Rating:
I’m all for asserting yourself, but Putting Your Hoof Down
oscillates too fast between the extremes.
Fluttershy starts as a virtual abused housewife, then quickly changes
into Iron Will Jr. with no explanation.
Yes, it’s mildly fun seeing her not taking anyone’s shit, but this
becomes an excuse to embarrass ponies around town. Nothing is really learned from Fluttershy
momentarily taking charge except that the world loves extraverts and there’s
something wrong with introverts. I don’t
trust them. Since she was let go after
the astoundingly terrible Baby Cakes, Charlotte Fullerton passed scriptwriting
duties off to Merriwether Williams, who naturally added clichés and slapstick
humor. While sort of taking place in My Little Pony’s actual universe, budget
limitations mean Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash are off while Pinkie Pie
and Rarity just happen to be hanging around wherever. This and the sudden immigration of valley
girls to Ponyville give Putting Your Hoof Down that classic Williams feel. While actually mostly watchable, the episode
is too stereotypical and fillerish to count as anything other than minor. And considering Williams again uses writing
as her canvas for hurting the mane six (Rarity and Pinkie receive putdowns that
are a little too good), Putting Your Hoof Down doesn’t rate well either. Even if a decent lesson exists somewhere in
there, these aren’t the kind of episodes My
Little Pony should be wasting time on airing.
The big plot point early on features Fluttershy attempting
to make a special dish for Angel that looks like one he wouldn’t eat. Despite shacking up at Fluttershy’s for free,
Angel literally abuses her and throws perfectly good food away. Instead of kicking him out and contacting
authorities, Fluttershy goes to pick up supplies at the market. Every food item she’s looking for suddenly
sells out quickly, and Fluttershy receives a rude lesson in economics from one
vendor after being too honest.
Fortunately Rarity and Pinkie Pie use feminine charm and a familiarity
with Bugs Bunny cartoons respectively to help out, but Fluttershy still goes
home without a cherry.
Even though it doesn't matter one bit, Angel refuses to eat this
huge vegetable sundae and throws Fluttershy out instead. Fortunately, a flyer she knocked out of the
mailbox lands on her head and announces an Iron Will assertiveness seminar that
just happens to be taking place today.
This character is a minotaur who fancies himself a self-help guru while
talking like professional wrestlers. His
aides seek out the most pitiful pony in attendance, so they naturally choose
Fluttershy. One of them blocks
Fluttershy’s path as she walks onstage, which is of course met by a polite
reaction. Iron Will shows her the
“proper” way to deal with it, as he flicks her into his aide. After knocking him over and attempting to
mimic Iron Will’s mean response, the minotaur declares she’s “cured” and that
his methods will therefore work on anyone.
Despite no other coaching, she is cured alright. Fluttershy becomes a force around town and punishes
even the smallest inconvenience to her.
A gardener overwatering plants, two garbage carts pulled by valley girls
obstructing her way, and ponies cutting in front of her in line at the store
and for a taxi are all dealt with severely.
When the rampage continues, Rarity and Pinkie Pie attempt to calm her
down, but leave crying after Fluttershy’s harsh (and somewhat accurate)
criticisms. Finally, after looking at
her reflection in a conveniently appearing puddle, Fluttershy realizes she’s
the monster.
Now overreacting the other way, Fluttershy ties herself up
at home and refuses to come out. Guess
which two ponies try talking her out of hiding (hint: they’re not ones that
would require adding another voice actor to the payroll). But now Iron Will comes calling too, since he
wants his payment. While distracted
temporarily, he almost breaks Fluttershy’s door down demanding his money. Suddenly untied, Fluttershy comes out and
tells him no. She wasn’t satisfied with
his coaching due to acting terribly, and doesn’t have to pay given his earlier
“100% satisfaction” loophole.
Surprisingly buying it (Fluttershy’s not actually lying after clearly
being unhappy), Iron Will relents and goes off to do some shopping in town.
Most of Fluttershy’s problem is the extremes Williams has
her wallow in. Early scenes are a bit
too ridiculous with how much of a pushover she is, and having Angel abuse her
moves into very uncomfortable territory.
Fine, victims of abuse shouldn’t take it either, but Fluttershy never realizes
or deals with it. And I’m not sure why
this needs to be explored on a children’s show either. But after Fluttershy’s magic conversion
later, she is too downright nasty. Most
of her revenge consists of embarrassing the offending ponies, such as making
the gardener spray water in his face, dumping garbage on the valley girls
(which no one cleans up), and mailing an old postal worker who delivered the
wrong letters (where did that stamp come from anyway?). None of these scenes are funny, and based on
Williams’ previous work, their purpose is clear. Since Fluttershy’s actions are explained away
as being due to Iron Will’s influence, nothing she does actually means anything
or matters.
Iron Will himself isn’t terrible, but clearly better off in
small doses. His voice and actions are
appropriate, and he’s rough enough with his goat aides that Fluttershy should
be scared at the end. Whether he would
actually back down due to a loophole is debatable, and that small basket just
looks ridiculous. Of course, having Iron
Will admit he’s never heard “no means no” before makes him sound like a rapist,
which is another uncomfortable and unnecessary allusion from Williams. Or Iron Will is just dumb, because Williams loves
her clichés (“friends?...friends!”).
Besides these examples, Williams’ dialogue is similarly
uneven. Some of the rhymes and polite
lines are actually well thought out, but then filler still creeps back in
(“when some pony tries to block, show them that you rock” is heard three
times, along with another "I'll never go ____ again" Gone With The Wind reference). But even if her dialogue is otherwise
solid, everything else happening around is more important to notice. After Mare Do Well, Hearth’s Warming Eve, and
the later Dragon Quest, seeing Williams terrorize Ponyville again isn’t
surprising. Whether stuck in a Spongebob
rut or just outright hating My Little
Pony, Williams finds “creative” ways to make everyone suffer. Not one character is safe from her wrath
(even those goats are embarrassed when Iron Will knocks them down or rides on
top of them), and there is still little purpose for it.
Even if not as objectively terrible as some of Williams’
other efforts, Putting Your Hoof Down sends all sorts of wrong messages. Fluttershy’s various attitudes are both awful,
since she is alternately too meek and mean.
Williams again shows a surface level understanding of characters, and
brings in issues that shouldn’t be handled on this series (never too early to
tell your daughter about rape and abuse I guess). Newcomer Iron Will isn’t consistent, and half
of the mane six missing is very noticeable.
This script joins many others with issues, but Williams’ hatred and
torture of ponies again stands out.
Putting Your Hoof Down is inconsequential and flawed enough to be on a
long list of season two episodes which shouldn’t have been made. When I say Williams learned nothing from Mare
Do Well, this is the proof.
No comments:
Post a Comment