Episode Re-Review: A Flurry of Emotions · 4:46pm Jun 9th, 2021
So it was that Twilight was now freed up from having to be Starlight's teacher, which meant her character could hopefully get back on track after Season 6 seemed to exaggerate her flaws more than was necessary. And for the sake of fanservice, this first episode to focus on her as an individual in over a season would involve a concept so many fanfics had been written about: Twilight foalsitting her niece, Flurry Heart. However, much like "Castle, Sweet Castle" we had two new writers making their debut here: Sammie Crowley and Whitney Wetta, the two of whom had previously worked for Butch Hartman shows like The Fairly Odd Parents and T.U.F.F. Puppy, sort of like how Lewis and Songco had previously written for The Fairly Odd Parents as well. So, were these two new writers able to crank out a hit and put Season 7 on a path forward? Well, let's find out.
We begin with an exposition dump courtesy of Nurse Redheart (whose cutie mark was redesigned due to complaints from the American Red Cross): Twilight has promised to go to the hospital and visit sick foals who contracted horsey hives. Interestingly, we see that this class is also taught by Cheerilee, which would suggest she teaches multiple classes at the school house on different days. Also, it's interesting that they renamed it horsey hives from the pony pox as it was called in "Hurricane Fluttershy".
However, Twilight has already got a lot of other things she needs to do today. And then Shining Armor and Cadence show up with Shining having his frazzled mane and tail from "The Crystalling". They've been invited by one of Shining Armor's friends from the royal guard to see his art collection, and they're hoping Twilight will agree to foalsit. There's no mention of Sunburst though, even though they do say this was a last minute thing.
So Twilight agrees even though Spike insists on reminding her of all the other commitments she's made, thinking that she can surely manage looking after a child on top of all her other responsibilities.
We then waste a good deal of time on nothing really happening, just cliche babysitter antics like playing with stuffed animals and spoon feeding. Oddly enough, we see Flurry Heart can stand on her hooves (more or less) but trying to wink is difficult. I should also mention that the episode is very inconsistent on Flurry's character: In some scenes she feels almost like a child prodigy and in other scenes she feels no better than a dog. Then, Twilight opts to take Flurry Heart out on the town to do some of her other commitments, but makes the painfully obvious mistake of never keeping an eye on her charge. People give Pinkie Pie flack for leaving the Cake Twins alone in a bath for all of a second or two, so why are they not willing to lamblast Twilight for being so irresponsible all the time here? I mean yes, a couple of seasons later we'll learn that she didn't raise Spike on her own, but I find it hard to believe she never took care of him even just a little when he was an actual baby. "Baby Cakes" showed that Twilight understood what Pinkie did not, babies are an around the clock responsibility.
Fortunately, Twilight does seem to somewhat get it when she stops at Sugarcube Corner to pick up "sorry" cupcakes from Pinkie Pie. She also lets Flurry Heart play with Pound and Pumpkin Cake and tasks Spike with watching over them.
Eventually, however, the twins start to fight over a toy and Flurry Heart's solution is to break it into two (Spike is away trying to find another toy). This starts a food fight as Twilight realizes she'll have to take a sampler plater from Pinkie Pie to make up for the mess (the plater is Pinkie's favorite). And just when you thought Twilight couldn't possibly get dumber, she does something that no parent or caretaker should EVER do: Take an infant to go see sick children in a hospital! Babies have very delicate immune systems, they are extremely vulnerable to diseases! Under no circumstances should you EVER let a baby be around sick people! This is especially prominent when you consider we're talking about the pony equivalent of the chicken pox, one of the worst childhood diseases of all time! Again, why is this not brought up but everything Pinkie Pie does in "Baby Cakes" is even when the twins never get hurt?
Meanwhile, Shining Armor and Cadence notice that Shining's friend, Gleaming Spear has a very "unusual" taste in art. He even has a black colored piece of paper that he calls "A Thousand Knights in a Darkened Hallway". We also get a mention of a "noodle incident" where Flurry Heart got into the chocolate pudding and left chocolate covered hoofprints on the carpet. Hey, at least she didn't ask for it to be made at four in the morning.
As a result of this and some other artwork, the exhausted parents realize they miss being with Flurry and decide to leave to go pick her up. We then cut back to Twilight who is allowed to bring a foal into a room with sick children, and Twilight is so busy reading a book about Gusty The Great and Grogar (a G1 reference) that she fails to notice Flurry Heart losing her favorite stuffed animal: A stuffed snail named Whammy. And no, it's not colored red.
So Flurry throws a magical tantrum to look for her toy, and Twilight rightfully berates Flurry for acting up. But then Flurry Heart starts crying and shielding herself with her wings, and Twilight claims that it's because she yelled at Flurry "Like a big, scary bear". But that isn't true, Twilight was yelling at Flurry because she was throwing a tantrum and endangering other ponies. Again, children need to be told no, that "Gimme Gimme" doesn't get. I know people don't like being the "bad guy" but you have to put your foot down every once in a while, otherwise your child will grow up spoiled and thinking that they can do no wrong. It's especially important for babies to teach them that their actions do have consequences. It's not like Twilight was going to discipline Flurry in public or anything, all she did was put her hoof down and tell Flurry off. Yes, a line should be drawn somewhere on what is punished with what. But telling a child "no" or putting them in time out when they act bad is not a crime, it's teaching them that they can't get what they want just by misbehaving.
And so, Twilight and Flurry leave the hospital and are there when Shining and Cadence return to pick up their daughter. And Twilight mentions having learned a lesson about not taking on more responsibilities than she handle. Meanwhile, Spike is reading to the sick foals in the hospital (why not just have him do that in the first place? He's used to doing errands for Twilight) and one sick foal basically explains a scene implication when Spike poses like the hero in his story. And apparently, sick foals can have cake. But can they have hayburgers (the pony equivalent of cheeseburgers)?
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? I'm gonna be honest, I prefer "Baby Cakes" to this episode. Yes, "Baby Cakes" used more of the babysitting cliches, but that one felt like it had an actual plot to it besides just babysitting antics. And if there was anypony who needed to learn the lesson in that episode, it was definitely Pinkie Pie. Yes, they did go overboard on the crying (babies do cry a lot, but not over every little thing all the time) and the songs were not very good, but it felt like there was more of a story. Here, this episode just seems be both channeling "Castle, Sweet Castle" in the desire to do an episode based on a popular fan concept, and "Apple Family Reunion" in that they just have a Twilight episode for the sake of having one. I do appreciate the moral they were trying to go for here, but it got mixed up very badly to the point where it seems like the episode is saying: If a child misbehaves for any reason it's your fault for not spending every possible second of your day with them, and you should never scold a child if they do something wrong because it might upset them. I mean, Shining Armor and Cadence at least made a decent decision to have Twilight foalsit for them so they could have a break. Their little segments are nice, even if they're a bit stereotypical parent like (all you need is for Shining to make a corny dad joke). But this episode clearly has no clue what it wanted to do. You see, this story concept could work for fanfics because you don't need some big conflict. Making it into an episode means you need to throw one in, otherwise there's just no story. And you know what, Starlight Glimmer should've been in this episode instead. I could easily buy her making the kind of mistakes Twilight makes here (minus taking Flurry to read to sick foals) and even losing control of her emotions due to being so frazzled. Do that and make "Celestial Advice" a two parter and presto, there's no need for "All Bottled Up" to exist. This episode gets a C-, it clearly has no clue what it wanted to do.
So, the next episode to get a re-review is going to be "Rock Solid Friendship", Maud Pie's return to form and an episode noticeable for giving Starlight Glimmer her first non-focus role where she's actually relevant.
This is a fun sweet little episode.
Not one of the best, but not bad either.
In the case of Twilight bringing Flurry Heart to the hospital of sick children, there are two possibilities:
1. Twilight cast a spell on Flurry beforehand to protect her from being infected.
2. Flurry previously had the horsey hives, so she might already be immune to it.
5532586 Well, we don't know if either those is true.
Is that the moral it sent though? I wouldn't say it got mixed up badly. Twilight was sorta in the wrong for agreeing to take care of Flurry despite knowing she didn't have time, and it's because of that that Flurry was neglected for too long. Babies have limited patience. I think that's a very good lesson for parents. I also like the way Twilight yelling at Flurry was handled. In that exact moment of other kids being in danger, Twilight yelling was the fastest way to ensure safety. But it also frightened her for something she had no conscious blame for, so her being apologized to was also justified. Flurry is also at her absolute most adorable in this episode.
You don't understand. Other than that one brief tantrum she had when Twilight wouldn't pay her any mind, Flurry did NOT throw a tantrum looking for her toy. She was just turning the place upside down with her magic. There is a big difference. Also, Twilight was in the wrong for yelling at her infant niece because in real life, any baby's gonna get scared when they get yelled at. This isn't spoiling a child, it's common sense.
5616005 She was clearly upset and levitating beds with other foals in them. Twilight was right to tell Flurry off for that, regardless of the reason. Intentionally or not, Flurry was endangering other ponies and needed to be told that that wasn't an appropriate response to losing her favorite toy.
5616014
Flurry Heart is just a baby. Even if she is capable of advanced magic, she is still vulnerable like any baby in real life would be and her brain still isn't able to understand certain things. Babies have to be educated a little at a time and to take such a direct approach as YELLING at them does nothing except instill fear in them of things they don't fully comprehend. I'm sorry, but it just doesn't work that way, and if you can't see that, then you're either a fool or one of the most INHUMAN people I've ever met!
And another thing: what Flurry Heart did with her magic just to look for her toy wasn't even close to a tantrum. She was in a panic. I mean, there is a large difference here. A tantrum is caused by intense anger or sadness whereas panic is caused by fear, worry, and/or anxiety, and from the looks on Flurry's face, it's very clear she was panicking and not throwing any temper tantrum at all. You, however, are just exaggerating the panic out of narrow-mindedness.
Also, babies are very sensitive, so even if they do have to be disciplined, they must be done so in a not-so-harsh manner. Twilight, however, just lost her patience without even thinking and, as a result, harshly yelled at her infant niece which led to the consequence of Flurry becoming scared of her, which is something that babies would more than likely do in real life if any grown adult yelled at them. And FYI, I've actually talked to some people about babies getting scared if they get yelled at, and frankly, they agree. So if you're gonna try to convince me to change my mind about this whole scenario, you're just wasting your time.