Welcome once again fillies and gentlecolts to another edition of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Recap/Review. Well, after a 2 week gap, we’re finally back with some brand spankin’ new episodes. Not to mention, this is the first episode of 2012. And what better way to kick off the new year than with a Cutie Mark Crusader episode? Oh, I can certainly think of much better ways, but that’s besides the point. It’s time that we get down to some appreciatin’, because it’s time for “Family Appreciation Day”.
We open the episode at Sweet Apple Acres in the middle of the night. Everypony is asleep, until they hear the clamoring of Granny Smith, who happily proclaims that the zap apples are coming. Zap apples are some sort of electric fruit that only grows at a certain time of year, and only under certain crazy conditions, but we’ll get to those as we get through the recap. Apple Bloom is especially excited because this means she can help in the process of making zap apple jam with Granny Smith while Applejack and Big Macintosh work on harvesting the apples. Among those crazy conditions I mentioned earlier includes both Apple Bloom and Granny Smith dressed in bunny costumes, singing to the water.
Unfortunately for Apple Bloom, this comes at the worst of times, as this occurs during the arrival of spoiled bully Diamond Tiara, and her father Filthy Rich. Diamond Tiara begins to make Apple Bloom believe that the things Granny Smith does are embarrassing. It doesn’t help matters when they go into town, and Granny Smith begins to communicate with the bees. Other strange requirements like giving a drill sergeant speech to jam jars, and painting pink polka dots all over the house, don’t exactly paint a perfect picture of Granny Smith being well in the head.
However, the issue with Apple Bloom gets worse as Cheerilee picks her as the next student to participate in Family Appreciation Day, where one filly brings a family member to speak to the class. Of course, this gives Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon the perfect opportunity to suggest Granny Smith, which makes Apple Bloom extremely worried about being embarrassed in front of the entire class.
With her fears at an all time high, Apple Bloom tries to get the help of Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to find a way to keep Granny Smith from showing up for Family Appreciation Day. They try to pretend to make Apple Bloom look sick, they try to use a napping Granny Smith as a puppet to trick Cheerilee into thinking she won’t be able to show up. They even try to trick the old mare into taking a train trip to see a distant member of the Apple family. But despite their best efforts, Granny Smith still manages to make it to Family Appreciation Day. And what does she have in store for Apple Bloom’s class?
Why, the birth of Ponyville, of course. Wow, did that one ever come out of left field.
She tells the story of her filly days, and how her family were pilgrim ponies who collected the finest seeds, and travelled all over the land. One day, they eventually found themselves in Canterlot, where they would meet Princess Celestia. Celestia shows them a place for the pilgrims to settle. However, food is still rather scarce, so Granny Smith (Or is it Annie Smith? Was she always named Granny? That’s kind of awkward. Anywho) entered the Everfree Forest, and discovered the zap apples, along with the dangerous timber wolves that guarded the apples. However, despite this encounter, she still manages to gain some of the seeds, and the family begin to grow the zap apples. She learns about all of the techniques and conditions required to make the zap apples appear, and their tendencies to be rather picky when being made. Her family sold the apples, and slowly the town began to grow, and would become to Ponyville we all know and love.
The class applauds Granny Smith’ story, except for Diamond Tiara of course, who still believes Granny Smith to be nothing but an old coot. Apple Bloom defends her grandmother, and finally starts to realize how wrong she was for being so embarrassed. With the zap apples harvested, and the jam made, the episode ends with the ponies of Ponyville celebrating and enjoying the zap apple jam, and the fillies getting to do some of the conditions required to make the jam.
Including an unwilling Diamond Tiara.
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And that was Family Appreciation Day. Was this an episode worth appreciating? Let’s break the pros and cons down.
PRO
First off, I love the sudden addition of a Ponyville origin story. As I’ve said before, I love learning about Equestria’s rich history, and how things like Ponyville came to be. So, getting to learn this out of nowhere was a great surprise. Plus, I personally think this origin story was handled better than the Equestria birth tale of Hearth’s Warming Eve. Mainly because it didn’t feel tied to a holiday, unlike Hearth’s Warming, which felt like “We’ve discovered a new land. Here, have Christmas!”
The zap apples are one of the cooler ideas I’ve seen in a long time. Rainbow apples that grow on weird magical electricity, and require silly conditions to grow. Now that’s original and creative. Further proof of the brilliance the writers continue to present for the show.
Adding a new creature in timber wolves was also pretty cool. It’s good to see the bestiary grow on the show, and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us next.
Granny Smith is a great character, and really got to shine here. She’s funny, strange, a bit senile, and just plain fun. While she was lost in the shuffle of season 1, so far she’s shined great in season 2. And this is where she shined the brightest.
CON
This episode barely having any of the mane 6 (and by that I mean only Applejack, and that was for barely a few minutes) in it was a bit of a turnoff. Were they needed for the plot? No. But I would far rather prefer going into the adventures of them other than side characters and cutie mark crusaders.
And speaking of which, yeah. It’s another cutie mark crusader episode, and I’ve never been overly fond of them. They’re cute, and can work in small doses, but I really don’t think they need so many episodes devoted to them. If the show ever managed to create a spinoff for them, then I would be fine with that. But again, they just feel like filler. But, at least the plot wasn’t about them trying to get their cutie marks.
Big Macintosh at least got a few more lines in this episode, but not enough to make me feel like the character hasn’t been extremely dumbed down. Is the “eeyup” catchphrase a nice thing? Yeah, sure. But honestly, it shouldn’t be all he says, since we know he can speak full sentences, and the big silent treatment does him no favors.
And finally, while I loved Granny Smith in this episode, I will admit that by the end prior to the story, I was getting a bit tired of her senile antics. Not that they weren’t entertaining at times, just that they did get a bit annoying.
Family Appreciation Day is an okay episode. The first couple acts are decent, and the ending is a great surprise turn. It has its big issues, and probably won’t make too many people’s top 10 lists, but it’s still another solid episode for the season.
RATING: 7 out of 10.
Next week, we’re finally back to the mane 6. And holy crap, it’s actually a Pinkie Pie episode! Pinkie offers to take care of Mr and Mrs. Cake’s twin toddlers, but will this task overwhelm the pink pony? Or is Pinkie the right pony to watch after the “Baby Cakes”? find out in 7.
Until next week Bronies and Pegasisters.