Okay, here's my my opinion on the latest episode. Once again I enjoyed the episode, and was pleased to see that Applejack got to try her hand (hoof?) in being the main character again, even though the entire Apple Family (that we see more than the others, that is) were involved. When I first read the synopsis for the episode on the wikia, I for some reason assumed that the competing was going to be a contest for younger ponies, but obviously I got that completly wrong.
Flim and Flam, were decent enough characters, but as much as liked them, they're probably two of the few characters I liked, that I don't want to ever see again, either in another episode or in fanfiction, unless it's written really well (they seem like characters who benifite from being in just one episode). I really enjoyed the song for this episode (even though it was pretty long) and loved how the majority of background ponies were involved, and the whole thing looked like a scene from a musical, which may have been the point. The song reminded me of several different songs at the same time, all of which from TV shows, and many of them in similar situations (characters like Flim and Flam, advertising something). So maybe all of these songs are based on the same thing? Also, for some reason I thought Apple Bloom looked more "aww" than she usually does during this song...
The ending result somewhat predictable, but as usual the quality of the episode just made me not care at all (I could list a few episodes of Friendship is Magic that have predictable endings, but I still love the episodes because they manage to be entertaining). Like others have said, this episode had the best final letter ever. I actually laughed when AJ dictated it.![]()
Finally, I noticed that as opposed to last episode, Derpy is now back to her old background self, but that's probably a good thing. I'd like to see more episodes where Derpy talks and is involved, but it should only be an occasional thing. Also, I couldn't help but think of the Final Fantasy VIII hotdogs during Dash's obsession with the cider for some reason...