Pokemon Episode 54 Analysis – The Case of the K-9 Caper

CotD(s): None

Plot: As Ash, Misty and Brock continue on their journey to Cinnabar Island, they’re caught in the middle of a police pursuit. Jenny and several other officers are chasing a thief with a bag of stolen goods.

Pikachu doesn’t want to attack him because of the gun he’s holding, but Jenny’s Growlithe tackles him to the ground and disarms him. Seeing the gun out of the thief’s hands, Ash commands Pikachu to attack with a Thunderbolt. However, Jenny and the other officers scold Ash for attacking, revealing that this was a training exercise for the police squad’s Growlithe team, and the ‘thief’ is actually a fellow officer.

They clear up the misunderstanding, and Jenny formally introduces the Growlithe to their new friends.

Ash and the others are invited to eat a meal at the police training school. Ash is frustrated that Pikachu wasn’t brave enough to take on the thief when he had a gun. Jenny offers to have Pikachu train with the Growlithe the following day. Ash excitedly agrees, hoping Pikachu will become as brave and strong as Growlithe.

The next day, waking up before the crack of dawn, Ash and Pikachu are run through the obstacle course, racing Jenny and Growlithe. However, they soon find the course to be much harder than they first thought. They struggle through each obstacle while Jenny and Growlithe make it across relatively easily.

Even though they’re exhausted from the training, Ash is determined to toughen Pikachu up.

Just then, Team Rocket bursts in with a plan to capture the Growlithe. They first spray a gas around the Growlithe to make it so they can’t smell. Then they spray helium around the group to make their voices high-pitched and squeaky. The Growlithe can’t smell their Trainer nor can they recognize her voice.

Next, Team Rocket dresses up in police uniforms and uses voice modulation to change their voices into Jenny’s. The Growlithe now obey them instead of Jenny. They order the Growlithe to tie Jenny up and prepare to load them into the van. Ash and the others are helpless since they left their Pokemon back in the room.

Team Rocket tries the same trick with Pikachu, but to no avail. Pikachu knows his Trainer and his best friend no matter what he sounds like.

Pikachu shocks the Growlithe, but expends all of his energy. The Growlithe aren’t down for the count, and Jessie commands the Growlithe to attack again. Jenny, now free, attempts to stop them, but the Growlithe she’s been training most closely with bites her on the hand. As it digs its teeth into her hand, it suddenly remembers being raised by her and all of the good times they had together.

Realizing its mistake, Growlithe releases Jenny and apologetically licks her hand. The other Growlithe follow suit and turn on Team Rocket. They turn tail and run away from the Growlithe as they bite and bark at them.

Ash tells Jenny that more training at the school isn’t necessary. He doesn’t need to try to make Pikachu into the perfect Pokemon. He’s great just the way he is. With that, Ash, Misty and Brock bid Jenny and her Growlithe farewell as they continue their journey to Cinnabar Island.

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– I will give 4Kids props for keeping the gun.

Brock: “Look! That must be him!”

Misty: “He looks like a thief to me!”

…..I know you’re children, but do you really need to even discuss whether this dude looks like a thief? He’s wielding a gun, carrying a big sack on his back and is running from a bunch of police officers yelling ‘Stop, thief!’ Does he need a lapel pin that says ‘Hello, I am Thief.’?

– How is it that Pikachu has a healthy fear of guns, but these kids don’t? Keep in mind, they’ve had guns in their face plenty of times, and they’ve seen people being shot at.

Not to mention, in the next episode, Ash will see a glint in the forest, instantly assume the glint is from a sniper rifle and make a big fuss panicking over it. Yet here he’s faced with a criminal who clearly has a pistol and he pays it no mind.

– Ash hears that one of the Jenny’s has sicced her Growlithe on this guy, the Growlithe has handily disarmed him and tackled him to the ground, certainly he’s going to be arrested soon, but yet Ash sends out Pikachu anyway. Why?

– In fairness to Ash and the others, why the hell would you need to give this guy a gun (They don’t mention if it’s fake, but even if it was, it looks insanely real.) to do a mock police chase through public woodlands? Moreover, why not have an ‘Abort test’ signal when innocent people are clearly in the way?

– Why Use the Pokedex?: Ash, you’ve used your Pokedex on a Growlithe before. Remember? Episode 33? The Flame Pokemon-athon? Also, you met another one, Growlie, in episode 48, Holy Matrimony.

– Growlithe is one of my favorite Pokemon, by the way, and I’m a dog person so I’ve already got a bit of a soft spot for this episode.

– Ash: “Did you see the way that Growlithe tackled that robber, Brock? It was braver than Pikachu!” Tact, Ash. Pikachu is right there.

Brock: “But the officer playing the thief was holding a gun. You can’t expect Pikachu to attack somebody like that.”

I could swear Pikachu has attacked at least Team Rocket while they were wielding guns before. Nevertheless, he’s certainly attacked people with BOMBS before and that’s much worse.

Misty: “Brock’s right! I bet you never even thought about how badly Pikachu could’ve been hurt.”

I can’t believe I didn’t note this when it happened, maybe because he sends Pikachu into all sorts of dangerous situations in the first place, but yeah, Ash was pretty dumb right there.

Ash: “Of course I did!” So you’re admitting you knew you were putting your Pokemon in lethal peril. And all for what? A petty thief?

Brock: “Wait a minute, I hope you’re not thinking of having Pikachu train with the police, like Growlithe.”

What’s wrong with that idea? It would give Ash better discernment capabilities of when it’s appropriate to attack opponents and how to approach them safely, if at all, if they have weapons like guns.

Ash: “What’s wrong with that idea? It’d make Pikachu even stronger.” Yes, because clearly the problem with this entire situation is Messiahchu isn’t strong enough…..

– I find it kinda funny that a Dodrio is acting like a rooster crowing. We’re a ways away from any chicken Pokemon, so it’s understandable, but still…..Odd how the Torchic line really wouldn’t seem like they would fit any better doing that.

– Do Ash and the others not have pajamas of any kind? I know it’s a joke in cartoons to have the characters always wearing the same outfit, makes it easier for animators and designers and whatnot, but they seriously can’t throw some pajamas their way? What do they carry in those bags if not at least one pair of PJs? I mean, Ash doesn’t even take off his jeans or belt, Misty doesn’t take off her suspenders, and Brock doesn’t take off his vest that is full of random stuff. That has to be really uncomfortable.

– I really like that Ash has to do this course too. It’s all too rare to see Ash actually training alongside his Pokemon. It’s rare enough to see him training period.

– So Jenny’s running this course too, huh?….In…those clothes? I never really gave it much thought, but Jenny’s officer uniform is horrible for doing any sort of strenuous exercise. She’s wearing a pencil skirt and frickin’ HEELS. She shouldn’t be able to do a brisk jog, let alone a military-esque obstacle course.

There’s especially no way in hell she should be able to climb that wall, especially as easily as she did.

– Pikachu never tried to climb the wall, but he should’ve been able to do it much more easily than Growlithe, being a rat.

– Brock: “This police canine training stuff sure is tough. Are you sure you still want to go through with it?”

Ash: “Of course I’m still going through with it ‘cause I want Pikachu to be the best.” Again, wasn’t the problem. Even if Jenny and the other officers and the Growlithe weren’t pursuing that thief, even if the thief was real, Pikachu was perfectly in the right to not attack him. You’re a ten-year-old Pokemon Trainer, not a vigilante. Just because you beat Team Rocket every week doesn’t make you Batman.

Brock: “But don’t you think Pikachu’s a great Pokemon just the way it is?”

Ash: “Yeah, Pikachu’s great. But I want it to be just as tough as Growlithe.” This plotline is really not making sense to me. Ash pretty much acknowledges that he made a mistake sending Pikachu out against an armed criminal. But the issue is continuously that Pikachu wasn’t tough or brave enough, like the trained law enforcement Pokemon. Why is no one pointing this out to Ash? He’s making Pikachu feel like a weak coward all because Ash was an idiot.

And, hey, let’s jump back to Jenny’s line about not commanding your Pokemon to do anything you wouldn’t do. Even though that statement makes little sense (human limitations make it impossible to do 90% of the things Trainers command of their Pokemon) would Ash have been brave enough to tackle an armed man? I say ‘brave’ when that’s just stupid, but by Ash’s point of view, would he?

– I love that Growlithe van. Someone buy me one.

– Okay, as much as I find this to be one of Team Rocket’s better thought out plans, I find it hard to believe that these Growlithe get this close to these officers yet it takes them until one of them bites Jenny to realize, ‘Oh shit, you’re my Trainer. My bad.’

The fact that they’re confused because of their sense of smell being screwed up, I understand. Also, the fact that Jessie is using a voice modulator to sound like Jenny while Jenny’s own voice is screwed up, I understand.

But they have eyes. They can clearly see that neither James nor Jessie looks like Jenny no matter if they’re wearing her clothes. The fact that they were confused to the point of assaulting Jenny yet Pikachu isn’t fooled for a second makes the Growlithe look like idiots.

Not to mention that, since Jenny seems to know more about what it takes to be a true Pokemon Trainer/Master than Ash does, it’s even more unrealistic that the Growlithe haven’t bonded with her enough to recognize her instantly, even without scent or hearing similar people.

Just for the sake of argument, I wanted to see what cues were most important when training or commanding a dog. I have had dogs my whole life, I’ve trained several of my dogs and I used to study dog training on my own time. My own skills with dog training aren’t the best, but I agree with these findings.

I found several articles and studies that show that body language is most important when it comes to having a dog follow your commands. Vocal commands are obviously followed and important, but body language/hand gestures comes out on top over it.

Realistically, Jenny should be able to call off the Growlithe through hand gestures.

Additionally, while I couldn’t find any information on this, I kinda doubt that the Growlithe would pay much attention to Jessie’s voice in the first place because it would sound so different not only being an artificially created voice in the first place, but also being further altered by going through a megaphone. To us, it may sound pretty much the same, but to a dog it’s vastly different. They can pick up on little discrepancies that would inevitably be caused by both Jessie’s natural manner of speech and the artificial filtering.

All in all, I give this plan a B-. They put a lot of thought and work into it, and it is pretty clever, but it makes these trained police dogs look way too easily fooled to the point of stupidity, and it makes Jenny kinda look like a poor trainer.

– Awwww the Growlithe with the little bandit masks awwww.

– Expecting the Growlithe the rob banks, I can swallow, but that balloon art heist…What the hell was that even?

And, what, are you going to somehow clog the Growlithe’s noses forever? Because unless Jenny has a perfume line with her exact essence, they won’t be fooled forever by voice modulation. Dogs rely more on scent.

– Jessie: “Wait until they try Team Rocket’s….”

James: “Esopho-gas!” Pfft…..Alright, that one was pretty good, 4Kids.

– Jenny does have a point, though. Even if you make believe you’re Jenny through voice modulation, even if you somehow keep their noses clogged forever, they’re still trained to obey and uphold the law. They wouldn’t become criminals just because you say so. Again, this is kinda implying that they’re idiots who just blindly follow the orders of whomever sounds like their master.

You can make the argument that they’re animals, but they’re POKEMON. They have much higher cognitive reasoning than our world’s animals. The instant their Trainer OFFICER Jenny would order them to rob a bank, they’d probably go “What? That’s not what you taught us to do.”

– Just want to point out that Jessie and James are changing clothes behind the same changing curtain….

– If the effects of helium are lasting this long, they’d all be long since dead.

– Also, why does the helium not affect the Growlithe’s voices?

– Kinda random to specifically order the Growlithe to place Jenny under house arrest. Also, since when does house arrest involve tying someone up?

– Ash: “Uh oh! I know! We’ll use our Pokemon to battle them!” I have a great idea! Let’s do that thing we do to solve basically all of our problems! Ash must’ve caught a bit of Captain-Obvious-itis from Brock.

– I find it VERY hard to believe that they ALL left ALL of their Pokemon back in the room. And if they did, uh, Team Rocket, that’s more ripe for the picking and easier to get than these trained police Pokemon.

– You know, it’s not every day that Ash forgets he has Pikachu….He realizes he left his Pokeballs behind and he’s just not remembering that Pikachu is right there.

– Pikachu jumped down from nowhere to land on Ash’s head. I feel like that was his punishment for dare forgetting Pikachu for even a second.

– Either Jessie does an insanely good Ash impression or the dubbers screwed up and made Ash’s voice come out of Jessie’s mouth before she used the voice modulator.

– Still find it creepy that they have an Ash costume….

– I will admit that Pikachu’s even higher than usual voice is really cute and funny.

– Uh, Pikachu, can you chill the hell out? One or two shocks was enough to deter the Growlithe. You’re just torturing them now. Stop! This is getting hard to watch. They’re not evil Pokemon, they’re innocent police dogs getting tricked. If I want to impose my own twisted views on this, it’s almost like Pikachu is taking out his frustrations with Ash this episode, dinging his ‘lack of bravery’ in comparison to the Growlithe, on the Growlithe….

– What? You’re telling me one shock was enough to put the first team of Growlithe on their backs, but relentlessly shocking them to the point where Pikachu is out of energy and they still are able to get up and fight with little issue? Uh….Huh.

– Oh hey, Jigglypuff. That’s actually a good thing! Jigglypuff can sing, put them all to sleep and the gas will wear off in the meantime, ruining Team Rocket’s plans!

…..What…the shit?….Jigglypuff suddenly got…embarrassed? Self-conscious? And then walked away after one line? One of the few times this pink balloon might actually save the day and it just…..leaves for no reason? This isn’t an untranslatable joke, by the way, this scene is just completely random and makes no sense.

My sentiments exactly, Ash. Also, I love how Misty and Brock look pissed at Jigglypuff in this shot.

– It’s very heartwarming when Growlithe remembers the good times with Jenny and comes to its senses.

– LITTLE. BABY. PUPPY. GROWLITHE. *heart explodes*

– I can understand them having voice modulation options for Jenny and Ash, but why each other?

– Uh, Jenny? You gonna make some noise as you cuddle the pups in your weird little jutting animation? Anything? Awkward silence then? Okay.

– Aw, Ash actually learned a lesson today. It’s not the right lesson, given the context, but it’s a lesson.

– Jenny: “You two recognize what’s in each other’s hearts, and that’s what matters. I’ll try to keep that in mind.” Why are they kinda acting like Jenny made a mistake here? And maybe that’s why the Growlithe were fooled but Pikachu wasn’t? She was practically telling Ash that exact lesson earlier.

– And following up Jigglypuff’s initial pointless confusing cameo is its equally pointless and confusing follow up cameo where the Narrator says ‘Uh oh’ as Jigglypuff finds the voice modulator. Why ‘uh oh’ anyway? What trouble can it cause singing through a voice modulator?

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All in all, I like this episode, but it’s kinda dull, and the conflicts, both with Ash and Team Rocket, don’t make a lot of sense.

If you push that aside, it’s a really average episode with a good Pokemon at the forefront, but it doesn’t really highlight anything that’s special about Growlithe. These particular Growlithe are well-trained and brave, but the conflict makes it seem like they’re not trained well enough because they’re too stupid to visually recognize their Trainer.

Additionally, I would’ve liked more exploration on the police training of the Growlithe at the very least if we weren’t going to focus on what makes Growlithe special. Canine police training is actually very interesting, and I’m disappointed that they didn’t make much of an effort to explore it here outside of doing a mock police chase and running an obstacle course.

Much more effort and thought was put into Team Rocket’s plan this week, and, admittedly, liberties can easily be taken with what I researched, but it’s still far too stupid to think the Growlithe wouldn’t recognize their owner by sight, especially considering that they likely don’t have the visual limitations that real life dogs have.

Next time, it’s the debut of Snap—Todd….Todd Snap? I guess?

….Previous Episode

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Pokemon Episode 2 Analysis: Pokemon Emergency!

Poses for picture – still can’t get a clear shot of their faces.

Character Debuts:

Officer Jenny: Despite the seeming lack of police assistance in actual emergencies most of the time, there are cops in the world of Pokemon. Most of them, the prominent ones anyway, are Jennys. In practically every town ever, there is an Officer Jenny. They all look exactly the same and are somehow all related to each other. Officer Jenny is sometimes accompanied by a Growlithe.

Nurse Joy: Just like the Jennys, there are also identical Joys who are all related to each other in every Pokemon Center in every town. Nurse Joys are usually assisted by Chansey. I honestly don’t know why none of these Nurse Joys ever wanted to go the extra mile and become a Pokemon Doctor, but whatever.

Team Rocket: While Team Rocket as a whole is a large organization, it usually merely refers to the trio of Jessie, James and Meowth. Jessie is a vain and greedy woman who rarely has a moment of kindness. She also seems to hold the most power in the group and kinda acts as the main leader since James and Meowth are regularly frightened by her. Jessie used to be a very poor and kind child, but the rest of her backstory is a big web of mess.

James is slightly nicer when the situation calls for it, but he is also very vain and greedy. Unlike Jessie, he was actually born into a filthy rich family, but ran away from home because he didn’t want to be forcibly married to the obnoxious Jessibelle.

Meowth is one of the few Pokemon in the world who can talk, and this is made even more impressive since he’s also one of the few who can talk without the assistance of psychic powers. He taught himself how to speak human language and walk on two feet in order to impress a female Meowth named Meowsy, but his efforts ultimately made him even less appealing in her eyes, and he eventually went on to join Team Rocket.

Plot: Ash takes an injured Pikachu into the local Pokemon Center for treatment, but the place is soon attacked by the malicious Pokemon thieves, Team Rocket. Ash as well as the girl he met in the previous episode, Misty, try to battle them, but to no avail.

Instead, the Center’s backup electrical supply, a team of Pikachu, shock the trio, and their electric power brings Pikachu back to peak health somehow. In order to take them out fully, Ash uses Misty’s broken bike to generate power through the headlight and power up Pikachu enough to deliver one final Thunderbolt, causing the entire Pokemon Center to explode by igniting the gas from one of Team Rocket’s Pokemon, Koffing.

Team Rocket take note of Pikachu’s incredible power and vow to capture it no matter what. Meanwhile, Ash continues on his journey by heading through Viridian Forest, which leads directly to Pewter City, the site of his first Gym match. Misty follows him, determined to get Ash to pay for her ruined bike. As they travel through the Viridian Forest, Ash spots a Caterpie and readies a Pokeball for its capture.

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– The title card is looking a bit more normal, but they still use the Pokemon logo to say ‘Pokemon’.

– Oh….so I guess, from what Dexter says anyway, that the function of the Pokedex in the anime is really more for the Trainer’s benefit in providing information and advice and not keeping a log while trying to see and capture all of the Pokemon, IE Completing the Pokedex. Hmph.

– James in episodes 2 – 8 isn’t voiced by his most notable voice actor, Eric Stuart. He’s instead voiced by Ted Lewis who does quite a few roles in 4Kids productions such as Tracey and Giovanni in Pokemon, and Bakura and Bandit Keith from Yu-Gi-Oh. He does have really good range, and he fits the role pretty well here, but I can see why they’d replace him with Eric Stuart if his role was going to become more comical later.

– Likewise, Meowth also has a different voice actor in the earlier episodes, episode 2 – 31, Nathan Price, who does the role more low-key than Maddie Blaustein will later on. I honestly can’t decide which voice I like better. Maddie’s is more fitting for the comical parts while Nathan is better at being more sly. Plus, Maddie says ‘Meeeowth’ a little better.

– I will take a minute to enjoy the more serious Team Rocket for this episode. I do love them as comic relief, even if their shtick does tend to get real old, but it would be nice if they were an actual threat.

– Why did Jenny feel the need to jump her motorcycle into the Pokemon Center? Yeah, risk more injury to the already injured Pokemon. And it really took them until nightfall to get there? How big is this city?

– It’s weird to me that Pikachu is so injured after just taking a few Pecks by a couple Spearow, especially given that he’s strong against Flying types.

– Nurse Joy’s a bit of a bitch here. People must come there all the time with Pokemon at least in Pikachu’s condition, considering how many attacks there are in Pokemon and the fact that their lot in life is usually to fight, yet she chews Ash out for letting Pikachu get moderately hurt when she doesn’t even know how it happened. That’s like a doctor yelling a parent for letting their kid scrape their knee.

– Why is the Pidgey that comes out of the cuckoo clock green?

Must be all that awful hospital food.

– And here we get the only mention ever of Ash’s deadbeat not-caring-whatsoever-about-his-family dad. I would complain about this, but at this point does anyone really care who Ash’s dad is? Yes, it’s a mystery, but no answer will really be fulfilling now. Plus, he’ll just be a target for hatred considering he never seems to talk to or otherwise communicate with Ash or Delia. I do not believe for a second that they always talk off-screen or never ever managed to bump into each other during their journeys.

– It took four days for Ash’s dad to get to Viridian City?…..Why? Jenny said all of the other Pallet Trainers had already passed through. What was keeping him so long? Maybe I’m wrong about Ash’s dad. Maybe he’s like Flint and completely sucked at Training and was too ashamed to show his face around his family again. There. That’s a suitable story for Ash’s dad. You’re welcome.

– Delia: “Spreading your wings and soaring like a Spearow!” Uhh, I’d change your wording, Delia, considering the main reason he’s feeling like crap right now is because of a flock of Spearow.

– Delia: “And are you changing your underwear everyday?” He hasn’t even been gone a full day yet. Are his underwear made of the same material as the notes in Inspector Gadget and they’ll blow up after a period of time?

– The Legendary Pokemon on the board at the Pokemon Center are interesting. Ash believes the blue bird is the one he saw earlier, but it’s an Articuno not a Ho-Oh.

Ho-Oh won’t be introduced until Johto. I’m not even sure what this really indicates. Did Ash just think it was the same because the outline is kinda similar or the anime creators screwed up?

I would think he’d believe Moltres looks more similar given the coloring. Also, for some reason, Arcanine is up there. I know that he’s given the moniker of ‘legendary,’ but why? Is there a legend about Arcanine somewhere? Because he’s just the evolved version of a fairly easy to find Pokemon.

– Oh my God, there’s text everywhere. I feel so unreasonably happy.

– I still find it funny that Oak’s all ‘There’s no way you saw a Legendary Pokemon’ here and yet not a year goes by now where Ash doesn’t see/battle with/spend time with a Legendary Pokemon. It’s so common now that he’s become totally used to it.

– Misty: “You’re what happened to my bike, you little loser! This is what happened to my bike after you stole it to save your Pokemon!” Yeah, he sure is a loser because he cared more about his Pokemon’s well-being than a hunk of replaceable metal. Can you get less annoying soon so I can start hating Ash, please?

– Misty: “I don’t want any of your lame excuses, Kid! Just gimme a new bike right noooooooooowwwwwwww!!” First of all, kid? He’s the same age as you. Second, nice tantrum.

– What ‘procedure’ was Joy performing anyway? She put on rubber gloves, went in and came out with Pikachu having a lightbulb on its head while connected to some black box and some electrical box but no bandages or anything else on its body. He got Pecked a few times, he didn’t have his electricity sucked out him.

– Ash: “Listen, I’m sorry about your bike. But I’m going to need some time to make things right.”

Misty: “NO WAY! I FELL FOR THAT LAST TIME!”

Fell for what? He said he’d bring it back someday and accidentally got it destroyed. He hasn’t even been gone a full day, so he could’ve been intending on giving her a replacement bike someday. Though, considering how crazy expensive bikes are in the Pokemon world, I can kinda understand her anger.

– They have radar that detects aircrafts in Viridian City? Ones that can specifically identify the craft as belonging to Pokemon thieves? Where are these in future episodes?

– I am weirded out beyond belief by those Pikachu in the Pokemon Center. They not only chant, but they hold out their paws like robots and have mouths that are way too big.

– Why do they need to be on a treadmill anyway if they produce power on their own?

– The hell is up with the eyes on that Pidgey?

Can Pidgey not look normal today?

– It’s amazing that Team Rocket is so intimidating during the early episodes that all of the Pokemon actually refuse to fight because they’re so scared just by seeing Ekans.

– I still don’t understand why Misty let Goldeen out. Either this was poking at the fact that all Pokeballs look identical and thus it must be hard to determine who’s in what without customizing them or she’s just an idiot.

– Misty: “You know as well as I do that a Water Pokemon can’t battle on land. I was just warmin’ up!” There are so many things wrong with that.

Let’s start with, no, only SOME Water Types can’t battle on land. How were you ‘warming up’ by letting out a Pokemon that you knew couldn’t battle on land? Did you need to warm up your Pokeball throwin’ arm? Even if it was a distraction or something, what good would that do considering they’re standing in front of the only exit?

– Oh, I guess it wasn’t the only exit……There were no other visible doors to that room besides the one Team Rocket burst through and were standing in front of the whole time, but whatever. Still didn’t do much because, after Ash and Pikachu escape, they’re immediately followed by Team Rocket.

– Why did Pikachu even need hours of ‘treatment’ if just being dogpiled and shocked by a group of Pikachu seemed to make him good as new?

– How did any of them survive that explosion? Pikachu’s in the ICU for being pecked by a few birds for a second or two yet is perfectly fine when in a building that just exploded and created a fire so big it looks like it took out a city block.

– How did Team Rocket get away?

– Now that I’m really thinking about it, Pikachu’s attack really isn’t a decent reason for them to be so insanely obsessed with catching Pikachu. It was essentially given a buff to begin with in regards to the bike and the only real reason anything substantial happened was because of the reaction with Koffing’s gas.

– I can’t believe it took me so long to question this, but isn’t it impossible for Team Rocket’s balloon to be ‘popped’ and send them flying all over the place? Wouldn’t it just gently float down? It’s not a helium balloon.

– How is the computer perfectly fine? They’re literally sitting amongst the rubble that once was the Viridian City Pokemon Center with a desktop computer that’s not even dirty.

I didn’t know Nokia made desktop computers.

– Narrator: “Will Ash capture the Caterpie?” Seeing as how the next episode is titled Ash Catches a Pokemon, I’ll go ahead and say no.

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This episode was pretty okay. It was sillier than I remember it being, and I already remembered it to be a tad silly. Team Rocket pose a threat for a change, but they don’t even go the full episode without being downgraded to comic relief. Plus, I do have to say that the start of their obsessive mission was just not really worth it.

I’m starting to think that after a certain point, catching Pikachu was no longer about catching it for its power or rarity but purely because of a personal vendetta.

Misty’s still annoying here, and Ash is still relatable and likable, even if he still has a lot to learn.

I also really like the linear set up of the first handful of episodes. I miss having an actual story instead of ‘Leave home on journey’ ‘Go to Gym’ ‘filler’ ‘Gym’ ‘filler’ ‘another Gym’ ‘filler’ etc etc etc. The only times filler isn’t really filler in later episodes is usually just when Ash catches a Pokemon – those incredibly rare occasions. Plus, after he gets his party filled, he hardly ever gets more.

Certain aspects are still bugging me like mentions of Ash’s dad, knowing they go nowhere, another mention of the other two Pallet Trainers, that also goes nowhere, but it’s still pretty decent.

Next episode, Ash Catches a Pokemon. Caterpie joins the group (Oh sorry, spoilers!), one of the rare times Ash catches a Pokemon without needing to spend an entire episode bonding with it. We also get the rare treat of him catching two Pokemon in one episode, marking Pidgeotto’s debut. I really love Pidgeotto – hate how he gets treated over the series. We also have a cute little episode just getting to know Caterpie and seeing it trying to bond with Bitchy—Err, Misty.

Previous Episode…

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