I'm just going to make a thread, detailing who wants what discussion. And while Icha is right, I also tend to cover the major plot ones, major evil org ones, Gym/League/Grand Festival ones, things of that nature.
As we covered Devon in "Stairway to Devon", we cover the Poketch Corporation in this entry. The episode serves a good tutorial to the Poketch (which I honestly don't care for, admittedly) and the company, Dawn gets psyched for her first Contest, we get to see the Friend/Attachment to Trainer aspect at last approached, a clever Rocket scheme, and the return of the TR Jirachi clown costumes. And on top of all that, we even get a Marina reference. Apparently, her idol training has finally paid off into actual endorsements. Awesome.
Writing-wise, they again opt for the cold open, which is unique, yet bizarre in this case. And haven't we all had to deal with a smarty pants like Landis? Lord knows I've been there, and it is an applicable character style (vs. another President's son, Steven and his latter hypocrisy). I also have to commend on the different design on the President in a chubby hubby type. Not counting Rowan's design, it's been a while for that.
Despite all the good, the episode fails a tad in several ways, like logic. Mostly, in how Dawn's Piplup was able to vanquish Jessie's more trained Seviper easily. I know Dawn's penguin is strong, but it shouldn't be able to beat the advanced snake that quick. Sighs. At least the Buneary/Carnivine seems more equal (that being the former was just caught, and the latter wasn't used until now). Whatever. Also, how Pikachu was able to survive that fall without shattering any spine or shrieking any noticable pain is beyond the pail.
And, once again, I'm embarrassed by the show's low-budget animation as in the off-model character designs of the hypnotized marching Pokemon. Sighs. Or Dawn's inexpression as she finally musters the nerve to get her Pokemon, although, you could pass that to the dub, as well.
Finally, how did TR know how to use Psyduck like that specific manner? I guess it's the closest we'll get to a Pikachu Revolts allusion. Oh, well, good stuff overall, though.
Frankly, it was worth it for the Marina reference.
