Episode Re-Review: The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone · 6:10pm Apr 24th, 2021
Season 5 finally got back on track with "Make New Friends, But Keep Discord" after several episodes worth of duds. And now it was time for the map introduced back in "The Cutie Map" (originally called "Cutie Markless") to come into play again for a new episode structure: Map missions. Amy Keating Rogers was writing this episode just after it had been announced that she would leave after Season 5 to work for Disney (no word on where she ended up). And considering Amy had up, then down and then all around in Season 4, it was anyone's guess as to how this episode would turn out. Was it really good or was it only initially viewed through rose tinted glasses because of Amy's farewell? Well, let's find out.
We begin with Pinkie Pie baking a special cake with Gummy. Suddenly, however, her cutie mark begins glowing and she realizes this is a summons from the map. So she tasks Gummy with taking over for her (and gives him a kiss on the snout) while she goes to Twilight's castle. There, she finds out that she and Rainbow Dash will be traveling to the kingdom of Griffonstone. But Rainbow Dash isn't excited, she's soured on griffons as a whole because of Gilda.
However, Twilight reveals that it was because of Gilda that she got inspired to do some research on griffons. Long ago, they were united under a powerful king who gave them something to be proud of: An idol. And with it they were able to build a mighty kingdom that became the envy of all the world. But Twilight decides to trust the map's judgement in only sending Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash even when Rainbow begs for Twilight to take her place. Still, Twilight decides to send them off with a bit of a strategy guide that mentions (among other things) carrying plenty of bits so the griffons will want to help.
Upon arriving in Griffonstone, though, Pinkie and Rainbow find the entire kingdom to be run down. And it isn't long before they run into a familiar face in the form of Gilda, who is anything but happy to see them.
However, it's this old griffon named Grandpa Gruff who explains what happened to Griffonstone. During the reign of King Gluto, a monster invaded the palace and stole the idol. A lightning strike subsequently caused said creature to plummet into an abyss, taking the idol with it. As a result, Gluto abandoned the throne and Griffonstone lost its sense of pride and community. Rainbow Dash quickly decides that the solution must be to go down into the abyss to retrieve the idol, but Pinkie Pie thinks that's a little too obvious. Rainbow, however, insists on doing it her way and leaves Pinkie to her own devices. To that end, Rainbow goes to a shop to request some climbing equipment, and the shop owner only cares about how much money Rainbow Dash can give her.
Pinkie Pie, meanwhile, hangs around town and finds that Griffonstone even has rules against singing songs. But she's still convinced that the idol isn't why Griffonstone was so grand in the first place or why losing it made Griffonstone fall into decay. We get a rather weird scene of her making a statue of King Grover talk in which she makes it flirt with her, but the real part of significance is Pinkie hanging out with Gilda and learning that she's a baker too. Gilda's specialty are scones which are rock hard due not to a lack of friendship but a lack of baking powder to soften them up. Fortunately, Pinkie Pie just happens to have some on her (because I guess it's among the things she never leaves home without) and lets Gilda borrow it free of charge.
It's during this point that Pinkie learns that Gilda isn't completely a jerk after all, she still does sort of care about other griffons. But much like Rainbow Dash's she soured on friendship because of how things ended between her and Rainbow. But before Pinkie has a chance to press further, she's called away when she hears Rainbow Dash call for help. Rainbow Dash has been blown into the abyss by wind gusts and damaged her wing. And when Rainbow refused to pay any bits the shopkeeper just abandoned her, leaving her to die.
Pinkie's attempt to help goes nowhere, so she instead rushes back to get help from Gilda. Gilda then recalls how when she first came to Junior Speedsters, she was really shy and got picked on because of it. And it was Rainbow Dash who stood up for her and befriended her, just like she'd go on to do with Fluttershy.
This is enough to convince Gilda to come and rescue Rainbow Dash, which is a good thing since Pinkie Pie stupidly throws herself down the side of the abyss without tying herself to anything first (please don't ever do this, you'll get yourself killed).
By a stroke of luck, Gilda finds the idol near the skull of the creature who stole it (meaning they died in the abyss due to not being able to climb back out). But Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie can't hold on while Gilda retrieves it, so Gilda makes the decision to save them and then climb back up the side of the abyss to get them to safety.
Pinkie then explains to Rainbow and Gilda that the goal was never to retrieve the idol, but to inspire the griffons to embrace friendship and a sense of community again. Gilda is tasked with carrying this out, making use of the scones Pinkie helped her bake earlier. Once that's accomplished, Pinkie and Rainbow see their cutie marks glow and realize that their mission is complete. They promise to come back and visit but we never see them follow up on that. And sadly, whenever we'll see Griffonstone be mentioned again it won't be any better than it is here.
Of course, the episode ends with Pinkie Pie wanting to get back home to see how Gummy's doing on the cake. Kind of surprised she wouldn't have anyone else check up on him, but I guess the only one who'd truly understand him besides her would be Maud.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Considering it's our first map mission, it does a mostly good job of establishing the formula. And both sides have reasons to believe what they believe, though it does feel like Pinkie Pie ends up doing most of the heavy lifting by the end. Rainbow Dash's attitude might be understandable to an extent, but her souring on all griffons because of Gilda is a textbook example of racism and they don't even try to handwave it like in "Maud Pie" where she was grumpy from a lack of sleep (for at least the first meeting with Maud). Pinkie Pie is good for the most part, though the scene during the climax where she throws herself down the side of the abyss makes her look really stupid (almost Jar Jar Binks levels of stupid) and it's not funny at all. Gilda ends up being the biggest stand out in this episode, her redemption slowly coming into play over the course of the episode. Though it is an unfortunate sign of things to come when this is the last we'll see of her, she'll only get an occasional mention or cameo from here on out and other griffons never seen before will more or less take her place as needed for speaking roles. Those things do weigh the episode down a good deal, resulting in it getting a B.
Well, up next was the show's 100th episode which was truly a milestone! And to celebrate it we had "Slice of Life" which would basically be all about the background ponies, including Derpy Hooves.
This episode is one that I'm not really all that fond of.
Once they actually get to Griffonstone, I just kinda lose interest.
5505541 Why?
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I'm not really sure, to be honest.
I just know that the only parts I've ever actually enjoyed was everything leading up to Griffonstone.
I like this episode because it give us where the Griffon live and learn more about them since season 1. There are griffon here and there but not as a main focus and this episode I love and it give a reason why Gilda is a jerk because her town is rundown and it everygriff for them self
Many consider this episode to be the best of the Season 5 map mission episodes.