Pokemon Journey, episode 63

I remember being absolutely thrilled by this episode the first time I saw it--the series was really raising the stakes much higher than it ever had. Mewtwo wasn't just a flavor of the week Pokémon--he was a very real threat. And it felt right to me that we see Gary--not Ash--get completely trashed by Mewtwo. The very accomplished trainer and not the...well....Ash. Hee. At the time, I took this episode as head canon proof that Giovanni was totally Ash's dad because they completely miss each other. I know, odd logic, but Ash's dad is reputed to be a famous trainer that we never see. And Ash never sees Giovanni and can't confirm or deny if he knows him. (Think it's been proven that Giovanni isn't Ash's dad, I sorta tapered off after Johto.)

This is one of those elements that like the later seasons or not, are done better once we get to Johto/Hoenn/Sinnoh and the like: the Gym episodes. As even if the personalities aren't always the most distinct they give more what we want to see: full on battles with Ash and his team vs the leader and they're Pokemon and use that time to show off each side's skill. Hell the first battle in Sinnoh actually dedicated a full episode to seeing Ash's rival Paul fully battle the first leader, then another to Ash trying to and then him training and then defeating him knowing how important all that connection is. Here though... we get a lot of cool concepts and yeah good firsts but it doesn't really come together all that well. And I think a big problem of that is Giovanni. I know we're not suppose to talk about how the games worked as a criticism against the show, but in Red and Blue it was part of the arc of the series that you're character's constant clashes with Team Rocket and with Giovanni were leading to a big confrontation that would be for the last badge so having that fight with someone whose been built up made it feel like a big deal. Even the Pokémon Adventures manga knew that so even if Red hadn't directly fought Giovanni before challenging him for the earth badge they had a relationship and a repitorate that made that final conflict matter. Here though the anime made it clear they weren't following the storyline for the game and honestly how Team Rocket was handled there as well and wanted to do they're own thing. However if they still wanted to have Giovanni as the boss of the gym like in the games and actually go through the effort of showing him and some of his Pokémon... they needed to go more all out in how he was handled. As Suede said have this whole thing be more of a multi part story arc and have the first part just focus more on Gary vs Giovanni and have him reveal Mewtwo and play out more of that battle and then have it be a cliffhanger where Ash finds a knocked out Gary and not only finds out about this super powerful pokemon but that this gym is owned by Team Rocket. So then you can have another goofy episodes of Jessie James and Meowth given power over the gym while Giovanni is away to challenge Ash and him having to deal with that and after Mewtwo runs off to set up the last movie have Giovanni come back and clash with Ash and have the kid actually defeat the main head of TR with Pikachu. Which makes the boss finally realize why Jessie and James have been going after it for so long which is the reason why he does extend them knowing how powerful that mouse is and how useful it can be. It'd make sense then having a stupid Togepi goes missing plot (which I remember even as a kid I hated. I think I liked the joke of Giovanni thinking Togepi was useless but yeah it's a super rare never discovered pokemon why would that be useless?) and not even having Ash meet the actual head of the gym. Like why do that if you are still going to acknowledge the serious rocket head and show him? Makes no sense and yeah does drag a lot of concepts down from this one. Still a solid review as always and hey we are now done with the badges and... some of the fillers until the Indigo League are decent though guess next time you have to deal with Mom and Mimey so curious how you'll handle that.

Neo Ultra Mike

I always loved Mewtwo’s reveal in this episode, and that it was Gary rather than Ash who encountered him (and that he got beat badly). For me too, it was the first time I really felt a huge threat, and the fact that it differed from the games in the coolest way possible meant that my mind went wild trying to figure out what would happen! Then seeing it resolved in the first movie was so satisfying! Definitely up there with seeing Star Wars for the first time as one of the defining moments in entertainment for me as a kid!

Will Herrmann

I won!

SuperBunnyBun

Really well done, Suede, as usual. This episode of Pokemon should have been so good. I mean, Giovanni, the last gym badge, freaking Mewtwo, it had all the makings of a real showstopper, even a season finale! Those three things are what I remember, to the point where I’d forgotten just how little of the episode they take up. The way you described how Team Rocket should have been brought in was excellent, would have gotten us to the same place without the pointless Togepi stuff, and freed up so much time and budget for memorable battles, or even more world-building exposition. My biggest disappointment is just how under-used Giovanni is. He was so built up, and we don't even see him battle Ash and barely battle Gary. In contrast, I loved how little they used Mewtwo, because it was the perfect amount to show how badass he was while keeping him mysterious, leaving us intrigued for the movie. Keep up the excellent work! I’m so proud of how much time and energy you’ve been putting into your videos since you started this series, and watching these videos is one of the highlights of my week. I’m proud to be your patreon.