MLP:FiM Season 2 Review #22 - Hurricane Fluttershy

Oh hey, a Fluttershy episode! Those don't come out all that often.

Wait, sorry, what did you say? We just had a Fluttershy episode a few weeks ago? Well, you know what, that's fine, because Fluttershy is second-best pony and she deserves plenty of episodes.

Ah, and the lateness of this review can be blames solely on that silly flightless angel named after a hole in the ground.

Spoilers after the break! Probably a lot this time.



So the conflict this episode is that Cloudsdale needs water to make clouds, and it's Ponyville's turn to carry out water-gathering duties. This means that the pegasi in Ponyville need to work together to make a huge tornado to funnel water out of a particular lake and all the way to Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash takes charge, and she wants every pegasi to work super-hard so that they can beat the record.

Fluttershy... wants nothing to do with this. She explains to Rainbow that she has trouble performing in front of a crowd, with a severe case of stage fright reinforced by some... less-than-ideal events in her childhood. Rainbow pushes anyway (although eventually in a gentler way, noting her character development through the season), and Fluttershy finally agrees to give it a shot. Unfortunately, Fluttershy performs far below expectations and, in one of the best paced scenes in the entire series, runs off in shame.

So the episode's about Fluttershy overcoming her stage fright, right? Well... sort of. Fluttershy rebounds from her stage fright with the hep of her animal friends, has her Rocky montage, and tries again. And that's where the episode gets interesting...

Let me set the stage a little bit: Rainbow's hoping that every pegasus can make 10.0 wingpower for the tornado. In Fluttershy's first shot, she did 0.5. In her second shot, she hypes up, flies very quickly, and... makes 2.3. Twilight and Rainbow are quick to congratulate her on her substantial improvement, but Fluttershy, in a way that II know I can relate to, is only disappointed in herself performing so much worse than the others.

So Fluttershy's plight has already touched on two different concepts that are pretty heavy and common in real life: stage fright and the issue of comparing yourself to others' instead of comparing yourself to yourself to see improvement. The best part is, neither of those are even the "final" lesson of the episode.

This is the big reason why I like "Hurricane Fluttershy" so much - it packs in so many statements on how to best take various situations as secondary lessons in a sense. And though it could easily get bogged down by its own sheer quantity of lessons, it doesn't at all. The characters and their scenario feels incredibly realistic and relatable in context, and, frankly, I love it.

Ah, yes, I did say "characters" plural. Rainbow Dash has a few important things to learn, too. As I mentioned earlier, her initial reactions to Fluttershy are particularly negative, and they get her nowhere until she changes approach and realizes her mistake on the fly. But more than that, a subplot involves Rainbow Dash showing no tolerance for sickness, assuming a particular pegasus in only faking coughing to get out of work. When the day of the tornado comes, this becomes a bit of an issue when he and seven others are at the hospital sick.

And that leads us directly into the finale - not only does it involve Rainbow Dash swallowing her pride and changing her goal from the one she's been going on about the whole time, beating the wingpower record, to simply doing their absolute best so as to not let Cloudsdale down. And then comes a particularly poignant scene that could've come out of Gurren Lagann where Twilight tells Rainbow she should give up for safety's sake after a failure and Rainbow retorts that she needs to know that they gave it their all and rallies the pegasi back up.

Then Fluttershy comes back, offering moral support. And when the pegasi need her most, she steps up to the plate and does the seemingly-impossible: helping even with her small contribute to make the whole happen. It's an inspirational scene where she puts aside all the problems that have plagued her through the episode, and it is great. That's the final moral, by the way: that no matter how small your contribution may seem, you can still make a difference. Which is an awesome moral that speaks for an issue that plagues people all over, from kids to adults and everyone in between.

"Hurricane Fluttershy" is, simply put, a brilliant episode. The characters are portrayed beautifully, the scenario is one that is incredibly, surprisingly relatable, and the morals and inspirational scenes throughout are, well, simply great. More than once the episode brought a tear to my eye, both from strongly relating with Fluttershy's plight and from seeing her finally overcome all the adversities that stood in her way.

I suppose the biggest issue I can find with this episode is that it excludes half of the Mane Six, but... well, they wouldn't have fit, so that's not really a big deal. I know I had some manner of complaint at some point, but I've forgotten it since then. I just love this episode, and this review probably came off as more fanboy gushing that anything, but I don't even care, it was beautiful.

I give "Hurricane Fluttershy" a...

10/10, alongside the title of my favorite episode in the series.

Pros:
-Incredibly relatable and realistic characters and scenario
-Fun throughout
-Highly emotional at times
-Amazing morals and delivery

Cons:
-No Pinkie, AJ, or Rarity
-...I literally can't think of anything else at the moment

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Really, I think there's only one way to describe this episode.

YEAH

~C.O