I have mixed feelings of this episode as it regards to Drew. As we know, we now have a character: Saori (Serebii.net dubbed as Samantha) giving what we know as the "backstory" to Drew, one of the most enigmatic rivals in terms of having "a past". One of my main issues of the episode is Saori in that of if she and Drew have interacted so much in the past in the Contests (particularly the ones Drew competed in), why haven't we seen her at the very least in the background? Of course, there have been many instances of having a brand new character just elaborate the backstory of another, but with the anime's spacing for continuity (they are capable of it), surely they could have introduced the character earlier on during BF as Drew popped up quite a bit.
That and the fact she has Kaede's facial design irks me a tad. Ah, well. Still, she was a nice character. The other issue I have with the episode is the lack of continuity as opposed to the first Grand Festival: indicted by lthe ack of BF Co-ordinators or even references. Since the first GF was so marvelous in terms of the continuity, it's quite an omission, but the little things and Drew's backstory throughout the whole episode compensate nicely.
Harley making his usual splash with delicious crossdressing (the road we all thought he'd take eventually and just as well as they retired that with James) with his humorous mocking of May. And it's nice hearing Dr. Yung's VA maintaining that homosexual wackiness, complete the revelation of his hometown being Slateport City. On top of that, we see the return of the wacky Aipom, a movie reference with Drew's LaRousse City name drop, the return of Vivian in a more useful role than her vapid announcer role, Jessie's absurdity (with her form of dress, which the reference escapes me), Indigo's overhaul, and we're even treated with Caroline's new voice (which deserves a separate heading).
Caroline sounded rather...young, didn't she? It would have been easier if she and Solidad's VA had swapped voices. And Drew's voice actor still sounds like he has a permanent cold.
Still, good plot progression, nice dialogue, and overall good set-up. Just the overall themes with the previous Grand Festival intro, and you'd think they're completely different episodes. In fact, they are.
For the episode: 8/10.
For the themes: 6/10. Gotcha watch that wacky continuity.
