I wouldn't quite call it deus ex machina here, but the next two episodes will be a good bet that something deus ex machina will occur (like Squirtle's Ice Beam in the final 4Kids Contest episode?) as contests are wacky like that, sometimes.
Anyhoo, it's nice to see Sudowoodo returning -- particularly with its prominence in the fourth gen (Bonsly), even though, it felt underlied with the general burden of the episode: the Trainer wanting to re-connect with his missing Pokemon. And Sudowoodo just got out of its episode funk rather quick, and actually be useful instead of being a quivering coward (plus all those references Icha dropped) but then, you could argue its bond with its trainer (which was rather reinforced). Actually, the voice acting was more the highlight, if anything. It certainly deserves a separate headline.
One item I want to expound on is Keenan's (Character of the day) voice actor and how he rather sounded like Nathan Price. Price, if you recall, played Chopper from the bike gang and one of the Eevee-themed brothers in early Kanto before he would achieve fame as the Misty-pursuing OI GL Rudy and the canon Falkner (his best performence). He since left the series in 01 and hasn't looked back. Well, if they got the old narrator back, maybe they got him. Unfortunately, I can't tell if it is him with CN's end credit system until they air it unfettered from their obtusive credit boxes (like they did on Saturday, but with this past Saturday, seems unlikely).
On the Rocket side, Jimmy Zoppi is getting comfortable in his James and Meowth roles, finally. Although, his Meowth needs to work on his dialogue, but at least it's a step in the right direction. And, the whining Bonsly finally got some use, James continues his overprotection of Mime Jr., and Jessie had her own moment with her "Lady of the Lake" segment (which I swear had a Zelda or Princess Toadstool reference with "vision" Jessie's pink dress) and got to be in a wetsuit (however, the episode should be demerited for no close-ups of wetsuit Jessie. Fanservice is fine on occasion, but you still need to exploit it).
And only two-three episodes from a plot (Anabel) to a plot (A Harley Contest)? You'd almost break your neck from the pacing speed. Not that I'm complaining.
It was a predictable episode (the artificial cylinder connection was rather obvious), but still, a nice shot at playing on Sudowoodo's rock qualities (like Brock's referring to a gold vein as to explain the color change) and make for a good reminder from the days gone by (i.e. the episode "Type Casting").
I'm not looking forward to the next one for voice acting reasons, but, hopefully, the plot will compensate. I hope.
