MLP Review: Applebuck Season (Season 1, Episode 4)

This episode, for the first time, does not feature Twilight in the main role. Instead, the main character is Applejack (Ashleigh Ball), who is in charge of clearing the apple trees on the orchard her family owns, Sweet Apple Acres, after her older brother, Big McIntosh (voiced by Peter New, a Canadian actor who has essentially made his career out of minor roles), is injured and unable to do so. Too proud to ask for outside help, and with her family unable to help her, she is determined to clear the entire orchard herself. However, this is no easy task, and as she gets more and more exhausted, her efforts not only affect her, but those around her as well.


Honestly, this plot is one of the better ones. It is grounded, following the more character-focused plotting that "The Ticket Master" predicted, and is rather easy to relate with, for me. Who hasn't had that moment where they are in over their head, but rather than ask for help, just tries to work harder?

Another plus about this episode is the fact that Twilight is not in the main role. Not that she is a bad character, but having a different focal character gives that character's voice actress a chance to shine, and shine Ashleigh Ball does. Her voice acting shows quite skillfully the tiredness in the voice of Applejack as the episode goes on. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Ashleigh deprived herself of sleep in order to get the tone of voice right. Combine that with managing to successfully keep the accent up, and you have a strong performance.

Applejack and Big Macintosh. Eeyup.

That's not to say that characterization goes by the wayside. In fact, this episode is the first one that is strongly focused on character flaws. Specifically, Applejack's pride and stubbornness. The impressive thing is that, unlike many kid's shows, this episode shows realistic outcomes of refusing to help. It's not like her refusal to help causes an invasion of something (well, other than a stampede of bunnies. Trust me, it makes sense in context). Rather, it just interferes with her day to day life, and her attempts to help her friends.

Yet another good thing about this episode is that is surprisingly accurate when it comes to the symptoms Applejack shows from her exhaustion. Hard of hearing, blurred vision, irritability, all of these are symptoms accurately depicted. That is more than you would usually see in a show aimed at younger kids, who aren't likely to appreciate the amount of detail put into depicting exhaustion accurately without overly exaggerating those symptoms.

Finally, this episode shows a fair bit of humor, balancing out the seriousness. Big Mac's name is two puns for the price of one (Big Mac, as well as Macintosh apples), and the screw ups from Applejack's exhaustion, while serious, are also played for humor. Also, anything that includes a reference to Apocalypse Now is a winner in my book (one pony's reaction after the aforementioned bunny stampede is "The horror! The horror!"). Overall, this is definitely the best episode of the 4 I've reviewed, and one of the strongest episodes of the show I've seen so far, in my opinion.

Overall: 8.5/10

The bucking isn't always accurate, but it is better in other scenes.

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