Official Discussion Thread - S04E20 Leap of Faith

[brianblackberry]

It is that time of the week again when we all huddle around our computers and televisions and watch adorable ponies do adorable pony things. In this week's episode, we have the return of those hustlers and swindlers, the Flim Flam brothers! This also looks to be an Applejack episode, so yay for best pony! What scam will the brothers hock this time? Will Applejack receive that special rainbow-tastic revelation? Well, find out more in just a few hours! Please discuss the episode, but remember to keep the spoilers in the spoilers bracket. Episode airs Saturday 10:30 AM EST on March 29nd.

[FrankT]

Well... I know I said I'm not a Brony anymore, but... it's not like I have anything better to do on Saturdays...

[Mojo]

HOORAY FOR FLIM AND FLAM!!!!

Good to see them returning to the show!

[Rosewind]

I thought it was a good episode. Lots of Apple Bloom! I don't have much to complain about here. Nothing really shocking happened, but I think it carried a powerful lesson this time. This offering was certainly better than last week's episode. 8/10.

[Mojo]

Here's my two bits worth:

I'm going to be honest, like AppleJack, about how I feel about this episode. First, it was well written. Didn't think the writiers could portray something as complex as a plesibo 'cure all' so even children could understand it, but they did, quite well I will add. Second, the song was good, not as good as Flim/Flam's first song, but still very good. Third, got to see a lot more of Granny Smith, that's always a plus in my book. Fourth, the lesson/moral of the episode was strong and came through just right.

All that being said, I must admit, I left this episode feeling sad. I felt sad because of how Flim and Flam manipulated AppleJack into backing up the tonic's praise. Don't get me wrong, this was very much how Flim and Flam behave, but I just hated to see them do this to poor AppleJack. Seriously, I was hoping it would be Flim and Flam who learned a lesson this time, not some background pony like Silver Shil. Usually, after viewing a MLP ep for the first time, I feel happy! That wasn't the case here. For this reason, I give this ep a 6/10. I wish I could give it more, but it just left a bad taste in my mouth....

[RarityDash]

Yeah, I liked this episode. Even Lyra's gotta give it at least an 8 out of 10.

It was pretty much exactly what I thought it'd be given the summary, the fact that there weren't any Appljeack episodes scheduled after it and that AJ still didn't have her "rainbow key". Much as Rarity had her generosity tested and Dash her loyalty, it was time for AJ to get her honesty tested. It went an interesting route in accomplishing this, and thematically I think this is one of the more mature lessons a character has had to learn as a result. That kind of suits AJ though, and it definitely made for a solid episode for her. With this, Somebody to Watch Over Me, Pinky Apple Pie and Simple Ways, AJ has had one of the best seasons of any character, I'd say. It's refreshing to see them use her character well after the last couple seasons where she fell into the background so regularly.

Really though, this one was well plotted I think. The conflict was set up well, and it was believable how AJ behaved. You could really get a sense in the writing and in Ashleigh's reading of how AJ really wanted to ensure the best for Granny Smith and her family in general and how being forced into a deeper and deeper hole of lies over it just weighed on her. All the worrying she did added a certain seriousness to it all, though it was still kept fun through Granny's silliness and Apple Bloom's innocence. It was an episode that sought a certain depth and actually achieved it, which is something to be celebrated.

Flim and Flam were back and were as amoral in their quest to make a bit as ever. Kind of glad there. If they stopped being the shady cons we know and love, it wouldn't be a lot of fun. The biggest surprise was that we got another song from them. I mean, it makes sense we do. They are characters made to sing. I have just been checking back with those infamous numbers Meghan Mccarthy tweeted out all season and 20 was not listed there. Twenty one was, so I'll be interested to see if Meghan got confused or if she forgot a song when next week comes. Whatever the case, I liked the new Flim Flam song. It's very much ingrained in the episode, even more than their last number, but it was catchy and bouncy and pretty perfect for the moment in the episode.

So now this means all the "rainbow keys" have been found save for Twilight's. It's been an interesting little continuing plotline, I'd say. It's forced each pony to really face their element outright and have it's limits tested. The results have generally been good (just Fluttershy's I didn't care for and Dash's was kind of eh). AJ's important episode definitely shines alongside Rarity takes Manehattan and Pinkie Pride as a really good episode for it. Her key giver wasn't as interesting as Coco Pommel or Cheese Sandwich though. Somehow I don't really see some major influx of Silver Shill fan art happening any time soon.

Of the new writers so far, Josh Haber has probably proven himself to be one of the most interesting. I was glad to see this episode was more than just really funny comedy like his previous two though and actually tried to have more of a point. It makes me interested to see what else he can do at the very least. Very solid effort.

[Bellosh]

I'd say this episode was alright too. Liked seeing F&F in their proper element again.

If tonic is made from apples, should Granny Smith recognize the taste?

[FrankT]

"I have opened a bottle of Flim Flam Tonic, and I say to you it is nothing but an arrant fraud, concocted from apple juice and beet leaves!"

Also: Silver Shill - possibly an allusion to Sheldon's alter-ego Silver Shell? My Life as a Teenage Robot?

[SteelEagle]

8/10. A really solid offering with some nice bits.

Happy that the Flim Flam Brothers remained bad. I dislike villains that at their second or third showing have a turnaround, as you constantly need to start introducing new villains instead of having developed characters as villains.

[kunio18]

wow much lyra, so win !

great episode !

[rjrgmc28]

Before I begin the write up of this weeks episode, this will take on a different perspective from my usual posts and will cover a lot of things in depth.

With that said and quoting from one of the many live reaction tweets....

"That's the Element of Honesty! 30 years on and still going strong!

As always, thoughts on the episode are below:

Applejack. Love her or hate her, for over 30 years she has gone from being a silly pony to a force to be reckoned with. So most of this episode write up will be focused on her plus the usual things.

I'll be honest with you, this episode really captured the true spirit of this veteran of the My Little Pony brand and it's hard not to explain in a few simple words why she is the Element of Honesty. If you were to ask me three years ago what I thought of Applejack when I first started to watch the show, I would have given a different answer along the lines of being destined for the rubbish bin and hating her guts.

However, if you asked me the same question today, I would give a more positive answer along the lines of a very honest, hard working and a stand out pony who for 30 years has overcome the odds time after time.

They say don't judge a book by it's cover, but Applejack has come a long way since day one from being a silly pony in the 80's and 90's to being the Element of Honesty in the new millennium.

For me, the episode for me can be summed up in this tweet:

"Calling it now! Another great episode in the books. Applejack has come a long, long way since those season one days."

This episode, apart from being for me a chance to rip apart and shred Flim & Flam to pieces was pretty good with a few mentions and shoutouts to the days of old, especially the flashback sequence with Granny Smith. The old time music, the sepia tones and the film leader sure brought back some memories, especially if you got a interest of old school film and TV in your blood, even right down to the technical difficulties:

"Oh (insert choice word). Can we get a technician to have a look at that video machine? The tape is stuffed!"

The song number was great as well, although I couldn't bare to watch Flim & Flam flogging their wares and weave a tale of lies.

Speaking of those two colts, while I forgave some villains in the show like Discord and Sunset Shimmer after their dirty deeds (done dirt cheap!), there is no forgiveness for two ponies who almost put Sweet Apple Acres out of business two years ago and their performance in this episode was an exact mirror match.

For some reason, I hate, and still do hate their guts even after two years of reflection time on their crimes. Enough said.

On a final note, even before the episode went to air, fans including myself were guessing what the tonic would do to Granny Smith. Would it heal her health issues? Would it make her sick? Or would we have a Mr Hooper style situation where Granny Smith suddenly passes away and we have an episode on the topic of death and grieving? Surprisingly, the tonic didn't cause the last option, nor it did make her sick. I would have hated to see option two or three play out in front of a worldwide audience to be quite honest with you, seeing Apple Bloom crying her eyes out would be the icing on the cake.

Instead, Granny Smith was up and about without a care in the world swimming in the lakes and completing in synchronised swimming with Apple Bloom and diving from the 10m platform without any regard for her body. Big Mac even got involved in the action!

Apart from that, at the end of 30 minutes, this episode was a great one to watch despite most of the live reactions tweets from me being a bit biased.

Now I would go on and cover more in this post such as how the tonic works, but as always my full thoughts can be found on the blog here.

[warmen111]

It was a bit of a shame that whilst searching on youtube to find the episode, I found out about Flim and Flam being in this episode (Otherwise I certainly would've loved the surprise), but other than that, I certainly enjoyed it. I mean, bringing back old "villains" is always a lovely surprise and even though I'm not a big fan of Applejack, it's nice to see she's getting another episode for herself (Granted, for me, Flim and Flam their return kinda stole her moment in the spotlights)

Unlike most episodes though, where I already know how things will turn out at 10 minutes in, this one was a bit of a surprise for me. I had expected Granny to get hurt before the whole "Applejack lied" thing would happen, much to my surprise though, she herself was the one that brought up the question of her having lied.

[arrowghost]

It's almost a nice circus Trixie would be proud of.

Anyway, still to their old schemes again, it would have been nice if they would sell this as a normal juice product than being some super medicine. At least I find this a good episode. It's interesting that Granny can still swim and all the lot, but I find she isn't very smart when she dive so high and yet into a small pool of water. Well, gladly it's not reality, normally you don't see old swimmers like Granny to perform Olympic style diving.

The rainbow glow wise, I got the feeling the Elements' spirits are finding the right opportunity to appear on our protagonist, even some of the basic stuff also glows, more likely to show what will come next, one day and I got the feeling Twilight's glow will be the last one.

[tacobob]

Liked this episode..Really cute bits going on. But YIKES! What happened to Ponyville? All those poor, poor, pones all in casts and bandages. I'm guessing some sort of drama happened off screen.

Lyra continues to be be best background Pony...

And this needs to be made into a full sized poster:

[ShadowWalking18]

Liked this episode..Really cute bits going on. But YIKES! What happened to Ponyville? All those poor, poor, pones all in casts and bandages. I'm guessing some sort of drama happened off screen.

Lyra continues to be be best background Pony...

And this needs to be made into a full sized poster:

Pinkie Pie's Pinkie sense victims? Remember Twilight?

The episode was good and had a good moral to it. I'm taking it a bit further in regards to somethings I see in real life. Also Big Mac with the rubber duck floaty was hilarious XD. He spends all his time apple bucking and can't swim XD.

Flim and Flam back and even though its their usual element to be con artists, I can't say I like them. Possibly because I hate people that use cons to take peoples money and abuse their hopes like that. They get a profit while their actions are possibly causing people to suffer disappointment or worse.

I give the episode a good review. Granny Smith's slipping on a small puddle of water was just funny and that bucking over the water thing looks so awesome.

Also, Applejack can kick down a tree! Yikes, I really don't want to get kicked by her. Stay on her good side I will.

[arrowghost]

Well Taco, someone will illustrate the poster for sure, remember the time when RD show her Wonderbolts poster to Twilight the first time?

[Bluelight]

I give this episode a 8-10. I dont really lije how they expressed aj though

[QuickLime]

You mean as a character that has legit flaws,and has to learn a hard lesson that sometimes people need to be hurt with the truth before they can be severely injured by a lie?

[elsporko]

There are fans of this show that seem to take it personally when characters are portrayed as flawed

The recent Sweetie Belle episode had a many reactions that I saw that focused more on how she acted before realizing she was wrong then anything else

[QuickLime]

The fans need to get over the fact that characters have flaws, especially GOOD written ones

[Ashton]

Another good episode. Good to see flim an flam back, i figured they were going to be one-offs like all the rest (so sad, we've had no less than four villians who could have become recurring plots and instead they were saved (though espedcially with luna, i think that ws for the better --- though i still like trixie and discord better as villians...)

As said above, very impressive that they brought this concept accross well enough for the target audience to understand. Also a very good lesson for all ages. Really liked how even though AJ wasnt _really_ at fault for shilling the tonic, she took a plate of crow samew as if she had done it on purpose.

Also lots of cute applebloom and granny smith moments (is it just me or is GS in the spotlight a LOT more this season than before?) Only complaints are, of course for the ponies who werent there (especially SB/Scoots since AB was there --- but meh *shrug*)

[Flimflamfan]

more flim AND FLAM