Doesn't excuse the fact that they usually ruin an episode's plot and are shoved into episodes just for the point of having them appear though.
I didn't think they were shoehorned TOO badly into this episode, they had a purpose, to cause a dilemma that shown Clemont would always look out for Bonnie. It's just the manner they did so was so repetitive and forced. They did the usual formula with no tweaks or intricacies from before, they steal a Pokemon, Ash and co just watch in disgust for some reason, which isn't as bad since as usual they stop the balloon just to gloat and have no strategy but to battle Ash's outnumbering team.
The real glaring issue here however is that they blatantly plotted it only for how long was necessary. They have a bit of tension until the dilemma with Bonnie over a cliff happens, and when that's over the twerps suddenly remember they have more than one Pokemon and instantly curb stomp them now that the important bit is over. It was blatant fake suspension the whole time. The recent festival episode had incompetent Team Rocket and the twerps being a bit slow on the uptake, but it was deliberate and part of the humour, not plot holes played off as fake drama. What's more the scheme was very unique from the usual. It was a good TR usage, which sadly we didn't see enough of in XYZ and this is a glaring case of the norm.
To tell you the truth each regions tends to suffer this sort of fatigue with TR, since they never bother to have them keep up with the twerps battle wise, and the latter are usually too serious minded and into their current goals to be doing any more two way roles with them par the odd handful, so they end up reduced to plot devices or quick mandatory appearances as useless comic relief. XYZ was actually one of the better cases since they at least got the point to keep them out of SOME episodes. They really need to think up a different role for the trio when the big arcs come, like monitoring the rival villain team or plotting one big final attack on the twerps for the finale. These are things from BW that they should have took notes from.
EDIT: Sorry for the double post, forgot to edit into one post and it's not letting me delete.
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