Ah, Brock seemed so cool in this episode. He seems nothing like the crazy hormone-overloaded guy we have today.
And so Ash's "didn't-actually-win-but-gets-the-badge-anyway" streak starts. Some say it was a good thing he didn't win most of his gym battles because it shows he was just atarting out back then. But how is it fair that everyone else battled to get their badges!? Did GARY help everyone out? I don't think so. Yet Gary went out of the league before him. It makes no sense at all.
(Turns out, I could have been on during daylight hours, after all. Oh, well. That's the beauty of the syndicated episodes -- can be posted anytime.)
I actually liked serious Brock, myself, as a nice counter to Ash's immaturity and Misty's bluster. Then, he went wacky and there it all went for me. Oh, well, I enjoyed it while I could.
As for Gary's badges, well, he's a non-issue at this stage of the game, and wouldn't return for 20 some episodes. Therefore, it's difficult to care, plus we don't see any other rival Trainers -- it's all through Ash's perspective. Thus, the onus is only on him, and we got to figure out the rest.
Regarding the final battle: since Ground (which is Brock's secondary type) negates Electric (oops, Nintendo, should have used a mascot that could be outright effective against the first GL), I can understand the freebie. The next Badge onward (a few episodes later), not so much.
