Apple
Bloom is embarrassed when her seemingly kooky Granny Smith is going
to speak in front of her class, and tries to stop it from happening.
“Family
Appreciation
Day” starts with a peaceful night's slumber at Sweet
Apple Acres which is interrupted by Granny Smith, who is acting
rather crazy as she announces that the Zap Apples are coming. The next
day Applejack and Big Mac are preparing for the Zap Apples, while
Apple Bloom is eager to start the preparations for making Zap Apple
Jam. She's been excited to
help make the Jam for years and at first has a great time, and she
looks cute in the bunny outfit she wears briefly. But
then a bully in the form of a snobbish brat named Diamond Tiara
speaks some cruel words which cause Apple Bloom to become conscious of
her Granny's rather bizarre behavior. The worst blow to Apple
Bloom is when it's her turn to bring someone in for Family
Appreciation Day at school. Since Applejack and Big Mac will be busy
harvesting on that day, only Granny Smith is left available. Apple
Bloom can't change anything about that due to the fact that Zap
Apples disappear after the 5th day if not harvested. With
only one weekend to find a solution Apple Bloom and her friends try
out multiple plans of increasing ridiculousness and humor. Their
final plan appears successful, but nope, Granny Smith still shows up in
time for Family Appreciation Day. There's no escaping now as
Granny tells the class a story from her past which relates to
the Zap Apples.
This
episode is on par with the usual awesomeness I've come to expect from
the show. The characters are deep and believable. It was a perfect
mixture of seriousness and humor. The whole thing was also very
original and unique. Granny Smith's story was the best way to tie
everything together. It provided more history of Equestria by
explaining how Ponyville was founded which is linked to the Zap
Apples, introduced another cool mythical species, explained all of
Granny Smith's seemingly crazy behaviour, and even included some nice
surprising twists. After that the episode wrapped everything up with
Apple Bloom realizing she shouldn't have been embarrassed by her
granny in the first place. It's all explained nicely with no need of
a friendship letter, a fact I find nice. And of course Diamond Tiara
gets what she deserves, which is wonderfully enjoyable (I can never
stand spoiled rich brat characters).
I
love the Zap Apples. The idea of a magic fruit is weird, yet suits
this show perfectly. I found the signs of the Zap Apples coming to be
rather ominous, but it makes sense since the fruit is from the
Evergreen Forest. The end result is rather beautiful. I feel I
should mention that although I like unique names like Apple Bloom and
Granny Smith, some of the names on this show are a bit ridiculous and
go too far, like Diamond Tiara and her father Filthy Rich. I can't see anyone reasonably naming their child "Filthy Rich", though they do have some fun with the name. Another thing, One fault I see in this
episode is the lack of the main characters. Applejack is shown
somewhat, but remains more of a background character. The others are
nowhere to be seen. I enjoy episodes centered on side characters, but
they'll be more than side characters soon enough if they keep getting
episodes. Although I have no complaint with that, I do wish more of the main
characters had at least been in the episode somewhere.
This
was by far one of the best episodes of the show. It has everything in
it. Superb characters, a perfect blend of seriousness and silliness, more
history of Equestria, another mythical creature, Big Mac actually
said a (small) bit more than the two word vocabulary he seemed to be
stuck with as of late, and there was more of Granny Smith (Who didn't want that?). I quite enjoyed the episode and highly recommend
it.
