Putting Your Hoof Down (My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic)

Putting Your Hoof Down is the 19th episode in the second season of mh:besttvshows:My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and is the forty-fifth episode of the series.

Plot
Fed up with being pushed around and ignored, Fluttershy takes a class on assertiveness taught by Iron Will. However, instead of just becoming more assertive, she becomes bossy, pushy and mean, threatening to end her friendship with Pinkie Pie and Rarity.

Why It Shouldn't Put Its Hoof Down

 * 1) Just like the Hey Arnold! episode Arnold Betrays Iggy, this episode is extremely mean-spirited and unpleasant compared to a light-hearted show like My Little Pony.
 * 2) Very poor first impression, the beginning of the episode is very harsh towards Fluttershy as during the Ponyville Market, she gets mistreated by the other Ponies for no reason.
 * 3) This episode is also a huge rip-off of The Powerpuff Girls episode "Bubblevicious", with both episode having a sweet, kind and shy character becoming more meaner, except the latter does it FAR better then this.
 * 4) After getting mistreated, Fluttershy learns to become more assertive with the help of Iron Will, which sounds like a very interesting idea for an episode. However, instead of going back to the Ponyville Market to teach the Ponies that mistreated her a lesson, she instead mistreats and tortures citizens of Ponyville, as well as a few non-mean ponies. This is perhaps the main reason as to why this episode is so hated. That would be like if a kid in school got bullyed, the kid learns to become more assertive, but instead of going after the same bully, the kid goes after another bully, or someone who isn't a bully. Like, what did they even do to you Fluttershy?
 * 5) *Even worse, the Ponies that mistreated Fluttershy in the market, and are the main reason for this episode's plot, never got their comeuppance for their actions, making them Karma Houdinis.
 * 6) And on that topic, the mistreatment of Fluttershy personally lead to flanderization very drastically. As she goes from a sweet, kind and shy pony, to an absolute unlikable JERK!
 * 7) Iron Will is a greedy and arrogant jerk who teaches the wrong kind of assertiveness to ponies like shoving people and yelling at them, and he put those ideas into Fluttershy's head that made her into a jerk and even shoves away Pinkie Pie and Rarity near the end of the episode when they block him to Fluttershy's place, and much like the ponies from the Ponyville Market, he never gets punish for his actions.
 * 8) Angel's also a total jerk in this episode. For starters, he demands that Fluttershy make him a dish and when she tries to refuse to make it for him by trying to offer him some veggies, he slaps her and demands that she make it like a spoiled brat Inside Out (which is one of the most mean-spirited things that he has done to Fluttershy), and when she doesn't complete it with just the cherry on top, he throws her out of the house!
 * 9) Very questionable moments, such as the scene where Fluttershy poses her hoof to the point where it looks like she's flipping the bird. This show was made for children...right???
 * 10) The infamous scene where Fluttershy makes Pinkie Pie and Rarity cry by back talking them and making fun of them, which is one of the most mean-spirited moments in all of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.
 * 11) The "Old Fluttershy" and "New Fluttershy" gag gets old very quickly. Especially when Pinkie Pie and Rarity say "Old Pinkie" and "Old Rarity" respectively.
 * 12) Plot Hole: Why haven't Fluttershy's other friends (Such as Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Spike) found out about Fluttershy's recent behavior?
 * 13) Speaking of Rainbow Dash, despite being the most assertive character of the Mane Six, she is never seen nor mentioned in this episode, even Twilight Sparkle is never seen nor mentioned in this episode, despite being the main protagonist.
 * 14) Fluttershy (when she has Iron Will on her side) never apologizes to the Ponies she mistreated (except Pinkie and Rarity) in this episode.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Fluttershy does apologized to Pinkie Pie and Rarity for making them cry.
 * 2) There are some funny moments, such as the Bugs Bunny reference in the market scene.
 * 3) *"I'm the monster."
 * 4) Despite the horrible execution, the idea of Fluttershy being more assertive did sound like a good idea of an episode.
 * 5) At least Fluttershy didn't mistreat her other friends.
 * 6) Pinkie Pie and Rarity are the only likable characters.
 * 7) *Fluttershy is at least likable at the beginning and the ending of the episode.
 * 8) As mention above WISPUID#4, Fluttershy torturing the citizens of Ponyville is somewhat justified after they mistreated her, even if their not the same.
 * 9) Good Ending: Fluttershy realizes what she's done and redeemed herself at the end of the episode, as she teaches Angel a lesson by not to be picky about his food.

Reception
Since its release in 2012, "Putting Your Hoof Down" was universally panned by fans and critics alike, many have considered this not only the worst episode of season 2, but is also considered as one of the single worst episode in the entire My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, with fans criticizing the episode's mean-spirited nature, Fluttershy unfair getting mistreated for something that she did nothing wrong and acting out-of-character, and Iron Will as a character.

TheMysteriousMrEnter place this episode #1 in his "Top Ten Worst Episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" video, he even states that this episode was so bad that he nearly quite the series and was in a depression for nearly a year.

Trivia

 * The storyboard artists had professional wrestler Hulk Hogan in mind when posing Iron Will, who uses hand gestures that mimic Hogan's signature taunts.