Episode Re-Review: The Fault in Our Cutie Marks

Never before or since was there an episode that was so greatly out of order between its production order number and its actual airing number. This episode was ninth in production order, but nineteenth to air for its season, a whopping ten episode stretch! Perhaps there's a reason for that though, because while Ed Valentine did write this episode the story is credited to both Meghan McCarthy and Josh Haber and both were very busy. It may also be because the original plans for this episode were vastly different. There was going to be this mechanically gifted filly that would be capable of building things like gliders, but she would have trouble getting them to work right. Scootaloo would be front and center in ultimately convincing the filly to put her designs aside for the time being, but at no point would be there any mention of using one of these gliders as something for Scootaloo to use. It wouldn't be a cop-out to let her achieve her dream of flying that way, disabled people do have access to technology that has given us wheelchairs and artificial limbs. Yes, it's not quite the same as actually having the ability to move on your own power, but it's not like people who are disabled are forced to live with the fact that their disabilities will limit them greatly in what they want to do.

Anyway, mini-rant aside, this episode has been boosted a bit by virtue of Gabby returning (quite unexpectedly) in Season 9's "Dragon Dropped". And considering "On Your Marks" seemed to lack a central direction and Ed Valentine had done quite well with "Flight to the Finish", this episode should've surely been a hit and a better step forward for the cutie marked CMC, right? Well, let's find out.

The episode begins with Scootaloo out in a sandbox with a filly named Petunia, taking a page from Wallace when he tried to stop an out of control porridge machine.

And I have to ask, did anyone else initially mistake the ponies we see here for Scootaloo's parents given the way the dialogue was phrased? The parents mention "our daughter's new cutie mark", but because they didn't specify that they meant Petunia I initially assumed they were referring to Scootaloo. Yes, obviously now we know that they aren't her parents (biological or otherwise), but I think this is an example of what happens when you play the pronoun game without specifying who the pronoun is. Anyway, Petunia's parents are worried because their daughter has a skull and cross bones cutie mark and consider it "unsettling". However, it's all okay because Petunia apparently found dinosaur bones way down in her sandbox. There is a bit of a mix-up though when the parents say she's an archeologist. Archeology is what Daring Do does, studying ancient ruins and civilizations. What Petunia's doing is palentology, which doesn't just include dinosaurs but all sorts of now extinct animals. But the parents are relieved because they thought their daughter was going to be a pirate (the father has two swords for a cutie mark and the mom has a pearl inside of an oyster for a cutie mark, which could be related to pirates fighting with swords and searching for buried treasure).

I actually quite like this opening scene, showing the CMC as what I guess can be described as cutie mark counselors or social workers. And this ties into what we see next, a variety of ponies the CMC have helped out around Ponyville that have cutie mark related problems. However, it's kind of unfortunate that not only are Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon not mentioned, but they only appear in the background as blurs (apparently talking to Pipsqueak). There is also this never before mentioned and never will be mentioned again jazz pony with a saxaphone. Anyway, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom tell Scootaloo that their success can't last forever. They're eventually going to run into a problem that even they can't solve, but Scootaloo is convinced that day is a long way away. Then, however, she and her fellow Crusaders spot a griffon perching atop their clubhouse and they all dive into the bushes to avoid being seen. They even mention how apparently they believe all griffons are cranky and rude.

Not to worry though, because this griffon apparently doesn't subscribe to that notion. She gives killer hugs and mentions that her name is Gabby. She's come all the way to Ponyville to seek out the Cutie Mark Crusaders specifically because she's been told that they're the ones to see when it comes to a cutie mark problem. She also mentions that where she comes from (Griffonstone), her behavior is frowned upon and no griffon wants anything to do with her, not even Gilda. You know, the one who was supposed to have had a change of heart in "The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone"?

It's not even mentioned that Gilda sent Gabby to Ponyville specifically, Gabby just happened to be around during Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie's visit and became convinced that a cutie mark is what she needs to help spread cheer to Griffonstone. And she also works as a mail carrier for Griffonstone. The CMC apparently don't think it's weird to have an adult come to them for help with something, but then again Gabby is a lot like Pinkie Pie so I guess this is nothing abnormal at least by Ponyville standards.

Gabby wants the CMC to give her a cutie mark, which is something that even they don't know if it's actually possible. They decide to seek out Twilight for help, but Twilight reminds them that trying to magically force a cutie mark to appear never ends well. This is in fact a double reference: The obvious one refers to "The Cutie Pox" but it also refers to Twilight trying to put a cutie mark on Apple Bloom during "Call of the Cutie". This feels like one of the few times in Season 6 where Twilight doesn't feel out of character or like her flaws are being exaggerated, and ironically it's also one of the ones where Starlight Glimmer is nowhere to be seen. Funny how that works.

After a weird line about being "Crystal Empire Clear", the CMC go back and try to tell Gabby that they don't think they can give her a cutie mark. But Gabby takes their advice the wrong way, thinking that just because Twilight says that no griffon has ever gotten a cutie mark doesn't mean it's impossible for a griffon to do so. And Scootaloo seems to agree to that logic, promising Gabby that they'll do everything they can to get her a cutie mark. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both rightfully berate Scootaloo for making a promise she may not be able to keep. But Scootaloo reveals that she knows what it's like to "want something that's just out of reach", which suggests that she connects with Gabby and sees her cutie mark struggle as a parallel to her (Scootaloo's) supposed disability that prevents her from flying. It's not unlike Gilda and Rainbow Dash's first encounter and how they became friends because it was mutually beneficial to them.

So with Scootaloo more or less taking the lead, the CMC decide that they should start the way they always do: With a chart. This in turn leads to the song "Find The Purpose in Your Life" as the CMC encourage Gabby to try various activities, and Gabby happily states that she's willing to try anything if it gets her a cutie mark. This feels like character regression and aesop amnesia for the CMC, because it's just like what they were doing in Season 1 and early Season 2, just trying random things in the hopes of getting a cutie mark. I mean, it's not quite the same here but it seems to operate on a similar logic of it: Try 'em all and pick your favorite, which is not the kind of advice that I think you want to give someone who's trying to find their purpose in life. It's not like trying out for different social clubs or after school activities. Just trying things at random to see if you might like them doesn't necessarily help you find out what you may be good at. I will at least say that this song is better as the last song of Season 6 (in regards to air date) than the actual last song of Season 6 (in regards to production order, but we'll get to that when we get to that).

However, Gabby is so good at everything she tries (including scrubbing the floors of Carousel Boutique, and yet Rarity will somehow have no memory of ever having met Gabby when she returns in "Dragon Dropped") that finding one thing she's good at is impossible. This is apparently what's called a "Parody Sue", which I guess is meant to be a spoof of the infamous Mary Sue trope. But the concept is poorly defined, and if that's what they're going for it unfortunately leans too hard into the trope it's supposed to be parodying. As a result, the CMC tell Gabby that they can't help her and Gabby storms off. Yet later on, when the CMC are wondering what could've gone wrong, Gabby shows up and claims that she got her cutie mark after all. Apparently it was a delayed reaction from helping Zecora get one of her cauldrons unclogged (so I guess by extension that would make Gabby a plumber since unclogging cauldrons doesn't seem like something you could make a profession out of?). Yet she's hesitant to go see Twilight and offers to go run an errand and meet the CMC there. Yet they find out that Gabby just dropped a note and left without saying a word, and even Twilight didn't bother to read it since she's shocked and amazed to find out that the CMC apparently did the impossible.

Apple Bloom naturally suspects that something is up (weird since that's usually Sweetie Belle or Scootaloo's department) and leads Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to chase after Gabby before she can get away. Her cutie mark turns out to be a fake (obviously) as it literally runs right off her haunches. Kind of a shame they don't at least mention her "borrowing" cutie mark paint from Starlight Glimmer, since otherwise where else do you think she got the stuff on such short notice?

So why did Gabby fake a cutie mark? Well she did it for the CMC because she didn't want them to be so upset and think that they'd failed. This in turn causes the CMC to realize something, and they opt to give Gabby her own CMC shield carved from wood, making her a member of their little group. Her special talent is apparently the same as the founding members in that it's helping others, though Gabby's appears to be applied more broadly. Not for nothing, but the whole "Helping others is your special talent" doesn't really work out. Yes, helping others is good and important but you can't exactly make a career out of just doing that. Just being helpful in general is nice because it's the right thing to do, you don't have to be "good" at it. But the CMC still hold a cutecenera for Gabby anyway, and Apple Bloom attributes the victory to Scootaloo for not giving up on Gabby (even though she kind of did when the reality seemed to settle in). Gabby promises to bring the values of the CMC back to Griffonstone, and the CMC make her promise to come back soon. And unlike Gilda, Gabby will keep that promise.

And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, I feel like this episode suffers from the same problem as "On Your Marks" in that it doesn't know what it wants to do with the cutie marked CMC, so it's just throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. I think "On Your Marks" had the better idea for the group, less focus on them as a group and more focus on them as individuals now that their group's purpose had been fulfilled. But at the same time I do think this episode offered up some good ideas for the CMC as a group going forward, retooling their club into a business (though I think Season 7 would ultimately do that better). How much you really like this episode is gonna boil down to how much you can enjoy Gabby. And I feel like they kind of overdo it on the whole "Cute but naive" character here, like they wanted to make another Pinkie Pie expy but didn't quite understand how the "Child at heart" character is supposed to work. Gabby can get kind of screechy and annoying, and her character feels kind of flat. I think what irks me more about her is that it feels like she's a replacement for Babs Seed, the intended Ringo Starr to Babs Seed's Pete Bass if you will. But considering Babs Seed was uncerminously discarded even when her VA wanted to come back, trying to replace her leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Plus, Gabby's existence undercuts much of Gilda's intended redemption because it shows that Gilda is failing in what she was supposed to be doing. And we'll see in a few more seasons that Gabby isn't any better, she isn't able to break through and get Griffonstone back on track. I think the biggest problem may have been that Ed had to discard his original draft for this episode (and was probably still trying to figure out what to do with "Growing Up is Hard To Do"), and Meghan was too busy working on the movie to really spend a lot of time fleshing out a new concept (even with Josh pitching in). Ed Valentine proved that he was a good writer for the CMC, but anyone else was outside his comfort zone. As a whole, this episode isn't particularly good or bad, but there are lots of little moments on their own that make it worthwhile and give this episode a very narrow B-.

Didn't take long for Season 6 to go right back to not trying to stand out after the last couple of episodes, and next episode is going to more or less reinforce the idea of Season 6 trying new things but maybe not trying hard enough in the form of "The Saddle Row Review".

Comments

[BronyRanger]

This feels like one of the few times in Season 6 where Twilight doesn't feel out of character or like her flaws are being exaggerated, and ironically it's also one of the ones where Starlight Glimmer is nowhere to be seen. Funny how that works.

Gee, it's almost like the writers exaggerated Twilight's character just so Starlight can look better by comparison.

As for the episode itself, while it has its flaws, it's still better than Ed Valentine's other contribution for the season.

[superfun]

This is a fun little episode, and one of the better CMC episodes