Thoughts on “A Flurry of Emotions”

Best season 7 episode so far! This one could very well end up being my favorite episode of the season. If not, it’ll probably end up somewhere in the top five.
Okay, I might be totally biased towards this one because I love taking care of kids. My love for working with children is also a big reason why I can’t stand works of fiction that portray childcare as a punishment conceived by the bowels hell itself. Look, I’m not going to lie. Taking care of kids is a lot of work. They demand time, energy, patience, self-control, and, as the episode so clearly shows, attention, and as a caregiver, you have to find a way to reasonably meet those demands. However, having a lot of demands doesn’t make children soul-sucking parasites that are only good for making a person’s life more difficult. As someone who regularly works with children, I know how rewarding and enriching children can be.
I think what I love most about this episode is that even though it doesn’t shy away from portraying all the stress and responsibility that comes with caring for a child, it takes the time to really drive home how rewarding and wonderful being part of a child’s life is. Despite all the trouble Flurry Heart makes for Twilight in this episode, she is never once portrayed as evil or malicious or annoying or bothersome. Instead, we are shown that despite her infancy, Flurry Heart is an intelligent, emotional, living being, just like most of the other characters in the show. Furthermore, Flurry Heart’s very existence has made a deep, irreversible impact on the lives of those who love her and are loved by her. I mean, Shining Armor and Cadence can’t even have a day off from taking care of her without suddenly missing her. It’s as if despite the messes and sleepless nights, Flurry Heart gave them something that more than made up for the extra stress and responsibilities, and now, neither of them want to live their lives without her.
Another thing that I like about this episode is that it provides a fairly good fictional example of Attachment Theory at work. For those who don’t know what that is, it is basically the study of how babies form relationships with caregivers and how these relationships effect how they interact with their environment. I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but Flurry is at her best and happiest in this episode when she’s getting the attention that she needs. She makes up games, emulates others, returns affection, and simply acts cute. However, the longer and more often her needs go unmet, the more problems she ends up inadvertently creating. Eventually, she stops trying to get Twilight to help her with her distress and even goes so far as to start avoiding her. Now, according to Attachment Theory, healthy attachments are formed when a baby’s needs are consistently being met, and when babies have healthy attachments, they are able to take a healthy interest in their environment by using their caregivers as a secure base to return to during times of distress. On the other hand, if a baby’s needs aren’t being met consistently, well, the baby is going to have problems in how they interact with their caregivers and the rest of the world, which I am choosing not to detail. Thankfully for Flurry, Twilight’s inattentiveness and inconsistency towards her doesn’t seem to have lasted long enough to create long-term negative effects.
Similar to the first episode, this episode feels like something intended for caregivers rather than children. As is the case with the premiere episodes, these more mature lessons aren’t necessarily a bad thing and certainly don’t take away from the enjoyment of the show. I personally think that this episode was able to handle the mature subject matter much more sensitively and realistically than the first episode.
To close, I would like to reiterate just how much I love, love, loved this episode. I hope I get to see more episodes that are similar to this one. I especially hope that I get to see more of Flurry Heart and her family this season.