Don't be fooled by the title. "One Bad Apple" has nothing to do with Applejack or the Apple family. Instead it is centered around the Cutie Mark Crusaders, characters nowhere near as cutesy as they sound and the more they were developed individually the more likeable and interesting they became, and their bullying conflict with the episode adversary Babs Bad Seed. After being so impressed by the previous episode, hopes were oddly high.
Only to be met with disappointment, especially after such a great previous episode. Despite liking the Cutie Mark Crusaders, this is one of their worst episodes and does not see them in a good or easy to identify with light. Everything with the bullying is not handled with tact in my view and the Mane 6 and Babs are generally mishandled. Making for a rather mediocre episode, one of Season 3's worst in my opinion, that, for me as a long-term bullying victim, was not always in good taste. If anybody disagrees that's fine.
It isn't a complete loss. It's beautifully animation, with some vibrant and nicely varied colours and meticulous backgrounds that never look sparse or cluttered. The music typically has dynamic character and had no problem with how it was placed or orchestrated. Babs' song is very catchy and says a lot about it.
The episode also starts off very well with a good deal of promise and a neat set up. The A-Team homage was affectionately done and very amusing. The voice acting is typically very good.
Which cannot be said for the writing and most of the storytelling. Being someone who was bullied myself and being a very difficult subject to talk about, was preparing myself to identify with it and feel a lot of emotion. The subject however could have been handled more tastefully and could have been more balanced. Found the bullying from both Babs' and the Cutie Mark Crusaders' sides unnecessarily over-the-top and the motivations for it could have been a lot clearer. Especially with Babs', who becomes a bully out of practically nowhere with no reason as to why. The Cutie Mark Crusaders are usually likeable, but they come off not much better than Babs and more like jerks and too arrogant. In real life, those that retaliate don't often come over like that and do it out of desperation, not to teach any lessons.
'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic' usually is good with its morals, with exceptions of course before this episode and since, but the moral here on paper sounded good but felt heavy-handed and misses the point of how bullying works. It would have been much better if it was not both sides doing the bullying and if motivations were properly elaborated upon. The Mane 6 are not in "One Bad Apple" anywhere near enough and add next to nothing. None of the too few jokes are funny and jar with the serious subject. The story did feel rather over-stretched with a few scenes feeling too long and like padding. The chase is especially overlong and unintentionally bizarre. The flow in the story and writing can be on the stop-start side and the writing can be muddled and lacks subtlety and depth, not providing much insight into bullying. Have seen portrayals of bullying where one doesn't condone what is done but can see both sides' points of view when understanding their motives, "One Bad Apple" doesn't really do that.
In summation, mediocre and disappointing after Season 3 was starting off so promisingly. 4/10
