Hello & welcome back to Trotting Through Life. And today, we enter season 5 as we take a look at the first of the Cutie Map episodes that were given as we look at The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone. What I find most interesting is that The Cutie Map is a concept that is very similar to that of IDW's second MLP spin-off series, Friends Forever.
In which, we see two ponies paired up for a one-shot story such as the first one being about Pinkie and AJ competing in a baking contest. Or one where Pinkie asks Twilight to help from devouring sweets at a Ponyville carnival. Though the comics also branch and have more unique pairings such as next month's is Fluttershy and Daring Do. (May have to pick that one up). So, the basic concept of pairing two ponies up is perhaps the most basic of similarities that Friends Forever and the Cutie Map episodes share as with all of The Cutie Map episodes, we have only thus far had pairings that involve the Mane Six (does Starlight count as the Mane Seventh?) aside from season 5's premiere episode that was used to establish what The Cutie Map is and how it works.
The Cutie Map pairings were a mix of pairs that we had seen before and some that we hadn't such as the second one was Rarity and Applejack (thank Celestia, that pairing is being used less this season) whereas the last one was Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy. (Is that the first time those two shared an episode together?) Our first Cutie Map pairing is one that we had seen before all the way back in season one as we saw Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie be the first duo that The Cutie Map sent out on a mission.
And this makes quite a bit as we are dealing with an episode is a sequel episode to the very first episode that we looked at as a part of Party with Pinkie, Griffon The Brush Off. With that out of the way, let's begin.
The Plot
We open on Pinkie as she plans to spend all day baking but her plans are soon cut short as the Map calls her and after the intro, we find out that her and Rainbow Dash have been summoned by the map to go to the city of Griffonstone.
Dashie is less than excited to be going to Griffonstone as she's still bitter about Gilda's visit but we learn that Twilight Sparkle is beyond excited about the prospect of her friends getting to go to Griffonstone as she has studied the history and wishes that she could go and Dash even offer her, Dash's spot but she says no as the map didn't summon her.
The backstory that we get for the Griffonstone is really cool and some great animation to go with it.
And this is when we are introduced to King Grover...
Uh... no! On the train, Rainbow and Pinkie go over the information that Twilight gave them and well, we get foreshadowing to the most embarrassing moment of any Rainbow Dash episode as impersonates Twily.
Our two friends continue their trek on hoof to Griffonstone and when they arrive, they see that it's a total dump. Hey, Pinkie said it first.
Soon, our two ponies run into Gilda and get another history lesson from Grandpa Gruff. And learn of the decline of Griffonstone and how, they have lost unity that once had as they lost the Idol of Boreas. And Dash thinks this why they were sent to Griffonstone to find the Idol to reunite the Griffons and so, our two heroines go off in individual adventures.
And this is where one of my problems comes in with this episode, the Cutie Map sent out two characters to solve this problem but for most of the episode, Dash & Pinkie spend it apart as Pinkie spends majority of the episode with Gilda. Though, we do some cute moments that show that Gilda possibly care about others and we get to see what Gilda does to make a living as she sells a special recipe of scones.
Pinkie says that they aren't bad but they need something and it's not friendship but rather baking powder. Meanwhile, back in the story with Dash, we see that she tries to find the Idol but she gets stuck and the Griffon that led to the place for a few bits isn't willing to help Dash after she gets stuck as she's all out of bits. Uh, how would Dashie even get it to the griffon?
Sometime later, Pinkie hops across Dashie and ells her to stay where she is as she goes to get help and goes back to get Gilda to help and Gilda asks why she should help but Pinkie asks her to think back to a time, when she still cared about Dash and we get a flashback to when Dash and Gilda first met and we see that Gilda was rather shy at her first day on Flight School.
This convinces Gilda to go save her former friend but we get a rather dumb Pinkie moment as she throws the rope down with herself and now, Gilda has to save both of the ponies but as she goes to save her friends, she comes across the Idol of Broeas but it's in a tight spot and has to decide if she wants to go for the Idol or save her friend. And in the end, she chooses to save Pinkie and Rainbow Dash.
And the episode ends with Gilda now knowing that she has two friends that she count on and she hopes to spread unity and peace throughout Griffonstone. All in all, this isn't a bad episode and a good start to the Cutie Map duo episodes. Now, we will be looking at one other Cutie Map episode during this retrospective and while that one does star the greatest fashion pony ever, this one is perhaps a tad better.
Characters
Pinkie Pie voiced by Andrea Libman
Pinkie got a lot of great moments in this episode such as the frustration at no singing and we do see how, she is willing to try and help others. She had some odd moments such as her flirting with King Grover and her dumb moment towards the end but in all, she was enjoyable.
Rainbow Dash voiced by Ashleigh Ball
I liked Dashie in the episode but I do wish that the episode hadn't been so quick to split up our duo as this seemed like it was going to be a Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash episode and it was but the Pinkie and Dash stories didn't intertwine until towards when the episode was nearly over.
Gilda voiced by Maryke Hendrikse
Redemption episodes are a dime a dozen in this series but I think this is the longest, we had gone without seeing a character. As the last time, we saw Gilda was back in season one and it seems like with Griffonstone, we got more of an understanding as to why to Gilda was the way, she was in her first appearance as her home is broken and no griffon shows one another kindness. And you also have to factor in, what we saw of Young Gilda being rather shy and timid. You could perhaps attribute that to a young child being in a new location and as Gilda grew older, she perhaps felt that she had to build up a wall and not let her emotions be seen after what happened with the bullies at Flight School but by doing so, she turned herself into the ponies that picked on her as a child.
My Final Thoughts
I greatly enjoyed this episode even if I do think that it was a bit of a bumpy start to the Cutie Map duo episodes but in terms of redemptions episodes, I would say this is one of the better handled redemption stories that we've seen from the series as it gave us more insight into why Gilda was the way, she was in season one. I liked this episode, when I first saw it but I think it has grown on me over time. Join me next time as Party With Pinkie continues as we look at...
Party Pooped
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