I tend to like episodes like this one when we get them in the pokemon anime, where the focus is on the faults of adult, with no one being clearly right. Ash, Dawn, and Brock observe the feud, but they really don't judge. Ash and Dawn do tend to cheer for Rampardos in its battle against Bastiodon, but that's more b/c Roark is the person they know. Prior to the battle when Roark is explaining the reasoning for his feud with his dad, Ash doesn't express any emotion either way. And Roark is not asking him to, as well. Roark's reason for telling this story to Ash is make Ash appreciate how much this means to him, so that Ash will be more forgiving Roark using up his gym battle time. Ash appreciates the gesture, smilingly telling Roark it's fine with him. The one person who really does have a strong reaction to the story is Brock, and that's b/c he's been in similar situation.
The feud does have a bit of a forced ending, with Roark a little too quickly accepting Byron's reasoning for leaving the gym. The implication of this is that everything will be okay from now on, and I think that's b/c the writers wanted to resolve this 100% in this episode. It's similar to the forced resolution Aaron comes to with his Butterfree, or the one Grandma comes to with her Raichu. However, in a realistic sense, it's hard not to imagine Roark and Byron coming to a similar type of argument some time in the future, b/c it doesn't really feel like Byron has changed at all. He's considerate in his own way, but I can't imagine that's the way Roark is looking for. Brock is an excellent comparison, I think, in his episodes with his father. It feels each individual episode comes to some sort of happy conclusion, but the plot point is reused again and again. Even though this conflict will probably repeat itself, I think again we as the viewers, and Ash and company as the ones observing this in the episode, are not meant to judge this matter in who's right or wrong. What we do see, definitively, is that family relations are extremely important, which all characters agree on. But how those relationships should be really carried out is something that's not so clear at all; it's quite confusing, to be honest.
Byron is fantastic character, and his quirkiness makes this episode start out quite excellently. The fun of the episode really dies out for the TR battle, but that's okay; that still leaves 2/3 of the episode being superior, hilarious entertainment. I like, in general, how the Sinnoh gym leaders are all realistic, in the sense they have real personalities and real problems/faults. Fantina's tendency not to be at the gym as well as the way she tries to show off in using Ash's counter-shield as her own move (I consider this showing-off, anyway), Gardenia's seemingly shallow personality while being a very serious person-especially the way she plays on James's conscience to get him to give her Cacnea-, Maylene's confidence troubles, and Roark's and Byron's family issues here (Roark also had the advantage of having his gym battles with both Paul and Ash shown; he also, like Fantina, really showed his competitive nature at the sight of an usual move from Ash, the spinning move, which Ash used to his advantage at some important moments). Crasher Wake is only gym leader who was really bland, and, fittingly enough, he provided the easiest gym battle Ash has had so far in Sinnoh. All of these gym leaders feel like real people, in that Ash and company have just as much right to judge them as they have to judge him, which I really like. I think it works b/c of how long Ash has traveled; I get the feeling he's really interested in learning about these people.