Good evening everypony, and welcome back to another edition of "Batbrony Reviews." First of all, I need to apologize for being so late on this one; I was busy last week travelling for a job interview, and this week just got away from me. That said, I'm very happy to be getting this written up now, because me oh my this was a DELIGHTFUL episode! Without further ado, let's begin.

So first things first, I don't think this was so much a Cutie Mark Crusaders episode as it was a Scootaloo episode. Don't get me wrong, they were all involved from start to finish, but there was a clear focus on Scootaloo as the primary actor pushing them throughout the episode, mostly because she drew many parallels with the episode's new character. That said, it was still a phenomenal CMC episode overall, because at no point did any of them come off as needlessly stupid or malevolent. The writing was phenomenal namely because everyone behaved realistically; they were presented with someone they really wanted to help, but an awkward situation because they really didn't know how. This will lead into a bigger point I have to make later on, but a resonating theme with the group in this episode was optimism and hope, how far those can take you, and what their limitations are. The episode tries to answer how does one balance boundless optimism with logic and realism, especially in a crummy situation, and it answers it spectacularly I thought. For the Crusaders, it gave us a chance to see that they continue to mature and grow; they're no longer trying ideas they know are probably bad, they think things through carefully and have a system, and I love seeing that. This was exactly what the successor to their first Season 6 ep needed to be, and I couldn't be happier for it.

So now we come to our new character. Gabriella. Oh my. Gabby, Gabby, Gabby. I don't think words can do justice to how cute this little ball of fluff and feathers was, so I'll just leave this instead...

Yeah, seriously. New best griffon? Oh buck yes, new best griffon!!! And you know what the funny thing is? I bet this was a hard character to write. No, I'm not even joking. It would have been SO easy to make her a Mary Sue, because of how bubbly, and optimistic, and cheerful, and just plain adorable she is, but somehow they avoided that trap and color me impressed that they did! As with Scootaloo not being able to fly (which the episode phenomenally wove into the story), there was an unspoken pain lying beneath the surface with her. We either are this person or we know a person like this, someone who tries going through life as cheerful as possible, not for their own sake, but just to try to make other people happy. That's Gabriella in a nutshell. You think at first that it's some sort of mask to help her cope with how crummy Griffonstone is, but no, it wasn't! As the episode plays out (especially once we reach the end), we learn she's as genuine as could be in her constant cheerfulness and optimism. Yet at the same time, one can still tell that there was a hidden pain to this character for multiple reasons. For starters, she's gone her whole life, naturally cheerful and upbeat, dedicated to making other griffons happy, but unfortunately for her that is not a natural inclination for her kind. So basically, she's been surrounded by distrustful curmudgeons her whole life. On top of that, she's never felt like she belongs nor knowing what her purpose is. So basically, she has no rewarding outlet for all her cheerfulness up until she went to Ponyville. Not that we should expect something for doing good things, but Gabby's situation was extreme; she had nothing, NOBODY in her life giving her so much as a smile or a thank you for her efforts. To say her situation was depressing is an understatement.

This leads me finally to the themes of the episode. While some may say the episode was just about finding your purpose, I'd say it was more than that. Finding your purpose is a theme that has gotten recycled for multiple CMC episodes at this point and will continue to do so, after all, it's what they do. No, I would say that boundless optimism was at the center of this episode, very much akin to, believe it or not, "It's a Wonderful Life" or "Forrest Gump." These are movies that, while simple in certain respects, are effective mostly because, at the heart of them, is a simple but powerful theme that resonates with many people: the power of just being a genuinely decent person. That was very evident in this whole episode. You felt for Gabby, even if you weren't sure just like the CMC weren't what the answer to her dilemma was, because she was just so genuine and decent and good, and to make matters worse she lived in a country that didn't appreciate or encourage those qualities of hers. She didn't just want to find her purpose, she wanted to find her place, although surprisingly she never attempted to or thought of living in Equestria (though I guess I couldn't see her abandoning her home). But you could tell, in many respects, that this was someone who on the inside was probably running on fumes of hope at this point, and she oftentimes came off as almost desperate to find the answer she was looking for. You can't help but feel for such optimism and hope, and it just sucked me in from the second she showed up. I didn't think she was gonna get her cutie mark, but I wanted her to find her purpose, and more importantly, just find pride in who she was. She didn't just find purpose in learning that her purpose is to simply help others however she can, she found self-worth and a reason to just keep going for herself, because such a good person shouldn't be asked to just keep going for others, even if it comes naturally to them. She could probably spend the rest of her life impoverished and destitute and she'd still be totally satisfied knowing that alone, and that's what made the episode so powerful. A genuinely decent character found the one thing she was looking for that was missing from her life, and there was something really powerful about getting to see that because I think it's easy to forget that it's not always hard to be a good person in life, much less like Gabby, especially growing up where she did. So like I said, for an episode that didn't exactly have many tears, this was a powerful one, and I loved it for that, especially because I think it handled its themes with nuance, grace, and poise.

Besides that, this wasn't exactly a laugh-heavy episode, but that's fine; there were some good ones here and there, particularly getting to see Twilight nerdgasm, but that's about it. There was a good song in the middle but nothing mindblowing for this show. It was nice getting a simple slice-of-life Ponyville episode again, and I was super happy to spot Derpy with Dinky again (further confirmation of her being Dinky's canon mom this season!!!). But like I said, when I think back on this episode and return to it, I'll always think first and foremost about it's wonderful writing, handling of its themes, and of course, the wonderful, wonderful, WONDERFUL new character that is Gabriella the Griffon! That's all I've got this week everypony, until, well, tomorrow, this is Batbrony signing off. I'm off!!! *cue dramatic exit*

Cutest griffon? BUCK YES CUTEST GRIFFON!!!