MLP Reviews

So we went from a great episode, to a meh one, to a great episode, to just meh again. Only this time, the fans are really split on this episode, where some may like it, others do not. And I’m on the later side of this episode.

What’s the plot? Pinkie and Rainbow had been having fun pranking their friends around Ponyville the last couple of days, when one day, Rainbow’s old friend from flight camp, Gilda Griffon, comes for a visit and wants Pinkie to buzz off so she can hang with Dash, heck, she actually says that at one point.

“You're dorkin' up the skies, Stinkie Pie, so make like a bee and BUZZ OFF.”

So after talking to Twilight who thinks she might be jealous, Pinkie sees Gilda play a mean trick on Granny Smith, steal an apple, and roaring at Fluttershy just for bumping into her, Pinkie thinks she’s a bully and decides to throw a party, of course, to try and change her attitude, but with all the pranks at the party, the griffon thought it was Pinkie’s fault, only to find that it was Rainbow who did the pranks, causing Gilda to leave and Pinkie learns to tell a false friend to a true friend.

Now, a lot of people were excited to see this because of Gilda, and I don’t blame them, griffons are cool looking creatures, an animal that’s part bird and part lion, how can you go wrong with her?

Well, a lot really. When we see her with Rainbow, we can see she like spending time with her, but when Rainbow leaves, she plays a bully and doesn’t care for others, to a point that during the party scene when she found out that Rainbow was the one doing the pranks, she was mad and thought Rainbow was not cool for what she did and leaves without a second thought. And believe me, we’ve seen a lot of TV shows and movies that have this character and it’s not a good one.

Bottom line, I don’t like this episode, I came in for something great but all I got was a bad episode that you should just brush aside and take no notice of it.

Final Rating: 5/10

I have nothing nice to say regarding this episode. If you ask me, this episode was one of those episodes where a lot of potential was completely wasted. Here we have an example of a good character being introduced and the writers doing nothing with her but making her a one-note bully character. I can’t stand it when writers do that.

We’re introduced to Gilda, a griffon, a character who could have been a great way of establishing Rainbow Dash’s backstory. Furthermore, this is a character that we’ve never seen before, so this could have been a great opportunity to expand the universe and give us a chance to explore the Griffon Kingdom. We don’t get any of that in this episode. What we get is an episode of Pinkie Pie being jealous, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg of all the problems that this episode has.

For one thing, Gilda seems to be a pretty likable character when we first meet her. Then, for no reason, and with no transition at all, Gilda suddenly starts being cruel to Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. With Pinkie Pie, I can understand because she was being annoying by way of constantly bothering Gilda and Rainbow Dash. The latter is perplexing, however. Fluttershy is leading a group of ducks down the street. Instead of getting out of their way, Gilda deliberately bumps into Fluttershy, all so she can call Fluttershy a doofus and tell her to watch where she’s going. It didn’t help that she screamed in Fluttershy’s face, bringing the poor thing to tears. It’s no wonder Pinkie Pie got so pissed off. Gilda being cruel to Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie for little to no reason at all quickly got on my nerves. What makes this even more annoying is that the only reason the writers did this was for no other reason other than to show us that Gilda is a bitch. Like I said, “The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone” really helps this episode be more tolerable, but that doesn’t necessarily make it any better.

Now we get to the climax of the episode, that being the party that Pinkie threw for Gilda in hopes of improving her attitude. Did Gilda overreact? Yes, but you can’t tell me that if you were assaulted by prank after prank for a good five minutes, you wouldn’t be pissed off too. I know for sure that I would be. This scene isn’t helped by the fact that Rainbow Dash pretty much tells Gilda, “Screw you! Get out of my life!” This seems to really contradict the moral of “The Return of Harmony.” The moral there was that friendship was worth fighting for. According to this episode, friendship is worth fighting for, unless your friend is an inconsiderate bitch.

Had the writers gone into how and why Gilda was a bitch and given her some character development, this could have been a great episode. As it stands, though, this is one of my least favorite episodes of this season. Not helping matters is the fact that Twilight learned the lesson and not Pinkie Pie. Granted, this was back in season one, back before the rest of the cast started to learn friendship lessons, but given that Rarity learned a lesson in “Sonic Rainboom”, there is no reason why the lesson couldn’t have been shifted to Pinkie here. Instead of the moral being that you can’t control your friends’ behavior and that there is plenty of room for old and new friends, how about the moral be that you shouldn’t butt into peoples’ lives and learn to leave people alone when they ask you to? That moral would have fit this episode perfectly.

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So we went from a great episode, to a meh one, to a great episode, to just meh again.

Based on this description alone, it seems like Season One is an up-and-down rollercoaster where the clear issue in itself is 'consistency'. Now that being said, I can't really say that this episode was 'terrible' really. Do I love the episode? No... not exactly. In light of this one character, it definitely wasn't the best first impression of a species beyond ponies (But I'm getting ahead of myself). Now that doesn't mean I consider this 'The WORST episode of Season One EVER!!!', but that being said... I do feel it could've been better.

What’s the plot?

Plot or no plot? That is the question, is it not? I will say that the friendship between Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie is admittedly fun to watch. We have two ponies who are completely different in terms of personalities, species, and hobbies, yet when it comes to their love of pranking this would carry on in later episodes. This compatibility for me is not where the problem of the episode lies... for me, it's all about Gilda. Oye... the things I can say about Gilda.

We are suddenly introduce to a character who was an old friend of Rainbow Dash in Flight School. Not a pony... but a Griffin! Design wise, I will admit it was cool and engaging for the eyes. She comes as that one cool chick in school and all that's missing is the leather jacket and a motorcycle. But right off the get-go, we know that she's the jealous type who feels threatened that Rainbow has other friends beside her and her anti-social personality shows. We'd understand how Griffins and Ponies don't exactly get along in later episodes, but based on Gilda's impression alone... I wasn't going to be looking forward to seeing her again even if she 'had' a fanbase as a result of her presence.

Now, a lot of people were excited to see this because of Gilda

At the same time... I get why fans like Gilda, if not griffins overall (Griffons? Is that how you actually spell it?). Anyways... a creature who's part-bird and part-lion are unmistakably beautiful creatures (And I've seen my share of Griffons in other forms of media). But let's face it... there's no denying that Gilda was a 'bully' back in Season 1. Before we knew 'why' she is as she is, most fans will remember Gilda as the Griffon who made Fluttershy cry for no reason whatsoever! Heck, she accused Pinkie Pie of pulling all those pranks on her to get back at her... but surprise-surprise, it was Rainbow pulling the pranks not to hurt her but just to have 'fun'. And that suddenly makes Rainbow Dash uncool? Now that she takes very personally.

Bottom line, I don’t like this episode

I may argue at times that maybe fans are not looking at something 'three-dimensionally' when they are only seeing the 'two-dimensional' side. But looking at the episode... I do understand that it's not perfect. While the prank scenes are enjoyable and the moral is decent enough, I wouldn't say the episode was 'better' than the review suggests it is. It seemed Gilda was initially written to be a one-off character and if another season didn't say otherwise, I for one wouldn't have missed her. The fact Twilight herself accuses Pinkie of being jealous does make us wonder why we're still Twilight fans because she didn't listen to her friend (Though I do remind myself she was 'still' learning about friendship and this is Season 1 Twi we're talking about). Now I do disagree on the matter of this episode being 'bad' because I still enjoyed it overall. It just feels like a plot I've heard and seen in previous projects prior and the tricky part was determining how this one was going to stand out (Aside from having talking ponies). Could this episode have been better? Absolutely. But as it is... for me it's just okay.