Oh gosh...it's been a good few years since I last saw it, but I can still recall just how much I HATED this episode. I am sorry to go against the almost unamimous praise it's been receiving here, but this was always one of my least favourites of the Orange Island adventures. It's kind of hard to explain, but I found it to be one of those "nasty aftertaste" episodes. The basic concept was pretty interesting, albeit predictable (naturally, Meowth and Pikachu were going to be somewhat loathed at the idea of being stuck with one another, but they would learn to overcome their differences and work as a team...though only temporarily, of course. Once this was all over they would go right back to being enemies again...did you really expect anything else?) and the observation that, had they met under different circumstances, they might actually have been great friends was a nice enough sentiment, but mixed in with everything else it seemed strangely hollow to me. My basic qualm with this episode was that it didn't seem to have much more upon its agenda than to dump as much pain and misery upon Meowth's head as possible. Pikachu may have been in the same boat, but aside from the temporary inconvenience of being seperated from Ash, he didn't have to go through nearly the same degree of crap that his feline counterpart did here. True, Meowth was in this mess in the first place as a result of conspiring to abduct Pikachu, but on his own and under these circumstances he just seemed so pathetic and vulnerable (unlike Pika, Meowth can't exactly hold his own when it comes to battling), and seeing him endure so much roughness, Pika-inflicted or otherwise, just didn't sit well with me.
It was certainly generous and thoughtful of Pikachu to share his apple with Meowth, prompting the talking cat to reconsider his opinion of the electric mouse. But it was a sentiment which clearly meant a lot more to Meowth than it did Pikachu, who never indicated any signs of regret that, after all they had been through together, he and Meowth would have to be enemies again, as Meowth did. Once he was back with Ash, his temporary ally was never shown so much as a second thought. Heck, at the end of the episode, Meowth wasn't even allowed to take some consolation in the knowledge that he had been reunited with his own friends - presumably to give his ill-fated bonding with Pikachu a bit more impact, J&J's flippant attitude toward Meowth was exaggerated to the point where it good as contradicted their actions in previous episodes such as "Go West Young Meowth" and "Meowth Rules" in which they have proven themselves fully capable of feeling concern and compassion for their friend (I will, however, concede that the bit with Jessie and the apple is quite quinessenially her!). Clearly, Meowth must have been VERY bad in one of his past lives to have the fates this hard upon his tail.
If there's one thing which did entertain me throughout this episode, though, it's the bits where Pikachu says something and Meowth translates. There's something about the notion that Pikachu, by saying the same word over and over again, could actually be speaking an intricate and fully articulate language that greatly amuses me. Ah well, it's all in the intonation, I'm sure.
Bound For Trouble!
