Doctor Perseus Reviews: MLP S7E5 "Fluttershy Leans In" · 12:46am May 11th, 2017
This past week has been quite odd for MLP. Lots of awesome news for the future of the series, but also chaos when it comes to the release of its episodes. I managed to see both this episode and the following episode well before their official release dates here in the States. But I'll try to review them around those said times. Anyway, right off the bat I'll say that I liked this episode. Though there is something about it that bugs me.
First off, I'll start by saying that the best part of this episode is easily Fluttershy herself. If anything, this episode serves as a great example of how far Fluttershy has really come since Season 1. The amount of assertiveness and backbone S7 Fluttershy has would make S1 Fluttershy cower in fear (whilst remaining in complete awe). The story of the episode is rather simple, which is by no means a bad thing. It's nice to see Fluttershy following in the steps of her friends and further pursuing her passion. Speaking of said friends, the rest of the Mane 6 are used rather well here. While I wouldn't say all of them were really needed (Twilight and Rainbow Dash could be removed from the episode entirely and almost nothing would change), it was nice seeing them all pull together to help Fluttershy. We even got a background appearance from Starlight! Man, Season 7 is really integrating her into the world rather well.
The new characters are really not much to write home about. Dr. Fauna was likable enough as a one-off character but I don't expect to see her beyond the occasional background cameo from here-on-out. Dandy Grandeur had a nice design but, aside from that, was mostly a one-off fashion character. And Wrangler and Hard Hat were practically recolored doppelgangers of Applejack and Big Mac respectively. Though the reappearance of Big Daddy McColt was a nice surprise.
Now to talk about the one aspect of the episode that bugs me: the moral. I honestly couldn't really figure out what the moral of the episode was. Was there even a moral? It's okay for there to not be one. But I can't help but feel that there was a potential moral for this episode that was completely glossed over. During the first half of the episode, I expected the moral to be about learning to listen to both superiors and employees in order to create something realistic but faithful to what the superior wants. Fluttershy's expertise is animals. Hard Had knew about building, Wrangler knew about setting up certain areas for rounding up animals, and Dandy knew about fashion and design. I was expecting the episode to resolve with Fluttershy learning to bring her dream to realistic standards whilst the others learned to listen more to their employer and keeping as faithful to their vision as possible. Instead we get a situation where the three are just kicked out of the episode on bad terms and Fluttershy was right all along. Something about that whole setup bugs me and I feel we could have had a better resolution. Now, sure, we might not have gotten that nice bit of continuity with Big Daddy McColt's cameo if we had followed what I was expecting. So I guess there is something positive to take either way. A fun cameo on one end, and a more recognizable moral with the other.
Anyway, overall, I liked this episode.
What did the rest of you think of Fluttershy Leans In?
It's time for another round of "Who Wrote That Episode!" For this entry, we have the return of Gillian M. Berrow whose past writing credits solely consists of the Season 5 episode The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows. How ironic that both of the episodes she's written for center around an Andrea Libman pony. However, these episodes aren't her only contributions to the media of Friendship is Magic as she also wrote a majority of the chapter books, including Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell.
The moral was Don't let experts take your dream away from you. I thought it was pretty easy to understand- that the outside ponies brought in by friends were really taking over the project and in danger of shutting Fluttershy out of it.
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I see now. Well that went completely over my head.
As for the titular Fluttershy, I agree that she was certainly on point in this episode with how much assertiveness she displays. One problem I feel some writers have when it comes to writing for Fluttershy is how they tend to exaggerate her shyness because they think it'll make her look cuter than she already is (case in point, Scare Master). But here, they toned down on her meek nature and focus more on the stern side of her personality like with Flutter Brutter last season. Hopefully, the writers stay consistent with this and don't "hit the reset button" as some fans describe Fluttershy being written as overly timed similar to how she was in Season 1.
I don't know if you read my review, but I loved this episode. I find it to be Fluttershy's best episode yet.