“Cruisin' for a bruisin'?” Really, narrator?
So we're now just about on another “trilogy” of sorts that consists of cliffhangers for a couple of episodes, as well as to show that there's more than meets the eye to this show. In the games, Mt. Moon is the first instance of a “plot” when it comes to Team Rocket, but you don't get much until you reach Celadon when the player discovers something going on below. When it comes to the anime, that comes a little earlier in the form of the infiltration of the St. Anne. For those kids who never played the games prior to watching the anime, we may have figured that Team Rocket was going to play a part in the plot, but they hadn't done anything remotely threatening past the second episode.
Here's where Rocket Boss comes in (or Giovanni as he would later be revealed, but we'll call him Giovanni anyway). His introduction is rather intimidating, I'm not going to lie. The camera angle helps in how it makes Team Rocket look up at him on the screen while appearing small and insignificant. The fact that he is in shadow and his voice is warped for a deeper, scraggly tone also adds to it. When he chuckles, it's frightening—I remember getting chills from it when I first saw the episode. The anger present in his voice is the cherry on top, you can tell he is feeling insulted. Why the trio was never fired in the series and he continues to “put up” with them is seriously beyond me, but here you know that Jessie, James and Meowth are getting a bit concerned with their performance, and wishes to get serious. Mainly Meowth, as he had believed himself to be Giovanni's “top cat”, but he gets a Persian behind his back and it becomes his trademark Pokémon, in a way. He will hold this grudge for a while, but I guess he gets over it in the future since I don't hear of it anymore. Jessie even wants to step up her game, but as apparent by James' gullibility in falling for the Magikarp Salesman, it's apparent that they're not going to change, at least not for a long time. (Speaking of his purchase, him getting happy over it is pure gold.)
In the meantime, the other Rocket Grunts appear to take their job seriously, but they lack in a lot of areas. They obviously aren't very smart (the two going up to Ash and Misty asking for their Pokémon is proof of it), they can't think ahead, they apparently don't use Pokémon or thought they couldn't, they don't have a back-up plan let alone any back-up to speak of, their intimidation as a terrorist group falls short very quickly—Giovanni hires a lot of idiots to do his dirty work. It's seriously almost as if they thought no one would ever dare think to fight back. I swear, this episode was very convincing that most of the Rocket Grunts are morons; though that may just be a case of “never live it down” because of those two Grunts.
But enough about Team Rocket, what else has happened that makes this episode memorable? Well, Jessie and James' disguise aside (what were they, valley girls?), this is where we get the concept of trading—which is apparently not as simple as just handing over PokéBalls to one another and calling it a day. A machine has to be used, which I guess makes sense, the Trainer ID numbers have to be taken into consideration, but whatever. The one thing most people will probably agree with is Ash trading Butterfree for a Raticate he never uses has been one of his dumber decisions. He questions it, of course (his reminiscing over Butterfree while Team Rocket is attacking was a bit inappropriate, he could've done it earlier), so shortly afterward, he trades back. Doesn't stop him from giving away or releasing his Pokémon, though, so... did he learn a lesson at all?
Now the “practice” battle on the St. Anne between Starmie and Raticate was neat to see. It shows off a little bit of competitive battling that further expands on Pokémon battling since we don't see Ash battling random trainers very often. The fight between Butterfree and Raticate was just as short, though the guy sure made that decision to step right in after his Pokémon was paralyzed and say it's a “draw”. Um... would this make him a sore loser, or what? I don't get it...
I have to question where the hell all those Pikachu came from besides stock footage from episode two, but then again, apparently all sorts of similar Pokémon showed up anyway. Makes sense because of the number of trainers there, but if Pikachu is stated to be a bit rare, having all of those Pikachu in one place doesn't compute... I dunno, there wasn't a lot of variety in Pokémon anyway, and I don't think everyone fought back. (Also, how did they get their PokéBalls back if the Rocket Grunts were blasted away?)
The captain is a bad captain. He should have known about the storm, let alone knew the ship wasn't going to be sinkable (but then again, Titanic was claimed as such, too, so...). Though considering he was jumping ship and not handling the rescue well should say something about his ignorance and inability as a captain. Oh well, plot convenience. Much like how Ash losing his PokéBall from a lurch is plot convenience. (Meanwhile, where did that gentleman go? He did go on the lifeboats, didn't he? Not that I care, he was a bland character anyway, he was only there to be a tool for trading.)
So with that, Ash and the gang as well as Team Rocket are knocked unconscious as the cruise ship sinks, and we leave off on a cliffhanger. I remember the next episode being one of my personal childhood favorite episodes, and I believe it's very well remembered amongst the fandom. I could be wrong, though, but how can you forget that nightmarish ending?