Episode Re-Review: The Perfect Pear · 5:27pm February 24th
Well, it's official, "Make Your Mark" is dead. And G. M. Berrow, the G5 showrunner, has left Hasbro. As of yet, no explanation has been given as to her deparation, it could be entirely unrelated to G5. Still, given that she was involved with G4 first with chapter books (including a short lived Daring Do series) and then with episodes, and even voiced Zoom Zephyrwing in "A New Generation", it's sad to see her leave.
I'll probably end up doing a journal at some point sumarizing where and why G5 went wrong, and whether it ever could've succeeded. There are apparently going to be four big specials for "Tell Your Tale" this year, but I for one can't imagine they'll be very good when the show has only been doing five minute shorts for "episodes". It doesn't strike me as the kind of thing you can extend to the length of a normal cartoon episode, or even just to the eleven minute mark which used to be the norm. But for now, we're focusing on G4, FiM. And words cannot express how much hype and buzz surrounded this episode up to its early release on Treehouse T.V. in Canada. It would feature not one but two guest stars: Felicia Day, a country music star, and William Shatner, Captain Kirk of Star Trek. I don't think any episode after this one generated as much hype within the fandom aside from maybe "Sparkle's Seven" in Season 9 (and that was mostly because it was the show's 200th episode, which was a very big deal). This seems to be an episode that has more than lived up to the hype. I've even gone so far in the past as to say it's FiM's best episode. Does it still deserve that reputation, or has time exposed some hidden flaws that bring it down? Well, let's find out.
The episode begins with Apple Bloom out near the market, when she finds ponies flocking to a stand run by an elderly earth pony named Grand Pear. Through exposition, we learn that Grand Pear used to live in Ponyville, but later moved to Vanhoouver. Apple Bloom presses him on why he came back, but Grand Pear refuses to say and instead gives her a free sample of his pear jam. Apple Bloom brings it home, declaring that it'll be the perfect topper for flapjacks. And Applejack and Big Macintosh go berserk upon seeing it, quickly digging up a board and making a hole to hide the jam before Granny Smith can see it.
It works, Granny Smith suspects nothing. Then, in an admittedly odd form of skirting around the issue, Granny Smith says she's gonna "wash up for supper" and goes to use the outhouse, meaning she's going to use the bathroom. It's only the second time in the entire show that a character has acknowledged that need. But it can definitely be confusing when Granny Smith says "wash up" yet trots past the sink. They probably could've used "freshen up" and it would've worked better. Anyway, after Granny Smith leaves, Apple Bloom asks Applejack and Big Macintosh why pear jam is so taboo to Granny Smith. Applejack explains that it's because of an old feud the Apples once had with the Pear family, though Granny Smith would refuse to talk about it when asked. Fortunately, there is somepony else who knows: Goldie Delicious, the family historian. So the Apple siblings go to see her, apparently without telling Granny Smith so she doesn't get suspicious, but you have to wonder if they felt the need to invent a cover story since otherwise wouldn't Granny Smith think something is up if all three of her grandchildren just disappeared without an explanation?
Goldie Delicious manages to provide the siblings with the information they need. Long ago, the Pear family had an orchard right next door to Sweet Apple Acres, and Granny Smith and Grand Pear as the family heads were fierce rivals, even competing against each other in the market place for customers. The families naturally didn't get along, and the only two ponies who did were Bright Macintosh and Pear Butter. Interestingly, in a flashback, we get their first meeting when they were foals. They use the Cake Twin models, yet neither Bright Mac or Pear Butter are wearing diapers, and can apparently talk like normal ponies just fine. Maybe it's operating on Rugrats logic?
Applejack interrupts after the flashback shows Bright Mac calling Pear Butter Buttercup, pointing out that Buttercup is the name of the Apple siblings' mom. That means that in reality, they're half Pear.
As to how nopony in the family ever knew about this, Goldie Delicious explains that nopony ever called Buttercup by her real name after she married Bright Mac, and her cutie mark as a preserved jar of pear butter looks similar to apple butter, so you wouldn't be able to tell at a glance that she was a Pear. However, she can't tell the silbings much else about their parents without getting down a large book guarded by what I believe is a leopard. She instead tells them to go see Burnt Oak, a firewood salespony. Then, after the siblings leave to do that, Goldie falls off her pile of books while trying to get the book guarded by the leopard. And despite her old age, she's perfectly fine since she'll go on to appear in "Grannies Gone Wild" next season.
Burnt Oak opts to tell the siblings about their father, revealing that he (Burnt Oak) and Bright Mac were friends growing up. He then tells them about one incident where the two were plowing a field, and Bright Mac (thanks to his incredible strength) was winning. That is, until he happened to see Pear Butter and got distracted, straying from the field, crashing through a fence, and managing to topple a water tower on the Pear family property, destroying a silo. And Burnt Oak had to literally drag Bright Mac away before Grand Pear could spot him.
Grand Pear initially thought Pear Butter somehow caused the accident, but Bright Mac came forward and confessed, causing Grand Pear to notice his daughter's feelings toward Bright Mac. He insisted that Bright Mac build him a new silo, and then took his daughter away, berating her for "making goo goo eyes at an Apple". The flashback ends as Burnt Oak tells the siblings to see Mrs. Cake if they want to know more about their mom. They leave to do so, but Big Macintosh asks Burtnt Oak if it'd be okay to come back from time to time to hear more stories, and Burnt Oak says that's fine. They never outright say for sure that the Apple siblings' parents are dead, but from the way everypony talks about them it's pretty obvious they're no longer around (and if the parents were alive, what would stop the siblings from talking to or writing to them to ask for information?).
Mrs. Cake explains that she owes her cutie mark to Pear Butter a.k.a Buttercup, who seemed to have a knack for knowing what Mrs. Cake's special talent might be. Mrs. Cake also reveals that she used to be called Chiffon Swirl, and that Pear Butter would always help her with baking (often by bringing in pears for Chiffon to use as ingredients). Naturally, Chiffon wanted to repay the kindness, and opted to surprise her friend with a cake. She accidentally ended up stumbling upon Bright Mac and Pear Butter having a moment, causing Bright Mac to run away so he wouldn't be spotted. Pear Butter confesses to Chiffon about she's in love, and tells her friend a story. In a flashback within a flashback, Bright Mac gives Pear Butter a flower to put in her mane, telling her it's the anniversary of the first time he called her Buttercup. And the hours he mentions adds up to about fifteen years, meaning he and Pear Butter are probably now on the cusp of being young adults. Anyway, Pear Butter brings out a guitar as her present, and begins singing a song.
The song is called "You're In My Head Like a Catchy Song", and it's absolutely beautiful. I had never heard of Felicia Day or her work before this, but for this song at least she sings it perfectly. The lyrics and visuals tell the story better than words, showing Bright Mac and Pear Butter through the seasons and years, ending with Pear Butter accidentally confessing her love to Bright Mac. It all sounds so sweet, but the young lovers' relationship was put in danger when Grand Pear informed his daughter they were moving to Vanhoouver so as to get away from the Apples. That leads into Mrs. Cake taking the Apple siblings to Mayor Mare, who reveals that she played a role in their parents' love story. The night before the Pears were slated to leave, Bright Macintosh opted to have a secret marriage at the edge of Sweet Apple Acres, with Burnt Oak and Mrs. Cake (then still Chiffon Swirl) as witnesses (since marriages usually do require witnesses in order to be made official). Even back then, Mayor Mare had her naturally pink mane and tail, and she didn't feel the need to dye it gray.
They even had a special ceremony in place of the usual ring, exchanging seeds that they then planted in the ground. However, just as the ceremony was slated to begin, Granny Smith and Grand Pear happened to stumble upon it. That didn't stop Mayor Mare from officially making the two a married couple, but Granny Smith and Grand Pear objected. However, Pear Butter pointed out that since her marriage just went through, the Apples were part of her family too and refused to leave. Grand Pear then gave her the ultimatium: Stay with him, or be with the Apples. Pear Butter asked him point blank if she was forcing him to choose, and when he hold her he was, she opted to stay with the Apples. And from there, it's clear that Grand Pear never saw his daughter alive again, and presumably never kept in touch with her. Such happenings are all too real in real life, marriages and relationships have been known to strain families. But the episode isn't over just yet.
Applejack is naturally quite upset about what Grand Pear did, but Mayor Mare and Mrs. Cake point out that things like these are never easy to talk about. That it can be hard to know when and where to discuss them.
Applejack, of course, decides now's as good a time as any since Grand Pear is back in Ponyville. She and the other siblings go to confront him, deducing that he didn't simply move back to Ponyville for a change of scenery. He came back to see his grandkids and to make amends. He apologizes for what he did in the past, and the Apple siblings forgive him as they sense he truly is remorseful and regretful over what he did. Then they take him back to Sweet Apple Acres as they reveal to Granny Smith that they know everything. Granny Smith apologizes for not having told the siblings sooner, and she and Grand Pear make amends.
And to top it all off, the episode ends by revealing that the seeds Bright Mac and Buttercup planted years ago have grown up into a pair of intertwined trees: One half apple and one half pear. Some have even speculated that this might be where the two are buried (though we don't see any tombstones or epitahs).
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode and do I still think it's the best overall episode of the entire show? The answer is yes. Fans had been waiting for years for any information about the Apple parents, and this episode did not disappoint in the slightest. We really got to see Bright Macintosh and Pear Butter as fully fledged characters, and got to watch their romance develop over the course of the episode. We can see how they might have influenced their children, who inherited what from whom. The episode provides a very real look at what love can do for a family, and how relationships can be strained or broken over one incident, then showing that you never know for sure when the last time is you'll see someone. And if your last encounter with them wasn't very good, you're going to feel regretful. Of course, the story is primarily told through flashback, and the Apple siblings are the ones seeking out the information. It makes sense for Apple Bloom to be the one to instigate the plot, seeing as she is the youngest and clearly has no memory of any of these events. And Applejack taking the lead at the end, confroting Grand Pear head on, makes good use of her stubborness, her refusal to leave things alone no matter what. We've seen before how this can be a blessing and a curse.
There's also a lot implied but never stated outright, such as when Big Macintosh is talking to Burnt Oak and it's clear that losing his parents meant Big Mac had to grow up sooner than he would've liked, had to take on responsibilities as the oldest sibling that he otherwise wouldn't have had to do. As for how Chiffon Swirl could become Cup Cake, another user proposed a pretty good explanation via headcanon: Chiffon changed her name to Cup (either before or after marrying Carrot Cake) to support her friend, Buttercup. One comic even pointed out how Pumpkin Cake looks somewhat similar to Buttercup, so her legacy lives on through there. The guest stars are great too, in fact William Shatner not only has Canadian citizenship, but he proved with Grand Pear that he can voice act void of his usual (widly mocked) "Shatnerisms". And this was the same year he voiced Two Face in Batman v.s. Two Face, the final performance of the late, great Adam West as Batman. Even the song, "You're In My Head Like a Catchy Song" is beautiful and very well done. We even get to hear a brief instrumental reprise at the end of the episode when we see the trees sprouted from the seeds planted by Bright Mac and Buttercup. Everything about this episode just clicks, meaning it definitely earns that A+ rating. Sure, Bright Mac and Pear Butter are a bit too idealized. But given the context of the episode, it makes sense that ponies would want to remember the good things about them. Heck, this episode's story gets a leg up on Romeo and Juilet since in that classic play, the two main characters rush into marriage as soon as they've met, whereas here Bright Mac and Pear Butter have been in love for years before they opt for a hastily arranged marriage when they're both old enough and mature enough to decide they're ready for it. This indeed remains the best episode of FiM, only "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" comes anywhere close to topping it.
Now, the next episode of FiM that will be covered in this re-review session is "Triple Threat". But before then, we're going to divert into Equestria Girls for a bit with a series of three specials that together equal a full length movie "Magical Movie Night". First up is "Dance Magic", which was originally supposed to be released before Legend of Everfree, but was inexplicably pushed back to take place after it.
Much like what I said in your Sisterhooves Social re-review, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn't like this episode, even a little.
Where did you hear about Make Your Mark?
5769782 It was announced in some group forums a day or two ago. I'm surprised Equestria Daily hasn't posted about it yet.
While I don't think this is the best episode of the series, or even necessarily in my personal top 5, it's definitely up in the top ten at least, and definitely the best episode of season 7
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https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/02/make-your-mark-chapter-6-was-final.html#disqus_thread
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Actually, there is someone on Deviantart called NuvaPrime that apparently didn't like The Perfect Pear: https://www.deviantart.com/nuvaprime/art/My-Least-Favorite-MLP-Episodes-721478917