The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone Review · 9:21pm May 23rd, 2015
So now we have yet another episode involving the Cutie Map! It's been six episodes since we last saw it, and this time, it's Pinkie and Rainbow Dash who are off to the next destination. In the first couple of minutes, it managed to answer one question about the map! It will send maybe one or two of the Friendship Council off to a location! So that's interesting, and I definitely look forward to seeing what else they'll do with that angle.
We also get to see the pride and joy of where the Griffons live! Pinkie and Rainbow are off to Griffonstone and so are we!
Our episode begins with Pinkie being... well, Pinkie, and doing some baking. While everyone's favourite baby, toothless alligator watches. But right then, her cutie mark gives the signal that the Cutie Map is calling for her, so she's off to the Castle of Friendship for a briefing.
It turns out that it's calling both her and Rainbow Dash off to Griffonstone, the kingdom of the Griffons. Twilight offers some history about them, while Rainbow makes a callback to season one's "Griffon The Brush-Off" when she brings up Gilda. Huh, can't say I blame her for still being bitter about what happened between them!
It turns out that the Griffons once had a golden idol, known as the Idol of Boreas, which brought pride to the Griffons and made them live in prosperity. So, along with a passive aggressive remark, Twilight sends them on their way. Pinkie is excited, Rainbow is less than enthused about the idea.
So Pinkie and Rainbow arrive in Griffonstone, only to find that the place is in absolute desolation. None of the Griffons seem to even care. But none moreso than Gilda! Oh yes, Gilda returns in this episode, just as rough and mean as she was back in season one. Rainbow is less than enthused to see her, but Pinkie is pressing for answers about what's going on.
Gilda's Grandfather, Gruff, fills them in on the missing parts of their history. It turns out that during the reign of King Guto, the fourteenth and last king of the Griffons, there was an attack. Arimsapi was a freak monster who tried to steal the idol, but ended up plunging into the Abysmal Abyss along with it. Ever since then, the Griffons had been living in desolation and apathy. The animation for that backstory was very interesting, and I swear it was done in motion comic form. Could I be wrong? That's the style I was getting from it. I'd even say that'd be a shout-out to the MLP comics!
With all of this in mind, Rainbow flies off to go and search for the lost Idol of Boreas. But Pinkie is opting to take a more practical approach, so to speak, and try to solve the issues. She takes the time interacting with Gilda, even trying one of the Griffon Scones. It's, needless to say, missing something. Baking powder!
Pinkie finds herself at a loss when she can't sing, throw a party, or even bake a cake to cheer them up. But when she sees a display of kindness on Gilda's part, it helps her realize exactly what to do. She runs off to find Rainbow, who has meanwhile fallen on some trouble. She is stuck down the cliff with a wounded leg, and unable to fly back up due to the violent wind currents.
Running back to town, Pinkie enlists the help of Gilda, who even reveals a little something about her past. It turns out that she met Rainbow when she was very young back in Cloudsdale, and the two had become friends ever since then. Pinkie encourages her to help, which Gilda reluctantly agrees to. They head back to the endless chasm of death, managing to get Rainbow secured, but not without a few shortcomings. Within all of this, she also finds the Idol of Boreas, which she attempts to retrieve.
However, she can't retrieve it and save Pinkie and Rainbow at the same time. Faced with a choice, she saves their lives and pulls them to safety. The idol falls deeper into the abyss, now lost forever. But it doesn't matter, because they didn't need the idol. Pinkie sums it up in saying that the Griffons just have to be friendly to one another and make the kingdom prosper again. She even encourages her to reach out to Greta, the Griffon from earlier that Gilda helped.
It definitely will be a slow process, but even Gilda is well on her way to making friends. She reconnects with Rainbow, finds a friend in Pinkie, and has apologized for her jerkish behaviour.
This was quite an interesting episode! While the story structure is really nothing new, same for the resolution, the biggest strength is the character interaction. Pinkie really shines in this episode, managing to balance being her usual silly self, and yet having strong insights on what's going on.
Gilda was a very welcome return, showcasing she truly has more to her character than what we saw before. It shows that her rude behaviour was indeed a defense and coping mechanism. It shines through in this episode, and also adds depth to her. By making her more kinder than she lets on, it really helped to connect with her and feel sympathetic. Her remark about trying to raise money to leave Griffonstone is especially telling and made a lot of sense. So now, with her walls let down, she's actually a very socially awkward but still nice person.
Overall, I really enjoyed this episode. It was interesting seeing a new location, the world building was fascinating and will surely lead to a lot of new stories and artwork, the character interaction and development was great, and it was still a good lesson to learn. You definitely don't need an object to be the best you can be, it's inside of you all along. You just have to believe in it and showcase it.
Wait a second... Did this episode just make a shout-out to religious beliefs?! Or am I reading too much into it?
Either way, it was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it. 
I have no idea what religious beliefs shout out you are referencing, but I found the episode to be very disappointing in the big idea department.
I really enjoyed all the gags and minor details and I think RD/Pinkie/Twi were done well; but the episode felt slow and hollow in all the major points of the episode. The kingdom they showed wasn't one that hinted of former glory or extravagance that is now rundown and in economic turmoil, but that of a kingdom that never was. The flashback lasted far longer than it needed to with unnecessary parts (all it needed was RD stepping in for Gilda and the fight song, also I detest filly Gilda's voice but that's a personal matter). In fact a lot of the major plot moving points felt like they dragged on more than they needed to and it felt like they could have saved dialogue time if they had fleshed out the backgrounds/scenery instead of leaving it mostly empty and unused.
Basically, there were a lot of nice little things to enjoy but the execution of the big picture seemed like a failure of sorts and it left me overall disappointed. I'd have to say this is the worst episode of S5 so far (for me), but I don't want to exclaim it as bad. Just somewhat worse than the Troubleshoes episode (but I almost never care about CMC episodes, so there's that). =/