S6E11: "Flutter Brutter" · 8:16pm Jun 4th, 2016
Horrible title pun aside, I enjoyed this one, despite one character being unbearable almost throughout. The main reason I liked it was that they did something both interesting and believable with Fluttershy -- something they couldn't possibly have done in the early days. I'm currently thinking it's a high three rather than a low four, though there's not much in it. ★★★
More, with spoilers, past the break.
As I said, I liked how Fluttershy was portrayed this time. This was proper assertiveness, not the stuff we saw in "Putting Your Hoof Down". It surprised me a bit to find that 'Shy was the most assertive pony in her family -- until I thought about it. Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. After all, she did go off and live by herself on the ground, right next to the Everfree Forest -- which, back in S1, was much scarier than it is now. There's some good Fluttershy here, so well done Dave Rapp. Solid moral, too.
More cringe humour, something of Rapp's which many people (though not me) hated in "Newbie Dash". Here, though, it's handled differently, as Zephyr Breeze is like that almost all the time. He must be among the most annoying characters in the show, beating the likes of Trenderhoof (same VA? Sounded like it). Perhaps they went a bit over the top with his character, since I didn't like him one bit until his sudden but inevitable reformation in the last couple of minutes.
The Flutterparents were quite pleasant, if a little forgettable; that suited them, though. I suppose they were meant to be meek and mild in the way that Fluttershy herself once was. The presence of the Flutterfamily utterly destroys my backstory for 'Shy in Where They Understand You, but hey, that's part of writing fanfic for an active series. And finally? The song was okay. I liked it, but it wasn't hugely catchy and I would much prefer a Fluttershy solo. One day? Please? 
Oh, and yeah, there was shipping fuel. When isn't there?
Yeah, he was kind of an unbearable twat, wasn't he? I'm not sure why Rainbow responded with passive-aggressiveness to his unwelcome advances, though, I would have thought she would have just let him have it with both barrels. But that wasn't a big deal.
Huh. I didn't find Zephyr at all cringe-inducing, though I loathed the second act of "Newbie Dash." Curious. I suppose I may have been too busy being delighted by annoyed Fluttershy. She was a delight this episode.
I don't see shipping fuel. I see anti-shipping fuel. Rainbow Dash barely tolerated Zephyr, and that much only for the sake of Fluttershy. His notion that Dashie was attracted to him bordered on delusional.
I thought to myself, "If I was going to ship Zeph with any of the mane cast, it would be Pinkie, but I'd rather ship him with anyone else."
Then I saw this.
OTP4eva<3
3998834
Of course, that explains why she didn't just tell him to get away and stay away, that was bugging me about this episode.
I've just had a thought: I was going to say that it was a weakness of the episode that only Zephyr's fear of failure was addressed, not his oversized ego. But as far as I can remember he never actually comes straight out and makes a move on RD, he just kind of hints and winks at it. Do you think that in itself is another symptom of his fear (he's afraid, rightly so in this case, that he doesn't have a shot and so doesn't want to put himself out there in case he gets rejected) rather than the case of egotism that it appears to be?
3998834 Well, yeah, though that won't stop large portions of the fandom! There's also some FlutterDash shipping fuel here for those who care for that, though my headcanon doesn't make them a couple.