Episode Review: Leap of faith

The Apple siblings are enjoying a nice swim while Granny Smith watches from the shore, she tells the other Apples she'd like to join them but she cant go near water....
You see Granny Smith used to be a high diver...

And she once went for the Equestria's high diving record, that's jumping six stories into a pie tin of water...

(if you try this at home you're stupid) Needless to say it didn't go so well and after recovering physically Granny Smith was left afraid of the water, she also adds that she's too old to swim any more...

As the apple Family heads home they run into a group of injured ponies heading towards something, their curiosity getting the better of them they join toe crowd and soon they find themselves at a presentation of a remarkable new product with a catchy jingle and... hold on, big crowds, miracle products, catchy songs? Why does this sound familiar...

Uh oh...

It's the FlimFlam brothers, but this time they've got a miracle elixir...

FlimFlam Tonic, apparently it's some kind of miracle medicine that can cure anything and make ponies feel younger! One member of the audience comes up for a demonstration...

and it seems to work!

Granny Smith eagerly buys a bottle, Applejack and Big Mac are worried and talk about whether or not Granny was fooled when somepony comes swimming down the river...

The Apple siblings try to save Granny Smith but when she gets out she tells them she was in the river on purpose, After taking the Tonic all her fears of the water went away and she's eager to do more physical chores around the farm. Applejack is happy Granny's happy but is still worried about the effectiveness of the tonic so she takes Applebloom to investigate. When the two sisters get to the tent they already see something suspicious, remember that pony the tonic "cured?"

The sisters chase the pony named Silver Shill back stage...

So why would he come back if the tonic cured him?


Because he's part of the act! Shill gets away and the sisters split up and Applejack is led into the tent where she finds Shill hiding behind his bosses...

Applejack voices her complaints to the FlimFlam Brothers, Granny Smith is busting moves like a filly, the brothers counter by asking what was so bad about that, Applejack says that if Granny goes on like this she'll collapse from exhaustion or worse and she now knows that Shill is dressing up like different ponies every show so he can pretend to be cured. The Brothers say that Applejack is making a pretty big statement but say that she's right (hypothetically speaking) and the tonic is a fake (theoretically) even if (hypothetically speaking) their tonic was just a mixture of beet leaves and apple juice...

Theoretically, the fact remains that since taking it Granny Smith is happier so "do you (Applejack) really wanna be the pony who takes all that happiness away?"


At this moment Applebloom appears and asks AJ if she found out what was in the tonic, Applejack says that as long as it works it doesn't really matter.
Granny Smith is getting more and more impressive in the water she even agrees enter a swim mead with Applebloom, as for the FlimFlam brothers they advertise that their product is "Granny Smith tested and Applejack approved!" Applejack's honest nature promotes ponies to buy the tonic. The day of the Swim mead arrives and Granny Smith is confident the tonic will bring them and they do win!

Meanwhile the new Applejack approved Tonic is selling like hot cakes...

So much in fact the FlimFlam Brothers have given Silver Shill a promotion! He's now a sales pony making his first bit as a sales pony, and he gives all credit to Applejack, he used to wonder if he was doing the right thing by lying to ponies about the tonic and pretending to be cured, but Applejack taught him that Honesty is not always the best policy. Applejack becomes ashamed of herself and decides that this has gotta stop, if ponies go on believing that the tonic can do things it can't it's only a matter of time before somepony does something really dangerous! Speaking of which...

Remember that high diving record I mentioned earlier? you know the one from six stories up...

Into a pie tin!


It's official folks Granny Smith has crossed the boundaries from "daring" to "just plain stupid." (Folks if you wanna try this with your own Granny or Grandpa, you're really stupid!) Luckily Applejack saves Granny just in time but the elder pony is mad believing that with the tonic would've helped her set the record. The FlimFlam brothers don't regret what almost happened in fact they try to sell Granny more tonic. At this moment Applejack has had enough which leads to this...

Applejack finally admits that the tonic is a fake and that she lied because it was making everypony so happy so she lied because it seemed easier and more like the right thing to do, Applebloom questions that if the tonic was fake why was granny able to do all the other stuff she'd been doing, Applejack states that it's merely a case of mind over matter and all granny needed was a little confidence. Flim and Flam try to salvage the Tonic by selling it as a confidence booster, now it's Silver Shill's turn to confess, he tells them that the tonic isn't a tonic at all and he should know because he helped make it! Silver Shill also gives Applejack the bit he swindled got from that pony for selling the tonic as a reminder of how Applejack helped him see the truth (don't worry he also says he's going to find the pony he sold the tonic to and give him another bit to replace this one) Applejack apologizes to Granny but Granny's more mad at the brothers, but of course...

they're long gone! Applejack writes an entry:
Bein' honest sure gets hard when it seems like the truth might hurt somepony you care about. But I think believin' a lie can end up hurtin' even more. Maybe some ponies don't care about that – but I sure ain't one of them.

Review: I guess I should've known better, the FlimFlam Brothers gone honest?! When pigs fly maybe. Last time we saw that the brothers are greedy and selfish and care more about profit than anything else, this time we see that they truly are AJ's opposites because they're willing to lie about their products to sell faster, also like in "Rarity takes Manehatten" a member of the mane six has a good influence on a pony in this case Silver Shill. This episode gives us a little more insight into Granny Smith's past and she's lived a pretty full life. Here we also see that the FlimFlam brothers have multiple products which probably means that when everypony in Equestria learns about the tonic being fake they'll be right back with another product and they'll always find some costumer, you know what they say, there's a sucker born every minute. Overall I'd give this episode an A-. See you next time! Oh and one more thing...

We are five for five people, repeat, five for five.