Last time: Ash picked a Pikachu as a last resort. Pikachu hated Ash. Ash was idiotically willing to get murdered by Spearows to save the ‘chuster. Begrudging respect ensued.
We start off with Ash having no idea that his Pokédex counted as ID so we’re off to a solid “Ash is a dope” start in episode two. Of course this features the debut of Officer Jenny and what would eventually become to joint object of the greatest song in the history of music but that’ll have to wait for another day.
A tonne of the fixtures of Pokémon popped up in this episode – Pokémon Centers, Nurse Joy, Chanseys wearing little nurse hats (do those kind of hats have a name, I don’t know), and of course Team Rocket.
Team Rocket are all time great foils. Buffoonish and reserved entirely for comic relief even outside of the films (where they are literally just comic relief) – their strength lies in the fact that they are never to be taken seriously. Just like Ash will always remain 10 and will use a normal move on a ghost type every three years or so, Team Rocket are fated to lose. And lose. And lose. They’ve got their own little tragedy going on – destined to fly so close to the sun they can touch the stars but always inevitably come crashing down to earth. It’s delightful.
And of course their introduction rules and should be mandatory in every episode.
Ash’s relationship with Misty is firmly established in this episode. Misty uses the fact that Ash trashed her bike in order to follow him to end of the earth because she is deeply in love with him and he is an oaf who will never realise it until it punches him in the face. Eventually you’d think she’d give up and go home but for now she’s attached at a hip. I don’t remember if they ever actually pay off the new bicycle thing but I hope they do. “Get a new bike” is obviously a grand metaphor though.
Yes, yes it is. pic.twitter.com/EYYe65FAuK
— Garrett Kidney (@garrettkidney) November 7, 2018
This is an episode predominantly about slave labour and exploitation of Pikachus. The Pokémon Center just has a stack of Pikachus ready and waiting to do their bidding. That seems…wrong? What do these poor Pikachus do otherwise? Just sit around and wait for a power related emergency? Or do they siphon electricity off of those poor Pikas 24/7? Am I thinking too hard about the morality of a show about capturing creatures and pitting them against each other?
The episode is actually about Ash and Misty fending off an attack on a Pokémon Center by some domestic terrorists. They succeed, everybody is happy (especially Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny despite the fact that the Pokémon Center was literally blown to smithereens – I hope Viridian City has a strong capital infrastructure budget), we end on a big cliffhanger regarding Ash catching his first Pokémon and for the first time:
Team Rocket blasted off.
Random Observations
– Who’s that Pokémon? It was Koffing. Which honestly would be very hard to guess given Koffing hadn’t yet appeared in the episode so this was leading the audience but I, noted Pokémon expert, guessed it immediately
– Phones in the Pokémon universe ring by literally saying “Ring ring ring! Ring ring ring! Phone call! Phone call!” and that is delightful and soon to be my ringtone
– Ash’s deadbeat absentee dad gets one of his very few mentions early in the episode. Apparently he would be proud. BUT WHO IS HE?!
– Arcanine appears on the wall along with the legendary birds suggesting it’s a legendary Pokémon, made more interesting given Arcanine is officially categorised as a Legendary Pokémon despite not actually being one. Maybe in another universe it worked out for the doggo.
