"Filli Vanilli"... so this episode was surprisingly good. I mean, no, good doesn't do it justice, this was a legitimately great episode that, going in, I didn't really know how to feel about. Let me start by saying this: I called from the very second I saw the premise for this episode that it would be about Fluttershy overcoming stage fright. I bucking called it, and I'm sure plenty of other bronies did as well. And I groaned and moaned and worried that it would just be another retreading of Fluttershy overcoming some insecurity of hers, and that FINALLY this recurring theme with her would start getting old. Well, I was right... partially. The episode was entirely about stage fright, surprise, surprise, BUT it absolutely dazzled in its execution and actually handled the admittedly predictable subject splendidly. So let's get down to just what made this episode work so well.

Firstly, we need to cover our main character of course, Fluttershy! This was her second starring role of Season 4, and quite frankly it was a far superior appearance compared to her role in "Bats!" While the idea that Fluttershy has stage fright was completely predictable, again, the way it was conveyed, as well as her taking her first baby steps to overcome it, were really, really handled well. While I can't relate to her stage fright myself (I've been a choral singer pretty much all my life, and even performed in a few musicals when I was younger as well, including being a member of the barbershop quartet in "The Music Man", which was AWESOME), I CAN relate to her love of singing. While we knew before this episode that Fluttershy loved to sing around her animal friends, we'd never seen before just how much she loved singing and appreciated it, and I'll be honest, this new element of Fluttershy's character has significantly raised her in my eyes, just because, well, I've always loved singing myself, so I can totally relate to both enjoying doing it yourself as well as appreciating it from others. The scenes where we saw how much Fluttershy glowed behind stage, how very happy just singing for others at all was making her, those scenes were among my favorite in the episode, because I know those feelings that she was experiencing all too well. When you're performing something like Verdi's "Requiem" or Handel's "Messiah", or even just something as fun as pre-game school spirit songs for homecoming, and you love singing more than most things, you feel ecstatic and your spirits soar, and that was captured perfectly here. Fluttershy's always adorable, but the happiness that she had behind stage were some of the cutest scenes she's ever had, and honestly warmed my heart, really, they did. Again, a lot of that has to do with the fact that I know exactly what she was feeling, so really it just felt true to life, a reaction that I could perfectly understand and knew that people really do experience when they get to do something like that which they truly love.

Besides Fluttershy's pure, sincere, and very real-to-life elation and love of singing, the return of Flutterguy was a hilarious and completely out-of-left-field twist that really spiced things up in this episode and provided an unexpected element, to say the least. Seriously, I don't think any of us saw THAT coming, not to mention that it was actually a pretty ingenious solution to the Ponytones quandary, so good on Zecora for having one of her better and more creative ideas. I also loved how Fluttershy didn't fully resolve her stage fright here. Previous Fluttershy episodes treating her fears or insecurities, such as "Dragonshy" or "Hurricane Fluttershy", have generally thrust Fluttershy into center stage and made her the crux upon which everything else depends (though both of those episodes were excellent, really). On top of that, how many kids shows can you think of that have dealt with the issue of stage fright before? A lot, right? Well, in most cases these episodes are extraordinarily predictable, and usually quite frustrating at that. For one, 3/4 to even 4/5 of the episode usually deals with overcoming the stage fright itself, and it gets BORING!!! Here, that wasn't the case; we actually got to see Fluttershy start performing about half way through the episode, even if she wasn't onstage. Second, the stage fright is usually completely overcome by the end of the episode, and that's highly unrealistic. Again, here, that wasn't the case. Instead of completely overcoming her stage fright, Fluttershy quite realistically simply took her initial steps to doing so, performing in front of her friends and animal friends at the very end. I expect that she really will continue to progress in this regard, and that maybe by the end of the season we'll even see her performing onstage in front of a real crowd for some reason or other, which I'd love very much. Finally, in stage fright episodes in other kids shows, the person overcoming the stage fright generally has to perform a solo of some sort, be it vocal or instrumental, in doing so, completely taking center stage. Again, that didn't happen here! Fluttershy not only performed backstage for most of the episode, but she did so as part of a quartet, and as a choral singer who can appreciate the skill that it takes to coordinate group-singing (not to mention how fun singing in a group as opposed to solo really is), I really, really loved this deviation from the standard stage fright episode formula very much. Once again, DHX took an episode format that we've seen lots of times in other children's shows and tweaked it just enough that it came off as fresh and original in its execution, and nowhere was that more apparent than in the way Fluttershy was handled in this episode. All in all, she had a great turn in the spotlight this time, and this is definitely one of my favorite all-time Fluttershy episodes for sure.

Next, let's look at the primary supporting characters of the episode, the Ponytones. Well first, let's cover Rarity. She was lovely as usual; no surprise to me that she loves singing herself, seeing as she has probably the most mature singing voice of the Mane 6 (and still my personal favorite out of the bunch in terms of singing). But where she really shined here was in her support of Fluttershy. Rarity and Fluttershy have a delightful friendship, one of my favorites. More than anypony else, Rarity is probably the best member of the Mane 6 for encouraging Fluttershy to overcome her fears simply because she knows how to be delicate, how to treat someone like Fluttershy with nuance and subtlety. Even AJ, despite her patience and maturity, isn't as good for helping Fluttershy come out of her shell as Rarity is, simply because she's so much more blunt than Rarity. Rarity helped Fluttershy take those baby steps by helping her find the perfect solution to her singing quandary, and it really did work wonders. All in all, she had a great turn alongside Fluttershy, and another fantastic Season 4 appearance. Big Mac's bass voice was glorious (especially for this bass guy right here ), and he was a whole lot of fun to watch in yet another prominent supporting role. There was even some fun "Hearts and Hooves Day" continuity with that Cheerilee-swoon midway through the episode, not to mention he just had some funny, funny bits, like the Turkey Call competition and AJ's interrogation at the end. Finally, the two other members of the Ponytones (don't know their names yet) had nice debuts. Their designs were lovely and they provided some great singing, nicely rounding out this quartet (and later quintet).

Glad to see CheeriMac is alive and well.

Finally let's cover the Mane 6. For the most part they didn't do too much that was notable, aside from AJ's hilarious Big Mac interrogation. However, one in particular stood out: Pinkie Pie. :okiedokielokie: Honestly, this might be the closest we'll ever get to seeing Pinkie Pie as an episode antagonist (albeit accidentally). Her ridiculous antics, while hilarious, just kept distressing poor Fluttershy more and more as the episode went on. Honestly, I wouldn't mind if an episode dealt with Pinkie reigning herself in, because not only is it a character trait that she seriously needs to deal with, but it would also be a pretty good lesson for kids about knowing when to cut loose and when to reign yourself in and control your excitement. Still, she was hilarious, and the other Mane 6 were just fine as well (though I do somewhat question how they never recall Fluttershy singing seeing as she HAS sung in front of all of them prior to this episode, but eh, plot convenience, whatever ). Oh, also, SpiderPie is now apparently canon.

Musically, the episode was stunning. I don't care that the episode only really featured one tune, Daniel Ingram made it WORK! They kept tweaking and changing it in slightly different ways as the episode continued, very creative on their part, plus I loved the barbershop/pop hybrid it ended up being. All in all, this one piece featured multiple times in "Filli Vanilli" was a delightful number, one of the most creative Ingram's produced this season, and was a pleasure to listen to over and over again throughout the episode (not to mention how adorable Fluttershy looked everytime she sang it backstage ). The animation as well was wonderful; there wasn't too many notable sights (though the ponies movements themselves were top notch, and Fluttershy shaking her groove-thing to the music's beat nicely captured how much she loved music in general, totally being serious about that, honest!). Comedy-wise this certainly wasn't the funniest episode of the season, but it kept delivering the laughs with great consistency in a wide variety of ways and from a wide array of characters. The new minor characters were all a lot of fun, especially that cute little filly who had her cute-ceanera. And of course, as mentioned earlier, the theme of the episode was not only great, but wonderfully executed as well! Overall, I have no complaints about this episode (besides Pinkie Pie's rather bizarre, though somewhat unsurprising, over-the-top antics, just because one would think she'd know to at least try to contain herself around Fluttershy of all ponies). This was yet another wonderful addition to Season 4, and I laud the folks at DHX for it!

EDIT: First, I've learned that the main tune of the episode is named "Find the Music in You". Second, I've got to correct my earlier statement that there was only one number, because there were actually two, the first being Fluttershy's musical number at the beginning of the episode, "Find the Music in the Treetops" (which was lovely as well, though a far more traditional tune by this show's standards).