Episode Re-Review: Keep Calm and Flutter On

With Season 3 winding down, word began to spill out about what was coming: Namely Twilight Sparkle becoming an alicorn princess and that Season 3 would supposedly be the final season. Fans were shocked and many were outraged at the very idea, the debate over whether or not Twilight should be an alicorn divided the fandom and quite a few threatened to leave the fandom all together if indeed Twilight becoming an alicorn turned out to be true. Amidst all this drama, almost no one seemed to pay attention to much else. Yet something fans had been hoping for was coming true, Discord was returning. Dave Polsky wrote this episode, supposedly with the help of a fifteen year old brony named Teddy Antonio (LittleShyFiM's Cineamare Sins video on this episode brings this up with Teddy apparently confessing). Considering people had been accusing Season 3 of being too fanficy, this episode alledgedly being written in part by a brony definitely did nothing to dispel that perception. And much like Trixie, Discord would ultimately turn out to be a badly written character in the end. I've already reviewed this episode twice, once in short and once in full. But have my perceptions changed since then? Well, let's find out.

The episode begins with Twilight, Spike, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Rainbow Dash waiting on a hilltop for Princess Celestia. The princess is bringing an important guest to Ponyville, and Pinkie Pie got her hooves shined up like Rarity's for the occasion (which Rarity seems impressed by). But Fluttershy is busy helping Applejack with a creature problem at Sweet Apple Acres, and Twilight comments on how weird it is that Princess Celestia didn't specify who the visitor was (and is running late). But the visitor turns out to be Discord, or rather the stone statue of him.

Surprisingly, this is the only time Twilight ever questions something Princess Celestia does and basically asks her what she was thinking. Princess Celestia acknowledges that she's aware of what happened the last time Discord is loose but is convinced that his magic could be used for good. I suspect it's also because she believes that he'll just break free the next time the Elements of Harmony pass to a new generation. So if she can avoid having to repeat the cycle by getting Discord on her side, it's worth a try. Spike is still not convinced.

Still, despite the ponies' reservations, Princess Celestia tasks with them reforming Discord for her. Then she asks where Fluttershy is, believing she'll know best how to start. And it turns out the creature problem is that a bunch of beavers built their dam right near the orchard at Sweet Apple Acres, and in doing so caused a flood. Fortunately, Fluttershy gets the situation sorted out despite both Applejack and the beaver getting into an exchange of words. Then Rainbow Dash comes by and orders Applejack and Fluttershy to get moving.

I should mention by now that the original working title of this episode was "Fluttershy's Home for Reformed Draconequus'", a nod to Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends which Lauren Faust's husband Craig McCracken created (and Lauren herself worked on), but the title was rejected for being too spoilery. Anyway, Fluttershy and Applejack arrive and Princess Celestia thought of everything. She brought the Elements of Harmony with her and even put a spell on them so Discord can't take them away again. But she doesn't stick around for the releasing, returning to Canterlot for a not previously mentioned royal summit (not sure with who or for what reason though). She simply tells the ponies they can release Discord whenever they want to and flies away, leaving them to do the deed themselves. Twilight then suggests they all keep their elements on them until further notice, and in a dazzling light show they free Discord from his stone prison once again.

Discord quickly begins "stretching", glad to be free again. But he immediately starts causing trouble and reveals that he already knows everything since as he puts it: "Being turned to stone doesn't keep me from hearing everything Princess Celestia says." so that means he was apparently aware of everything that was happening while trapped in stone. So in essence it's a fate worse than death, it's not even like being put into a state of suspended animation. He initially refuses to behave, claiming that if the ponies turn him back to stone they'll be disappointing Princess Celestia. But Twilight tells him that if they have to do so they can convince Princess Celestia it was for a good reason. So Discord decides not to call their bluff and after undoing most of his sabotage, he decides to stay with Fluttershy at her cottage. Some wonder why Twilight or Pinkie Pie weren't chosen for this assignment, and I do think either of them could thetorically aid Discord in learning right from wrong. But we've seen that Pinkie Pie doesn't always have her priorities straight and Twilight can sometimes not be the best judge of character due to her lack of social awareness. In the near term, getting Discord to actually want to reform and be good, Fluttershy seems like the best choice. And I think it's boosted by the fact that she was the only one Discord had to forcefully corrupt since his mind games didn't work on her.

Fluttershy does her best to accommodate her new house guest, but the rest of the mane six are already convinced from what they see that it's going to be a disaster. Fluttershy seems convinced she can manage, but behind her back her friends decide to have a back-up plan ready just in case. Some complain about this, arguing that it makes the mane six look bad for not immediately trusting Discord and trying to look for a short cut to force him to change. But I think people are overlooking the fact that Discord hasn't given them any reason to trust him yet, upon being freed he was still up to his usual tricks and showed no desire to take his second chance seriously. So why should the mane six trust him? Trust is a two way street, if you want others to trust you you must prove that you can be trusted. Trust is not something that can be given, it must be earned. And when you have a sketchy reputation, don't be surprised if others are hesitant to trust you right away and keep their distance. It's the same problem I have with Flim and Flam in "Friendship University" or Trixie in "No Second Prances". They act like smug snakes with something to hide and yet whine about how someone doesn't trust them, while making no effort to change their ways to prove themselves worthy of said trust.

It isn't long before Fluttershy finds Discord eating paper (he's part goat and I think goats can eat paper though it's usually not recommended) which even he seems to find odd. This is a bit of a nod to Q from Star Trek: The Next Generation when he once said "Eat any good books lately?". But it turns out there's a reason for it, Discord is eating every page from any book that contained a reformation spell that Twilight was hoping to use. Then we see that Fluttershy seems to be taking a more or less hooves off approach to Discord, letting him do whatever he wants. And Discord has, unsurprisingly, made it clear to Angel that he's playing Fluttershy for a sap. And he's lying through his teeth the whole time he claims he's actually considered being reformed (even literally becoming two faced at one point), all the while he's turning Fluttershy's cottage upside down. Twilight calls out to Fluttershy and she and Spike let Fluttershy know about what Discord did. Twilight becomes visibly frustrated when she learns Discord ate the pages.

Still, Fluttershy is convinced everything's going great and suggests bringing all her friends over for a dinner at the cottage. The rest of the mane six still don't think it's going to work but Twilight insists they give it a chance. They approach the cottage and Discord greets them, then we see that the interior looks almost like something out of a Dr. Seuss story. During the dinner, Discord has a chance to use his magic for good by bringing a gravy boat to life (which is apparently voiced by Tabitha St. Germain even though it just makes dog noises), but when Rainbow comments on how "creepy" it is the gravy boat spills hot gravy on her leg (although it does look like it almost spilled somewhere far more sensitive). Discord insists it's a mistake and conjures up dancing candles to distract everypony.

Rainbow blows them out, angering the candles in the process as Discord continues to act innocent. When Rainbow calls out Fluttershy for trusting Discord so much, Fluttershy counters that while Discord isn't perfect no one else is giving him a chance. Why asked why she's giving Discord so much slack, she replies "Because that's what friends do." and Discord seems genuienly touched by this. However, the moment is spoiled once Angel Bunny shows up and through bunny charades is able to convey that there's a flood at Sweet Apple Acres. And the rest of the mane six naturally assume Discord is behind it (because how likely is it that a flood just happened to occur all by itself after Fluttershy made the beavers go away?) and they leave.

It is indeed the work of beavers, and they won't listen to Fluttershy no matter what. Rainbow argues that Discord is behind this (having earlier suggested he was trying to drive a wedge between them to render the Elements of Harmony useless) and Fluttershy points out that she knows he is. Fluttershy then reveals that all along she's been giving Discord so much slack so that he'll trust her and come to listen to her. And quite a few people complain about this too, saying that it makes Fluttershy look bad. Yet again, people are ignoring that Discord was clearly trying to manipulate Fluttershy and wasn't making much of an effort to hide it. So why is it okay for Discord to do it just so he can be free forever but it's not okay for Fluttershy to do it to try and get him to change his ways? She's not stupid, she's aware of Discord's behavior and hasn't been turning a blind eye to it, a far cry from how she was written in "Daring Doubt" where, on a dime, she believes Caballeron's lies about being misunderstood despite all evidence to the contrary. Plus, given everything we know about Fluttershy, especially her past, why is it so hard to believe she'd want a friendship where she could be the one in control? Up to this point, Fluttershy had almost always been pressured into things by her friends. So why is it wrong for her to want a friendship where she gets to have control?

Discord shows up and Fluttershy quickly lays bare her terms, she wants Discord to clean up the mess and fix things. Discord promises on the condition that Fluttershy agree not to use her Element of Harmony against him. She agrees despite the rest of the mane six convincing her not to.

But Discord simply turns the water to ice and starts skating on it. Fluttershy then keeps her promise not to use her element, and Discord gloats about his apparent victory at having used Fluttershy as a basically "Get Out of Jail Free" card. But Fluttershy throws away the skates Discord gave her, and Discord insists he's not going to listen just because Fluttershy tells him to. But when he realizes that he'll lose the only friend he's ever had, it causes him to silently reflect. Beaten at his own game of manipulation, he changes things back to normal and indicates that he's finally willing to be reformed. He then promises to Princess Celestia to use his magic for good "Most of the time", though Princess Celestia silently whispers to Twilight to leave the Elements of Harmony in Ponyville "Just in case". Then the episode ends as Discord says "Friendship is magic".

And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? I'm gonna be perfectly honest, I don't see most of the arguments against this episode or the hate it gets as a result. It makes perfect sense for the mane six to do what they do here, or for Fluttershy to want to have a friendship where she's the one in control for a change. Discord was clearly just goofing around and had no desire to actually reform, he was just trying to take advantage of the situation to never have to be turned to stone again and was obviously trying to manipulate Fluttershy into being faithful only to him. I do agree that this episode probably could've and should've been expanded, we needed more time to see all these differing strategies come to fruition. But for what it's worth this episode packed as much as it could into the twenty two minute run time it got. So maybe it's just me, but I'm happy to give this episode an A+ and put it up there as one of the show's all time best episodes.

So the dry patch was broken up a little bit, but the breath of fresh air wasn't going to last for long. Up next is what would've been Spike's final focus episode "Just For Sidekicks" which officially demoted Spike from a main character to a sidekick.

Comments

[superfun]

I honestly find this episode to just be kinda decent, not among the best of the season

[BronyRanger]

Fluttershy then reveals that all along she's been giving Discord so much slack so that he'll trust her and come to listen to her. And quite a few people complain about this too, saying that it makes Fluttershy look bad.

Case in point, Mr. Enter.