Well, I guess I'll call it here. Obviously skipped a ton of episodes, but I think this is a great one to be the final one. There's something very very special about this episode. The act of kindness the princess shows Jessie is something I don't really think I've ever seen in any sort of literature before, at least not quite in this way. The idea that the princess could try her best in the contest and win it, but still remember why she entered in the first place is something very pretty. Maybe idealistic, but it's very sweet. It's the genuine case of remembering why you do what you do, regardless of what success or failures come out of it. Awards, ultimately, are kind of meaningless. They are supposed to be a material representation of what you've achieved, or a show that's you've grown b/c of some experience. But if you really grew in the first place, then it'll show in your personality and the way you conduct yourself. I've said often times that one of the best things about Sinnoh Ash is that he doesn't brag about his past achievements; he only mentions them when asked by Dawn or when he has some real comment to make about a situation that relates to one of his past experiences. The best example of that to me was that he never told Paul he beat Brandon until Brandon's appearance in the Sinnoh region, after Paul had really begun to consider himself the better trainer. If you really trust yourself, then you don't need to bring up awards or show off trophies. And I think that's really applicable to the princess. She recognizes that the ribbon is not so important for her; what she wanted was a fun day out with her Togekiss, and she enjoyed every second of it. Seeing that Jessie's dream of entering the Grand Festival will not be realized w/o this ribbon, the princess gifts it to her. It's a really amazing scene. What's even more amazing is that we, as the viewer, realize that this is Jessie's 2nd ribbon that she's gotten somewhat unfairly (the first was with James's impersonation contest win). Yet, the princess doesn't know that; all she sees is that she's beaten someone in the final who really needed this ribbon to compete at the Grand Festival. And this coordinator would always despise Dawn for competing in a contest she didn't need to win. From her point of view, giving Jessie the ribbon is the least she can do, and by far the right thing to do. As the viewers, we know that this "right" thing to do isn't so clearly "right"; we know all of Jessie's story. But in real life, you probably won't be the viewer who knows everything. You will probably be in the princess's shoes, knowing only part of the story of anybody. It's why I believe you should probably not jump to conclusions about anyone just based on initial impressions. People are complicated. Yet, regardless of that, what the princess did, I think, was a really beautiful thing to do. And Jessie appreciates it. B/c she also only knows part of the story. We know the princess doesn't know about how Jessie taunted Dawn after Dawn lost 2 contests in a row, in what was really Dawn's toughest moments in the Sinnoh region. Jessie believes that this is an unbelievable show of character from Dawn, to disregard things like that and give her the ribbon; the princess's motives aren't maybe quite so noble. But that's fine. Something really good comes out of the princess's actions, and Jessie is a little better of a person for it. I think; I guess that's debatable. Jessie's appreciation shows up more at the Grand Festival; Dawn's result at the Grand Festival also has a very big impact on Jessie's future career as a coordinator.
So that's that. Hope someone somewhere really enjoyed at least some of the reviews I wrote, sometimes. I really tried my best, and I learned a lot. I tried to be sincere about it, and relate what I've seen in this episodes to what I've personally experienced in my nearly 21 years of existence. My inspiration for doing these was b/c of the back reviews S. Suikun (probably didn't spell his name right) wrote a few summers ago; I had so much fun reading those every day. I don't quite have his sense of humor, but I hope someone somewhere really got some joy out of reading these things (I have my doubts after the crap I've read the past few days about my reviews). You might think that b/c of those criticisms I'm stopping, and if so, why did I waste my time arguing? B/c maybe for someone else in the future, that'll help. I would feel comfortable turning in many of these reviews I've written to any of my college professors I've had (I'll be graduating next semester, so it's not like I'm a beginner), and I know that what I've written is not baseless junk or terribly wrong. I know I didn't do anything wrong, and in fact, I think I did a lot right in being honest about my interpretations of scenes. Writing has 2 purposes: honesty and persuasion. Honesty is the best way to go, and it's definitely the way to go when you're just having fun, as many of us are on this forum. Well, anyway, thanks to anyone who maybe read these on a consistent basis (if anyone).