I never knew there were so many people that don't find the Duck Season Rabbit Season trick funny! I thought it was among the best jokes made famous by Western cartoons ever created.
@kyun
I found it funny the first time. It suits Pinkie Pie's character perfectly, given she's often used to homage classic Western animation. It was even funnier when Fluttershy screwed it up with the cherry salespony.
I just wish the writers had found a better way of tying it into the episode's wrap-up than pure repetition.
I found it just as funny the third time. And don't assume I'm an easily pleased, slack-jawed moron, because I'm not.
It helps that the highlight shifts every time the gag is done: first time around, the focus is on the gag itself; the second time, the focus is on the humor of Fluttershy completely missing the point and screwing up the trick; and the third time, the focus is on the spectacle — the two voice actors are really milking their lines, and the animation is engaging.
At no point did I find myself going "oh, not THIS shit again." I feel like people are bashing the repetition as a matter of routine, but the gag was handled very well in this episode in my opinion.
I'd also like to point out, the third time you see the gag (as well as Rarity trying to charm Iron Will), it's all done to show you can't always use your tricks to win/fool everybody. Iron Will almost fell for Pinkie Pie's plan, then catches her and goes 'wait' just before Fluttershy makes a sound inside her house.
That is a very good point. It's basically showing how far Fluttershy has come since the beginning of the episode — she wins over Iron Will with her own brand of assertiveness when Pinkie Pie and Rarity have failed.
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Solid but not Spectacular
This episode seems to be getting a lot of heat, which is fairly understandable, though part of it might be knee-jerk dislike because it was written by Merriwether Williams. Now, I did not enjoy "The Mysterious Mare do Well", but I think "Hearth's Warming Eve" gets a bit of a bum wrap. But she definitely is getting better. Of the three episodes that she has written so far, this is probably the best and my favourite.
First of all, I'm very happy that Fluttershy finally got another episode dedicated to her. She's my second favourite character (after Rarity and tied with Pinkie Pie), and I was getting a little worried that the writers couldn't think of any roles for her besides "quiet pony in the back".
I agree that the beginning of this episode is really mean-spirited. Though, this is nothing new. We have seen the townsponies be overly impressed by celebrit], won over by cheap tricks and showmanship, and even be simply racist. Jerkassness is nothing new, and it's over-emphasised here to get the point of the episode across. It's not the best storytelling method, but I can deal with it.
Additionally, in previous episodes centred around her, Fluttershy is a pushover. If the world of MLP:FiM is populated by actual characters and not just cardboard cutout generic cuties, she's bound to be taken advantage of.
What I like about Fluttershy's transformation to Flutterbitch is that it's not instantaneous. She asserts herself, rightly so at first, but gets carried away with it. This is a very easy, very human thing to do. Power over others feels good, and even the best of us can take it too far.
For the record, this is the second (third if you count Discord!Fluttershy) time that we've seen Fluttershy loose it. I'm now convinced that she has a major anger problem. She bottles up her emotions, and eventually, she looses it. I'm hoping that Fluttershy's emotional problems will come up again.
In any case, I enjoyed this episode quite a lot. There are definite problems with it, eg using the Rabbit Season Duck Season joke twice. But overall, the pluses outweigh the minuses. Iron Will was hilarious and actually a fairly well-thought out character despite having only two scenes. Rarity and Pinkie Pie are in top form.
I give it 8/10.