Ah Bats, what an odd episode this is. This was one of my
most anticipated MLP epsiodes, and well, it’s not that surprising when you look
at my name. This is the first and perhaps only Applejack and Fluttershy episode
we’ll get, so my hype levels were through the roof. And I remember after I
first watched the episode, my initial reaction was well………………shock.
And really, whose wasn’t? I was expecting a character
focused episode, and instead got a plot focused one. I was expecting a focus on
the character interactions of Fluttershy and Applejack, and instead got a focus
on Fluttershy turning into a friggin bat. I was expecting a sort of happy duet
like song between Fluttershy and Applejack on their friendship, and instead got
an unsettling conflict oriented song with the mane 6 all ganging up on
Fluttershy. In that regard, Pinkie Apple Pie was really everything I was hoping
Bats would be, which is why I loved that episode, while this one……well, Bats
you see is an episode in which I’m still not fully sure how I feel about it.
But! Let’s toss all that aside for the moment and focus on what I
thought was the most important and most interesting part of this episode; the
ending. The ending itself is simple; after Fluttershy and Applejack battle it
out and list their opposing views on the bats; Applejack wanting the bats gone
while Fluttershy thinks they should be shown kindness, Applejack decides to go
with Fluttershy’s plan realizing the errors of her ways, and builds a separate
area in the orchard for the bats. But the thing is………..we’re never completely
told how she reached that conclusion. While most would call that lazy writing,
and honestly, it probably is, I like to see it in a different light. You see
open endings are something I tend to really like. They leave you much to
speculate and wonder on, give you something to think about and discuss with
others and see their interpretations of things, and they allow you to think
more about what you just watched, and think why things went the way they did. And
well, as someone who loves it when stories make you think, open endings have
always been good in my book for this reason.
So getting back to this ambiguous ending of Bats, the
purpose of this write up will be to focus on this one simple thing, that being,
my own interpretation of the ending of Bats, and why I thought it went the way
it did. I wondered a lot about this you see, as many of my favorite stories
have me do. Examples of this are Crossroads of Destiny from Avatar: The Last Airbender, which prompted me to write a giant
essay on the mystery of Zuko’s choice. Another one would be The Super Speedy
Cider Squeezy 6000, who’s lack of moral forced me to think hard about if there
really was one and what it was. One day I’ll finally write that up and post my
analysis of that episode, but until then, let’s focus on Bats, an episode that
left me with tons to think about, and one I’ll certainly be thinking of for a
long long time:
