It's not the mushrooms that are important, but, rather, the stump itself. Gruff's tale shows that that same stump was once used as a pedestal for the Idol of Boreas; Rainbow Dash is contemplating its emptiness.
I hadn't noticed the Match Cut from the story; I love your attention to detail.
What about the fact that the mushrooms on that stump appear to glow, while the mushrooms on the roots in the background don't? I think it might be Bioluminescence Is Cool; seems the glow was deliberately added for visual appeal, even if it doesn't contribute anything to the story.
The ones in the background don't glow because...well, they're in the background—farther away and less detailed.
As for glowing mushrooms in general, they do exist in real life
, so they're still within the realm of plausibility here.
Does Forgiveness actually apply as a trope here? It's a thing that happens, certainly, but that alone doesn't make a trope. The page definition focuses on the Aesop aspect of it, which this episode...doesn't, really. It's much more focused on Pinkie's efforts to get Gilda to realize how much her friendship with Rainbow Dash really means to her; Rainbow Dash, for all her apparent bitterness early on, doesn't have any problem with forgiving Gilda once Gilda seeks reconciliation.
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I'd still say Forgiveness should be added as a trope, considering it did happen after all.
Considering that what happened, though? That someone was forgiven? Well that certainly did happen, but that in itself is too vague to be a trope. The actual trope definition seems to be about the choice between forgiveness and revenge, combined with whatever Aesop springs from it. Where, exactly, in the episode are such things to be found?
Edited by MrL1193
From the Arc Welding main page: "In the absence of the confirmation provided by the Word of God, Arc Welding is YMMV."
Do we have Word of God that they now consider "Griffon the Brush-Off" part of the current arc? If not, I'm happy to just leave this out (I'm the one who had added it to the YMMV page) and consider this just a Sequel Episode, which is already there on the recap page.
Edited by pvsage Hide / Show Replies
From the page, I believe Arc Welding refers more to tying a larger group of episodes together through new episodes. This episode only goes back to a single episode, making it a sequel, but missing the arc part of Arc Welding.
Optimism is a duty.
I agree that Arc Welding is only applicable when multiple episodes are combined, and rarely happens in a single episode. With just one episode getting called back, it's a Sequel Episode, perhaps motivated by Whatever Happened to the Mouse? about Gilda.
Edited by Rognik
I'm not 100% sure what trope it would fit, but I think there's a certain symbolism and possible mild foreshadowing present late in the episode.
If you pay attention, you'll notice that griffons are constantly asking for bits. Okay, so that's something that's obvious. However, notice that when Gilda agrees to help Pinkie save Rainbow Dash bits aren't part of the conversation. They're not even brought up.
If nothing else, it's a hint to the decision that Gilda will make when she saves both RD and PP.
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After Grandpa Gruff tells his tale about how the griffons lost the Idol of Boreas, Rainbow Dash appears to ponder some purple and blue mushrooms growing on a tree stump. The music swells dramatically, and Dash decides that...they need to find the idol.
Is this anything? Bait-and-Switch maybe? Or is it just fungi grow on trees?
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