Welcome once again fillies and gentlecolts to another edition of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Recap/Review. If the last seven days has left you thirsty for some new pony episodes, then this week’s episode should hopefully hit the spot. Because it’s cider season in ponyville, and MLP looks to satisfy the cravings with “The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000”. But is this episode a delicious treat, or does it leave you with a bad taste in your mouth. Let’s find out with some tasty recapping.
We open the episode at Fluttershy’s cottage in the middle of the night, as Rainbow Dash enters her bedroom. She gets Fluttershy out of bed in a hurry so they can make it in line early for the opening of cider season at Sweet Apple Acres. Every year, Pinkie Pie gets there first and Dash always ends up without any cider by the end of it. However, despite her best efforts, Dash still discovers that Pinkie and most of ponyville has arrived early.
Cider season officially opens, and the ponies get to enjoy the delicious cider the Apple family provides every year. However, the supply runs out quickly (actually as soon as Dash is about to have some), and this leaves many of the ponies irate. But before any situation can happen, a strange vehicle approaches with a pair of unicorn ponies. These two are Flim and Flam, the world famous Flim Flam ponies. They immediately get into song as they tell all of Ponyville that they are travelling sales ponies, here to satisfy the cider needs for all of the ponies in ponyville. They also introduce their invention, a giant machine called the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, which makes cider faster and more efficiently to the Apple family’s more rustic methods.
The Flim Flam brothers easily win the hearts of every pony in Ponyville, and the devious duo attempt to strike a deal with the Apples, offering their device and unicorn magic to control it for 75 percent of the cider profit. The Apple family declines, so the Flim Flams decide to be their competitors instead, with the intent to drive Sweet Apple Acres out of business.
The next day, once again the Apple family quickly run out of cider (With Rainbow Dash being screwed out of a taste of cider again), so the Flim Flams quickly begin to offer for the rest of Ponyville. But the apples quickly put a stop to them. So the Flim Flams issue a challenge to the family. A cider making contest, where the ones who can make the most cider in the hour, will then be the official cider makers of Ponyville and the owners of Sweet Apple acres.
The day of the competition comes, and the Apple family try their hardest to compete with the Flim Flams and the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000. However, despite their best efforts, the four of them simply can’t compete with the device. Until Twilight Sparkle comes up with an idea. She asks Applejack if she and the rest of her friends can help the Apple family in the competition. Applejack quickly agrees, and the five of them get to work. The added “horse power” leads to faster cider productivity for the Apple family, so much productivity, that it actually starts to beat the Flim Flams. The brothers, worried about losing, decide to change the settings on the device and set it to take anything from bad apples to garbage.
The hour comes to an end, and despite their best efforts, the Apple family are still unable to beat the Flim Flams. The family prepares for their exile from Sweet Apple Acres, but as luck would have it, the ponies of Ponyville find the cider of the Flim Flams to be disgusting. But before the two shysters get what’s coming to them, they quickly pack up and leave Ponyville. The Apple family get to keep their home, and have enough cider made for every pony in ponyville. Well, except for Rainbow Dash again. But Pinkie kindly offers her cup of cider to Dash. Applejack then writes her letter for Princess Celestia this week. The moral being… NOTHING! She didn’t learn a thing. Applejack was right all along, and knew that things would work out in the end.
Well, did this sudsy cider story satisfy? Let’s break this down with Pros and Cons.
PRO
The Flim Flam brothers were great villains for this episode. Unlike ones in the past like Discord or Nightmare Moon, it’s always good to see bad guys who aren’t all about taking over the world, but rather being greedy and charmingly evil. Plus, after such a dry spell with no major antagonist since Discord, this was very welcome.
This episode delivered another great song. The Flim Flam’s song was very reminiscent of classic vaudeville, and reminded me a lot of the monorail song from the simpsons as well. And since I’m a sucker for stuff like this, it won me over easily. But I wouldn’t say entirely, but we’ll get to that momentarily.
One thing I loved about this episode was it proved what I knew all along. When this show is able to present quality character evolution, it pays off extremely well. Applejack was proof of this belief. Look back at Applebuck Season, the fourth episode of season 1. In that episode, she was so stubborn, and unwilling to accept anypony’s help that she was willing to almost kill herself in exhaustion to get the job done herself, even though she knew she was in over her head. Look at this episode, Applejack was quick to accept the help of her friends. That shows how well the morals actually do manage to stick with these characters, and I love this episode for it.
CON
While the song was great, I think the biggest issue is that it may be too long. Clocking in at over four minutes, and stretching a bit by the end, it wouldn’t be too shocking if many got a little tired of it by the end. But I think this one is a minor gripe at best.
I wasn’t too fond of the Rainbow Dash not getting cider joke. I dunno, it just seemed a bit too cruel a joke. Thankfully she got some by the end, but if she didn’t, this would’ve hurt the episode more than it did.
Pinkie Pie irked me in this episode, despite her being so minor in it. First off, getting in line before Dash, and telling all of Ponyville except for Rainbow Dash. The scene with her gloating about how good the cider tasted did no favors either. Again, this was more of a minor gripe, but every minor gripe is still negative enough to be an issue.
the pacing for this episode was a mixed bag, and I don’t think it ever felt too solid throughout. I think the long song had a hand in that, not to mention some other scenes.
And I dunno what it was, but it just didn’t feel that strong story wise. Compared to episodes previous this season, it lacked a really strong story behind it. This one was a tad more predictable and poorly paced than previous episodes.
So, despite those issues, I still say this was an okay episode at best. Nowhere as good as the last few episodes, but nothing that makes it too terrible. Just a really middle of the road episode for this season. This episode was like a cup of cider that tasted good, but didn’t truly satisfy as much as you would have hoped.
RATING: 6.5 out of 10
In seven days, it’s time for Rainbow Dash to “Read it and Weep”. When Dash gets hurt and winds up in the hospital, she discovers a new found fondness of reading. However, with her history of mocking reading as an “egghead’s hobby”, can Dash keep her inner bookworm a secret from her friends? Find out next week.
See you in seven everypony!