Ah yes, the annual/biannual "gang-gets-split-up" episode, which is less amusing than some past ones, but stands out a bit thanks to how we don't normally get to see one trainer commanding another's Pokemon. I had been long sick of Onix and its family by this point, so I wasn't thrilled to see another, and it also had not been long since the previous Pokemon-centered episode, DP039, so its novelty didn't have much punch. There are a few comical moments in this episode, coupled with some truly excellent animation and music, but I can't help but feel they could have been used for a better episode on the whole.
Next off, I truly have no idea what the hell the point of including Shinji here was, especially since we never did see that Fearow, contrary to what I predicted in my first post in this thread. Sure, "more Shinji is good" according to fangirls, but I prefer to see him in more vital roles (like we would a few episodes after this). In addition, I am equally confused as to why Team Rocket would choose to randomly capture Muku.BIRD here aside from the obvious explanation of providing me with fuel for jokes that are less funny in retrospect. It's not like the thing hadn't been around for over 30 episodes being harmless...wait, yes it had. I think this is a better episode than the steamboat one, but still throughly average on the whole.
C