Season 6, Episode 19 Thoughts and Review · 3:01am Dec 27th, 2016
Yeeeeeeeeeeah, it's another one of those! Time for a new episode review from your friendly neighborhood Charmony! AND YES, I am aware that I am very late for this, especially considering that the finale was a long time back, but what better time to kick these back up than during a hiatus? Anyway, let's get on with the review!
The episode opens with the Cutie Mark Crusaders visiting a mother and father in Ponyville. While Scootaloo keeps the filly Petunia Paleo busy in the backyard sandbox, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle speak with her parents, who are concerned about the "unsettling nature" of their daughter's new cutie mark: a skull and two bones.
I LAUGHED SO HARD DURING THIS PART, OH MY GOSH
After Scootaloo helps Petunia unearth a dinosaur skeleton in the sandbox, Petunia's parents are relieved that their daughter is an archaeologist and not a pirate as they had initially feared.
Why was THAT their initial thought? I mean, I guess they didn't want to think of murder as a destiny, but y'know...
Also, Petunia is adorable.
Later that day, the Crusaders make their way through Ponyville, proud of the many cutie mark problems they have helped other ponies with, such as Bluenote, Bulk Biceps, and Tender Taps.
Look at him go. I'm proud of my small horse.
On their way to their clubhouse, Sweetie Belle wonders if they will ever encounter an unsolvable problem when Apple Bloom spots a griffon perched atop the clubhouse. The fillies are alarmed since griffons are usually unfriendly and short-tempered. But when the griffon sees them, she greets them with a big, enthusiastic hug.
The griffon introduces herself as Gabriella—or Gabby for short. Having heard about the Crusaders solving cutie mark problems around Ponyville, she says she has been searching for them in order to get a cutie mark of her very own.
Gabby is so cute, I love her.
Inside the clubhouse, Gabby explains to the Crusaders that she has always felt out of place among the more antisocial griffons while working as a mail courier in Griffonstone. When Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash visited Griffonstone, Gabby observed them teaching Gilda about friendship and was convinced that their cutie marks were related to their desire to help others.
Look at her face. She is so precious, I can't even.
So when Gilda needed a letter delivered to Rainbow Dash in Ponyville, Gabby jumped at the opportunity. She met with several ponies around town that the Crusaders helped and sought the fillies out so they could help her find her true purpose in life and get her own cutie mark.
Gilda's face, omg.
The Crusaders are at a loss as they have never heard of a griffon getting a cutie mark, but Gabby remains optimistic. While she goes to deliver Gilda's letter to Rainbow Dash, the Crusaders consult Twilight Sparkle at the Castle of Friendship for advice. However, not even Twilight has any knowledge of creatures other than ponies who can get cutie marks, and she reminds the fillies that using magic to make a cutie mark appear is never a good idea.
Something that Apple Bloom knows all too well...
The Crusaders decide to tell Gabby that, while it is unlikely she will ever get a cutie mark, they can still help her find her purpose in life. Unfortunately, Gabby misinterprets them to mean that getting a cutie mark is guaranteed and becomes more ecstatic than ever. Even after the Crusaders explain to her what Twilight told them, Gabby maintains that it is not impossible.
I feel like we don't really talk about this enough. Sure, Scoots and the girls got their marks, but does she still have insecurities about not being able to fly? It's kinda heartbreaking to think about.
Scootaloo sympathizes with Gabby because of her own difficulties of achieving flight and promises to help her realize her dream of getting a cutie mark, much to Gabby's delight. Using a chart to map out various possibilities for Gabby's purpose, the Crusaders lead her in song as she seeks out other ponies struggling with their own problems.
She is such a good helper, I love her.
Gabby demonstrates great aptitude for a variety of activities, but her cutie mark shows no signs of appearing. The Crusaders come to realize that Gabby is good at so many things, singling out her special talent is truly impossible. When they tell Gabby the harsh reality that they she will never get a cutie mark, she flies off in tearful denial.
This really hurt, because Scoots wanted to give Gabby what she and her friends spent so long trying to get, and now they know for certain that it's not gonna happen.
As the Crusaders wallow in their first failure at solving a cutie mark problem, Gabby bursts into the clubhouse and reveals that she earned her cutie mark after all. She shows off her cauldron cutie mark and reasons that, since helping Zecora brew potions was the first thing she tried, that must be her special talent. The Crusaders are elated and decide to tell Twilight the good news. However, Gabby suddenly becomes nervous at this suggestion and promises to meet the Crusaders at Twilight's castle after delivering Rainbow Dash's reply letter to Gilda.
The Crusaders go to the castle to inform Twilight about Gabby's cutie mark, but Twilight tells them that Gabby left them a note before quickly departing. As the Crusaders read Gabby's note aloud, in which she thanks the fillies for helping her earn a cutie mark, Twilight excitedly drops everything to research the first cutie marked griffon in history.
Realizing that Gabby broke her promise, the Crusaders become suspicious and go to find her. The three find Gabby helping Dr. Hooves get his cart out of a mud puddle. When she trips and falls in the mud, her cutie mark is revealed to be fake. Gabby apologizes for lying about getting her cutie mark and admits that she did so to cheer up the Crusaders after they failed to help her. Before she leaves for Griffonstone in shame, Scootaloo gets an idea and tells her to meet them at the clubhouse.
Later at the clubhouse, Gabby wonders that since she cannot get a cutie mark, she may not have a purpose in life. However, the Crusaders tell her that she does have a talent for helping others in need, even the Crusaders themselves. Gabby says that helping others is just something that she enjoys, and the fillies tell her what makes her talent special is what she enjoys doing most, which she doesn't need a cutie mark for.
In recognition of her talent, the Crusaders give her a makeshift cutie mark in the form of two mailbag clips modeled after their own marks. With this, they welcome Gabby as the first griffon member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
Some time later, all of Ponyville throws Gabby a cute-ceañera to celebrate her cutie mark. Immensely grateful to the Crusaders for their help, Gabby promises to share what they taught her with the rest of Griffonstone, and the Crusaders tell her to come back soon.
"Crusaders forever!"
— Gabby
Let me first start this review off with OMG I LOVE GABBY SO MUCH, SHE IS SO SWEET AND ADORABLE. Seriously, she is such a sweetheart and I love her very dearly already. I know it's been weeks since her debut, but I still adore her! I know she can be a bit much when she's excited, but she's such a good character, you guys. Still, some of the complaints I've heard about Gabby is that she's "too likable" or "too perfect". And, that's just not the case.
Gabby, despite what others will tell her, isn't one to give up, even if what others tell her is the sad truth. Not only that, she loves to help others, and it's such a sweet trait of hers. She can sense when others are having troubles, and, even when in need of help herself, she is so willing to offer it to others when they need it. Even when she was trying to find out what her purpose in life was, she still stopped what she was doing to help others.
Here's where the complaints come in: "The Crusaders kept saying she was so good at everything, though!"
Well... At the end of the episode, they realized that they were looking at it all wrong. They realized that the trouble with finding a purpose for Gabby was that, in the process of helping to learn what she was good at, she was helping them. One of Gabby's first lines in the song was, "Crusaders, I won't let you down."
Gabby was more concerned with helping from the very start, even when the focus was on her. She was the one in need of help, but still, she wanted to help the CMC. I think one of the reasons she was so heartbroken to not get that mark in the first place was because she felt like she let them down; even though the CMC were supposed to be helping her. That's why she went through the trouble of showing them her "mark" in the first place; she didn't want to let them down.
That's why Gabby is so good at everything she does. She is so determined and willing to help others, and she will do everything she can to help, even when she herself is need of help. I wonder if there's anybody else like that in the show...
Y'know, I can't seem to think of anypony... 
I mean, there's not a lot of characters who like to help others...
Or anypony who likes to do things that make others happy, even if it comes at the cost of that pony who is helping...
Man, there's just not a lot of kind characters, huh?
Geez, guys... I guess Gabby really is too likable for wanting to help others and doing whatever it takes to do so... It's not like it's a COMMON CHARACTER TRAIT IN A SHOW ABOUT FRIENDSHIP.
The amount of sarcasm I am showing right now is a result of it being the end of 2016 and just letting out all my frustrations.
Anyway... let's move on from that tangent and go onto a bigger part of the episode: the lesson. Gabby is a griffon, and, as we have seen from this episode and others, griffons don't get cutie marks. Now, if she were a hippogriff, then this would be a possibility (as there are no canonical hippogriffs in the MLP universe to prove this right, or if there are, I am not aware of them). As Twilight stated in the episode, there has never been any documentation of a griffon gaining a cutie mark. Still, Gabby wanted to have one so she could know what her true purpose was in life, just like the rest of Equestria's pony residents. But, this simply isn't a possibility.
Man... I wonder who else this can apply to? Say, an audience of people who are unable to gain marks themselves?
That's right, you guys; this lesson is for the real life blank flanks that we call humanity. How many of us feel like we are without marks or purpose, like we will forever roam this earth without knowing what we're meant to do? How many of us, regardless of age, race, gender, or anything that divides us, feel unsure of where we want to go? How many of us, despite what we tell ourselves, still feel scared to face a reality where we could be going down the wrong path because we feel like we don't have something to tell us otherwise?
That's kinda why I resonate with the CMC so much. Back when they were blank flanks, they weren't sure what their purpose was, but they did anything that they could think of to figure it out. This was a struggle that I and other members of the audience could relate to, because, regardless of how different we are, everyone is trying to figure out what they're meant to do. Then, when they got their marks, there such a moment of achievement that we got to feel for them. The target for media is to make the audience feel two general emotions: happy or sad. But, when the CMC got their marks, we got to feel PROUD of them. A lot of us were right there with them along the way, waiting for the day for them to get their marks with as much anticipation as them.
After that, however... well, I was kinda left feeling bittersweet. My girls got their marks, but what about me? I was still clueless about what I wanted to do, and, even if I figured it out, it's not like a mark would appear on my body to let me know that I was right. I'm at a pivotal point in my life right now, seeing as how I'm in my senior year of high school. This is supposed to be the time for me to figure out what I wanna do, but... how am I supposed to know?
To be totally honest? There's no real way of knowing until you try.
That's why I love this episode so much: it's a reminder that you don't need that magical mark. You can find your purpose through your own experiences, whether they're shared with others or it's your own discovery. For everyone out there struggling to find who they are and what they're meant to do just like me, I'm gonna let you all know that you're not alone in this. And, it may take a long time, but you will get to where you need to be and find out who you are. Get your capes on, everypony; our work isn't done yet.
Feel like I miss anything in this episode? Go ahead and comment down below!
Of the 3 griffons who have had speaking roles so far, Gabby's easily the best.
As for the episode, while it's not my favorite of the season, it is in my top 5, and it's also among my top ten episodes of the series.
I like Gabby.
I don't like the distinct lack of ButtonBelle in Season 6.