Good morning everypony, and welcome back to another edition of "Batbrony Reviews"!  Well today I have good news and bad news.  The good news is that this review shouldn't be all that long, but the bad news is it probably won't be that long because I thought this episode overall was just... eh, OK.  It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't amazing either, and I've seen far better episodes before about Fluttershy becoming more assertive or gaining confidence.  But let's not go over all of that here, instead, let's dive on into the full review itself, this is "Fluttershy Leans In."

So last week's episode, "Rock Solid Friendship's," biggest flaw was Pinkie Pie with a ton of OOC behavior, and while that was a BIG problem, the episode as a whole was still very likable.  This episode, while it didn't have such a glaring flaw, had a bigger issue with the episode as a whole that brought it down to being just an OK episode: a contrived conflict.  Now it wasn't the need for an animal sanctuary that was the problem, uh-uh, but rather the issues that arose on the way there.  Frankly, it just felt entirely unnecessary that the three "experts" that the Mane 6 recommended to Fluttershy to bring in to help build her dream animal sanctuary be brought in in the first place; the only one of them who had any kind of expertise with animals in the first place was Wrangler, but even her talent for animal enclosures and herding had virtually nothing to do with building an animal sanctuary.  Hard Hat it should have been pretty clear only knew how to construct buildings and nothing else, and it seems like a landscaper or exterior designer of some kind would have been a far better choice to help than him.  And finally I have no idea what Dandy Grandeur was even doing there; it's not that the animal sanctuary didn't end up having interior "structures" or features of some kind, but I have no idea why Fluttershy or Rarity would have thought a guy who clearly seemed to know nothing but high end interior design would have anything worthwhile to contribute to an animal sanctuary project.  So when Fluttershy got mad at all three of them, I really didn't find myself getting mad at them either; if anything, Fluttershy kind of came off as douchey when she did because she just shouldn't have let them get involved in the first place.  Wrangler, Hard Hat, and Dandy Grandeur at one point before anything even began all seemed to know they didn't know what they were doing in this project, when they shared very nervous glances with one another.  But they tried to help anyway because they were happy to help a friend of Applejack, Pinkie Pie, or Rarity, respectively, so it's not like there was any malicious intent behind their buck ups, they just shouldn't have been brought in to help at all in the first place.  Frankly the Mane 6 deserved more of Fluttershy's ire than these new ponies did; the new supporting characters largely didn't know Fluttershy at all and were just doing what they knew how to do best, so technically as far as what they're good at, they were putting their best hoof forward.  The Mane 6, on the other hoof, kind of seemed to dump off helping Fluttershy on these three, and not only did that lead to all of these issues, but it was completely unnecessary and avoidable in the first place.  The Mane 6 when they work all together are more than capable of tackling a project like this, and as the episode ended up showing, in the end, that's all that was needed.  Fluttershy had a clear vision of what she wanted, and all they needed to do was follow her lead and give her the manpower she needed to bring it to life.  It was gratifying when we got to see Fluttershy lecture the other five at the end when they almost pulled the same crap that Wrangler, Hard Hat, and Dandy Grandeur did, but really she should have been even angrier at them.  I mean, she left things off with those other three badly, and for all we know they might be on bad terms with Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity too now, and once again, this was all avoidable if the Mane 6 had just offered to help Fluttershy instead themselves in the first place!  So overall, I just really didn't buy into the primary conflict in this episode.  It was contrived and completely avoidable, it's only purpose was to force Fluttershy to be more assertive (which she has done plenty of already in past seasons and in far better episodes that taught such a lesson far more effectively), and it felt forced to the point that I just didn't feel like picking sides like the episode wanted me to.  So as I said earlier, while Pinkie Pie was REALLY bad last week, I honestly felt like the contrived conflict that affected this entire episode brought this episode down far more than Pinkie did in last week's episode.

Eheheheheh, ya sure ya want us getting involved?  I mean, just so you know, we may not know anything about what you want us helping you out with, but OK, if you insist that this plot goes where it will inevitably go if we stay involved, fine, we'll play along until it blows up in your face. 

Also, can we please get more of Wrangler at least?  I don't know why, but I just really dug her design, the colors, the clothes, it all just worked for me.

Other than a really contrived and forced conflict, the rest of the episode was largely harmless.  Besides how her assertive moments felt forced and needless, Fluttershy was very sweet and I really thought the best trait of hers on display in this episode was her kindness and how that translated into a beautiful dream becoming a reality.  My biggest takeaway was that her kindness, her love for all her animal friends, was what kept driving her, even when things got difficult, to finally make her dream of building an animal sanctuary a reality, and it was great seeing those simple, basic elements of Fluttershy on full display here.  Also it was pretty hilarious that it was her fault that all these animals were overrunning Dr. Fauna's clinic in the first place because she just couldn't help but recommend her to all her animal friends that she met all over Equestria.  Talk about word-of-mouth getting out of control.  

Dr. Fauna was actually quite delightful, and like Nurse Redheart a couple of episodes ago, it was really nice seeing her in such an expanded role so unexpectedly.  She didn't contribute to the problem at all, in fact like I said it was really Fluttershy's fault that she had too many patients to handle in the first place, and she clearly loved animals about as much as Fluttershy did, it's just her expertise was more directly about animal health itself rather than their overall care like Fluttershy's is.  In fact, as far as new elements in this episode go, I'd say she was my favorite one; I know she wasn't a new character, but it was just nice seeing the writers so positively utilizing a supporting character in Ponyville when so often the Mane 6's problems either revolve around themselves or supporting characters are just there for comedic gags.  This time the Mane 6 helped make a permanent change to Ponyville that benefited the entire town, and one resident of Ponyville in particular, because she and her animal patients needed their help and intervention.  I honestly wish we saw more often the Mane 6 helping out Ponyville residents like that as part of their episode lessons, it'd just be a nice, simple way to get more of the entire town involved in their adventures.  The return of Big Daddy McColt was quite a bit of fun as well, (though it did beg the question even more as to why Fluttershy didn't just bring him in in the first place since she knew he had expertise that could actually aid her in this endeavor, thereby further undermining the contrived conflict of this episode, but I digress), and it was great to see him paying the help that Fluttershy and Twilight had given him and his family in the first place forward with kindness of his own.  So kudos DHX on both Dr. Fauna and Big Daddy McColt, this is exactly how you should be handling supporting characters in the show and involving them in it!

Now that's a brohoof I never thought I'd see in this show

The animals throughout the episode were pretty cute overall.  I did get quite a laugh out of Angle Bunny hurting himself in, of all things, a bucking parkour accident, and even better still being a rotten bastard to everyone afterwards.

I shouldn't be so happy about this, but I am...

...and that is why. 

Most of the animals in Dr. Fauna's office were cute, but two things did bug me.  First, that bear was a cheap, knockoff Harry the Bear and had nowhere close to the amount of swagger that Harry does; he was just a freeloading bum in Dr. Fauna's office and when you have a great bear like Harry already, why even both introducing another one when you know he'll be nowhere near as awesome as Harry is?

I mean, seriously, get a load of this bum!  You ain't Harry, ya cheap knockoff!!! 

Second, the giraffe was cute in design, but her presence there was very confusing to me.  Equestria is a world where we know that a number of animals are sapient; cows can talk and seem to have their own communities, or to even live among ponies (we've seen them buying stuff in Ponyville before but also seen them in dairy farms, but perhaps that's what they do as their jobs), and even sheep, despite being herd animals, can talk (though we haven't really seen that since Season 1, possibly because the writers don't want to raise anymore uncomfortable questions with it by even bringing them up again).  I was wrong earlier that giraffes are related to horses, they actually really aren't, but nonetheless I kind of always thought that if they were ever introduced, giraffes would be sapient animals too.  Heck, this giraffe's head resembled a pony's (at least by the show's own animation) so closely (she even had eyes like a ponies with the typical eyelashes they use to denote a female character) that it was downright bizarre not hearing this character talk.  So I guess giraffes are just "animals-animals" by Equestrian standards now, but I still find that bizarre.  Heck, I don't even know what to think about goats anymore; when we first saw them, sure, they didn't talk, but they were clearly assisting Iron Will with his show, which included running electronics and stage equipment, and yet since then we've seen them treated more and more like they too are "animals-animals" in this world.  I guess my bottom line is that in this episode, Equestrian biology and how the animal kingdom works in Equestria just got even more confusing for me.

I am so confused! 

Ah well, at least this episode had a super adorable sloth in it!  Sloths make everything better, always, like, not even joking, they just do.  And her name was Lola, too!!! 

Uh, Fluttershy, you, uh, you got something on your leg, there...

Finally, while I did have my beef with the Mane 6 as far as the overall conflict goes, besides that they were fine.  They really should have just helped Fluttershy build her animal sanctuary in the first place, but they made up for it in the end at least, and it's not like their hearts were ever in the wrong spot.  I did think some of the "emotional" moments they had when Fluttershy was describing her dream were a bit forced (like, we get it, you love Fluttershy, but you don't have to be on the brink of tears just because she has an awesome dream and is super cute describing it), but overall this was one of their first group episodes (at least in some parts) this season, and I'm always happy to see them all working together towards something as a group, even if it was only for some of this episode.  As I've said throughout this review, the animal sanctuary was a really cool idea and it was really neat seeing Fluttershy make such a cool dream a reality.  But as a whole, this episode was just OK; there wasn't really anything infuriating about it, but too much of it was too forced and needless for me to really care about this episode either.  I guess in that respect I'm OK with how Pinkie was in last week's episode since, even though I hated parts of it, I at least cared about her performance.  I will always take something I care about, whether I love it or hate it, over something I'm just plain apathetic about.  Still, an OK episode is still one worth checking out, and this one is definitely worth checking out for Fluttershy and her awesome animal sanctuary alone.  That's all I've got for ya'll this week everypony; next week my review may be a little late since I'm visiting my girlfriend on Saturday when we both take a trip to Lansing, but I promise to get it up as soon as I can.  Until next time, everypony, this is Batbrony signing off.  I'm off!!! *cue dramatic exit*

I have no idea how I missed this face during the episode, but this face is AMAZING!