the show (with Trixie not counting because she hadn't done anything truly confrontational yet), but also remarked that they weren't the kinds of characters I really liked that much. The idea of the smooth-talking salesman who's only out for personal gain has been done many times before and there's nothing shown about them here that really makes them stand out in that regard. Plus, their voices are just as grating now as they were back then, which is a mark against the episode I'm afraid.
The basic setup for this story is one we've seen many times before. The charlatan, come into town to try and push some new product, only to be revealed as a fraud by the end. I've said in the past that I'm willing to forgive repeated story types if they do something new with them. But, aside from Applejack's honesty coming into play, there isn't anything that makes this story stand out from others of it's type. In fact, the basic plot is pretty much the exact same as the Flim-Flam's first appearance.
And speaking of which, that's one of the big issues I have with this episode, the fact that the Brothers themselves neither learn any lesson nor face real consequences of their actions. True, they're shown to be charlatans and driven out of town, but that also happened the last time they showed up, and all that accomplished was that they waited and came up with some new scam before returning. It's even worse this time as they presumably made off with all the ill-earned money they made off all this. These two do not change nor face any real consequence for their schemes, and that just annoys me.
However, what does pull this episode up for me was Applejack's characterisation. I know many people might call foul on her falling for the Brother's words on how honesty was bad, but in truth, I think this fits in very well with her established traits. She's honest, yes, but it's been shown in the past that she's been willing to put honesty aside for the sake of others. Take, for example, "Last Roundup" from season two. Back then, Applejack was willing to be dishonest, or at least lie by omission, in order to prevent others from being let down in some way.
And here, she's unwilling to speak the truth so as to not take her Grandmother's happiness. Applejack is an honest person, but she's also capable of being dishonest if it means she doesn't make others feel bad. Now, it's up to each person to decide if that's a good way of thinking or not, but it does at least make her actions here believable and even understandable. Applejack's motivations, first and foremost, are the feelings of others throughout this episode, mostly towards her Grandmother, and in that regard, her willingness to set aside her most treasured character trait is, in a certain light, noble.
As for the other characters, I once again praise this episode for, like "Pinkie Apple Pie", showing the Apple family together like this. They realy do have a good dynamic and it's always fun to see more of Granny Smith in particular. The rest of the main six make absolutely no appearance whatsoever, which is probably the first time such a thing has ever happened in this show before. While I know it's an ensemble show at the end of the day, this does show that episodes featuring only one main character can still work.
Onto the songs now and this week we get one sung by the Flim-Flam Brothers as they try and boast of their tonic. It's very much akin to their song from the previous episode and, like that song, is very energetic and has a pretty catchy beat to it, and to the voice actors' credit, they put a great deal of effort into it. Sadly, much like that aforementioned song, I didn't much care for it, largely because of my disinterest in the characters it was being sung by. I've never said this before, but I think this is an episode that probably could have benefitted from having no song in it at all.
Time to talk about humour now and in this episode we get plenty of humorous moments from a variety of characters. The Flim-Flams were as flamboyant and energetic as ever, and their delivery in some areas was somewhat funny, and Granny Smith's lines often brought a smile to my face. But, the jokes weren't really that frequent overall and I'm fine with that. This is not a full-on comedy episode after all and while the humour was present, it never detracted from the story, which is good. So while there were definitely funny moments, that's not what the episode is focused on.
When it comes to the moral of the episode, this week it seems to be a fairly standard lesson on honesty. For the first time in a few weeks now, we get the lesson being told via a journal entry, making it less open to interpretation than the previous few episodes. This moral is, as you can guess, about how while being dishonest can sometimes make others happy, it's not worth it if it hurts them in some way down the road. Nothing much to say about this lesson. It's pretty basic, but nevertheless good to teach to children.
So, how did the episode fare overall? Well, I have rather mixed feeling on this one. While I very much enjoyed Applejack's character arc in it, and there were plenty of decent moments, I don't think this one is particularly special. As I've mentioned several times now, I don't much care for the Flim-Flams, so the episode suffers in my eyes because of their involvement, but in spite of that the episode never really had anything in it that angered or annoyed me. So while I'd recommend this one for having enough there to warrant at least one viewing, I don't think enough of it to want to go back for repeat watches.
