Talk:The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone/@comment-7345250-20150523220408

Meh. Of all the redemption episodes, this is one of the lousiest. Simply reminding Gilda of the good ol' days inspires a full conversion? Weak stuff.

And it was never really hard to imagine Gilda being a product of her environment, but suddenly degrading all of griffonkind to a loose band of misers is not the right way to go about that. This episode makes her look like a saint in comparison to the other griffons, and that strikes down much of her old charm.

My biggest complaint is that the lesson of this episode neuters the message of Griffon the Brush Off. In the earlier episode, Pinkie Pie's party (and although Rainbow's tactless pranks are the decisive factor, let's not forget that Pinkie Pie knowingly wore the joy buzzer and zapped Gilda) convinces Gilda to cut off a friendship. Yet in the later episode, Gilda is supposed to start giving out party favors and expecting the opposite result from other, meaner griffons?

This puts the Mane Six at fault for Gilda's Season 1 flight—for The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone implies that Pinkie's method would have worked if not for the pranks. Previously, the idea was that Gilda crossed a line because she overreacted, but now the idea is that the Mane Six crossed a line because they were that close to turning her around in Season 1.

For crying out loud, this one really makes Rainbow Dash look like the bad guy in retrospect, but it falls short of saying anything outright. There were moments when I was on the edge of my seat, waiting for Gilda to blame Pinkie for her loss. "I did have a friend once, but you saw how that turned out." should have been "I did have a friend once, but you took her from me!" The episode tries too hard to keep the blame away from anyone. Gilda acknowledges her own fault, but not once do the ponies suggest that they goofed up, even though the episode lets them win with a second attempt of the same method.

What results is a dry story. Gilda's only emotions are derision, regret, and some bizarre form of giddiness that comes out of nowhere. Pinkie Pie is let off the hook again. Rainbow Dash is just oblivious to the main conflict.

'TL;DR: No one is a jerk''. Gilda is just irritable. Pinkie Pie is just enthusiastic. Rainbow Dash is just ignorant. It begs the question of what went wrong last time, and the answer is our heroes' pranks. Gilda's relative innocence in this episode makes Rainbow Dash look like the bad guy, which does not sit well with yours truly.'''

Anyways, shoutouts to King Grover for being grovy and to Gummy for firmly grasping it.