Rating:
God this is a dull episode. Since trying to make My Little Pony a Looney Tunes cartoon worked so well in Fall Weather Friends,
Charlotte Fullerton decided why not do the same but even more so this
time. A Bird In The Hoof involves
Fluttershy kidnapping Princess Celestia’s pet bird Philomena and trying
futilely to convalesce her. Like A Dog
And Pony Show, apparently this kidnapping is supposed to be funny. Unlike that episode, there are no good
moments to balance the bad ones out.
Fluttershy tries a lot of things that don’t have any hope of working,
and both her and Twilight needlessly freak out about what they imagine the
nicest princess in all of history will do to them. Of course, they can partially be forgiven
since the “Trollestia” meme basically originates from this episode. One uttered word by the princess when she
introduces her pet would have spared us all of the action that follows. As the Anthropic Principle states, if
something stupid or extremely unlikely has to happen for a movie or show to exist,
then it will happen.
Princess Celestia is holding some sort of brunch for unknown reasons, but Fluttershy is the only one to show up fashionably late (partially due to a medical emergency). The rest of her friends are already there, and all of them are embarrassing themselves in some way or another. After playing a joke on the Cakes regarding her cup of tea, Celestia manages to say with a straight face that she respects all of her creatures, as Fluttershy does (if this is true, what about the Parasprites for instance?). She introduces everyone to Philomena, who is the ugliest, scraggliest, and sorriest looking excuse for a bird in all of existence. Then Celestia is suddenly called away on “important business”, but unfortunately “forgets” to bring her pet with her. This is totally not a setup. For some reason, Fluttershy thinks the perpetually coughing and almost featherless Philomena is sick, and moments later the bird “mysteriously” disappears.
Fluttershy spends practically the entire second act trying to “cure” Philomena of whatever it is she has, but nothing comes close to helping. In case you weren’t sure if any of this is filler, a scene of Philomena getting incredibly hot and cold (from having a blanket and an ice pack put on her) is repeated over and over again, because apparently Fluttershy thinks the tenth time of doing this will totally be different. The rest of the episode probably would have gone on like this, but then Twilight shows up for some reason (she’s always doing that). After seeing Philomena where she’s absolutely not supposed to be, Twilight starts freaking out Lesson Zero style (such an original episode that one is). Their plan to return the pet is squashed once the two guards show up looking for her. Even though they plainly hear coughs that could only be coming from Philomena, the guards accept the noises came from Twilight and Fluttershy, and quickly leave once the door is slammed in their faces. Totally not suspicious or anything.
Twilight decides to institute a “tough love” policy to rapidly cure Philomena, and while this is at least a bit more interesting, it accomplishes as much as Fluttershy did before. Philomena quickly has enough and escapes, which leads to an unnecessary Benny Hill sequence as Fluttershy and Twilight chase her around Ponyville. This is what passes for a good scene in A Bird In The Hoof, as its stupidity is mildly amusing (a moustache is enough of a disguise for Philomena not to be recognized by Twilight and Fluttershy). Finally, Philomena is tracked down on top of a water fountain statue, but after shedding her final feather, she coughs her last cough and dies. Then she gets up again and falls off the statue. Fluttershy races to catch Philomena, but she bursts into flames and turns into a pile of ashes on the way down. Of course, Celestia shows up just after this happens.
The wonderful princess silently listens as Fluttershy and Twilight needlessly turn themselves in and fight for who deserves the blame. She walks over to Philomena’s ashes and bows her head in memory, but then tells Philomena to stop fooling around. The ashes rise up, and it turns out Celestia's pet is a phoenix. Philomena's "sickness" was just a natural part of her life cycle, and there was nothing to worry about. Celestia doesn’t apologize for withholding this pertinent information, and actually manages to shift the blame onto Philomena even though the latter isn’t capable of speaking and couldn’t have told Fluttershy if she wanted to. But hey, at least Philomena can tickle those guards’ noses and finally get them to laugh, because it’s not like Rainbow Dash has wings too or anything. Oh wait…
Apparently the message of A Bird In The Hoof is to not meddle in things you shouldn’t be as this often only make things worse, and there is definitely a lot of truth to that. This practically defines the United States’ entire foreign policy for instance. But faulting Fluttershy for meddling here is hard since taking care of animals is what she does and is good at. We see her giving a cast to an injured mouse as the episode opens, so apparently she at least has some medical training. Certainly there are many other options for showing a pony doing something she probably shouldn’t be because she thinks she’s helping. Choosing a pony who actually helps and has experience doing so kind of dilutes the point.
What really happens in A Bird In The Hoof is that Fluttershy gets conned by a trolling princess and her great actor of a sidekick. It’s like The Sting, except without being interesting or funny, and we’re not in on the con either. Fluttershy doesn’t even get bilked out of five hundred large or anything else. Celestia only did it for the lulz, but her “important business” prevented her from being present for most of them. Unless Celestia is omniscient in the way gods are usually said to be, she got no benefit out of this con except knowing that she made two ponies worry sick over nothing. Making other people mad who you can’t see is practically the definition of an internet troll, and since the princess only makes brief appearances throughout the series, her nickname of “Trollestia” seems well-earned.
Even if the con angle produced acceptable entertainment or was what Fullerton actually intended, there isn’t nearly enough in A Bird In The Hoof to make it passable. The writing is rather poor to start (“I’m late for a very important date!” (*wink*), “Halt! Who goes there?”), and so much of the episode is padded with unfunny filler events. Not even Rarity can save the few seconds she’s in. She inexplicably wears her Gala dress to the brunch, but then spazzes out to everyone due to fearing the dress will be ruined. No one else was dressed up; how about just not wear it? Her exit from the party is somewhat entertaining (she leaves as if holding a gun to a hostage’s head), but the rest of her appearance is just annoying.
Although A Bird In The Hoof is a rare episode that focuses on Fluttershy, absolutely nothing interesting about her character is learned. We already know she cares for animals, and the rest of the episode is just a joke on her. Fluttershy takes it better than Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash thought in Griffon The Brush Off, so apparently they could’ve pranked her after all. Not content to be just bad on its own, A Bird In The Hoof makes another episode worse as well. As such, it joins a long line of first season episodes that are boring, painful, and unfunny. Unless you’re fascinated by the origin of memes, or love yet another Benny Hill parody with Scooby Dooby Doors, there’s little to recommend.
Princess Celestia is holding some sort of brunch for unknown reasons, but Fluttershy is the only one to show up fashionably late (partially due to a medical emergency). The rest of her friends are already there, and all of them are embarrassing themselves in some way or another. After playing a joke on the Cakes regarding her cup of tea, Celestia manages to say with a straight face that she respects all of her creatures, as Fluttershy does (if this is true, what about the Parasprites for instance?). She introduces everyone to Philomena, who is the ugliest, scraggliest, and sorriest looking excuse for a bird in all of existence. Then Celestia is suddenly called away on “important business”, but unfortunately “forgets” to bring her pet with her. This is totally not a setup. For some reason, Fluttershy thinks the perpetually coughing and almost featherless Philomena is sick, and moments later the bird “mysteriously” disappears.
Fluttershy spends practically the entire second act trying to “cure” Philomena of whatever it is she has, but nothing comes close to helping. In case you weren’t sure if any of this is filler, a scene of Philomena getting incredibly hot and cold (from having a blanket and an ice pack put on her) is repeated over and over again, because apparently Fluttershy thinks the tenth time of doing this will totally be different. The rest of the episode probably would have gone on like this, but then Twilight shows up for some reason (she’s always doing that). After seeing Philomena where she’s absolutely not supposed to be, Twilight starts freaking out Lesson Zero style (such an original episode that one is). Their plan to return the pet is squashed once the two guards show up looking for her. Even though they plainly hear coughs that could only be coming from Philomena, the guards accept the noises came from Twilight and Fluttershy, and quickly leave once the door is slammed in their faces. Totally not suspicious or anything.
Twilight decides to institute a “tough love” policy to rapidly cure Philomena, and while this is at least a bit more interesting, it accomplishes as much as Fluttershy did before. Philomena quickly has enough and escapes, which leads to an unnecessary Benny Hill sequence as Fluttershy and Twilight chase her around Ponyville. This is what passes for a good scene in A Bird In The Hoof, as its stupidity is mildly amusing (a moustache is enough of a disguise for Philomena not to be recognized by Twilight and Fluttershy). Finally, Philomena is tracked down on top of a water fountain statue, but after shedding her final feather, she coughs her last cough and dies. Then she gets up again and falls off the statue. Fluttershy races to catch Philomena, but she bursts into flames and turns into a pile of ashes on the way down. Of course, Celestia shows up just after this happens.
The wonderful princess silently listens as Fluttershy and Twilight needlessly turn themselves in and fight for who deserves the blame. She walks over to Philomena’s ashes and bows her head in memory, but then tells Philomena to stop fooling around. The ashes rise up, and it turns out Celestia's pet is a phoenix. Philomena's "sickness" was just a natural part of her life cycle, and there was nothing to worry about. Celestia doesn’t apologize for withholding this pertinent information, and actually manages to shift the blame onto Philomena even though the latter isn’t capable of speaking and couldn’t have told Fluttershy if she wanted to. But hey, at least Philomena can tickle those guards’ noses and finally get them to laugh, because it’s not like Rainbow Dash has wings too or anything. Oh wait…
Apparently the message of A Bird In The Hoof is to not meddle in things you shouldn’t be as this often only make things worse, and there is definitely a lot of truth to that. This practically defines the United States’ entire foreign policy for instance. But faulting Fluttershy for meddling here is hard since taking care of animals is what she does and is good at. We see her giving a cast to an injured mouse as the episode opens, so apparently she at least has some medical training. Certainly there are many other options for showing a pony doing something she probably shouldn’t be because she thinks she’s helping. Choosing a pony who actually helps and has experience doing so kind of dilutes the point.
What really happens in A Bird In The Hoof is that Fluttershy gets conned by a trolling princess and her great actor of a sidekick. It’s like The Sting, except without being interesting or funny, and we’re not in on the con either. Fluttershy doesn’t even get bilked out of five hundred large or anything else. Celestia only did it for the lulz, but her “important business” prevented her from being present for most of them. Unless Celestia is omniscient in the way gods are usually said to be, she got no benefit out of this con except knowing that she made two ponies worry sick over nothing. Making other people mad who you can’t see is practically the definition of an internet troll, and since the princess only makes brief appearances throughout the series, her nickname of “Trollestia” seems well-earned.
Even if the con angle produced acceptable entertainment or was what Fullerton actually intended, there isn’t nearly enough in A Bird In The Hoof to make it passable. The writing is rather poor to start (“I’m late for a very important date!” (*wink*), “Halt! Who goes there?”), and so much of the episode is padded with unfunny filler events. Not even Rarity can save the few seconds she’s in. She inexplicably wears her Gala dress to the brunch, but then spazzes out to everyone due to fearing the dress will be ruined. No one else was dressed up; how about just not wear it? Her exit from the party is somewhat entertaining (she leaves as if holding a gun to a hostage’s head), but the rest of her appearance is just annoying.
Although A Bird In The Hoof is a rare episode that focuses on Fluttershy, absolutely nothing interesting about her character is learned. We already know she cares for animals, and the rest of the episode is just a joke on her. Fluttershy takes it better than Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash thought in Griffon The Brush Off, so apparently they could’ve pranked her after all. Not content to be just bad on its own, A Bird In The Hoof makes another episode worse as well. As such, it joins a long line of first season episodes that are boring, painful, and unfunny. Unless you’re fascinated by the origin of memes, or love yet another Benny Hill parody with Scooby Dooby Doors, there’s little to recommend.
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