This was a good episode. Ash's behavior at the end was disappointing, and Brock's telling him he ought to forfeit reminded me of Brock's own battle with him at the very beginning when Onix was binding Pikachu. Funny how Ash hasn't learned to be level-headed after all this time. And I'd thought he'd changed. Darn.
Brawly was awesome. Sure, the surfer thing was stereotyped, but still, he was a fun character, and I think memorable, like Roxanne. He had a good lesson to teach Ash.
I don't think the battle was so good just because it's no fun to watch a fight where there's a clear winner. Still, it was satisfying to see Ash lose, just because he was so arrogant about his win against Roxanne. It's not as if she sucked, after all, so he had no right to be proud.
Anyway, before I really start ranting, I'd better close this. A great episode that I'm definitely keeping. Heck, I'd even buy it.
Edit: I understand what it is to love a character so much that you must defend him/her at all cost. I feel that way for several characters. There's one in each of my obsessions. It's Brock for this fandom and Snape for HP, to name a couple. To say it's just a character and not real is missing the point. A good character is supposed to be sympathetic or compelling enough in some way to care about them and what they go through. They ought to feel real. That's just my take.
Edit 2: I just realized that saying Roxanne didn't suck and then saying Ash had no right to be proud made no sense. :$ Darn it, my brain must have turned off. I'm not even quite sure what I meant. Maybe something more along the lines of Ash not being proud because that doesn't reflect well on him.
