Mini Re-Reviews: "Putting Your Hoof Down" - Season 2 Episode 19

IRON WILL: "Iron Will really enjoyed having his own episode! Iron Will is so assertive that he totally walked away with both of the scenes he was in. The publicity Iron Will received from this episode alone more then made up for not getting a fee from Fluttershy!"
FLUTTERSHY: "Oh, um, well, good for you, Iron Will. And even though your methods weren't right for me, they clearly work for you. And without them, I wouldn't have found the right way to be assertive myself."
IRON WILL: "Oh? Iron Will likes the sound of that. Does that mean Fluttershy was satisfied after all? Satisfied enough to pay her fee, plus interest?"
FLUTTERSHY: "..."
IRON WILL: "...Just the fee, no interest?"
FLUTTERSHY: "..."
IRON WILL: "...Iron Will will see Iron Will out."

You ever have that episode that you simultaneously want to defend, and don't want to defend, from its usual criticisms? That's "Putting Your Hoof Down" for me. It's a difficult one to get to grasps with, as it has frustrating moments of characterisation throughout. Yet it's also consistently entertaining and funny, and though said moments of characterisation are off-putting, they do come from a sound writing and psychological place, just perhaps not a sound place with the rest of the show.

Can you guess this is a Merriweather Williams episode? During the two years and change in which her 7 episodes of the series aired, she received no shortage of flak from the fanbase for a degree of cynicism and meanness present in her scripts that felt out-of-place when propped up next to other episodes. This was strongest with "The Mysterious Mare Do-Well", an problematic episode even apart from that (and many speculate it is this weak debut that led to her future episodes being so scrutinised by the fandom upon arrival). But she is a skilled writer without question, as proven by her extensive credits and output on other cartoons (story outlining on Spongebob's first three seasons and all of Camp Lazlo, most prominently). And she is rather successful at bringing a level of structure and callbacks to her scripts (better then some other writers) that can only be the result of someone with experience. Even though this episode's Story was done by Charlotte Fullerton before Williams took over, it's still there to see.

It can be tough to reconcile the same Ponyville last episode that sung with Pinkie about smiles with this one here, especially in the early marketplace scene that's full to bursting with rude and insensitive ponies. None more so then Angel, in one of his earliest and most prominent asshole roles (he's far better when used as a counterpoint to her timidness and used to push her onto taking acting). To be honest, he's not totally alone either; while Pinkie and Rarity's bartering techniques fit for them, they're manipulative in their own right, with Rarity's charming of Pointdexter especially (how did they get away with that spinning bowtie gag?) casting past and future flirtations by her in a less positive light. I think the main issue with this sequence is that not just the characters, but the scene as a whole paints Fluttershy's meekness as being the issue. A better tact would have been for the scene's tone to take the attitude of "no, it's THEIR fault" even while Fluttershy felt it was her fault. Perhaps if Pinkie and Rarity hadn't called Fluttershy herself a doormat.
Also, Pinkie Bugs Bunny haggles with a tomato vendor and it is brilliant.

Ah, but after the episode's opening third, then we're off and running! After getting kicked out of her own home by an unsatisfied Angel, Fluttershy finds an assertiveness seminar being held by Iron Will the minotaur in the topiary hedge maze that afternoon (I hope you saw the allusion there). Iron Will is another case of a character largely botched after his initial appearance but perfect here. A pro-wrestler-inspired motivational speaker (complete with Eye of the Tiger quotes in his theme), he's so over-the-top even when there's no show going on. He actually proves to be one of the most decent characters here, uploading the money back guarantee he promised and delivering exactly what his seminars promise (indeed, given how Fluttershy misapplied the assertiveness of Pinkie and Rarity there's room to wonder how much of Fluttershy's problems later on come from applying his techniques blindly at every turn). Plus, he's fun to watch, while not being an antagonist at all (much of him being labelled as such, both within the episode and outside of it, naturally comes from him not being a pony).

The clever psychlogical angle here is in how and why Fluttershy applies his lessons so blindly to everything. It boils down to elements of the bullied reacting as they saw bullies doing, and in how an introvert approaches situation where they're trying to force themselves to be assertive. Often all they can do is just copy what they're seen without necessarily knowing if it's the right call. With Fluttershy it makes even more sense: in blindly doing what Iron Will says, she's still being a doormat, just more to a new mindset. She's still bowing to other pressures here, so I don't view it as a character break. And we've seen before there's a scary side to Fluttershy, just one she's not even really aware of or fully able to control on the rare occasions it shows itself.
When the episode keeps to cases of Fluttershy biting back at ponies still being rude to her, it works. It's once she starts being aggressive at a moment's notice that it gets a bit out of hand. The reasons this is, in my eyes, largely forgivable is that the episode makes it quite clear this is a mistake, and Fluttershy leans from it, and the reasons for her acting that way make sense. In "The Mysterious Mare Do Well", Rainbow Dash acted as she always had, just ramped up that much more. Fluttershy's reasons for being the way she is here are tightly woven into the script's fabric, so other then some specific dialogue lines and animations, I'm largely fine with it.

The final stretch of the episode is really effective, both for seeing Fluttershy, in the wake of her friends' mistreatment, find a balance between New and Old Fluttershy to calmly refuse Iron Will's fee, and in Rarity and Pinkie's mixed attempts to deter him (the repeated Bugs Bunny haggling is just as funny as earlier). Fluttershy even remembers the right thing to do with Angel during the denouement: use the Stare!

Unlike with "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" this is an episode that still works, and from a story and scenario perspective, is perfectly fine. It just needs some adjustment in the dialogue end and some specific moments of execution, mostly in the episode's first third. And it's consistently entertaining and funny throughout, so, it what must be heresay, it still nets a 7.5/10. Better then A Friend In Deed - surely not? Well, Fluttershy isn't largely out-of-character here in ways that can't be explained, and the psychological layers to the ways she acts fit for me. Iron Will is a hoot, and Pinkie and Rarity were the best supporting character choices, being slightly manipulative themselves who see value in being assertive. Aj and Twi would have been too logical to go that far, and Rainbow Dash would have just reacted indifferently to the proceedings. And lest we not forget, Fluttershy did come out of the episode for the better, and surpassed the monster within to learn to stand up for herself without being pushy about it. A 7.5/10 it is. A bit of a surprise in the numerical rankings is always welcome.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS
- Merriweather Williams also wrote the fantastic "Wonderbolts Academy" and "Bats!", and I have every reasons to believe she would have produced more stellar scripts had she stuck with the show. Does she have some issues? Yes, but outside of her debut episode (and most of "Spike At Your Service") I still find her episodes work. Just some awkward welding from someone who didn't adjust to a cartoon less cynical and more character-and-continuity focused then her previous ones, perhaps. But next to the trainwreck produced by Josh Haber, Nicole Dubuc and Michael Vogel towards the show's end, her writing is an angel. The treatment she received by the community (perhaps being barely online there was a good thing for her) was something those Bronies responsible should hang their heads in shame for.
- There's a killer visual gag when Iron Will arrives at the episode's end. After he says 'Iron Will's my name, training ponies is my game!' Rarity and Pinkie turn towards the camera, wondering who he's talking to. Their eye vibrate back and forth for a second as they search for who he's talking to, before they turn back to him. It's all unstressed and in the storyboarding, that, and for a series very low on fourth-wall breaks (rightfully so, as they usually bring a level of cynicism with them), this is just right.
- The amount of duplicate ponies at the seminar! There's 19 Minuettes alone. Me thinks the lead-up to the changeling invasion got a bit out of hand...