Right before this episode aired, I discovered that I like all of the Fluttershy-centered episodes, but don't like any episodes written by Merriweather Williams. So when I watched this episode and saw the writing credit, I got a little worried. That feeling was replaced with satisfaction pretty quickly.
For those of you that doubted Fluttershy was a meek pony, she gets slapped in the face by Angel Bunny within the first minute, and she takes it without complaint. Rarity and Pinkie Pie want her to stand up for herself so she attends a self-help seminar from a monster (minotaur) named Iron Will.
This works, but in a very wrong way; Fluttershy acts really nasty to everypony, even her friends. After she drives Pinkie Pie and Rarity away, she realizes the error of her ways and boards herself up in her house to prevent herself from being mean to everypony. Can she ever be assertive without becoming a monster?
My first praise goes to Iron Will. In a season with Discord and the Flim Flam Brothers, Iron Will is low-key for a villain; he doesn't do anything more evil than a threat of violence, and only appears in two scenes. Yet he still manages to be memorable because he's a respectable villain, not to mention a hammy one. It's too bad he's far outclassed by Fluttershy in the evil department, at least in this episode.
One has to wonder how far the "Element of Whatever" titles stretch in this episode. Pinkie Pie is a laugh riot as usual, but Rarity manages to charm a pony into handing over something pretty easily (though she does compensate him for it). Those are nitpicks, however, compared to Fluttershy's cruelty. She tosses a tourist pony through the air for something that wasn't even his fault. It's entertaining, sure, but it's frightening as well. To be fair, she stops once she realizes what effect she is having, and emerges at the end of the episode as a far better pony than she was.
The biggest problem I have is with the population of Ponyville. After the whole cider debacle and how they act in this episode, I'm convinced that everypony is a jerk. I realize their behavior is exaggerated to get the point of the episode across, but the town still comes off as a pretty bad neighborhood. Still, this episode is a great way to kick off the next block of pony episodes, and I hope Williams can keep up the good work.
Fluttershy shows us that she rocks
Right before this episode aired, I discovered that I like all of the Fluttershy-centered episodes, but don't like any episodes written by Merriweather Williams. So when I watched this episode and saw the writing credit, I got a little worried. That feeling was replaced with satisfaction pretty quickly.
For those of you that doubted Fluttershy was a meek pony, she gets slapped in the face by Angel Bunny within the first minute, and she takes it without complaint. Rarity and Pinkie Pie want her to stand up for herself so she attends a self-help seminar from a monster (minotaur) named Iron Will.
This works, but in a very wrong way; Fluttershy acts really nasty to everypony, even her friends. After she drives Pinkie Pie and Rarity away, she realizes the error of her ways and boards herself up in her house to prevent herself from being mean to everypony. Can she ever be assertive without becoming a monster?
My first praise goes to Iron Will. In a season with Discord and the Flim Flam Brothers, Iron Will is low-key for a villain; he doesn't do anything more evil than a threat of violence, and only appears in two scenes. Yet he still manages to be memorable because he's a respectable villain, not to mention a hammy one. It's too bad he's far outclassed by Fluttershy in the evil department, at least in this episode.
One has to wonder how far the "Element of Whatever" titles stretch in this episode. Pinkie Pie is a laugh riot as usual, but Rarity manages to charm a pony into handing over something pretty easily (though she does compensate him for it). Those are nitpicks, however, compared to Fluttershy's cruelty. She tosses a tourist pony through the air for something that wasn't even his fault. It's entertaining, sure, but it's frightening as well. To be fair, she stops once she realizes what effect she is having, and emerges at the end of the episode as a far better pony than she was.
The biggest problem I have is with the population of Ponyville. After the whole cider debacle and how they act in this episode, I'm convinced that everypony is a jerk. I realize their behavior is exaggerated to get the point of the episode across, but the town still comes off as a pretty bad neighborhood. Still, this episode is a great way to kick off the next block of pony episodes, and I hope Williams can keep up the good work.