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| Okay, guys, where are the Hard Hat/Wrangler shipfics, hmm? |
6 May 2017
My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 6.8
Thoughts: This was where Treehouse TV in Canada started airing episodes before Discovery Family did, something which caused various problems in the fandom. The episode itself is not the most popular (see that IMDb rating) but it does have its moments. The problem was that it didn't really do anything. The whole animal sanctuary thing is only just now revealed as a long-held dream for Fluttershy and it didn't become a big deal in the later series, so what really was the point? Okay, there's a whole lot of Fluttershy, and it's nice to see her confident and assertive – but beyond that? We don't even find out how she gets the predators not to, well, predate. Even Big Daddy McColt only seems to have been thrown in there because cameo. My original three-star rating was too generous; it's getting one of those stars knocked off. Not a poor episode, but in the end it's a tiny bit forgettable.
Choice quote: Fluttershy: "I don't love it."
New rating: ★★
Next
up will be "Forever Filly", an episode of which I have only vague memories as things stand. It'll be interesting to see whether it catches my attention more on rewatch.
My Little Girlboss: Pop Psychology Is Magic :| And it's a dull episode with zero payoff.
ReplyDeleteBlogger's being a pain again…
ReplyDeleteThe one with rabbit parkour
The script actually has Fluttershy's line written phonetically as "paw-kour". Though that was worth sharing.
Rewatched this one over two weeks ago in preparation (not a jab at your schedule bud, don't read it that way), so my experience isn't as fresh as it might have been, but a few things stuck out for me on this rewatch.
I've noted before how a lot of Season Seven episodes feels slower at the level of visual pace and flow, explained partially by the scripts getting shorter to the point less cuts, or none at all, needed to be made and more of the extra business DHX adds could survive (and sometimes, it was needed to reach 22 minutes). "Forever Filly" next time is a prime example of this in motion, but I was taken aback of how much of that was going on here. It takes 1/3 of the episode to even get to Fluttershy's goal at all, and the other "experts" aren't first seen until almost the ten-minute mark. Why so long? The circular dialogue that would have been trimmed down in a denser script is part of it, but the early vet office scene, in particular, has a cutaway gag to busy animals what feels like every other line of dialogue. And these are needed to a degree, certainly, but not this many. Not helped by how they're largely just mildly amusing, and undermined by the ship having long sailed on creative creature designs, these all being just normal animals (and Flash puppetry does undermine the ability for truly great elastic animation slapstick too).
That's a minor quibble, of course, but it does point out how rather lethargic this one feels, for all that happens in it (again, I cite the circular dialogue in most scenes). Contrary to most, I don't feel Fluttershy's animal sanctuary dream coming out of nowhere is too much of a problem – the episode implies readily enough that she lacked the conviction to follow through until this situation made it a necessity beyond her desire – but I'll concur on it barely featuring again being a thing. Perhaps had this been made in Season 5 alongside "Canterlot Boutique", it would have gotten enough appearances since, but this late, it was yet another victim of the changing Story Editors (or returning for Josh Haber) not caring about changes their prior leaders made. Though I actually liked Daddy McColt's cameo, if only because it's rare to see one-off character with non-regular voice actors returned and I find it entirely in-character for Twilight to hug such a returnee like that.
I lead with all that as the big issue here has been well ironed out before. Mostly when this episode is raised, people cite the big problem as either the animal experts not listening (or not enough, anyway) to Fluttershy, or her giving poor direction and leading to a terrible moral of ignoring experts that lacked appropriate context to be taken correctly. Both are valid, but neither is the big one: it's both. Possibly Gillian Berrow and the Lady Writers were trying to strike a balance where all parties seemed well-intended but misguided, but that wasn't achieved, and every pony just comes across badly instead. To the point Fluttershy's confidence and assertiveness can't help but paint her as a rather off Fluttershy.
My lasting sentiment is that this kind of paints an appropriate picture for the future of Season Seven. It was possible thus far to write off the rather flat performance to largely focusing on newer characters, but here, we have a fully old-school episode in terms of featured characters, and yet it's no better for it. Sigh. Onwards we trek…
We don't even find out how she gets the predators not to, well, predate.
Well, at least this episode just ignores the topic altogether rather than demanding it change in "She Talks to Angel".
I especially like that bit about Fluttershy's assertiveness, because like... Even in the episode which was explicitly about her kindness going awry, she didn't seem nearly as wrong as she does in this one.
Delete@Mike Heh, it's not common this late in the series that I'm more irritated with something than you, as I am about the out-of-nowhere-ness! I also agree with you about the moral problem regarding the experts; I did mention that in my 2017 review but (as you'll have noted) I'm trying to stop these "Thoughts" becoming, well, reviews so not everything gets mentioned now.
Delete@Mike and Present Perfect: I'm in the minority on that one, as I like her assertiveness here. I don't necessarily like everything she does with it, as I've mentioned, but her reminding everyone that she is The Expert in animal caretaking seems fair enough.
Logan has returned! And all is right in the world...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, Fluttershy Leans In. I'm likely in the minority here, but I've always liked this episode as it showcases Fluttershy's growth. I thought she would've gone backwards in terms of development with Scare Master - an episode from Season 5 I dislike to this day - but thankfully, Flutter Brutter rendered those fears pointless. Of course, this is not Fluttershy's strongest moment as a character; that comes much later on in Season 7. I don't have much to say other than it's a relatively simple episode, but there's nothing really wrong with that.
Oh, and one last thing: Big Daddy McColt making his return from Season 5? Nice bit of continuity there, most likely the part of Joanna and Kristine, given that they wrote the episode he debuted in.
Logan will try not to make you all wait quite so long next time! At least I had a convention break as an excuse this time round. :P
DeleteOf course, this is not Fluttershy's strongest moment as a character; that comes much later on in Season 7.
I'm guessing we're thinking of the same episode here, but we'll see when I eventually get there!
My original three-star rating was too generous; it's getting one of those stars knocked off."
ReplyDeleteThis episode is the anti-"Dungeons and Discords" for me. That one was an ep I really didn't like on my first try, but it got better on revisits to the point that I outright enjoy it and welcome it now. Whereas "Fluttershy Leans In" was an ep I enjoyed and welcomed initially, but which I started to find more and more problems with until it just stopped being one I looked forward to.
The usual weaknesses have been mentioned: Fluttershy's out-of-nowhere overwhelming ambition; the fact that her animal care role with a vet around seems even more confusing than before; her sudden connection to Doctor Fauna (a character she's never interacted with before despite her apparent importance in animal care); the inexpert experts being overconfident straw jerks to make the moral tediously super-easy; the distracting connection to the real-life "Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead" corporate feminism movement, which feels really dated, out of place, awkward, and at-best-redundant in this show especially. And the fact that the episode is mostly spinning wheels, to the point that it struggles to sell the stakes.
Even the glee of watching Fluttershy express her passionate side feels more and more like diminishing returns against all these other factors. Our girl deserved better. u_u
"Next up will be 'Forever Filly', an episode of which I have only vague memories as things stand. It'll be interesting to see whether it catches my attention more on rewatch."
DeleteAnd after that... SCOOTALOO! :D
the distracting connection to the real-life "Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead" corporate feminism movement, which feels really dated, out of place, awkward, and at-best-redundant in this show especially
DeleteOh, is that what the title reference is? I'd completely forgotten that. I think I remember it confusing people the first time round as well, at least on this side of the Atlantic where "lean in" isn't a common expression at all. (Well, it might be now, but what the TikTok generation do is a mystery to us old guys... :P )
And after that... SCOOTALOO! :D
Yes! :D
that's okay, it's not a common expression over here either :')
DeleteI found this one utterly dull and annoying. It's fine for Fluttershy to be assertive, but it's quite another for her to do it in an annoying and, frankly, self-destructive way. The fact that she get a least some comeuppance for it is okay, I guess, but I'm grasping at good things to say about it.
ReplyDelete