S08:E04 - Fake It 'Til You Make It

[Ganondox 899]

I enjoyed this episode far more than I was expecting. Her characters were hilarious. I like how her acting worked as long as she was taking tips from the raccoons, but fell appart after she (pretended to) dismissed them. Only thing I didn't really like the resolution, it just felt incomplete. Also, I thought Fluttershy's sewing knowledge was a little better than it was portrayed this episode. Does anyone actually know what all the terms that were being thrown around mean? 

[Truffles 2,033]

2 hours ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

And why didn't the raccoons just go to rarity, rather than to the mane 6 first, who just got Rarity, themselves? Manehattan is a lot closer to Canterlot than it is to Ponyville.

Perhaps they knew Spike was the only friend of Fluttershy's that would be able to understand them? Granted, if that's the case then the episode failed to make that point and could have been time better spent in the cold open.

They could have gone to Discord, too. He would stand a better chance at understanding them than even Spike.

I like @gingerninja666's reasoning as to why they didn't go to Rarity - they didn't want to interrupt her doing her presentation. But the whole travel thing with the racoons - it doesn't make a lot sense no matter where they went; they'd still have a long journey to either Canterlot or Ponyville.

 

[Ganondox 899]

4 minutes ago, Truffles said:

Perhaps they knew Spike was the only friend of Fluttershy's that would be able to understand them? Granted, if that's the case then the episode failed to make that point and could have been time better spent in the cold open.

They could have gone to Discord, too. He would stand a better chance at understanding them than even Spike.

I like @gingerninja666's reasoning as to why they didn't go to Rarity - they didn't want to interrupt her doing her presentation. But the whole travel thing with the racoons - it doesn't make a lot sense no matter where they went; they'd still have a long journey to either Canterlot or Ponyville.

 

To be fair, time scales in pony, especially when traveling, haven't made any sense for a long time. 

[Truffles 2,033]

9 minutes ago, Ganondox said:

To be fair, time scales in pony, especially when traveling, haven't made any sense for a long time. 

True. I guess it felt extra egregious this time because it was a group of non-talking raccoons instead of ponies, lol.

[Ganondox 899]

So I noticed a lot of people are complaining about Fluttershy being OOC, but I actually found her to be far less OOC than I was expecting based on the description. Fluttershy has been mean before, she's proven she has the potential to be very mean, and part of the reason for this is that when she does let her self loose she tends not to realize just how badly she hurt others until after the fact. She did persist in it a bit longer than usual this episode, but it was for comedy's sake so I'd let it slide, this was not a particularly serious episode. She also wasn't being mean for no reason, she was just playing a character which she found to be effective. While she is VERY good at acting out a character, she's also not very gooding at reading other ponies well enough to know how to apply it (especially in comparison to somepony like Rarity), and thus it all fell appart when she stopped taking feedback from the raccoons and just kept running with it. As other people have noted, the biggest inconsistency I found with her character this episode was her lack fashion knowledge, but I can justify that this episode by assuming her knowledge was just too specialized to cover the breadth of questions she would receive on the job, but she still knew enough to fake it. 

[KH7672 1,604]

I....I can't hate this episode.

It really took a lot of what made "Fluttershy Leans In" not work for me and and changed it. Probably the biggest thing is no other character is dragged down unfairly by Fluttershy's antics. Rarity's not in the wrong, the raccoons aren't in the wrong, the Manehattanites aren't in the wrong, because we clearly see how they behave and how they expect their service ponies to behave (even if a litte exaggerated for the sake of comedy) and yes the comedy was great here. My sister and I actually burst out laughing twice for the first time this season [the scene where Fluttershy pulls out a magnifying glass to count the threads and the multiple termination scenes].

I will agree the ending is extremely rushed especially with Fluttershy just dropping the personas immediately, making it seem less like they were taking over and more....well I don't know but felt very off in the resolution.

I've wanted to enjoy Fluttershy episodes again and with this actual conflict and entertaining build up, it does make it easier to get invested. A rushed resolution just means we're trying to get to more of Fluttershy's character improving and after messing up that badly it's welcome.

[gingerninja666 487]

51 minutes ago, Twilight Luna said:

The only laugh I got out of this episode was when...

 

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Rarity had to keep firing each of Fluttershy's personas.

 

It's Rare's reaction that sells it. She gets startled so bad each time.

[DonMaguz 1,023]

16 minutes ago, Ganondox said:

She also wasn't being mean for no reason, she was just playing a character which she found to be effective. 

The thing is... she was being effective and suddenly had the great idea to "push it a little further", then she started being mean and stopped being effective!

She turned from effective to mean for no reason (other than maybe she liked acting like those mean stereotypes).

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

*After rewatching Fake*

The 'nastiness' of this episode is that they dont treat Fluttershy behaviors just as bad as her other "out of her element" episode. 

The racoons just forgive Fluttershy too easily, they should get mad at her and run away and she had to find them and apologize or sth (too dramatic, i guess).

The ways Fluttershy acted toward her friends are confusing me. Is it just that Fluttershy just play her 'fake character' too believably or is she just being nasty like she did in the past? Which one? It starts out just an act but then she's getting more frustrated with those nasty customers and then it become real?! Is it the answer? That's what Manehattan did to ponies, everyone, to adjust it's life style, you have to play a character then the character become YOU. That what i get from the setting of this episode.

Fluttershy being nasty to animals is nothing new, she did it in Best Night Ever and PYHD (which are considered one of the best and one of the worst).

Until now, i dont use 'out of character' or 'character assassination' to describe the character so often because i still want to speculate the character like they are actual people (or ponies) more than 'meh, out of character, this episode sucks!'. 

This ep got worse the second time  i watched it but i cant bring myself to hate it. 5/10

Now, i am spending my time to find out what i could like more from this ep. Even i could find a lot of thing to enjoy in What About Discord?... 

 

 

[Ganondox 899]

41 minutes ago, DonMaguz said:

The thing is... she was being effective and suddenly had the great idea to "push it a little further", then she started being mean and stopped being effective!

She turned from effective to mean for no reason (other than maybe she liked acting like those mean stereotypes).

She was being effective because she was acting with confidence when talking with the first pony. Yes, she stopped being effective when she pushed it further (it made sense why she did it though, if doing it was good, then shouldn't doing it more be even more effective?), but she didn't realize what she was doing wrong then. Again, this is due to the lack of feedback when she stopped listening the raccoons. 

34 minutes ago, Lambdadelta said:

The ways Fluttershy acted toward her friends are confusing me. Is it just that Fluttershy just play her 'fake character' too believably or is she just being nasty like she did in the past? Which one? It starts out just an act but then she's getting more frustrated with those nasty customers and then it become real?! Is it the answer? That's what Manehattan did to ponies, everyone, to adjust it's life style, you have to play a character then the character become YOU. That what i get from the setting of this episode.

 

Based on what she said to the raccoons at the end, I think she was just staying in character, and she didn't realize her friends didn't realize she was just pretending. 

[Sparklefan1234 169,796]

 I think "Putting Your Hoof Down" had a sister we didn't know about. 

Seriously, "Fake It Till You Make It" feels like a continuation of Fluttershy's "Iron Will assertiveness" personality without the rhyming phrases, IMO. 

Edited April 8, 2018 by Sparklefan1234

[Justin_Case001 4,881]

Hated it.  Absolutely hated it.  I'm sorry, but it just felt so stupid to me.  People said Maud Couple was cringy--I didn't get that.  I rather enjoyed it.  But this?  I haven't cringed this much since There's Something About Sugar Belle....or, whatever that episode was called....y'know, Big Mac and Justin Bieber.  But holy crap, dude--I'm sorry, but I can't think of anything good to say about Fake.  It's Fake Pony, that's what it is.  I  think the writers are faking it in the hopes of making it.  The one only good thing about it was that Rainbow said she has a Wonderbolt show.  Boy, I sure would have loved to have seen that.  Woulda been so much more enjoyable.  It would be really nice if we could finally see her actually perform as a 'bolt.  How long has it been since she achieved her series-long dream, and we still haven't seen her fly in a show?

[RDDash 19,163]

When all of them ended up going to boutique, I figured it that they are not busy anymore. they just went there because the plot demands it..

There is also another thing I really thought that Fluttershy was better of at dealing with those ponies by being mean machine then if she just had been her old self.

And here is another point Fluttershy had done really good work of making sure that clothes would sell, I guess, considering that she  probably wasn't trained for the job.

Edited April 8, 2018 by R.D.Dash

[CypherHoof 26,482]

15 minutes ago, Justin_Case001 said:

Hated it.  Absolutely hated it.  I'm sorry, but it just felt so stupid to me.  People said Maud Couple was cringy--I didn't get that.  I rather enjoyed it.  But this?  I haven't cringed this much since There's Something About Sugar Belle....or, whatever that episode was called....y'know, Big Mac and Justin Bieber.  But holy crap, dude--I'm sorry, but I can't think of anything good to say about Fake.  It's Fake Pony, that's what it is.  I  think the writers are faking it in the hopes of making it. 

I am hoping I can learn to like it, or at least tolerate it, but ... yeah. It got so cringy that I literally couldn't watch it streaming any longer, and waited until it popped up on DailyMotion so I could use the 3x on the cringy bits....

 

31 minutes ago, R.D.Dash said:

And here is another point Fluttershy had done really good work of making sure that clothes would sell, I guess, considering that she  probably wasn't trained for the job.

She achieved Rarity's goals, but it meant acting a role that she didn't personally fit. That Rarity put her in that position is the root cause, and clearly Flutters being Flutters wouldn't have cut it in the bitchy world of sattle row shopping...

[FlutterForever 330]

As a huge fan of Fluttershy, I feel this episode was very bad at showing who she is. We've had episodes of her going out of her comfort zone before and even being mean and from what I am aware; she said she would never do it again, but this episode seems to have thrown all her past lessons aside and gone back to it again. I like that Fluttershy has a strong side to her that won't stand for certain things, but this just showed her being flat out mean for no reason at all. The lesson seemed weak and over used to the point that this episode just seemed pointless. Could have shown it was also shown that Fluttershy had some fashion knowledge and was good with making things, Rarity's dress for example. Overall, I am disappointed and feel this was a bad add to the character.

[CypherHoof 26,482]

11 minutes ago, Zander_Soulwind said:

As a huge fan of Fluttershy, I feel this episode was very bad at showing who she is. We've had episodes of her going out of her comfort zone before and even being mean and from what I am aware; she said she would never do it again, but this episode seems to have thrown all her past lessons aside and gone back to it again. I like that Fluttershy has a strong side to her that won't stand for certain things, but this just showed her being flat out mean for no reason at all. The lesson seemed weak and over used to the point that this episode just seemed pointless. Could have shown it was also shown that Fluttershy had some fashion knowledge and was good with making things, Rarity's dress for example. Overall, I am disappointed and feel this was a bad add to the character.

Cringeworthy though this is, I think it is actually Fluttershy doing better.

She has literally built a set of characters from her observation of how other Saddle row ponies talk and act; she has then adopted those "roles" in order to use them as a shield between her usual persona and the ponies she is forced to interact with.

That she has stepped up into being able to separate herself from a "role" she is playing is not a bad thing; I know her theatrical efforts are more an EqG storyline, although she DOES have the ponytones thing going on. But that, had Rarity WANTED just a bunch of saddle row salesponies she would have just hired some is also a point well made, but shows the essential conflict Rarity herself caused; she wanted a Fluttershy to mind her shop for her, but NEEDED a Rarity because a Fluttershy couldn't really fill that role.

[RDDash 19,163]

14 hours ago, AlexanderThrond said:

It's not like this character is actually identified as a millennial. I'm pretty sure that stereotype predates the millennial generation. 

I wasn't really sure what exactly that was. I can tell you that it's not a millennial, because I am one and we don't talk like that.

It's was like some kind of teenager stereotype where the person would speak using specific speech pattern, maybe hipster, maybe not.

[Victoria Sponge 1,017]

I hate OOC arguments, they seem to suggest that people stick to the exact same thing for their entire lives and never deviate, which just isn't true. People change their attitudes and personalities when they're trying to make an impression, when they're emotional and even as they age. Fluttershy acted differently because she wanted to do Rarity's job well, unfortunately she just took it too far. It was a little weird that she was mean to the raccoons but as she said to them at the end, she was just pretending. She wasn't being mean to them because she hated them she was being mean because she didn't want to break character, she got too into these different personas.

The biggest inconsistancy was definitely her lack of fashion knowledge and Rarity choosing her as the last pony to ask, even after the CMCs. Fluttershy showed herself to have a weird knowledge of sewing in the past and she did a brief stint as a model and yet she was the last person Rarity asked and also couldn't croquet very well. That annoys me more than the whole OOC thing. Doesn't change my opinion on the episode though, it was a good one in my eyes.

Edited April 8, 2018 by Victoria Sponge

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

6 hours ago, Ganondox said:

Based on what she said to the raccoons at the end, I think she was just staying in character, and she didn't realize her friends didn't realize she was just pretending. 

Yeah, it kinda make sense a little bit if you put it that way but still, those words come from her mouth are very nasty, especially the raccoons. Fluttershy didnt realize she could hurt their feeling? She could scold them with more... you know... kinder words? When Fluttershy being nasty, her words are just sharp as knifes.

That what happen to the actors who act too 'in character'.

 

 

[Jeric 46,850]

8 hours ago, Twilight Luna said:

The only laugh I got out of this episode was when...

 

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Rarity had to keep firing each of Fluttershy's personas.

 

That was actually hilarious. 

[Marimo 555]

10 hours ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

hated this episode. Lemme get this straight. Everypony is too busy to help Rarity, but NOT too busy to run to the shop when a bunch of raccoons ask them to help? And why didn't the raccoons just go to rarity, rather than to the mane 6 first, who just got Rarity, themselves? Manehattan is a lot closer to Canterlot than it is to Ponyville.

When Rarity brought Fluttershy to Rarity for You, she said that the fashion show would be the next day. And by the next time we see her, the fashion show has started. So I guess most of the business for everyone was on that first day, and when the raccoons made it to Ponyville on that second day they had managed to get done or clear up their schedules enough like Twilight in Baby Cakes.

And Canterlot is only a bit closer to Manehatten than Ponyville, which isn't taking into account how it would also require climbing up a mountain. Pretty sure raccoons can't get tickets, so they probably had to travel by paw. Plus Rarity would probably only know some basics to talk and understand the raccoons, enough so that they can continue business, but I don't think she understands them enough to understand something a bit more complex and unique like Fluttershy is using multiple personalities to run the shop and they're all mean. So better to chance it on her several other friends understanding.

2 hours ago, R.D.Dash said:

I wasn't really sure what exactly that was. I can tell you that it's not a millennial, because I am one and we don't talk like that.

It's was like some kind of teenager stereotype where the person would speak using specific speech pattern, maybe hipster, maybe not.

It's a vallery girl accent. That's something that dates back to the 80s.

Edited April 8, 2018 by Marimo

[Jeric 46,850]

23 minutes ago, Lambdadelta said:

That what happen to the actors who act too 'in character'.

And they are usually perceived as assholes (Jim Carrey and Jared Leto are prime examples of this). 

1 hour ago, Victoria Sponge said:

I hate OOC arguments, they seem to suggest that people stick to the exact same thing for their entire lives and never deviate, which just isn't true. People change their attitudes and personalities when they're trying to make an impression, when they're emotional and even as they age. Fluttershy acted differently because she wanted to do Rarity's job well, unfortunately she just took it too far. It was a little weird that she was mean to the raccoons but as she said to them at the end, she was just pretending. She wasn't being mean to them because she hated them she was being mean because she didn't want to break character, she got too into these different personas.

The biggest inconsistancy was definitely her lack of fashion knowledge and Rarity choosing her as the last pony to ask, even after the CMCs. Fluttershy showed herself to have a weird knowledge of sewing in the past and she did a brief stint as a model and yet she was the last person Rarity asked and also couldn't croquet very well. That annoys me more than the whole OOC thing. Doesn't change my opinion on the episode though, it was a good one in my eyes.

Some OOC complaints are very valid though. Yes people are dynamic IRL, and do some things that they usually wouldn't, but IRL people also have lines they never cross. Evicting the racoons seems to go beyond a IRL OOC moment. Here's an example. I rarely if ever raise my voice, but I have yelled at my kids in rare lapses of control. That said, I sure as hell would never kick them out on the street. One is OOC ... one is a line I am incapable of crossing. 

[King of Canterlot 9,603]

I thought it was a great episode, I really like Fluttershy episodes, though not so much Rarity episodes, but I think placing Fluttershy in Rarity's spot turned out to be really quite entertaining to watch as she basically started insulting the customers towards the end of the episode. Fluttershy turns out to be a great salespony as long as she's not taking her role a bit too far  

[Thrond 3,263]

2 hours ago, Lambdadelta said:

That what happen to the actors who act too 'in character'.

Ah yes, "method acting." My feelings on that have soured lately. 

 

[Rhythm Red 6,484]

Hello, fillies and gentlecolts, and welcome back to RHYTHM RED’S RADTASTICAL REVIEWS!!!  

Today, we’re gonna be talking about the latest episode, Fake It Till You Make It! 

Let’s go!  

 

We get a nice smooth intro: Fluttershy having a tea party with her animals. Nice and relaxing... until Rarity shows up.  

We are immediately told what the episode will be about: Fluttershy taking over at Rarity For You. Quite an interesting idea for an episode! The fact that Fluttershy is literally the LAST pony Rarity would ask is a pretty funny way to introduce the episode’s conflict.

Fast forward to Manehattan, and we see Fluttershy struggling to understand all of Rarity’s crazy fashion stuff (I’m with you, Fluttershy, it confuses me too!). After Rarity shows Fluttershy how to make a sale, she leaves, and Fluttershy gets her first customer. Of course, she isn’t confident in herself, so, with some help from the raccoons, she decides it’s time to play dress up!

Fluttershy’s first costume is a snobby fashion salespony. It’s nothing too crazy yet, and it actually gets the job done well, giving Fluttershy a massive confidence boost. She then starts making sales left and right!

...Until teenager pony comes along. Fluttershy’s snob costume doesn’t work on teenagers, so she decides to change into a “teenager” herself. Next, we get the funniest part of the whole episode.

”highkey, savage, lit, squad...” 

I love that part sooooo much.

Aaaaaanyway, next we get a goth costume, which is just as funny. Fluttershy, you should be an actor.  

But of course, she gets carried away with all this acting, and starts to become rude! *gasp* Rarity would not approve! 

After being called “rodents” (not cool, Fluttershy!) the raccoons find the rest of the mane six and spike, and ask for their help. I’m curious, how did three raccoons make it from Manehattan to Ponyville in such a short time? And I thought the mane six were all gonna be busy that day...?

They all go to manehattan and see that Fluttershy is out of control. They fail to help her, and Fluttershy’s actions begin to turn customers away! 

Of course, the answer is to head to Canterlot (once again, how are they traveling so fast?) and get Rarity. Rarity goes back to the shop and makes Fluttershy snap out of it (by firing her characters, which was kinda funny), and somehow, she just goes back to normal immediately. Seems a little rushed to me, but whatever.  

Fluttershy apologizes, the mane six talk about Fluttershy’s acting skills (10/10 by the way, amazing performance), and Rarity gets inspiration for a new dress, which Fluttershy models. The episode ends with Fluttershy sticking up for Rarity when a fashion pony makes a negative comment.

 

So, that’s my thoughts on the episode! But let’s have a look at the negatives...

1. TELEPORTING RACCOONS. WHAT THE HECK?:

In other words, the travel times were awful short. That’s pretty unrealistic, if you ask me.  

2. Fluttershy got way too caught up in acting:

This also seems unrealistic. Is it possible to get so caught up in a certain character that you forget you’re acting? Doesn’t make sense to me.

3. The ending felt rushed:

”I’m gonna fire your characters, that will fix everything!” Doesn’t make a lot of sense, either. This kinda ties in with number two.

 

However, despite some of the episode being a little unrealistic, overall there were plenty of laughs. (And I love to laugh!)

So overall, I’d give it a 7/10! Like I said, some things were unrealistic, exaggerated, or rushed, but that’s likely because the episode needed to be wrapped up within about 22 minutes. And other than those things, I think the episode was quite funny. 

 

Thanks for reading, and I’ll catch you all next Saturday with another RHYTHM RED’S RADTASTICAL REVIEWS!!!