Pokemon Sun & Moon, Episode 6: Zing Zap Togedemaru / A Shocking Grocery Run
It's... it's actually a rather bland episode, actually. After me not being particularly impressed with the past couple of episodes but praising how fun everything is, this episode honestly doesn't work on either front. The main plot of being trapped in a mall is ridiculous but feels like it's stretched on way too long, and Sophocles is honestly a bit too one-dimensional (he's a geek, and he's also... a geek) and bland compared to Lana from the previous episode.
The initial scene of Ash being left at home, with his antics of doing laundry and his sorry attempt at cooking is... it's neat, but, again, goes on for way too long with too little comedic payoff. Like, yeah, sure, the first time he fucks up is funny, but repeat it over and over again and it's just me drumming my fingers on the table waiting for the episode to do something.
They meet Sophocles and Togedemaru in the mall and buy some ice cream, and... and the mall's pretty,if nothing else. Sophocles geeks out about ice cream and programs and shit. Team Rocket, working as malasada shopkeepers, enact their plan to... to steal all the Pokemon in the mall or something? Mimikyu scaring the shit out of Meowth with all of his deep speech ends up causing Meowth to jump and knock Jessie and James and putting the mall into lockdown mode.
And while I was about to make a crack at how stupid that the mall apparently have some sort of FBI base style of metal doors that are both way too much for a mall and also dangerous for visitors, we actually get the explanation that those are fire-shutters? Which is a real thing apparently? And also Sophocles stops Ash from breaking the shutters with Pokemon attacks because it's public property. The sequence that follows is pretty generic and dull, though, with "Ash runs headfirst into shutters" being an unfunny joke that they keep repeating, while the Pokemon wandering around is cute but not quite as cute. We get a pointless five-second conflict as Ash and Sophocles argue with each other, before Ash helps Sophocles escape from a suddenly-activating shutter.
Meowth being trapped with Mimikyu in the same room is funny, but, again, that's not something unique to the episode. Team Rocket ends up escaping because apparently the emergency door is open all the time, and get on the rooftop and encounter the good guys' Pokemon. And if nothing else, the battle on the rooftop of the mall is pretty thanks to the setting and the lighting. Mimikyu whacks Pikachu onto another building, but a panicked Sophocles quickly gets the idea for Pikachu to power up Togedemaru with its lightning-rod ability, and then Togedemaru uses Zing Zap to help save Pikachu. We get Bewear landing on another roof dramatically and 'rescuing' Team Rocket as it bounces away. And then... we get the revelation that Togedemaru is a girl, and they all go for dinner with Kukui.
It's honestly neat, on paper, that they're giving Sophocles and Togedemaru a full on episode to focus on him, but they genuinely don't do anything at all with Sophocles in this episode. We don't learn anything new about him, he's still a slightly-proud geek, and that's something we knew from him being a background character in the past couple of episodes. Being trapped in a building set into lockdown could be reason for some fun hijinks, but what we got is genuinely disappointing and repetitive. With the Alola season's claim to fame being that it is full of happy fun hijinks, this is just an episode that doesn't really deliver.
Rotom Index:
- Pokemon: Pikipek, Pikachu, Rotom, Rowlet, Rockruff, Luvdisc, Corsola, Flabebe, Slowbro, Psyduck, Eevee, Growlithe, Lillipup, Magnemite, Togedemaru, Happiny, Wobbuffet, Meowth, Slowpoke, Bonsly, Mimikyu, Machop, Roggenrola, Sudowoodo, Haunter, Emolga, Mankey, Trapinch, Drifloon, Pichu, Rufflet, Petilil, Makuhita, Riolu, Smeargle, Elekid, Sableye, Herdier, Trubbish, Abra, Psyduck, Whimsicott, Bewear, Jigglypuff
- Humans: Kukui, Ash, Sophocles, James, Jessie
Assorted Notes:
- Presumably the mall featured in this episode is the huge mall in Hau'oli City in the games. Malasada is also a recurring local food in the Alola games.
- Ash mixing up 'flambe' with the Pokemon 'Flabebe' is funny.
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