A Poached Ego! (282)

[Christian Woods]

Over all point of view:
1: music - I cried, yes, Giovanni cried, got a problom with that? the music when the battle happened brought tears to my eyes to the point where I had to hold Nissae's hand for about 2 hours to get that song out of my head. I recognize it from Mewtwo Strikes Back or The Power of One, definately one of the movies.
2: Arbok and Wheezing - Team rocket's best pokemon, they have been together for over 250 episodes, I grew up with hearing them try to get angry only for arbok to give a febal "Char, bok..." and wheezing to give a tired and defeated "Zing...", but they were at least cool, not that I don't like Seviper.
3: Curse you Cacnea - It was funnier with Victrybell.
and 4: Ash, get your cursing facts strate! - Ash: "With bad guys like team rocket around it's nice to know that there are some good people in the world." so, is it so terrible to let your pokemon go to save a bunch of others? Arrest me if it is, because I am cursing guilty, I had to let my loving Misdrevus go, but it did come back to me. I'd let my persion go to save pokemon, yes, giovanni has feelings I do.

Over all, it was a good episode, I really liked it, and why are they using music from Pikachu's vacation?

 

[BurningSociety12345543210]

Didn't really like this episode, except for James capturing Cacnea.

 

[Christian Woods]

I just watched the episode again and i noticed that not counting the 8 pieces from Pikachu's vacation, 3 pieces from Pokemon the first movie are used, all in a row. This is my world now (when meowth yells "FUREY SWIPES!"), Tears of Life (When Arboc and Wheezing leave), and The Birth of Mewtwo (When Rico tells Tyranitar to return and says that it's not over). there are several episodes in the johto and advanced saga that use music from the first movie. A good question would be, does that improve the episode, is the nestalja good, or is it just an excuse to re-use the music again? I think the firrst two are right, it improves it because the music from the first movie was epic and of starwars quality, and nestalja is good, when I heard tears of life I remembered the scene in the first movie, when ash was turned to stone and the pokemon cried, and the tears miraculously revived ash, followed by that beautiful speach from Mewtwo at the end. It was a perfect song for that event, and when Rico was returning Tyranitar and telling team rocket that it isn't over, the song that played was at the beginning of the first movie when Mewtwo said "Those voices, they're out side, where i, must be." I think that 4kids did well using those 3 pieces, yet there are some musical pieces that could have not been in there, not the pikachu's vacation, but a couple of the ones that were there.

 

[Kutie Pie]

Went ahead to watch it again to see if it was what I remembered.

It wasn't really, but it was still effective. I thought it was longer, though... ah well. At least Ash and company did nearly diddly-squat, so I'm fine with it. Team Rocket do deserve the spotlight for all the hard times they go through. But still, just releasing their beloved Pokémon like that... that is difficult to have sink in. But I also noticed something: they're released, but as far as I know, they still "belong" to the two. Unless they destroyed the PokéBalls off-screen, they are safe from being captured by other trainers. I suppose there's comfort in that little fact.

Still, we did grow to liking the new Pokémon, it's just that Arbok and Weezing did leave a bigger impact, and we do still miss them. At least when they left, they had regret leaving their friends behind. That's a sign out of many that Team Rocket aren't bad, and that they do care for their Pokémon, unlike Rico and several other baddies we run into.

Anyway, it's not a bad episode. I didn't shed a tear, but I did feel empty inside, at least this time. I can't recall how I felt the first viewing. I guess I was rather upset back then, something I got over after a while.

 

[TheSirPeras]

So sad seeing Arbok and Weezing leave But Cacnea is here

 

[MusicalZoroark]

Such a sad episode. I wish Ash found out TR helped the pokemon though.

 

[7threst]

Lol I love how May was so oblivious in how she thought she was thinking with the same exact Nurse Joy. The whole thing with Arbok and Weezing was really nice done and I loved Team Rocket how they were again the heroes for fighting against that poacher and trying to hold him at bay until Arbok and Weezing could escape. And yeah, Cacnea!

 

[AquaMilotic]

I really dislike this episode... I hated to see Team Rocket leave their Pokemon... Weezing and Arbok gave me so many great memories, they only had to go to make room for Gen III Pokemon that had marketing purposes... Anyways, Arbok's eyes when he cries are awesome! And seeing Cacnea was good, so Team Rocket at least had one Pokemon added. 5/10.

 

[Blue Saturday]

A Poached Ego!

Wasn't a terribly interesting episode to be honest. I felt bad for May at the beginning of the episode, she was so much more tired than the boys and I almost forgot that all Nurse Joy are related. Though it's kinda weird when you think about, Nurse Joy's family must breed like rats. I loved how Max and May interacted with Brock and were so surprised by his behavior for the first time. What was with Brock and Max referring to Hoenn as a country? God, the Ekans were so ugly. Haven't seen one of those in a long time. This is probably the first and last time I actually saw Arbok and Weezing showing some remnants of a thing called a personality. Never cared for TR's OS Pokemon so I wasn't bothered by their releases, this was my first time seeing this episode ever as well. Liked seeing Cacnea for the first time, it always had a somewhat more amusing personality to me than any OS Pokemon owned by TR and it was fresh. Thought it was weird Meowth wasn't bothered by the electric shock by the cage during the second confrontation but the first time he was fried like a chicken. What in the hell was up with the poacher seemingly evolving his Pupitar on a dime? Now that was some forced crap right there. Though it was nice seeing Tyranitar I guess. I actually liked it when Jessie thought to have Wobbuffett counter Hyper Beam back at Tyranitar, shame she was used as a joke. TR all using Fury Swipes on Tyranitar was kinda heartwarming however. It's amazing how quickly Ash and Jenny ex-sponged the poacher compared to TR who got eaten alive. Decent episode I guess.

 

[moneylesswario]

Decent episode, not amazing, though it was emotional, so I'll give it credit for that.

Weezing and Arbok gave me so many great memories, they only had to go to make room for Gen III Pokemon that had marketing purposes... Anyways, Arbok's eyes when he cries are awesome!

This.

 

[Blessed]

I got a laugh at when May said "Hey NJ, did they transfer you from Oldale Town?" And then with the Jenny's, priceless. Obvi she's been home all her life up until this point. This was a sad departure episode for Arbok and Weezing. I cried a little when Jessie and James tried to help them escape, it was very touching and it's a shame they never hear from them again. Other than that, this episode was decent and it didn't grab my attention that much.

 

[Aquarelle]

I thought that the part near the beginning where Brock could distinguish the Joy and Jenny from previous ones because of their very small differences in appearance was very funny.

It was nice seeing Arbok and Weezing being concerned about those Ekans and Koffing that were caught by the poacher. I also liked how Team Rocket fought against the poacher's Tyranitar themselves so that Arbok & Weezing could get away with the other Pokemon. It sucks that Arbok/Weezing left, but Cacnea was a nice addition IMO.

 

[ashiemore]

Why did arbok and weezing have to go, they were the best part of team rocket except Giovanni.

7/10

 

[zhixun]

This is a good ending for Arbok and Matadogas to leave the cast in my opinion. Musashi and Kojiro need new Pokémon so I think it is better than putting them into headquarters.

 

[Zamin]

It was such a shame to see them go, I wish they could have stayed with them! It was the signature pokemon, like Pikachu to Ash

 

[The Pokemon Broadcast]

I was really sad to see Arbok and Weezing go like that.
Probably because they were with them for so long, I grew more attached to them than I thought.

I never realize how attached to one of these Pokemon I get until they leave.

Godspeed Arbok and Weezing, you will be missed.

 

[Lorde]

I thought that May learning about the various Nurse Joys was pretty funny, and I also giggled when Meowth got zapped by the cage's bars. When I saw Arbok's expression when he saw the trapped Ekans, I screamed; that's the first time I've ever thought of Arbok as adorable. Seeing TR get hurt was saddening, but at least James got Cacnea.

 

[raichu27]

It was a good episode. It was still sad to see Arbok and Weezing go. I wonder if Jessie's Arbok would've beat Tyranitar if it used Dig or if it had moves like Earthquake, Giga Drain, or Iron Tail?

 

[Zoruagible]

This was really the saddest release episode. The only one that makes me cry.

I would have loved to see Ash's reaction if he knew it was Team Rocket who helped the Pokemon escape.

 

[Pikachu52]

There is a horrible horrible irony to this episode - Jessie and James are forced to part with their beloved Pokémon because of the actions of a Pokémon Hunter motivated to capture them for profit, and it very visibly hurt them.

And throughout the whole episode niether of them consider - "is this how the twerp must feel when we take his Pikachu." Team Rocket have spent the entire series up to this point trying to take Pikachu away from his Pikapi and present him to their boss for their own shelfish purposes. Only a few episodes previously their trick with a giant magnet nearly cost Pikachu his life. They almost murdered Pikachu - how would Ash have felt.

Now we are being positioned to feel sorry for them when essentially they are given a taste of their own medicine. Certianly it's a sad episode and it did make me want to cry at points - but I have to wonder why the same level of emotion has never gone into an attempt to capture Pikachu. And what really gets me is an episode later Team Rocket are at it again - trying to steal Pikachu for their own shelfish ends.

Ash and Pikachu have a much stronger bond to each other than either Jessie or James have with Arbok and Weezing - I imagine it hurts Ash 10 times more when he sees the trio treat his partner like dirt and try to hurt him in every single episode of the series, but that doesn't seem to have crossed their minds.

This was really the saddest release episode. The only one that makes me cry.

I would have loved to see Ash's reaction if he knew it was Team Rocket who helped the Pokemon escape.

I don't think it would change his opinion of Team Rocket. Only a few episodes ago they almost killed Pikachu - he'll never forgive them for that. I don't think Ash is vindictive - he's not going to tell them that it serves them right and I imagine he would sympathise for them out of the fact that he's a kind and good natured person who genuinely hates it when Pokémon suffer. But prehaps if he was smart enough he would point out to them well this is what you do to me and Pikachu and I have to protect my bestfriend/soulmate/lover from you all the time.

As a Pikashipper my view of the episode is this - Rico didn't do anything to Jessie and James that they haven't done to Ash and Pikachu. Why does no one cry when Team Rocket steal Pikachu, especially when they nearly killed him.

9/10 - Emotional, good Team Rocket episode but hard to feel sad about when dare I say it Team Rocket deserved it.